The Houston Rockets- A Team of Destiny
Look at this picture: Kevin McHale and Bill Walton, arms raised as they high-fived each other while celebrating the 1986 NBA championship. Champagne was flowing. The old Boston Garden was so loud the disgruntled fans in Houston probably needed ear plugs. It was Kevin McHale and Larry Bird and Bill Walton’s last championship. Some have argued those Boston Celtics were the greatest NBA basketball team to every grace the hardwood. 1986 had a story book ending for Kevin McHale. 2012 did not.
On November 24th, Kevin’s daughter, Alexandra “Sasha” McHale, died at age 23 after losing her battle with lupus.
Lupus is an auto-immune disease where the immune system becomes hyperactive and attacks healthy tissues causing inflammation and fatigue. There is treatment, but no known cure. As reported by AOL’s Lisa Olson, Sasha fought this illness particularly hard in the last year. She cut sugar from her diet, then gluten. She studied the background of any supplement known to reduce inflammation. But the lupus assaulted her skin, joints, lungs, and her nervous system. The treatment (high-dose corticosteroids and cytotoxic drugs) could not prevent this sad story.
And McHale hasn’t been the same since. “The little things that upset him, a week or 10 days ago, he would not have addressed those things,” Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson told the Pioneer Press. “Every day, you can tell he’s getting better. In staff meetings, he wasn’t as talkative or demonstrative. Kevin’s a storyteller. He wasn’t doing any of that.”
Indeed McHale is a great storyteller. Impossibly humble. He possesses a humor that seems to come naturally. In point of fact, McHale never thought he would become a professional basketball player. Imagine that. He told Jackie McCalum: “I was at a party with some football players and somebody brought in the Sporting News that had me rated as the top forward and second-best center in basketball. ‘Hey, you’re going to be a top-five pick,’ someone told me, and I said, ‘Really?’… I played in all those postseason All-Star games basically for the travel. I had no thoughts of improving myself in the draft or getting more money or anything like that. I remember I picked up the paper and read that Darrell Griffith wasn’t going to play in the All-Star game in Hawaii because he didn’t want to take the chance at getting hurt. And I thought, ‘What’s with this guy? Miss a free trip to Hawaii?’ I went over there, drank piña coladas and beer, and won the MVP.”
This story is just a small taste of that humor and humility and honesty. It is difficult to become that storyteller again, when you are enduring the unfathomable pain McHale has been enduring since November 24, 2012.
Somehow in spite of their coach’s pain, or perhaps in the name of it, the Houston Rockets have been playing well. They are currently in firm grasp of the 8th and final Western Conference Playoff spot- only 1 ½ games back of the 7th seed.
As a player, McHale was one of the best big men of all time. At his peak he averaged 24 ppg, 9rpg, 3apg, while shooting 60% from the field. McHale was known for his arsenal of low-post moves, impeccable footwork, great passing, and ability to shoot proficiently from the perimeter. So it comes as no surprise that this Houston Rockets team mirrors their Hall-of-Fame coach. The Houston is 7th in the league in assists per game and 1st in the league in scoring.
The Rockets are young too. If they are able to hold onto this final playoff spot they would become the fifth youngest team in history to make the playoffs. Their parts are interesting: James Harden (top 5 in scoring) has emerged as the superstar every serious contender needs. Oh, did I mention he is only 23?
Jeremy Lin is an athletic point guard who, at 24, needs only to work on his shooting. However, that is one part of basketball than can be improved (See Jason Kidd). But, perhaps the biggest surprise of all has been Chandler Parsons. Drafted in the second round he has transformed himself into a rangy defender and is averaging 14.5 ppg in only his second year in the league.
Kevin McHale took over this team in 2011, inheriting a group who had failed to make the playoffs under stellar coach Rick Adelman. Moreover, you cannot even recognize the current Rockets from the players Adelman had. Yao Ming, an All-Star, is gone. Shane Battier is starting for the defending champs in South Beach. Kevin Martin is in Oklahoma City. Luis Scola is in Phoenix. The job McHale has done to synthesize the rotating parts he has been dealt, and to turn talent into a team, has been nothing short of remarkable. This Rockets group is not ready to contend for a championship this season. But, if they made the playoffs it would be the first time in four years. That would be a sweet triumph for Kevin McHale after what he has been through.
The competition will be fierce. Portland has LaMarcus Aldridge, a two-time All-Star. The Lakers are lead by three perennial All-Stars in Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, and Steve Nash. Even the Dallas Mavericks have a surefire Hall-of-Famer in Dirk Nowitzki.
27 years ago Kevin McHale’s story ended the way he always dreamed it would. Perhaps this season will too. He deserves it.