As noted in earlier posts here and here, I find it difficult to generate much enthusiasm for the local professional basketball team, the Houston Rockets. This year’s club is mildly interesting, with one of the best perimeter players in the league — Tracy McGrady — teamed with one of the best big men — Yao Ming. They are both in the prime of their respective careers, so you would think that the team would be a title contender. However, as has been often the case for the Rockets throughout their existence, the team has not found the point guard who can push all the right buttons (remember Matt Maloney?) and propel the team into the NBA’s elite teams. This year, the Rockets are trying Rafer Alston at the point, but it remains to be seen whether he is the answer.
Despite my lack of enthusiasm for the Rockets, I did notice during the last NBA season that the games were much more interesting than in the previous three seasons or so. A number of really special young players had arrived on the scene — notably Cleveland’s LeBron James and Miami’s Dwayne Wade — and the pace and intensity of the play made NBA games enjoyable to watch again. Along those lines, Patrick Hruby of ESPN.com notes in this article that many of the complaints that one commonly hears about the NBA are myths. One of the more interesting observations is what really distracts players while they are shooting free throws:

As it turns out, Thunderstix and wiggling balloons have little effect because the brain simply blocks out random motion, like white noise on a television screen. According to [a] Slate.com article, fans behind the baseline would be better off moving side-to-side in unison.
Why? Confronted with a field of background motion, observers tend to believe that they are moving while the background remains still — think of sitting on a stopped subway train while an adjacent train passes. David Whitney, a visual scientist at the University of California-Davis, has demonstrated that a field of background motion can influence hand motions, such as the flick of the wrist on a free throw.
[Former NBA player Steve] Kerr concurs.
“The most effective one I’ve seen might have been at Duke, or maybe Kansas,” he says. “As soon as the guy was about to shoot, the fans would all move from the right side to the left. It would create this visual of everything moving.”

In short, the Rockets need to crank up the Aggie War Hymn during the opposing team’s free throws.
Meanwhile, addressing the true reason for the NBA’s absurdly long 82 game regular season, this Eye on Gambling post provides a quick and dirty way to handicap — or as Malcolm Gladwell would put it, to “thin slice” — NBA games.