Two Rockets fans struggle through an awful game of tic-tac-toe
No NBA franchise has been as closely aligned with the rise of advanced statistical analysis as the Houston Rockets, a thoroughly modern organization built on the precepts promoted by Sloan Sports Analytics Conference co-founder and general manager Daryl Morey, and embodied in the layup/free-throw/3-pointers-generating offensive exploits of MVP runner-up James Harden.
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But while the Rockets’ futuristic approach to victory was on full display during Monday’s Game 4 — which saw Harden score a playoff-career-high 45 points, the Rockets take three-quarters of their field-goal attempts either at the rim or beyond the arc, and Houston attempt 43 free throws — there was no such advanced strategy featured during a between-quarters game of tic-tac-toe between two fans on the Toyota Center court:
Reasonable people can disagree as to whether “Rocketsball” is the best way to build a winning team in the NBA, but there’s not much dissension about how to win at tic-tac-toe. And yet, neither Reid nor Blake got their strategy-optimization on, with X-playin’ Reid missing multiple opportunities to block O-rockin’ Blake’s victory, and Blake failing to realize the winning options staring him straight in the face.
Nobody won the game of tic-tac-toe; everyone lost. Even the house MCs calling the action — whose “What is going on right now?!?” and “Wooooow” reactions were entirely appropriate — were diminished by their proximity to this mutually assured destruction, and their attempts to determine a winner despite the stultifying stalemate staring them in the face.
If either Reid or Blake find themselves eager for a rematch to prove their worth, I suggest they take a lesson from a smart young fella named Joshua: “The only winning move is not to play.”
Video via Decision Highlights. Hat-tip to Deadspin’s Timothy Burke.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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