Marc Jackson Is Not Better Than This

Has lost none of his hops

It takes a lot to get people to notice something in a blowout mid-week NBA game, but that's what happened the other day in Houston, where the hometown Rockets were just on fire from behind the arc against the surprisingly good Warriors. Houston, for those of you who don't pay too much attention to the Association, shoots more three-pointers than anyone in the league, and with guys like James Harden, Jeremy Lin and Chandler Parsons all hitting, they were on path to set a record.

In a blowout, which makes people think, well, that's a jerk move, in that you are running up the score.

Including Warriors coach Marc Jackson, who instructed his guys to just foul intentionally to run out the game.

Including Warriors center Andrew Bogut, who posted a clever non-obscenity to hint at how things are going to be different for the Rockets when they visit Oakland next Tuesday, just before the All Star break.

Here's the thing, however... the bench players on the Rockets (and they were playing bench guys when this thing ended) are judged by the same stats as everyone else. And in the netherworld of the end of the NBA bench, where per diems are a big deal and guys are making 10X what they would make in a Euro or Asian league while living the dream of somehow getting minutes in the best league on the planet...

Well, there's a reason they call it garbage time, folks. In that you've got guys busting a nut to try to score and get noticed and stay in the league, and sifting through the garbage to rack up numbers.

Jackson, of course, was a star in the Association, and stuck around forever, so expecting him to remember that, or that bench guys will do anything to endear themselves to the crowd, is a bit of a stretch.

But maybe one of his assistants might have mentioned it.

Or, um, maybe you could run out on the shooters a little more?