Return with me, through the mists of time, turn back the one way march of causality, and revisit stirring days of December, 2022. The world was a different place then. You might not recognize it. Rockets fans were still generally unhappy, but believed in the plan. They thought player development was happening, and that all would, eventually, be well.
The Rockets were losing, but they’d put up a good fight. They’d play a close first half, maybe even three quarters, and then, in seemingly less than a minute, totally collapse, and lose by twenty or more points.
In that one half, or even 36 minutes of basketball that fragile flower, hope, could bloom.