Basketball - Jake Tsakalidis Adjusting Well In The Ro

Jake Tsakalidis is happy if he can grab a few moments of rest at Atlanta’s Philips Arena during the Rockets workouts. His muscles are sore and aching, and he has availed the help of the Rockets’ strength and conditioning coach Dave Macha a number of times to help him schedule a massage to ease the soreness.

Tsakalidis admits that he is not used to the Rockets’ conditioning regimen and it has become all the more difficult for him since he did nothing for several months in Memphis before coming to the Rockets. He admits that his body is sore with all the conditioning workouts he has been doing with the Rockets.

Tsakalidis recently played for the Rockets against the Magic and it was one of his best games in many months. Rockets acquired Tsakalidis on February 13, 2007 as an emergency center depth and primarily to fill in Yao Ming’s spot till he is fit enough to return.

However, Tsakalidis has managed to earn his place in the rotation and according to Rockets’ coach Jeff Van Gundy, Tsakalidis is extremely active and aggressive and has learned the Rockets’ way of playing quickly.

Recently the Rockets’ played the Celtics which was a surprise loss of them. However, Tsakalidis had a successful game and he ended up playing for 22 minutes with 10 rebounds. He was not impressed with his performance but for Tsakalidis it is a start. Tsakalidis has just played 4 games this entire season and he has not played for 22 minutes in the previous 25 games with the Grizzlies and Rockets combined.

Tsakalidis has learned quickly and has made rapid adjustments. There is no doubt that when Yao Ming returns, Tsakalidis will move one spot further from the court.