Yao defends against scoring wizard Paul Pierce in Boston on Monday. Yao had a great game, outscoring Pierce 23 points to 22 to lead the Rockets in scoring on the way to a big 97-94 victory. Yao also grabbed 8 rebounds and blocked 2 shots. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

MONDAY, 1/31/05 – They always say if your NBA team is going to win a championship, you’ve got to have your role players step up. They say there’s no way one or two superstars are going to carry you to victory every night. Every once in awhile you need guys who aren’t in the limelight to pick up the slack.

The Rockets have had the good fortune this year to have guys like Bob Sura and Scott Padgett have big scoring nights while the big guns were struggling. On Thursday night in Boston, it was Jon Barry‘s turn.

The game was a see-saw battle between the Celtics and Rockets, but after the Rockets crept back into the game in the fourth quarter, Mr. Barry scored 11 straight points, including a sizzling three treys in a row to put the Rockets up 78-68. [It would have been four three-pointers in a row if he hadn’t had his right foot on the three-point line when he made a long two-pointer.]

After Barry’s outburst, the Rockets held on thanks to some clutch shots, including Barry’s baseline jumper and a beautiful finger roll after willing his way down the lane when the Rockets really needed a bucket. Barry finished with 15 points in the fourth quarter alone (17 overall).

Yao was also clutch in the fourth by making 3-of-4 shots to finish with 7 points (23 points total on 11-of-15 shooting). Yao also got off to one of his best starts of the year, scoring 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting in the first half. He was getting most of his buckets the way I love to see him utilized: passes from other guys while he’s moving to the basket like after pick-and-rolls. Yao was able to break free time-after-time in the first half. Yao also bolstered his scoring by hitting fadeaways in the lane, shots he has been missing frequently this season.

Thanks to Yao’s productive first half, he ended up negating a bad shooting half for T-Mac (3-for-10) and David Wesley (0-for-4) and helped the Rockets gain a 16-point lead. But the Rockets couldn’t blow it out and they let the Celtics back in the game to reach striking distance, 49-40, even though Houston shot 48% from the field, out-rebounded Boston 25-16, and had 7 more assists (16-9).

Before I describe what happened in the second half, major props go to T-Mac for the one basket he made in the first quarter: a coast-to-coast job where he faked a Celtic player out of his jock, shifted direction and threw down a one-handed jam with a strong snap of the wrist. One of the more spectacular throw-downs this season from T-Mac, and that’s saying something with the highlight reel season he has had thus far.

The momentum shifted to the Celtics in the third quarter when they went on a 12-0 run to take a 63-57 lead as the Rockets relied too much on the outside shot, missing 11-of-16 attempts. During that run, Celtic center Mark Blount scored 10 points in the quarter by camping outside away from Houston’s big men and hitting 4-of-4 long jumpers.

But Houston pulled it together to take a 67-65 lead at the end of the third quarter, thanks to Bob Sura scoring six points in a row. Sura finished with an all-around game, scoring 10, dishing 10, and grabbing 6 boards.

While Sura was superb, Barry was a bit better as he launched his onslaught of long bombs to score 11 in a row and give Houston some breathing room at 78-68. It wasn’t over, though. Boston’s Ricky Davis went off and scored 17 of the Celtics next 24 points to help tie the game at 92-92 with 44 seconds remaining.

Down the stretch it turned into a free throw shooting contest, with the Rockets hitting five free throws. They were helped by a rare miss from Davis, whose three-pointer that could have tied it at 95-95 clanged off the iron. The rebound came down to the Rockets, and unlike the wasted performance by super-sub Scott Padgett against Sacramento last week, Jon Barry could enjoy a victory to go along with his clutch performance.

Just a few weeks ago, Barry was toiling away on the Atlanta bench. One Tyronn Lue trade later, Barry is showing he still has some game left in him. So what role player will step up in Philadelphia? I think David Wesley is due.

What do you think?

Before I sign out, I watched the Boston television coverage instead of Houston’s coverage of the game, and when the commentators said it was the third annual Asian-American night at Boston’s Fleet Center, I was disappointed the Celtics so blatantly use Yao’s appearance to make a few more bucks. I know many NBA teams did that while Yao was doing his first or second tour of duty, but c’mon, it’s his third year already. He’s no longer a novelty. Even worse, as they discussed on television the event, the cameras panned the crowd highlighting unsuspecting Asian-Americans sitting in their seats.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a little offended by that. If it were Mexican-American night, would they have so explicitly shown Mexican-Americans in the crowd? Or if it were Martin Luther King night, would they have focused only on African-Americans? How about Greek night? I doubt it.

I just have a feeling that the guys who control what goes on the sports tube in Boston think that Asian-Americans are like cartoon characters who can be put in the spotlight without feeling like they are being exploited. I beg to differ. Why does it seem like there is a lower level of political correctness toward people of Asian descent? What do you think? If you feel like I do (or if you don’t), someone start a thread in the forum under the “Non-Yao Stuff” section and let’s all discuss it.

John
john@YaoMingFanclub.com

To read the Houston Chronicle’s post-game analysis, click here.

Yao tries to defend Shaq on Sunday afternoon in Miami. Although Yao (22 points, 9 rebounds) got the better of Shaq statistically (15 points, 5 boards), the Heat pulled away in the fourth quarter and won 104-95. For more photos from the game, click here.

by Chia-Chi

SUNDAY, 1/30/05 – After Sunday’s game in Miami between the Rockets and the Heat, the good news is that far from being demolished by a motivated Shaq, Yao played well against the “Most Dominant Ever.” The bad news is that the Rockets lost another game (104-95) they could have won, and Bob Sura injured his hand and was taken off the court to get immediate x-rays.

In what was to be the twelfth chapter in the Clash of the Titans, both Yao and Shaq were saddled with foul troubles, so it was up to the smaller guys to duke it out.

The first quarter started slow for both big men, with Shaq being called for traveling and Yao missing his first two shots. Barely four minutes into the game, Yao was benched with his second personal foul.

With Yao out of the game, the Heat relied on Shaq’s presence in the lane to draw double-teams, resulting in passes to open shooters on the perimeter. The Heat scoring was spread evenly among their starters, whose speed and athleticism were difficult for the Rockets’ defense to handle.

Luckily, Sura decided to take over on the offensive end, easily cutting into the lane for layups or trips to the charity stripe. Sura ended the 1st quarter with 12 points. Yao was 0-2 with two fouls.

In the second quarter both big men became more active and the game slowed down considerably. Yao had a nice shot over Heat backup center
Michael Doleac to start the quarter, but Shaq came back and stopped the mismatch Yao temporarily enjoyed. The two centers seemed to be motivated to play against each other, with both men scoring four quick points.

Shaq picked up a third foul late in the second quarter, but the Rockets didn’t give Yao any touches during those minutes. The Rockets ended the half down by two points, 48-46.

The Rockets started the second half slowly and seemed to forget that Yao even existed. In a frustrating quarter, Dwyane Wade through sheer speed split defenders and got into the paint at will, drawing fouls or hitting big buckets and scoring 11 in the third quarter. Shaq was surprisingly quiet, preferring to pass the ball to teammates. Yao was on the opposite end of the spectrum, being wide open with single coverage under the basket, only to be ignored by his teammates completely.

Starting the fourth quarter the Rockets were within three points of the Heat. But the game that was within reach soon started to slip away. Two free throws and a 3-point shot from Eddie Jones quickly put the Rockets behind 8 points and resulted in a Jeff Van Gundy timeout.

Yao roared back and grabbed a big offensive rebound only to be fouled hard by Doleac. On the next play Yao received a pass with Shaq guarding him and, in a move we haven’t seen for a while, did a quick turnaround without lowering the ball and shot over Shaq for a bucket. But soon after those plays, Yao collected two bad fouls guarding Shaq.

Dikembe Mutombo came in and rebounded well; tipping to himself three times in a row and drawing Shaq’s fourth foul. Unfortunately, Mutombo could not match Shaq’s strength or Wade’s quickness and picked up two quick fouls himself. Wade, who didn’t play as many minutes as normal due to three fouls in the first quarter, exploded in the fourth, giving the Heat a 12 point lead when Yao came back into the game with five minutes to go.

Yao scored eight more points and T-Mac scored a huge three with 30 seconds left to pull within 5 points, but Wade closed the deal with
two free throws and a nice bucket to end any Rockets hope.

In a daring move by the Heat, Shaq stayed near the basket with Yao the only Rocket near him on an alley-oop play in the last 40 seconds that would have been icing on the cake for Shaq if Yao had not stolen the inbound pass.

Late in the fourth, Sura left the game with an apparent right ring finger injury from trying to guard Shaq. Sura was led off the court to have x-rays done on his hand. If the Rockets lose Sura to injury, it will be a huge blow since the Rockets need the points he provides (21 points on Sunday) from his position. We’ll find out soon enough after the Rockets make a long flight on Sunday up the east coast to take on Boston on Monday night.

Chia-Chi
divinity@gmail.com

To read the Houston Chronicle’s post-game analysis, click here.