Yao shoots a jumper over Jerome James Tuesday night in Seattle in a shocking 97-95 victory against the Sonics, the third-seeded team in the West right now. Yao had a dominating fourth quarter, scoring 10 points and exhibiting much welcomed toughness. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

TUESDAY, 3/8/05 – The Rockets headed into Seattle’s Key Arena Tuesday night, a place that hasn’t been very friendly to them over the years. They have only won 5-of-17 games at Key, and are 23-54 overall in Seattle. Facing one of the top teams in the West, the task wasn’t going to be easy. ClubYao’s Chia-Chi was in the arena for Tuesday’s game, and he will be filing his up close and personal report on Wednesday morning.

Well, at first it looked like it was going to be easy when the Rockets took a quick 6-0 lead, but the Sonics then went on a 28-6 run by outclassing the Rockets, getting to the hoop very easily and hitting uncontested three-pointers. It was “bombs away” for the Sonics, who hit their five treys in a row in the quarter and held a 16-point lead at one point.

But then the Rockets started playing some defense and got a couple of steals to crawl back into the game with a 9-3 run, thanks to Jon Barry, who spelled Mike James at point guard. Barry brought some defensive energy and more fluidity into the offense.

Ryan Bowen then came into the game for T-Mac, and when James returned to the lineup, the Rockets didn’t miss a beat and closed the deficit to 33-21 by the end of the first quarter, and looked competitive again.

Barry hit a three-pointer at the beginning of the second quarter to close it to 33-28, and without T-Mac in the lineup, the Rockets went on an 11-6 run to close it to 39-32. T-Mac entered the game, and the Rockets kept it close the rest of the second quarter, and the Rockets shaved the deficit to 59-50 by halftime.

Given how badly the Rockets played the first quarter, they were lucky to only be down 9 points.

At halftime, both teams were shooting well (Houston 54%, Seattle 56%), but the difference was Seattle’s three-point shooting (9-of-12), thanks to Rashard Lewis’ amazing 5-of-6 (21 points, 8-of-10 overall) and Ray Allen’s 3-for-3 (17 points, 7-for-13 overall). Thank goodness for the Rockets that T-Mac was shooting well (7-for-12). He was by far the leading Rocket scorer with 19 points. Yao only had 6 points at halftime on 3-of-4 shooting, and only had 3 rebounds.

Second half

In the third quarter, Mike James closed it to 63-60 after hitting a three-pointer. Then after a missed Yao jump hook, Juwan Howard grabbed the rebound and hit a jumper to close the gap to 63-62, capping a 12-4 run in about 6 minutes of play.

Yao could have put them ahead, but he missed another relatively easy jump hook. After a Sonic turnover, Mike James missed an easy layup on a fast break, missing another opportunity for the Rockets to go ahead.

The next time, Yao finally got it right by parking in front of the rim on a semi-fast break, and Juwan Howard rewarded him by passing it to Yao, who laid it in using his height advantage over the much shorter Luke Ridnour to finally put the Rockets ahead, 64-63. That was their first lead since the Rockets led 6-3 early in the game.

After Howard missed a turnaround jumper, Yao fought hard to grab the rebound in front of the basket, and laid it in to put Houston ahead 66-63 with 3:11 remaining in the third. Houston kept the pressure up, taking a 72-65 lead into the fourth quarter.

Amazingly, the game had turned 180 degrees for the Sonics, who turned the ball over 7 times alone in the quarter, and scored a franchise-low six points (3-of-15 shooting) compared to Houston’s 22 points. Give credit to Houston’s D, though, with six points being the fewest number of points they have ever allowed in a quarter.

Fourth quarter

So going into the fourth quarter, the question was if Houston could “stay tough” and avoid another fourth quarter collapse.

A huge play occurred with the Rockets holding a slim 72-70 lead when T-Mac stole the ball from Vladimir Radmanovic, then threw the ball up court to Jon Barry, who pulled back and nailed a wide-open long-jumper to give the Rockets to a 74-70 lead.

Then Yao did a patented spin move on Danny Fortson, going baseline and dunking it one-handed to put the Rockets ahead 76-70.

With 4:35 remaining, Ridnour drove easily into the lane and scored on a layup to make it 80-79. That’s when Rocket fans must have feared that once again, the Rockets were going to blow another game in the fourth quarter.

But lo and behold, Yao – who had been missing everything from outside the paint – finally made a shot from just outside the paint to put them ahead 82-79.

But a jumper by Ray Allen brought the Sonics to within one point, 82-81. Houston turned the ball over on a three-second violation (can you say “mental weakness?”), then Radmanovic drove the lane and got Yao to foul him, putting him on the line. Radmanovic hit both free throws to put the Sonics ahead 84-83.

But then T-Mac showed some fortitude by hitting a cold-blooded jumper. And on the ensuing Sonic possession, Yao came up with a HUGE block on Jerome James at the rim, who looked like he had a sure dunk.

Then with 1:55 remaining and the shot clock winding down, Yao took it upon himself to get a good shot by taking it to the rack aggressively and laying it in over some very good Sonic defense by Jerome James! You’ve got to give credit to Yao for taking it strong to the rack and keeping the Rockets ahead, 86-83.

After Rashard Lewis hit two free throws to close it to 86-85, Jerome James fouled Yao on an entry pass, and Yao went to the line and hit two clutch free throws to put the Rockets up 88-85 with less than a minute and a half remaining.

Lewis came back to hit a three-pointer with 59 seconds remaining to tie it. Would the Rockets fold or not? The Rockets got the ball down into Yao, who threw it out to T-Mac for a cold-blooded three-pointer to take a 91-88 lead with 55 seconds remaining.

On the other end, Ridnour was fouled by Wesley going after a loose ball out-of-bounds, so Ridnour went to the line and made both free throws to make the score 91-90, Rockets.

The Rockets inbounded the ball and quickly got the ball to Yao, who did a spin move on Jerome James. Mr. James flopped to the floor trying to draw a charging fall on Yao, BUT THE REFS DIDN’T BUY IT, AND YAO BANKED IT IN FOR THE BUCKET, PUTTING THE ROCKETS AHEAD 93-90 with 28.3 seconds remaining.

Ridnour easily scored on a layup on an odd play where Juwan Howard actually moved away from the basket while Ridnour drove to the basket. To score that easily on a big possession was unbelievable.

But it wasn’t too detrimental, because Jon Barry threw a beautiful pass to T-Mac, who was cutting into the lane and scored on a difficult layup…and he was fouled! Unfortunately, T-Mac missed the penalty free throw, giving the Sonics life trailing only by three points, 95-92.

Fortunately, Lewis finally missed a three-pointer, and the Rockets gained possession with 4.5 seconds remaining. Mike James was fouled on the inbounds, and he made both free throws to give the Rockets a 97-92 spread.

Rashard made a three-pointer with .1 seconds remaining, and after the Rockets in-bounded the ball, the game was over, leaving Yao with all smiles.

Yao finished with 22 points, 10 points in the fourth quarter on 4-of-5 shooting, and 9-of-15 overall. This was a game where Yao delivered big-time — on the road — when the Rockets needed him most. And T-Mac came up big with 35 points on 14-of-27 shooting.

Give the Rockets credit for a huge win. Now the Rockets head into a VERY tough place on Friday. I will be completely shocked if the Rockets win that game, even with the return of Bob Sura. But give the Rockets credit for taking advantage of a hobbled Dallas team on Sunday and winning a game they should have won, and for hanging in there in Seattle and pulling a victory out against a good Sonics team.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

Chia-Chi’s take of the game

Wow, what a great game in so many ways. By far, both teams saved their best effort for the fourth quarter. Like John said, the Rockets started slow and were just outclassed in the first quarter. Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis put on a fast break and dunk tutorial for everyone in Key Arena. With more than a minute left in the first quarter the Sonics already had 31 points and didn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Yao started the game ice cold, barely getting any touches and moving slowly. When he rested on the bench he wore some type of back brace, which leads me to believe he is suffering from some back pain.

The Rockets kept it close, but the amazing three-point shooting of the Sonics (over 50%) in the first half was too much to overcome. Luckily, their shots stopped falling in the second half and Yao started to heat up in a big way.

John’s coverage has the meaty parts so I will just review three Yao plays I saw up-close and personal.

One was Yao’s huge block of Jerome James. James had elevated and the ball was on the way down when Yao, by sheer force, pushed the ball away from the rim. This wasn’t just a rejection; this was a rejection of a DUNK that was virtually complete. Folks, that’s amazing.

Another interesting situation was Seattle center Danny Fortson, who leads the league in technical fouls, reached around Yao with his left fist and actually hit Yao in the chin. In retaliation Yao clamped down on Forston’s arm and dragged him a bit while other players had to separate them. On the very next play Yao did his patented spin move to hit a one-handed jam. That was Chinese for “in your face, sucker!”

And another HUGE play by Yao, who was just unstoppable in the fourth, was a block on Ray Allen with 44 seconds remaining in the game before Wesley’s foul on Ridnour and Ridnour’s two free throws made it 91-90, Rockets.

All in all, this was a great game to watch and showed the mental toughness that the Rockets and Yao suddenly developed. By holding on to a lead in the fourth quarter against a great team like the Sonics instills great hope. The Sonics don’t have any center on Yao’s level, so the Rockets have an advantage there. But the Sonics compensate by having their centers play very dirty and rough in the paint. Yao did an excellent job tonight, especially in the fourth quarter where he personified “clutch.”

Chia-Chi
zenithnadir@YaoMingFanClub.com

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

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 8th, 2005 at 11:23 pm and is filed under vs. OK City/Seattle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.