Yao lofts a hook shot Saturday night at Houston’s Toyota Center against the Denver Nuggets on his way to 13 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks in a stunning Rocket victory over Denver, 115-87. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

SATURDAY, 4/16/05 – I was fortunate enough to attend the Rockets-Nuggets game on Saturday night in Houston, and I couldn’t have picked a better game to attend than this one. If you’re a Yao or Rockets fan, you probably saw the game on ESPN or have read the AP news story. The Rockets stunned the Nuggets 115-87 in dominating fashion on Saturday night. Like any other news story, I will give you many of the facts you would expect from any sports story. But I’ll also try to give you a sense of what it was like to be there.

First of all, the game had moments reminiscent of the 1994 and 1995 championship seasons I experienced first-hand in the Rockets’ previous home, The Summit (later renamed Compaq Center). Those games, as well as this one, had many adrenaline-pumping moments that whipped the crowd into playoff-like ecstasy. At times, the Rockets looked so good I couldn’t help but think of the similarities this team has with those championship teams from a decade ago. But I won’t get too ahead of myself…there are many playoff games still to be played against very tough competition before the Rockets can start measuring championship ring sizes.

The game started at 6:30pm, an hour earlier than normal because the game was televised nationally on ESPN. The early start time must have thrown much of the crowd off since many arrived late. but by halftime everyone was in their seats and it was a full house, even in the nosebleed sections.

Unfortunately, I think Rocket point guard Bob Sura thought the game started at 7:30pm, too, because he got off to an awful start turning the ball over multiple times, missing two free throws, and racking up 3 fouls in the first 6 or 7 minutes of the game. Due in part to his miscues, the Rockets started off flat and were outscored 18-4 to start the game.

The fans were in shock thinking that this was going to be one of those game where the Rockets had so much promise, but couldn’t deliver (i.e., losses this season against Atlanta, Charlotte, and New Orleans just to name a few).

Luckily, Houston had Mike James to come off the bench for Sura, and James was outstanding. On his first shot, he hit a three-pointer to help stop the bleeding, making it 18-7, Nuggets.

A few minutes later, Yao delivered a great pass and assist to James for a layup to make it 18-11, giving the crowd hope that the Rockets could climb themselves out of the hole they had dug for themselves.

By the end of the first quarter, the Rockets trailed by ten points and gave up an incredible 34 points to the Nuggets. But it could have been worse. The main difference in the quarter was that Denver went to the line an amazing 16 times, mostly on ticky-tack fouls called by the refs, and hit 12 of those attempts. Meanwhile, Houston only shot 6 free throws, making four of them.

The other factor in the first quarter was Houston’s six turnovers (most by Sura) compared to only one for Denver.

In the second quarter, power forward Scott Padgett struggled by missing his first three shots, and you could just feel the crowd wondering to themselves, “Why did Juwan (Howard) have to get hurt?”

But then Padgett really started to deliver by hitting a long jump shot, then a three-pointer at the 7:18 mark, and finally at the 5:42 mark he tied it up with another three-pointer to tie it at 39-39. Soon the crowd had to be thinking, “Maybe the Rockets can win a championship with a three-point shooting power forward, a la Robert Horry.”

T-Mac, who started off by missing seven of his first 8 shots, hit a trey near the end of the first quarter. But the play of the first half had to be when after a steal, Jon Barry threw a behind-the-back pass to T-Mac, who drilled another three-pointer to make it 56-49! The reaction from the crowd from the hustle on the steal, the dazzling pass from Barry, and the T-Mac trey to cap a 32-point second quarter and 17-point turnaround in one quarter was out of this world. Especially after holding the Nuggets high-octane offense to only 15 points.

There were many reasons why Houston made a turnaround in the first half: First, there was Houston’s bench, with Mike James scoring 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He really ignited the Houston offense when they needed a spark. Dikembe Mutombo had 9 points and 10 rebounds by halftime.

Yao surprisingly didn’t play at all in the second quarter, but not because of poor play in the first quarter (he was 3-for-4 with 6 points). I was thinking that coach Jeff Van Gundy wanted to save him for the second half, primarily for the fourth quarter when the game was expected to slow down to a half-court game, and the Rockets could exploit the Denver defense, which was without leading rebounder and defender Marcus Camby because of a strained calf

The other big factor was that Houston finally caught up in free throw attempts, making 7-of-8 in the second quarter (11-of-14 by halftime), whereas Denver didn’t go to the line at all in the second quarter and stayed at 12-of-16. The Rockets also improved their ball handling, turning it over only one time after having an abysmal 6 turnovers in the first quarter.

Last but not least, let’s not forget T-Mac’s 14 points in the first half. But he was only just beginning as the second half started.

T-Mac came out and hit a three-pointer to start things for the Rockets, then hit a long two-pointer that looked like a three to make it 61-51, and then hit another trey to make it 64-52, and the Rockets were in command.

Surprisingly, Clarence Weatherspoon finally started hitting some shots, making two jumpers in a row that resembled Juwan Howard’s jump shot consistency.

The Rockets maintained a 10 to 12 point lead for most of the third, with a great pass to Yao for a layup with 3:22 remaining to make it 75-65, but Yao (who played the entire third quarter) missed 3-of-6 free throws in the third and the Rockets only led 80-70 heading into the fourth quarter.

Fortunately, Houston’s defense was doing exceptionally well, limiting Denver to 40% shooting after three quarters, and out-rebounding them 32-26, and out-assisting them 22-16. The other difference was that Houston had hit 10-of-18 three-point attempts.

We all know how much Houston has struggled in the fourth quarter this season, and I honestly felt like they didn’t have enough of a cushion to hold off the Nuggets high-powered offense heading into the fourth.

Was I ever wrong. The first few minutes of the fourth quarter were some of the most electric of the season, with the Rockets coming out and making a statement.

Mike James threw a nice pass to Padgett, who was cutting down the lane, for an easy layup to make it 82-70.

Then Padgett sole the ball, who then got the ball to James, who delivered it to Jon Barry for a layup. Then T-Mac dished to Dikembe for a dunk, and just like that, the Rockets reeled off 6 straight points to make it 86-70, and the crowd was rockin’ like I hadn’t seen in a long time.

After Denver scored, Mike James hit another three-pointer, his third of the night, to make it 89-72. T-Mac was then fouled on a three-point attempt, and made 2-of-3 free throws to make it 91-72, and followed up with another three to make it 94-72. James scored on a layup, and then followed up with one of the most spectacular plays of the game. As the ball was going out of bounds, James leaped after the ball to save it, flung the ball to Jon Barry as he went flying into the fans sitting at courtside, and Barry pulled behind the arc to nail a three-pointer that gave the Rockets a 99-76 lead and an ecstatic Houston fan base.

But the fun wasn’t over. T-Mac ended a Houston 22-6 run by nailing a three-pointer to make it 102-76 with 6:24 remaining, and not even the Rockets could lose a 26-point lead in that amount of time.

The rest of the game was just a formality, but another highlight reel play occurred around the 3-minute mark when Yao fell to the floor on defense, but while still on the floor was still able to poke the ball away from the Denver ballhandler penetrating into the lane, which started a fast break and ended with a thunderous T-Mac one-handed throw-down to keep the Houston crowd in a frenzied state with a 108-83 lead.

By the end of the game, Houston had shot 52% from the field, and hit an incredible 15-of-24 from three-point territory. They also had 32 assists compared to Denver’s 20, and only turned the ball over 7 times in the final three quarters.

You can’t expect that kind of offensive production every night, but you have to give props to Van Gundy for his emphasis on defense, which is a big reason why Houston ran away with it. The Rockets held the explosive Denver offense to 41% shooting, out-rebounded them 44-30, and had a season-high 11 blocks with Yao getting 5, and T-Mac and Dikembe getting three each.

There were so many key players with this victory. Of course, T-Mac’s 32 point and 8 assists were incredible. Yao was solid with 13 points and 11 rebounds. I won’t list out all the stats right here for every player, but I’ll refer you to this bosxcore to see how much of an impact they had.

This game had to be the biggest of the season, with the Rockets facing the hottest team in the league, Denver, who had won 24 of their last 26 games, and had won 10 in a row. Of course, the 6th playoff seed was at stake, with the Rockets tied with the Nuggets for the sixth spot and a chance to play the struggling Sonics in the first round. Houston now controls its own destiny. And the fact the Rockets overcame an 18-4 deficit and exorcised a few fourth quarter demons against a very explosive team has got to do wonders for their confidence, especially as they approach the playoffs on a five-game winning streak.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

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

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 16th, 2005 at 11:59 pm and is filed under vs. Denver. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.