Tracy McGrady scores on a last-second play to lift the Rockets to a huge 76-74 upset of the Lakers in Los Angeles Sunday night. The Rockets played without Yao, who was sent back to Houston to have his injured big toe examined.

by John

SUNDAY, 12/18/05 – The Rockets pulled off one of their most improbable wins of the season — and maybe decade — Sunday night in Los Angeles. Playing without Derek Anderson, Jon Barry, Rafer Alston, and Yao Ming, the Rockets managed to come back from the dead in the third quarter and hold on down the stretch to win dramatically, 76-74. More on what went down later.

The Rockets sent Yao back to Houston before their game on Sunday because of the problems he has been having with his big toe that he injured before the season started. [Now you know why there is no Yao photo above this story.] It looks like he will be out more than one game, with NBA TV reporting Sunday night it could be 7-10 days before he returns. We’ll see after the doctors check out his toe.

Yao’s absence put the burden on everyone, especially backup center Dikembe Mutombo, to step up and pick up the slack. If you would have said that T-Mac would only score 20 points, that Mutombo would have to leave the game in the crucial part of the fourth quarter because of an injury of his own, that they would only score 12 points in the first quarter and 11 in the fourth quarter, then you would say there is no way they could defeat a resilient and respectable Laker team.

But somehow they did it and finished their 6-game road trip 5-1, and more importantly, the Rockets are back in the hunt for the playoffs with a 10-13 record. Before this trip, no one thought that would happen. I was hoping they could get 3 wins, and they surprised everyone by getting five.

The plays of the game occurred with less than 30 seconds remaining. The Rockets led 74-72 and had the ball. All they had to do was get a score or get fouled and make some free throws, and the game was over. Put the ball in T-Mac’s hands, and one of those things is bound to happen, and you walk away with a ‘W.’

But surprisingly, the Lakers’ Kwame Brown of all people stripped the ball from T-Mac and scored on a breakaway dunk to tie it at 74-74. I was shocked to see a play like that occur against a player of T-Mac’s caliber. T-Mac admitted he was surprised that Brown came out to defend him on a pick-and-roll like that.

Right after that steal occurred and T-Mac was bringing the ball up the court for a chance at redemption, I thought to myself, “This is where T-Mac can show how great of a player he is.” Despite the embarrassing and crucial turnover, I thought T-Mac was the kind of player that could bounce right back from such adversity.

He proved me right.

You have probably already seen the highlight reel play by now. T-Mac dribbled the ball by himself on an isolation play from the top of the key, and actually didn’t make his move to the basket until just with a few seconds remaining. He then dribbled around Devean George and drove to the basket, hung in midair, then laid it in off the glass left-handed over Lamar Odom with 0:0.3 seconds remaining! Only a handful of players in the league could have made that play, and the Rockets have one of them.

It was a classic moment in a season where T-Mac has been unbelievable, even in a game where he only shot 6-of-16 from the field and made 1-of-5 three-pointers to “only” score 20 points to go along with his 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

How they got to the point of even having a chance of winning it was incredible. The Rockets were pathetic in the first quarter, making only 4-of-18 shots and going 0-for-5 from three-point land. Why they were jacking up that many treys, I don’t know. Sure, Yao wasn’t playing and the Rockets didn’t have as much of an inside game, but how about having guards drive to the hole for higher percentage shots?

Although the Rockets only scored 12 points in the first quarter, the Lakers weren’t much better. They only scored 14 on 4-of-16 shooting.

It got worse in the second quarter, with the Lakers pulling away, thanks to lots of turnovers, including two by Luther Head. It seemed anytime the Rockets turned it over, the Lakers made them pay by responding with either a three-pointer or a basket. By the time halftime came around, the Lakers led the Rockets in points off turnovers 15-4.

By halftime, Houston was shooting 28% and trailed 42-31. I was thinking that the Rockets were completely outmanned not having Yao around and playing their sixth road game in a row. I thought it was time to pack it in and head back to H-Town with a respectable 4-2 road trip record.

In the third quarter, the Rockets were down 52-40 with 7:32 remaining. But then the Rockets suddenly exploded for a shocking 15-0 run. David Wesley hit two shots in a row, T-Mac hit a three-pointer, Wesley hit a technical free throw, Luther Head hit a three-pointer, T-Mac made a long two-pointer, and Juwan Howard hit a jumper to make it 55-52, Houston, with 4:28 remaining in the quarter.

By the time the quarter ended with a three-pointer by Luther, the Rockets were ahead 65-57 and had outscored the Lakers 25-5 in the last 7:46 minutes of the quarter. During one stretch, the Rockets held the Lakers to 1-of-14 shooting.

I think part of the reason the Rockets scored an incredible 34 points in this quarter — virtually out of nowhere — was because of something Rocket TV analyst Clyde Drexler mentioned. In one of his most profound statements as a Rocket commentator (which isn’t saying much), Drexler stated that the Lakers looked a little confused defensively and unprepared not knowing what to do since they had prepared for Yao to be in the lineup. When players like Wesley, Head and Howard start hitting their shots, it’s not something any defense is used to seeing from the Rockets.

Another reason the Rockets scored so many points so quickly was because of phenomena called ‘momentum’ and ‘confidence.’ It’s very fleeting, but when you get it going, you have to enjoy it, milk it for all its worth, and hope you can hang on when the shots stop falling.

That’s what the Rockets did, holding on as the Lakers went on an 11-0 run to get back in it in the fourth quarter. Making matters worse was Dikembe Mutombo lacerating a finger on a steal (requiring 8 stitches), and needing to leave for the rest of the game at the 4:42 mark. His rebounding was sorely missed as the Lakers got back in the game with lots of offensive rebounds and second-chance points

But David Wesley hit a HUGE three-pointer at the 2:39 mark to make it 74-69. That shot would prove to be even bigger because the Rockets wouldn’t score again until T-Mac’s shot in the lane with 0:00.3 remaining put them ahead 76-74, and the Lakers’ Smush Parker‘s 3-point fadeaway at the buzzer would fall short, securing the Rockets win.

In Yao’s absence and T-Mac’s amazing last-second shot, you have to give the role players lots of credit for stepping up.

Wesley was amazing, making 6-of-10 shots and 3-of-5 from three-point land for 18 points, scoring 13 points in the pivotal third quarter, playing point guard most of the way, and dishing 3 assists.

Just as impactful was Head. He had two turnovers, but made up for it with 3 steals, and scored 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-11 from three-point land.

Give Dikembe credit for filling in admirably for Yao. Although he only scored two points, he grabbed 9 boards and had 3 blocks.

Last but not least, Juwan Howard’s up-and-down performances were on the “up” side this game, scoring 10 points on 5-of-12 shooting on a night when the Rockets needed some kind of offensive presence down low to offset Yao’s absence. He also grabbed 7 rebounds and had 4 assists.

Now the Rockets have a well-deserved 3 days off until they play Toronto at Toyota Center.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 18th, 2005 at 11:59 pm and is filed under vs. LA Lakers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.