Rockets come up golden against Nuggets
Friday, March 3rd, 2006
by John
Denver’s Carmelo Anthony goes up against Yao Friday night with no success in a loss to the Rockets 89-78. Yao finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds. To see more photos from the game, click here and here.
by John
FRIDAY, 3/3/06 – I was able to catch the second half of the Rockets-Nuggets game after coming back home from a business trip Friday night, and was impressed with how some of the Rockets came up with big shots and big blocks to beat Denver 89-78 at Toyota Center.
Denver – winners of seven of their last 10 games and leaders of the Northwest division– were obvious favorites in this game, but the Rockets drew raves from coach Jeff Van Gundy after playing with more intensity than they had in their previous two losses at home.
The Rockets only shot 41.7% from the field, but Yao was his usual high-percentage self (9-of-17 for 21 points), and T-Mac was 8-of-16 for 23 points. But the biggest surprise was Stromile Swift‘s return to action after missing the previous 5 games because of a sprained ankle. Stro’ looked great in scoring 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 6 rebounds and two blocks.
He made all kinds of athletic moves around the basket, including a couple of authoritative dunks and a wild prayer of a shot he jacked up underneath the basket for the score, drawing a nice ‘oooh’ from Yao heading back up the court. Yao said after the game about Stromile:
“He brings a lot of energy. He’s a great cutter. Like today, when the other team double-teams on the post or double-teams (Tracy) McGrady, he cuts very quickly. With his size and the way he can jump, that really helps us.”
So maybe Stromile isn’t on the trading block as rumored. I haven’t been really down on Swift this year like other people have. But I’ll save detailed commentary on him for a different time.
Other than that, the boxscore for the Rockets makes you glad someone like Stromile was able to contribute offensively. Without Yao, T-Mac and Swift playing very well, the Rockets would have lost this game. Here’s why:
Rafer Alston: 2-of-10 FGs for 6 points (but 7 assists)
David Wesley: 1-of-7 FGs, 1-of-4 free throws, 1-of-5 from three-point territory
That’s the second game in a row where the Houston starting guards have struggled offensively. How did they win this game?
Probably because of great defense. Except for Carmelo Anthony, who was unstoppable with 34 points on 12-of-23 shooting, the Rockets held the other Nugget players to 18-of-67 shooting (27%)!
Let’s not forget about Yao, though. Although he barely missed getting another double-double (23 points, 9 rebounds), he arguably had four blocks (only received credit for 3 officially). including a huge block on Andre Miller. In the fourth quarter with about 2:33 remaining, Miller decided to challenge Yao by going strong to the hole and trying to posterize him with a tomahawk jam, but Yao stuffed him at the rim for a huge rejection that got the crowd riled up!
With Friday’s victory, Houston remains four games behind the Lakers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. They next play the team with the third worst record in the league – Portland – on Sunday night after the Lakers play Detroit Saturday night.
If the Rockets play like they did Friday night, look for the Rockets to close within 3 games by late Sunday night and make things very interesting.
John
P.S. As some of you may have noticed, I had the wrong caption under the photo above for several hours. That’s because I got home from my trip around 1:00am, and didn’t finish watching my recording of the game and filing my report until 4:00am. So you can imagine I was dead tired. Man, I wish this blog could be my full-time job.
To see the boxscore from the game, click here.
To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.
Denver’s Carmelo Anthony goes up against Yao Friday night with no success in a loss to the Rockets 89-78. Yao finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds. To see more photos from the game, click here and here.by John
FRIDAY, 3/3/06 – I was able to catch the second half of the Rockets-Nuggets game after coming back home from a business trip Friday night, and was impressed with how some of the Rockets came up with big shots and big blocks to beat Denver 89-78 at Toyota Center.
Denver – winners of seven of their last 10 games and leaders of the Northwest division– were obvious favorites in this game, but the Rockets drew raves from coach Jeff Van Gundy after playing with more intensity than they had in their previous two losses at home.
The Rockets only shot 41.7% from the field, but Yao was his usual high-percentage self (9-of-17 for 21 points), and T-Mac was 8-of-16 for 23 points. But the biggest surprise was Stromile Swift‘s return to action after missing the previous 5 games because of a sprained ankle. Stro’ looked great in scoring 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 6 rebounds and two blocks.
He made all kinds of athletic moves around the basket, including a couple of authoritative dunks and a wild prayer of a shot he jacked up underneath the basket for the score, drawing a nice ‘oooh’ from Yao heading back up the court. Yao said after the game about Stromile:
“He brings a lot of energy. He’s a great cutter. Like today, when the other team double-teams on the post or double-teams (Tracy) McGrady, he cuts very quickly. With his size and the way he can jump, that really helps us.”
So maybe Stromile isn’t on the trading block as rumored. I haven’t been really down on Swift this year like other people have. But I’ll save detailed commentary on him for a different time.
Other than that, the boxscore for the Rockets makes you glad someone like Stromile was able to contribute offensively. Without Yao, T-Mac and Swift playing very well, the Rockets would have lost this game. Here’s why:
Rafer Alston: 2-of-10 FGs for 6 points (but 7 assists)
David Wesley: 1-of-7 FGs, 1-of-4 free throws, 1-of-5 from three-point territory
That’s the second game in a row where the Houston starting guards have struggled offensively. How did they win this game?
Probably because of great defense. Except for Carmelo Anthony, who was unstoppable with 34 points on 12-of-23 shooting, the Rockets held the other Nugget players to 18-of-67 shooting (27%)!
Let’s not forget about Yao, though. Although he barely missed getting another double-double (23 points, 9 rebounds), he arguably had four blocks (only received credit for 3 officially). including a huge block on Andre Miller. In the fourth quarter with about 2:33 remaining, Miller decided to challenge Yao by going strong to the hole and trying to posterize him with a tomahawk jam, but Yao stuffed him at the rim for a huge rejection that got the crowd riled up!
With Friday’s victory, Houston remains four games behind the Lakers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. They next play the team with the third worst record in the league – Portland – on Sunday night after the Lakers play Detroit Saturday night.
If the Rockets play like they did Friday night, look for the Rockets to close within 3 games by late Sunday night and make things very interesting.
John
P.S. As some of you may have noticed, I had the wrong caption under the photo above for several hours. That’s because I got home from my trip around 1:00am, and didn’t finish watching my recording of the game and filing my report until 4:00am. So you can imagine I was dead tired. Man, I wish this blog could be my full-time job.
To see the boxscore from the game, click here.
To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.