I wasn’t able to watch the Rockets lose to the Mavericks 109-06 because I’m out of town right now. Even with the Rockets having won four in a row and 9 of their past 11 games, I knew there was no way the Rockets were going to win against the red hot Mavs. The Rockets have been relying too much on big plays down the stretch to win most of those games against mediocre teams.

Even with a monster game from Tracy McGrady (45 points on 17-of-29 shooting, 7 assists), his teammates provided hardly any help as they mostly watched T-Mac do his thing, including running out of gas late.

Juwan Howard chipped in 16. Rafer Alston (12 points) made 4-of-5 three-pointers, but missed his other 5 shots. And Luther Head was 2-of-10 for 8 points. Shane Battier surprisingly scored only 5. That’s not going to “git ‘r done.”

Meanwhile, Dirk Nowitzki scored 30, Josh Howard poured in 28, and Devean George was the X-factor by hitting 4-of-5 threes for 15 points. I thought Mark Cuban said George’s role was to mainly play defense, and wasn’t being asked to score in the Mavericks’ scheme? When you’ve got a guy like that who can come off your bench and jump-start an offense, it’s tough to beat. Especially when you’ve already got a guy like that in Jerry Stackhouse (13 points, 5-of-10 shooting). Too many weapons.

Also tough to beat will be the 29-8 Phoenix Suns Wednesday night, who aren’t playing a back-to-back like the Rockets are. Looks like it’s going to be another Dallas-Phoenix Western Conference Finals in May.

You gotta love the story line between good friends Dirk and two-time MVP Steve Nash facing off against each other deep in the playoffs for a second straight year.

For more on the loss to the Mavericks, let me refer you to the Houston Chronicle story on the game.

Man, what a crazy game it was Saturday night in Sac-town. I can’t even begin to talk about the details in this one with the limited time I have. So I’ll have to refer you to the Houston Chronicle story about their 115-111 OT win.

T-Mac was much, much better than he has played the past two games. Although he was 12-of-21 from the field, he hit big shots down the stretch and made 10-of-11 free throws for 37 points. Rafer Alston hit 4-of-9 three-pointers for 22. And Dikembe Mutombo had 18 rebounds in workhorse-like 38 minutes.

I guess my overall point is that the Rockets miraculously continue to win despite how much they want to give games away. In their recent history, it used to be the opposite – they would play well but couldn’t close teams out.

I’ll take wins anyway I can get them, especially with Yao out, but you’ve got to think something special is happening this season despite how ugly the wins they are racking up.

Shane Battier is the man. He willed the Rockets to a 90-86 win in what would have been one of their most embarrassing losses of the season Friday night in Denver. The Rockets were sleepwalking through the entire game and failed to put the limping Nuggets away when they should have. In the NBA you can’t just hope another team will give you a game. At some point you’ve got to earn it. If you don’t, your opponent will eventually come back and haunt you.

Forget the fact the Rockets had won 7 of their last 8 games before this game. Other than their blowout win against the Lakers on Wednesday, a lot of their wins have been a result of great defense concealing a mediocre offense (can you say ‘Rafer?’) For the most part, the Rockets have just lollygagged themselves through most of their games offensively, and end up having to make big plays in the fourth quarter to win the majority of the games during their current run. I love clutch plays down the stretch, but you’ve got to win a few games in the third quarter and coast once in awhile.

Everyone thought for sure it would finally catch up with them on Friday night. Denver was pathetic from the field, but the Rockets couldn’t get any separation, settling for shooting and miss jumpers rather than take it to the hole. The only semblance of consistency that kept the Rockets competitive was Luther Head, who hit some shots when the Rockets needed them. Their overall inconsistency finally caught up with them when the Nuggets got hot in the fourth quarter and took a 93-87 lead with 3:59 to go.

That’s when Shane must have said “enough is enough,” and attempted a three-pointer with 3:17 remaining and was fouled. He hit 2 of the 3 free throws to make the score 83-79, then the next possession down hit a 3-pointer to make it 83-82 with 2:49 left. Then caught in a confused offensive possession with a little over 2 minutes remaining, Shane got the ball at the three-point line, took it to the hole and laid in a sweet left-handed layup off the glass for an 84-83 lead with 2:05 remaining. Just like that he got the Rockets back into the game. Then with 46 seconds remaining, he hit another three-pointer to break a tie game and give them a huge 89-86 lead. What a stud. 10 points in 3 ½ minutes in the clutch.

It’s unbelievable how the Rockets pulled this game out, and did NOT do it with Tracy McGrady. T-Mac was lethargic shooting the ball (5-of-17, 12 points), settling for jumper that continued to clang off the rim, and for some reason not taking it to the rack. I was flabbergasted watching him miss 2-of-9 free throws to boot. He made up for it somewhat with 11 assists.

But I love the bravery that Battier showed in the fourth quarter. He obviously sensed Tracy wasn’t going to bail them out this game, and decided to take the game into his own hands since no one else would. Battier finished with 25 points (5-of-9 three-pointers).

After seeing the effect Shane has had on the Rockets this year, it’s obvious he’s not the boring ‘scrub’ a lot of fans thought he was in Memphis. The deal to bring him to Houston for Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift was the steal of the season.

The Rockets continued to shock the league Wednesday night. With Yao out and Tracy McGrady shooting horrendously (4-of-16, 8 points), Houston was still able to blow out the second best shooting (and fifth highest scoring) team in the league, the LA Lakers, 102-77. The Rockets are now 7-2 since Yao’s injury on December 23rd.

On a night like this when you need all the scoring you can get from your role players, it really helps when your starting point guard shoots over 30%. Rafer Alston finally hit a decent percentage, hitting 8-of-19 shots (4-of-9 three-pointers) for 20 points.

Juwan Howard was fantastic, hitting 10-of-20 for 23 points, and grabbing 11 boards. Shane Battier hit 6-of-10 (five 3-pointers) for 17 points. Luther Head was 5-of-11 for 12 points, with a one-handed slam from along the baseline over Ronny Turiaf that was unlike anything I’ve ever seen from him. I didn’t know he had it in him! Either did the crowd, who were on their feet after that slam!

And give credit to T-Mac, who still was effective by finding open guys after penetrating into the lane and dished 12 dimes.

Most inspiring of all was Dikembe Mutombo – the oldest player in the league – showing the youngest player in the league that you can’t mess with him. Andrew Bynum tried to go over Deke for two dunks, and both times he was rejected at the rim. His 5 blocks on Wednesday night moved him past Hakeem and put him in second place on the all-time block list. Oh yeah, he also grabbed a monstrous 19 boards, 7 offensive.

The highly anticipated matchup between Kobe Bryant and T-Mac never really materialized. Kobe only had 20 points on 6-of-18 shooting, and headed to the locker room with 3 minutes remaining to have a strained groin attended to. But the game was long over by then, with Houston pulling away slowly with great shooting by its role players.

This loss by the Lakers was a gut check for them. It was the second game of a back-to-back, having been whipped against one of the worst teams in the league – Memphis – after getting 46 points scored against them in the third quarter to turn a 5-point halftime lead into a 19-point deficit.

Meanwhile, it was a sweet win for Houston, who had lost 5 in a row to the Lakers and are now tied with them for the fifth seed in the Western Conference with a 23-13 record.

It was another pathetic game on Monday night with the Rockets. They were stinking up the place with poor shooting. Rafer Alston missed his first 10 shots, the Rockets had made only 13-of-43 shots (30%) in the first half, missed 14 three-pointers in a row, and had only 30 points to show for it, a season-low.

Luckily Chicago wasn’t shooting much better, scoring only 40 points by halftime. But with 50% team shooting in the third quarter, Tracy McGrady bounced back from a 3-of-10 first half, put the team on his back and scored 25 points in the second half to pull out an improbable win, 84-77.

Ben Gordon was schooling the Rockets in the fourth, and if it hadn’t been for Van Gundy putting Shane Battier on Gprdon defensively instead of Alston, the Bulls would have won this game. The Rockets couldn’t stop Gordon. But after Battier was assigned to him late in the fourth, Shane came up big with two stops late in the game.

Battier is like Kevin Garnett or Bruce Bowen in that he can defend almost anyone of any size. When the Rockets made the trade for him before the draft instead of picking Rudy Gay, everyone said he was being acquired in part because of defensive ability. We all knew that, but it just didn’t sound very exciting at the time, and it’s hard to point to a tangible play where defense wins a game. But in this case, Battier’s defense on Gordon resulted in a true ‘W.’

T-Mac’s performance was nothing short of remarkable. It’s like when the game gets serious in the second half, and especially the fourth quarter, he rises to the occasion, keeps you in the game, and gives you a great chance to win it. He almost was able to do that on Sunday against Minnesota. On Monday, his hitting two three-pointers in a row to make it 63-55 was the separation the Rockets were looking for, and down the stretch he made big shots to win it.

On the flipside, Alston’s 2-of-14 shooting is astounding. I’ve never seen a guy miss so many layups and shots around the basket as this guy. Before the game, Van Gundy was adamant that for the time being, Alston is their guy and nothing is going to happen to replace him. But I’ve got to think that stance can only last so long as Alston continues to miss easy shots. The Rockets won Monday night in spite of him.

Our correspondent in China, Raymond, has translated an article that Wang Meng, a writer for Tom.com who is in Houston tracking Yao’s recovery, wrote as of last Saturday. Thanks for the translation, Raymond!

It was a relaxing Saturday morning. Toyota Center was almost empty without any people. Just the previous night, the Rockets easily put away the Utah Jazz, who had humiliated them in the season opener; Jeff Van Gundy therefore granted every Rocket player a rest day, and all they needed to do was to gather at the airport that afternoon. With self confidence and an easy state of mind, the Rockets started again on one of their back-to-back road trips.

All through the week, except for Sunday when Yao Ming would give himself a holiday (as well as a rest day for his assistant coach and personal trainer), Yao Ming would get out of bed before 09:00am, leave his home around 09:30am, and join the heavy traffic of Houston for Toyota Center. Every day, Yao Ming would spend approximately 4 hours there, going through those training routines that his body could handle in his attempt to grasp every bit of the lost time.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just one day after I wrote that the Rockets definitely still need Yao, my point was driven home hard given the Rockets’ lousy game against Minnesota Sunday afternoon, losing 103-99 in OT.

It was painful to watch Houston launch ill-advised jumpers and bad shots (37% through 3 quarters). Minnesota didn’t shoot much better and only led 71-62 heading into the fourth quarter. That’s when the Rockets woke up, got the pathetically shooting Rafer Alston out of the game (0-for-10 in the 2nd and 3rd quarter), put John Lucas in, got T-Mac going, made Luther Head get more aggressive offensively, and got back into the game to tie the game late in the fourth and force OT.

It looked like the Rockets were going to pull off an improbable win when T-Mac started off OT by hitting a long two, and Juwan Howard hit two jump shots to give Houston a 94-93 lead with 2:24 remaining.

But the rest of the way, the game ended by the Rockets laying bricks…

Steve Novak missed a three
Mark Blount scored on Novak
T-Mac missed a 7-footer
Rafer (back in the game) missed a trey (no surprise there)
T-Mac missed a trey
Luther turned it over

Meanwhile, the T-wolves capitalized on the Rockets crumbling defense, and Minnesota took a game that — if Yao had been it –would have been a different story.

Here were other keys to the loss:

Alston hitting only 4-of-17 shots. Something has GOT to be done. After stinking up the joint, at least Van Gundy played John Lucas 22 minutes, the most number of minutes he has played all season by far. I did a quick calculation of Alston’s shooting percentage over the last 12 games, and it’s an unbelievably bad 31%.

I think I know the Rockets’ front office well enough that they are looking RIGHT NOW to clear the missing-in-action Bob Sura off the roster and bring in someone who can also play PG, as well as give Lucas a few more minutes. There’s probably not much out there, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Rox bring back Casey Jacobsen (I think he could be in Europe), who they reluctantly let go when Sura said he thought he could still play this season. I know it’s not the answer, but at least JVG liked him enough to publicly acknowledge that he had something to offer, which is saying alot for Van Gundy. Thanks, Sura. Were you hanging around Jeff Bagwell the past few months before claiming you thought you could come back?

T-Mac was really off the first three quarters, hitting only 6-of-19 shots (many of them bail-out jumpers) until he woke up and made 4-of-6 in the fourth quarter to bring the Rockets back and send the game to OT.

Kevin Garnett (11-of-24, 26 points, 13 boards), Blount (6-of-12, 21 points, 10 boards), Trenton Hassell (5-of-10, 14 points), and Ricky Davis (6-of-12, 16 points) just killed the Rockets. Without Yao clogging up the middle, the Wolves had their way with the Rockets only getting two blocks all game long. The only thing that made the game close was Mike James making only 3-of-12 shots, but he did have 10 assists – 7 more than Alston. So even on a bad night for James, he still was able to prove he was the wrong man the Rockets said bye-bye to last summer during the free agency period.

On the bright side, Shane Battier made 7-of-12 shots and hit 4-of-7 three-pointers for 20 points. Solid as always. So was Juwan, who was 7-of-14 with 19 points, and Dikembe grabbing 13 boards. And Lucas was 3-of-5 with only one turnover.

All I know is that all the praise the Rockets were getting having won four games in a row without Yao is going to be long forgotten if they lose to Chicago Monday night in a back-to-back.

For those fans who think the Rockets may not need Yao since they have been playing so well without him having won four in a row, I would like to remind them about what happened during the 1990-91 season that is strikingly similar to what is happening now.

On January 3rd of that season (compared to December 23rd for Yao), Hakeem Olajuwon received an ‘accidental’ Bill Cartwright elbow around the left eye that broke the bones around it. That injury sidelined Hakeem for 25 games, taking him all the way to the end of February before he could return (sound familiar?).

Everyone thought that injury would doom the Rockets, who were a respectable 16-13 at the time.

Instead, with an old veteran and rebounding specialist (sound familiar?) like Larry “Mr. Mean” Smith putting up astronomical rebounding numbers, and role players like Kenny Smith, Vernon Maxwell, David Wood, Otis Thorpe, and Buck Johnson stepping up, the Rockets put together a shockingly nice run of games (sound familiar?). During that stretch of 25 games while Hakeem was out, the Rockets at one point won 11-of-14 games, and were 16-9 overall.

I remember during that surprisingly nice stretch of wins, many fans were asking if Hakeem was really that important to the team after all? Perhaps by the offense revolving around him so much, and his being parked in the low post all the time, maybe he was creating too much stagnation in the offense? Or perhaps the other players’ talents didn’t have a chance to come out since they relied too much on Hakeem to do his thing down low? Now with Hakeem out of the picture, they had a chance to emerge from his shadow, and they were better off without him, right?

I have to admit I was wondering the same thing. Back then everyone knew Hakeem was a great player, but it was before he had shown he could really win a championship, which he proved in 1994 and 1995 he could do. There were also a few questions about his overall ability to win and lead. And he had a few run-ins with the Houston front office questioning his work ethic (if you can believe that). I remember anxiously waiting upon The Dream’s return to see if he would disrupt the chemistry that the other players had developed with him out of the lineup.

Well, everything turned out better than expected when Hakeem came back. After his return, the Rockets ended up winning 13 games in a row, and pushed their 32-23 record to 52-30.

I think the main reason for their success that season was because everyone else had a chance to get some playing time while Hakeem was out, and that bench strength really helped them down the stretch when the rest of the teams in the league were starting to fatigue from the always grueling NBA schedule.

Not to say this season’s Rocket team will do the same, but history does have a way of repeating itself considering we’re talking about two very similar big men like Dream and Yao who are just dominant offensively. On top of that, this year’s Rocket team has an advantage over that 1991 version – they have another superstar in Tracy McGrady who can carry the load (when healthy) for when Yao or the role players have an off night.

Meanwhile, the Rocket players today are sharpening their skills while Yao is out, but they can only go so far without him. Dikembe can’t continue to play long minutes like he has been doing at his age. T-Mac won’t always score 30+ points. Juwan Howard will have bad shooting nights, as will Rafer Alston (too many of those lately). The three-pointers won’t always fall. The Rockets won’t turn the ball over less than 10 times a game each game. And they are going to play much tougher opponents during their next stretch of games, like the following:

Sunday – at Minnesota
Monday – at Chicago
Wednesday – vs. LA Lakers
Friday – at Denver
Saturday – at Sacramento
Jan. 16th – at Dallas
Jan. 17th – vs. Phoenix
Jan. 20th – vs. Denver

So no matter how tempting it may be for the people (e.g. national media) to say the Rockets don’t need Yao because they are 5-1 in games since he hasn’t played, they will be even better with him. Especially if you account for Van Gundy‘s ability to work the lineup so that the players on the floor compliment and mesh with each other to the best degree possible.

Rocket players continue to honor and respect Yao while he is out of the lineup, keeping his spot open during pre-game fesitivities. A few minutes later, the Rockets got off to a fast start thanks to Tracy McGrady’s aggressiveness, and they never looked back, beating a very good Utah Jazz team 100-86. Click here for more photos from the game.

The Dallas Mavericks are getting all the publicity, having won their 13th game in a row on national TV against San Antonio Friday night. Meanwhile, the Rockets are quietly humming along, beating a very good Utah Jazz team at Toyota Center Friday night, 100-86.

That’s okay with me. Let’s let Dallas, San Antonio, and Phoenix get all the pub and have everyone overlook the Rockets. Remember what happened with Miami last year when they flew under the radar for most of the season – just like the Rockets are doing – and shocked the world by winning a ring?

T-Mac was amazing once again, scoring the most number of points he has scored in Houston as a Rocket: 44 points, along with 9 boards. That’s his fourth game in a row with 30+ points. Absolutely no one expected McGrady to be this dominant after coming off the injured list from back spasms.

He was aggressive all game long, taking it to the basket every chance he could, it seems. He just knew that to beat a good 23-9 team like the Jazz, they were going to have to do something different to keep them on their heels. He started off the first quarter propelling the Rockets to an incredible 18-3 lead, scoring 17 in the first. He followed it up with 10 in the second, 8 in the third, and 9 in the fourth. And he had only one turnover all game long.

That was another key to this game: the Rockets turning it over only 7 times! And four of those were from one player – Juwan Howard, who didn’t have a good shooting night (3-of-11).

But Dikembe Mutombo had his back on the front line, racking up 19 boards (8 of them on the offensive glass) while playing a season-high 36 minutes.

Rafer Alston continued to struggle from the field, hitting only 5-of-17 shots and bringing the team FG% down to 41.5%. But the Rockets traditionally strong defense held the Jazz to only 40% shooting, and they outrebounded a very good rebounding team 48-43.

Alston is still attacking the basket, which is good to see, but he’s not making those running tear-drop shots he was making earlier in the season. He missed several of those Friday night, and if he hadn’t hit a surprising 4-of-9 from three-point land, his FG% would have been even worse.

So the Rockets have now won five in a row and are 5-1 since Yao’s injury. Many people may be thinking that Yao is overrated and/or the Rockets don’t need him after all, or that he could disrupt the chemistry that the team is currently developing when he returns. But I’ll have something to say about that in my next blog post.

I have been out sick with a cold and bad cough, so I wasn’t able to watch the Rockets-Sonics game on Wednesday night. It looks like I missed a great performance by Tracy McGrady, who scored 31 points to help beat Seattle 103-96.

It was the Rockets fourth straight win since Yao went out with his fractured tibia, and T-Mac’s third straight game with 30 or more points. It looks like he’s determined to get to the basket and be aggressive as shown by his 11-of-21 shooting from the field, and hitting 3-of-6 from three-point land. He also chipped in a team-high 7 assists and six boards.

I’m sorry I can’t provide much other commentary. I’m pretty wiped out and need to get some rest.