Rockets slide past Clippers — Yao scores 24, grabs 15
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007
by John
Yao makes a spin move to the baseline on the LA Clipppers’ Chris Kaman Wednesday night. Yao finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, including 3 rebounds down the stretch to help seal a close 92-87 victory. Click here for more photos from the game.
The Rockets game against the Clippers Wednesday night was one of the more entertaining games of the season, a 92-87 victory for Houston. But I admit it: if Houston had lost, you would hear me moaning and complaining, and I would NOT be saying it was entertaining.
There were lots of runs by both teams to keep it close whenever you thought one of the teams was going to pull away. Even though he finished shooting below 50% for the game (12-of-30), Tracy McGrady was fantastic, having his way whenever Cuttino Mobley tried to guard him.
In the first quarter alone, T-Mac must have taken Cuttino to the hole 4 different times and scored on him each time. As T-Mac would say, “my man was at my mercy.” He just blew by him, and continued to do it. And Mobley is a pretty good defender. Just goes to show how dominant T-Mac can be.
Houston got off to a hot start in that first quarter by taking a 17-9 lead, with T-Mac scoring 8 of those points. But then the Clippers went on a 20-4 run to hold a 29-21 lead after the first quarter.
Then early in the second quarter, Yao picked up his third foul. But like in a recent game where Yao was burdened by foul trouble early, he stayed in the game and made the most of it. He even got more aggressive offensively and scored the Rockets’ next 8 points by hitting a hook shot, throwing down a dunk, hitting a jump shot, and making two free throws.
That stretch by Yao kept the game from getting away and made it 33-31, Clippers. The jump shot he hit in the middle of that run was a thing of beauty. He did his favorite spin move to the baseline on Chris Kaman, but then stopped his dribble (creating space on Kaman since Yao’s defenders are accustomed to following Yao to the basket), faded away to make the shot unblockable, and drained it. I hadn’t seen that move before from Yao. I guess Yao knows everyone is watching videotape of him on that spin move and is throwing in a new wrinkle to get himself an easier shot.
Yao makes a spin move to the baseline on the LA Clipppers’ Chris Kaman Wednesday night. Yao finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, including 3 rebounds down the stretch to help seal a close 92-87 victory. Click here for more photos from the game.The Rockets game against the Clippers Wednesday night was one of the more entertaining games of the season, a 92-87 victory for Houston. But I admit it: if Houston had lost, you would hear me moaning and complaining, and I would NOT be saying it was entertaining.
There were lots of runs by both teams to keep it close whenever you thought one of the teams was going to pull away. Even though he finished shooting below 50% for the game (12-of-30), Tracy McGrady was fantastic, having his way whenever Cuttino Mobley tried to guard him.
In the first quarter alone, T-Mac must have taken Cuttino to the hole 4 different times and scored on him each time. As T-Mac would say, “my man was at my mercy.” He just blew by him, and continued to do it. And Mobley is a pretty good defender. Just goes to show how dominant T-Mac can be.
Houston got off to a hot start in that first quarter by taking a 17-9 lead, with T-Mac scoring 8 of those points. But then the Clippers went on a 20-4 run to hold a 29-21 lead after the first quarter.
Then early in the second quarter, Yao picked up his third foul. But like in a recent game where Yao was burdened by foul trouble early, he stayed in the game and made the most of it. He even got more aggressive offensively and scored the Rockets’ next 8 points by hitting a hook shot, throwing down a dunk, hitting a jump shot, and making two free throws.
That stretch by Yao kept the game from getting away and made it 33-31, Clippers. The jump shot he hit in the middle of that run was a thing of beauty. He did his favorite spin move to the baseline on Chris Kaman, but then stopped his dribble (creating space on Kaman since Yao’s defenders are accustomed to following Yao to the basket), faded away to make the shot unblockable, and drained it. I hadn’t seen that move before from Yao. I guess Yao knows everyone is watching videotape of him on that spin move and is throwing in a new wrinkle to get himself an easier shot.