Portland puts away Rockets with Yao and T-Mac sidelined with back issues
Friday, April 6th, 2007
by John
In the top photo, Yao speaks with Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy in a session on Friday before their game against Portland later that night. It was decided later that Yao should sit out the game because of some type of contact he received during Wednesday night’s game against Golden State that hurt his back.
During Friday’s game, Yao joins T-Mac in the training room while their teammates played without them against Portland. The Blazers ended up beating Houston without Yao and T-Mac in the lineup, a significant blow to Houston’s hopes to catch the Utah Jazz for home court advantage during their first round playoff series. Click here for more photos of Yao and Van Gundy in their gameday session. Click here for more photos taken during the game.
What a frustrating game Friday night against the Trailblazers. Houston had all kinds of chances to beat a young, sub-500 team like Portland, and to do it on a night when Utah left the door open for the Rockets to get closer to the Jazz for home court advantage. Utah had a 5-point lead against Sacramento Friday night with 3 minutes to play, but they still managed to lose.
In the Rockets game against Portland, Yao and T-Mac played it safe by sitting out the game because of back issues, and the rest of the Houston veterans couldn’t beat a relatively inexperienced Portland team, losing 85-78, which is the Rockets’ third home game in a row to lose!
You can just about kiss goodbye any chance of the Rockets getting home court advantage against the Jazz now. They have blown all kinds of chances this week, losing to Utah and Golden State. But I guess it’s no surprise since the Rockets are 1-11 when both Yao and T-Mac don’t play.
The Rockets started off terribly Friday night, getting down 17-4 after Portland went on a 15-0 run. The Rockets made something like two of their first 13 or 14 shots, and turned the ball over 5 times in the first few minutes of the first quarter.
Houston ended up shooting only 30% in that first quarter and trailed 23-14 heading into the second quarter, and was still behind 40-33 at halftime. The deficit could have been much less if Dikembe Mutombo hadn’t blown a layup right before the halftime buzzer, and 4 other layups had not been missed by his teammates earlier in the half.
You just can’t blow easy shots like that. That is the difference between the Rockets and other teams – Yao and T-Mac are superior to most of their counterparts, but after that, there is a big drop-off in talent level, except for maybe Shane Battier.
In the top photo, Yao speaks with Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy in a session on Friday before their game against Portland later that night. It was decided later that Yao should sit out the game because of some type of contact he received during Wednesday night’s game against Golden State that hurt his back.
During Friday’s game, Yao joins T-Mac in the training room while their teammates played without them against Portland. The Blazers ended up beating Houston without Yao and T-Mac in the lineup, a significant blow to Houston’s hopes to catch the Utah Jazz for home court advantage during their first round playoff series. Click here for more photos of Yao and Van Gundy in their gameday session. Click here for more photos taken during the game.
What a frustrating game Friday night against the Trailblazers. Houston had all kinds of chances to beat a young, sub-500 team like Portland, and to do it on a night when Utah left the door open for the Rockets to get closer to the Jazz for home court advantage. Utah had a 5-point lead against Sacramento Friday night with 3 minutes to play, but they still managed to lose.
In the Rockets game against Portland, Yao and T-Mac played it safe by sitting out the game because of back issues, and the rest of the Houston veterans couldn’t beat a relatively inexperienced Portland team, losing 85-78, which is the Rockets’ third home game in a row to lose!
You can just about kiss goodbye any chance of the Rockets getting home court advantage against the Jazz now. They have blown all kinds of chances this week, losing to Utah and Golden State. But I guess it’s no surprise since the Rockets are 1-11 when both Yao and T-Mac don’t play.
The Rockets started off terribly Friday night, getting down 17-4 after Portland went on a 15-0 run. The Rockets made something like two of their first 13 or 14 shots, and turned the ball over 5 times in the first few minutes of the first quarter.
Houston ended up shooting only 30% in that first quarter and trailed 23-14 heading into the second quarter, and was still behind 40-33 at halftime. The deficit could have been much less if Dikembe Mutombo hadn’t blown a layup right before the halftime buzzer, and 4 other layups had not been missed by his teammates earlier in the half.
You just can’t blow easy shots like that. That is the difference between the Rockets and other teams – Yao and T-Mac are superior to most of their counterparts, but after that, there is a big drop-off in talent level, except for maybe Shane Battier.
