As I mentioned early this morning in my last post, I was able to capture a few things that you might, and might not, have observed through all the different media reports coming out of Toyota Center after the Rockets victory over the Jazz in Game 1.

First, if you didn’t know it, you can watch Jeff Van Gundy‘s post-game news conference for home games by going to Rockets.com. Here’s the video link for last night’s JVG conference, or if you want to read some of the noteworthy snippets from the conference, here are some of them:

* When asked what got T-Mac going in the second half, JVG first responded simply, “Tracy.” Then JVG later said, “Sometimes, when you want something so bad, it works against you a little bit. I think that’s what happened with him in the first half.”

* It looked like JVG was upset with a guy in the interview room behind me was finishing up a cellphone call (very quietly I might add). He looked at him seriously and asked, “You got a call?” then broke the tension by saying he was just joking with him.

* Commenting (and joking) on Utah’s 52.9% free throw shooting: “We defended the free throw really well tonight.”

* Speaking of the Rockets’ shaky play in the first half, “When the intensity rose, instead of doing what we do, we were scattered and frantic, and that’s a by-product of very good defense on Utah’s part, and some things we felt we could do better.”

“We actually would like to play a little quicker. In the first half, we were so discombobulated and so scattered, they had us all over the place. I didn’t even recognize what we were doing, and we were fortunate to only be down 9 at half.”

* “We obviously don’t want Yao out there on the three-point line with Okur.”

* On Rafer Alston‘s performance (9 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals in 46 minutes): “I thought Rafer was really good tonight defending…playing so many minutes. I think he did a great job.”

* On the play where Derek Fisher missed a layup and Yao converted the mistake into a dunk on the other end, JVG said “We got rewarded for poor play. Yao didn’t run back…Sometimes it is luck. We got lucky on that one…We got some good breaks tonight.”

* On T-Mac’s shaky start shooting 0-for-6 from the field in the first half: “There is an energy factor that he has to pace himself a little bit when you’re asking so much from the offensive end.”

In Jerry Sloan‘s press conference, I was very impressed with him that I thought I would be for such a tough-minded coach who has a feisty reputation. He was very professional, and downright pleasant, in answering questions after a tough loss.

Among other things, Sloan said, “We’ve got to try to get the ball out of his (McGrady’s) hands and we didn’t seem to have the desire to want to make that work. We’ve got a young team, and they’ve got to learn that, and in this type of game, you can’t lose your ability to compete and we went through a stage where we lost our ability to compete.”

“We have to play a full 48 minutes. We can’t have a quarter like we did where we were missing free throws and missing open jump shots.”

But while writing this post entry, I discovered that Rockets.com does a good job transcribing a lot of the quotes from the locker room and interview area. So rather than re-invent the wheel, I’ll direct you to this page if you want to read more quotes, especially from Yao.

Yao’s locker spot was the most crowded of any other player. That’s because T-Mac provided his comments in the interview room. There must have been 10 Chinese or Asian-American reporters waiting for him, so it was hard to get through and get good audio from him, or even ask a question. And Yao traditionally takes more time to get to his locker than anyone else, I think because he either lifts weights or gets some treatment.

The first few questions Yao answered were in English, with the majority of it being conducted in Chinese.

Instead, I’ll focus on observations and quotes that I know either you haven’t see anywhere else, or was lightly reported, like…

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Yao blocks the shot of Mehmet Okur Saturday night in an 84-75 victory over the Utah Jazz. Yao led all scorers with 28 points and 13 rebounds. Click here for more photos from the game. Click here for photos of Yao & T-Mac getting ready for the game. Click here for photos from Yao’s pregame shootaround.

I was lucky enough to go to Game 1 of the Rockets-Jazz series in Houston. Since many of you may have seen the game on ESPN, streamed online, or many of the highlights by now, I won’t go into a ton of details about the game. Instead, I’ll focus on some of the things you might have missed by not being at the arena.

And tomorrow (Sunday), I will post another blog entry with some of the comments and observations I gathered from the interview areas that you might not be able to read or see anywhere else (it’s so late, I don’t have enough time to do it tonight).

So let’s get things started…I don’t know if the Rockets do this before every game, or just the playoff games. But right before the pregame warmup drills, they showed on the big screen the Rockets in their huddle just outside the locker room area before they run out on the court.

That was cool to see because the fans got a chance to see the players get hyped up beforehand, and they responded with a roar of anticipation. Then when the players ran on to the court, each one of them had a small, red ball (I assume with a Rockets logo on it) and threw them into the stands as they transitioned directly into their layup drill.

The players never had thrown balls into the stands in past seasons. I had heard the team has done a lot of new and different things this season that was much better than in the past. Even the new public address announcer, who I know Van Gundy likes more than last season’s, got on the mic in the middle of the court before the warm-ups began to get everyone fired up and wave their “Red Rowdy” towels. He has a very impressive, booming voice and did a good job.

The introduction of the players was very well done, with imposing music and inspirational videos of the Rockets played on the screen leading up to the intros. The crowd got amped and the response from them was deafening!

Not only was the crowd’s decibel levels impressive, but I would say over 80% of them were wearing red. I have never seen that before at a Rockets game. It was like a college game the way the fans were all united in one color. They definitely were holding up their end of the bargain in not letting Utah get comfortable.

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