Jazz jolt Rockets again to tie series 2-2
April 29th, 2007by John
Yao’s face during the fourth quarter tells it all. The Rockets were blown out again in the third quarter of Game 4 against Utah, so Yao and T-Mac were pulled out of the game in the fourth quarter as a precaution. Houston ultimately lost 98-85, and head to Toyota Center for Game 5 on Monday night. Will the Rockets be able to bounce back? Click here to see more photos from the game.Boy, there are so many things to say after Saturday night’s disaster in Utah for the Rockets. Most of you on Saturday night probably have already seen (or read about) the 98-85 Game 4 debacle that has tied the Rockets-Jazz series up at 2-2, so I won’t go into the gory details. At the same time, I’ll try to refrain from ranting too much or I might say something I’ll regret later.
My emotions are all over the place. However, here are a few sound bites going on in my brain at the moment, from light optimism to severe pessimism, like…
“The series is not over.”
“Home court advantage still means something.”
“What a waste of jet fuel used to take the Rockets’ charter to Salt Lake.”
“Can I get those 2 1/2 hours of my life back?”
“No heart.”
“What a bad time for the Rockets’ respectable defense to disappear. Where’d it go in Game 4?”
“The lack of a bench is all on how JVG failed to cultivate his younger players.”
“What was it I heard from a few Rocket fans a year ago saying the Rockets don’t need a scoring point guard (e.g., Mike James) because T-Mac should be the scorer in the backcourt? Even a struggling James would be better than what we’ve had this year.”
“T-Mac didn’t step up. Maybe he’s overrated after all.”
“How could the Rockets take their foot off the Jazz jugular – a team that was in disarray and lost so many games at the end of the season — and let them back in this series?”
“If the Rockets lose this series, JVG will not be asked to return, and for good reason.”
“Is Larry Brown on Les Alexander’s speed dial yet?”
“Juwan Howard (and several others) could be playing for his 2007-08 Rockets’ job Monday night, because if they lose Game 5 in Houston, the series is most likely over. No way they can win in Utah.”
“If they lose this series, T-Mac could be traded (especially because of his fragile back that can give out at anytime) and this team will be dismantled except for Yao.”
“I’m glad I didn’t buy put a deposit down for next year’s season tickets in order to get playoff tickets this year.”
I can take two losses in a row in Utah, but the way the Rockets lost Saturday night in such an important game is inexcusable. There just seemed to be no effort in the pivotal third quarter where they were outscored 33-17, and 64-41 in the second and third together. They blinked in the face of pressure.
My earlier fear I wrote about a couple days ago of Juwan not hitting his jump shot is becoming an absolute nightmare. Take out the garbage baskets he had in the fourth quarter, and he was 0-for-5…again. Unlike two seasons ago, it looked like he may have peaked too early this season.
Through 3 quarters when the Rockets got blown out and Utah held a 21-point lead, the Rockets’ bench only scored 8 points. Luther Head had 6 of them.
I am dumbfounded how much Luther has disappeared in this series. The main thing I think that’s making it difficult for Luther is that T-Mac is not able to get into the lane and kick it out to find him for open 3-pointers like he did so well during the regular season. The offense is completely out-of-whack, and is buckling under the Utah pressure. That’s a coaching issue as well as a T-Mac issue.
There were some bad calls against Yao that pissed me off, but it didn’t really have much of a bearing since the Rockets’ overall play was so bad in the third quarter.
For the record, Yao scored 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting. He also had 9 boards. He played better than Game 3 since he turned the ball over only 5 times this time around instead of eight (do you sense some sarcasm in my tone?). He also blew an easy put-back early in the third that could have stopped some of the momentum Utah was building. But really, Yao was the only thing the Rockets had going as T-Mac did hardly anything. T-Mac finished with 18 points (4-of-10 in the first half, 2-of-8 in the second half).
Rafer Alston got off to a good start, hitting 3-of-5 in the first quarter to score 7 points. I was thinking, “Finally. Yao and T-Mac are getting some help.” Alston also had 7 rebounds at halftime, which led the team. As Van Gundy would say later, that’s pretty sad when your point guard is leading the team in rebounding at halftime. But Rafer only scored 5 the rest of the way, putting up ill-advised jumpers that everyone knows he’s not good at hitting. Mike James, where are you?
The Rockets had their chances, only trailing by 5 at halftime. But for some reason with 5 seconds remaining before the halftime break, the Rockets inbounced the ball to T-Mac, and he just nonchalantly dribbled it slowly up the floor with no sense of urgency to get a good shot at the basket. He was out to lunch on that one. Indicative of his night. Superstars usually have their head in the game at all times.
As you know by now, Deron Williams absolutely killed the Rockets, getting to the basket at will on Alston’s defense and hitting jumper after jumper to score 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting. There was a reason he was the third pick in the 2005 NBA draft. And yet again, the Rockets struggled in defending a quick point guard just like they did all season long with the likes of Chris Paul and Steve Nash, just to name a few.
On the other hand, Williams’ former Illinois teammate Luther Head blew an easy layup in the second quarter, and was involved in that terrible fast break at the end of the third with Alston where Derek Fisher tipped the ball away on the last of one-too-many passes between Head and Alston. After deflecting the pass that would have been a sure layup for one of the “fast break challenged” Houston guards, Fisher retrieved the ball and passed it up-court to Gordon Giracek for a three-pointer at the buzzer which broke the Rockets’ backs. It was a five-point turnaround where the Rockets could have cut the deficit to 16 points heading into the fourth quarter, but instead it put Utah up 21 points.
The Jazz got to the line 13 times more than the Rockets in this game, and scored 11 more points from the charity stripe than Houston. They outhustled the Rockets and were more aggressive to draw fouls. This was easy to predict before the series shifted to Salt Lake since the home team always gets more fouls called their way, maybe partly due to the home team hustling more.
In closing, even if the Rockets beat the Jazz, there is no way they can beat Phoenix, Golden State, Dallas, or San Antonio with the way they are playing right now or how this team has been constructed. In order to even have a chance, Yao and every other Rocket will need to play better…obviously. But most importantly, the only chance they have is if T-Mac puts on a Herculean effort like Dwyane Wade did last year by carrying Miami on his back for a ring. But I don’t think that’s going to happen because I don’t think T-Mac has the ability to do that game after game like Wade did last year. He’s just not that consistent.
In addition, this Houston team hasn’t been built to win a ring like Phoenix where the top 8 players can all score and beat you in many ways, or like the top 3 players in San Antonio or Dallas can do.