Yao Ming shoots over Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko in a game where Yao struggled offensively with 11 points on 5-of-14 shooting, but he had a great defensive game to help get payback against Utah in a 106-95 win. Click here to see more photos from the game.

Even though Tracy McGrady came out and said before Thursday’s game in Utah that it was just another game, it didn’t appear that way from my perspective. He seemed to be very active on offense from the get-go, and actually started out playing like he was on a vengeance (kind of rare, if you ask me), hitting his first two shots of the game.

With the extra energy he had, it was like he wanted to show that last year’s Game 7 collapse against Utah — and his disappearing act late in that game — was a different McGrady on a very different team.

McGrady started off hot and kept it going, finishing with 47 points on 17-of-27 shooting in one of his best performances in awhile, keeping the Jazz at bay in a 106-95 win. It’s clear he’s playing with a lot more confidence compared to last season when he started off so cold shooting from the field. At this rate, he’s a cinch to win NBA Player of the Week if he plays halfway decent on Saturday night when Houston plays their home opener against Portland.

As great as McGrady was on this night, Yao Ming was the opposite. He hardly hit any of his shot attempts (5-of-14 for 11 points), but at least he was able to turn it on with some big shots in the fourth quarter. He actually played better on defense than on offense, getting 5 blocks and two steals. Yao might have been a step slow defensively in that series against the Jazz last season due to his leg injury, but you couldn’t tell he was laboring defensively in this game with defensive stats like those.

I don’t know what the deal was with Yao on offense, though. Perhaps it was the Salt Lake City altitude that might have winded him earlier than normal. But it was not a good game for him, and I’ll be the first one to call him out that he’s got to be more consistent now that he has more offensive weapons around him that can help spread out the defense. With less players clogging the lane, he can get it more easily in the paint, and really go one-on-one with those jump hooks instead of fighting double-teams.

He seemed to rush many of the shots he missed, which were mainly jump hooks in the lane. After missing 1-of-7 shots, Yao finally got it going in the third quarter when he tipped a rebound to himself, went up strong to secure the board, and laid it in to make it 70-61, Rockets.

On the next possession, Yao grabbed a defensive board and threw a perfect outlet pass to a streaking McGrady down the court, who was fouled. McGrady made 1-of-2 free throws to give the Rockets a 71-61 lead.

Right after those two plays, Yao hit a baseline jumper which hit nothing but the bottom of the net. But then right after these 3 great plays by Yao, he dribbled it off his foot for a turnover, and on the next possession he was stripped of the ball when he made a move into the paint. Overall, it was just not his night.

But later Yao would redeem himself by blocking Boozer as he went to the basket, and this block led directly to an alley-oop from Mike James to McGrady for a dunk. That bucket gave the Rockets a 75-63 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Yao would finally get a hook shot to fall in the lane, giving the Rockets a 94-87 lead with 3:42 remaining. Then he would score down low for a layup to make it 100-91 after a great assist from McGrady, who found him deep in the lane against one-on-one coverage.

Last year getting a big game from McGrady wasn’t always going to be enough to win. If Yao struggled, it was hard for anyone else to come up with enough points. Not this year.

The bench delivers

Down in the game 20-8 with Yao in foul trouble, the new cavalry came into the game in the form of Luis Scola (replacing Yao), Mike James, and Bonzi Wells to show Utah they can’t take much of a break once McGrady or Yao exit the game.

Scola immediately made his impact, stealing the ball from Mehmet Okur on two consecutive possessions. Scola’s tenacity on defense must have surprised Okur, which I admit was fun to watch Okur suffer.

On Scola’s second steal, which was a strip of the ball from Okur as he made a move to the basket, that play resulted in a 3-on-1 fast break for the Rockets the other way, leading to a Rafer Alston layup, and the “And-1” after getting fouled.

The Rockets didn’t let the hot starting Jazz run way with it. McGrady kept it close by taking it to the hole with authority for another score, then made another jumper the next time down. A couple minutes later McGrady hit a three-pointer that found nothing but nylon. Those baskets were sandwiched around a Mike James three-pointer, which all helped the Rockets stop the bleeding, and they trailed only 29-19 entering the second quarter.

The Rockets kept clawing their way back into the game to make it 29-29 after Bonzi Wells hit a rainbow jumper that almost touched the rafters before ripping through the net.

However, on the next possession, Yao picked up his third foul after a terrible call by the refs where they called him for setting a moving pick after dropping the ball off to a cutting Rafer Alston who scored on a layup. It was a bogus call that got the Houston bench off their feet in disbelief.

That ‘foul’ by Yao would bring Luis Scola into the game once again, and Scola delivered with a jumper, then a rebound in which he scored, and was fouled for the “And-1.” The next possession, Mike James hit a jump shot to make it 38-35.

At that point, the “new power generation” coming from the Rockets bench outscored the Jazz 16-5. It wouldn’t be easy as the Jazz continued to fight and claw to close within 5 points in the fourth quarter, staving off my biggest fear of another Rockets’ meltdown. But the Rockets hung on for the win to go 2-0, which many people didn’t think would be possible after going West on the road for their first two games of the season.

Beyond McGrady, one of the other reasons was because the Houston bench was outstanding, outscoring the Jazz 30-13 to end the game. Man, what a difference a year makes.

Honorable mentions

Mike James was awesome for the second straight game, scoring 15 points on 3-of-6 shooting, 8-of-9 from the free throw lane, dishing out 7 assists and getting two steals. He’s playing so well at the backup point, you just can’t expect Luther Head, Steve Francis, and Aaron Brooks to get much playing time behind him.

I also have to give props to Chuck Hayes for 13 boards, 3 assists and a block. He played outstanding individual defense, drawing a charge, getting a steal, and being active on the boards. I have dinged him in the past for bad defense, but I should have clarified that it’s mainly when he’s in a team defense situation where he doesn’t seem to be paying attention (like when he left Carlos Boozer open for a layup, getting crossed-up with Luis Scola). When Hayes mans up against his opponent, he actually seems to be pretty good.

The Rockets turned the ball over much less in this game compared to the Laker game on Tuesday, turning it over only 14 times. However, a whopping 6 of them were committed by Yao (some of those came on offensive fouls). Yao has some work to do still.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2007 at 2:25 am and is filed under vs. Utah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.