Yao Ming watches pre-game festivities of Game 1 of the Jazz-Rockets series on the Toyota Center big screen Saturday night in Houston. To see another photo of Yao in street clothes at the game, click here (updated with more photos 11:45am Central time).

With two starters out of their lineup (Yao and Rafer Alston), the Rockets were going to need an almost perfect game and at least 1 or 2 guys off the bench to step up and win Game 1 vs. the Jazz in Houston.

None of that happened as Utah bolted away late in the third and early in the fourth quarter to easily beat Houston 93-82.

There were several reasons why the Rockets lost this game, and no one can blame Tracy McGrady for all of it:

• The Rockets were killed on the offensive boards in the first half which put them in a big double-digit deficit. The Jazz had 7 offensive boards in the first quarter and 11 by halftime. It was like all that rebounding help the Rockets got after last season (Luis Scola, Carl Landry) didn’t make a bit of difference.

• Many missed shots around the rim against a scrapping Jazz defense down deep in the paint. Rick Adelman lamented after the game, “We didn’t finish all night long.”

• Too many missed free throws. 18-of-29 for 62% is NOT going to get it done.

• Alston’s replacement, Bobby Jackson, struggled mightily from the floor (3-of-15 shooting, including easy ones missed around the basket).

• Just not enough offense. They had only 67 points midway through the fourth quarter. That and their 36.7% shooting is not going to cut it. Neither will 6-of-22 shooting from 3-point territory.

• As Adelman and McGrady said after the game, after McGrady would pass out of a double-team, the guys who got the ball didn’t attack the Jazz defense like their game plan had dictated.

Although McGrady only shot 7-of-21 from the floor (20 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds), I think several of those missed shots occurred when McGrady had to put it on himself in the fourth quarter to be the only scoring option since everyone else was struggling. Double-teamed most of the time in the second half, he only made 2-of-10 shots in the second half. No one else in the fourth quarter really made the Jazz pay for those double-teams to make a real difference.

Overall, McGrady played a decent, smart game by showing determination in attacking the rim and taking higher percentage jumpers when the defense allowed it.

Scola (14 points on 6-of-15 shooting, 2 steals) was active, and you can tell he will continue to give the Jazz problems in this series like no Houston power forward did to them last season. He along with McGrady are the two guys that Utah has to fear. The jury is still out on Landry (1-of-4 for four points, including missed shots and getting blocked once around the rim). I still think he can be a terror for Utah to handle, but he needs a lane to the basket so he can get a running start for dunks, not just go straight up from a standstill where it’s easier for the Jazz to block his shot.

I was thinking Aaron Brooks (1-of-7 for 5 points) or Steve Novak (0 points) or Landry had to step up for them to win, and it didn’t happen.

But the free throws, people. C’mon! That’s another area where the Rockets miss Yao so much. If Yao had been getting fouled in the paint, he would have been getting most of the foul shots and would have been knocking down 90% of them.

In the meantime, the Rockets couldn’t stop Andrei Kirilinko, who surprisingly abused Shane Battier on defense shooting 8-of-12 shots for 21 points. Carlos Boozer (20 points on 10-of-20 shooting) said after the game that Kirilinko was the MVP of the game. If Battier hadn’t been aggressive on offense, which was nice to see, it would have been a lot worse. It’s just too bad he didn’t take more shots, because he hit all 7 of his attempts, including 4-of-4 from 3-point land, for 21 points.

Overall, Houston’s bench was outclassed, making only 5-of-18 for 17 points while Utah’s bench hit 11-of-18 shots for 28 points. Without Landry getting something like 7-of-9 shooting performances we were used to seeing during the 22-game winning streak or Steve Novak hitting several 3-pointers, the Houston bench will continue to be outdone in this series.

The Rockets had some decent stretches where you thought they were going to pull this game out, like with Scola’s hustle on defense and his fearlessness in attacking the rim. But they just didn’t have enough horsepower. Without Alston and Yao in there, they were just out-manned, and that will continue to be the case unless there’s a dramatic change, like 1 or 2 Utah starters getting hurt, or the Rockets playing like they did during their 22-game winning streak.

I can tell you that Luther Head didn’t pass the first litmus test of what I believe will determine his future with the Rockets in the off-season. He threw a bad pass to no one for a turnover and mishandled an easy pass for a layup, but he did show some moxie by coming back a few seconds later to attack the rim and score a layup.

The Rockets also made too many mental mistakes. Here are some of the ones that just killed them:

* Chuck Hayes letting an easy rebound from a missed free throw slip through his fingers, which resulted in the Jazz scoring to make it 32-20 with 9:26 remaining. There is no excuse for that. It looked like a Keystone Cop kind of rebound attempt. He also failed to catch a pass from McGrady underneath the rim for an easy layup, dropping the ball out of bounds for a turnover.

* Dikembe Mutombo having a foot out of bounds while catching a pass underneath the basket that resulted in a layup that was waved off. He also was blocked a couple of times after grabbing offensive boards. Although he’s a great rebounder, it’s not that difficult for the defense to react to him once he takes the ball up to the rack while in traffic. Not to harp too much on Deke, though, he did have 3 blocks.

* Bobby Jackson turning the ball over on a double-dribble when he was just dribbling the ball up the court. He also mishandled a wide fast break pass at the end of the second quarter that was going to be an easy layup to cut the deficit to 47-43.

* Letting Kyle Korver get two wide open 3-pointers at the end of the third quarter to widen a close 61-59 game to 67-59.

About the only thing that was good Saturday night was seeing Yao in his suit and tie on the bench, and not having to listen to Houston announcer Clyde Drexler since ESPN carried the game. So now I can completely avoid listening to Drexler’s boring overstatements through the end of the playoffs. Yay! I will miss play-by-play man Bill Worrell‘s call, though.

So the Rockets have a must-win game Monday night. If they lose that game, this series is over. But rather than put all that pressure on themselves and tighten up like they showed Saturday night, I think they have to change their mindset and just think that they have nothing to lose and just start stroking the ball more freely.

Hopefully Adelman, who was hired by the franchise in part for all the success he has had in the playoffs, can say those magical words necessary to make them believe they can still win this series. If he doesn’t, then the Rockets will be mentally defeated and already be thinking about what life will be like next year when Yao returns. That’s the kind of thought you have to block out of your mind or else this series is over right now.

By the way, I plan on Sunday to spend more time working on posting some notes and multimedia from the Yao roast-and-toast held Thursday night. There’s so much of it to go through, I’m want to just come up with the most interesting stuff.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 at 12:47 am and is filed under 2008 NBA playoffs, vs. Utah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.