Losing 111-94 Sunday night in Denver, it’s unbelievable how badly the Rockets stunk in such a big game. With San Antonio’s loss against the Lakers Sunday afternoon, did anyone tell the Rockets they were only 1 game behind the Lakers, and with a win could be only ½ game behind LA for first in the West?

It certainly didn’t look like it. They laid an egg in one of their biggest games of the season (at least if you consider getting the first seed in the conference a big deal, which the Rockets obviously didn’t). Their performance in such a big game reminded me of that 40-point blowout against the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 of their playoff series 3 seasons ago.

Maybe there is some legitimacy after all behind the notion that all the other Western Conference teams want to match up against the Rockets in the first round of the playoffs.

This was a disgrace of a performance. If the Rockets are going to play this way in such a big game, you can just about predict what the outcome will be in a 7-game series against any other team in this year’s playoffs.

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Tracy McGrady takes it strong to the hole for a jam after blowing by Denver’s Eduardo Najera (not pictured) in the first quarter Sunday night. In Yao Ming’s absence, Tracy McGrady led all scorers with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in one of his finest games of the season. The Rockets beat the Nuggets for their 15th game in a row, which ties a franchise record. Click here for more photos from the game.

I am almost out of adjectives to describe how well the Rockets are playing and continuing to improve, even as they keep winning.

Victorious for the 15th straight time Sunday night against a decent Denver Nugget team fighting for playoff position, you just have to savor what we’re witnessing and realize that it may be a very long time until we see something like this happen again (maybe another 14 years?).

It’s one thing to SAY it, but it’s another to SEE it as represented in the standings below…note how Houston’s streak stands out from all the other Western Conference team’s streaks, as well as being ahead of Phoenix and Dallas (barely) for 5th place in the West (for now). When is the last time you saw that?

Sure, the Rockets have benefited the past few weeks to have played 12 of their last 15 games against cupcakes, but they deserve it since they played such a tough schedule at the beginning of the season. A little bit of luck has been involved in scraping out victories against Seattle and Sacramento during this stretch, but you’ve got to hand it to them for beating good teams like Golden State, New Orleans and Denver. Later this month is when the schedule gets much tougher again, so savor this streak while you can.

During their run, they have continued to get better with everyone raising their game, especially in the last 3 games with Yao Ming out because of his injury. [Note: Yao wasn’t at Toyota Center during the game because of the early morning surgery he’ll have on his foot Monday morning].

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Yao Ming calmly shoots a second free throw that gives the Rockets a one-point lead in double-overtime against the Denver Nuggets, but the Rockets lost the game a couple of minutes later on a last second shot by Denver’s Anthony Carter. Yao was a force in the game, showing leadership, and scoring 26 points and grabbing 19 boards in 52 minutes of play. Click here for more photos from the game.

I wasn’t too disappointed in the double-overtime loss to Denver last night. I have been saying for a few days now that the objective for the Rockets is to get the 8th seed in the playoffs. Forget about getting home court advantage. The Western Conference is so tough anyway, there isn’t much difference between an 8th-seeded team and a 3rd- or 2nd-seeded one.

It would have been great if the Rockets were at the top of the conference, but since that’s not going to happen this season, the important thing is for the Rockets to try to become a dangerous team that no one wants to play in April and May.

It was really interesting to watch the Rockets move the ball better than they have all season without Tracy McGrady in the lineup. Coincidence, or not? I think we all know the answer to that one.

TNT analyst Magic Johnson even said at halftime what many people have been thinking, but no really has had the balls to say at a national level. When asked the question what the “real problem” was with the Rockets, Magic replied:

“The real problem? You’ve got to trade one of them. Yao Ming or Tracy McGrady’s gotta go.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the studio after that statement. Magic continued:

“It’s not working out. It’s really not working out. We’ve seen it for all these years. They get eliminated in the first round. I thought they were going to play well together. It doesn’t work. Even tonight, I’m seeing the ball move more than I’ve ever seen it move watching a Houston Rocket game. (The ball goes) into Yao Ming, it’s rotating, it swings. But they can’t play together. The ball don’t move when they are together. You would almost have to keep Yao Ming, he’s still going to be the guy who sets the shots up for people. But one of them has to go because it’s not working for me.”

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Yao Ming comes over defensively to help Shane Battier defend against Denver’s Carmelo Anthony taking it to the hoop Saturday night. Yao finished with 22 points on 9-of-18 shots, and grabbed 13 boards in a rare 109-81 blowout against a Nugget team that has now shot below 40% for three straight games. Click here for more photos from the game.

For all of us who tuned into the Rockets game Saturday night against the Nuggets to see if they would crash-and-burn in the game’s final minutes…well, we’ll all have to wait until Monday night when the Rockets play the Clippers in LA.

Having lost 6 in a row, the Rockets came out like a caged animal and opened huge 20+ point leads against a poor-shooting Nugget team. Although Denver came into the game 9-4, they had shot less than 40% their last two games, and aren’t really as good as their record indicates. They made it 3 games in a row Saturday night, making only 35.4% of their shots in a 109-81 loss to the Rockets.

The core of their offense, Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony, made only 15-of-38 shots to score 35 of their 81 points. So it’s really hard to tell just how well the Rockets will fare once some real pressure is applied to their defense. But the Rockets will take the ‘W’ any way they can get it to get their record back to 7-7.

It was clear the Rockets were going to go all out to stop their 6-game losing streak, showing lots of energy and resolve to build a lead so big that no team could really blow. It’s just too bad it took this long for a sense of urgency to set in.

Tracy McGrady was aggressive going to the hole, and his shooting percentage reflected it, making 13-of-23 shots for 35 points. Not intentionally wanting to be a party-pooper, I still think he fell in love with too many outside shots. Everything he shot close seemed to go in, so I think that emboldened him to take four 3-pointers (he missed three) and take three other unnecessary jump shots.

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Yao flew back early from Denver for a doctor’s appointment in Houston that was moved up one day early, as Jonathan Feigen of the Chronicle points out. At least he’s getting used to the NBA travel regimen again. After his first practice on Thursday since his injury on December 23rd, he checked out well with the doctor.

Rockets trainer Keith Jones said, “He did fine. No problems at all. He said he felt fine. Actually, he said he was sore everywhere except the knee. That’s what happens when you go back to work.”

Even though the doctors haven’t cleared him to play or set a date for his return, it has to be a good sign. And when he is allowed to play, Jeff Van Gundy is going to play him right away. There’s no question about it, as JVG mentions in this piece.

Meanwhile, Yao’s teammates took care of business in Denver and got payback for that crushing defeat against the Nuggets in Houston on January 20th.

Although the Nuggets shot 47.4% from the field vs. Houston’s 41.8%, the Rockets built an 18-point second half lead.

The key difference was that the Rockets got off 20 shots more than the Nuggets, thanks to 18 offensive rebounds for the Rockets (8 grabbed by Dikembe Mutombo) compared to only 5 offensive boards total for the Nuggets. Mutombo was a monster on the boards altogether, grabbing 22, the highest ever for a 40-year old in the NBA.

The other key was Houston hitting an incredible 14-of-30 three-pointers. Shane Battier was amazing, hitting 5-of-6 treys for 15 points total. Luther Head made 5-of-9 and scored 17 points.

Tracy McGrady led the team with 28 points on 11-of-30 shooting, with most of his damage coming in the first half. He also had 7 assists, and surprisingly Juwan Howard tied him with team-high honors with 7 dimes himself. Howard also made 9-of-19 shots for 18 points.

Now the tough part is that the Rockets have to come back to Houston and play San Antonio on Saturday night. The Rockets have lost 3 of 4 games in Houston on the second night of a back-to-back, and San Antonio is starting to roll, having won 7 straight games. They are also 4 games ahead of the Rockets for home-court advantage in the playoffs with both teams having 24 games left to play, so this will be a big game toward determining who gets home court.

About a month ago when the Denver-Phoenix game was postponed because of a blizzard (an NBA rarity), I said to myself, “Great. That means the Rockets won’t face Carmelo Anthony after all when he comes back from his 15-game suspension. Chalk that up as a sure win.”

Well, the Rockets blew a golden chance to get a fairly easy one against the Nuggets without their MVP candidate Saturday night in Houston.

This game really makes me mad. The Rockets had an 8-point lead against the Nuggets with 2:49 remaining in the fourth quarter, and still blew it to lose in OT, 121-113.

Sure, the Rockets’ defense was bad as you’ll read in this Houston Chronicle story. But at least they were ahead against an average team and were on the cusp of putting them away in the fourth quarter.

With 1:23 remaining, the Rockets led 108-105, had the ball, and basically could have put the game out of reach when Rafer Alston zipped a pass to Tracy McGrady cutting to the basket for an easy reverse layup – but T-Mac blew the shot!

That miss cost them dearly. It gave the window the Nuggets were looking for. Allen Iverson made them pay with a three-pointer the other way to tie the game. Then Alston felt like he had to be a hero and take another ill-advised shot, which he missed (of course), ultimately sending the game to OT where the Nuggets pulled away for a shocking ‘W.’

The glaring weakness in the Rockets’ offense was Alston, who missed 13-of-18 shots (didn’t he score 29 the other day?), took stupid shots down the stretch, and had easy passes go through his hands for turnovers (4 overall). This guy’s inconsistency is driving me nuts. And why is a point guard taking 18 shots?

Meanwhile, Iverson scored 36 and only had 3 turnovers.

On the bright side, the Rockets other role players played very well offensively. Bonzi Wells played superb, hitting 5-of-9 shots for 12 points. Juwan Howard was 8-of-13 with 21 points. Shane Battier was solid with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting. And Luther Head was 6-of-14 with 15 points.

Meanwhile, T-Mac was just so-so, making 9-of-25 shots for 24 points. On a night when he wasn’t shooting well, at least he was a playmaker with 10 assists.

That’s what is so gut-wrenching about this game. Except for Alston, most of the guys shot pretty well and the Rockets had this one in the bag. They even had a 13-point with 10:30 remaining.

But bad defense (Nuggets hit 15-of-29 three-pointers) and poor shooting suddenly has put Houston one game behind the Lakers in the 6th playoff spot in the Western Conference playoff seeds.

This game reminded me of those games last year when they couldn’t close out close games. Now the Rockets have lost three in a row, and they play the Spurs in San Antonio on Wednesday. You know the Spurs will be looking for payback when the Rockets beat them pretty bad last time in their own gym. Games like this one against Denver (19-17 record coming in) should be automatic W’s.

Shane Battier is the man. He willed the Rockets to a 90-86 win in what would have been one of their most embarrassing losses of the season Friday night in Denver. The Rockets were sleepwalking through the entire game and failed to put the limping Nuggets away when they should have. In the NBA you can’t just hope another team will give you a game. At some point you’ve got to earn it. If you don’t, your opponent will eventually come back and haunt you.

Forget the fact the Rockets had won 7 of their last 8 games before this game. Other than their blowout win against the Lakers on Wednesday, a lot of their wins have been a result of great defense concealing a mediocre offense (can you say ‘Rafer?’) For the most part, the Rockets have just lollygagged themselves through most of their games offensively, and end up having to make big plays in the fourth quarter to win the majority of the games during their current run. I love clutch plays down the stretch, but you’ve got to win a few games in the third quarter and coast once in awhile.

Everyone thought for sure it would finally catch up with them on Friday night. Denver was pathetic from the field, but the Rockets couldn’t get any separation, settling for shooting and miss jumpers rather than take it to the hole. The only semblance of consistency that kept the Rockets competitive was Luther Head, who hit some shots when the Rockets needed them. Their overall inconsistency finally caught up with them when the Nuggets got hot in the fourth quarter and took a 93-87 lead with 3:59 to go.

That’s when Shane must have said “enough is enough,” and attempted a three-pointer with 3:17 remaining and was fouled. He hit 2 of the 3 free throws to make the score 83-79, then the next possession down hit a 3-pointer to make it 83-82 with 2:49 left. Then caught in a confused offensive possession with a little over 2 minutes remaining, Shane got the ball at the three-point line, took it to the hole and laid in a sweet left-handed layup off the glass for an 84-83 lead with 2:05 remaining. Just like that he got the Rockets back into the game. Then with 46 seconds remaining, he hit another three-pointer to break a tie game and give them a huge 89-86 lead. What a stud. 10 points in 3 ½ minutes in the clutch.

It’s unbelievable how the Rockets pulled this game out, and did NOT do it with Tracy McGrady. T-Mac was lethargic shooting the ball (5-of-17, 12 points), settling for jumper that continued to clang off the rim, and for some reason not taking it to the rack. I was flabbergasted watching him miss 2-of-9 free throws to boot. He made up for it somewhat with 11 assists.

But I love the bravery that Battier showed in the fourth quarter. He obviously sensed Tracy wasn’t going to bail them out this game, and decided to take the game into his own hands since no one else would. Battier finished with 25 points (5-of-9 three-pointers).

After seeing the effect Shane has had on the Rockets this year, it’s obvious he’s not the boring ‘scrub’ a lot of fans thought he was in Memphis. The deal to bring him to Houston for Rudy Gay and Stromile Swift was the steal of the season.

Late in the fourth quarter Monday night with the Rockets down 81-68 with 4:22 remaining, they were right on schedule toward losing their 48th game of the season and improving their chances for a higher pick in the NBA draft. But then they had to go on one of their most amazing scoring runs of the season without Yao or T-Mac, outscoring Denver 18-2 the rest of the way and shocking the Nuggets at home 86-83.

Unbelievable. Give big time credit to Keith Bogans, who was involved in three consecutive huge plays down the stretch.

Down 83-78 with 1:29 remaining, Bogans stole a long pass and took it to the hole on a sweet crossover move for a layup to make it 83-80, Denver. On the very next Rockets possession with about 22 seconds remaining, Bogans again drove it to the basket along the right baseline, drew the defense to him, then kicked it out to Juwan Howard who nailed an open jumper to make it 83-82 with 19.3 seconds left in the game.

Then on a play that reminded me of the ending of the UCLA-Gonzaga game a few weeks ago, the Nuggets inbounded the ball to Howard Eisley, who was double-teamed immediately by Bogans and Chuck Hayes. Bogans was able to knock the ball away from Eisley without fouling him, and Hayes was there to pick up the loose ball, dribble two times toward the basket and slam it through for an 84-83 lead with 13.4 seconds remaining! And Houston was able to hold on for the shocking upset!

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Denver’s Carmelo Anthony goes up against Yao Friday night with no success in a loss to the Rockets 89-78. Yao finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds. To see more photos from the game, click here and here.

by John

FRIDAY, 3/3/06 - I was able to catch the second half of the Rockets-Nuggets game after coming back home from a business trip Friday night, and was impressed with how some of the Rockets came up with big shots and big blocks to beat Denver 89-78 at Toyota Center.

Denver – winners of seven of their last 10 games and leaders of the Northwest division– were obvious favorites in this game, but the Rockets drew raves from coach Jeff Van Gundy after playing with more intensity than they had in their previous two losses at home.

The Rockets only shot 41.7% from the field, but Yao was his usual high-percentage self (9-of-17 for 21 points), and T-Mac was 8-of-16 for 23 points. But the biggest surprise was Stromile Swift’s return to action after missing the previous 5 games because of a sprained ankle. Stro’ looked great in scoring 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 6 rebounds and two blocks.

He made all kinds of athletic moves around the basket, including a couple of authoritative dunks and a wild prayer of a shot he jacked up underneath the basket for the score, drawing a nice ‘oooh’ from Yao heading back up the court. Yao said after the game about Stromile:

“He brings a lot of energy. He’s a great cutter. Like today, when the other team double-teams on the post or double-teams (Tracy) McGrady, he cuts very quickly. With his size and the way he can jump, that really helps us.”

So maybe Stromile isn’t on the trading block as rumored. I haven’t been really down on Swift this year like other people have. But I’ll save detailed commentary on him for a different time.

Other than that, the boxscore for the Rockets makes you glad someone like Stromile was able to contribute offensively. Without Yao, T-Mac and Swift playing very well, the Rockets would have lost this game. Here’s why:

Rafer Alston: 2-of-10 FGs for 6 points (but 7 assists)
David Wesley: 1-of-7 FGs, 1-of-4 free throws, 1-of-5 from three-point territory

That’s the second game in a row where the Houston starting guards have struggled offensively. How did they win this game?

Probably because of great defense. Except for Carmelo Anthony, who was unstoppable with 34 points on 12-of-23 shooting, the Rockets held the other Nugget players to 18-of-67 shooting (27%)!

Let’s not forget about Yao, though. Although he barely missed getting another double-double (23 points, 9 rebounds), he arguably had four blocks (only received credit for 3 officially). including a huge block on Andre Miller. In the fourth quarter with about 2:33 remaining, Miller decided to challenge Yao by going strong to the hole and trying to posterize him with a tomahawk jam, but Yao stuffed him at the rim for a huge rejection that got the crowd riled up!

With Friday’s victory, Houston remains four games behind the Lakers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. They next play the team with the third worst record in the league – Portland – on Sunday night after the Lakers play Detroit Saturday night.

If the Rockets play like they did Friday night, look for the Rockets to close within 3 games by late Sunday night and make things very interesting.

John

P.S. As some of you may have noticed, I had the wrong caption under the photo above for several hours. That’s because I got home from my trip around 1:00am, and didn’t finish watching my recording of the game and filing my report until 4:00am. So you can imagine I was dead tired. Man, I wish this blog could be my full-time job.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

T-Mac falls to the floor in severe pain because of back spasms Sunday night against Denver. The Rockets played fairly well without T-Mac in the second half, but couldn’t close out a win without him and lost 92-90.

by John

SUNDAY, 1/8/06 - The Rockets experienced bad luck again Sunday night, with Tracy McGrady going down in a heap on the floor right at halftime. He had back spasms and had to be taken to the hospital for tests. By looking at the pain on his face as he collapsed and how he was carried off the floor (via stretcher), it looks like he is going to be out for awhile.

The Rockets fought hard and played pretty well in the second half without him (shooting 55%), but the Denver Nuggets made plays in the last minute to beat the Rockets 92-90. With about a minute remaining, the Rockets led 88-87 but turned the ball over on a possession that could have put the game away. Earl Boykins came back and hit a three-pointer with 31.6 seconds remaining to make it 90-88, Nuggets. Stromile Swift was fouled down low and was clutch by hitting two free throws to tie the game at 90-90.

It went all for naught when Carmelo Anthony hit a fadeaway baseline jumper over David Wesley to put Denver up 92-90 with one second remaining. The Rockets tried a difficult inbounds pass to Stromile underneath the basket as the clock expired, and that was the ball game.

If T-Mac had been in the game, he probably would have been the guy who would have defended Anthony since he is seven inches taller than Wesley. Oh well.

In the second half, the Rockets had a few players step up. Swift had 13 points in the second half (5-of-11), 17 points overall. David Wesley took it to the hole strong many times and had 11 points after halftime (15 overall), and Rafer Alston finally had a good game, scoring 18 points (7-of-10) after halftime, and led all scorers with 24 points overall.

If only they had T-Mac at the end to make plays when they needed them, this game could have been won.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.