Rockets escape Bay Area with win over Warriors
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
by John
Carl Landry reacts strongly after a basket against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night in Oakland. It was Landry’s first game after missing 7, and he returned with a vengeance, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 11 points in the fourth quarter to hold off a surging Warriors team. The Rockets ended a two-game losing streak by beating Golden State 109-106.
Although the Rockets held on for a huge 109-106 victory against the Warriors at Golden State on Friday night, I was happy on many fronts, but irate on another.
For most of the game, and especially during the third quarter, I couldn’t understand what Rick Adelman was thinking. I thought it was one of his worst coached games in weeks. I can understand why he had decided to “go small” by starting Luther Head instead of Dikembe Mutombo to match up with Golden State’s smaller and speedier lineup.
But after awhile it was clear the strategy wasn’t working. By halftime, Luther had only scored 4 points on 2-of-5 shooting, while on the other end of the court, the Warriors were grabbing offensive rebounds (9 by halftime, 20-10 offensive rebound advantage overall) and getting to the hole for easy layups time-after-time. The Rockets were lucky to be up 52-50 at halftime. The lead should have been bigger.
Meanwhile, Luis Scola wasn’t doing much on the defensive end down low, and he had only scored 4 points on 2-of-4 shooting himself.
So they weren’t getting much from Landry and Scola offensively, AND they were being torched on the boards and in the paint defensively. Not a good combination, especially in the third quarter when their interior defense was pathetic by letting the Warriors get to the hole uncontested so many times.
Carl Landry reacts strongly after a basket against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night in Oakland. It was Landry’s first game after missing 7, and he returned with a vengeance, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 11 points in the fourth quarter to hold off a surging Warriors team. The Rockets ended a two-game losing streak by beating Golden State 109-106.Although the Rockets held on for a huge 109-106 victory against the Warriors at Golden State on Friday night, I was happy on many fronts, but irate on another.
For most of the game, and especially during the third quarter, I couldn’t understand what Rick Adelman was thinking. I thought it was one of his worst coached games in weeks. I can understand why he had decided to “go small” by starting Luther Head instead of Dikembe Mutombo to match up with Golden State’s smaller and speedier lineup.
But after awhile it was clear the strategy wasn’t working. By halftime, Luther had only scored 4 points on 2-of-5 shooting, while on the other end of the court, the Warriors were grabbing offensive rebounds (9 by halftime, 20-10 offensive rebound advantage overall) and getting to the hole for easy layups time-after-time. The Rockets were lucky to be up 52-50 at halftime. The lead should have been bigger.
Meanwhile, Luis Scola wasn’t doing much on the defensive end down low, and he had only scored 4 points on 2-of-4 shooting himself.
So they weren’t getting much from Landry and Scola offensively, AND they were being torched on the boards and in the paint defensively. Not a good combination, especially in the third quarter when their interior defense was pathetic by letting the Warriors get to the hole uncontested so many times.




Yao Ming pleads his case to referee Eddie Rush during the Rockets-Warriors game in Houston on New Year’s Eve. Yao had some very questionable calls that got him into foul trouble and limiting his minutes. Without him playing a full game, the Rockets made a game of it, but they couldn’t hold on to a third quarter 11-point lead and lost 112-95.
Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady sit depressed near the end of the game as the Rockets got blown out by Golden State, losing 113-94. Both players only scored 21 points collectively.
Yao rises up for a layup Friday night in Golden State. The Rockets lost in the final seconds on a huge 3-pointer by Baron Davis. Because of Tracy McGrady’s absence because of back spasms, Yao played 41 minutes, scored 38 points and grabbed 18 boards.
Yao throws one down in a dominant performance against Golden State Tuesday night where he was played man-to-man most of the night. Yao finished with 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting, 8 rebounds and two blocks in just 27 minutes as the Rockets blew out the Warriors, 118-90. 

T-Mac reacts after his possible 4-point play just misses that could have tied up their game against Golden State on Saturday night. The Rockets ended up losing 94-89.
