Without Yao, Rockets shock Lakers to cap outstanding roadtrip
Sunday, December 18th, 2005
by John
Tracy McGrady scores on a last-second play to lift the Rockets to a huge 76-74 upset of the Lakers in Los Angeles Sunday night. The Rockets played without Yao, who was sent back to Houston to have his injured big toe examined.
by John
SUNDAY, 12/18/05 – The Rockets pulled off one of their most improbable wins of the season — and maybe decade — Sunday night in Los Angeles. Playing without Derek Anderson, Jon Barry, Rafer Alston, and Yao Ming, the Rockets managed to come back from the dead in the third quarter and hold on down the stretch to win dramatically, 76-74. More on what went down later.
The Rockets sent Yao back to Houston before their game on Sunday because of the problems he has been having with his big toe that he injured before the season started. [Now you know why there is no Yao photo above this story.] It looks like he will be out more than one game, with NBA TV reporting Sunday night it could be 7-10 days before he returns. We’ll see after the doctors check out his toe.
Yao’s absence put the burden on everyone, especially backup center Dikembe Mutombo, to step up and pick up the slack. If you would have said that T-Mac would only score 20 points, that Mutombo would have to leave the game in the crucial part of the fourth quarter because of an injury of his own, that they would only score 12 points in the first quarter and 11 in the fourth quarter, then you would say there is no way they could defeat a resilient and respectable Laker team.
But somehow they did it and finished their 6-game road trip 5-1, and more importantly, the Rockets are back in the hunt for the playoffs with a 10-13 record. Before this trip, no one thought that would happen. I was hoping they could get 3 wins, and they surprised everyone by getting five.
Tracy McGrady scores on a last-second play to lift the Rockets to a huge 76-74 upset of the Lakers in Los Angeles Sunday night. The Rockets played without Yao, who was sent back to Houston to have his injured big toe examined.by John
SUNDAY, 12/18/05 – The Rockets pulled off one of their most improbable wins of the season — and maybe decade — Sunday night in Los Angeles. Playing without Derek Anderson, Jon Barry, Rafer Alston, and Yao Ming, the Rockets managed to come back from the dead in the third quarter and hold on down the stretch to win dramatically, 76-74. More on what went down later.
The Rockets sent Yao back to Houston before their game on Sunday because of the problems he has been having with his big toe that he injured before the season started. [Now you know why there is no Yao photo above this story.] It looks like he will be out more than one game, with NBA TV reporting Sunday night it could be 7-10 days before he returns. We’ll see after the doctors check out his toe.
Yao’s absence put the burden on everyone, especially backup center Dikembe Mutombo, to step up and pick up the slack. If you would have said that T-Mac would only score 20 points, that Mutombo would have to leave the game in the crucial part of the fourth quarter because of an injury of his own, that they would only score 12 points in the first quarter and 11 in the fourth quarter, then you would say there is no way they could defeat a resilient and respectable Laker team.
But somehow they did it and finished their 6-game road trip 5-1, and more importantly, the Rockets are back in the hunt for the playoffs with a 10-13 record. Before this trip, no one thought that would happen. I was hoping they could get 3 wins, and they surprised everyone by getting five.
