Houston’s Luther Head drives the baseline Wednesday night against the Sonics. Head got the start since Tracy McGrady sat out the game because of a sore shoulder, and he came through with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting. The Rockets beat Seattle 103-80 to tie the Lakers and Spurs for second place in the Western Conference.

The Rockets took care of business Wednesday night by beating Seattle 103-80, their 7th victory in a row over the Sonics.

Houston played without Tracy McGrady because of his sore shoulder. They say the soreness came from the injection he received before his last game to relieve the pain, but this should be the only game he misses because of it.

McGrady’s absence didn’t matter, though. As we have come to expect this season, the Rockets role players stepped up to beat an opponent they were expected to beat.

With the victory, Houston is now in a 3-way tie for second place in the West since Phoenix beat the Spurs in San Antonio!

Now the serious business begins with a monster set of games to close out the season: the Suns on Friday in Houston, then road games against Denver on Sunday, followed by Utah on Monday. Thank you, NBA schedulers, for forcing the Rockets to play 3 of their biggest games of the season in 4 days. That doesn’t even happen in the playoffs.

The Rockets then close out the season against the Clippers next Wednesday.

If the Rockets lose 2 or 3 of their remaining games and enter the playoffs without homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs, we could always give them a pass and say, “It’s okay. It’s so tough to win games against such great teams, especially without Yao.”

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As close as the Western Conference race is with only 12 days to go in the season, it was still tough to get psyched up for the Rockets-Sonics game Friday night.

Let’s see…Seattle is terrible with only 17 wins this season. They have lost 20 of their last 22 games, and they will have their worst record ever.

It was a late start for Houston fans in the central time zone with tip-off a little after 9:30pm.

It was a Friday night game, when most workers like yours truly are tired from a long work week, especially after watching another late night game the night before against Portland.

And then you’ve got other more important games on national TV taking away your attention, like Jazz-Spurs, Mavericks-Lakers, and even the Final 4 games on Saturday right down the freeway in San Antonio.

The way Tracy McGrady and Kevin Durant started the game, you’d think they were tired, disinterested, or both as well. McGrady made only 1-of-8 shots in the first half, and KD was worse: 1-for-10.

McGrady was clearly affected by a bandage on his left shoulder, still hurting after banging it in a game against Sacramento on March 24th. Only 2-for-10 by halftime, he took it off and came out much more aggressive in the second half.

Although Seattle shot 29.4% in the first half, somehow they led 41-40, thanks to 21 second-chance points by the Sonics due to terrible defensive rebounding by Houston.

McGrady’s poor shooting and Houston trailing a terrible Sonics team inspired him to take over for the second 3rd quarter in a row, just like he did in Portland the night before. He made 9-of-13 shots for 18 points in the quarter to put Houston ahead 69-54 heading into the fourth quarter, which was essentially the ballgame since both team shut down their offenses in the fourth. Houston would 10 and Seattle 12 to give the Rockets a 79-66 victory.

Seattle’s 66 points were the fewest scored by a Houston opponent all season, and was Seattle’s third lowest scoring game in their franchise history. Their 25 second half points were the fewest the Rockets have allowed in the second half this entire season.

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Yao Ming takes it strong to the hole against Seattle’s Nick Collison. Yao scored 26 points on 6-of-13 shooting and 14-of-15 from the free throw line. He also had 12 rebounds and 6 assists to team up with Tracy McGrady (28 points) to overcome a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter for a miracle win against a team that had lost 11 in a row before the game.

I was preparing for one of my biggest rants of the season as I saw the Rockets’ lack of heart on display during most of Wednesday night’s game against the 9-32 Seattle Sonics. I absolutely couldn’t believe that even the Rockets could lose to a team they had just narrowly beaten Monday to hand them their 11th loss in a row. Hadn’t they learned their lesson in almost blowing that game against the same team?

But then midway through the 4th quarter, something mysterious happened. The Rockets made plays and refused to lose, pulling out a miraculous 109-107 victory after being down 13 points with 8:10 remaining in the 4th quarter!

This game had two major themes: the first theme was about guys who you thought were down who came back to make big plays. The second theme was the opposite: about some guys who stepped up, but then went back down to almost negate everything they had done so well.

The first theme can be applied to the entire Rockets squad in general. The Sonics led most of the game, hitting everything from the outside and out-hustling Houston, leading by that seemingly insurmountable 13 points.

But then the Rockets came back on a surge, led by a guy who almost everyone thought a couple of weeks ago the Rockets would be better without, Mr. Tracy McGrady. He took over the game in the third and fourth quarters when hardly anyone else could hit a shot. He was everything you expect him to be, except for one major thing. After putting the Rockets on his back in the final minutes to finally give them a 2-point lead 12 with seconds remaining, he was intentionally fouled, then proceeded to BLOW TWO FREE THROWS, giving the Sonics a chance to win the game. You really want to believe in the guy, but right when you think you can without getting burned, he does something like that!

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Yao Ming throws down a dunk Monday night against Seattle on his way to 30 points and 17 boards to lead Houston to a victory. Click here for more photos from the game.

Having lost to the Philadelphia 76ers last week AT HOME to end Philly’s 7-game losing streak, the Rockets were very close to messing up again against a poor team. The Rockets almost let Seattle snap their own 10-game losing streak after letting them shoot 51% in the first half and let them close within 4 points at 89-85 with 1:50 remaining.

But then Houston finally woke up and made the plays they needed to just get by the Sonics. No big field goals were really made by anyone other than Yao taking it strong to the hole on the next possession, getting fouled, and hitting 2 free throws to make it 91-85. The rest of the way the defense stepped up when it had to, and they made 5-of-6 free throws to seal the win.

The effort was so bad on the defensive side of the ball, usually passive Houston announcer Bill Worrell said, “The Rockets defense stinks” early in the third quarter after Chuck Hayes was burned on defense, and Worrell lamented how inconsistent their defense was after putting together such a great effort on Saturday against the Spurs. Amen, Bill.

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Yao goes up for a shot against Seattle’s Nick Collison on Monday night. Later in the third quarter, Collison would pull Yao down to the floor on a flagrant foul, and Yao would retaliate by hitting alot of shots to finish with 15 points in the third, and 31 overall. Click here for more photos from the game.

Unfortunately this blog entry has to be somewhat short because of some work I had to get done tonight. But I have to say that I was impressed with the up-tempo style of play the Rockets played against the Seattle Sonics to win 95-90.

Yao Ming was the man (again), scoring 31 points on 10-of-19 shooting and hitting all 11 of his free throws. The Sonics didn’t have anyone who could stop him, and they obviously don’t have the personnel to play the kind of team defense that Golden State or Phoenix plays against him.

Probably the most exciting play that involved Yao occurred with 5:06 remaining in the third quarter with the Rockets up 62-59.

Yao was running down court on a fast break and got great position down low on Nick Collison. Yao went up for the shot as his body was moving toward the basket, and Collison put his right arm on Yao’s hip while also pulling down on Yao’s shooting arm with his left hand.

Yao has a tendency to fall to the floor on these kinds of shots, probably because he’s so big and it’s safer for him to have his body fall to the floor — like a stuntman would — than try to use his legs to stop all the momentum behind his upper body.

But with Collison having his arms on Yao as he was falling, it looked like it was a flagrant foul, but in my opinion it was really hard to tell if Yao’s falling to the ground was all of a result of Collison, or Yao was falling anyway, or a little bit of both.

After the game, Yao definitely thought Collison pulled him down. But if you look at the slow-motion replays carefully, it showed Yao had a lot of momentum as he was falling to the floor, and that it could have been deceiving. Regardless, if you watched the game in live action like the refs saw it, you would think it was flagrant, and that’s what they called.

When Yao hit the floor, he was writhing in pain and held his elbow after hitting it hard on the floor. Seeing Yao be the victim of a called flagrant foul by the refs, and also in pain, T-Mac took exception to Collison’s foul on Yao. Wanting to protect his big man and make a statement, T-Mac came up to him and shoved him with his right hand.

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I enjoy watching the Rockets play great defense and winning slug-it-out games

Their 112-102 victory against the Sonics Wednesday night wasn’t one of them.

But it was a nice break to see a game where defense took a back seat, and run-and-gun offense was the order of the day.

The score was 59-51 at halftime, which is almost like a 3rd quarter score for many Rocket games. It included lots of fast breaks by the Rockets, with Rafer Alston showing what he can do in the open court by getting the ball to his teammates for layups.

But the Rocket Express started to chug down in the fourth quarter, when Luther Head missed 4 straight shots to let the Sonics hang around. But then T-Mac checked back into the game, drew the defense to him, and Luther responded by hitting two big 3-pointers to open up the Rockets’ biggest lead to 9 points.

T-Mac then juked rookie Mickael Gelabale with a killer crossover move and drilled a jumper to put them up 103-92 with 3:11 remaining. Even T-Mac himself was impressed with that move, leaving his mouth agape in astonishment as he ran back up the court.

A few minutes later with 51 seconds remaining, T-Mac had the ball at the top of the three-point line, Chuck Hayes came out and set a bone-jarring monster pick on Gelabale, and T-Mac came around the pick and drilled a three-pointer to make it 108-98.

But T-Mac’s passing to guys like Head, Hayes, and Dikembe Mutombo for layups (and everyone else who was the recipient of his 9 assists) was impressive. He is so good at finding the open man. I agree with Van Gundy that McGrady is the best playmaker in the league behind Steve Nash.

The team was pretty good sharing the ball, too. The Rockets had 30 assists in this game and only 6 turnovers, a season low. And I have to give credit to Rafer (15 points) for some of the best pinpoint passes (9 assists) I’ve seen from him in one game.

You also have to give credit to Seattle, who played hard for a team that has now lost 14 games in a row on the road. Nick Collison burned the Rockets defense by getting to the hole many times for tip-in buckets, helping the Sonics shoot 61% in the first half and 58% through three quarters — amazing against the Rockets’ vaunted defense. I know Van Gundy is not happy with them giving up 102 points when they average a league-leading 90-something.

But the Rockets defense clamped down in the fourth quarter and held the Sonics to 36% shooting and 1-for-8 from three-point territory in the fourth. Before then, Ray Allen (36 points overall, 4-of-8 from three-point territory) was awesome, hitting tough baskets to keep it close.

But it was McGrady who stole the show. He played one of the best games I’ve seen, and that’s saying something since he was also suffering from a cold. He was so efficient, scoring 36 points on 13-of-23 shooting to go along with those 9 assists. It’s hard to believe he struggled like he did earlier this season.

Notes:

This is the first time in a long time I’ve seen Earl Watson, who has been rumored to be on the trading block, and who I thought would be a good fit for the Rockets at point guard, especially if Alston goes back to being inconsistent. Watson didn’t disappoint, showing a nice shooting stroke from the outside, scoring 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting, and dishing 8 assists in just 29 minutes.

The other guy I really like with the Sonics is TV analyst Lenny Wilkins (I watched the Seattle feed on DirecTV). His commentary is wonderful and insightful. Can the Rockets TV people trade Clyde Drexler for him?

I have been out sick with a cold and bad cough, so I wasn’t able to watch the Rockets-Sonics game on Wednesday night. It looks like I missed a great performance by Tracy McGrady, who scored 31 points to help beat Seattle 103-96.

It was the Rockets fourth straight win since Yao went out with his fractured tibia, and T-Mac’s third straight game with 30 or more points. It looks like he’s determined to get to the basket and be aggressive as shown by his 11-of-21 shooting from the field, and hitting 3-of-6 from three-point land. He also chipped in a team-high 7 assists and six boards.

I’m sorry I can’t provide much other commentary. I’m pretty wiped out and need to get some rest.

Yao Ming’s fans in Seattle came out in force to cheer on their hero against the Sonics Tuesday night. Unfortunately, they only got to see him play 27 minutes because of foul trouble. He did score 22 points and grab 10 boards, though, in a 104-87 loss to the Sonics. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

TUESDAY, 4/4/06 - The Rockets played uninspired Tuesday night in Seattle, losing handily to the Sonics 104-87. Yao fouled out of his first game since December 11th, finishing “only” with 22 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes of action.

Many of those fouls were touch fouls, and Yao didn’t really have an explanation for them. Several of the calls were bogus, but with the way the Rockets’ season has gone this season, nothing surprises me. When Yao wasn’t in the game, the Rockets gave up too many easy baskets in the paint, like to Chris Wilcox, who scored an amazing 26 points and grabbed 24 rebounds – tying Shawn Marion for the most rebounds in a game this season.

This game was almost the opposite of Houston’s blowout of the Sonics six days prior in Houston. Only scoring 10 points in the first quarter of that game, the Sonics scored 32 in the first quarter this time around and led by 11 heading into the second quarter. After that, the game was never really close. This time Seattle was rested, Wilcox had a great game, Ray Allen wasn’t 1-for-13 (11-of-22 in this game for 32 points), and Rashard Lewis played.

If the Rockets were lifeless in this game, can you imagine how they will be Wednesday night on the second night of a back-to-back in Portland? Luckily the Blazers have lost 21 of their last 23 games. Otherwise, it would not have been pretty.

One interesting thing the Rockets bench did in this game was remain standing until Yao scored their first point on a free throw to make it 6-1 with 9:14 remaining in the first quarter. Maybe it was a way to encourage their teammates. But it was strange seeing them standing for almost 3 minutes at the start of the game. I felt bad for the fans behind the bench who couldn’t really see because of it! If it was a show of solidarity toward their teammates, maybe the bench should have remained standing the entire game.

The only thing that went wrong for Wilcox occurred at the end of half-time when he was walking over to the baseline to inbound the ball at the start of the second half. The Seattle ballboy had to remind Wilcox to take off his warmup pants, creating a chuckle from the ballboy, Wilcox, and even the ref!

One surprising development that occured in this game for the Rockets was Richie Frahm showing major hops and scoring on two dunks in a row! Maybe the Rockets’ bench is more athletic than we thought. Keep an eye on Frahm the remainder of the season – with his 3-point shooting and surprising athleticism, he may win a roster spot next season.

With the Rockets having virtually no chance to make the playoffs, I’m not as mad about this loss as Jeff Van Gundy. I want to see more of the bench players perform to figure out who should stick with the team next season.

And it’s not a bad thing that with every loss, the Rockets’ chances increase for getting a higher lottery pick in the NBA draft. You may remember what happened in 2002 when the Rockets jumped several spots and landed the right to draft Yao Ming #1. With the bad luck the Rockets have had this season, they are entitled to a few lucky breaks come ping-pong ball time.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

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

Yao throws one down Wednesday night against the Sonics on his way to a dominating 29-point, 10-rebound, 5-assist, 3-steal game. The Rockers enjoyed a rare blowout victory, defeating Seattle 115-97 after holding a huge 40-point lead in the third quarter.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 3/29/06 - If only the Rockets could have played like this without T-Mac weeks ago.

That’s what I was thinking after watching the Rockets destroy the Seattle Sonics Wednesday night at Toyota Center, 115-87.

Although Seattle had a mediocre record before the game (29-41), they actually have beaten some decent teams recently: San Antonio on Sunday in Seattle, then Memphis Tuesday night in Tennessee. But playing 3 games in four days really isn’t fair for any team. You had to think the Sonics were dead tired, and it didn’t help that their second-leading scorer, Rashard Lewis, was sitting out because of a sprained ankle.

The game was over after the first quarter as the Rockets held a 29-10 lead, the lowest number of points they have allowed an opponent all season in a first quarter. Seattle shot only 3-of-21 in the first quarter while Houston pushed their fast break more than any other time this season.

I’m sorry, but the league’s scheduling has got to be overhauled. It’s ridiculous that teams are forced to play so many games in such a short period. They need to cut down the length of the pre-season and spread those extra days throughout the regular season.

The Rockets widened the lead to 32 points by halftime, doubling Sonics’ offensive output to lead 64-32. They had 9 fast break points to Seattle’s three, and had a 22-8 advantage in points in the paint.

Yao was amazing, scoring 12 points and grabbing 6 points by halftime. He had a couple of sweet moves around the basket that befuddled smaller Sonic defenders, showing his “unstoppability.”

Even more impressive was Stromile Swift, who was scoring at will (6-of-8 for 12 points by half) both inside and outside, including a jump hook along the baseline that hit the top of the backboard, bounced a couple of times on the backboard, dropped and hit the rim, bounced a couple of times, and fell through for the basket! He also had a couple of sweet dunks off assists from Yao, and a couple of long jumpers near the top of the key. He was showing it all.

A lot of people have been down on Stro’ this year, including Jeff Van Gundy, but I am still bullish on him. He reminds me of how many critics who cracked on Robert Horry early in his career, and didn’t get more consistent until a few years into his career.

Another big unexpected surprise was newly acquired Richie Frahm hitting 3-of-3 from three-point territory. Maybe the Rockets have found a consistent 3-point shooter in this disappointing season after all!

Back to the game…scoring their most amount of points in a first half this season (64), the Rockets were shooting an incredible 63% at half compared to 22.5% for Seattle.

The Rockets kept pouring it on in the third quarter, opening up a 40-point lead. Yao was even better in the third, scoring 17 more points in the quarter on 6-of-7 shooting and 5-of-5 from the line. He rested the entire fourth quarter, finishing the game with 29 points (9-of-14 from the field, 11-of-11 from the line), 12 rebounds, a season-high 5 assists, and a career-high in steals (3), all in just 29 minutes.

Frahm and Swift both finished with 16 points each. Juwan Howard played another solid game, scoring 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting. And both of Houston’s guards, Rafer Alston (10 points, 8 assists) and Luther Head (14 points, 5 assists), shot 5-of-12 from the field. A solid game all the way around.

The 31-40 Rockets are now 4.5 games behind the Sacramento Kings for the eighth and final spot for the playoffs, with only 11 games remaining. You already know there’s no way they will make the playoffs, but after Wednesday’s game you’ve got to be encouraged that the talent is in this team to position them decently for next season.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

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

Yao puts up a shot over a much smaller Johan Petro Friday night against Seattle. Yao scored 24 points and grabbed 14 points in an impressive 100-77 win. To see more photos from the game, click here.

by John

FRIDAY, 2/3/06 – I had tickets to Friday night’s game, but couldn’t make it. Bad move. I could have seen a game where Houston dominated for once.

Houston had one of its easiest victories of the season Friday night, beating Seattle 100-77 at Toyota Center. A 23-point margin of victory is a rarity in this abysmal season. But with T-Mac and Yao back together again, the Rockets won their second straight game at home (the first time that has happened this season) and are showing again they are tough to beat when healthy. They are now 11-6 this season when they play together.

T-Mac had 36 points, shooting over 50% (14-of-26) and made 4-of-7 three-pointers. He also had 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Meanwhile, Yao scored 24 points on 9-of-19 shooting and grabbed 14 rebounds. That was after Yao struggled in the first half, hitting only 3-of-10 shots.

T-Mac caught fire in the third quarter, scoring 14 points and launching them to a 73-57 lead heading into the fourth quarter after ending the third on a 23-8 run. The rest of the way, the Rockets didn’t let up, even showing some impressive fast breaks, and closed out the Sonics easily.

Just as impressive as the offensive explosion was the Rockets holding the Sonics to 77 points after Seattle had scored over 111 points in six of their last 7 games.

The Rockets got meaningful contributions from Luther Head, who scored 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting. In 18 minutes of play, Stromile Swift also chipped in 8 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and grabbed 6 boards.

Rafer Alston was awful, hitting only 1-of-7 shots (missing all six of his 3-point attempts). He did have 11 assists, though. David Wesley was only 1-of-5 with two points.

Now that Yao and T-Mac are back, you have to look at the standings and see if they can possibly make the playoffs. Right now they are 17-29 and 6.5 games out of the last playoff spot. New Orelans/Oklahoma City currently holds that position with a 23-22 record (.511)

With that winning percentage being a benchmark, let’s assume it will take a 42-40 record for making the playoffs. That means the Rockets will need to go 25-11 the rest of the way. That’s a 69.4% record. Only Detroit, San Antonio and Dallas have better winning percentages this season.

It’s going to be tough for the Rockets to make it, but if any two guys can get them there, it’s T-Mac and Yao.

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.