Rockets sock Sonics for 3-way tie in West for 2nd
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
by John
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.”
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.”




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.


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. 

