The Rockets did just about everything they could to give a league-worst 5-31 Oklahoma City team a victory Friday night. Not able to put them away after holding a 15-point lead in the second half, Houston committed numerous blunders and almost experienced what would have been their most humiliating loss of the season. That’s saying something for a team that has lost to Memphis, the Clippers, Washington, Toronto and Philadelphia, all teams with bad records.

Oklahoma City had their chances late to pull off one of their few wins of the season, but they couldn’t make big shots at the end of the game, and the Rockets escaped disaster, winning 98-96.


Yao Ming had about as ugly of a game as
Robert Swift’s tattoos. Click here for more game photos.

When the score was 83-83 entering the 4th quarter, I couldn’t believe the Rockets were in that kind of position against the league’s worst team. I understand that Ron Artest and Shane Battier weren’t playing, that Brent Barry had to skip the game because of a personal emergency that popped up, and the Rockets were probably tired playing their 5th game in a row on a grueling road trip.

But this is the Thunder we’re talking about, a team the Rockets should be streamrolling like almost every other team, take for example a 9-25 Minnesota team that beat them by 42 points on Wednesday night.

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Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks high-five each other during Houston’s game against Oklahoma City Saturday night at Toyota Center. Yao would go on to score 16 points and 11 rebounds in 39 minutes in an 89-77 victory. Click here for more photos. Click here for the Houston Chronicle’s game story.

This Yao Ming Mania game summary is from guest contributor Ren Hsieh…

Well, the offense still isn’t pretty yet but there’s just enough flashes of brilliance at just the right time to keep even the most critical of fans from losing faith. Three wins, all closed out in the 4th in the convincing fashion the Rockets often struggled with last season.

Granted, two of these wins came at the inexperienced, potential debacles of Memphis and Oklahoma City. While Houston’s team .364 shooting against an actually fairly solid Thunder defense (and their .426 shooting for the season) might raise some concerns, their own defense effort should not.

The Rockets are giving up only .400 FG% to opponents and a league-leading .138 from behind the arc. And they need the defense to bide through the growing pains of the offense; for which they should continue resisting the temptation to veer away — winning helps the cause. The OKC game was a good example of why. On off shooting days, which Rockets fans are more than accustomed to, the offense provides enough open looks to bide the cold streaks. This was evidenced by the Rockets’ balanced scoring, getting 6 players in double figures.

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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.