Energy, heart bring optimism as schedule softens By MEGAN MANFULL Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2935223 Tracy McGrady is confident this is the start of something new. Even Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy is cautiously optimistic. Finally in the past two games, Van Gundy saw what he had been waiting for all season. The Rockets played with energy. They played with heart. McGrady is confident the outings against Dallas and Philadelphia were no fluke, and he expects to prove it as the Rockets (7-11) continue their six-game homestand tonight against the New Orleans Hornets (1-14). "Things that cause you to lose ballgames, we were doing everything. Everything the wrong way," McGrady said. "I think it took 16-17 games to understand what it's going to take for us to be a successful team, and we got ourselves in a hole, but I think we're going to do a hell of a job digging out and turn it around." The Rockets understand the timing couldn't be better to make a charge. The team is in the midst of its longest homestand since 2002-03, leaving the Rockets with plenty of practice time. In addition to the six-game homestand, eight of the team's next nine games are at Toyota Center, including contests against five teams (Toronto, Charlotte, Atlanta, New Orleans and Golden State) that are last or second-to-last in their divisions. Of those, only Toronto (7-12) has more than four wins. Limited practice time The Rockets are focused on only one team at this point, however. They had such a brutal schedule during the first month that they hardly were able to practice. During the one four-game homestand they did have, McGrady was sidelined with an injury for half of it. Now, more injuries plague the team, but the Rockets hope they will have enough time in practice to bring the newcomers up to speed. Point guards Charlie Ward and Tyronn Lue are on the injured list. Jim Jackson missed the last game with the flu and is questionable tonight because of back spasms. Crucial point "We haven't had a lot of practice time, so it's good," Ryan Bowen said. "We went a long stretch where we just had meetings and watched film. But it's different being on the court. This will be a crucial point for us. We have a good opportunity here." The team has struggled to mesh with a constantly changing lineup. Injuries caused many of the changes, but Van Gundy also has yet to settle on either Maurice Taylor or Juwan Howard at power forward. The backups for McGrady and Jackson also continue to fluctuate. It's evident that Bowen and Scott Padgett, two of the team's high-energy reserves, have worked themselves into the rotation, though. "It's on me to put guys out there, maybe sacrifice at times some talent for a little heart and will," Van Gundy said. "And I think that will serve us better. We're going to play the hardest-playing guys we can get on the floor." McGrady hopes the team can boost its record back up to .500 by the end of the month — a feat that would likely mean the team is making the kind of steady improvement Van Gundy is waiting to see. "I just think our rate of improvement has to go up," Van Gundy said. "But I do very much like the last two games, our heart and our will. It always starts there, and then you can talk about whatever X's and O's you want to talk about." megan.manfull@chron.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rockets Summary Jackson day-to-day Forward Jim Jackson returned to practice on Monday after missing Saturday's game with the flu. Jackson didn't remain on the court for long, however. He started feeling back spasms during the workout and left. Trainer Keith Jones said Jackson is listed as day-to-day. Jackson started the first 17 games and is the team's third-leading scorer, averaging 13.9 points. He also averages a team-leading 41.3 minutes per game. Everyone's a critic After spending most of the preseason and the month of November on the road, the Rockets are being rewarded with almost an entire month of games at home. The team has only three more road games this month, and coach Jeff Van Gundy couldn't be more pleased. He doesn't think anyone in his home shares similar sentiments, however. "My wife hates it," he said. "You guys (reporters) are around me for five minutes, and I make you miserable. Think if you had to live with me during this losing streak, or this losing (record), 7-11. "Like I say always, when your wife starts calling onto talk radio, that's when you know it's going bad. Even my daughter is hopping in now." Time to start winning The Rockets haven't established any home-court advantage, going 3-5 at Toyota Center to become one of only seven NBA teams with a losing record at home. They hope to change that this month. Eight of their next nine games are at home, and only three visiting teams — San Antonio, Dallas, the Clippers — have winning records. "We should take advantage of being home," Tracy McGrady said. "We started out the first month being on the road a lot ... We've been struggling lately at home, but this is home and this is where we should feel most comfortable playing basketball, and it's to our advantage this month. "It gives us a chance to gain confidence in ourselves and go out and try to get above .500." MEGAN MANFULL
It is NOW or NEVER for this team. The Rockets December schedule has been served up on a silver platter for them to be able to string along a quite a few wins. If they cant make their move now, they wont this year. End of story.
"It's on me to put guys out there, maybe sacrifice at times some talent for a little heart and will," Van Gundy said. "And I think that will serve us better. We're going to play the hardest-playing guys we can get on the floor." Well I guess that answers the question about Boki.
Yeah, he'll be playing right? After all, who showed more heart out there in the playoffs than Boki? Oh yeah, MoT. Now I understand why MoT is getting so many minutes. It's his tremendous heart, because he sure ain't talented.
"My wife hates it," he said. "You guys (reporters) are around me for five minutes, and I make you miserable. Think if you had to live with me during this losing streak, or this losing (record), 7-11. His wife is probably praying for the day he goes back to broadcasting.
I think Padgett is perfectly suited as a player in this offense. His man will surely leave him to double team Tracy or Yao, and Padgett can spot up on the perimeter and drain shots. It seems like every time he gets in the game, he generates offense. I say put him at the power forward position during parts of the game. At least he stretches the defense and can pass to the open guy.
I'd be open for giving Padgett a chance to start. Any time he's gotten 20+ minutes of playing time he's gotten at least 5 boards which is what MoT does in almost 30. Its nice that Mo increased his shooting range but from what I've seen it hasn't helped him contribute much.
