[Chron] Rockets' season surpasses expectations of owner

March 31, 2007, 11:04PM
NBA NOTEBOOK

Rockets' season surpasses expectations of owner

Despite success, postseason remains vital in evaluating team
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle




Hustle plays like this one from Kirk Snyder have the front office happy on La Branch Street.
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Though there is that fist-throwing moment in the pregame highlight video at Toyota Center, Rockets owner Leslie Alexander generally does not show his hand.

But this time he thought he might.

"I'm happy with the season," he said. "I am. It's been a very good year so far. It's exceeded my expectations."

That last comment, tied to playing more than half a season without Yao Ming or Tracy McGrady or both, could be telling in that Alexander has always had such outsized expectations. That tends to come to those that make their fortunes predicting the future and get it right, and then win the championship in their first two seasons as owner of an NBA franchise.

But when the Rockets play the Jazz today, they will have their 22nd sellout of the season and the winner will begin April with the fourth-best record in the NBA. In introducing Tad Brown as his new CEO, Alexander had set a goal of 20 sellouts, which seemed typically over-optimistic at the time. The upper echelon of the league seemed even more unlikely when Yao broke his leg, and earning a playoff spot seemed a worthwhile goal.

"I'm happy," he said again. "We're over 20 games over. 500. The team has had a very good regular season, especially with Yao injured so long and Tracy injured at the beginning of the season. It's been a very good year. It's exceeded my expectations when Yao went down.

"Jeff (Van Gundy) makes the point all the time — every game is so important in the regular season. You don't know if one game separates you or not."

With that, and the race with the Jazz for home-court advantage one-game tight, Alexander moved to what comes next.

"The postseason is the most important part of the season," he said. "How you do in postseason is how it should be judged on how the season went."

With Van Gundy in the last guaranteed year of his contract, Alexander said his comment about the postseason was not about Van Gundy.

"I don't think you should extrapolate that at all," Alexander said. "I just meant that about every season."

But he remained noncommittal about Van Gundy's future, saying he agreed with Van Gundy that the topic was more appropriate in the offseason. He spoke of Van Gundy being with the team beyond this season, listing him among the "foundation" with Carroll Dawson, who will become "senior consultant," Daryl Morey, who will become general manager, chief financial officer Marcus Jolibois and Brown.

"I'm very impressed with Daryl," he said. "I'm more impressed than when I hired him. He's very thorough, very analytical and not dogmatic. He accepts information from Dennis (Lindsey, the vice president for player personnel) and CD and other parts of the organization.

"Every part of the organization is going well. Tad's done a great job on the business side. Marcus has been there 13 years. The business side is in good shape. We have a good long-term TV deal. The basketball side is good. There is a good foundation everywhere.

"I think we had a good year attendance-wise. The fans turned out. It's an exciting team."

It has been, he said, a good season — even if a season can only become great in the postseason, when exceeding expectations becomes much tougher, and more rewarding.

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April 1, 2007, 12:40AM
Playoff preview looms for Rockets


Tracy McGrady had 44 points the last time the Rockets and Jazz met. It's his second-best showing this season.

Playoff preview looms for Rockets, Jazz at Toyota Center—Want to know how the NBA playoffs might pan out for the Rockets? You'll get a good idea today when likely first-round opponent Utah visits. And the game could go a long way toward deciding home-court advantage.

Pair of battles with Jazz figure to determine home-court edge

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle


Rafer Alston (12) and the Rockets will almost certainly be mixing it up with the Jazz again in the first round of the playoffs.
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He thought of the postseason electricity, the feeling of anticipation that fills arenas. He thought of that extra measure of physical play and of determination. He imagined that adrenaline rush again — and he couldn't wait.

And he won't have to.

The Rockets will almost certainly play the Utah Jazz in the playoffs' first round. The teams, presently separated by a half-game, meet today at Toyota Center and again April 18 in Salt Lake City in games that could determine home-court advantage in their series.

"It's going to be intense," Howard said. "It's going to be one of those high-energy, intense ballgames. You have two teams fighting hard, one trying to remain in fourth place, and it would be nice to win the ballgame and finish strong and gain that home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs."

Since the 2003 playoffs, when the NBA expanded the first-round series to a best-of-seven format, the team with the home advantage has won 28 of 32 series — 15 of 16 in the Western Conference.

In the more evenly matched series between the fourth and fifth seeds, the team with the home-court advantage is 7-1.

In the past 10 years, teams with the home advantage in series between teams with the fourth and fifth seeds are 17-3.


Jazz double tough at home
This season, the Jazz are 29-7 in Salt Lake City compared to 18-18 on the road. They have a seven-game home winning streak and bring a six-game road losing streak into today's game.

"It would definitely be great to get home-court advantage," said Tracy McGrady, who has never been on a team that had home advantage and has never won a playoff series. "That's what you're striving to do — to increase your chances to win a playoff series. It's in the back of our minds. At the same time, we just want to take care of business every time we step out on the court.

"We have paid attention to what they're doing. We're moving a couple steps closer to home-court. If we can get it, that would be great. They'll be ready for us."

Even beyond the advantage of starting a playoff series at home, and if it comes to it, having Game 7 at home, there is a sense that games like today's offer teams a chance to measure themselves against one another.


Message game
"It will be interesting to see how that game goes and see if those guys come out and give us their best shot, or tweak things for us," McGrady said. "We'll be ready. That's the team we're going to face. It's all about sending a message.

"This is who we are, this is who we're going to be. We're going to be ready."

Besides all that, games like these jump out from the routine of the regular season.

"It'll be fun," Shane Battier said. "They're playing really well. It's fun to play great teams right now. Come Sunday, it's going to be a great atmosphere in Toyota Center. This is why you play, to play the best teams and play for something.

"They are the most physical team in the league and they have some bruisers. Every time you play the Jazz, you have to strap your helmet on. It's going to be a rough one."

Playoff games always are; a playoff-like game should be, too.

"A big game," Rafer Alston said. "It should be like a playoff atmosphere. It's going to a playoff contest. I know those guys are going to be hungry. They know what's at stake, just like we know what's at stake."


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