[chron] T-Mac counts on Yao

April 25, 2005, 1:44AM
T-Mac counts on Yao
As Mavs gear up to slow McGrady, Rockets hope to counter with center
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

DALLAS - The double teams will come. The traps and help defenses will all shade — or run — to Tracy McGrady. The Rockets did not have to attend the Dallas Mavericks' practice to assume that much.

"I think they'll try (to get the ball out of McGrady's hands)," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "That's what I expect."

Assuming Mavericks coach Avery Johnson is not still screaming at official Joe Crawford or did not spend Sunday telling Dirk Nowitzki to put the ball in the basket more often, the Rockets felt safe in assuming Johnson would not let McGrady move so freely in tonight's Game 2.

But the Rockets also believe there is a potential answer waiting for whatever the Mavericks throw at McGrady.

The Rockets beat Dallas on Saturday with one 7-6 All-Star center tied behind their backs. McGrady and the shooters around him rolled so reliably, the Rockets got by with Yao Ming playing just 20 minutes and scoring just 11 points.

Tonight, as much as the Mavs might want Nowitzki to regain his touch, the Rockets would love to see Yao come back, too.

"If he can get rolling, you're really going to have to pick your poison," McGrady said. "Do you want to shut down me, or do you want to shut down Yao?"

McGrady has shown he can beat double teams, as he did when the Mavericks tried them when he came around screens. But Dallas surrounded Yao with early double teams and then drew him into foul trouble.

Yao took just eight shots. The Mavs made it tough for the Rockets to get the ball inside to him, but it was not impossible.

"We need to seek him more," Van Gundy said. "We passed up many opportunities (Saturday). As the play is going on, he had guys on his back. We have to do a better job of finding him."

The Rockets do not want to find him on the bench, saddled with foul trouble. Yao fouled out of eight games in the regular season. But he now has fouled out of two of the five meetings with Dallas.

"I have to move my feet more quickly, keep my hands clear and keep my hands upstairs above my head, maybe let the referees see I didn't do anything with my hands," Yao said. "I think they will double-team Tracy more right now because he is a scorer and also he is a great passer.

"If I can get away from more foul trouble and get more minutes, I think I can do more ... going to the rim. After pick-and-rolls, they would put one big or one big and one small on (McGrady). That means they have no more size in the paint. Like (Saturday), Mike James did a great job when they doubled hard on Tracy. I have done that well. I have to do that well."

McGrady likely will have to lead the Rockets' offense no matter how Dallas defends him. Besides making 14 of 27 shots Saturday, he came around screens to draw fouls on the Mavs' big men or drive past them into the lane, drawing help that left teammates open.

Though it is easier to use schemes to keep the ball out of the hands of a low-post scorer than a ballhandler, the Mavericks likely will try to force McGrady to give up the ball early in possessions.

"Whatever they throw at me, it's not going to be something I haven't seen before," McGrady said. "It's just up to me to make the right play, the right decision for the team. I'm pretty sure they're going to change something in the way they defend us, but it's not going to be something I haven't seen before."

If the Mavericks send early help to McGrady, it makes it difficult to deny Yao the ball. Dallas likely will still try to help after Yao catches passes inside and certainly when he begins a move. Now that the Mavs can expect Ryan Bowen to play significant minutes — he played 31 on Saturday — they might even use Nowitzki to help on Yao.

The Rockets believe that one way or another, they can benefit from Yao's becoming more involved in the offense.

"For one, we have to keep Yao on the basketball court for him to be effective," McGrady said. "But it will be key to get him rolling. It's going to take some pressure off me, but it's also going to open up a lot of other guys we count on knocking down perimeter jumpers.

"In order for us to win this series, it's going to take both of us. I told him in the second half, 'You have to move your feet. Stay out of foul trouble.' But I'm sure he's going to be more effective, more productive in Game 2."

That is the idea.

"I know he's going to respond for us," reserve center Dikembe Mutombo said of Yao. "I know he's going to come back and give us something."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com
Rockets Summary

Running interference
The Rockets watched Mavericks coach Avery Johnson's meltdown in the last minutes of Game 1 and afterward. Rockets director of team security Butch Grant even played a role, restraining and calming Johnson when he appeared ready to go after official Joe Crawford after the game.

Grant took all kinds of kidding Sunday for preventing Johnson from getting too out of control, even if it was unlikely Johnson would have gone far enough to need Grant's help.

"I don't think he would have taken it that far," Rockets guard David Wesley said. "I think he wanted the technical. I think he wanted to get run. But Joey wouldn't give him the satisfaction."

Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy was close enough to hear Johnson's accusation that Crawford swallowed his whistle late in the game, though the Mavericks shot 42 free throws.

"I don't get into that stuff," Van Gundy said. "They shot 30 free throws in the second half. That's all I know. I'm not sure what the complaint was."

Good win, bad formula
After a tough game filled with struggles and breakdowns, improvement had to be made. But it was the Rockets, winners of Game 1, who said they must do better in Game 2 tonight.

"It was a good win, but that win won't win the series," coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Forty-two free throws, 19 second shots, 14-2 in fast-break points. That's a bad formula for us. We have to do better. What they did is they missed shots. We have more to learn ... than they do.

"We were just tortured in the second half. Thirty free throws. Ten second shots in the fourth quarter. That won't hold up to win the series."

After initially declining to say whether he would again start Ryan Bowen against Dirk Nowitzki, Van Gundy said: "I would suspect we'll start the same starters (tonight)."

Expecting a rebound
The last thing the Mavericks can afford at this point is for Dirk Nowitzki to feel a greater burden to carry their offense. They can't have him taking the floor still thinking about his 5-for-19 shooting in Game 1. Which is why they continued to close ranks and show no outward concern.

"Dirk is fine," Michael Finley said. "There's nothing that Houston did to rattle him. Shots that he was missing he normally makes. So I'm not worried about Dirk's performance."

Defensing T-Mac
Mavs coach Avery Johnson obviously has to make some kind of adjustment to his defense against Tracy McGrady. But he already was sounding like a man out of options.

"We tried everything," Johnson said. "Guarding him with two people, three people, one, none, and nothing worked."

Low-water mark
After finishing the regular season averaging 102.5 points a game, the Mavericks managed only 24 field goals in Game 1, an all-time playoff low for the Dallas franchise.

JONATHAN FEIGEN, FRAN BLINEBURY

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3151532