[Houston Chronicle] RICHARD JUSTICE: Give Yao his due and then some

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Give Yao his due and then some

By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

ORLANDO, Fla. — At one point Sunday afternoon, Yao Ming spun by one defender and dunked the ball in the face of another.

He also showed off an unstoppable hook shot, threw in a few baseline jumpers and set the best screen of the day.

When he was done, he had a line that's starting to look close to normal: 29 points, 11 boards, two blocks.

He's also beloved by his coach, respected by his teammates and probably gets among the loudest cheers in every NBA arena.

Isn't it great to be Yao Ming?

As he reaches the stretch drive of his fourth season, amid all the hype and expectations, he's seen in some circles as something of a flop.

It's not his fault he was saddled with expectations he couldn't have met. The truth is that he has held up his end of the bargain. He's every bit as good as anyone could have hoped.

NBA's poster child
Maybe the problem is that he makes the game look so easy. Maybe it's because he was a legend before he ever played an NBA game.

Don't get Jeff Van Gundy started.

"He's a great player," the Rockets coach said after Sunday's 89-84 victory over Orlando. "Anybody who wants more from him is missing the whole point.

"If you want a poster child for what the NBA should be, it's Yao Ming. He's unselfish, totally loyal — to teammates, coaches, management. You never hear him say, 'My guys have got to get me the ball.' You never hear that.

"That's where we're lucky. With him and (Tracy) McGrady, there's no inner-conflict about whose team this is."

Quick, name the NBA's best center. Shaq? OK, but who else would you rather have than Yao?

His 20 points per game is tops among NBA centers. His 9.6 rebounds are second only to Ben Wallace among centers.

Besides Shaq, who else?
Mixed among the average games are some monster ones. Yao has scored 27 twice and 29 twice in his past 10 games.

His numbers are even more remarkable considering how poorly the Rockets have shot 3s. Opponents can throw an extra defender around Yao because there's so little perimeter offense to draw them away from the basket.

The Phoenix Suns, tonight's opponent at Toyota Center, will put quick players in front of and behind Yao. They'll probably keep him from getting his numbers.

The Rockets have to address their outside shooting this offseason, but that's not nearly like trying to find a center who will average 20 and 9.

"He's one of the top three players at his position," Juwan Howard said. "That's a great compliment. There's Shaq in front of him and who else? Take your pick."

After Sunday's game, Yao slipped into a pair of khakis and a sweater, pulled on a pair of oxfords and dined on a plate of boiled shrimp as reporters asked him the usual questions.

Outside, Van Gundy has just spoken about how Yao reacted during the 21 games he missed while recovering from toe surgery.

"It hurt him to miss those games," Van Gundy said. "He felt like he was letting his teammates down. Not everyone in this league is like that."

Yao shrugs when these words are relayed.

"Our coaches helped me a lot," Yao said. "They didn't let me waste my time. They sent me a lot of film of my game and the Rockets games. They told me what I needed to work on. I wasn't just relaxing. I was learning a lot. I still don't have a lot of experience playing high-level basketball. I've still got a lot to learn."

This season hasn't turned out the way it was supposed to. The Rockets have been decimated by injuries, and even after winning 10 of 12, they're three games out of the final Western Conference playoff spot.

Yet they finally have a foundation they like. Yao and McGrady are terrific when they're on the court together. Rafer Alston has been every- thing he was supposed to be.

"He has become the point guard we needed him to become," Van Gundy said. "He gives us passion. He pushes it up the floor and penetrates. The one thing he has to add to his game is poise. Today, he had poise when they were making their run."

There are issues for the summer. The Rockets need a backup point guard and a shooter. They can't wait to unload Stromile Swift. They need depth.

But the big issues — point guard, center, scorer — are taken care of. That's far more than a start.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3687401.html


Hot Rockets almost fizzle
Sure-fire rout of Magic turns shaky, but victory boosts February record to 10-2

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle


ORLANDO, FLA. - Rarely have the Rockets been so challenged.

In their apparent never-ending quest to make every game close, this one seemed over, a rout that could not possibly be changed and with no chance at their nightly anxiety-loaded last minute.

But there is a reason the Rockets have been so good with Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming and so bad without them. So when Jeff Van Gundy went to his bench, the Orlando Magic came alive, the 20-point lead was reduced to three, and the Rockets had to win the final minute to emerge with an 89-84 victory Sunday.

The win moved them to 10-2 this month, 18-8 this season with McGrady and Yao. But a few minutes before Van Gundy might have considered giving them an early seat and extra rest in anticipation of tonight's game against the Suns, everything changed.

"We had an unbelievable third quarter as far as defensively," said McGrady, who had 19 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. "In the fourth quarter, we kind of let our guard down, thought the game was over, and those guys made a push, made it into the game. But when we needed to execute and get a stop, we did."

If the sight of McGrady will remind Orlando of what was supposed to be, it was even clearer with McGrady matching up most of the game with Grant Hill, the other free-agent catch in the summer of 2000 whose left ankle nightmare rarely allowed them to play together.

Hill, in just his second game back from an abdominal strain, had 22 points, four assists and four rebounds. But the Rockets' defense engulfed the new heart of the Magic's plans, second-year forward Dwight Howard, until he could make just one of five shots for seven points. Even his nine rebounds, in a game with 100 missed shots from the field and line, were well short of his league-leading 12.6.

"We tried to contain him," Juwan Howard said of his matchup with Dwight Howard.

Clamping down
With Dwight Howard removed, the Rockets suffocated what was left of the Magic's scoring. Through three quarters, Orlando had made just 18 of 51 of its shots, and when the Rockets began the fourth with a 7-2 run, they led 74-54 with 10 minutes left.

Then Yao (29 points, 11 rebounds), Rafer Alston and McGrady took turns heading to the bench with foul trouble, and the Rockets looked as rudderless as they were when McGrady and Alston were out for much of the first months of the season.

The Rockets made one of their next 10 shots with five turnovers.

They repeatedly sent the Magic to the line, committing nine fouls in nine minutes. In one stretch when the turnaround was beginning, Carlos Arroyo stripped Luther Head, went in for a layup and then drew an offensive foul on Head. With 1:21 left, Hedo Turkoglu sank a corner 3 to cut the Rockets' lead to 82-79.

"Our bench play was poor and that ignited them," Van Gundy said. "We played great third-quarter defense and then played the score in the fourth. It's really not fair to Luther. That's what we have (at backup point guard) right now. That sequence — steal, layup, offensive foul — turned the game."

But the Rockets recovered in the final minute. A game after Juwan Howard's baseline jumper from 16 feet helped put the game away with 38 seconds left, the Rockets went to him again on the baseline with his 15-footer giving them an 84-79 lead.

Wesley ices it
The Magic remained within three in the final seconds, but the Rockets ran an inbounds play, with David Wesley slipping around a Yao screen on Arroyo to go in for the layup that iced it with 8.6 seconds left.

"Obviously there were some good parts; we were up 20," Wesley said. "But the glaring similarity to last game is we let another team run at us and make it close in the fourth quarter. If we keep going like this, we're going to end up losing a game we should have won."

But the Rockets have won six of seven, enough to inspire renewed thoughts of what could be.

"We're playing extremely well," McGrady said. "Especially when myself and Yao are on the basketball court, it's unbelievable what our record is. Our record (25-31) is pretty bad right now, but that's due to the fact we had a lot of injuries. We're still capable of turning our season into something real special."

If nothing else, it's never dull.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com
Rockets Summary

T-Mac back
Rockets forward Tracy McGrady returned to the team after missing Friday's game following the death of his fiancée's mother. Aloa Harris died of Parkinson's disease Thursday. He traveled with the team to Houston for tonight's game, then will fly to North Carolina for the funeral Tuesday.

"We knew it was coming," McGrady said. "We didn't know when. Just trying to hold my girl Clarenda up and hold the family together. It's her mom. It was a real difficult situation. My girl was going through it, so I'm going through it. She was dealing with a newborn. You can imagine the stress.

"Any time you're dealing with death, especially in your family, it's tough to get over. I'm still grieving with my family. It's been pretty difficult.

"It actually helps me get through," McGrady said of playing. "I kind of use it as an (escape) for a day, to have a peace of mind and not worry about what is going on. Then I'll deal with it when I go back. I wanted to come down and play. That was all up to me.

"For a while, for a stretch of this season, it was pretty tough because of the off-the-court things distracting me.

"I feel much better about myself and what I have to do in terms of separating the two. I'm able to get focused, go out, be a professional and do my job."

Bad blood
Tracy McGrady had little to say about the Magic having moved every player — Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato — acquired in the trade that sent him to Houston. But he did say if the other subsequent move, former president John Weisbrod's departure to become a regional scout of the NHL Dallas Stars, had happened sooner, he would have happily stayed with the Magic.

"They let one individual screw the whole organization up," McGrady said. "It took awhile for everybody to realize that. Everybody thought I wanted out. I'm home. Then you trade Cuttino Mobley? I didn't understand that."

Though Weisbrod is gone, McGrady said he intends to retire with the Rockets.

"As long as I have the big man ( Yao Ming,) the coach that I have ( Jeff Van Gundy) and the people upstairs, we're going to be all right," he said.

Last word
"Obviously, we're clicking. If we continue to play this way, we should get in the playoffs. We have to continue to focus at getting better each and every game as opposed to looking too far ahead at this game, or that team."

— David Wesley
Inside the numbers

• 62 — Personal fouls committed.
• 33 — Magic fouls, the most against the Rockets this season.
• 15 — Yao Ming free throws on 19 attempts, both the most for a Rockets player this season.
• 13 — Languages spoken by Rockets and Magic players.

JONATHAN FEIGEN