Mobley scores 31 in 4th straight win; lessons in `D' stick By JONATHAN FEIGEN

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/rox/2445784
March 12, 2004, 1:42AM

Rockets box in Hornets
Mobley scores 31 in 4th straight win; lessons in `D' stick
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

You can let your imagination wander to picture the scene behind locked doors in Jeff Van Gundy's laboratory.
The Rockets had been winning, at least more often than they were losing, and beating some pretty good teams. But they were not defending. And Van Gundy would rather eat dirt than sit through that.

So Van Gundy has -- as Rockets forward Jim Jackson put it -- been "pounding, pounding, pounding" the virtues of defense.

Like sausage making, it might be best not to know too much about the process. The result, however, was a 97-86 victory over the Hornets on Thursday as the Rockets shut down New Orleans long enough to coast into the finish before 13,587 at Toyota Center.

Along the way, the Rockets topped 90 points for the fifth consecutive game, their longest such streak of the season. Cuttino Mobley regained his shooting touch, scoring 13 consecutive points in the second quarter on his way to 31. And the Rockets matched their longest winning streak of the season at four games.

But they took command, leading by as many as 21 points, by returning to the shutdown defense of the season's first half.

"You know Jeff is always going to point it out," said Jackson, who had 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting. "No matter if we're doing well, he's going to have something we need to do better. Defensively, in the last four or five games, we weren't playing like we were early on. It comes from Jeff really pounding, pounding, pounding us to do the right thing and not letting us be complacent."

He might do some more pounding today. The Hornets rallied from a 20-point fourth-quarter deficit to within seven in the final minute.

"We played the clock in the fourth quarter instead of playing the game," Van Gundy said. "They got aggressive and they were driving it, making 3s."

The Hornets rallied when Baron Davis got going. Davis was 6-of-18 through three quarters when Steve Francis went to the bench with his fifth foul and the Rockets holding a 16-point lead. Davis immediately scored on a reverse, and by the time Francis returned, Davis had scored 13 points in 3 1/2 minutes, pulling the Hornets to within 86-77 with 2:50 left.

Jackson scored on a reverse and Francis and Yao Ming each dropped in a pair of free throws to take the lead to back to 15 points with 1:26 left.

The Hornets drained three consecutive treys while the Rockets made just one of four free throws in a 9-1 run over 36 seconds. But Francis and Mark Jackson made four more free throws to close out the win.

"I thought we played pretty well from the second (quarter) until the beginning of the fourth, and then we got lackadaisical," said Francis, who had 19 points, six rebounds and five assists. "We probably just were anticipating getting the game over with when we had the big lead. We're not the only team that does that. When you have a big lead with that much time (remaining), it's hard to maintain your focus."

The Rockets got the big lead, however, by repairing the defense that Van Gundy had said had slipped to "mediocre" since the All-Star break. Once the Rockets began getting back on breaks, they allowed little else, holding the Hornets to 39.3 percent shooting, the second game in the past 14 in which a Rockets opponent failed to make 40 percent of its attempts. The Rockets held 30 of their first 50 opponents to worse than 40 percent.

In the first half, the Rockets shut down the lane and then closed out on shooters, holding New Orleans to 13 of 41 shooting (31.7 percent) and 34 points. (Only Cleveland has scored fewer in the first half against the Rockets since Minnesota had 26 in the first half Jan. 17.)

"I thought we played pretty good defense in the first half," said forward Maurice Taylor, who went out with a sore left knee. "I thought we played pretty good defense in the second half until down the stretch when they started getting some of the long 3s. I think overall defensively we know what we're going to get. We're going to give a lot of effort, we're going to play with a lot of intensity. And the thing about it is that if we can just hang our hat on our defense, we'll be fine.

"Even on the days we're struggling (offensively), we feel like ... somebody is going to break out and have a big game. So as long as we stay consistent defensively, we're not even worrying about the offense."

Mobley had a breakout game Thursday. Yao made 7 of 12 shots for 17 points, but foul trouble held him to 29 minutes. But with the Hornets packed inside around Yao and chasing Francis around screens, Mobley's 31 was his top-scoring night since his 32 on Dec. 3.

"Houston really exploited our zone defense, and Mobley really got hot," said Davis, who had 30 points, making 12 of 28 shots. "Mobley had an amazing game. He got into a rhythm, and he killed us. They are probably the best pick-and-roll team I have faced all season."

The Rockets think of themselves, however, as the best defensive team anyone has seen this season. But having heard it so much, they also began to sound like Van Gundy.

"Our defense was good for the most part," Francis said. "We did a good job of playing the pick and roll, but it can get better. Everything can get better."

Van Gundy would tend to agree, if he hadn't already pounded that point in for weeks.


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Rockets summary
Friendly fire
The meeting of Steve Francis and Baron Davis was not quite a reenactment of their Reebok commercial game of one-on-one. They provided voices to go with computer-generated video game images of themselves.

"It was easy, it was probably the easiest thing I ever did," Francis said of the commercial. "It's all right. It's straight, it's cool."

Francis said he had no plans to walk across the top of the backboard as his likeness does in the commercial, having grown too old for such acrobatics.

"Probably two years ago I would have," he said. "Now I'm just trying to win."

But in the All-Star Game, he said he did let the matchup with his friend get personal.

"The All-Star Game is competitive, but you basically point out who you want to go at," Francis said. "The veterans will let you get the ball and let you do what you want to do. The alley-oop from Yao (Ming), look at the tape.

"He told me he let me do it, but hey."

Francis said he and Davis speak often about "how things are going."

Forward tweaking
Other than starting Kelvin Cato, the Rockets' rotation at power forward has seemed to be changing with every game because, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said the performances at the position have changed almost every night.

"Clarence (Weatherspoon), when he got here, didn't play much (because of) conditioning," Van Gundy said. "We had a drop-off in energy in our frontline so he got to play and he's played very well. We don't want what we have right now, we're trading off. Some guys are playing well in the frontcourt and others aren't. We want all four of those guys (including Yao Ming) to play well together. We have to get our bigs to be more active and more energetic as a group so that we can play more effectively and not say you have the luxury of going to somebody else if somebody is having a bad night."

In the past five games, the Rockets have gotten double-figures production in scoring or rebounding in consecutive games from their power forwards just once, when Weatherspoon had 11 points in Minnesota and 10 against the Mavericks.

On Thursday, Taylor had four points and two rebounds in 13 minutes before leaving with a sore knee.

Game time
With Thursday's 6:30 p.m. start at Toyota Center (they will also play at 6:30 p.m. on Monday against the Suns), the Rockets have had tipoffs at nine different times this season, from noon to 9 p.m. local time. The 6:30 starts were made for television broadcasts.

Playing at all sorts of different times is not unusual in the post-season, when the second game of television double-headers can start at 9:30 central time, and could be followed by a noon or 2:30 p.m. start two days later.

Few teams experience the playoff treatment as much as the Rockets have this season. But the Rockets' celebrity has made them a popular television team, with 22 national broadcasts. (They were 8-6 going into Thursday's game on national television.)

-- By JONATHAN FEIGEN





Press row view
With two home games left before the stretch run (11 of the final 16 games are on the road), the Rockets seem to be admitting that they are a playoff team. Language keeps cropping up about how they are playing in remaining weeks, rather than whether they do enough to qualify. Winning no longer seems sufficient, as if they believe they will soon have to concern themselves with building speed for the playoffs. The Jazz, now 5 1/2 back but as dogged as ever, will keep them honest. But the Rockets' four-game winning streak is second in the West to the Grizzlies' six. The Rockets are not in yet, but more than ever seem to consider themselves worthy of the postseason.

Inside the numbers
The Rockets' bench scored 10 points, its fewest since Jan. 31 when they had eight in the 88-77 loss to the Nets. ... The Rockets are 11-3 at home and 11-3 on the road against Eastern Conference teams, with one road game (at Milwaukee) and one home game (against Toronto) left to play. ... The Rockets moved to 11-4 when Cuttino Mobley is their leading scorer. ... After making 47.9 percent of their shots, the Rockets are 25-3 when making at least 45 percent of their attempts. ... Baron Davis' 28 shots were the most against the Rockets this season. ... The Hornets outscored the Rockets 18-4 in fast-break points.

Did you know?
At 38-26 the Rockets are 12 games above .500 for the first time since the end of the 1998-99 lockout season, their last in the playoffs, and have their best record so late in a season since 1996-97's 57-25.

-- JONATHAN FEIGEN

 

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/rox/2445928

March 12, 2004, 1:40AM
Cuttino Mobley looked at his hands in mock amazement after hitting his sixth 3-pointer of the night. Mobley was hot, and he knew it. More importantly, he also was having fun -- and it wasn't just because everything he shot went in. For the first time in a week, Mobley wasn't playing in pain.

After a week of lower back pain, Mobley exploded offensively with 31 points to help the Rockets defeat New Orleans 97-86 on Thursday night at Toyota Center. Mobley hit 10 of 17 field-goal attempts, including six 3-pointers, and finished with his highest point total since a season-high 32 against Utah on Dec. 3.

Ever since he took a hard fall against the Lakers on March 3, Mobley has had a bruise on his tailbone. It didn't help when he was hit hard twice in the same spot against Minnesota on March 5. But Mobley tried to rehabilitate it on off days and play through it on game days. He started to feel better for the first time in a week Wednesday, and hoped it would carry over into Thursday's game.

"I shot a little better because of my back," he said. "The game against the Lakers kind of killed me, and I reinjured it against Minnesota. And everybody knows when your back's messed up. ... I'm not trying to make excuses. Everybody knows that I play with injuries, it's no big thing to me."

Mobley definitely made the difference against New Orleans. The Rockets and Hornets were matching each other point for point at the end of the first quarter when Mobley decided to take over.

With 9:22 to go in the second quarter, Mobley hit his first 3-pointer to extend the Rockets' lead to 26-21. He followed that basket with two more 3-pointers.

On the next Rockets possessions, Mobley's teammates made sure to continue firing the ball to him. He continued his torrid run with two more field goals -- a layup and a jumper -- to cap a solo 13-point run. New Orleans scored seven points during the same stretch and trailed 36-28 when Mobley hit a jumper with 5:02 remaining.

"Mobley was on fire," the Hornets' Jamaal Magloire said. "He was exceptional, and he deserves all the credit because he was the difference in the game."

Mobley didn't realize he was the only Rockets player scoring during the second-quarter stretch, but he knew something was going right. He hit five of six field goals in the second.

"I looked up and we were up two, and then I looked up again and we were up 10," Mobley said. "I just took it upon myself. I passed a little too much in the first quarter, and I came out in the second quarter and just put (shots) up."

Mobley struggled offensively for about six games before Thursday's outing. He shot over 50 percent for the first time since Feb. 25 against Cleveland. During that six-game span, Mobley averaged only 12.0 points.

In the Rockets' previous game Tuesday against the Clippers, Mobley had only 10 points. Steve Francis was shooting the ball well, so the Rockets moved him to shooting guard and left Mobley on the bench during the fourth quarter.

It was a much different night against the Hornets, though. Mobley was the only Rockets player to see all 12 minutes in the fourth quarter. Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said it was good to have Mobley shooting well again.

"We need our best, most efficient scorers to play efficiently together, and over the last five or six games he's really struggled to shoot the ball, and we needed his shooting," Van Gundy said. "I thought he did a good job shooting, knocking it down tonight. The guys did a good job of finding him too."