[Chron]Rockets raise their ceiling

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3082530

March 13, 2005, 12:54AM

Rockets raise their ceiling
Possibilities expanding with impressive wins
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES


SACRAMENTO, CALIF. - Mike James, with the expertise that comes with his status as the lone Rockets player to have won an NBA championship, recognized the feeling.

The Rockets had won impressively, but it wasn't that. It felt like something greater. It felt like possibilities.

"We're growing up," said James, part of Detroit's championship run last season. "We're growing in the first direction. We're not concerned with positioning. We're concerned with our own play, because we believe we have a chance to go very far this year.

"If we believe we have a chance of winning a championship we have to solidify ourselves, now. By winning these games, it gives us confidence we can do that."

The road trip promised to define them, at least as much as any snapshot in March can define a team. The quality of Western Conference competition carried the potential to send the Rockets' season in one direction or the other, and the Rockets headed out of town speaking of that potential, as if eager to find out for themselves what they really could be.

It could turn in the other direction with today's game at Sacramento. But beginning with last Sunday's home win against the Mavericks (or at least some of the Mavericks, with Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley and Erick Dampier out), the Rockets have beaten three of the top four teams in the West -- Dallas, Seattle and Phoenix -- before taking on No. 5 today.

In consecutive games, the Rockets came back from a 16-point deficit in Seattle and a 14-point hole in Phoenix. They have won close, beating the SuperSonics by two, and in a rout, becoming the first team in nine seasons to win by 20 after trailing going into the fourth quarter.

"These are two quality wins right here," guard David Wesley said. "This road trip might be that kind of road trip, especially if we can continue to build on it. We've got to stay focused, continue to win and collect wins."

More than anything, perhaps, the Rockets got a clear look at how much more formidable they are when Yao Ming is a force inside.

Yao is making 61 percent of his fourth-quarter shots this season, but especially took over down the stretch in the past two games. He had 10 points in the fourth quarter Tuesday. Then, with a 14-point, 10-rebound fourth quarter Friday at Phoenix, Yao joined Chris Webber and Kevin Garnett as the only players to reach double figures in points and rebounds in a quarter this season.


Yao in nice company
Yao finished Friday's game with 27 points, 22 rebounds and five blocked shots, becoming the first NBA player to reach 20 points, 20 rebounds and five blocks in a game since Shaquille O'Neal did it last March against the Bucks. Only Moses Malone and Hakeem Olajuwon had done it with the Rockets, and the last time Olajuwon did it was Feb. 10, 1993.

In the three games since Jeff Van Gundy's decision to let Yao play through foul trouble, he has not had the chance with Yao picking up some fouls but not enough to cut into his playing time.

"He got the respect from the refs," Rockets forward Tracy McGrady said. "They let him play. And when they let him play like that, it opens up a lot for myself on the perimeter in pick-and-rolls, because (opposing teams) don't know what to do. And when they're keying on me and keying on Yao, I got a guy named David Wesley knocking shots down ... Mike James, Jon Barry.

"It's clicking right now, man. We're playing pretty well. We're feeling pretty good about ourselves. Great intensity. Great energy. And we're playing under control."


Resiliency needed
They have also shown resiliency that against the top teams might be as necessary as any quality. The problem with coming from a 16-point deficit in Seattle and a 14-point deficit in Phoenix is that the Rockets fell behind by 16 and 14 points. Defensively, they never could get out to the Sonics' shooters until the second half or the Suns' shooters until the last 18 minutes.

But they did seem to figure things out.

Still there is a sense that a three-game winning streak is not enough to assure anything, or for that matter, win a playoff series.

"It's never a final destination," Van Gundy said. "You never arrive until you've won it all. You just have to keep improving."

That would seem to be the direction they are headed. And as James, who should know, put it, "It's not how you start but how you finish."


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Rockets summary

Recipe for trouble
The Rockets were willing to celebrate coming back from 16- and 14-point deficits in the past two games, but leery of pressing their luck by repeatedly falling so far behind.

"It's not a recipe we'd like to continue to follow," guard Jon Barry said. "We took some punches. If we didn't come back to win, we would say, `You cannot get down 16 and expect to win.' But it shows great character, the type of guys we have."

It also shows an ability to shoot with some of the league's most prolific offensive teams. The Rockets' 127 points Friday were their most in a game that did not include OT since 1997.

"I think we know we can come back from anything with the firepower we have, obviously with Tracy (McGrady) alone, but also with Yao (Ming) the way he was playing (Friday)," Ryan Bowen said. "Early in the year, we didn't have that. We would be down 14 or 16 and be done. I think we would rather not have that. Obviously, you don't want to dig yourself a hole, but it's great that we're able to bounce back from it."


Sura's back is OK
Rockets guard Bob Sura said his back felt better than his play in his first game back off the injured list Friday. Sura played 22 minutes, scoring two points with four assists and two rebounds.

"I was OK," Sura said. "I was kind of running in the mud out there. I was a step slow, typical for being out for three weeks. My back felt OK. Just my conditioning level was not good. I was a little rusty. But that's to be expected."


All-around player
The Rockets' past two games against teams with perimeter-shooting power forwards have given extra playing time to Ryan Bowen, usually Tracy McGrady's backup as small forward.

"Obviously, it just depends on matchups," Bowen said. "It works at times, at other times we have to kind of see how it's going. It's a mindset. You have to totally change your mindset. Against a team like Phoenix, you're not really playing the four. I was on the perimeter most of the time. A few times I was guarding (Amare) Stoudemire, but most of the time I was out on the perimeter. You have to have different mindsets and figure out what the schemes are."

There has been one nagging problem. The Rockets have their power forward inbound after made baskets. Bowen's habits are to take off in the other direction, a tendency that has led him to forget that extra power forward chore.

"I have to learn to take the ball out of bounds," Bowen said. "I know I drove coach crazy."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com