Rockets eat up frustration

Rockets eat up frustration
Yao leads win, ending Magic's 10-season streak
By JONATHAN FEIGEN


ORLANDO, Fla. -- Rudy Tomjanovich was feeling good but hungry. The Rockets had just beaten the Timberwolves in one of those games he admits he circles in red, and Tomjanovich stopped to treat himself to fish tacos on the way to the airport.

"A fan came in there," Tomjanovich said, "and said, `You guys are going to Orlando, huh? I've been to Orlando a couple times. I've been a Rockets fan. It's been horrible.' "

With that, Tuesday night's win was behind him, reduced to a small-type number. Tacos were served with a side of bitter frustration. Tomjanovich had never won a regular-season game in Orlando as Rockets coach. Even the 1995 NBA Finals sweep of the Magic could not completely replace the thought of the 10 consecutive regular-season losses in Orlando, and Tomjanovich felt sick.

But he also has suspected this season that times have changed, and he had more evidence Wednesday when the Rockets easily handled another longtime tormentor, taking a 91-81 victory over the Magic that wasn't that close most of the night.

"The last time we won here, Snoop Dogg was still a pup," Tomjanovich said. "It's been a long dry spell (since December 1991) here. We've done some things this year. We got the Sacramento thing (a nine-game Kings winning streak against the Rockets) over. San Antonio. Winning in Seattle. This team has done a lot of good things."

The temptation might be to surmise things have turned because of the addition of a 7-5 Chinese center. But the Rockets once had a pretty fair center before Yao Ming brought them games like Wednesday's, his best since his Dec. 18 exhibition against the Pacers.

The Rockets were struggling, if not quite "running in mud," as Tomjanovich described their usual Orlando experience, when Yao calmed their offense and took over long enough to help them to an 18-point second-half lead. He made eight of 14 shots for 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. He also offered perhaps his best drive of the season, taking the ball from the corner to the rim.

"Two steps, and he's at the basket," said Pat Burke, Yao's 6-11 victim. "I won't trap him in the corner anymore."

Left unaddressed was what could have been done to stop Yao on Wednesday. The Rockets had every starter in double figures, but they turned the game around when Yao took it over.

"He's going to be a great player in this league," Magic guard Tracy McGrady said. "Once he gets some games under his belt and gets comfortable with the game, he's going to be unbelievable. And he just takes a lot out of you. He's so big and hard to double-team because he can just look over the double-team and pass out of that with ease. He rebounds. Guys do a great job playing off him when he passes the ball. He's a handful, man."

He was not, however, the only marked change from recent Rockets teams that were whipped in Orlando.

For the second consecutive night, the Rockets had a team shooting worse than any team had against them all season until a late rally shined up the numbers a bit. Without ever coming closer than the final margin, the Magic made six of their last seven shots to improve their shooting to just 35.6 percent.

McGrady had a late run but still made just 10 of 26 shots for his 27 points.

A night after Rockets power forward Maurice Taylor had his best game of the season, capped by a fast finish, starter Eddie Griffin got off to a rapid start, scoring eight of his 12 points, grabbing seven of his nine rebounds and getting three of his four blocked shots in the first quarter.

"Eddie was a man possessed," Tomjanovich said.

"The defense did it for us. We were phenomenal the first half with eight blocked shots. Two games in a row to hold a team to 35 (percent shooting), and they're such a dangerous team. The guys are really dedicating themselves on the defensive end.

"We've been talking about it for a while now. We finally got a chance to work on it in practice, and it always helps to be able to go over that stuff. The team is gaining confidence, and it's teamwork work, too, in helping each other and communication. Glen (Rice) has really helped us get to be a talking team."

Rice has been talking all week. He said the Rockets should move the ball better, and against Minnesota they did. He traded trash talk with Kevin Garnett until both were silenced by a technical foul. After McGrady yapped at him following a drive and slam, Rice hit a trey over McGrady and told him, "You have to come out on me, too."

Rice was also talking before the Rockets left the locker room. He had just learned of their losing streak in Orlando.

"I heard that before the game, and I was like, `You've got to be kidding me,' " Rice said. "I said, `All right. You know what? We're winning tonight.' Guess what. We got that monkey off our backs.

"A lot of great things can happen for this team and will. I want it to hurry up and happen. I'm not getting younger."

 

-- JONATHAN FEIGEN



Press row view

Yao Ming had nice numbers on Wednesday. His 23 points and 11 rebounds were his best in weeks and led the Rockets. Numbers, however, don't begin to describe the difference Yao can make for the Rockets. Yao changed shots he did not block, and recovered in time to get the rebound. His presence in the middle kept the Magic on the perimeter. His sure hands in the low post settled down the Rockets offensively when they were turning the ball over. He did not get an assist, but had several outstanding passes that frustrated the Magic defenders. There will be nights that he will put up huge numbers. But he does not have to collect numbers for the Rockets to collect wins.

Inside the numbers

The Rockets starters accounted for 82.4 percent of the Rockets scoring. ... The Rockets committed 12 more turnovers than the Magic, 22-10, but outscored the Magic 15-14 in points off turnovers. ... The Rockets held their 11th opponent to less than 40 percent shooting, holding a second-consecutive team to worse than 40 percent shooting for the first time since November. ... When Rockets personnel scout Joe Ash, who is based in central Florida, has attended Rockets games this season as he did on Wednesday, the Rockets are 4-0.

Did you know?

The Rockets completed their first of two back-to-backs this week and of four this month, improving to 5-2 on the second night of back-to-back games.