[USA Today] After delay, Rockets have taken off

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/rockets/2005-02-21-rockets-cover_x.htm

After delay on launching pad, patient Rockets have taken off
By David DuPree, USA TODAY

Tracy McGrady has a hole in his game, the same hole he sees in teammate Yao Ming's. "We both have a tendency to bail defenders out," McGrady says. "When I'm the most effective is when I am going to the basket and when I am getting to the free throw line and not just settling for jump shots. That just opens up my overall game."

McGrady is in Yao's ear constantly, during games, on the bench and after games. "I keep telling him to go straight up on his jump shot and stop fading away on it, and when he's inside to go up strong and dunk the ball — every time."

Yao grins in agreement.

"I can always hear him telling me to dunk, dunk, dunk," the Houston Rockets' 7-6 center says.

"I am starting to listen to him."

McGrady has been listening to himself, too, and as a result the Rockets are making plenty of noise around the NBA. Whatever holes the slow-starting Rockets had earlier in the season are closing up quickly. They are 32-21, with the sixth-best record in the Western Conference.

Houston comes out of the All-Star break with the longest current winning streak (eight games) and has won 16 of its last 20.

"They are a good team and will be a factor the rest of the year and in the playoffs," San Antonio Spurs assistant P.J. Carlesimo says. "They're a difficult matchup for everybody. Except for Shaq (O'Neal), no one distorts a game like Yao, and Tracy is, well, he's Tracy. How do you guard him?"

The Minnesota Timberwolves' Kevin Garnett says a center such as Yao and a perimeter player such as McGrady mean trouble for Houston opponents. "They have that chemistry thing going now, too," Garnett says. "That makes them even tougher."

Chemistry is an elusive yet essential factor for a winning team, and the Rockets were slow to get it for some understandable reasons. They traded starters Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato in the offseason to get McGrady, and there are only four holdovers from last season's team.

Where Yao and Francis bonded from Day 1, partly because of Francis' outgoing personality, Yao and McGrady were slower adjusting to each other.

McGrady is more laid-back and likes to relax in his room on the road or when he's home. Yao is the same way, so they don't have the same type of off-court relationship Yao and Francis had.

McGrady and Yao enjoy being teammates, however, and are about as close as two guys who like their privacy can be. To see them interact in the locker room is to think they grew up together. Sometimes Yao will start a sentence and McGrady will finish the thought. On the court, it took awhile for them to adjust.

"I think we both deferred too much to the other," McGrady says. "I never played with a big guy before, and I just thought he'd play inside all the time and I'd play outside and take a back seat. And Yao thought, 'Wow, I've got the two-time scoring champion now so I don't have to do as much.'

"He is just more confident now," McGrady says of Yao. "He's done a better job of rebounding and staying in games. I can definitely see a change from then to now."

Yao seemed to be in constant foul trouble early in the season because, he says, he was not reacting to plays quickly enough. As a result, Yao got caught out of position, getting to his spot late and picking up a lot of blocking and reach-in fouls.

"I started making quicker decisions and getting to where I am supposed to be faster," he says.

Van Gundy salvages season

Adding to the adjustment of the two stars was that the projected starter at point guard, Bob Sura, began the season on the injured list after back surgery. His replacement, Charlie Ward, was sidelined by an injury, and the Rockets were left with a collection of incongruous parts to go with Yao and McGrady.

It just didn't work.

The Rockets opened 6-11, and talk surfaced that Houston was the NBA's biggest disappointment. But Yao and McGrady began learning how to complement each other, Sura got healthy and Jon Barry and David Wesley came via trades.

The team became quicker and faster and had better passing, outside shooting and ball penetration and much better perimeter defense.

McGrady credits coach Jeff Van Gundy. "No one is more prepared than he is, and that makes us more prepared than anyone else," McGrady says. "All you have to do is sit back and listen to him. When we were struggling, he just told us to trust him and keep doing what we were supposed to do and things would get better. And look where we are now."

Miami Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, Jeff's brother, expected this from the Rockets.

"I'm not surprised they're coming on," Stan says. "You give Jeff time to develop a team and they'll always do an outstanding job. They've gotten personnel more to their liking with the trades. They've got more quickness, more energy; they've got Tracy back to the three spot exclusively, which is what Jeff wanted. It's his type of team in that they play hard with a lot of energy."

Jeff Van Gundy says he and his players realize they are in this thing together "and everybody has to do a little bit of everything to cover up our weaknesses."

The most glaring one is on the boards: The Rockets are next-to-last in the league in offensive rebounding.

Schedule tough rest of way

During the eight-game winning streak, Yao is averaging 20.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots and is shooting 64.5%; McGrady is averaging 25.4 points, 7.3 assists and 5.8 rebounds.

The role players are setting the table for them and helping clear it afterward. Sura has nine near triple-doubles and scored a career-high 35 in another game. Wesley, after shooting 37.3% in the first three months, is shooting 52.4% in February. Barry is shooting 56.3% (9-for-16) from three-point range and 51.9% from the field in February. And Juwan Howard, who came from the Orlando Magic in the McGrady trade, is averaging 13.4 points and 9.7 rebounds and is 20-for-22 on free throws in February.

Aside from the statistical improvement, Van Gundy is just as pleased with Yao's change in temperament.

"He has been a much more active weak-side defender, and he has been so consistent at the offensive end. But the thing is that he is happy," Van Gundy says. "He's selfless, but he also has great pride. He knows he can deliver, and he wants the ball. But if other guys are making shots and playing well, he is as happy for them as he would be for himself."

The Rockets have a tough schedule the rest of the way. They have two games left with the Spurs, three with the Phoenix Suns and four with the Seattle SuperSonics, the top three teams in the conference, beginning tonight at home against the Sonics. They visit the Spurs on Wednesday.

"If we can navigate ourselves through the last 29 games and make the playoffs, I think we will be a team that can compete," Van Gundy says.

"Our bad start through the easy part of the schedule put us in a hole, so it will be difficult to get the home-court advantage, which is so important. But we know what's ahead of us."

Wesley came to the Rockets in a December trade with the New Orleans Hornets, one of the worst teams in the league, and says playing on a good team "revives you. When you are losing, it affects you. You still try to play as hard as you can, but when you aren't winning, it just isn't fun. Playing is fun again for me."

Because he likes his current team so much, Van Gundy says people get the impression he didn't like last year's team.

"I liked that team a lot," he says. "We had no desire to trade Steve or Cuttino, but when you get a chance to get Tracy McGrady, you get him."

McGrady's next task with Yao is to get him to be meaner so he will get more respect from officials. Yao has been called for only two technical fouls in his three seasons in the NBA.

"I don't know how he does it," McGrady says. "He's too nice. You have to let the officials know that you're there and that you care. The potential is there, but everybody wants him to be this dominant guy like Shaq. That's not in his personality. But we do have to make him a little meaner."

"How's this?" Yao says making a grimace.

"Save it for the games," McGrady says. "Save it for the games."

UPGRADED ROCKET FUEL

Only four players who were with the Houston Rockets last season — Yao Ming, Maurice Taylor, Scott Padgett and Clarence Weatherspoon — remain with the team. How Houston acquired the other Rockets:

Tracy McGrady Offseason trade with Orlando Magic, with Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato to the Magic.
Juwan Howard Part of McGrady trade with Orlando.
Reece Gaines Part of McGrady trade with Orlando.
Charlie Ward Signed as a free agent in offseason.
Bob Sura Signed as a free agent in offseason.
Andre Barrett Signed as a free agent in offseason.
Ryan Bowen Signed as a free agent on offseason.
Dikembe Mutombo Dec. 8 trade with Chicago Bulls for Eric Piatkowski, Adrian Griffin and Mike Wilks
Jon Barry Dec. 23 trade with Atlanta Hawks for Tyronn Lue.
David Wesley Dec. 27 trade with New Orleans Hornets for Jim Jackson and Bostjan Nachbar.
Rod Strickland - Signed Jan. 19 as a free agent