[Chron] Yao steps up as Rockets rally to beat Sonics

[Chron]- Yao steps up as Rockets rally to beat Sonics

March 9, 2005, 12:41AM
Trip starts with a boom
Yao steps up as Rockets rally to beat Sonics
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3076207

SEATTLE - For all those screaming that Yao Ming needs to get tough, one thing:

Shut up.

For all the times Yao seemed unable to finish a game or get a call, the Rockets faced another last-second, hold-your-breath finish, then put the ball in their center's hands and let him go to work.

Matched up alone with Jerome James, Yao turned to his left and blasted past James, coolly putting in his short jumper with 26.3 seconds left, to help close out a 97-95 victory over the SuperSonics in the first of a four-game road trip on Tuesday night.

"You know what, Yao showed some aggression right there," said Tracy McGrady, beaming as he rarely does. "For the first time, Yao got some respect from the officials."

Yao did not have to think hard to remember the other times. In his previous game against the Sonics, he tried a spin move around James — a move that worked in the fourth quarter on Tuesday — and was called for a hook on the way by.

This time, he turned to his left, James went flying, but there was no whistle.

"That was a flop by Jerome James," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "And you know what? If that was anything but a veteran official (Jack Nies) down there, most likely it would have been (called an offensive foul.)"

But the Rockets were not merely encouraged by Nies' performance.

For all the times Yao's toughness was questioned, the Rockets went to him and McGrady throughout the fourth quarter when the Sonics made their move and the Key Arena rocked in ways the Library on LaBranch never does.

Yao had 22 points, 16 in the second half and six points in the last two minutes. He passed to McGrady for three more late, demonstrating a different sort of tough.

"He's good. It is still a game of being good," Van Gundy said. "There's a lot of mean guys that aren't good."

But there are a lot of good players who don't get better in the fourth quarter. Yao was shooting 59 percent in the fourth this season before making four of five Tuesday.

"Yao has good mental toughness, absolutely," Van Gundy said. "I think he has poise, which is a great component down the stretch of close games."

The Rockets, however, have lacked that sort of toughness in close games since the All-Star break. But after holding the Sonics to six third-quarter points to get control of the game, they won it down the stretch.

Yao's late jumper gave the Rockets a 93-90 lead. With the Rockets scrambling to protect the 3-point arc, Luke Ridnour drove to a layup that pulled the Sonics to within 93-92 with 16.7 seconds remaining.

But the Rockets came back with McGrady cutting to the rim to take an inbounds pass through a Rashard Lewis foul and to a 95-92 lead with 14.5 seconds left and a free throw to clinch the win.

McGrady, who had 11 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, missed, but Lewis could not make his forced 3-pointer, clinching the Rockets' win and their first winning streak since winning eight in a row heading into the All-Star break.

The Rockets did all they could to lose it long before the final minutes.

They were so slow and sloppy defensively that the eruption of Mount St. Helens might have been nothing compared to the steam shooting from Van Gundy's ears.

Perhaps when the Sonics went through the Rockets so swiftly in the first half as if they were running a clinic, they were.

Having been bullied by the Sonics' broad shoulders in Houston, the Rockets were hit even harder by Seattle's soft touch.

The Sonics' made nine of 12 3-pointers in the first half, with Lewis and Allen torching the Rockets for a combined 28 points and Ridnour operating so easily he had 11 assists, two shy of his season high, by halftime.

But as soon as the Rockets came back for the second half, they returned with a vastly improved defense, taking away the layups and most of the wide-open shots.

Seattle did miss and kept on missing (14 of 16 in the third quarter). The Sonics finished the quarter with six points, the fewest the Rockets have allowed and the fewest the Sonics have scored in a quarter.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com