http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3132196 Limited success at Toyota Center might be harmful to postseason run By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle They try to fight it, but human nature takes over. They get off the road, flop in a favorite chair and put their feet up, the hard work done. The problem is the work is not complete. It keeps coming. So the Rockets find themselves in their easy chairs in their elegant, comfortable and quiet new home, trying to find a way to play hard in a place so soft. They have battled this since the season began. But now, with four regular-season games left, all in Toyota Center, as the Rockets try to upgrade their performance to playoff level, they face an unusual search: how to fare as well at home as they have on the road. "You would think ... that should certainly be on our minds, to start playing better at home," coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Our road record has been very, very good since we started 4-8. Our home record has been very poor. If you go into a playoff series with the intent to win, and you don't have home-court advantage ... you're going to have to win at minimum most likely two road games to win the series, counting on maybe stumbling at home in one of those games." The Rockets' 25-16 road record is the second best in franchise history. Their 22-15 record in Toyota Center going into tonight's game against the Grizzlies is the worst of any Western Conference team in line for the playoffs. "I don't have any earthly idea why that is," guard Bob Sura said. "It says something about our character to be able to play better on the road, but we haven't played to our abilities at home. It's a great road accomplishment. It doesn't say much about our home advantage. "We've been a little road weary in our last few games at home. I think we've been tired. We ought to be able to get a little rest at home, get ready for the playoffs and try to step up our play. I think it will be good for us." The assumption is the Rockets don't play as if there is a home-court advantage in Toyota Center because there is none. Most games, even in the Rockets' run of sellouts (they have sold out the past eight home games and are on pace to sell out the last four), begin with empty seats throughout the lower bowl. There is the same lack of electricity for the start of the second half, when many fans are still in the arena clubs. But the Rockets are not sure if they are the chickens or the eggs. The fans could get more excited and be more of an aid to the home team if the Rockets played better and with more consistent energy at Toyota Center. But the Rockets could be better if their fans are more energetic. "You wonder how much of it is the crowd," forward Ryan Bowen said. "That would be a good study for someone. A lot of places are the same. People are getting back to their seats, coming late to the game. There are a few places where people are ready to go from the start." But the Rockets have won in front of the loud, early-arriving crowds in Sacramento, Dallas and Denver. "Would everybody like their crowd to be like Duke's or the University of Kentucky's? Yeah," forward Scott Padgett said. "But you can't blame the crowd. You should be able to bring it with intensity without the crowd getting into it. At the end of the day, the crowd has no bearing on what happens on the floor." There is one explanation for the Rockets' strength away from home: forward Tracy McGrady. McGrady has averaged four more points per game on the road, shooting four percentage points better than in Toyota Center. He has had four of his six 40-point games on the road. "Tracy's play is consistently better on the road than it is at home," Van Gundy said. "That's a starting point. He's consistent, and we've been very, very good on the road." McGrady said he has no explanation for his better play on the road, guessing that he better eliminates distractions and feels more comfortable. But for whatever disappointments the Rockets have had in Toyota Center, they would seem more likely to pick up the pace at home than to conquer the road in the postseason. They have eight days and four home games to get up to playoff speed — and turn their comfy home into a gym. jonathan.feigen@chron.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rockets Summary Wesley steps up In each game of the Rockets' three-game winning streak, guard David Wesley was matched up with an opponent's top scorer, holding Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Ray Allen to a combined 19-of-59 shooting. After he was lit up by his friend and former teammate Baron Davis in the first game of the road trip against Golden State, Wesley cut off the penetration of three guards with different styles, generally limiting each to jump shots. "They're the focal point," Wesley said. "Especially if other guys are not getting shots, that shrinks the floor even more. "If guys (other Rockets defenders) can make them shoot more, watch them more, get to them more, then it's my job to be physical, stay in their way as much as possible, contest and be a pain in the butt." Sonic boon The Rockets could have more than playoff seeding at stake in their final four regular-season games. They also could be playing for first-round home-court advantage, which 10 days ago was thought to be out of reach. The Rockets could begin the postseason at home if they win their remaining games without moving out of sixth in the Western Conference while the SuperSonics win no more than one of their remaining five games. The one win would make Seattle the Northwest Division champion and the No. 3 seed. But the Rockets and Sonics would then each have 51-31 records. The Rockets' win in Seattle on Monday and a win against the Sonics in the regular-season finale at Toyota Center would give the Rockets a tiebreaker with the Sonics for home-court advantage in the playoffs. -- JONATHAN FEIGEN
Everyone needs to dress in green and boo Yao/Tmac as hard as you can in TC as we play the Sonics in the playoffs.
I think the real difference is that on the road the stadiums are sold out and the fans are screaming out loud. Maybe we should try that at the Toyota Center. This team seems to strive on the crowd and they don't get that here. When the playoffs come around, it will be a different story. People might actually buy tickets.
This has happened with all the recent Rockets teams. Didn't a player in the Steve era make an indirect complaint that the audience in the Toyota Center weren't energetic enough to feed off their energy?
No, you've got it all wrong. We need to boo Tmac and cheer for Yao. I think Yao's numbers are better at home.
Maybe its cause they all haven't adjusted to TC yet. More than 50% of the team is new to Houston and I'm pretty sure all the travelling around doesn't help much. Just my theory.
The fans just need to get into the game and not be so freaking ho-hum about the whole thing. Everytime I go, me and my wife are yelling, cheering and doing everything we can. The same can not be said for other "fans"
LOL I swear that's what I was thinking too. It's not too farfetched. I know T-Mac's personality from his days in Orlando. He is very sensitive to the factors outside of playing basketball. The way I see it, it's psychological with the team, but especially T-Mac. This is my theory: Expectations at the beginning of the season were skyrocketing so the fans expected big things. When it didn't happen, they started booing. When things turned around on the road, the fans started to show up more at home. However, when opposing teams start making runs, fans get anxiuos and expect the worst because of what happened at the beginning of the season. There is a lot of nervous energy coming from the fans at Toyota center and the players feel it so they start doubting themselves. Even when the Rockets play well, it's not exactly electric at the TC.
However, I do think they are going to do well in the remaining games. JVG will probably have them practicing at TC, instead of their practice facility.
The Toyota Center, while a beautiful arena, seems, by design, to muffle crowd noise instead of intensifying it. That cloth stuff hanging from the roof muffles sound and the roof itself is a heck of a sound baffle. I made Don Chaney call a time out against Golden State in the Summit from the upper deck once just by yelling "Time out, Chaney!" loudly enough to be heard across the then quiet (stunned) arena. I have made opponents at Compaq shake and miss free throws (once anyway) by doing a death scream as they were about to shoot. None of this is going to happen in the TC. The building itself is just too quiet.
I think the Rockets are up there with the highest tickets price in the league. Sure, we can buy the $10 tickets and cheer our hearts out for our team, but they will never hear us in the upper bowl. The lower bowl are filled with office people who really don't give a damn whether the Rockets win or loose, they got their tickets free from their company anyways. I suggest it here last season and got bashed by many people, but I will do it again, the Rockets needs to stop selling group playoffs tickets to the corporation, and cut the lower bowl price. It really comes down to what the Rockets really want, more money, or a real home court advantage for our team.
I agree! And I have to say the atmosphere in TC really s**ks! The audience of Houston is just like the warm water. You never feel any heat from the stadium. When we won the last game against Suns, I did feel the pressure produced by their fans at the ending time. And they almost took the win from us.
All these theories are nice, but you guys forget one thing. Playoffs + Houston = Big Noise. I went to the two playoff home games last year against the Lakers, and the Toybox was rockin, let me tell you. It was louder than an AC/DC concert in there. Our home environment is going to change seriously come playoff time, and the more consistent this team becomes over the years, the more people jump on the Rocket bandwagon and make our home field a serious threat.
That's a nice argument. But you can also make the case that the louder and more involved the crowd is, the better the team is going to play at home
"The assumption is the Rockets don't play as if there is a home-court advantage in Toyota Center because there is none. Most games, even in the Rockets' run of sellouts (they have sold out the past eight home games and are on pace to sell out the last four), begin with empty seats throughout the lower bowl. There is the same lack of electricity for the start of the second half, when many fans are still in the arena clubs." What they ought to do is allow fans from higher up to come on down to the lower bowl, say, after the 1st quarter, into the seats that HAVE NOT FILLED UP.......Even if they are sold, many of them aren't going to be used.......
