Link Road to test Rockets' mettle Five-game trip followed by pair of back-to-backs By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle MIAMI - Rafer Alston had been traded to the Rockets only hours earlier when he checked out the schedule that would guide much of his life for the next 6 1/2 months. Alston no doubt looked at all the usual details such as when he would play his former teams and where he would be during the holidays. But he stopped everything when he noticed the part of the Rockets' schedule that begins tonight at American Airlines Arena. "I saw that right away," Alston said of the brutal stretch that gets under way against the Miami Heat. "It really got my attention, I mean right away. "But if you want to go far in the playoffs or win championships, you have to be willing to be intense every night and accept the challenge of playing contending teams. We have to step it up a notch on this road trip every game, try to improve every game. This month, it gets harder and harder." It's not that the Rockets' first road game this season begins a five-game trip or that the journey starts against one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference and ends against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs. This road trip is just the start. In effect, the Rockets actually are beginning a nine-game swing with two games in Houston. With both stops at Toyota Center coming as the second half of back-to-back games, the Rockets will spend as little time in Houston — less than 24 hours — before each tip as they would before the road games, which essentially puts them on the road until Thanksgiving. Even more than any of that, over the next nine games the Rockets will see the presumed best of the NBA. The Rockets, 1-2 after home losses to New Orleans/Oklahoma City and Orlando, may not be considered championship contenders when the trip begins and might not be when it ends, but no team will have a better idea about who might deserve contenders status. After their Nov. 17 game at San Antonio, where the Rockets have lost 15 consecutive regular-season games, the Rockets return to Toyota Center, where they will host Detroit, last season's Eastern Conference champion, the next night. From there, they go to Indianapolis on Nov. 20 and Dallas on Nov. 22. A night after facing the Mavericks for the first time since their 40-point Game 7 blowout loss last season, the Rockets return home for Phoenix. Playoff-caliber foes Only one of the next nine opponents — Minnesota on Tuesday — failed to make the playoffs last year, but the Timberwolves were in the Western Conference finals the previous season. And the Rockets have to endure all of this with Tracy McGrady sidelined with a back strain. "It's going to be tough, but it's a good challenge now," Alston said. "Hopefully somewhere down the line McGrady will come back. If not, it's a great challenge for the rest of us to play and see how far we can go or what we can do without Tracy." After losses to the Hornets and Magic, the Rockets might be in no position to consider any opponent less than challenging. But as they search for solutions to an uninspired start to the season, the schedule could in a way offer at least one reason for hope. The Rockets also started last season slowly. But during a season in which they were shaky at best at home and against the league's most struggling teams, they played on the road and against the best teams. "It's a tough stretch," forward Ryan Bowen said. "More than who you play, you look at the long stretches on the road. Early on you say, 'We got a long road trip right away.' Then it's 'Whoa, look at who we play.' It's the double whammy. But it's good for us. If we're anything like last year, we seem to play better on the road and against the better teams." Road not bumpy last year Last season, the Rockets went 10-10 against the NBA's six last-place teams and expansion Charlotte Bobcats. They were 11-11 against the four Western Conference teams to finish ahead of them and three Eastern Conference first-place teams. They were 26-15 at home and 25-16 on the road. "We really played well on the road last year," guard David Wesley said. "Hopefully we can get some of that back, maybe get on a roll. Maybe we can find a way to get it together on the road and maybe we can come back with some momentum and do it that way. We just have to play better. "Not because of the caliber (of opponents), but because of the way we're playing basketball right now we need to step up. Obviously, if we don't step up with that caliber, we're not going to win many games. Obviously, we're not playing great." The teams they will face, however, are playing somewhere between good and great, with the Rockets hoping that if they can beat them, they can join them. ROCKETS SUMMARY Coach's pet As much as Rockets forward Ryan Bowen would appreciate any coach's kind words — and he has noticed coach Jeff Van Gundy's very public praise lately — it can grow a bit embarrassing. "Over the years, my wife always asks, 'So, are the guys getting mad at you yet?' " Bowen said. "It is interesting. I don't know what to say." Bowen is one of those energetic, often unappreciated players who coaches love to talk about. Van Gundy praised Bowen's intensity many times through the preseason and again when the Rockets began the regular season. Bowen has no complaints with Van Gundy's praise but said there was a time in his career that it got out of hand. "My first couple of years, (former Nuggets coach) Dan Issel would do it all the time because we had a couple of guys who didn't put out good effort. It was, 'Why can't you be like that guy.' I would say to Dan, 'Hey, it's getting rough on me.' Nick (Van Exel) would always encourage me to keep doing what I was doing. "But there were a couple of guys I don't think were real happy with Dan always saying, 'You got to play like that.' " Wesley the sixth guy With Tracy McGrady out, guard David Wesley was moved into the starting lineup for one game and then back to the bench. Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said he might let his rotation settle in. Forward Ryan Bowen started Tuesday's game against Orlando with Derek Anderson moving back to guard. "I'm the sixth guy again," Wesley said. "It's going to be that kind of year. My thing is to be ready when I'm out there, regardless of whether I start or finish or in the middle. I don't think I'm going to have a set role. Just play hard when I'm out there. "It could be (difficult) if you were worried about other things. I like being out there on the floor. If I can be at the point, two, three, knowing what I'm supposed to do will keep you on the floor as much as anything." Wesley has struggled with his shot since coming back from offseason knee surgery, making only 28.8 percent of his shots in preseason and 2-of-15 in the first three games of the regular season. "Right now, David's really struggled shooting he ball," Van Gundy said. "He knows it. He's thinking about it far too much. I told him, we traded for him because he had a bulldog mentality. Can he get shot over by bigger guys sometimes? "Yeah, but I always feel good when he's playing defense and he's down on his hands and moving his feet, he's going to make it hard on people. I don't want him thinking too much about his shooting. It will come when it comes." JONATHAN FEIGEN ------------------------ Looks like no trade for Wesley for a while.
Looks like even the Chronicle forgot that we didn't have McGrady for the last two games and won't for probably most of the road trip, if not all. Of course this team is not a championship contender without Tracy. Arguing about that is absurd since we will have Tracy for the vast majority of the season.
I generally agree with JVG to an extent... ....but... In the Hornets game, Wesley scored only 4 points as a starter. In the Magic game, he scored 0 points of the bench. Maybe we don't need him to be scoring machine. But 4 points in 49 minutes of play over two games is just not acceptable.
Very true. But we should be better than we are without McGrady. I mean, without Duncan, the Spurs probably wouldn't win a championship. But without Duncan, I bet they'd still win against the Hornets and the Magic (both games at home).
Bingo, my thoughts exactly. I am very concerned, those were three wretched performances. Inexcusable.
I'm with you. I didn't watch much of the NOK game, but to me, they lost the Magic game because they couldn't hit a shot. I don't think we're that bad a perimeter shooting team. Teams can go cold at any given time in any given game. The Spurs could do the same thing. They probably wouldn't blow either of those teams out without Duncan if Tony Parker was out and they were trying to incorporate a new PG or if they were trying to incorporate other pieces to the puzzle. This team is in a bad spot right now. There were going to be transition pains even with T-Mac playing when you're adding three new players that are expected to play significant roles. That was apparent on opening night and we still won by an easy margin. Now, the transition has been made even more difficult by losing the best player on the team for a couple weeks. It's understandable and excusable that there are problems. It goes without saying that had we hit some jumpshots, we would've won the Orlando game. However, I think we would've blown them out had we been able to at least hit a three-pointer every once in a while. Instead, they were able to fall back on Yao making it hard to get the entry pass in. Make some shots and Yao will be able to get more passes in spots where he will be able to score easily. We can argue all day whether they should've won those games, and they should have; however, to me, it's meaningless because a) the shots will fall and b) we didn't have our best player who will be back soon.
I'm not concerned...yet 3 games is just not enough to really formulate anything in my eyes/mind. I'm patient enough (not saying you aren't) to let JVG and the players get in the groove of things a little more.
Agreed. Add the fact that without TMac, Rafer is the only player who can dribble penetrate into the lane aside from Luther Head, it makes less and less sense to have Wesley out there and more and more to play Head more.
I am see fundamental problems. Some can be corrected, some are talent issues and that concerns me. Conversely, Swift and Luther H. have not had great performances, but their skills are apparent. Some skill sets don't mesh and that is on management and coaching. Ming's performances usually disappoint me; I need to significantly lower my expectations for him. He just does not have "it," and given his assets and potential, that is such a shame. Nevertheless, it has been very disappointing thus far; most of us had such high expectations, and the players talked about the importance of getting off to a good start. An abysmal start is almost a lock, probably far worse than last year.
I can't argue with you there. I guess although the start has been pretty poor, I'm still excited about this season, and just hope that, as you said, the problems we see which can mostly be addressed will be handled by the staff and players. I guess it's kind of like watching Yao and just hoping he becomes a solid player, every day, every game Well, now it's hoping that Wesley's shot starts falling again. Talk about being on the edge of your seat when he lets one fly.
Any pro coach is not going to panic after 3 games but JVG needs to make some adjustments and find the best team that can play without Mcgrady. I hope McGrady doesn't have persistent injury problems this year but its not looking good after only 3 games, knee problems and back problems will only exacerbate later in the season. I suggest the following: 1. Demoting DW is a start, let him get his shot back in practice, when he can start knocking down his shot blindfolded in practice is when he can return to the starters position. 2. Spree might also be a viable option at this point since McGrady's health might be a future problem. Spree I hear is considering signing somewhere else and CD needs to get into the mix to sign him. 3. Luther Head needs to be given a serious look. He knocked down the last shot, a three in the Magic game and we need to see if he can do that on a consistent basis. 4. Lets try a small lineup with SS at center and Juwan at the PF instead of the Deke replaces Yao rotation to see if the offensive flow is any better.
I wouldn't hold your breath on that one, I think his shot is gone. I have watched him closely since he arrived last season, good defender, poor shooter. Since he was once a good not great shooter, something has happened. Apparently his injures have significantly affected his shooting. He doesn't just miss, he really misses. He didn't even hit the rim a couple times last game. One time his shot bounced off the backboard about a foot from the rim. JVG apparently intended to start him, so this is significant. JVG needs to tell someone to start shooting more, probably Austin. Also, I would like to see Luther H. and Swift getting more minutes. On offense, Swift should be going to the basket all the time, with or without the ball. I would also like to see Luther H. penetrating, dishing, or scoring.
lol... i wonder how many rockets fans shake thier head whenever Wesley misses wide open shots... If it's frustrating to us then you know it's double for him... i really hope he gets his shot back soon. I'm going to wait til atleast 10 games before coming to judgement on what to do next. How many minutes has a line up of Skip/Anderson/Tmac/Swift/Yao even been on the court together yet? maybe 5 minutes? including preseason.. The players and the coach still have some work to do individually before our team can start diagnosing the team-based problems such as play execution and clear cut roles. Collectively our fundamental problems are rebounding and turnovers, individually it's shooting and substitution patterns (for the coach), obviously there are more but i'm just trying to show generally that it's way to early, this isn't the final product thats going on the shelf, we are still in production. We can't put the item on clearance before its even made
We've also got three new guys in the rotation with T-Mac out (DA, Flyin' Ryan, Skip) ........AND we are missing Sura more then anyone is giving credit for. Sura is the spark plug, the guy who brings the intensity.
Yao needs to step up!!!!! Whats all this about him having a nice summer break and working on his stamina when he doesnt step up for Mcgrady?
I agree with most of your post. JVG did try #4. it didn't work b/c Swift was clueless. It was one of the first 2 games. I think this (our crappy playing) might be something of a blessing in discuise. Now the team will learn to depend on one another instead of depending on Tracy. To all the Houstonians sp? You all know we play better when we are down. That goes for all the teams in Houston. Remeber the Oilers giving up thier lead to Buffalo. I still think no one has broken that record. We (Houston Teams) don't do well when we are expected to win. I hope the Rockets keep getting killed by these low level teams ,so they get pissed. Then they will start playing ball the way we know they can. GOOD
In the NOK game, Yao was tearing them up through most of the game. In the last quarter, they realized that our guards couldn't get their shots to fall. So they put a double-team fronting defense on Yao. Two guys, fighting to prevent Yao from touching the ball. That worked. It shut down Yao. And it left our backcourt open to take open shots - which we missed. I'm not worried. You're right - we'll get our shots to fall. And I'm confident that, when McGrady is back, we're gonna catch fire. I just get disturbed because: a) we shoulda had all the cobwebs shaken off BEFORE the beginning of the season b) Tracy is out at a time when we're about to go on a fierce road trip. c) I get all pumped up for the beginning of the season and this bad start really takes the wind out of my sales.
