[Chron] Rafer:"We're going to keep throwing it to him, he's going to dominate for us"

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3780571.html

Rockets get it too late

Offense works, but playoffs hopes slip away

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

OAKLAND, CALIF. - Now they get it.

It's a simple formula, really. Yao Ming dominates inside, scoring easily, putting opposing centers in foul trouble, piling up numbers. Then when defenses twist themselves around him, pass outside for open 3-pointers.

The Rockets probably knew all this long before the Sacramento Kings' win Friday officially ended their playoff chances. And making those 3s has been something of an issue. But with the game headed down the stretch Friday, Yao dominated until he sent two sharp passes outside for 3s that lifted the Rockets to a 100-93 win over the Golden State Warriors before 19,123 at The Arena in Oakland.

"Yao's very unselfish; we just haven't made many perimeter shots this year around him," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Those were good plays. Those two guys knocked them in."

Rafer Alston, who had 16 points and nine assists, and Luther Head, who had 26, hit the 3s in the Rockets' 14-2 closing run.

"We were coming back down to him, but in the time out, I told him to watch the double team," Alston said. "Even though he scored on some of those plays, I noticed they were coming late, so I told him to be aware and I knocked it in. We're going to keep throwing it to him and he's going to dominate for us."

Yao had 30 points and 14 rebounds in his 32 minutes, getting his only two assists in the game's final minutes.

The Rockets overcame their rocky start to the second half and led by three four minutes into the fourth quarter. But the Warriors went in front 86-81 with an 8-0 run.

Yao scored on a drive, and each time the Warriors took their lead to five, he scored inside again, with the second of his consecutive three-point plays bringing the Rockets to within 91-89. Head put in a free throw to cut the lead to one heading into the game's final three minutes.

But after Yao had been fouled on three consecutive touches, the Warriors sent double-team help to surround him before he could turn to the basket.

Instead, he passed to Alston for a 3-pointer and to Head for another, giving the Rockets a 96-91 lead with 1:49 left.

"It's not just that play, in situations like that when Yao is doubled, he has confidence to get it out to us and we have confidence to knock it down," Head said.

With that, the Warriors fell apart. Mike Dunleavy did score on a drive, but the Warriors let Alston cruise down the lane for an uncontested layup. Jason Richardson, who led the Warriors with 29, turned the ball over. And the Warriors let the clock run down to 10 seconds left to make up a five-point deficit before Adonal Foyle shot-putted an air-ball toward the rim, bringing boos for the Warriors' seven-consecutive loss.

After sweeping to a 10-point, halftime lead the Rockets could not muster the same intensity defensively for the second half and fell behind by as much as six.

Midway through the quarter, Jeff Van Gundy benched everyone.

"It was a pathetic effort by all five of them," Van Gundy said of the starters. "They played three very good quarters.

"It was unfortunate that it was marred by an irresponsible third quarter. Chuck Hayes I thought did a great job keeping us in there in the third quarter. He was very ready to play and did well. And I thought the fourth quarter we played well."

But after a few minutes, that seemed to revive the Rockets. Zarko Carbarkapa drew Yao's fourth foul and sank two free throws to give Golden State a 76-73 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

ROCKETS SUMMARY

Both teams have big voids

As the Warriors and Rockets limp to their finish, nearly as noteworthy is who is not playing. The loss of the perimeter players who trigger much of their offenses has become painfully obvious.

Going into Friday's action, the Rockets were 5-23 in games without Tracy McGrady this season. The Warriors were 7-13 without Baron Davis.

"We're the fuel that makes the engines go," Davis said. "You can see that it's missing. With us, I just know I'm going to work hard this offseason to make sure I don't miss so many games.

"With them, they have a good team. They play hard every night. They're missing their closer, the guy that closes out the games for them. It's tough.

"But it's given a lot of guys experience, guys who wouldn't be playing, so when we come back next year even though we're not going to the playoffs, we'll have more hunger."

The Rockets might not find the comparison valid given the widespread injuries they have suffered in addition to McGrady's, including the 21 games that Yao Ming missed because of toe surgery.

"I don't know if I really compare us to this team," said Rockets guard David Wesley, who has played with Davis and McGrady. "I think healthy, we're a much better team. But you can look at it in that we both had main guys go out."

Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said, however, that without diminishing McGrady's impact and importance when he plays, too much has been made of his absence.

"Our season has centered around a lot of excuses about what we don't have and what's happened versus finding results despite what has happened," Van Gundy said. "That's not to minimize how good Tracy is, certainly. Yet I feel we could have responded better. Take Yao out of the picture. Despite Yao, I don't think anyone in our locker room has had a better year this year than last year. That's on me, and that's on them."

Fans keep showing up

Despite their slide to their place in the lottery for the 12th consecutive season, the Warriors will set a franchise attendance record for the fourth season in a row.

The Warriors went into Friday's game averaging 18,248 per game, ninth-best in the NBA.

The Rockets' home attendance average of 15,396 is 27th in the NBA.

The secret for the Warriors is not complicated.

They sold a NBA-best 5,000 new season-ticket packages in the offseason after finishing last season 14-4, 18-10 after the acquisition of Baron Davis.

JONATHAN FEIGEN

 

http://www.nba.com/warriors/news/recap_040706.html


Mike Montgomery

On tonight's game

"We play our butts off in the 3rd quarter, we get back ahead and get control of the ball game, but we can’t sustain it. Yao (Ming) is a problem for us obviously; no matter what we did, we were in trouble. I thought Adonal (Foyle) did a good job on him, but he got into foul trouble. They were gonna go to Yao every time."

"Boom. Right when they had to, they came out and hit two big threes because we don’t get a stop. So Yao doesn’t score but they get six points. That breaks open the game. It’s nice to have a guy like that to play off of in the post. He’s gonna score and with Andris (Biedrins) out, we’re short on big men."

Adonal Foyle

On playing against Yao Ming

"He’s a big guy and you have to meet him early. It’s a lot of work to keep him out of the paint. We were effective for a good part of the game. Then he got really good position, where he was able to be effective…It’s always a challenge to play against someone as skilled as Yao (Ming) is. For his size he is extremely skilled. We tried a lot of different things to stop him, but he was effective tonight."

On the Warriors' last possession

"I heard a noise (from the crowd) and I was about to hand it off. I saw the clock was running down so I had to throw it up. It was just miscommunication. The intention was right, but we didn’t have enough clock to execute."