The story of this game in Yahoo Sports. There are some postgame quotes which I think you guys may be interested in. GO, ROCKETS! GO, YAO! "Houston 107, Dallas 76 Preview - Box Score - Recap By CHRIS DUNCAN, AP Sports Writer November 5, 2006 Houston Rockets' Yao Ming catches a pass in front of Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki, of Germany, in the third quarter of an NBA basketball game Saturday, Nov. 4, 2006, in Houston. Houston beat Dallas 107-76. AP - Nov 4, 11:38 pm EST More Photos HOUSTON (AP) -- The Houston Rockets made a flurry of offseason moves to try to close the gap with the Dallas Mavericks. They routed the defending Western Conference champs on Saturday night with two guys who were already with the team. Yao Ming scored 36 points and Rafer Alston had 14 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds, leading Houston to a 107-76 victory over the Mavericks in the Rockets' home opener. Luther Head had 17 points and Kirk Snyder added 12 for the Rockets, who shrugged off a bad night by Tracy McGrady to beat the Mavs for the first time since March 6, 2005. "To have a chance in this league, you need to have energy and execution, both of them consistently, and you need great players playing great," Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "And Yao obviously played great." The Mavericks swept four games with Houston last season, but shot poorly this time and never found a way to shut down Yao, who sank 12 of 16 shots and went 12-for-12 from the free-throw line. Alston, meanwhile, had one of the best overall games of his career, adding four steals and four 3-pointers without a turnover. He also played smothering defense on Mavs guard Jason Terry, who missed all five of his shots and scored one point. "This ranks up there with my better ones," Alston said. "Sometimes, your best games are not in the statistics. They're what you do when you don't have the ball." Most of Alston's assists were feeds to Yao, who used quick, strong post moves to dominate DeSagana Diop and Erick Dampier as they tried to guard him. "When I give him a target, he always passes the ball right on target," Yao said of Alston. "There is good chemistry there." Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 and Josh Howard added 16 for the Mavericks, who shot 41 percent (29 of 70) and committed 22 turnovers. Dallas is 0-2 for the first time since the 1993-94 season. Yao capped his night with an alley-oop dunk from Snyder that put the Rockets up 100-70 with 4:59 left. He had 24 points at the break and his last basket of the half was a fadeaway jumper from the baseline with 0.1 seconds left that put the Rockets up 52-38. "When we double-teamed him, triple-teamed him or single-covered him, he would still score," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "He was playing like we were not out there on the floor." McGrady missed all four games with Dallas last season with back problems. He had only two points at halftime on Saturday, then hit his first two shots in the third quarter. But the six-time All-Star picked up his fourth foul with 5:13 left in the quarter and went to the bench. That just gave Yao more opportunities to dominate. In one sequence, he blocked a shot by Nowitzki, then had a layup and a dunk after passes from Alston. McGrady is ready to designate Yao the league's top center. "At this point, I'd say he's the best," McGrady said. "Now, he's coming into his own." Head sank a 3-pointer 2 minutes into the fourth quarter to push the lead to 81-61. With 6:56 left, Yao got his first assist when he found Alston for a 3-pointer. The Mavs never recovered from the Rockets' opening 12-0 run. Alston got it started with two 3-pointers and Yao followed with two close-range baskets, foreshadowing his night to come. "It seemed like they took it to us from the beginning," Johnson said. "They came out with a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm. "We were just unable to throw a punch tonight. We just didn't have it." Neither did McGrady, though the Rockets didn't miss him at all with the way Yao and Alston played. McGrady missed four of his first five shots, then left with a cut tongue late in the first quarter. Bonzi Wells replaced him and made his Houston debut. The Mavs missed 11 of their first 17 shots and trailed 28-16 after Steve Novak's 3-pointer early in the second quarter. McGrady returned with 4:45 left in the half and Houston up 41-29. He finished with eight points and four assists. Notes Dallas owner Mark Cuban watched the game from courtside. ... Yao's point total was five short of his career high. ... The NBA fined Josh Howard $5,000 on Saturday for his flagrant foul on San Antonio's Bruce Bowen in Thursday's opener. ... The victory margin matched the Rockets' biggest from last season. "
More post-game quotes from nba.com. http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Game_Quotes_Rockets_107_Mave-194199-34.html They Said It ... Game Quotes: Rockets 107, Mavericks 76 ROCKETS COACH JEFF VAN GUNDY (on the Rockets' play tonight) "I thought we tried a helluva lot harder tonight so that's always where it starts. To have a chance in this league, you need to have energy and execution, both of them consistently, and you need great players playing great. And Yao (MIng) obviously played great." (on the play of Rafer Alston) "He pursued the long rebounds tremendously, he played nearly 40 minutes without a turnover and he made his 3s. You're not going to get any better than that. He played a great, great game." (on whether the Rockets' turnovers will increase should the opposition play harder and faster) "Yeah, that ball was all over the place tonight. Yao (Ming) was on a traveling travesty for a bit. Shooting makes up for a lot. We shot well tonight, Yao (Ming) was great, so even the mistakes that we made, I'm not going to overlook them, but they will be overlooked and you just hope they're not overlooked by your team. If you have the right decision-makers like Rafer (Alston) and (Tracy) McGrady, if they handle the ball the majority of the time, our turnovers will be pretty good. We have some other decision-makers that we just have to harness their aggression." TRACY McGRADY (on the play of Rafer Alston) "Rafer (Alston) feels comfortable in our offense now. He knows his teammates, he knows what we like to do, where we like the ball, where we're going to be and, also, we know where he is going to be. A good indication was tonight I was penetrating and guys were collapsing on me in the 1st quarter. Rafer (Alston) was out there by himself, he's worked so hard on knocking down his jumper. He knows how much attention myself and Yao (Ming) receive on offense. He knows there are going to be nights where he is going to have to knock down open jumpers. Tonight was one of those nights where he shot the ball with confidence. In transition, he did a heck of a job pushing the ball and trying to find guys." (on the Rockets' defense) "The defense was okay. It could have been better, especially on my part." (on the importance of playing with a true center like Yao Ming) "It's a real honor (to have Yao Ming). That's what I always wanted when I was in Orlando. At the time, you had Tim Duncan, Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) and Yao (Ming) was pretty much a young fellow at the time. Now he's coming into his own." YAO MING (on his 36 points) "The 1st couple of times I was scoring, I had my back to the basket. I was trying to figure out how they (Dallas) were defending me. After I made the 1st couple of shots, they were coming to my side. The team had a good start and I had a good start. The whole team played a great game." (on his and Rafer Alston's chemistry) "He (Rafer Alston) showed up the entire game. When I give him a target, he always passes the ball right on target. I think there's good chemistry there." (on the Rockets' improvement since their 1st game in Utah) "I think the key was our starting differently. The 1st game we started very slow. In the 1st couple of minutes tonight, we had a 10-0 run that brought us energy and we were able to sustain that throughout the game." (on whether the Rockets can be the type of team that can defeat teams like the Mavericks on a regular basis) "This team always defends well. The reason why we play well is because we defend well. When we see success on the defensive side, we do better on offense." RAFER ALSTON (on the Rockets' defensive focus tonight) "I was concentrating (on defense). Coach (Van Gundy) was stressing today that we had to. If there was one guy that we needed to limit, it was (Jason) Terry. It's always tough to guard Dirk Nowitzki. (Dirk) Nowitzki is just a match-up problem and Josh Howard is a talented guy who is consistent and efficient out there. He's another guy who is tough to guard. If there's one guy that we need to key on, it's (Jason) Terry's jump shot, (Jason) Terry's pick and roll and (Jason) Terry's spot-up 3-pointer." (on the key to the Rockets' win tonight) "Tonight we just got out there defensively. I think we ran the floor well. We rebounded and we ran the floor. We put pressure on them with our running game as well as our low post game. We had a few things working. We had Yao (Ming) in the paint, we had the transition game and we also had the 3-point game going." (on his team-leading 8 rebounds) "If I can help in that area, I may not get 8 or 9 every night, but if I can contribute 4 to 6 a night, then that would help us with our rebounding. In Utah, there were balls that were bouncing and I wasn't there to get them. Tonight I made a conscious effort to get those rebounds." DALLAS MAVERICKS HEAD COACH AVERY JOHNSON (on the game) "We got off to a bad start and could never recover. We got the game back to ten and then Yao (Ming) got a dunk on us and that's the way the game went." (on the Rockets) "They came out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm and you have to give them a lot of credit for how they played. We got back on our heels from the start of the game and we just didn't have it. We didn't look like a team that was hungry for a win." (on the Rockets going to Yao Ming early in the game) "We knew that's what they were going to do and when we double teamed, tripled team and single covered him, he made his shots. He was playing like we were not on the court." ERICK DAMPIER (on the loss) "This was only our second game of the season and we still have eighty to go and it's a long season. We know what we have to do and work our system and we will be alright." (on Yao's play) "Yao (Ming) did what he needed to do for his team to win the game." JOSH HOWARD (on the Rockets) "They got hot at the beginning and that was about the way the whole game went. Yao (Ming) was knocking down his shots and their entire team played well. Yao (Ming) never surprises me." (on Dallas' early season play) "We need to just go out and play our system. We know we have a big target on our back and we have to come out focused and play hard every game." JERRY STACKHOUSE (on the game) "We were out of sync early and could never get a good rhythm. Our best offense was when we just pushed the ball and had them back on their heels in the transition game." (on Dallas' play) "We are still learning each other and that's what it is and coach will find a way to get it right. We need to work harder and focus because there is a sense of urgency for us to stop this trend." (on the Rockets) "Yao (Ming) did some good things but it is about us right now. On their opening night at home, they kicked our ass. They did a lot things right and we didn't."
What does Stack mean when he says they are still learning each other? It's not like they had a lot of roster turnover.
LOL at Stackhouses comment. "Yao did some good things..." Yeah...about 36 good things. Give credit where credit is due.
hahah.. totally argee man... but his quote is right too... yao ming was doing his part to help rocket to win.. that's what we are expecting too.. good job yao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How does the self-acclaimed second-only-to-shaq-center feel about Yao's performance? By saying that, at least Dampier showed some class and of course he was sulking over the loss.
I loved ESPN's Headline on thier NBA's front page The New West? The Rockets made a loud statement on Saturday night that the elite of the West may have to include them in the bunch. Yao Ming scored 36 points as Houston blew out Dallas at home 107-76 http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/index
this one is for everyone that wants to get rid of Rafer; "When I give him a target, he always passes the ball right on target," Yao said of Alston. "There is good chemistry there
As much as I do think the Rockets should be included as the season progresses, i hate how the media jumps the gun. I mean, Rockets lost their first game, they blow out Dallas one and it's a "new west?" Either way, I do agree that they're going to be among the elites IF and ONLY IF they bring out that kind of energy day in and day out.
Yeah exactly. Rockets have done this in the past. But remember they still don't have an identity and consistency. If they can keep this up, then we will be the powerhouse in the west. Great win but I can't be sold quite yet. Even if we play like we did and end up losing a couple of games in the future, that's fine with me.
Rafer had a wicked pass to Luther late in the game made me rewind quite a few times. The couple in red at the half time looked pretty good/cute. Go rockets!!!
"When we double-teamed him, triple-teamed him or single-covered him, he would still score," Dallas coach Avery Johnson said. "He was playing like we were not out there on the floor." If the media wont give him the credit, at least the opposing coaches will.
