http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=261205010 McGrady, Yao spark Rockets win over Warriors HOUSTON (AP) -- The game in hand, Tracy McGrady used the third quarter against Golden State on Tuesday night to polish his repertoire. McGrady scored 13 of his 31 points in the quarter as the Houston Rockets routed the Warriors 118-90. "I was trying to do some explosive things that I haven't been doing all year," said McGrady, who hit 13 of 25 shots and dished out seven assists. "This was a great opportunity to go out and try that because we had a comfortable lead. I'm just trying to take it to another level now." McGrady showed no effects from the concussion he suffered after taking an elbow from teammate Dikembe Mutombo in Saturday's win over Cleveland. In a 30-second sequence in the third quarter, McGrady picked off a steal, drove for a breakaway layup, then hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key. "I surprised myself tonight with some of the things I did," he said. Yao Ming added 27 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Rockets, who've won six of their last seven games and six in a row at the Toyota Center. Chuck Hayes grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds and Juwan Howard added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Rockets, who shot 54 percent (45-of-84) against the NBA's worst defense. Yao manhandled Golden State's big men, making 12 of 17 shots, most of them dunks and layups. "This is my job, man," Yao said. "They put single coverage on me. So all I had to do was catch the ball and go." Houston was the fourth straight opponent to reach at least 108 points against Golden State. The Warriors came in allowing an NBA-worst 106 points per game. Monta Ellis scored 19 and Baron Davis added 18 points for the Warriors, who've lost four in a row since coach Don Nelson earned his 1,199th career victory. Nelson is trying to join Lenny Wilkens as the only coaches to reach the 1,200-win plateau. Nelson was in no mood to talk about the elusive milestone after the game. "We didn't play well offensively or pass or move the ball or execute our game plan," he said. "We proved we are not ready to play the best teams in the NBA." The Rockets led by 15 after the first quarter, by 21 at the break and 93-68 heading to the fourth quarter. Yao and McGrady sat out nearly all of the final quarter. The Warriors, the league's best shooting team, shot 39 percent (32-of-82) against Houston's league-leading scoring defense. "We just don't have it," Davis said. "We haven't been playing with any passion. We have to be a hard-nosed team and that is not happening. We're not a team right now and that has to change." Guarded futilely at the start by 6-foot-11 Andris Biedrins, Yao scored the Rockets' first 11 points, the last six on easy layups. Troy Murphy, also 6-11, replaced Biedrins with 6:53 left in the first quarter, but Yao promptly rebounded a McGrady miss and threw down a one-handed dunk. The Warriors, averaging 105 points per game, missed 12 of their first 15 shots and trailed 26-7 8 minutes into the game. Murphy hit a jumper from the free-throw line to end Golden State's 3-minute scoring drought, but Yao answered with an easy baseline jumper. He got a standing ovation as Howard replaced him with 3:23 left in the quarter. With Yao out, McGrady carried the Rockets' scoring, finishing the quarter with 11 points. The Rockets led 35-20 after one, their highest-scoring quarter of the season. Yao returned in the second quarter and the Warriors resorted to double-teaming him. But Yao still towered over all of Golden State's defenders and caught a high pass from Luther Head for another dunk and a 39-22 lead. The Rockets went 10-of-10 from the free-throw line in the first 7 minutes of the second quarter and McGrady's 3-pointer with 5:03 left in the half put Houston up 56-28. In the third quarter, Adonal Foyle took his turn defending Yao, but Yao dropped in a hook shot, then assisted on McGrady's dunk that put the Rockets up 79-54. Game notes G Anthony Roberson replaced Murphy in the lineup and made his first start of the season. Murphy scored one point and grabbed one rebound in 14 minutes in Monday's 129-89 loss to San Antonio. ... The Rockets topped 100 points for only the fourth time this season. Their point total was a season high ... Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy continues to be vague about the status of offseason pickup Bonzi Wells, who's been inactive for the last 14 games. Van Gundy said Wells had a recent hamstring injury, but gave little more explanation why Wells hasn't been playing. "The less I say, the more likely it is to come to a positive conclusion," he said.
I hope jvg is right about this: Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy continues to be vague about the status of offseason pickup Bonzi Wells, who's been inactive for the last 14 games. Van Gundy said Wells had a recent hamstring injury, but gave little more explanation why Wells hasn't been playing. "The less I say, the more likely it is to come to a positive conclusion," he said.
A picture is worth a thousand word. Two superstars having fun with mutual respect for each other! Good to see TMAC happy , playing well and having fun again
Is Troy Murphy injured or out of favor with Nellie? Why did he only play 14 minutes against the Spurs and didn't even start tonight? Not only that, Nellie sent him back into the game with 4 minutes left.
Either way tiger, I agree with JVG If you want to keep him, you don't want to air his laundy in the media and alienate him. If you want to trade him, you don't want to lower his trade value That's why the Bonzi signing was smart. We don't lose anything, but we stand to gain a lot. It's like bluffing a small bet to win a huge pot. I know as fans, we want to know everything. But it takes a good coach who runs a tight ship to be disciplined enough to shut his mouth in an era when publicity sells. I commend JVG for his preparation this season, from his brilliant defensive strategies to his single handedly changing the culture at Toyota Center (we are 6-1 wohooooooo). If we can recreate the road success of the last 2 years, we will be hosting the first round of the playoffs.
I am not disagreeing with any of that, I am on JVG's side when it comes to taking a hard line with Bonzi. But I AM worried, because long-term this season -- especially come playoff time -- we will need a third offensive option beyond McGrady and Yao. If he's going to be expected to make a major contribution to this squad, he will have to start playing with his teammates very soon, otherwise you can't just expect to throw him in the mix and hope he dominates right away, or expect him to have great chemistry with his teammates. I guess all I am saying is this: if he's a Rockets through this season, use him before you lose him. However, if you've already decided that he's gone and won't play for this team, then CD and Morey and JVG and everyone else in the Rox organization better be on the phone trying to swing a trade that would bring some offensive help/quality depth to this lineup. Yao and T-Mac are good enough to get you in the playoffs and keep you competitive, but they won't win it all without being surrounded by experienced, quality players/talent.
Deke is more dangerous around Tmac than when he's around Yao. When he throws an elbow, it'd be right to Tmac's head but only to Yao's tummie.
D. Mutombo's elbow on Tmac actually knock him back to normal. Now we have Yao Dominate the paint, Tmac back to his normal self, we can actually think about bigger and better things, ie championship.
