Rockets Handcuff Blazers

Rockets Handcuff Blazers
By Mike Barrett

The Houston Rockets were able to do what no other Western Conference team has been able to do all season- win in Portland. The Trail Blazers came into Friday night's game 12-0 against the west at home, 11-0 in front of sellout crowds at the Rose Garden, and looking to make it 13-straight home wins. They hadn't lost at home since November 28th. They've also now lost two-straight games for the first time since December 2nd.

The Rockets used a strategy we're starting to see used more and more against the Trail Blazers. That is, get them in a half-court game, beat them up physically, and push every scorer outside the paint.

The Blazers aren't one of the higher-scoring teams in the NBA, but have had success in spreading out opposing defenses, and taking advantage of individual matchups. But, when you live and die by the outside shot, you're in trouble on nights when it isn't falling. Nothing was falling against Houston. Give some credit to Rick Adelman's game plan, and certainly give some of the blame to the Blazers simply missing shots they normally put down.

Yesterday I talked, at length, about the challenges facing the Blazers going into this game. In this league you don't often have to play a game just a day and a-half after coming home from a 12-day road trip. You can say that using fatigue as an excuse is a cop out, but after watching this game, to say that it wasn't a huge factor is just not paying attention to history. There is a reason they say "the toughest game on a long road trip is the first game you play back home." This is especially true when the first game you play comes as quickly as it did for this team.

Nate McMillan stated after the game that it just appeared that "the mind was saying move, but the body just wouldn't do it." I also talked to Steve Blake following the game, and he simply shook his head and said, "every shot I took felt good, and I thought they were all going in. And, they all hit the front of the rim." Blake was 1 for 6 in this game.

The Trail Blazers, as a team, shot just 36 percent in this game, by far their worst shooting effort of the season. In the second half they were 7 for 30, after shooting a respectable 18-40 in the first half. They scored 27 points in the second quarter alone, but could only manage 29 points in the entire second half. They also turned the ball over 17 times, led by five uncharacteristic turnovers from Brandon Roy.

Roy ended the night the leading scorer in the game with 23 points, on 9 for 17 shooting. In the first half, he was just about the only Portland player who was having any success, and behind Roy, the team took a 12-point lead. But, in the second half, he struggled to get any kind of rhythum, and like the team, couldn't hit anything.

The defensive game plan was fairly effective for the Blazers, and it kept them in the game, even until the final 4 minutes of the game. They held Yao Ming to just 11 points, on 2 of 8 shooting. And, Tracy McGrady, was just 5 for 14, and had 15 points.

One of Mike Rice's keys to the game was to keep Yao and McGrady below 50 points, combined. As it turned out, the Blazers held them to 26. But, as it was in losses to Orlando and New Orleans, role players were the difference. Rookie Carl Landry, who came into the night averaging 6 points per game, had 12, on 5 of 6 shooting. Luis Scola, who came in averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds, had 11 and 12. And, rookie Aaron Brooks, who's averaged 5 points per game this season, had 8 points and 4 assists.

Clearly, and we mentioned this many times during the broadcast, you have to give credit to the Rockets for turning this game into an ugly, half-court, physical slugfest. So much for Adelman winning with offense, like so many predicted when he took the job in Houston. Somewhere Jeff Van Gundy is smiling, because this looked like a game he would have designed.

The Rockets, with the win, have now won 9 of their last 11 games, and are suddently just one game behind the Blazers in the west. The standings are so tightly packed, you drop a couple of games, and you can drop a few spots. That's what has happened to the Blazers.

I don't have much of a concern about the effort being there on Sunday, when this 6-game homestand continues for Portland. They'll have another day to adjust back to Pacific Time, and will have another day to recover from this difficult stretch in the schedule. What they have to do, right now, is get their confidence back. Young teams can overthink losses, and easily forget what was working so well, for so long.

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