I haven't seen this post but if it has please lock it up. Finally an article about the Rockets historical winning streak with out questioning the teams they played. Enjoy. http://www.nba.com/aroundtheassociation/regular_season_review_rockets.html Rockets Ignite for Incredible Run By Mike Weilamann April 16, 2008 -- When Yao Ming went down in late February with a season-ending stress fracture in his left foot, many felt the Rockets’ playoff chances and their double-digit winning streak would disappear along with him. No one envisioned the team continuing on a historical run. The Rockets rolled off 22 straight wins – 10 without Yao -- for the second-longest streak in NBA history. The run began with a 111-107 win over Golden State on Jan. 29 and ended with a 94-74 loss to Boston on March 18. When you think of some of greatest streaks in professional sports, the Rockets’ feat is among the most special. Consider the nightly pounding NBA players absorb and the countless hours spent traveling from city to city. It’s inevitable that teams suffer letdowns, but for 22 straight games, Houston was up to every challenge it faced. So how did the Rockets pull off such an incredible run? They employed good old-fashioned teamwork. "Nobody cares who gets the most shots or who gets the ball," Tracy McGrady told the team’s Web site on March 17. "We share the ball. We're really playing like that Detroit team that won the championship (in 2003-04) where it didn't matter who got the shots and who got the credit. We're just out there together." McGrady was already a household name. But he couldn’t do it alone. Enter guys like Rafer Alston and rookies Luis Scola and Carl Landry, who all stepped in and up to compliment T-Mac on both ends of the floor. Bobby Jackson also chipped in off the bench after being acquired from New Orleans on Feb. 21. Alston led the defensive charge and was perhaps the team’s unsung hero during the streak. His impact was especially felt in the 22nd and final victory of the marathon run, where he poured in a career-high 31 points and buried eight 3-pointers in Houston’s 104-92 win over the Lakers on March 16. Alston’s effort was huge considering T-Mac struggled to score 11 points against Laker double-teams. Then there’s Dikembe Mutombo, who has filled in admirably in the middle in Yao’s absence. Playing in possibly his final season, the 41-year-old Mutombo has averaged nearly seven rebounds per game in his 20 minutes a night. In addition, an enormous amount of credit should go to Rockets coach Rick Adelman for keeping this team together and focused all season, not only during the streak. The injury bug has bitten this team as hard as any other around the league and Adelman's calm and cool approach has worked with this group. Adelman certainly should garner some votes for the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is presented to the league's Coach of the Year. When McGrady was sidelined for a month beginning in late December, the Rockets learned how to spread the wealth on offense even with a healthy Yao in the lineup. "That's the makeup of our team," McGrady added. "There are going to be some nights where I'm going to be off and there are going to be nights where Rafer picks up the slack and Bobby (Jackson) picks up the slack. We have multiple guys that can pick up the slack. It's a good thing to have so that teams just can't key on me." Of course, the Rockets would love to embark on another deep run when the postseason kicks off this weekend. "When it comes late April, if we were to make the playoffs, that's when it really starts to count and mean something," McGrady said. "That's when this streak right here will be even more special to me and our team." But, oh how sweet that historical 22-game run was.
