[Chro]Shaq reaches out and touches T-Mac

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2942524

Heat center's calls motivate Rocket against Mavericks, Spurs
By MEGAN MANFULL
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle


The Rockets may need to consider adding Shaquille O'Neal to their payroll. Not as a player, but as a consultant. He would be paid simply to call and criticize his buddy, Tracy McGrady, before every game.

So far, O'Neal has made that phone call twice. The first time was before the Dallas game Dec. 2. Guard Tyronn Lue gave McGrady a message that the Miami Heat center said McGrady should step up his game. That night, McGrady had a season-high 48 points.

The second time was before the San Antonio game Thursday night. McGrady hadn't scored more than 18 points in either of the two games since his 48-point outburst. O'Neal, a teammate of Lue's in Los Angeles, called Lue again and told him to tell McGrady to wake up.

As O'Neal watched the nationally televised game, it was evident his message had reached McGrady. The Rockets' star orchestrated a stunning comeback by scoring 13 points in the final 35 seconds to give the Rockets an 81-80 victory over the Spurs.

The Rockets became the first team to overcome a double-digit deficit in the final minute and win since Dallas registered a 104-97 overtime win over Chicago on March 12, 1998.


Big brother's watching
Amid the postgame jubilation, McGrady couldn't help but think of O'Neal.

"After the game, he was definitely in the back of my mind," McGrady said. "I was definitely going to call him and ask him if he saw the game. He knows how I play. He's watched me. He's like my big brother. And he told Ty Lue to tell me to stop playing ?I don't want to say it on camera ?but to stop playing like a girl.

"I talked to him last night, and he was all excited because he was watching the game. He was saying, 'That's what I'm talking about. You should have been doing that.' "

McGrady stayed up until 4 a.m. Friday fielding calls from friends, family and fellow NBA players. He also watched the replay of his performance over and over.

By Friday afternoon, however, McGrady had shifted his focus. He smiled and shrugged when asked if everything from Thursday night had sunk in.

"I understand what I did last night, but I don't get over-excited about things like that," he said. "I just move on. It was great.

"It was a great individual performance. But at the same time, we are still below .500. When you're below .500 like that, it kind of takes away from what happened last night. But I also think something positive can come out of it, and it can be the start of a new beginning for this team."

That's what the rest of his teammates hope, too. They are at a critical point in the season, spending almost the entire month of December at home. The Rockets have won the first three games of the homestand and have another important game tonight against the Mavericks.

Houston and Dallas met last week, with Dirk Nowitzki outdueling McGrady by scoring 53 points in the Mavericks' 113-106 overtime victory.


Looking to the Mavs
"It was a tough loss, and we're ready for them again," said Jim Jackson, who hopes to be cleared to play after missing two games because of back spasms. "The game (Thursday) is over. It was a great (win), but it doesn't do any good if we don't come out and give the same effort in the game against Dallas."

The team spent little time on the court Friday, but watched film and went over mistakes from Thursday's game.

Coach Jeff Van Gundy, who refused to comment on any negative aspects of Thursday's game during his postgame news conference, was ready to resume such topics Friday.

The team's offense remains its biggest issue. Yao Ming and McGrady accounted for 60 of the team's 81 points against San Antonio.

"We made a lot of multiple-effort plays defensively, and our rebounding has improved, but you don't win playing offense like we did," Van Gundy said. "We were 2-for-12 on the breaks when we had numbers. We missed four layups.

"And then, let's face it, around Tracy and Yao we have very balanced scoring in that no one scored over five points. And that's not how you want to have it."

Until the Rockets find more offense elsewhere, however, they will need more big outings from McGrady. And all he may need to trigger such a night is a call from O'Neal.

Lue has seen the results of the first two messages and said even if O'Neal doesn't call tonight, Lue plans to pass O'Neal's usual message along.

"I'm going to tell him every night, now, just to get him going," Lue said.

megan.manfull@chron.com


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rockets Summary
Give credit to Sura
The Rockets are starting to slowly shed their label as one of the league's worst rebounding teams. The Rockets are ranked 26th in the league in rebounds per game, but they outrebounded San Antonio 45-42 on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, they outrebounded the Hornets 41-29 and Philadelphia 47-41. Each of those teams is ranked considerably higher than the Rockets in rebounds per game.

Coach Jeff Van Gundy said there's one good reason for the change: Bob Sura. The 6-foot-5 point guard was activated from the injured list Nov. 27 and has quickly become the team's steadiest rebounder. In six games, Sura has averaged 6.2 rebounds.

"He's by far our best rebounder, big or small," Van Gundy said. "He pursues the ball better. We've also given him the latitude to go to the offensive board as a point. I've never played with a rebounding point. We've always had them in transition, defense back. But ever since we went to Dallas, that's what he does best ?go to the board and get back."


Crying foul
Jeff Van Gundy understands how difficult the referees' jobs are, especially when a player like Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki is in the game.

Aside from Nowitzki's quick first step, great shot fake and soft shooting touch, Van Gundy also has noticed the Dallas star has mastered the art of flopping. In the Rockets' overtime loss to Dallas last week, Nowitzki scored 53 points ?21 of which came from the free-throw line. Van Gundy wants to see Nowitzki at the line a lot less tonight.

"He's good. He's 7 feet, can shoot it, can go off the dribble, and he really draws the officials' attention with his screams and histrionics ?and the officials bite," Van Gundy said. "They bought into it in the Dallas game. We have to do a better job of pulling our hands back and making it more obvious that we're not fouling.

" Yao (Ming) got a couple of fouls in help where (Nowitzki) just dove into him and screamed and threw his arms and flailed. He got the benefit of the doubt, which you know what? Tracy (McGrady) has gotten the benefit of the doubt a couple of times, too. So it's not like one-sided. Every great player has gotten the benefit of the doubt. But (Nowitzki's) gotten it down now."


Ward update
Point guard Charlie Ward is eligible to come off the injured list, with Thursday's game against the Spurs completing his required minimum five games on the injured list.

"I'm feeling better," Ward said of his bruised right knee. "We're taking it as slow as possible to make sure I can finish out the rest of the year without any major problems."

-- MEGAN MANFULL and JONATHAN FEIGEN