http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3636957.html Guard could return from injury at Garden today with pep to burn By NEIL HOHLFELD Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle At age 36 with 14 years in the NBA, Jon Barry hardly fits the profile of a scrappy, high-energy player. But that's what the Rockets are hoping Barry provides when he returns from a calf injury that has sidelined him for all but four games since Nov. 26. Barry's injury appears to have healed. Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said Barry could have played Friday, but the coach didn't want to make a choice on which of three non-starting forwards to make inactive to clear a spot for Barry. There's a chance Barry will be activated for today's game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. If so, it won't be a day too soon for Barry, who has noticed a decline in feistiness among the Rockets in the last few weeks. "What I've tried to do throughout my career is play with great energy and passion and try to change the tempo of a game," Barry said. "It's why I've been able to stay in this league. It's something that this team is lacking." The Rockets have a winning streak of two games for only the fourth time this season after beating Milwaukee and Seattle at Toyota Center. They have a two-game trip to New York and Philadelphia, opponents who would appear to provide a chance for the Rockets to build a winning streak. Since Yao Ming returned from his toe injury three games ago, the Rockets are 2-1. When both Yao and Tracy McGrady are in the lineup, the Rockets are 11-6. When one or both is out, they are 6-23. Clearly, the Rockets took a dive after injuries to Yao and McGrady. But a case can be made that they also missed Barry's outside shooting and ability to light a fire under his teammates by scrapping and clawing. Because Barry has been out for such a long time, Van Gundy doesn't know how much the guard will be able to contribute in his first few games. He does know what Barry will bring. "There is no question that he will be competitive and high energy," Van Gundy said. "But how effective he would be, really, I don't have any idea. We'll have to see." A string of injuries After Barry came to the Rockets from Atlanta in a trade for Tyronn Lue on Dec. 23, 2004, he averaged 7.0 points and made 45.1 percent of his 3-point shots. In the playoff series against Dallas, Barry averaged 8.6 points and made 11-of-23 (47.8 percent) from 3-point range. This season, he was expected to provide offense and energy off the bench. He had 24 points to lead the team in the season-opening victory over Sacramento and was averaging 5.6 points when he missed three games due a bruised left foot from Nov. 26 through Dec. 3. In his first game back, he was on the court for only 1 minute, 58 seconds when he injured his right calf. He sat out 12 games before returning Jan. 5. After three games, he reinjured his calf and has missed 14 games. "Being injured is the worst possible thing you can go through," Barry said. "If your team is going great, you want to be part of it. If you're going bad, it's frustrating to watch your teammates out there when things are not going well. "Rehab is no fun. You feel like you're not part of what's going on. You feel bad. You feel like you're not there for them." The Rockets could use some help in perimeter shooting. For his career, Barry has made 38.2 percent from 3-point range. This year, the Rockets are hitting 33.2 percent, which ranks 26th of 30 NBA teams. Before he was injured, Barry was 11-of-30 (36.7 percent) from beyond the arc. "Obviously, our shooting is not good," Van Gundy said. "It's been a season-long thing where we haven't shot the ball well from (long) range, and that's set us back. It's one of the things we did well last year." Packs emotional punch If Barry can hit 3s well after he returns, one more piece of the Rockets' puzzle might fall into place. Beyond that, Barry is mindful that he'll need to play with the sort of desperation that's necessary for a team that is buried deep in the Western Conference standings. "A lot of what I bring is emotional," Barry said. "It's something I try to do and something that (injured guard) Bob Sura brought to us — a toughness, regardless of skill, that you can use to change the way a game is going. "I have to play with great emotion in order to be effective. I don't think I was doing that this year nearly to the level I did last year, for whatever reason. So you live and learn. When I come back, I'll try to do the best I can." neil.hohlfeld@chron.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROCKETS SUMMARY Crucial span at hand Rockets point guard Rafer Alston returns to his hometown for today's game against the New York Knicks. Alston grew up in Queens and was considered a playground legend before leaving to attend Fresno State. But Alston has more important things than old times to think about this weekend. He believes the seven-game stretch beginning today before the All-Star break could be the most important one of the season for the Rockets. Though they are 17-29 and buried deep in the Western Conference standings, Alston believes the Rockets can make a statement over the next 12 days. "This is a stretch where we have to win, if not every game, as many as we can," Alston said. "I would like to win them all. Whenever you go into the All-Star break with momentum, you come back feeling good about things. "Plus, teams start to look at what you've done the last 10, 11 games before the break. If they see we were 8-2 or 9-1, they'll go, 'Oh, Houston's got their team back.' " After today's game at New York, the Rockets play at Philadelphia on Monday. They return home for games against the Lakers on Wednesday, Utah on Saturday and the Knicks on Feb. 12. They have road games against the Clippers (Feb. 14) and Phoenix (Feb. 16) before the break for the All-Star Game at Toyota Center on Feb. 19. Differing opinions In what has become a recurring trend, the Rockets came out with a decided lack of energy at both the start of the game and the start of the second half in Friday's 100-77 victory over Seattle. The Supersonics led 17-10 with 7:20 to play in the first quarter before the Rockets came to life and took a 48-43 lead at halftime. In the second half, Seattle cut the lead to 50-49 with 8:41 left in the third quarter. The Rockets outscored the Sonics 50-28 the rest of the way. Despite that, Tracy McGrady thought the team showed more spark in the early going of the first and third quarters than they had in the last few games. "As a team, we had great intensity to start the game," McGrady said. "I think if we consistently do that and play the way we played in the first half and to come out in the third quarter, then we'll be all right." Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy wasn't as complimentary about the way his team played at the start of both halves. "Other than the start of the game and in the second half," Van Gundy said, "I thought we played really well."
I sure do hope we develop a winning streak in these upcomming 10 games. It'll definetely send a big message to the rest of the league. I'm so sick of hearing about the mavericks and watching Mark Cuban celebrating over their 10+ game winning streak. Last year memphis made it to the 8th seed with a record of 45/37. Considering the east this year is better in comparison to the west, i'd say we'll need 43 wins to make it to the 8th seed. That means we have 10 games to lose. In the playoffs, i hope we play dallas right off the bat.
I know a lot of people have hopped off the Ryan Bowen bandwagon, but he was DEFINITELY a part of the WBPS.
They changed it to White Boy Super Squad. I think we need Scotty the Body. Ryan Bowen wasnt originally apart of WBSS.
Glad to hear he'll be back tomorow morning. I miss Sura and Barry's fire. They really bring excitement to the team.
