[Chron] Center scores 28 to lead victory over Grizzlies

Good Performance by our All-Star Duo

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3134053

Center scores 28 to lead victory over Grizzlies
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle


The passes could not be good, they had to be right, just right. They had to be in the right place at the right time. Every step — every screen, every cut, every play — had to be just so.

This is the way it is supposed to be in April.

Memphis had left the Rockets no margin for error at the end of Wednesday night's game.

But the Rockets saved their best for last, pulling out a 100-92 win over the Grizzlies at Toyota Center.

The Rockets remained a half-game in front of Denver in the Western Conference race for sixth and moved within a half-game of fifth-place Sacramento, while Memphis remained one win (or Minnesota loss) from clinching a playoff berth.

The Rockets, however, gave themselves reason to look forward to the postseason.

"We're not going to wait for the playoffs to start to start playing good basketball," Rockets guard Mike James said. "We're right now focusing in on what we're going to do when playoff time comes.

"It's time to start playing basketball."

The time had come, the Rockets said, to finish the way they had in a sharp and precise two minutes.

With the Grizzlies within two, Tracy McGrady passed to Yao Ming inside for a layup and two of his team-high 28 points, beginning McGrady's late run in which he set up or scored 11 of the final 13 points.

After James Posey nailed a 3-pointer and McGrady missed the second of two free throws with 1:38 left, the Grizzlies were within two, with the ball.

With that, finally, the Rockets made the game-winning plays. Pau Gasol, who had 20 points, made his move toward the paint, only to have Yao get there first, cutting Gasol off as he lost the ball.

With the Grizzlies serve broken, the Rockets went to their familiar pick-and-roll, Yao setting a high screen for McGrady. But they altered the way they got into the play, holding the Grizzlies' help too deep.

McGrady took the pick, Yao rolled to the basket and McGrady's pass found him in stride, with Yao flipping in his layup through a Mike Miller foul for a three-point play. Yao's free throw gave the Rockets a 93-88 lead with 69 seconds left.

"At the last part of the game, they play small," said Yao, who added nine rebounds and four blocked shots. "They have Gasol as the one big, with an extra perimeter guy. We set a high pick so Gasol would double team Tracy. If I rotated to the basket, even if they put a guy on my body, it would be a small guy and that play would work."

After Mike Miller swept to the basket for a dunk giving him a career-high 37 points, McGrady made another move, this time, finding James in the corner.

"I played with Mac enough to know he has confidence in his team. He understands especially at the end of the game, everyone is going to key on him. We have to be ready to step up and knock down shots. I wanted that shot. I made sure I had my hands set and my feet set. All I had to do is going into motion once the ball came. I was definitely drooling for it."

James nailed his 3, giving the Rockets a six-point lead with 41.1 seconds left. Jon Barry hit two free throws. McGrady hit two more, after Gasol sent McGrady to the line with two-tenths of a second left, enabling the Rockets to score the 100 points needed to give out free hamburgers.

But after fans roared over free fast food, Jeff Van Gundy raved about the decisive late execution.

"I thought the execution of both teams over the last four or five minutes was at a very high level and I thought both teams acquitted themselves very well in a very hard-fought game," Van Gundy said.

"Tracy is a gifted playmaker. He see the floor incredibly well and made a really fine play (on the pass to Yao. The (next) play, Tracy comes off another pick and roll and they did a great job trapping it and he trusted Mike James in the corner.

"To trust your teammate and to put it on time and on target again says a lot about McGrady. That's how you have to play."

The Rockets sought to set a more energetic tone from the start. That did not amount to much more than an entertaining first 15 minutes. But when the Rockets began to clamp down a bit defensively, they surged to a 14-3 second-quarter lead capped by a Jon Barry 3-pointer in the corner and a McGrady fast-break layup for a 13-point Rockets lead.

But more than take a commanding lead or even the 10-point halftime lead, the Rockets had seemed to have handled the Memphis depth and quickness that has so often given them trouble.

They had taken care of the ball, committing just four turnovers in the first half. They had beaten the Grizzlies on the boards, outscoring them 11-0 on second-chance points. They had even been more effective off the bench, with Mike James scoring 10 second-quarter points with Barry getting five.

But almost as soon as the second half began, the Rockets seemed to have lost a step, or more precisely, the Grizzlies seemed to have taken it.

In the first seconds of the half, Gasol and Shane Battier blocked shots, the Rockets committed three consecutive turnovers and Gasol scored off an offensive rebound.

The Rockets rushed to an early time out and seemed to have taken off, not only running through a 10-0 run to their largest lead, 62-46, but scoring on three-consecutive fast breaks.

They could, however, no more maintain that pace than they could keep anyone on Miller. The Grizzlies guard poured in 13 points in the quarter, making five of six shots. When he hit a 3-pointer with 8.8 seconds left in the third quarter, the Grizzlies had gone from down 16 to within two.

Memphis closed to within one point in the fourth quarter. But if the Rockets could not get an easy win, they had a chance to reclaim their home court and pick up speed for the playoff, goals that might have been more valuable.

"I liked the way we fought tonight," Barry said. "We played great to get a 16-point lead. As we have a tendency to do, we relaxed and let them back in the ballgame.

"It's good to get the experience of a tight game with a team that's fighting for its playoff lives. It had a bit of playoff intensity there those last three minutes, and as coach said, we executed as good as we had in a long time. The last four five possessions we scored every time and put the game away."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com


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Rockets Summary
Favoring minor league

As one of the more celebrated and successful NBA players to jump directly from high school, Rockets forward Tracy McGrady defended Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal's contention that a proposed age requirement appears racially motivated.

He did, however, reiterate his agreement with idea of using the NBDL as a minor league for the NBA's younger players.

"I think everybody is really taking it out of context for what he said," McGrady, who was drafted out of high school by Toronto.

"As a black guy, what he said is because predominately the guys coming out of high school in the U.S. are black, and what he feels is that the opportunity is being taken away not only for black Americans but for white as well — guys who want to have the opportunity to come out of high school. And what he's saying is why do it now when all these years, it's been fine and they don't do it in other sports?

"That's my opinion," McGrady said. "I believe it's a mistake. Our last two rookies of the year ( Amare Stoudemire and LeBron James) have been guys that came out of high school. Seven guys that were in the All-Star Game were guys that came out of high school."

Negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement have, however, included a proposal to allow NBA teams to send young players to the NBDL while retaining their rights and while they continue to earn the NBA paycheck.

"I always think, why not have a minor league," McGrady said. "Get training. You play and come back. I would have done it, definitely. And I would have probably played (for the Raptors) sooner."


Broadcasting praise
When Mike Fratello arrived in Houston for Wednesday's game, he found time to get together with Jeff Van Gundy. The two didn't spend their time talking X's and O's like they used to when they were working together on TNT broadcasts though.

Fratello, who spent nine years in broadcasting before resuming his coaching career in December by replacing Hubie Brown in Memphis, said he was impressed by Van Gundy during their one season together in 2002-03.

"I thought for someone who had not done a lot of TV before that, I thought he was somebody who came in and was immediately very good," Fratello said.

"He made his observations in short, concise, but very intelligent statements. And I thought people saw another side of him. There's a very witty, quick, humorous side to him. Some days it's in a dry sense, like he does it, but very, very funny.

"I think he says really good stuff. He has some really good observations and he's very honest, which is tough to find — somebody who's doing a game and actually says what he's thinking when he's doing a game."


No analysis, just fix it
After all the efforts made to determine why the Rockets have been better on the road than at home, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy decided it might be easier, and more prudent, to remove the problem than to find its cause.

"We're looking to rectify it," Van Gundy said. "We know without home-court advantage, you have to be great at home to win a playoff series. The other team has one game they can stumble. Hopefully, we can rectify how we've played at home."

Asked why the Rockets have not played better in Toyota Center, Van Gundy stayed on message.

"I'm not into the psychoanalysis of it," he said. "We know if we want to win a playoff series and we're urgent to win a playoff series, these last games are very important to us. Too often there's too much talk about winning instead of doing what you need to win to win it."

 

I have never seen anybody question Yao's IQ. Perhaps his stamina or toughness. His skills, talent, hard work, moves, touch and understanding of the game are unbelievable.