Chron: Crucial five-game trip begins

March 17, 2003, 11:53PM

Crucial five-game trip begins
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
UPDATE
• Tonight: Rockets at Seattle SuperSonics
• When/where: 9 p.m.; KeyArena.

• TV/radio: Ch. 51; KILT (610 AM) and in Spanish on KYST (920 AM).

• Records: Rockets 35-30; Suns 30-35.



SEATTLE -- Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich asked himself many questions. He worried about everything. His mind wandered to places he would rather it not go.

But upon receiving the news he would need to undergo tests to determine if abnormal cells in his bladder are cancerous, he instinctively thought like a coach.

Tomjanovich decided to tell his team the news after Sunday's game. He avoided the distraction in the days that led up to Sunday's showdown win over the Suns, which left the Rockets alone in eighth in the race for the Western Conference's final playoff spot, while providing time for his players to get over the initial shock before heading to Seattle for the start of a crucial five-game, eight-day road trip.

By Monday morning, shock had turned to concern, and concern grew into resolve.

"We have to make it easier on Rudy," forward Glen Rice said. "We need to win more and put less pressure on Rudy."

Said center Yao Ming: "I think we'll play better for him."

When asked about Tomjanovich's decision to wait until after Sunday's game before telling his team the news, Yao said: "It tells us how important it is to make the playoffs.

"These are five big road games. I hope we can take the success we had in the last five games, and they give us some motivation and momentum. It seems like practice is missing something today."

That feeling is expected to continue until Tomjanovich rejoins his team, which could be as early as Wednesday in Portland.

Rockets coaches said they would stick to the usual routine. After all, there have been occasions when Tomjanovich has missed a practice or shootaround. But there was no pretending the Rockets could forget why Tomjanovich was missing this time.

"What people sometimes forget is this is a family," assistant coach Jim Boylen said. "Your whole life is being part of this and the camaraderie and the travel. And we're all in this foxhole now together. And one of our guys that has always been with us and leading us is not with us. And he misses it as much as we miss him. That's how you feel.

"Rudy's heart was broken because he's not with us. Our hearts are broken for him. It's tough."

The greatest change could be for assistant coach Larry Smith, who will make the long trip to move one seat to his left on the bench.

A tenacious rebounder and defender known in his playing days as "Mr. Mean," Smith is called "Coach Mean" by Rockets players. He said his primary mission will be to maintain as much normalcy as possible.

Smith takes over a team on a five-game winning streak, freeing him of pressure to repair immediate problems.

"Unfortunately, Coach is not with us," Smith said. "We're going to go and try to get the job done. We're focused. We know what we have to do. Coach is a gamer. He came out and prepared us to stay focused, and we got a win."

Regarding his status tonight, Smith said: "It's different. Now, you're the decision-maker. You try to make good decisions, and hopefully you can get wins. I think they'll come out and respond. The most important thing for us is to stay focused. We've been with Coach for a while. We're fully aware of what he expects of us. We're ready. I think the guys will respond."

In 12 seasons as Rockets head coach, Tomjanovich has never before missed a regular-season game. He missed a preseason game in Orlando last season to attend a funeral and allowed Smith and Boylen to handle the play-calling in several games late last season.

But Smith said he expects to feel differently today than in those games or when assisting Tomjanovich with calling plays or substitutions.

"I'm looking forward to it," Smith said. "I'm excited about it. But it's a tough situation.

"It's going to be tense, but I'm excited about it. I've been around the guys a lot. I know the guys pretty well. Things are not going to change that much. Just a different voice."

Rockets players were so confident in Smith that even while talking about Tomjanovich's absence, they stressed that they considered themselves in good hands.

"I love him," guard Cuttino Mobley said. "Coach Smith has coached all of us. We're still OK. But we still know who we're missing. We're missing the chief."

The Rockets are a half-game ahead of Phoenix for the eighth playoff spot in the West and 1 1/2 games behind Utah for the seventh spot. After their five-game road trip, which also includes games against Golden State, Sacramento and the Clippers, the Rockets have a back-to-back against the Lakers at Compaq Center and San Antonio on the road.

"We just want to keep this thing going," Boylen said. "We've won five straight. Let's keep this thing going and keep our guys playing at a high level. No matter what happens, the main thing is that Rudy is going to be OK, and he's going to be back with us."



March 17, 2003, 11:55PM

Rockets summary


Francis honored

Guard Steve Francis was named Western Conference player of the week.

Francis led the Rockets to a 3-0 record by averaging 20 points, 8.3 assists, six rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot per game. But he did not see the award coming.

"I took 14 shots in two games, and I'm named player of the week?" he said. "Unbelievable. I cannot believe it.

"In my opinion, my teammates won it. I helped them by getting the ball around, getting good looks for Yao (Ming), Cuttino (Mobley) and Glen (Rice). Everybody is playing well right now."

Francis made just eight shots in the past two games combined. Be he made 18 of 34 shots in the three games.

Philadelphia's Allen Iverson was named the Eastern Conference player of the week. Iverson also led his team to a 3-0 record. He averaged 28 points, 6.7 assists, four steals and three rebounds.

Not too smooth

Steve Francis on Friday was in the same statistical position in which the Cavaliers' Ricky Davis found himself on Sunday. Francis was one rebound shy of securing his first triple double of the season and knew it.

He played only a few more minutes in the of the Bulls before taking the rest of the night off a rebound shy of the mark. Davis, however, intentionally missed a shot at his own basket so he could grab the rebound. The ploy did not work as he was not credited with a shot or rebound before taking a hard foul from Utah's DeShawn Stephenson and national criticism.

"I wouldn't do that," Francis said. "I saw it, but I didn't think that was appropriate."

Tourney proud

It did not take long for the NCAA Tournament bracket to gain attention in the Rockets' locker room.

Only three Rockets players can claim allegiance to NCAA Tournament teams. Terence Morris and Steve Francis played for Maryland; James Posey played for Xavier.

But if as expected Maryland defeats North Carolina-Wilmington, and Xavier defeats Troy State, Xavier and Maryland would meet in the second round.

Morris even said he wants Xavier to win its first-round game so both teams could meet.

"We talked about our colleges a lot in here," Morris said. "We're already one up on them since we won it last year. I think we'll win that game. No, I know we'll win that game."

That would be fine with Posey, who said he would like to be able to watch the game with Francis and Morris.

"Why not?" he said. "I'm confident if we meet, Xavier will come out on top."

Hearing this, Francis said he did not need to talk about the game, no doubt planning to talk after the game.

"That's the rookie approach," Francis said. "I'm going to take the veteran approach. We're the only team the last two years that's been in the Elite Eight. We have veterans. If they make it where we are, we'll sit everybody down and talk about it. We just won the championship."

-- JONATHAN FEIGEN