[Chron] Defense rests way too much & Rockets Notes

ROCKETS NOTES: McGrady's hip OK
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4307562.html

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

If it seemed like things couldn't get any worse in the opener, then last season apparently has been forgotten. Either that, or a reminder in the second quarter of Wednesday's season opener went unnoticed.

Rockets forward/guard Tracy McGrady drove to the rim, drawing a foul on Utah's Derek Fisher. But in the timeout that followed, McGrady grimaced while walking away from the huddle in noticeable pain. He looked very much like he did last season when he was so often struck by back problems.

The difference was that McGrady's pain was in the hip. The more telling difference was he laughed about it afterward.

"I got a knee in the hip," he said. "It hurt, but I'm fine. I'm fine now."


Shaping up
With Saturday's game against the Mavericks beginning a stretch of four games in five nights, today's practice likely will be the Rockets' last for a week. That would limit the chances to test Bonzi Wells' readiness to move to the active roster. While he is not playing, though, he can go through more strenuous workouts than typical while in the rotation.

The Rockets will not, coach Jeff Van Gundy said, wait until Wells is 100 percent to put him on the floor.

"I'm encouraged by how hard he has worked since he has been back," Van Gundy said. "I'm encouraged by how quickly he picks things up. I never underestimate how long it takes to get in tip-top shape. I don't think we'll wait until he's completely in shape. I don't know if you can get completely in shape without playing.

"It is more of a feel. At some point, we're just going to have put him out there and let him go through some preseason mistakes in the regular season. That's not ideal. But it is what it is."

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

Defense rests way too much
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4307563.html

What had been preseason strength becomes liability in Rockets' opener


By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle

Reality might have hit when Utah Jazz guard Deron Williams drove from one rim to the other without a Rockets defender venturing into his path. It might have come when Carlos Boozer rained mid-range jumpers. Or when Ronnie Brewer beat the Rockets downcourt to hammer down a one-handed, alley-oop slam.

At some point, the Rockets must have gotten the message: The preseason, with all its heady talk of glory, is over.

Way back in October, the Rockets' defense was the NBA's best. No team allowed fewer points. No team allowed a lower field-goal percentage.

Then the regular season began Wednesday, and the Rockets were barely traffic cones.

"That was not Houston Rocket or Jeff Van Gundy style of basketball on the defensive end," guard Rafer Alston said. "We have to get back to playing Rockets basketball. That's a lot of points to give up, and a lot was gifts. We didn't even get a hand up. We have a lot of mistakes to correct."

Van Gundy had insisted all along that preseason success might not demonstrate anything, given that opposing coaches might have shut down their teams' scoring as much as the Rockets had.

Then Utah made 52.7 percent of its shots, rolling up a 107-97 win despite easing up in the fourth quarter.

There were other issues, to be sure. But no shortcoming proved as damaging as the Rockets' inability to defend.


Lack of balance
"We tried to play as an offensive team, (as opposed to) a well-balanced team," Van Gundy said. "Well-balanced teams win, teams that defend and rebound and play good on offense. We're not nearly where we need to be defensively in terms of an ability to sustain an intensity level that can win.

"It's obvious when you watch the game, we were outcompeted. And when you're a small team and you're outcompeted, you don't have a shot to win."

Less certain is whether the Rockets really were playing well defensively in the preseason or merely got away with deficiencies.

"That's preseason," forward Shane Battier said. "You do the best you can, but it's not the intensity the regular season is. This was a step up. All the looseness you have with a team defensively may not get exposed with a team in the preseason. It definitely gets exposed in the regular season. We need to focus in and play with more discipline."


Fouls a factor
It seemed odd to lose concentration roughly five minutes into the regular season. But with all the confident talk of the preseason and a sharpshooting start, the Rockets seemed to shift into cruise control.

They were foul-prone, putting Utah into the bonus quickly and perhaps sapping some of their own aggressiveness.

"For the most part, guys got two fouls, fouls on offensive screens," guard Kirk Snyder said. "It's hard to see how good we could have been on defense. You play a little more passively with two fouls. Yao (Ming) had two fouls. Shane had two. It takes away some of the aggressive mentality you have to have to play defense.

"That's not alarming that we can't play defense. We will. We'll get better."

In each of Van Gundy's first three seasons, the Rockets were among the NBA's top defensive teams statistically, but they do have weaknesses. As much as the agility of the 7-6, 300-pound Yao has improved, teams still will put him in pick-and-roll scrambles.

"It's one of the disadvantages of being 7-6 and slower than the guy you're trying to guard," Van Gundy said. "You have to give him more of a cushion."

With Van Gundy going with shooting at power forward, he will sacrifice some size at the position.

"It's still early," Battier said. "We're going to need to be a great defensive team. We're a small team. We're going to have to play harder than our opponents on most nights because we're smaller.

"We have strengths, but our weaknesses boil down to concentration and hustle plays you need to make."


Best-laid plans
There are matchups in which that mix can work, with Yao defending teams' low-post threats regardless of position and with power forwards chasing big men who like to shoot from the perimeter. The Jazz, however, were supposed to be among those teams.

"Most teams are going to try and expose what you don't do as well," Van Gundy said. "We just have to cover whatever weaknesses we have. Against preseason players and preseason preparation, we were OK."

Against a regular-season opponent, the Rockets were sliced apart. But at least they learned the preseason is over.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com