(http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4759859.html) Fight to the finish The Jazz hustled to even the series in Utah, and the Rockets know they were outworked By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle April 30, 2007, 12:18AM NBA PLAYOFFS With the first half slipping into its final seconds and the Rockets somehow within three points, Utah Jazz guard Deron Williams took off for one more assault. Williams gutted the once-proud Rockets defense, knifing his way from midcourt to the rim, putting his drive in over Yao Ming with five seconds left before halftime. The Rockets responded as they would the rest of the night. They pouted. Tracy McGrady walked the ball back the other way, then meandered into a half-court trap before giving it up to Chuck Hayes, who launched a 46-foot heave that barely caught a piece of the backboard. With that as precedent, the first-round Western Conference playoff foes would spend most of Saturday night's second half the same way, with the Jazz giving their best and the Rockets responding with their least. "Look at the play before (halftime)," Yao said. "Williams drives from halfcourt all the way to the paint with five seconds left. We still have time, and we just ... shoot a running 3-point shot. "That's like, 'How much do you want to play?' " The answer became as obvious as the 25-point lead the Jazz built Saturday in Utah and the 17-point lead they held Thursday. At that moment, and in many to come, McGrady and the Rockets seemed uninterested in what it would take to match the determination of Williams and the Jazz. The Rockets were blown out of a second consecutive game in EnergySolutions Arena, returning home for tonight's Game 5 with the series tied 2-2 but seeming far behind. "You're not going to win in the playoffs unless you deserve to win," Rockets forward Shane Battier said after the 98-85 loss in Game 4. "You make the plays that you have to — the tough plays, the hustle plays, the cohesion plays that you need to make. For the second straight game, we didn't make those plays, so we didn't deserve to win." The Rockets are running out of time to turn things around. The winner of Game 5 in a 2-2 series has gone 114-22 in best-of-seven NBA playoff series. "You try to motivate each other," Rockets guard Rafer Alston said. "That's the only thing you can do. There can't be negative talk to each other. There will be no finger-pointing. That's not who we are. We will motivate each other and start to pick each other up and understand (that) to win and advance, we have to play harder and sustain our energy and effort. "With every free-throw rebound they're getting, every loose ball they're getting, with second-chance points, they're winning the hustle game. In the playoffs, whoever wins the hustle game, rebounding and has less turnovers wins the game. I don't know if we're backing off. I know we're not stepping up." The mismatch in "the hustle game" might have been the Rockets' undoing in the two games in Salt Lake City, but their continued offensive troubles have seemingly seeped into the parts of their game that had been staples. "We need to defend, rebound, take care of the ball," coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "That's the whole group. We need Mac to be Mac, Yao to be Yao, and other guys surrounding them to shoot the ball better. It's really no more complicated than that." Yao, a 51.6 percent shooter in the regular season, is making just 43.7 percent of his shots. McGrady is making just 36.8 percent, Alston 33.3 percent. McGrady's scoring, shooting, rebounding and assists are down from the regular season. "It's really on everybody, but certainly, he and Yao are going to have to be more efficient for us to win," Van Gundy said. "(McGrady) is best when he's attacking. At the same time, we have to make more shots around him as well. We have to cut down on our turnovers. We had 35 there in the last two games. You're not going to play well on offense if you don't pass well and you don't shoot well." Juwan Howard and Luther Head, who combined to average 20.6 points in the regular season, are averaging 7.6 in the playoffs, having made just nine of 44 shots. "We need to keep shooting the basketball," Howard said. "We need to stay confident, stay mentally tough. "We can play a lot better than how we played. It's embarrassing how we lost. It's embarrassing how we played. We could have played with a lot of fight. It's all about effort. Our effort was not here. You have to give them credit. This team came with more fight. They fought harder in these last two games in Utah." And after Saturday's whipping, Yao had to ask, "How much do you want to play?" Running out of time in a 2-2 series, the Rockets had not provided the answer.
They really have no answers. We need to motivate eachother. If you aren't already motivated then it's already too late. It's the playoffs if you didn't notice it. Howard says they need to stay mentally tough. How about make a basket Juwan. This sad sack of a team always talks about what's wrong. Just go out there and do it and stop talking.
glad to see yao indirectly calling out tmac. I wish he would have directly called him out because he deserves it. that play before the half really pissed me off.
I'm sure Yao said something to him while they were walking off the court or back in the locker room You would think though that T-Mac is a great enough player that he doesn't need anyone calling him out in the playoffs, especially with everything he has at stake in this series.
Or worse, Tmac probably didn't like being called out, and played like a sissy in the 2nd half. That's why people say champions must have hearts. Tmac has none, or little ... in any case, seems not enough to continue winning. When the going gets tough, he wilts. I am guessing Yao will try to take over the next game. But unfortunately, Yao does not yet have the strength and stamina to truly take over. In any case, I predict he will play better at near sea level instead of the 5,000 feet high Salt Lake City.
I really think Big Yao is upset about how TMAC played. He indirectly criticized TMAC again in the interview he gave to Wang Meng, when he mentioned the Rockets did not play good defense on Andrei Kirilenko. And we all know, Tracy McGrady is supposedly the Rockets guarding Andrei Kirilenko.
this is crazy, but that play before halftime where t-mac just quit has me thinking t-macs throwing the series. seriously, if the price was right. he just quit on that play, he just quit.
What I hope happens is that T-Mac responds the way he did after Van Gundy benched him against the Warriors and called him out in the press. The Rockets went on that road trip and swept all 3 games before coming home and knocking off the Hornets and Suns. And T-Mac played great in all 5 games.
Great players do not need to be benched or called out to get them to give 100% effort. Tmac is wasting his and the team's chances by not going full bore. It is highly unprofessional. DD
well words only mean so much. he needs to show leadership by consistently getting good position and shooting better than 50%. maybe he can grab more than 10 boards a game too. this team seriously needs a big time performance.
This team needs to get their house in order. JVG needs to start looking at his other bench players for some spark off the bench. Please give Kirk some quality minutes and let VSpan play the minutes that have been given to Lucas. I believe VSpan has more to offer than Lucas and he can get to the rim and play hard tough D.
He is just mentally soft guys. As talented as he is......and as high a BBall IQ he has........his heart.......man..... prove us the phukk wrong!!!
Heart and desire are something you can't coax out of someone....it's gotta already be there. Look at the difference between T-Mac and guys like Baron Davis, Deron Williams, and Kobe. Even when their teams go down, they still put it on themselves to do whatever it takes to get to the rack, play lockdown defense, and just straight up hustle. So far, T-Mac has not demonstrated any of those traits outside of the first half of game 1. I am hoping that when he hears the fans tonight, the old T-Mac will awaken from his slumber, and realize that ITS THE F*****G PLAYOFFS........WIN OR GO HOME
since his injury and the family problems it has been going down for this guy his mental toughness fell down the drain
tmac was really good in the second half of the first game, but did he attack the rim or he was just hot?
The last two games were just an extension of many of the games during the season, when the Rockets had large leads only to let the other team back in the game. What they've done by letting the Jazz win two at home and win them convincingly is to "let them back in" the series. If they could have just won one game in Utah the Jazz wouldn't be coming to Houston with all the confidence in the world. It's not bad for Yao to vent his frustration over the team's lack of desire to "play" in either of those games. But Yao, please, take a look in the mirror and at some film. No more dainty layups when your a couple of feet from the basket. Be willing to give up one foul a game under the banner of "going to the basket strong" to give the defenders second thoughts. No more holding the ball so softly that you get stripped multiple times in a row. Try to dunk as much as possible, bringing the ball up as fast and as strong as you can when turning into the defender. It's amazing how a forearm going up into a players chin on the way to the basket gains respect. As an afterthought... Juwan needs to be reminded that his shot is flat again and that's a big reason he's off. And he should remember that a couple of seasons ago he thought he might never play basketball again. This may be his last chance to help the team seize an opportunity to do something special. He may not be here next year.
