Chron: Heat go up in smoke as Rockets take win, 90-70

My bad if this has been posted.

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Nov. 11, 2003, 11:51PM

Heat go up in smoke as Rockets take win, 90-70
Van Gundy duel takes ugly turn
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle


There was determined defense. And missed shots. There was toughness and familiarity. And missed shots. There was roughly just what Jeff and Stan Van Gundy said there would not be, a game that seemed like those between two brothers that lacked only a bumpy driveway and a rim over the garage.

The blessing turned out to be that Tuesday night's game game pitted the Brothers Van Gundy.

It was a game only a mother could love.

But the Rockets have begun to master such nights, and they rolled to a 90-70 win over the Heat to move to 5-1 without quite impressing.

The Rockets won easily, if inartistically, pulling away in the second half to build leads larger than the Heat seemed capable of scoring even had the Rockets joined many in the crowd of 11,135 and left early.

The Rockets began to take control when Cuttino Mobley, facing his "big brother" Eddie Jones, dominated his mentor, finishing with 30 points. Scott Padgett added 13 off the bench. And with that, it hardly mattered that the rest of the Rockets made only 15 of 41 shots.

The Rockets' defense, quickly becoming their strength, took away the lane and then needed only to rebound as the Heat shot 34.7 percent in the first NBA game with brothers coaching against each other since Larry and Herb Brown squared off in 1977.

The Heat sent their usual obsessive wrap around Yao Ming, risking whatever damage the Rockets' shooters could do. Yao rallied late for his 16 points. But the Rockets pulled away with his greatest offensive contribution his performance as a decoy.

As sound a strategy as that was, and proved to be through most of the first quarter, the Rockets did not need much shooting to set a pace the 0-7 Heat could not match.

Mobley delivered most of that shooting, getting just enough help from Padgett off the bench to let the Rockets bury the anemic Heat.

When the Rockets began to cruise late in the third quarter, the Heat closed a 16-point deficit to nine. But the Rockets started the fourth quarter with six quick points, capped by Padgett's third trey. When Moochie Norris nailed the Rockets' 10th trey of the night and Steve Francis set up Yao inside, the Rockets led by 19 and Jeff Van Gundy began looking for bodies at the end of the bench.

Through one quarter as ugly as any either Van Gundy would like to see again, the Rockets and Heat finished 16-16, a tie that was like kissing your brother.

The Heat scored the game's first eight points. The Rockets missed their first six shots. Nearly half the first quarter had ended before the Rockets made a shot, a Kelvin Cato jumper.

The Rockets did not pull even with the Heat until Mobley ended the quarter with a jumper. But with that, the Rockets struck upon something that worked and proceeded to work it to death.

Beginning with a 20-footer to end the first quarter, Mobley scored 10 consecutive Rockets points, most in the face of Jones, a defensive whiz. Padgett ended that individual run with a trey for the Rockets' first lead 27-26. When Mobley followed with a 3-pointer of his own, he had scored 13 points in 4 1/2 minutes.

Francis ended the half with a 20-footer at the buzzer to match the Rockets' largest lead of the half 43-36. When Mobley began the second half by splashing another 3, the Rockets' lead had reached double figures on its way to 16.

That might not have seemed insurmountable. But in a game that started as high- scoring as the Van Gundy pingpong tournaments, there was no reason to think that could not hold up.


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Rockets summary
Family reunion
Heat coach Stan Van Gundy had nothing but good feelings about his visit with brother Jeff Van Gundy on Monday. He could not help but want one more activity.

"I'm not playing Jeff," Stan said. "I wish we were because I'm pretty sure we'd come out on top of that one. I'm much more concerned with Yao (Ming) and Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley. But looking back on it, for years to come, this will be a night to remember."

He said Monday was memorable for other reasons.

"I had a great dinner," Stan said. "My sister-in-law (Kim) said the two key words were 'homemade' and 'gourmet.' And they were. She also tells me she cooks like that every night. It was really good. I don't get many chances to see their daughter and she's a great kid. It was family talk last night. Mattie was showing me her math homework. It was that kind of night."

He said there was little basketball talk, though Jeff offered some "empathy" for the Heat's struggles. A day later, Jeff offered a strong call for patience during the Heat's rebuilding.

"I just find it a little bit unusual that they were a 25-win team last year with a Hall of Fame coach and now it's about coaching?

"I would think everyone would understand it's a massive rebuilding. For anyone in the media or fan base to imply it's anything other than that is not informed. I don't think I'm saying anything everyone doesn't know."

That did not stop the Van Gundys from the usual coaches talk over dinner.

"We sat around saying, 'Your team is great.' 'Your team is great.' 'No, your team is better.' "' Jeff said. "We wasted a lot of time doing that."

Coaching reunion
Besides the expected meeting with his brother, Jeff Van Gundy had an unexpected coaching reunion when former Rockets coach Bill Fitch showed up. Fitch stopped by just three days after having a pacemaker installed, his first outing since the procedure.

"I've known him since he came in the league," said Fitch, who was Nets coach when Van Gundy became an assistant with the Knicks in 1989. "We were coaching against each other when he was an assistant and as a head coach when I was with the Clippers.

"With Jeff, the best way to describe it, is with other coaches, you might talk about insurance or their new car. With Jeff, you were going to talk about basketball when he was around."

Fitch, who resides in Conroe, brought Juan Cisneros, a 14-year-old cancer patient, with him to the game. Fitch has been working with the group Parents Against Cancer and said the group is preparing a donation of $2 million over seven years to Texas Children's Hospital.

"I've admired him from when I came in the NBA as a young coach," Van Gundy said. "The guy's won everywhere. He got the Clippers in the playoffs."

Fitch said he feels good since Saturday's procedure.

"I made sure I can get up stairs faster than CD (Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson,)" Fitch said.

Silent treatment
Bill Van Gundy, the father of Jeff and Stan Van Gundy, planned to watch Tuesday's game with the sound off, as has been his custom for games in which his sons have been coaches.

Jeff said he understood.

"You got (Mike) Fratello broadcasting," he said.

Fratello, Van Gundy's broadcast partner with TNT last season, also works on Heat broadcasts. When Fratello was in Houston for the broadcast of the season opener, Van Gundy shook Marv Albert's hand, then walked away with Fratello's arm outstretched, causing some to ask if there was a rift between them.

"Some people don't understand staged," Van Gundy said. He and Fratello slapped hands and hugged after Van Gundy's comment Tuesday.

Standing Pat
Former Heat coach Pat Riley asked the beat writers who cover the Heat to his office last week to deny rumors he was interested in coaching or broadcasting before completing the two seasons left on his contract to run the team.

"I categorically do not want to coach, I categorically do not want to do television, I categorically am not interested in going anywhere else other than being in Miami," Riley said. "The decision on how long I'm in Miami is going to have to do with (owner) Micky Arison, not with me or somebody else. That's it. I've been here eight years. I've got a 10-year contract and I'm going to honor that. I'm not thinking of doing anything else."

Riley, however, did not say he had retired from coaching, which for Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, left open the chance of coaching against one of his mentors in a few years.

"By the time he's back, I might not be (coaching), so who knows," Van Gundy said. "I really don't know.

"I know this: he's what I feel is the best coach in NBA history. He got that team to overachieve to 25 wins last year. He has the right if he so chooses to get back into coaching whenever and wherever he wants. If he does choose to go that way, he'll do an unbelievable job wherever he goes."

-- JONATHAN FEIGEN


Box score

MIAMI 16 20 20 14 -- 70
HOUSTON 16 27 22 25 -- 90
MIAMI 70
FG 3PT FT Reb
Player Min M-A M-A M-A Off-T Ast PF Stl TO Blk Pts
Haslem 27 1-12 0-1 0-0 3-6 2 2 0 1 0 2
Odom 38 6-15 0-2 2-8 4-10 5 3 1 3 1 14
Grant 30 4-8 0-0 0-0 3-6 0 5 0 0 0 8
Wade 38 4-9 0-1 3-4 0-5 5 3 3 3 0 11
Jones 36 8-15 1-3 4-4 1-4 3 4 1 3 0 21
Hill 9 0-1 0-0 2-2 1-1 0 2 0 0 0 2
CButler 26 1-6 0-0 2-4 0-1 0 3 1 3 0 4
Woods 10 1-3 0-0 3-4 2-4 0 1 0 0 1 5
Alston 12 0-1 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Wallace 14 1-5 0-1 0-0 0-5 0 1 0 1 0 2
Totals 240 26-75 1-8 17-28 14-42 15 24 6 14 2 70

Percentages: FG .347, FT .607. Three point goals: 1-8, .125 (Jones 1-3, Haslem 0-1, Wade 0-1, Wallace 0-1, Odom 0-2). Team rebounds: 16. Team turnovers: 17 (17 PTS). Blocked shots: 2 (Odom, Woods). Turnovers: 14 (Jones 3, C.Butler 3, Odom 3, Wade 3, Haslem, Wallace). Steals: 6 (Wade 3, Jones, C.Butler, Odom). Technicals: Defensive Three Second, 10:33 third; Defensive Three Second, 11:26 fourth.


HOUSTON 90
FG 3PT FT Reb

Player Min M-A M-A M-A Off-T Ast PF Stl TO Blk Pts

Jackson 26 1-8 0-2 0-0 0-1 4 3 1 1 0 2

Cato 20 1-3 0-0 3-3 4-6 0 4 0 0 1 5

Yao 32 5-7 0-0 6-7 1-8 1 3 0 2 7 16

Francis 36 5-14 0-4 4-5 1-7 7 2 0 3 1 14

Mobley 41 11-21 5-8 3-3 0-5 2 0 3 0 0 30

Braggs 16 1-2 0-0 0-0 0-2 1 1 2 1 1 2

Nachbar 19 1-4 1-4 0-0 0-0 3 3 0 3 1 3

Norris 21 1-3 1-2 2-2 0-5 2 1 0 0 0 5

Padgett 24 5-7 3-4 0-0 1-2 1 4 0 4 0 13

Wilks 3 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0 0 0 0

Ford 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 1 0

Totals 240 31-69 10-24 18-20 7-36 21 23 6 15 12 90

Percentages: FG .449, FT .900. Three point goals: 10-24, .417 (Mobley 5-8, Padgett 3-4, Norris 1-2, Nachbar 1-4, Jackson 0-2, Francis 0-4). Team rebounds: 6. Team turnovers: 17 (17 PTS). Blocked shots: 12 (Yao 7, Francis, Cato, Nachbar, Braggs, Ford). Turnovers: 15 (Padgett 4, Francis 3, Nachbar 3, Yao 2, Braggs, Jackson, Ford). Steals: 6 (Mobley 3, Braggs 2, Jackson). Technical Foul: Defensive Three Second, 8:11 third.

Attendance: 11,135 (17,982). Time of game: 2:19. Officials: Monty McCutchen, Scott Wall, Leroy Richardson.

 

Now someone tells me where on earth did we get this gem?