(chron): Road's kind to Rockets http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3130211 Road's kind to Rockets Sonics hardly look like No. 3 team in the West in loss at home By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle SEATTLE - The Rockets insist they do not care whom they face in the playoffs. Really. Seattle. San Antonio. Phoenix. It's all the same — ahem — to them. But if who is a topic they would not dare broach, where seems inviting if it means hitting the road. The Rockets, and especially the increasingly unstoppable Tracy McGrady, completed their road schedule with a 90-78 win over the injury-depleted SuperSonics on Monday night, putting one last reminder of how much of a force they have been on the road this season. The win completed a road sweep of Seattle — lined up to be the Rockets' first-round opponent — to go with the road sweep of Phoenix completed on Saturday. At 25-16, the Rockets have the second-best road record in franchise history. They completed their regular-season road schedule with 20 wins in their last 27 games away from home. With Rashard Lewis, Antonio Daniels, Vladimir Radmanovic and Danny Fortson out, the Sonics seemed short-handed offensively but never so much as when McGrady dominated the second half. McGrady scored 25 of his 38 points in the second half and in the four-game trip averaged 37.7 points per game. The Rockets also moved to 21-3 when McGrady tops 30. Yao Ming added 20 points and 12 rebounds and is averaging 24 points against the Sonics this season. With the win, the Rockets remained a half-game in front of seventh-place Denver and trail the fifth-place Kings by one game. After a first half in which neither team could do much of anything consistently well offensively, the Rockets found their offense in the most obvious of places. McGrady had 15 points in the first half. But in the third quarter, he took over, making six of eight shots, including three of four 3-pointers. When he nailed consecutive treys in the last two minutes of the quarter, he took the Rockets to a 70-59 lead. Sonics guard Luke Ridnour reduced the lead to eight heading into the fourth quarter, and having already played 32 minutes, McGrady began the fourth quarter on the bench. Yao, who had scored 14 points with nine rebounds in 22 minutes, was already out, forced from the the game after a collision with Reggie Evans re-opened the cut on his Yao's chin. Yao suffered the cut eight days before against the Suns and had the stitches removed on Sunday. The Rockets rarely play with McGrady and Yao out at the same time. And though McGrady was back in less than two minutes with Yao returning soon after, the Rockets had gone from a third-quarter roll to hitting a fourth-quarter wall. They missed seven consecutive shots to begin the fourth quarter before Yao put in the rebound of Scott Padgett's miss. By then, the Sonics had begun the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run ane come within a point. But McGrady, who had missed his previous three shots, hit a turnaround jumper. Jon Barry, who had missed his first three shots of the quarter, nailed a 3-pointer from the corner, putting the Rockets in front 78-72 with five minutes left. The Rockets pulled away from there, with McGrady knocking down one more jumper and Yao sinking free throws to complete a solid second half. Because neither team could establish a consistent offense, with the SuperSonics misfiring and the Rockets mishandling their way through the first half, it seemed somewhat fitting that the half would have also established nothing. The Rockets had taken a late 8-0 run to a 37-34 lead, their largest of the half. McGrady had hit a post-up jumper to pull the Rockets to within one, then passed to David Wesley on a break to put the Rockets in front, 35-34. When Yao grabbed a tough rebound in between Nick Collison and Reggie Evans, he was fouled by Collison, stared down Evans and made both free throws for a three-point lead. But that little flurry was the exception. Both teams shot better in the second quarter, but by halftime, the Rockets had made just 12 of 31 shots and just one of their six 3-pointers. The Sonics had made just 14 of 44 shots (31.9 percent). Wesley — after a trip spent assigned to Baron Davis, Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash — cut off Allen's penetration and left only tough shots of the dribble. Allen made just 3 of his 12 shots in the half. jonathan.feigen@chron.com
