http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3081460 March 11, 2005, 11:27PM Rockets display offensive might Yao has career high in rebounds in win over Suns By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle RESOURCES PHOENIX - The numbers just don't make sense, don't relate. They come from everywhere, score at will in too many ways to be stopped. The Suns can put up numbers, too. But the Rockets went into America West Arena on Friday, with the Suns demonstrating how they had taken the league's best record with the NBA's most prolific offense, and routed the Suns, 127-107 with their highest-scoring game of the past two seasons, The Rockets got the most dominant game Yao Ming has had on the boards, with the Rockets center getting a career-high 22 rebounds and scoring 14 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter. Tracy McGrady carried the Rockets through their rough spots, scoring 38 points with nine rebounds and six assists. And the Rockets held Amare Stoudemire to seven second-half points after he had burned them for 24 in the first half. After falling to the brink of blowout in the third quarter, the Rockets rolled through the rest of the second half, going from a 14-point deficit to a 22-point lead. Suns smothered The Rockets so dominated down the stretch, they scored 41 fourth-quarter points, matching their most in a quarter this season, making 13 of 24 shots. They also improved so much defensively, they twice forced shot-clock violations. After Stoudemire, who averages 26.3 points per game had 24 by halftime, the Rockets had to send help to at least try to get in his way. But the Suns, having seen every adjustment there is to try to stop Stoudemire, had no difficulty finding the players left open. Nearly every time Stoudemire set a high screen and rolled to the basket, the Rockets had to send a defender in his path, leaving a shooter a Suns pass or two away. In the first six minutes of the second half, the Suns made five 3-pointers, outscoring the Rockets 21-7 to start the half and take a 14-point lead. Having made just three of 10 shots, the Rockets showed no indication that they would turn that around. But they had overcome a 22-2 Suns run in the first half. So McGrady carried the Rockets back, scoring 13 points in the third quarter. Suns misfire The Rockets plugged at least a few of their defensive holes. And the Suns missed a few shots. When Yao drained an 18-footer and Mike James put in a 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter, the Rockets had come all the way back and taken a 91-90 lead. Stoudemire had missed his first three shots in the quarter, with Yao swatting the third. And more than recover, the Rockets seemed on a roll. The Rockets did learn quickly that they could run up some points against the Suns. The Rockets even outran the Suns, outscoring Phoenix 10-6 on the break and burned the Suns' efforts to send defensive help in McGrady's path. But they also knew that scoring would not be the point. They staked themselves to a 13-point lead, with David Wesley getting 13 of his 16 in the first half while the Rockets built a 27-14 cushion with 3 1/2 minutes left in the first quarter. But that only seemed to get the Suns' attention. In the final 3 1/2 minutes of the quarter, the Runs rolled through a 12-2 run, and less than two minutes into the second quarter, the Suns pushed their run to 22-2 with 16 unanswered points that put them in front, 36-29. In that stretch, the Suns took nine shots and made nine shots. The Rockets took 10 and missed nine. It was not, however, a knockout punch. Eclipse the Suns The Rockets recovered enough to overtake the Suns and build their lead back to five. But they still had not found a way to help defensively and still keep a defender on every shooter, or to keep any of the bodies they through at Stoudemire in front of him. They would eventually find a way to slow the Suns. But more remarkably, while they did it, they moved to Suns speed themselves. jonathan.feigen@chron.com
not to complain, but next time can you wait until they finish the article before posting it? The finished article is usually full with quotes.
Wow. Feigen completely rewrote his story. I read the one that Yaowaming posted, but now at the same link the article is totally different. Which is probably a good move because if I was Feigen, I wouldn't want that "Suns speed" line to make it to print: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3081460 Rockets punish Suns Yao dominates with career-high 22 rebounds; McGrady has 38-point night By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle PHOENIX - He did not want to admit it. Humility trumped frankness. But the Rockets saw it. They saw it in the way Yao Ming moved, they way he battled, the way he dominated. Yao Ming did not just bully the Suns on Friday night at America West Arena. He enjoyed it. He and the Rockets saw the Suns' breathtaking quickness (other than the injured Shawn Marion) and stunning offensive prowess. They were knocked back by it. But when Tracy McGrady carried the Rockets back and Yao overpowered the way he never has, a 127-107 rout of the Suns seemed to be not just the most impressive win of the season, but a night even the Rockets' towering center grew into something more. "The big fella came out and gave us everything he had," Dikembe Mutombo said. "At the end of the third quarter he looked a little bit tired. But he was able to respond." At 7-6 and 312 pounds, Yao was too much for the small, but spectacularly swift Suns. After Amare Stoudemire dominated the first half, scoring 24 of his 31 points, Yao owned the second half and especially the fourth quarter. Yao grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds, including nine off the offensive glass until he became a different, but equally unstoppable force. With Yao getting 10 of his rebounds and 14 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, the Rockets outscored the Suns 41-17 in the final 12 minutes. For all he did, with every rebound and putback, he seemed hungry for more. "Not good, dominant," Rockets guard David Wesley (20 points) said of Yao's play. "Five blocks. Twenty-two rebounds. That's huge. And they weren't rebounds that just kind of came to him. He went and got rebounds. He tipped rebounds to himself. He grabbed rebounds. We can ride that a long way. "And Tracy was Tracy." McGrady (38 points) was his own sort of dominant a quarter earlier when he had to be. After building an early 16-point lead, the Rockets had played the Suns to a 60-60 halftime tie. But with Stoudemire rolling up 24 points in the first half, the Rockets sent help to at least try to get in his way. The Suns, having seen every adjustment there is to try to stop Stoudemire, had no difficulty finding the players left open. But that left a shooter a pass or two away from firing away. In the first six minutes of the second half, the Suns made five 3-pointers, outscoring the Rockets 21-7 to start the half and take a 14-point lead. "This team is a high-powered offense," McGrady said. "For us to hold them to 17 points in the fourth quarter, just shows what kind of team we can be. It's tough. Steve (Nash) does what he does. And so does Amare. And they got those shooters to spread out. You got to stop one thing in the paint, they rush out to the perimeter to prevent those guys from shooting 3s. We did it with great intensity. We did it with great poise when those guys made their run." The Rockets had overcome a 22-2 Suns run in the first half, but showed no signs of being able to answer the Suns' 21-7 start to the second half. "That game was right there (and) almost got away from us down 14," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Then we got it right away to five (down). We did hang in there. They were putting the heat on us." So while the Suns ran their usual collection of pick-and-roll plays, the Rockets forced Stoudemire to deal with McGrady on a pick-and-roll until McGrady carried the Rockets back. Yao started the fourth quarter with a jumper and after Yao swatted away a Stoudemire drive, Mike James added a 3-pointer to put the Rockets in front. Stoudemire scored on a drive to a three-point play. But when Yao answered with a slam on Stoudemire with 8:22 left, the Rockets took off on a 14-0 run and to the rout. "I have to tip my hat to my big fella," McGrady said. "He played with great aggression tonight. There was nothing soft about Yao, nothing at all. He played his butt off." Yao wouldn't admit it. He said those rebounds would have hit him in the head had he not grabbed them. But he seemed to relish what he was doing. He was dominant in ways he had not been before and once he reached that level, for a stretch, the Rockets were, too. jonathan.feigen@chron.com
