Rockets get win for the aged 'Baby Bulls' are no match for oldsters By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Not that the Rockets are old compared with the Baby Bulls — or for that matter, every other NBA team — but behind the bench, they keep prune Gatorade. Heads are shiny but not shaved. Dikembe Mutombo has bunions older than Chicago rookie Luol Deng. This, the Rockets said proudly Wednesday night after dismantling the Bulls' collection of kid lottery picks 105-92, is not an insult. Call them ancient. Look for them in I Love the '80s videos. Replace the bench with rocking chairs. The NBA's oldest team faced the league's second youngest, and the old men of Houston kept rolling along, taking their winning streak to a season-best five games and their record to eight games over .500. "I love it," Jon Barry said of the cracks about the Rockets' advanced years. "This game is 90 percent in your head. Being Team Jurassic, we use our heads. "We're a dang good team when we do what we're supposed to do. Defensively, we were much better tonight. When we play well, we're awfully good." Of course, it helped that the Rockets had the young-at-heart Mutombo, 38, flying around. So while 22-year-old Tyson Chandler, the towering personification of youthful energy, got 20 rebounds in 33 minutes for the Bulls, Mutombo grabbed 13 boards in 17 minutes, then laughed at the old-age jokes he knew he would hear in the Rockets' locker room. "My teammates are kidding me," Mutombo said. "They say, 'You are playing like when you were 29 years old. I laugh a lot on this team, more than any place I've been before. They make jokes on me every day. But I am happy. This is big. This is a big win for us. "They are an unbelievable team to play against. They bring a lot of energy." That seemed to be the greatest threat to the Rockets' recent run, so much so that coach Jeff Van Gundy said Wednesday morning that if the Rockets "can play great offense tonight, that will be a great statement that we're pretty darn good on offense." The Rockets then made 41 of 82 shots, topping 100 points for the fourth straight game, their longest streak of 100-point games since the 2000-2001 season. "I thought we did some good things on offense again," Van Gundy said. "Tracy (McGrady) having nine assists and no turnovers was a major factor. We did have good ball movement. Over the last seven games we averaged over 28 assists. That's pretty darn good." McGrady led the Rockets with 24 points. David Wesley made three of four 3-pointers. Scott Padgett made a trey to qualify in the career statistics and become the most accurate 3-point shooter in Rockets history. And Yao Ming was unstoppable, making nine of 10 shots in 30 minutes en route to 21 points. "To be honest, I was happy they stopped throwing the ball to him," Chicago coach Scott Skiles said of Yao. "He could have had about 40 tonight." But while the Rockets kept their recent offensive pace, it might not have mattered had they not found their shut-down defense. It likely helped that the Bulls were playing their second game in two nights and missed many of the shots they had made in Dallas on Tuesday. But though the Bulls made nine of 16 shots to start the game, they shot just 36.8 percent for the night, the first team the Rockets have held below 40 percent shooting in nine games. "The offense is definitely clicking," McGrady said. "If we can get our defense on that same page, then we'll really be a hell of a team. Tonight we did a pretty good job of stepping up our intensity on defense. We did a great job of helping each other." That started in the second quarter, when the Rockets put a group on the court — Mutombo, Barry, Wesley, Padgett and Rod Strickland — with an average age of 34.6 against a collection of Bulls that included four players 24 or younger. "We made a run when that group was in there," Wesley said. "That group is old school, just running up and down the court, finding guys, just playing old basketball, nothing too fancy except Jon going behind the back." The Rockets began the second quarter with a 15-0 run, with Wesley sinking a 3 and taking a behind-the-back fast-break pass from Barry to a layup. Barry hit a jumper and a 3, and even Strickland put down a jumper. Strickland strained his left quadriceps on that play and left the game. But even without one 38-year-old, the Rockets had another — which was one more thirtysomething than the Baby Bulls could match. jonathan.feigen@chron.com Rockets Summary Bring it on, Roger Tracy McGrady took his well-known love of all things baseball to a fantasy camp for Houston sports superstars Tuesday, going to Roger Clemens' house. McGrady and the Astros pitcher played some basketball (Clemens won a game of P-I-G) before Clemens threw batting practice to McGrady. Clemens said he threw McGrady "room service" pitches. But McGrady said he was as impressed with Clemens' velocity as he was with his shooting touch. "He's got a pretty decent shot for an old man," McGrady said. "We switched sports, went into the batting cage, and he was humming them up there. Baseball is my first love. I'm used to hitting a baseball, but it's been awhile since I hit a baseball going 85 (mph). I was a little rusty at first, but I adapted." McGrady, a former pitcher, described baseball as "his first love" and that if basketball and baseball season did not coincide, "I would definitely be a two-sport star. "If you talk to anybody that grew up with me, they'd probably tell you that I'm better at baseball than basketball. ... "It was an honor. He's a first-class guy, a true professional. I learned a lot from him." A bicycle built for Yao Rockets players presented center Yao Ming a gift in honor of Wednesday's lunar new year -- a bicycle custom-made for the 7-6, 312-pound player by Jeff Neilson of West U. Cycles. The Rockets did not say what the bike cost, but if someone were to order the parts to duplicate the bicycle it would cost between $12,000 and $15,000. Press row view With 29 assists, the Rockets were in sync offensively. But in many ways, it was defensively where they worked well together. They always will be susceptible to quickness. But Wednesday, they helped and rotated quickly and efficiently, as they have to do against the quick teams. They can compensate for a general lack of quickness, but can only do so if they are as intense and driven as they were Wednesday. Inside the numbers The Rockets' season-best, five-game winning streak matches last season's longest. ... The Rockets have had at least 25 assists in five consecutive games. Did you know? At 29-21, the Rockets have the same record after 50 games as last season. -- JONATHAN FEIGEN
The key thing is that everyone knows what their role is on the team and they stick to it. They are having fun out on the court and shows. They support and trust each other, and they play to their limits. Its no coincidence that our assists are suddenly up, our 3pt % is improving and the offense is much more cohesive. Obviously, we have holes to fill, but this team is slowly starting to live up to expectations.
i never thought i would say this but the fact that we are old is not that bad. because everybody has alot of experience, and they just want to win, because they do not have to be a star to get a good contract after this. So they know how to play basketbal. It is alot of fun to watch these rockets
WOW.... I didn't know this: "Scott Padgett made a trey to qualify in the career statistics and become the most accurate 3-point shooter in Rockets history. " Great quotes in this article. Made me crack a big smile. love hearing the players are having fun, like Deke saying he has never had this much fun and laughing in the lockeroom as he does now with these teamates. All the old fart jokes etc....
