Chron: Rockets hit on all cylinders

Rockets hit on all cylinders
121 points a season high in defeat of T-Wolves

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

With a Dallas hangover that just would not quit, the Rockets not only went for a win, but they also went for a cure.

The Rockets on Friday night took a deep drink of the hair of the Mavs that bit them and came out feeling no pain.

The Rockets had not played so well in a first half since way back on Wednesday. They had not, in the 48 hours since, forgotten what happened after that first half.

With that in mind, leading the Timberwolves impressively was not necessarily a good sign. But this time, it was merely a start, as the Rockets blew past the Timberwolves with their best offensive show of the season and a 121-101 win before 15,487 in Compaq Center.

More than even that, everything that had seemed so difficult, looked easy. An offense that had betrayed the Rockets was never better. The checklist of everything the Rockets try and talk about was suddenly completed.

"It's a big, big comeback right when we needed it," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "Our guys kept their poise throughout the game. We had our best offensive game percentage wise. Our spacing stayed wide. We moved the ball around and had the most success we've had all year. We had an inside presence and an outside presence. It's worth more than one win emotionally.

"It's no fun losing, and we've been miserable."

The Rockets passed their previous scoring season high fittingly when Steve Francis found Maurice Taylor on a break for a slam and a 112-92 lead with four minutes left.

When Mobley drove the basket a possession later for another slam, the Rockets held a 22-point lead and for the second consecutive game, the benches were cleared early. But this time instead of taking their worst loss of the season, the Rockets went for their most lopsided win.

Not quite matching that 25-point rout of the 76ers, the Rockets still had their best shooting night of the season, making 50 of 86 attempts (58.1 percent). Their 50 field goals and 30 assists were also season highs.

A game after only Yao Ming made as much as half his shots, Francis, Yao, Cuttino Mobley and Maurice Taylor combined to make 37 of 56. Francis led the Rockets with 27 points on 12-of-15 shooting and eight assists. Yao had 24 points, making 8 of 12 shots, and grabbing 13 rebounds. Mobley had 22 points and Taylor had a season-high 18.

With a seven-point halftime lead for the second consecutive game, the Rockets took a good first half as a cue to follow it with a good second half. They went through the third quarter without seeming to take a difficult shot. When Eddie Griffin followed a Yao miss late in the third quarter, he completed an 11-2 run to a 19-point lead and the Timberwolves never challenged again.

"I didn't say it that way, but we did talk about putting two halves together," Tomjanovich said. "I thought about several games."

The Rockets thought they had a fairly wonderful second quarter. They made 63.3 percent of their shots. They went from a six-point deficit that reached a 12-point lead. Even when the Timberwolves had a brief run late in the half, Francis passed to Yao on a breakaway to beat the buzzer with an alley-oop slam for a 58-51 halftime lead.

But early in the second quarter, Kelvin Cato was lost for the night with a right hip flexor strain. And on the last play of the half, Moochie Norris saved a loose ball and dived over the first row of fans to land head first on the beer-soaked concrete.

Norris remained down long after Yao finished the half. But by the start of the second half, Norris -- diagnosed with a strained back -- was doing calisthenics and lobbying to return.

But even though Norris recovered quickly, the second quarter still did not seem as successful as it had before he went down. But that

If that was not enough to make the second quarter seem an unqualified success, it no longer seemed so wonderful for a better reason. As well as the Rockets played, unlike Friday's second-half breakdown, they would come back and play better.