[Chron] Rockets on Tightrope

lwqbulb · Feb 25, 2009

http://blogs.chron.com/franblinebury/2009/02/tightrope_rockets_98_blazers_9.html

Tightrope: Rockets 98, Blazers 94

I'm up on the tightrope , one sides hate and one is hope
It's a circus game with you and me.
I'm up on the tightwire , linked by life and the funeral pyre
But the top hat on my head is all you see.

---Leon Russell

It's about balance.

Yao Ming starts the night missing two dunks.

Ron Artest ends the night making four free throws.

Shane Battier and Aaron Brooks toss in a couple of 3-pointers.

And Luis Scola rolls in again like a twister across the plains, uprooting trees and knocking down everything in his path.

So Yao is positively underwhelming and the Rockets roll onto their most impressive win of the perfect 5-0 homestand and, more important, they're looking like a team.

"It's not too simplistic to say that you give guys some consistency in the locker room, some continuity on the floor and everybody starts to feel better about themselves," Battier said.

Those are the ingredients that were most missing through the first 50 games of the season as they kept running around in the revolving door of lineup changes and always wound up being thrown out into the street.

Now, in five straight games at the Toyota Center, the Rockets have had 4-5-4-5 and 4 players in double figures. And against the Blazers, Von Wafer finished with 9 points and Battier 8.

You can almost watch them and see them systematically coming together, the way ants build an anthill. There is familiarity, comfort and trust.

"This is what it means to be a team," Scola said. "There are going to be many nights when Yao is going to carry us. He has had those games. He scores and scores and nobody can stop him. He is going to be killing people.

"You are always going to have your better player, the one that you want to get the ball all of the time. The one that you want to take most of the shots. Yao is that player for us.

"So on a night like this where he has maybe a little problem, we have other people who can score and make plays. We can still win and be the team we should be."

Solidly into the second half of the season, the Rockets are not only being who they should be, but maybe growing into who they can be. And that might still surprise all of us come springtime.

They are loose.

Did you say anything to Yao when he missed those two dunks?

Brooks: "I couldn't. He started the fastbreak and I had to get back and play defense."

They are together.

Do Yao's problems with pick-and-roll defense become a weakness?

Scola: "I know where you're going with that and, to be honest, I think what Yao does on the offensive end more than makes up for anything with pick-and-roll defense. We'll take that trade.

They are confident.

What does playing the same lineup more than two games in a row do for you?

Battier: "You give professional players with a certain level of talent a set roster that is together, give them a plan and give them some time to work on things and there's no reason they can't play well and win games. You can feel it happening."

On the tightrope, on the scoreboard, in the standings.

Balance.

• • •

Locker room comics.

Rookie Joey Dorsey looked oh-so-preppy in his navy blue blazer and then he picked up his designed backpack, looped both arms through the straps and tried to walk out of the locker room looking like he was off to ask Mary Lou to the big dance.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" shouted Dikembe Mutombo in the Cookie Monster roar. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You shouldn't even be carrying that kind of girl's bag. But if you do, you can't wear it like that. You look like you're still in college."

Dorsey: "But Deke, I am still in college."

Mutombo: "Oh, that's right. You're in your sixth year at Memphis."
• • •

OK, kids. You're on your own for the next couple of weeks while I gird my strength for the playoff run. Don't pile up the questions, because I won't be answering them until I get back.

Just try not to break anything while I'm gone.
Click to expand...

I laughed at both this comments

And Luis Scola rolls in again like a twister across the plains, uprooting trees and knocking down everything in his path
Click to expand...

- this shows how a BEAST Scola can be.

Rookie Joey Dorsey looked oh-so-preppy in his navy blue blazer and then he picked up his designed backpack, looped both arms through the straps and tried to walk out of the locker room looking like he was off to ask Mary Lou to the big dance.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" shouted Dikembe Mutombo in the Cookie Monster roar. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You shouldn't even be carrying that kind of girl's bag. But if you do, you can't wear it like that. You look like you're still in college."

Dorsey: "But Deke, I am still in college."

Mutombo: "Oh, that's right. You're in your sixth year at Memphis."
Click to expand...

- glad to hear that there is humour in the locker room

shastarocket · Feb 25, 2009

Yeah that description of Scola is right on the money! Is it safe to say now that this is the kind of production we shoudl expect to see in the playoffs? Hard defense, pushing the ball up the court, getting Yao involved in multiple ways, great team chemistry and most of all the ability to close out games!

I think we have a great chance of doing Houston proud!

airbulllard · Feb 25, 2009

hahaha it's just weird to me that deke can speak english and crack jokes, cuz his accent and voice make it seem as though he shouldn't be able to do either... but he has been in the states a long time i guess. gotta love him. i love it when he is complaining about a call from the bench and the cameras catch him dropping the Fbomb.

lwqbulb · Feb 25, 2009

airbulllard said:

hahaha it's just weird to me that deke can speak english and crack jokes, cuz his accent and voice make it seem as though he shouldn't be able to do either... but he has been in the states a long time i guess. gotta love him. i love it when he is complaining about a call from the bench and the cameras catch him dropping the Fbomb.
Click to expand...

Yeah. Most of the time when Deke speaks most of the rockets will just pretend to listen to him though they can't understand what is he talking about

henGoOink · Feb 25, 2009

luis scola description is awesome

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[Chron] Rockets on Tightrope

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