Chron: Rockets simply did not seem to want the game as badly as the Nuggets

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/2484018

Nuggets put heat on Rockets

DENVER -- So that's what a team fighting for its playoff life looks like.

There is emotion and intensity, whatever-is-necessary effort. There is a hunger that manifested itself in so many ways that the Rockets couldn't, or wouldn't, match.

The Rockets looked at the Nuggets and all they put into a 110-100 win before a Pepsi Center sellout of 19,680 on Friday.

It was a clinic in intensity put on by a Nuggets team they had thought was well off their heels.

Instead, the Rockets' third-consecutive loss and seventh in 10 games, moved the Nuggets into an eighth-place tie with the Trail Blazers, just three games behind the seventh-seeded Rockets.

"The last month has been the toughest part of the season for us," Rockets center Yao Ming said. "We are very close to the playoffs, and I think we are treating it like we are already there."

They particularly coasted defensively, where they allowed the Nuggets to take target practice from the outset to the finish. The Nuggets scored more points in regulation than any team has against the Rockets this season, and did it with leading scorer Carmelo Anthony making just five of 17 shots.

So loose was the Rockets' defense, the Nuggets easily passed their way to open shots and layups, collecting as many assists, 33, as any team has against the Rockets this season, matching only the Kings, who the Rockets play Sunday.

"We didn't put enough into it to get anything out of it," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said of the Rockets' defensive collapse.

"We played awful start to finish. What we had to do to win -- we never guarded them, we turned the ball over and we're just not as strong as we need to be. There's not one thing we did well enough to win."

With the Rockets playing the second half of a back-to-back, the Rockets could have worn down. But they were more careless than effortless defensively, and they did not clamp down as they normally do from the outset, before understandable fatigue might have set in.

Instead, the Rockets simply did not seem to want the game as badly as the Nuggets.

"If you have guys that are competitive, you should not be missing that, particularly this time of year," Van Gundy said. "It should not be missing if we're competitive by nature."

It was not that long ago -- Monday against the Timberwolves -- that the Rockets had those things missing. But a day after getting outworked by the been-there, done-that Lakers, the Rockets were outhustled by the Nuggets.

That made the end appropriate for the failings of the first 46 minutes.

The Rockets had hung around within the slimmest of chances into the last two minutes.

Having trailed by as much as 18, they were still within seven with two minutes left and seemed to get the defensive stop they had to have. The ball went out of bounds off Jim Jackson, but with just one second left on the shot clock, the Rockets seemed a moment from getting a chance to made a last run.

Instead, Marcus Camby simply cut toward the rim, took an alley-oop inbound pass from Job Barry and dropped it in without a Rockets defender within reach.

Cuttino Mobley put in a jumper to bring the deficit back to seven. But after Yao blocked a Nene dunk attempt, Camby -- who made 10 of 13 shots for 20 points, easily grabbed his 12th rebound and laid it in put in back in with 1:17 left.

The clincher came with 54.1 seconds left on an Earl Boykins trey.

"Tonight, we just didn't have it," said Rockets guard Steve Francis, who made just three of nine shots for nine points, with six turnovers. "After last night's game, we should be able to bounce back. Our defense really hurt us. They scored 110 points. And for me, I didn't score enough to give us a chance to win.

"We used to hang our hat on our 'D.' Right now, it's hurting us. We fell behind early, and we couldn't get back up.

Actually, the Rockets scored well enough to hang around most of the night despite themselves.

They had fallen behind by 18, and lost Maurice Taylor for the night with a strained left shoulder and elbow. But the Rockets were within eight when Mobley had an open trey that could have brought them to within five, as close as they had been since the first half. Mobley missed, however, and Boykins took off for a fast break, offering the unusual sight of a flying 5-foot-4 guard lofting a reverse beyond Yao's 7-foot-6 reach.

Moments later, Nene was left alone for a layup, and the Nuggets' lead was back to 12. There was still 8:12 remaining, more than enough time for the Rockets to make a move. But they never had shown signs of being able to clamp down defensively -- or even contest a majority of Nuggets shots -- enough to do that.

"The bottom line is we're not playing with the type of force and intensity that it takes to win ballgames down the stretch (of the season)," Rockets guard Mark Jackson said. "There's some teams that could probably get away with playing the way they play."

Instead, they fell back into the group fighting for playoff spots -- assuming they begin to fight.