T-Mac sees all! T-Mac scores 33, assists Padgett for bigger basket By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle NEW ORLEANS - Tracy McGrady was speaking proudly of the late charge he took — a play that, despite all he had done, was probably his finest — when a flash of silver caught the corner of his eye. "Scott! Scott!" McGrady called across the crowded visitors' locker room at New Orleans Arena. Scott Padgett looked down to notice his ring bouncing away. "Man, you have great eyes. You see everything," Padgett said, slipping on his mishandled jewelry. "Well, you know, I see you all the time," McGrady said, smiling with the knowledge that 20 minutes earlier he had found Padgett for an even more valuable assist. With Wednesday night's game tied in the final half-minute, McGrady found Padgett for the 3-pointer that put the Rockets ahead to stay in an 82-77 win over the Hornets, their fourth straight victory and second in the streak courtesy of a last-minute Padgett basket. "It looks, at least in my mind, that he has confidence in the guys around him," Padgett said of McGrady. "At the end of the game, if I'm the other coach and he's killing us, I'm going to try to take the ball out of his hands and double him and leave somebody like myself open. For him to have the faith that one of us can step up and make the play is something. "I think that's the more traditional way for me to get a shot — have the ball swing to me and shoot a 3. You never know when they're going to come in this league. You're not going to get a lot of them when you're a guy like myself coming off the bench and you play limited minutes. But I like this place. I like New Orleans." But one game after the Rockets won without McGrady, it had appeared Wednesday he would have to win without them. With six minutes left, he had 13 field goals; the rest of the Rockets had 12. The Hornets led by eight going into the fourth quarter and by 10 with 10 minutes left. Down 71-65, the Rockets rallied to a tie without McGrady scoring. Yao Ming sandwiched a putback and hook around a Padgett jumper, knotting the game at 71. After a Lee Nailon jumper, McGrady tied the game again with two free throws, courtesy of the charge he took from Nailon, with 1:06 left. CBA reunion Yao's second half included a dunk on the Hornets' Chris Andersen moments after Andersen had blocked his shot, inspiring Yao to stare at his rival from the 2000 China Basketball Association season. "Was that a Yao Ming moment you never saw?" Yao said of his silent pose. "In China, we would like to say, 'Do more, don't talk too much. Just do your job.' In his home game, I had a triple double (in Beijing). The game after that, he made me foul out." Besides McGrady, Yao was the only other Rocket to score in double figures, totaling 12 points and 13 rebounds. So it was defense that keyed this comeback. With one minute left, the Rockets had allowed just 11 fourth-quarter points. When the Hornets could not get an open shot, Nailon missed a tough jumper over McGrady with 42.9 seconds left. McGrady took a step around a Yao pick to draw Rodney Rogers off Padgett so Padgett could nail his trey from 26 feet with 28.1 seconds left. It gave the Rockets their first lead in 17 minutes Matter of trust "I have confidence in all my guys," McGrady said. "In those situations, a guy like me would like to take the big shot. But if I'm double-teamed, I'm going to make the right play and trust that they shoot it with confidence. If he missed that shot and we were in that situation again, I'd pass to Scott again to let him take that shot." If there were ever a game to have second thoughts, however, Wednesday's might have been it. McGrady had 33 points, making 13 of his 27 shots. The rest of the Rockets made just 16 of 49. The backcourt of Bob Sura, David Wesley, Jon Barry and Rod Strickland combined to go 4-of-26. "To overcome that is great," Barry said. "I thought we got great looks. There's going to be nights when you don't knock them down. Fortunately, we got enough stops." More than fortunate, those stops were crucial, not because the Hornets are 7-34 but because they had become suddenly tough at home, winning four straight on their court. "People may want to negate this win; I'm very happy," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, whose team weathered a career night from the Hornets' Dan Dickau (23 points, 10 assists). "I've seen the last four teams come in here and walk out of here with hard-fought losses. It's better to walk out of here with a hard-fought win." The Rockets departed with more than that. No championship was won, but Padgett left with a game-winner and a ring. jonathan.feigen@chron.com Rockets Summary Happy in New Orleans What Bostjan Nachbar gave up in wins he more than made up for in minutes when he was traded from the Rockets to Hornets, a trade he was happy to have made. Nachbar has averaged 6.4 points in 22.5 minutes in 13 games since the trade. In his 16 games with the Rockets, he averaged 3.1 points in 12.8 minutes. "It's been great," Nachbar said. "The first month has been a learning month. I had to adjust to a new system and different positions. When I first came here, I played three and four. Now, the last couple games I played the two spot. It's been a tough month learning the plays. "I'm getting a lot more playing time than in Houston so that's good. The first couple years in Houston, I was in and out of the rotation. Here I play between 10 and 30 minutes. But I still have one great game and one bad. I'm learning more and more from game to game." New Orleans coach Byron Scott has been happy with Nachbar's progress, but said he needs him to adjust to more than a variety of positions. "He's doing good," Scott said. "He's been a little bit what we thought he would be, a guy who could shoot the ball. I've been impressed with his all-around game. He has a real good understanding of the game. We have to get him out of his foxtrot of playing ( Jeff) Van Gundy basketball, just going to his spot and waiting, or just halfcourt basketball. We want to get up and run, be an up-tempo team." Nachbar has gotten used to New Orleans quickly. "It's a fun city," said Nachbar, who went to dinner Tuesday with Yao Ming, Scott Padgett and Yao interpreter Colin Pine. "It's definitely different from Houston." Things are better As frightening as Rockets forward Tracy McGrady said the medical emergency that forced him to miss Monday's game had been, McGrady said he was able to travel with the team to New Orleans on Tuesday and play Wednesday without worrying about the situation at home. "I had a scare at my house," McGrady said. "It was a very scary situation. I'm a very private person. I don't want to say what it was, what happened and who it happened to, but today, everything is fine. I can concentrate on basketball. Everything is cool, but that entire day I was pretty shook up. That's why I couldn't play. I was in bed sleeping when everything went down. "I watched the game. But I was still checking on who I had to check on, making sure everything was all right." Quality time David Wesley's New Orleans homecoming began long before he arrived at the arena Wednesday. The Rockets' arrival in New Orleans on Tuesday allowed him to see his family for the first time since he was traded Dec. 27. "I got to go home, the kids running all over the place, slept in my own bed," Wesley said. "I went from Indiana (where the Hornets had played in his last game), to Houston, to Cleveland (to join the team.) I've been on the road since. We've been traveling so much there hasn't been a day (to go back to New Orleans)." Wesley said that in time he and his family will settle in either Charlotte or Houston. Press row view The Rockets likely will have to shoot better than they did Wednesday to keep their winning streak going. They probably will have to defend better than they did for most of three quarters. But they seem to have the last-minute mettle covered. In the fourth quarter, the Rockets had just two turnovers and did not allow a second-chance point, then made their final eight free throws — a formula for winning even when shots are not falling. Inside the numbers The Rockets' comeback from an eight-point deficit heading into the fourth quarter was their largest of the season, surpassing a rally from a seven-point hole to force overtime in a win over the Kings in the season's fourth game. ... The Rockets had been just 1-6 when trailing on the road going into the fourth quarter. ... Yao Ming's streak of scoring at least 20 points ended at four games. Did you know Less than a week after Scott Padgett had his second NBA buzzer-beater at the same Madison Square Garden basket as his first, his last-minute 3-pointer came across the street from his final college buzzer-beater. That came at the Superdome in the 1999 NCAA Tournament when Kentucky beat Kansas. JONATHAN FEIGEN
In the fourth quarter, the Rockets had just two turnovers and did not allow a second-chance point, then made their final eight free throws That's the best news I've heard all year. I'm beginning to think we're building a perennial contender.
... We have to get him out of his foxtrot of playing ( Jeff) Van Gundy basketball, just going to his spot and waiting, or just halfcourt basketball. We want to get up and run, be an up-tempo team." But you don't know how to finish the game at crunch time right Scott ?
I'm not so sure about that. Why did the Rockets have to wait til the 4th quarter before they truly play to their ability? I mean, the opponent is the worst team in the league without its best player. Matt Jackson on the radio last night said it best. Something along the lines of "The Hornets are so bad the Rockets only had to play 5 minutes of good basketball to beat them."
I think the chemisty on this team is finally kicking in. Now if only Yao can become that mean, elbow-throwing, Shaq-like, aggressive 7-6 center we're all waiting for.
The Rockets always have had problems playing down to the competition. Players change but it still seems to be the case.
They had that 4 game home winning streak and a lot of their games have been close like last nite, they have just ended up on the short end of the stick. Ugly win= happy Rocket fan!
Gotta agree with Max. There last several games, the Hornets have been pretty tough. It's like JVG said, you can't just look at the record...you gotta factor in how they've been playing recently.
... We have to get him out of his foxtrot of playing ( Jeff) Van Gundy basketball, just going to his spot and waiting, or just halfcourt basketball. We want to get up and run, be an up-tempo team." I think it goes to show how muc perception can even actually influence play. On the one hand, it's impossible to discount what you see, especially if you go to the games. JVG, since he's been here, tell the players to push and run and EVERY opportunity he gets. On the other hand, every player who has left, and apparently the new coaches, talk about JVG's style as if it really is a stagnant, half-court only, spot-up type of game. Which is true? Clearly, in the halfcourt, there is some post-play, but also a lot of PNR and back-picks, especially this year. How else do you run offense in the half-court?
