[Chron] T-Mac shines a light

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T-Mac shines a light
Rockets follow star's 35 points to win over Celtics


By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

No one will show the highlight. There really was not much to show.

Tracy McGrady made a simple turnaround jump shot on the baseline, maybe 14 feet from the basket, the sort of shot that over the years he has made with the regularity of other players slapping hands.

But as he turned and headed up the court, he showed something the Rockets had not seen in weeks. He was beaming. He had made a simple shot, nothing spectacular, and for the first time in weeks, he felt right and the Rockets easily did the things that had been so difficult, rolling to a 91-73 win over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday night at Toyota Center.

McGrady finished with 35 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two blocks and two steals. But more than that, he was more active, livelier, more emotional.

While McGrady was himself offensively, the Rockets were themselves defensively, swarming as they had not during their slide and bogging down a Celtics offense that had torn through them last month in Boston.

The Celtics made just 23 of 67 shots (34.3 percent), adding 17 turnovers and getting just eight assists, fewer than Paul Pierce alone had in Boston.

Pierce made just three of 10 shots. Raef LaFrentz, who had 32 against the Rockets last month, with 27 in the first half, took six shots, missing them all to score just one point, with two rebounds.


LaFrentz shut down
Yao Ming added 12 points and nine rebounds in 36 minutes, leaving the court with a gash over his right eye when he was hit by Brian Scalabrine's right elbow in the second half.

The Rockets, however, were not winning with offense. From the start, they looked as if they had clamped down on the Celtics enough to need only some spark offensively.

There might have been a time that a game that began with such awful shooting would not be worth celebrating. But these days, if the Rockets play sharp, active defense, if they take care of the ball and on occasion the boards, it will represent a vast improvement.

On Tuesday, it meant a first-half lead that reached 11 and was 48-38 by halftime. But the Rockets made just 27.3 percent of their shots in the first quarter and headed to the second quarter tied 18-18.

But even in that dreadful offensive quarter, there were hints that something better was within reach.

McGrady was quick and active, initiating the Rockets' offense, getting his hands on the ball defensively.


T-Mac lights up
It was not a surprise, then, that he lit up the second quarter, rolling up 11 points in less than nine minutes as the Rockets suddenly were sharp-shooting.

That, of course, did not last. The Rockets don't roll up offense for four quarters these days. But they were doing so many things better, they built a 17-point lead and made it look as if it never should have been so hard.