If it's been posted, lock it up. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3171670 When it comes down to this, the stakes raise the intensity and pressure to an unparalleled level DALLAS - Game 7. There's magic in the words. They trigger thoughts of possibilities, remembrances of glories. They raise the stakes and ratchet up the tension. They change everything. Before Yao Ming and Erick Dampier stretch to reach for tonight's first jump ball, before Tracy McGrady makes his first stutter-step or Dirk Nowitzki launches his first fadeaway, long before the Rockets or Dallas Mavericks emerge from their sensational first-round series to face the Phoenix Suns, Game 7 makes it special. Would Mario Elie's "Kiss of Death" have been the same had it won Game 4 in the Rockets' 1995 series against Phoenix? Would anyone remember Vernon Maxwell's jumper and celebration of a championship finally won had it come in Game 5 of the 1994 NBA Finals? Would Willis Reed limping on the court to battle Wilt Chamberlain have been so dramatic, so unforgettable if he was coming out to play Game 3? Every other game comes with another chance. When the Rockets got off to a 2-0 start in the series, the Mavericks headed to Houston with an opportunity to turn the series around. When the Mavs won the next three games to push the Rockets to the brink, the Rockets had Thursday's Game 6 to force tonight's showdown. "It's like a heavyweight fight," Rockets guard Bob Sura said, relishing a place in one of sports' showdown moments. "One punch. Another punch. Another counterpunch. That's the way it has been all series, and I don't expect anything different in Game 7. "I've always remembered watching (Game 7s) on TV, and they've been (great) games to watch. So I'm really excited to play in one, especially on the road. You can't ask for anything more than that." The Rockets don't get them often. A franchise born in 1967, the Rockets have played in just six Game 7s, winning five. The Clutch City title they wear so proudly was won by coming back from a 2-0 deficit to win a seven-game series against the Suns in the 1994 Western Conference semifinals. The first championship was taken with a Game 7 win against the New York Knicks a month later. The Rockets won another second-round Game 7 in Phoenix the next season on the way to a second consecutive championship, and two years later, in the 1997 second round, beat the SuperSonics in a Game 7 in Seattle. The Rockets have not won a playoff series since. They also have not taken a series to a seventh game since. Until tonight. "When you think of playoffs, you think of Game 7s," Rockets guard David Wesley said. "The ultimate win or go home. The intensity is going to be thick. The atmosphere is going to be great. And we want to play great in order to win. "It's getting thick out there. Harder fouls. Guys aren't as nice. It's Game 7. Both teams want to win. It's not very nice out there. It's going to be a grind. And we're both going to be playing for our playoff lives out there. And anybody watching the game, you'll be able to tell." Tonight, the Rockets' efforts to slow Dallas' swarm of athletic scorers and the Mavericks' hopes to slow McGrady's assault, the emotions of coaches so vividly angry and determined get an encore performance. Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said the time for the so-called playoff adjustments has passed and the teams are who they are. It also was apparent that Game 7 portends a night in which the teams and series will be what they have been, but more so. "This whole series ... has definitely been a classic," McGrady said. "Game 7 is real special. "I think this is 'the' game. Both teams are facing elimination. I've thought about it. How are we going to react to how those guys are going to come out and attack? How are we going to react to the crowd? Are we going to be able to keep our poise when things are not going right for us?" As infrequent as Game 7s can be, the Rockets have some Game 7 experience. Jon Barry, Dikembe Mutombo, Wesley, Mike James and McGrady have played in a Game 7. Barry, Mutombo and James have won Game 7s. "It's hard to explain," Barry said. "You can't really explain how intense it is. Every single possession is under scrutiny." As the series has so dramatically shown, any possession can become the one that determines a winner, and in this case, the survivor. "What you see in a lot of games is one or two minutes of out-of-character play of individuals or teams because they want it so bad that it gets away from them," Van Gundy said. "We don't have to do anything out of who we are as a team. We have to trust that what we've done all year can hold up against the best teams on the road. That's not to say it will, but that's your best chance. "I've been proud of how we've done. Our hope is that we put it all together and play a really solid game, but know it's not going to be perfect. The team that can sort of stay the course and keep it as sound and simple and solid as possible, and not crack is so, so important. I'm hopeful that we have a discipline and a poise and a confidence and a trust that will allow us to do that." Van Gundy has been preaching those qualities from the first day of training camp. But as often as he has said that every day prepares for the playoffs, every such quality becomes more irreplaceable in Game 7. But that's the way Game 7s are, more than the culmination of a series, they can combine all that made the first six games compelling. They are bigger, more powerful. And if even the words Game 7 are special, the night they describe offer a chance at unforgettable. jonathan.feigen@chron.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rockets Summary Stay the course Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo did not back off from his guarantee of a Rockets victory. He said Thursday that he would be wagging his finger in Phoenix in the playoffs' next round. After the Rockets got the Game 6 win, he was certain they would win Game 7. "We're going to Phoenix," Mutombo said. "Don't you want to go to Phoenix? We're going to Phoenix. "That was how confident I was that we were winning Game 6. By winning Game 6, it gives us momentum to make us build more confidence and belief in ourselves that we will win Game 7. "That's where we are right now. We have faith we will do it." Tracy McGrady, who said when his Orlando Magic led Detroit 3-1 that he was happy to be in the second round — only to have the Pistons win the series — said he was shocked by Mutombo's comments. "I was like, man, I've been there before," McGrady said. "Things didn't quite turn out the way I wanted them to. I don't guarantee. I've learned my lesson. It really shocked me to see that." Also not into guarantees David Wesley heard about Dikembe Mutombo's bold guarantee prior to Game 6 that the Rockets would advance to play Phoenix in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. Even after the Rockets forced Game 7, Wesley refused to join in on the talk. "I'm not into those," Wesley said. "Everybody can make them right now. It's a guaranteed win. What happens if he's wrong? ... "Tell (Mutombo) to put his house on it. Put that guarantee on it. Tell him to put his contract on it. Then come ask me. Just saying it, so what?" Seeking love, dollars Avery Johnson is looking for love from Mavericks fans after so many in Houston rallied to Jeff Van Gundy's side after he was fined $100,000 by NBA commissioner David Stern. "You know what I'm disappointed with? Nobody volunteered to pay my $10,000 fine after Game 1," said the Mavs coach, who was hit for arguing with referee Joey Crawford as he left the floor. "Even my son, Avery Jr., I said, 'Man, you didn't offer to give me any money out of your piggy bank to help Daddy pay for his fine.' "So I don't know what's going on and I've been in Texas longer than Jeff (Van Gundy). Nobody's offered to pay my fine. That's a shame, man. What is it, something about me?" Johnson claimed that his bizarre tirade after Game 6, when he complained about media coverage of the Van Gundy affair, was not a case of him engaging in gamesmanship with the Rockets coach. "I haven't been a coach that long to understand gamesmanship," he said. "I'm just trying to understand how to solve a pick-and-roll between Yao (Ming) and (Tracy) McGrady. That's what I lose sleep over." Yao's help wanted The Rockets said Yao Ming's contributions cannot always be seen in statistics; Tracy McGrady said he would not mind seeing the kind of production Yao had in his past two games in Dallas. "Yao is our other superstar on this team," McGrady said. "With him playing well, I feel no one can beat us, when he's got it rolling offensively, blocking shots, doing a great job on the defensive coverages, I feel no one can beat us. "I think in this league, when one of your star players is out, I think you can overcome that for a short period of time. For a long standpoint, you don't want to be without a guy like Yao. Last night, we had other guys step up. Tomorrow, we want Yao to be at his best." Yao had eight points in the Rockets' Game 6 win after getting 30 in the Game 5 loss. But coach Jeff Van Gundy said Yao's scoring is not always indicative of his play. "Yao does better than people think when he doesn't score well or big, and sometimes he doesn't do as well as they think when he scores big," Van Gundy said. Support surprises Mavs The Mavs say they don't care if the Rockets' Tracy McGrady scores 60 points in Game 7, as long as he doesn't get much help from his friends. "We knew that T-Mac was going to come out on fire and have a big game (on Thursday)," Dirk Nowitzki said. "We were expecting it, him getting 35 to 40. "But Mike James came out and had a great game getting into the lane, Jon Barry hit some big shots, (Dikembe) Mutombo was a factor in the lane. Those three guys really had a huge impact." What's ahead Tonight's winner will get a short rest before opening the next round of the playoffs with games in Phoenix on Monday and Wednesday; both will start at 9:30 p.m. Game 3 (Friday, 8:30 p.m.) and Game 4 (May 15, time TBA) will be in Houston or Dallas. Game 5 (if necessary) is in Phoenix on May 18, Game 6 will be back in Texas on May 20, and Game 7 is set for May 22 in Phoenix. -- CHRONICLE STAFF
