Chron: Van Gundy leads Rockets to win in double debut

Van Gundy leads Rockets to win in double debut

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

The Rockets could turn up the music and play with all the buttons on their $235 million toy. They could chill just the right wine, serve a nice salmon or park shiny new cars right there at the new arena.
They could, in what has to be an unprecedented idea, turn Jerry Jeff Walker into a warmup act for Coolio.

But the blessed event did not really work until the home team followed the only part of the script that really mattered.

With a second half that served as suitable first look at all that Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy preaches, the Rockets clamped down defensively, then blew past the Nuggets to christen Toyota Center with a 102-85 rout on Thursday.

"There's a lot of bell and whistles, all this stuff," said Rockets forward Maurice Taylor, who had 10 points off the bench. "It's definitely good ... with all the hoopla with the new building, the entrance and the smoke, to get out there and play basketball and get a win. That made the night complete. If we did not play well or lost that game, it would have been catastrophic for us.

"The fans filled the house. Steve (Francis) and I were just talking about that. If we lost that one, it would have been a boo-fest."

Instead, the Rockets reversed a ragged first half to lead by as much as 22 in the fourth period and leave the floor to a standing ovation from what was left of a standing-room only crowd of 18,189.

"It's great. It's going to be something we'll never forget," Francis said. "You'll always know: `I was a member of the team that won the first game in the Toyota Center.'

"It gives us a sense that hey, this is our home. You can't come in here and beat us."

Denver could not come close to testing that theory. The Rockets needed only to show glimpses of the sort of defense that Van Gundy will expect to shut down the Nuggets a night after they stunned the Spurs 80-72.

There was also plenty to make Van Gundy wince, enough that when he dropped the punch line -- "As you can tell, I'm happy with the win" -- no one could.

But with the Rockets holding a six-point halftime lead largely by default, they spent the second half pressuring the Nuggets shooters and forcing rookie Carmelo Anthony to take the ball into the teeth -- or at least the length -- of the defense, Yao Ming and Kelvin Cato.

"That's one of the things coach emphasized every day: Don't let anybody go to the middle," Cato said. "Yao is going to block a lot of shots and get in the way of a lot of people.

"We tried to make them make outside shots. Coach emphasizes that every day, and when I say every day, I mean every day. Keep the ball out of the middle. Keep the ball out of the middle. That's where games are won -- in the paint."

The Nuggets needed seven second-half minutes and 10 shots to sink anything besides free throws. Anthony -- who was 5-of-14 for 18 points -- ended that streak with a fast-break slam. But by then, the Rockets had taken their lead to 16 and begun to click offensively.

"We got guys that can play defense here," said forward Jim Jackson, who spent most of his 30 minutes assigned to Anthony. "We can play D. In this league, you have guys who can get on a roll. You try to body up and if they're used to catching at 12 feet, make them catch it at 18. You get them out of their comfort zone. And you rely on your help. That's what we did. It starts with perimeter D and then goes to team defense."

Once it started there, it turned into a rout with just a few offensive flurries. While the Nuggets' offense collapsed, Francis and Cuttino Mobley took turns setting up Cato on alley-oops. Mobley nailed a 3-pointer off the fourth rapid-fire pass of a possession. Francis beat Voshon Lenard to a loose ball to redirect a pass to Mobley for a slam.

The Rockets took their largest lead on the second of Cato's dunks, 68-51. Even when the Nuggets closed to within nine in the first minutes of the fourth quarter, that did not seem to be much of a threat.

"When they made their run, we started to slow it down and go back to what got us the lead," Jackson said. "As a team, when we have a team down, we have to keep that team down and expand that lead and win the game. That killer instinct is what we have to get."

The breaking point came midway through the fourth quarter when Cato pulled down his sixth offensive rebound and flushed it hard. Francis then stole the inbounds pass and was fouled, with his free throw taking the Rockets lead back to 86-69. And as if to show that he was serious, after Nene had thrown Francis hard to the court and offered to help him, Francis refused the hand.

Everything else seemed fairly easy. That might have been because the Rockets broke the 100 mark to give away free fast food without shooting terribly well from the perimeter.

But while Van Gundy found himself looking forward to a practice to correct "all that can get you beat" the Rockets were not. More than that, they overshadowed all the fancy new perks of their palace, then considered turning it back into a gym.

"We want to build a home-court advantage like a premium playoff team," Taylor said. "We want our home court to be one of the loudest arenas in the NBA. But for now, it was good to get a win."

ROCKETS SUMMARY


Jackson ties
NBA vice president for basketball operations Stu Jackson attended the opener as part of the league's premier week. But for Jackson, the game had special significance as a reminder he finally got Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy out of his house.

"Jeff did a heck of a job taking my kids to school, coaching them, but it was kind of weird," Jackson said. "We knew some day he would return to coaching."

Jackson introduced Van Gundy to Rick Pitino, who gave Van Gundy his first college coaching job as a Providence assistant. He later gave Van Gundy his first NBA job as an assistant with the Knicks. They have remained friends and were neighbors in Chappaqua, N.Y., until Van Gundy moved to Houston.

Brooks remembers

When the Rockets raised their championship banners before Thursday's game, there was only one player from those championship teams on the bench.

Scotty Brooks, a point guard on the 1993-94 Rockets championship team, is in his first year as a Nuggets assistant coach.

"It's great to be in this building," Brooks said. "This is a great basketball city. They're top five tradition-wise in the whole NBA."

Brooks had tried to launch a coaching career for several years before landing on Jeff Bdzelik's bench.

"It's been terrific," Brooks said. "I'm working with a great young coach. I wanted it my last three or four years (as a player) when I was sitting at the end of the bench. I knew one day I was going to get into coaching. I tried and tried and tried. It took me three years and I finally got an opportunity."

Progress awards

For whatever awards Rockets guard Steve Francis has won or will win, he was presented with a trophy he never expected Thursday.

"I won an Academy Award," Francis said.

<b>
Actually, the gold statuette was presented by coach Jeff Van Gundy to mark Francis' improvement defensively through the preseason.

"He was getting on me for not getting my hands up on shooters," Francis said. "The last four preseason games, I had my hands up on every shot on the tapes. So he gave me this trophy."

Van Gundy did not give out any other trophies, but with the preseason over the coached assessed individual progress.

"I've mentioned (Kelvin) Cato often," Van Gundy said. "As he continues to get in better and better shape, he'll add more and more to our team. I've been very happy with Moochie Norris' effort level. His effort has been outstanding. I think you can see (Norris) is a more serious, dedicated player right now. That's what we need.

"Steve has made major improvements defensively. I couldn't be prouder of his effort level defensively. Yao (Ming) has does some good things.

"Everybody has done some good. But everybody has a long way to go, too."
</b>

TNT reunion

With TNT in town for Jeff Van Gundy's first regular-season game as Rockets coach, Van Gundy had a chance to visit with his former television partners, including Marv Albert, Mike Fratello and Craig Sager. He also had a chance to envy part of the life he left behind when he returned to coaching.

"If we don't get off to a good start, I may have to be kicking (successor Steve) Kerr out of there," Van Gundy said of his TNT replacement. "If he wants to get into coaching, we'll see how bad. But I enjoyed the heck out of my year there. At the same time ... you just keep plugging away and try to make improvement. Yet, I'm still glad to see some old friends."

-- JONATHAN FEIGEN



By the numbers

The Rockets outscored the Nuggets 54-30 in the paint and outscored Denver's presumed high-scoring offense 21-12 in fast-break points. ... The Rockets improved to 19-18 in opening games. ... Every Rockets player who took a shot scored.

Press row view

For much of the first half, it might have been natural to wonder why Jeff Van Gundy has been raving about Kelvin Cato. In the second half, the answer became obvious. Cato was a force. He finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds in the Rockets' opener. He followed his sixth offensive rebound with a slam that, when coupled with Steve Francis' steal on the inbounds pass, seemed to finish the Nuggets. Since Yao Ming can be expected to play more than 20 minutes, it is easy to see why Van Gundy thinks Cato makes such a well-suited running mate.

Did you know?

For posterity, the firsts in Toyota Center: Point, field goal, free throw, steal and block, Yao Ming; 3-pointer, Steve Francis; dunk, Chris Anderson; layup, Carmelo Anthony; rebound, Cuttino Mobley; assist, Kelvin Cato; foul, Marcus Camby; turnover, Carmelo Anthony.

-- JONATHAN FEIGEN

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/rox/2193308