http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/rox/1762312 Yao's nice touch contagious in win over vexed Kings By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle The top line on the blackboard in Rudy Tomjanovich's Compaq Center office held just three words, but they said everything. Above the lineups and defensive plans, above the X's and O's and arrows that fill every coach's office and thoughts, Tomjanovich's top priority was clear. "Yao Ming Touches" stood out nearly as much as he does and would for the rest of a memorable afternoon. Those three words held the key to the Rockets' plans and future, but never more so than in a stunning 105-89 walk past the Sacramento Kings on Sunday before a sellout crowd of 16,285 at Compaq Center. Building their second consecutive golden offensive game around Yao's Midas touches, the Rockets rolled past the Kings from the moment Yao won the opening tip to a 28-point lead. On an afternoon when everything worked, it started in the middle and spread in every direction. "Coach banged it into our heads, `Let's work it in first because it makes it easier for the rest of you guys,' " said Rockets guard Cuttino Mobley, who made nine of 11 shots for 21 points. "We moved the ball around and it shows, when we move the ball around, how good we are." They were good enough Sunday to make 51.2 percent of their shots. For the first time since the last two games of the 2000-2001 season, the Rockets have made at least half their shots in consecutive games, beating the Kings and Timberwolves by a combined 36 points. Eddie Griffin led the Rockets in scoring with 22 points, and Steve Francis had 21 points and eight assists. But the Rockets kick-started their offense by putting the ball in Yao's hands. Facing Vlade Divac, long considered the league's best passing center, Yao made seven of eight shots in the first half, forcing the Kings to double-team him, and then picked them apart with sharp passes. Yao had a season-high six assists, but they did not begin to demonstrate how large a role his passing played in the Rockets' scoring. "Just getting him the ball makes everything easy," Rockets forward Maurice Taylor said. "If you look at the way our team is made up, it's hard to say who to come off. And a lot of that is because of him. "Nobody ever cared about doubling us. They just said, `Control the iso, be in the paint when they drive.' With this guy, they're saying, `We got to stop the post-ups, because once they get it to him, who are we going to come off?' They know he's going to pick them apart. Pick your poison." The Rockets became so determined to get the ball in Yao's hands, by the third quarter, when they ran a play in which Yao frequently forgets his cut to the basket, the bench began shouting as if extras in Forrest Gump: "Dive, Yao! Dive!" "We just want to give him as many touches as possible," Rockets assistant Larry Smith said. "When we get the ball in his hands, good things happen." That strategy did not work nearly so well several weeks ago. Keeping track of every result of Yao's touches showed a dramatic drop-off in "good things" when he got the ball. But with his increasing energy in recent games, Yao gave the Rockets the same quality that has made their last two opponents, Minnesota and Sacramento, two of the league's most efficient offenses. Teams looking for ways to double-team or at least help defensively could find no one they would want to leave open. "Yao was tremendous inside with moving the ball around, scoring," Tomjanovich said. "He puts the defense in a very vulnerable position. If you turn your head and we got guys cutting, you don't know when to help. He's got a great feel for open people. "There's no defense that takes away everything. You've got to do one thing or another. You got to do something and there's always an answer and it takes time for guys to learn how to find the answer. "He is way ahead of most people coming into the league." In some ways, he looked like the 35-year-old Divac, showing a variety of jump shots, spin moves and jump hooks. When Yao hit consecutive jumpers, he had eight points and the Rockets held a 25-9 lead, bringing the double teams. When the Rockets pushed the lead to 29-9 on a Francis drive and a Griffin seven-footer, the Kings were out of options and answers. "What I liked about it was that everybody got involved," Tomjanovich said. "All kinds of different shots, some post-ups, some cuts, some spot shots, some fast breaks. That's the way you draw it up." Many of the Kings' problems were on the other end, where the Rockets took away most of the lane, blocking a season-high 13 shots, and the Kings often settled for the first outside shot that came along. Sacramento, playing without its two leading scorers, Chris Webber and Bobby Jackson, was led by Peja Stojakovic's 31 points. But the rest of the Kings made just 23 of 67 shots. Short-handed, the Kings were outmanned. And they knew where that started. "Every time I play him, he continued to play better and better," Divac said of Yao. "He's definitely going to be a great player in this league. I really like the way he thinks on the court, plays very unselfishly and understands the concept of the game." But most remarkable of all is that once Yao got his touches, he seemed to spread around those qualities.
Excellent article. Hopefully Francis and Mobley can remember, in a couple weeks, what it was that got them these huge wins. And hopefully they can figure out how to apply it to road games and games against below-average teams.
MoT finally spoke out his mind. IMO, many Rockets players know the weakness of the ISO game. But they dare not speak out other than Glen Rice for some reasons. I really hope that they can play the game the same way as they did today on a daily basis. Have a game plan and stick with it, it is Rudy's duty to enforce it.
just wanted to point that out. while we could've been giving it to him a little more, the recent drop in touches coincided with a drop in production. then all of a sudden ming starts doing better, all of a sudden he starts getting the ball more, coincidence, i think not. our guards don't hate ming. good read
The rockets really look good at home. I hope they faire as well on the road. Then there is indeed great improvement. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/1762289 With recent wins come expectations that aren't met on road By FRAN BLINEBURY Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle THESE are the games when the Rockets are at their most frustrating. When they take the floor with the kind of momentum that makes you think they were shot out of cannons. When they follow the game plan as if they were reading architectural blueprints. When they pass the ball with the precision of knife jugglers, make cuts within the offense like surgeons, swat at shots as if they were bothersome mosquitoes. In other words, act is if they have a clue. Or care. What's frustrating about the Rockets on an afternoon when they follow up a 20-point bruising of the Timberwolves with a 105-89 spanking of the Kings is it proves they can do it. But, of course, we knew that, didn't we? Otherwise, what was thumping Shaq, Kobe and the Lakers on coast-to-coast cable TV all about? This isn't a team with a deficit in terms of raw talent at the assorted positions. Only a shortage of the stuff that turns any old NBA club into a playoff team and then, eventually, into a contender. Poise, focus, concentration ... any of those words out of The Official Book of Coaching Mumbo Jumbo. "It's all about execution," Rudy Tomjanovich said. See? Begging to differ with the head coach, in the case of these Rockets it's usually all about whether they have their heads and hearts in the game. When the Rockets aren't strutting around the court with their chests puffed out, telling us how great their potential is, they can be quite good. When Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley are playing under control and within the system, they can pick apart a team as good as Sacramento like vultures working over roadkill. Yes, the Kings were playing without Chris Webber. But they have other weapons and can still be dangerous. What we saw from the Rockets on Sunday is what we have seen throughout the first half of a wildly inconsistent season. Yao Ming connecting on an impressive array of shots and acting as the launching pad for the offense in the middle of it all. Francis looking to set up his teammates for easy baskets. Mobley taking only the shots that came to him in the flow. Eddie Griffin playing at both ends with confidence. "This is who we are," Francis said. No, this is who the Rockets should be far more often. Putting aside -- if you can -- the consecutive 20-point whippings by Detroit and Dallas -- this is who the Rockets have been almost exclusively at home this season. Now they go away for a little back-to-back tester at Minnesota and Cleveland prior to the All-Star break, which might be revealing about what to expect from the next three months. "The good teams take it on the road," Mo Taylor said. And no so-called "good" team in the NBA this season has more of a disparity between its total of home and road wins than the Rockets. They have 19 wins at home, seven away. Only Chicago (15 and two) has a greater gap, and nobody is talking up the Bulls for the playoffs. "The home and road thing is a big one and always has been through the years," Rudy T said. "I've tried to explain to our guys that you can't let the balance get too far out of whack; otherwise, you're nothing but a .500 team." "It's mental more than anything," Moochie Norris said. "It's a matter of us taking the same energy, the same aggressiveness onto the road." It's being a professional. It is not merely being voted onto the All-Star team in a popularity poll, but earning your stripes by carrying more than your weight in less-than-friendly environments. It is knowing the job will be more difficult on the road, the opposing crowd will be louder, more hostile, but using all of that negative energy working against you to forge an identity. For the Rockets to pile up home wins is pure lip service. To start winning on the road would be a real sign of progress. "It's pretty obvious we play one way at home and another way on the road," Taylor said. "If we're at home and we get down in a game, we stay with the plan; we get back in it. On the road, we lose our poise; we come apart." Like porcelain getting hit by a sledgehammer. "Until we start showing up this way on the road, people will always question us, and they'll have a right to do it," Taylor said. "We have veterans, players who have been around the league. We talk all the time about being a playoff team. But if we can't start doing this on the road, it's a lost season. "So what if you slip in as the No. 8 seed? If you can't win on the road, you'll be out as soon as it gets started." We have seen Stevie Franchise jump practically over the moon to throw down dunks. We have seen enough to convince us Yao is something big. We have seen what Griffin can do when he's on his game, what Mobley can do when he stays under control. We have seen them whack Shaq, beat Indiana, throttle San Antonio and take the Kings twice -- all good teams, all at home. So what does it take to make the next step forward? "I don't know," Francis said. Frustrating.
Remember 2 years ago when this team was the opposite? They could win on the road but had trouble defending the home court. That was the year we won 45 games. At the same point game wise last year, the Rocks were 22-23. If they win just 5 more games, which they can definately do, that should put us in the playoffs. I don't think that people should be concerned with the team making it or not, they will be there. The concern now is that these guys absorb some much needed experience in the playoffs. Hell, we should be serious contenders next year for sure.
Thats not your normal "I dont know." thats a - I read your article so get lost fat bohemian b*stard - I dont know.
You are absolutely right about it. But till now I am still bewildered. What happened to Ming last month? He looked very tired and he lost his shooting touch. Now suddenly he plays well again and his shooting touch comes back, at least for the last 5 consecutive games. It's very puzzling.
<blockquote><hr>Originally posted by walterw MoT finally spoke out his mind. IMO, many Rockets players know the weakness of the ISO game. <hr></blockquote> imo, you're reading too much into that. MoT was one of our main ISO players in 2001, and he and Kenny both faced up and created from the top, FT circle area and the wing. I took that as meaning MoT simply agreed that the Rockets can't rely on ISOs, including his ISOs.
