Game Story HOUSTON (Ticker) -- Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming were the best All-Stars on the court. McGrady scored 34 points and Yao added 23 as the Houston Rockets extended their season-high winning streak to eight games with a 123-93 rout of the Washington Wizards. Having made just 26-of-76 shots over his previous four games, McGrady found his rhythm early in this one en route to a big night. McGrady scored 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting in the first half, helping the Rockets open a 62-49 lead. The superstar went 14-of-22 from the floor overall while adding nine assists and six rebounds. "I needed this," McGrady said. "I've been struggling a bit offensively the last few games. I put in some extra time in practice yesterday. It paid off today." Yao gave McGrady plenty of help in keeping the Rockets the hottest team heading into the All-Star break. The leading vote-getter in All-Star balloting, Yao made 11-of-14 shots in 30 minutes and added nine rebounds. Sparked by their two best players, the Rockets (32-21) improved to 16-4 since falling a game under .500 on January 7. They were 30-22 at the All-Star break last season. "(Tracy and I) have played 50 or so games together now," Yao said. "That's a big thing. We're learning together." Not only did Yao dominate inside, he opened up things on the outside as the Rockets went 12-of-24 from 3-point range. They missed all 11 of their attempts from the arc in Sunday's win over Portland. "It's all about reading the defense and making the extra pass," McGrady said. "My teammates get to the spots, and I trust them." "This is just a very good Houston Rockets team," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "They execute and take a lot of pride in their defense. Jeff Van Gundy is a heck of a coach and I admire him a lot." David Wesley and Juwan Howard each added 18 points for the Rockets, who shot 59.5 percent (50-of-84) overall in falling one point shy of their season high. "Tracy and the guys were playing pretty well from the outside early in the game and making my man move over to help, so I had a lot of open shots from 15 or 16 feet and was able to make them," Yao said. Houston made six straight shots in a 15-4 run late in the first quarter to open a seven-point lead. With the Wizards hanging around, Jon Barry hit back-to-back 3-pointers - his only baskets of the game - as the Rockets pushed the lead to 46-35 with 8:05 left in the opening half. Houston, which squandered an 18-point lead in Sunday's 81-80 victory over Portland, had its lead in this one reduced to 86-77 with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. But guard Bob Sura blocked a shot by 6-9 Etan Thomas, then fed Wesley for a layup. Sura followed with a 3-pointer for a 91-77 cushion. "We were slow to the ball in the third quarter," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "They got it back to nine, but we kept scoring." While McGrady and Yao shined, the Wizards received a solid effort from just one of their All-Stars as Antawn Jamison scored 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Gilbert Arenas, guarded tightly by Wesley, made just 3-of-14 shots and scored 11 points in 39 minutes. Arenas had scored 30 points in 10 of his last 15 games. "We defended pretty well as a team," Wesley said. "If you look at (Arenas) in isolation, you can't stay in front of him because he's so quick. He needs to see four other guys, and we did a good job as a team defensively tonight." "They made sure that I didn't get close to the rim," said Arenas, who played 48 minutes in Monday's 98-96 loss at New Orleans. "They packed the lane with Yao Ming and it was tough to run our offense. Most teams that have a big guy make it tougher to run your offense through the lane. Then Houston comes off the bench with (Dikembe) Mutombo, and everyone knows about him." Jarvis Hayes scored 21 points and Brendan Haywood, battling Yao in the middle, added 16 for the Wizards, who head into the break on a three-game losing streak. Despite their skid, the Wizards (30-22) still have been among the NBA's biggest surprises. They were just 16-34 at the break last season. Kwame Brown and Larry Hughes, both on the injured list, are expected back after the break. "The second half we are going to get our players back and we will get on a roll," Arenas added. "When we get our players back, we are going to be a scary team."
The articles just keep getting better and better! If this was GTA our respect level would be soarin yo! ROCKET STREET FAMILY!
That quote is interesting. Just something to remember next time people talk that Yao's 18 and 8 arent that impressive. Or that Yao isnt scoring 25 points a night like Stoudamire. Or that Yao isn't Shaq so he sucks yadda, yadda, yadda. There are a lot of intangibles when it comes to Yao. The guy is game planned every night, the guy draws double teams offensively and therefore opens things up for other teammates. And defensively as exhibited above, he closes down the lane and doesnt a lot a lot of drives. Yao might not block a lot of shots, but people know he is there and they dont always challenge Yao. Those are the things that I think sportswriters NEVER consider when they talk about Yao. They always look at the flashy numbers, but Yao is much more than that.
The other thing is that a lot of people know better than to challenge Yao straight up, because when they do, it usually ends badly for them. I was telling my buddy this in the first quarter, and then we see the Wizards center try to post Yao up twice in a row - only to get rejected twice in a row. Not only does Yao change a lot of shots, he prevents a lot of shots because people are afraid to challenge him. Yao is an excellent interior defender - but it doesn't always show up in the stats.
he really does do a great job at defending his own man inside, his problem comes when he has to slide over to help b/c he is a half step slow but that is just instinct that he will develop over time.
