(Houston Chronicle): Chumps no match for champs

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2926662

Dec. 1, 2004, 12:42AM
Chumps no match for champs
By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

All you need to know about the Rockets is that Tuesday night's loudest ovation didn't come after a dazzling fast break or a spectacular shot or even a gritty defensive stop.

Maybe fans in other NBA cities cheer those things. Maybe fans in other NBA cities have gotten spoiled. Maybe they're not seeing the things we're seeing.

At Toyota Center, the bar has been lowered to a place the 6-10 Rockets never expected to go in a season that began with such optimism.

On a night when the Rockets again barely showed up, when their passes were lazy and their defense slow, when their effort bordered on embarrassing, fans were more than willing to settle for anything that showed some sign of a pulse.

Rare sign of aggression
So when he wrestled a defensive rebound away from Detroit's Antonio McDyess midway through the third quarter, Yao Ming did something totally out of character.

He swung an elbow.

And that's when fans roared their approval.

In that instant, the Rockets should have been reminded that fans only want their guys to care as much as they care. They'll settle for missed shots, physical mismatches and all of that. They won't settle for a lack of desire.

By the time Yao grabbed that rebound, the Rockets were well on their way to a dismal 93-72 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

They had been showered with boos at the end of a ghastly 33-point first half. They had begun the second half with Toyota Center about half empty.

Many fans eventually wandered back out to their seats, but early in the fourth quarter, the place emptied for good.

"Right now our effort collectively is pitiful," Jim Jackson said. "It has nothing to do with talent and nothing to do with other teams being better."

Skid hits five
If you're counting, that's five straight home losses for the NBA's oldest team.

If you're still counting, point guards Tyronn Lue and Bob Sura scored two points in 40 minutes. Reserves went 2-for-13 from the field.

The stars were only marginally better. Maurice Taylor, Jackson and Yao all finished with decent offensive numbers after padding those numbers in garbage time.

Afterward, the Rockets said the usual stuff about needing more energy and more focus. They said all the things bad teams say when microphones are shoved in their face.

Are you being a little hard?

Are you forgetting the Pistons are the defending NBA champions?

Actually, no.

The Pistons had lost three of four and were playing without their MVP — center Ben Wallace.

Pistons coach Larry Brown has complained that his players have their priorities messed up and forget that things like rebounding and defense won for them last season.

Brown should look at Jeff Van Gundy's worry list.

If the Rockets needed a rebounder — and they definitely do — they probably could trade for one.

If they needed someone to drive the lane and break down a defense — and they do — they could start making telephone calls.

If it were only a matter of getting Yao more shots or Tracy McGrady more isolation plays, they could focus on fixing those things.

It's all of those things and more. They're getting beaten on the boards. They're making silly passes. They're taking too many low-percentage shots.

Van Gundy said it's not even about winning. It's about doing things right.

"We put our heads down when a lot of things don't go well," Taylor said. "We just have to get over that hump and not worry about mistakes."

Afterward, Van Gundy refused to discuss specifics. The Rockets' coach said he was to blame for everything, including the nation's gasoline prices.

"I'm going to get a group that looks like they really want to play," he said. "We should have been full of life tonight, and you really have to think hard about why we weren't."

Van Gundy looked like a guy ready to blow a gasket. After one breakdown in the fourth quarter, he called a timeout and chewed out his team.

I'm not sure whether it was the offensive rebound the Rockets allowed or the offensive play Yao forgot that set Van Gundy off.

Regardless, he said his piece and sent his team back on the floor only to watch Taylor drive the lane and throw the ball away.

Van Gundy couldn't worry about that one for long because moments later, Lue actually caught a pass from Sura while standing with one foot out of bounds.

Toyota Center was virtually empty by that time. The patrons had given up on getting anything else to cheer.

"We've lost our direction," Yao said. "We're just wasting our time right now."

richard.justice@chron.com

 

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2926503

Nov. 30, 2004, 11:24PM
Rockets draw wrath of fans
Boo-birds out in force as Pistons feast on errors
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle


The boos began in the first quarter, but the Rockets would get worse. There were boos in the second quarter and as the Rockets left the court at halftime, but the Rockets could make it worse again.

As they turned the ball over, and fell further behind, when they left the court for the last time, the Rockets heard the most immediate and accurate critiques, until finally, the Toyota Center was nearly empty as the home team's desire.

"When the fans start booing like they did, you know it's bad," Tracy McGrady said, agreeing with every bit of the sentiment. "That just tells it all. If the fans don't appreciate the effort you give out there, then it's bad."

There was much familiar in the Rockets' 93-72 loss to the Pistons. It was their fifth consecutive home loss and fourth consecutive loss overall. They fell behind, as they have almost every night at home, by double digits in the first half. They were whipped on the boards, terribly turnover-prone and more concerned with feeling bad than consistently getting back defensively.

But for the first time, the Rockets, as if they too could no longer stand it, quit. They made their usual second-half run, and when it ended, the Rockets watched willingly as the Pistons easily dismissed them.

"This was probably worse, not probably, this was worse in that there was a give-in at the end," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said.

"I'm not going to sit here and pick apart each and every individual guy. I think it starts with me, and I'm just going to start with myself. I'm going to get a group that looks like they really want to play. I just haven't provided that this year and for that, I'm very apologetic to our fans. They deserve better from me."

Now, even the Rockets' empty, desperate grab for hope that they had at least keeping it close was gone, too.

Now, things had gotten so bad, that winning seemed out of the question. The Rockets have not held a lead in a span of 128:46, since the second quarter in Utah last week, a span of more than 2 1/2 games.

The Rockets had their worst offensive quarter, half and game of the season.

Left for dead after another horrid first half, the Rockets finally showed signs of life in the third quarter when Yao Ming did. After trailing by as much as 16 and still down 12, Yao hit a jumper and then grabbed a forceful rebound in traffic, throwing his padded elbow to protect the ball and inspire cheers from fans desperate for that fire.

Yao leads
For a few minutes, the Rockets followed that lead. Beginning with Yao's jumper and ending when Yao grabbed an offensive rebound and touch-passed it to Maurice Taylor for a three-point play, the Rockets had an 11-2 run to pull within three. Taylor added a free to cut the lead to two.

It took the Pistons three minutes to get the lead back to double figures.

The Rockets never threatened again. The slight improvements they had made on the boards were blown apart by the fourth quarter when the Pistons almost could not miss a shot without following it with an offensive rebound.

Their 15th offensive rebound of the night led to a Richard Hamilton jumper and a 15-point lead. After Yao scored on an offensive rebound of his own, Chauncey Billups nailed a trey for an 83-67 lead, matching Detroit's largest lead.

For all the times the Toyota Center public address announcer pleads for the crowd to make a sound, maybe rattle their jewelry or shake the ice in their cocktail glasses just so he would know they were out there, they made themselves heard and their feelings known.

The boos began in the first quarter, when the Rockets rushed their customary 10-point deficit. They grew louder by the time the Pistons' Billups took a turnover to the most uncontested of breakaway layups for a 13-point Detroit lead.

By the time the Rockets were back to their familiar 16-point first-half deficit fortunate to be trailing only 44-33, the boos escorted them to their locker room with al the same problems to correct.

Pistons forward Darko Milicic had even gotten second-quarter playing time as if Detroit coach Larry Brown had decided the game was over.

The 33 points were their fewest in a half this season, breaking the mark established on Saturday against the Nuggets.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com
Rockets Summary
McDyess' move
Pistons forward Antonio McDyess, a Houston resident, said he was interested in signing with the Rockets in the offseason until the Pistons made a big, early offer that made his decision easy.

McDyess signed a four-year, $22.6 million deal with the Pistons, a change from his last trip to free agency. He had considered the Rockets and Suns before signing with the Nuggets. He had 19 points and 10 rebounds in 35 minutes at Toyota Center on Tuesday.

"Every time I come here (to Houston), I say this is my home," McDyess said. "It was unfortunate I didn't get to sign here, but I moved on. I had some talks about it, but it wasn't nearly as good an offer as Detroit gave me, coming to a championship team, a team that offered me the amount of money they did.

"I just felt it was the best place for me. I just wanted to get it done and over with. When Larry ( Brown), Chauncey ( Billups) and Joe ( Dumars) offered me what they offered me, a position and a chance to play, I thought there was no turning it down."

Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said the Rockets were interested, but the priority was in landing a point guard.

"Who wouldn't be interested in him?" Van Gundy said. "For ourselves, after the trade, we had zero point guards except for ( Tyronn) Lue so I think the way it worked that's where the mid-level exception (was spent). But I think everybody would be interested in McDyess."

Van Gundy said the five-game suspension of Ben Wallace, while making things difficult, could benefit McDyess and the Pistons later.

"The guy's a great player," Van Gundy said of Wallace. "He's one of the most dominant players without the ball in the game. He affects it with effort and energy."

Hole in the middle
The Pistons game at Toyota Center on Tuesday night marked the end of Ben Wallace's five-game suspension for his role in the fight in Auburn Hills. In many ways, it might have been the toughest, even with the Pistons missing him in the previous four games.

"It's tough any time you have something taken away from you that you love so much," Wallace said. "You're anxious to get back out there, (and you) hate to see your team struggle so much. It's a tough thing to deal with, leaves a bitter feeling in your mouth. It's unfortunate, but it helps you rekindle your love for the game."

Barred from attending the game, Wallace watched from a hotel only two blocks away.

"You watch your little brother get beat up on the playground, but know there's nothing you can do about it," he said. "It's tough having to watch the game on TV knowing the game is going on right down the street. It's one of those things I brought on myself. I just have to deal with it.

"I just have to wait for an opportunity to get out there and join my teammates and try to become a better team, try to get back where we were last year."

Asked if he had spoken with Ron Artest since the incident, Wallace paused for a long, incredulous stare, then said, "I don't really want to talk to you all; why am I going to talk to Artest?"

Rockets forward Tracy McGrady said, "Ben Wallace is what Detroit Pistons basketball is all about. Having that key element out is pretty tough. But those guys are still a pretty good team without him."

All about perspective
With the Pistons arriving in Houston with losses in four of six games, beginning with the night of the fight in Auburn Hills, they have been considered "struggling."

"We shouldn't be struggling," Chauncey Billups said, "like we're struggling right now."

But Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy thought the term "struggling" did not fit.

"I wouldn't say they're struggling," Van Gundy said. "I've watched the games. We're struggling. There's two different definitions of struggling. Six and seven coming off a world championship and 6-9 coming off seventh seed."

Asked then how he would feel if he were 6-7 coming off a championship, Van Gundy said, "Then it's, 'We're struggling.' "

-- JONATHAN FEIGEN