[KHOU] Coach accentuating the positive as Houston stunned by home losses

<a href="http://www.khou.com/sports/stories/khou050502_jt_050205dnspomoore.235664340.html"><font size="+1">Van Gundy trying to focus Rockets</a></font>
<img src="http://www.khou.com/sports/stories/M_IMAGE.101688cd0b5.93.88.fa.7c.2356b5a06.jpg">
<b>Coach accentuating the positive as Houston stunned by home losses</b>
10:18 AM CDT on Monday, May 2, 2005
By David Moore / The Dallas Morning News


One of the most difficult tasks a coach faces during the playoffs is to prevent negative thoughts from undermining a team's confidence and focus.

The question for Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy is where to start.

Some of his players mentioned how they didn't want to return to American Airlines Center for tonight's Game 5 with the series tied.

They have.

Tracy McGrady suggested that he and his teammates panicked in the fourth quarter of the last two games, and that the Mavericks want this series more than the Rockets do right now.

What if the Rockets blew their chance to win this series when they blew an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter of Game 3? What if they become just the third team in league history to lose a series after winning the first two games on the road?

"You can get bogged down in the what ifs," Van Gundy said. "That doesn't matter. We shouldn't be thinking about what we don't want. We should be thinking about what we do want."

What the Rockets want is to play with the same intensity and precision they did in the first two games of the series. The team needs to recapture the poise that was missing in the fourth quarter of the last two games.

A 20-0 run in the fourth quarter of Game 3 tipped the outcome in favor of the Mavericks. The Mavericks finished Game 4 with a 15-5 flourish to tie the series at 2-2 and rip momentum away from Houston.

Van Gundy wants his players to center their thoughts on the present, not the past. But the Rockets can't help but think this series would be over if they had taken care of business at home in the fourth quarter.

"The mood outside of your team swings so violently by the results, whether it's a basket or a blowout or a bad run," Van Gundy said. "You don't want any of those things to happen. Sometimes, we forget there is another team competing out there. We're not playing solitaire.

"What you have to do is acknowledge what they did well in a game and what you can do different. Just try to keep your team with its eye squarely on what they can control, which is their preparation, their attitude and their play."

Focus on the process, not the result. This is what Van Gundy preached after the Rockets jumped to a 2-0 lead and it's even more relevant now.

"For instance, if you look at how hard it is to guard [Dirk] Nowitzki, certainly, you can be overwhelmed by the unbelievable task," Van Gundy said. "But if the focus is on this particular situation, can I get my stance right, can I influence him in the correct way, you break it down into process more."

The idea is to keep the Rockets immersed in details so they don't run the risk of their psyche breaking down.

Houston has nowhere else to turn. The team fired its silver bullet with Ryan Bowen to open the series. Starting Scott Padgett in Game 4 was an admission that strategy had run its course.

The move didn't come as a surprise to the Mavericks. The coaching staff told the players in Saturday's shoot-around to expect Padgett to start because of Houston's need to occupy Nowitzki on the defensive end.

The Rockets won't catch the Mavericks by surprise again in this series. To win, they must improve on what they've done the last two games.

"I think you have to be unnatural to have great success in this league," Van Gundy said. "You can't get caught up in the euphoria of wins or the negativity of losses in the playoffs.

"You can't be normal and have abnormal success in this league. You've got to be singularly driven. I've never seen anyone in the playoffs who had long-term success who isn't singularly driven."


<a href="http://www.khou.com/sports/rockets/stories/khou050502_jt_050205dnspomavscap.235679be1.html"><font size="+1">Mavericks vs. Rockets: Game 5 preview</a></font>
7 p.m., American Airlines Center, TV/radio: Ch. 21/TNT; ESPN-FM (103.3), KFLC-AM (1270, Spanish)

10:11 AM CDT on Monday, May 2, 2005
By EDDIE SEFKO / The Dallas Morning News

Series: Tied 2-2

<b>Key matchup</b>

Tracy McGrady vs. Dirk Nowitzki: They weren't supposed to guard each other in this series, but that's how it's worked out, with McGrady checking Nowitzki, at least. In the past two games, McGrady's concentration on defending Dirk seems to have sapped him at the end. He's been 1-of-5 in the fourth quarter of both Houston losses. The Mavericks have allowed McGrady to dent them, but not break them. But you get the feeling one of these guys has a monster game in him that we've not seen yet.

<b>Inside the Rockets </b>

Regaining the edge: Mike James started the series as a Maverick killer. But his production has dropped off steadily. He had only 13 points in the two losses in Houston. "We get a lead, then we relax," he said. "Not just physically, but mentally." That's where he and Jon Barry come into play. It's their job to spark the Rockets coming off the bench, which they haven't done in the last two games.

Briefly: Tracy McGrady is the leading scorer in the playoffs at 31.5 points per game ... The Rockets' 29.4-percent shooting from 3-point range in Game 4 was their series low.

<b>Inside the Mavericks</b>

Fourth-frame fireworks: The Mavs have finished the last two games with authority. "We had a lot of great contributions," coach Avery Johnson says. "And our fourth-quarter defense has been pretty good. When things get tight, sometimes those shots don't fall." The Mavs have executed better in tight situations so far.

Briefly: Jason Terry's six 3-pointers in Game 4 tied a Mavericks' playoff record. The other Maverick to do it? Nick Van Exel ... Dirk Nowitzki's 18 points in Game 4 ended a streak of eight consecutive postseason games in which he'd topped 20 points