[Orlando Sentinel] Dwight Still Can't Mount His "Everest"

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/basketball/magic/orl-sportsmagic08040809apr08,0,914256.story

[rquoter]
HOUSTON — Yao Ming continues to be the 7-foot-6 mountain that Dwight Howard can't climb and plant a flag atop. Forget Kryptonite. This is Superman's Mount Everest.

Yao, setting the tone early in a matchup of the best big men from the Western and Eastern conferences, led the Houston Rockets to a 93-83 victory against the Orlando Magic on Tuesday night at the Toyota Center.

Yao scored 20 points and grabbed 16 rebounds while Howard finished with just 13 points and 10 boards.

It was not a fluke, but a trend.

Yao is now 7-2 in his meetings against Howard.

In their previous meetings, he averaged 24.0 points per game to 12.8 for Howard, and shot 55.6 percent to Howard's 45.1.

"Dwight has struggled against him the entire time he has been in the league," Coach Stan Van Gundy said. "They don't play him with just Yao, either ... never straight one-on-one. His size ... you just don't play against that type of size."

It also was a meeting of two of the better defenses in the NBA. The Rockets held the high-scoring Magic to 38 percent shooting and the Magic blew too many defensive assignments early to stop Houston long enough to make a second-half run.

"We couldn't get anything going offensively," Van Gundy said. "Their size bothered us. [ Shane] Battier and [ Ron] Artest have length and make it tough to pass the ball.

"We didn't have the defensive intensity to start the game. They created a cushion that we couldn't make up."

The game also was the final tune-up this season against a playoff-bound team for Orlando before the postseason starts, and the Magic didn't live up to their lofty road reputation.

The Rockets (50-28) swept the two-game season series from the Magic (57-20).

They beat the Magic 100-95 in Orlando on Nov. 22, led by Yao's 22 points and 13 rebounds.

Orlando, which faces the Memphis Grizzlies tonight at Amway Arena, dropped a full game behind the idle Boston Celtics for the No.2 seed in the East playoff race. The No.3-seeded Magic would face the No.6 Philadelphia 76ers if the playoffs started today.

Rashard Lewis led Orlando with 22 points, unable to offset weak nights by Hedo Turkoglu (12 points) and Courtney Lee (five points).

Orlando, outscored by Houston's bench 29-16, played without two top reserves. Shooting guard Mickael Pietrus (right knee, right wrist) and point guard Anthony Johnson (right eye abrasion) were both out.

Behind 47-38 at intermission, the Magic cut the deficit to one at 55-54 with a rally led by former Rocket point guard Rafer Alston (15 points). Alston, making his first return to Houston since the Magic acquired him in a three-team trade, scored eight points to highlight a 15-8 Orlando run.

But the Rockets bumped the lead to 62-54 with seven unanswered points on a layup and a tip by Yao, and 3-pointer by Battier.

Every time the Magic crept close, the Rockets had an answer. Point guard Kyle Lowry's rare 3-pointer negated Lewis' bucket that had trimmed the lead to five at the end of the third period.

The final period was more of the same — the Rockets countering any Magic mini-rally with big shots, especially from backup guard Von Wafer (14 points).

The Rockets, playing without Tracy McGrady (season-ending knee surgery Feb. 24), came out with plenty of Yao. The all-star hit the game's first shot and then blocked Howard's first offering. He had eight points in the first eight minutes and opened up shots for teammates — sort of what Howard does for Orlando.

How much of an impact did Yao have on Dwight?

Howard didn't hit his first two field goals until Yao was safely on the Houston bench, taking a breather, late in the first.[/rquoter]