Yao and Tmac are ok. Not sure about Artest... http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/6117712.html OKLAHOMA CITY – The Rockets never could relax, never could enjoy an easy win. They had chances to breathe easy, but every time they did, they had reason to worry. Tracy McGrady limped off less than a minute into the second half. He was declared to be fine and able to return, though he never did. Then Yao Ming left late in the second half, looking to be in serious pain. But he was ruled to be all right, though he was not needed again. The Rockets blew most of a 19-point lead, but even that did not ruin their night, as they quickly pushed the lead back to a commanding 14 and coasted past the Oklahoma City Thunder, 100-89. Finally, in the final minutes, Ron Artest went in for a drive and had to be helped off the floor, and the Rockets’ best shooting game of the season just no longer seemed as enjoyable. Led by Luis Scola, who had 23 points and Yao Ming, who made 7 of 8 shots for 19 points to go with 12 rebounds, the Rockets made 50.6 percent of their shots. That was enough to easily offset Kevin Durant’s 29 points, blowing the game open in the second half. Both halves, however, seemed to get off to rocky starts. McGrady tweaked his sore left knee on the second possession of the half, and quickly fouled Earl Watson to stop the clock so he could get off the court. Minutes later, however, he was declared to be well enough to return. But with the Rockets pushing the eight-point lead they had when he left to as much as 19, Rockets coach Rick Adelman let McGrady watch. The Rockets, however, did give him some nervous moments. Having spent most of the first half doing little to get in the Thunder’s way, the Rockets cranked up their defense to start the second half and seemed to take control of the game. Oklahoma City made just 1 of its first 13 shots of the third quarter. The Rockets’ largest lead had been their six-point halftime lead, but they outscored the Thunder, 16-4, to start the half, pushing the lead to 18. After a brief Oklahoma City flurry, the Rockets rolled again, and led by as much as 19, working the ball to easy open shots, most often by Scola. Things were going so well that McGrady couldn’t get back on the floor. Then, when things began to slip away, McGrady remained on the bench, as if the Rockets did not want to risk anything on a night they had so little trouble leading by 19. The Thunder went on a 14-3 run in the 4 ½ minutes to end the third quarter and start the fourth. The Rockets had turned the ball over in three of their six possessions in the trips in that stretch, so with the Thunder within eight, they set up Yao for a jump hook inside. Aaron Brooks took off on a drive. Chuck Hayes put in a tip. The lead was at 14, and the Rockets were never threatened again. Perhaps they never were. The Rockets began the night as if trying to see how long they could get away with playing next to no defense and still win. Durant contributed to their poor defense, hitting 8 of 11 shots in the first half. But he usually caught the ball where he could do the most damage with little interference, especially when the Thunder went through the first 10 minutes of the game making 12 of 17 shots, leading by as much as six points. Oklahoma City began to slow down in the second quarter, but when Durant drove past Yao for a three-point play, the Thunder still led, 47-46, with 3:17 remaining before halftime. The Rockets finally put together a run, scoring on each of their next five possessions. The only Thunder basket the rest of the half came on a Durant 3-pointer when the Rockets failed to secure a rebound off a missed Joe Smith jumper. The Rockets had made 51.1 percent of their shots and all nine of their free throws. Their starters were a combined 19 of 33. And yet, they led only 56-50 because as well as they shot, even the Thunder were shooting nearly as well. That was enough to get the Rockets to play a few minutes of tough defense, rush the lead to as much as 19, and then see if that would be enough to coast the rest of the way.
Thanks for that man, it makes me a feel a bit more relieved. I expect Ron to realistically be out for 1-2 weeks. But this is going to be an even bigger delay for the Big 3 to get their chemistry going, and makes it worse for the team to get some offense running, because our roster just got shorter. We need our players to be healthy so that we can finally get Adelman's system on the go.
This team is not the T Wolves. There has been a lot of expectations for this team for the decade, and especially with the Yao-Mac duo for the past 4 seasons. The win is celebrated, but even though injuries happen, hitting all 3 of your best players/all stars in one game is quite frustrating. We play the MAVs next and without the big 3, it would be quite impossible to win, especially after what we did to them in Dallas several weeks back. Hopefully the extend of their injuries are not as bad as they seem we can get back on track.
thank goodness they are fine..i just hope ron isn't hurt badly. i mean, brooks had an ankle injury, 3 days later, he's back and scoring like crazy
They really should do a MRI just as a precaution. If there's even a little cause for concern, sit him out for a month. We need Yao much more for the second half of the season and post season.
Remember last year Yao played several games with that broken left foot before they discovered that stress fracture. Yao should have a precautionary MRI done if the injury is his left foot.
You are 100% correct. THis people act as if your players mean to get injured. As far as Yao goes, if he players 35+ minutes, people bash Adelamn for not resting him. If he sits and we lose a lead, people bash the coach for not playing him. If T-Mac doesn't play because he is hurt, fans bash him for having no character and being soft. If he does play through and injury and doesn't play well he is bashed for not being Michael Jordan. There is one thing I hate about the Houston ROckets and that is the Houston ROckets fans. Well the ones that post here for the majority anyway.
Lol, I didn't see the game and was just watching the play-by-play. I was all getting ready to say this might be a huge turn around since the Big 3 finally had stats worthy of a Big three...but then I find out they all got injured On the bright side, I don't think any of their injuries are serious....rolled ankles happen to anyone, and their are worse injuries one can have Thoughts from the game: *I thought Adelman did a better job with his substitutions this time. Of course, he might have done better by taking Artest out in the final minute of the game (avoiding the rolled ankle) and Yao Ming out when he was already gassed (avoiding his injury), but oh well Still, you can't really blame him...thunder were making a run in the minutes and he probably feared another collapse. He should have used Landry more though IMO... *Great to see Big three all have great stats Hopefully their teamwork will start improving from here on out. *The 2 days off must have done Rafer a lot of good since he looks like he's on his hot streak again. If he can sustain it as long as he did last season we're looking at another 20+ win streak *Wonder how badly Presti is kicking himself for picking Greg "40 yr old" Oden over Durant? Imagine how sick Portland would be with a core of Durant, Roy and Aldridge...lol that would have been like having both Kobe and Tmac on the same team...in their prime P.S. Anybody else find it weird how Durant had a -11 +/- even when he was shooting 8/11 at one point in the game? Considering he was the only one in his team scoring at the time I would have expected a positive on him. Was he really that bad defensively that it offset his crazy offensive production at the time, or is the +/- just broken?
Fair enough....I'm just getting frustrated by the constant Rocket bashing. I get the impression that some people are blaming the injuries on our big3 being weak. Not a fair interpretation..this is world class basketball they are playing. Freak occurance for all 3 to get injured, not a result of them being soft.
Solid win. The did what they had to. Yao played well with the 12 rebs and 3 blks along with the points. He was decisive by splittin the double teams. He actually jumped at the ball when he was inside the no charge zone which is good. Rafer played well, scola played very good and with great energy, artest had it going a little also.
I think Yao's was okay and so was T-macs.. The only one im really worried about is artest.....he full rolled his ankle..... OMG PPL STOP GETTING INJURED!
bad luck that they are injured. rockets played well tonight, i saw a lot mroe cuts and running of the offense in this game. tmac and yao look fine, and artest will bounce back, nothing to cry over.
not entirely durant's fault. the +/- isn't an extremely good indicator of much at all, unless that certain player has consistently a good +/- like hayes does with houston. all it means is that houston outscored okc by 11 points when durant was on the floor.
