Rockets never went back to Yao (By JONATHAN FEIGEN)

April 3, 2003, 1:25AM


Rockets can't measure up to Bucks
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

UPDATE
• Wednesday: Bucks 106, Rockets 99.
• Boxscore

• Playoff watch: 38-36, 1 1/2 games behind No. 8 Phoenix in Western Conference.

• Yao watch: 15 points, six rebounds in 33 minutes.

• Friday: At Philadelphia 76ers, 6 p.m.

• TV/radio: Ch. 51; KILT (610 AM) and in Spanish on KYST (920 AM).


MILWAUKEE -- With a 7-5 center on a tear and the other team's centers on the bench with fouls or injuries, the Rockets seemingly had all the opportunity they needed Wednesday night.

But increasingly, the Rockets' season seems reduced to a collection of opportunities needlessly wasted in a haze of panic or hubris.

So while the Bucks might have been in trouble with the game and perhaps the Rockets' playoff fantasies on the line, the Rockets did what they often do on the road. They threw it away. They panicked, collapsed and lost 106-99 to Milwaukee when their desperate 3-point shooting fell short.

The Rockets were completely unable to get Yao Ming the ball or do much of anything else they intended with it other than shoot it. Yao had 12 points in the first quarter but finished with only 15 in 33 minutes.

It might serve as the epitaph of the season.

If the Rockets never do make up ground on the Suns -- who are now 1 1/2 games up in the race for the last Western Conference playoff spot -- they will point to many nights like Wednesday, when they lost for the fourth time in five games.

"It was a collapse," said Rockets guard Steve Francis, who had good numbers except for contributing six of the Rockets' 22 turnovers. "We completely turned the ball over too much.

"Every game is critical. I don't even want to talk about the playoffs. I just want to win one game. I want to see how it feels to win. We keep talking about the playoffs. You can't look forward to something you're not doing. Right now, we're not playing good basketball to get in the playoffs."

The Rockets did solve some of the problems from Monday's complete breakdown in New Jersey. They defended the Bucks well enough to hold them to 42 percent shooting. They cut off most of a normally effective fast break. They shot well, connecting on 51.5 percent of their shots.

But against the league's worst rebounding team, the Rockets were whipped on the boards. Even worse, they never could take care of the ball, and the Bucks put them away almost by default.

"Again, our mental lapses hurt us big-time," acting Rockets coach Larry Smith said. "We turned the ball over 22 times. We fouled shooters. And we're just giving up too many offensive rebounds (16)."

That was never more obvious than in the fourth quarter, when the Bucks ran out of centers and used guards and small forwards to spread the court.

Defensively, the Bucks switched on every pick on the outside, dropped back into the lane and dared Rockets guards to shoot. They did, of course, and missed enough shots for the Bucks to roll through a 9-0 run to a 13-point lead.

"When we had them down ... they kept playing. We get down ... we go into panic mode," Rockets guard Cuttino Mobley said. "It's simple. Basketball is a game of spurts. Do what got you there. You're going to be down. You're going to be up. You've got to make a run."

But after Yao's first quarter, the Rockets never went back to what had been working.

The Bucks sent rapid double-teams that led to open shots. But when Yao returned to the game with the Bucks leading 90-80 with 6:20 left, the Bucks put 6-11 Toni Kukoc on him. Joel Pryzbilla had been benched with four fouls. Ervin Johnson had fouled out. Anthony Mason and Jason Caffey were out with injuries. Dan Gadzuric had been little more than a bundle of uncontrolled energy.

That left Kukoc. He had 18 points off the bench and had helped key the Bucks' first-half comeback from a 13-point deficit.

Kukoc fronted Yao so well that the best the Rockets could do was throw the ball away trying to get it to him.

"We knew they were going to try to front him, because Yao is a big target," Smith said. "We just tried to overload the set, swing the ball and get him the ball in low-post areas. We have ways to get him the ball."

With Kukoc oddly cast as the low-post stopper, rather than work through their passes to catch an undersized, fronting defender stuck behind Yao, the Rockets tried impossible passes or wasted shot-clock time until Yao was reduced to the tallest spectator.

Yao took only three shots in the last three quarters.

"Of course, the thing that hurts me the most is when I can't contribute to the team," he said.

The Bucks had taken their largest lead, 93-80, when Desmond Mason blew past Maurice Taylor for a slam and a three-point play.

The Rockets did make a late move. Mobley nailed a 3-pointer, and Glen Rice sank a pair of treys to cut the margin to 102-97 with 53.6 seconds left. Gary Payton, who had 18 points and 10 assists without a turnover, made two free throws, and Francis quickly was fouled to bring the Rockets back within five. They never got another good shot or got any closer.

But the Rockets did not think for a moment that they lost the game in the final minutes. They knew they had thrown it away much earlier. They just could not be sure if they threw their playoff hopes away with it.