Rockets vs Spurs According to the SA Express-News

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/...10707.01C.BKNspurs.rockets.gamer.3488915.html

Rockets deliver blow: Spurs drop first game in slugfest

Web Posted: 11/07/2007 12:09 AM CST

Jeff McDonald
Express-News

HOUSTON — The blood trickled down Chuck Hayes' cheek. His forehead throbbed. His whole face seemed to ache.

The gash above his right eye, opened by an errant Tim Duncan elbow in the first quarter, eventually took six stitches to close. To Hayes, the Houston forward, that sewn-up badge of honor only told half of what transpired Tuesday night at Toyota Center.

What was significant was not that the Rockets got hit in the face. It's what happened when they decided to hit back.

Aided by a dominant Yao Ming, a plus-27 rebounding advantage and a breakthrough game from professional glass cleaner Bonzi Wells, the Rockets knocked off the Spurs, 89-81, in the kind of pushing, punishing game only a blue-collar player like Hayes could love.

"I think we all understand how good we can be," Houston's Tracy McGrady said. "If we can do this on a consistent basis, then we would be tough to beat."

Yao scored a season-high 28 points to go with 13 rebounds and six assists — "he made life hell for us," Spurs center Francisco Elson said — while Wells turned in the first double-double of his Rockets career with 14 points and 15 rebounds.

With the victory, the Rockets (4-1) ruined the Spurs' perfect start. The Spurs (3-1) will try to rebound — in every sense of the word — tonight against Miami at the AT&T Center.

Houston bounced back from a 107-98 loss at Dallas on Monday by hitting the offensive glass.

Duncan called it a "very, very, very bad rebounding night" for his club — yes, he used three "verys" — and still probably understated the case. The Rockets had 25 offensive rebounds, part of the reason they outscored the Spurs 21-3 on second chances.

"If they get 20-some-odd second shots," Duncan said, "it starts and ends right there."

Manu Ginobili led the Spurs with 24 points, while Tony Parker added 21. Duncan, who never really recovered from a horrendous first-half shooting effort, finished with 14 points and five turnovers.

Hayes' noggin was about all Duncan accurately hit in the first half. He made just 1 of 9 field goals for four points as the Spurs fell into a 45-32 hole.

The Spurs — and Duncan — recovered a bit in the second half. Duncan scored nine in the first 5:12 of the third quarter as the Spurs crawled to within 55-50. Yet whenever they seemed poised to pull closer, the Rockets slammed the door.

"They really beat us up on the boards," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "That really was a constant problem for us. That was the ballgame."

Wells was at the epicenter of the Rockets' rebounding resilience.

After languishing on the bench under Jeff Van Gundy last season, Wells seems to be poised for a renaissance after his reunion with Rick Adelman this season.

Five games into his second season in Houston, Wells posted more rebounds than he ever had as a Rocket. Last year, he never managed more than nine.

Afterward, Wells reiterated that rebounding was his thing. Certainly, he joked, it wasn't scoring.

Adding his own season average to McGrady's, Wells proudly noted, "Mac and I are combining for 40 points a game."

Of course, he also noted, McGrady was averaging an NBA-best 33 of those coming into Tuesday.

McGrady finished with a rather harmless 12, as the Rockets shot less than 41 percent from the field. Their rebounding made up for it.

Even Hayes got in on the act.

Stitched up and bandaged, but no longer bleeding, he returned in the second quarter — enough time to contribute seven rebounds in 20 minutes. Four of them came on the offensive glass.

It was that kind of night for the Rockets — and that kind of night for the Spurs.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

 

Feigen's article in the Chron:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5279938.html

Nov. 7, 2007, 2:10AM
Yao leads Rockets in win over Spurs

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

With the game on the line, the offense shrinking and the San Antonio Spurs closing menacingly, Rockets coach Rick Adelman called a timeout to relay orders he could have summed up in two words.

"Yao Ming."

With three minutes left, Yao had already played by far his best game of the season on both ends of the floor. But the Spurs had cut a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit in half, and the memory of Monday's crunch-time breakdown in Dallas was fresh.

That's when the Rockets put their fate in Yao's hands, and he took care of the rest, closing out an 89-81 victory over the Spurs on Tuesday night before 18,280 at Toyota Center.

With that, the Rockets moved to 4-1, knocked off the reigning champion Spurs in Houston for the first time since the 2004-05 season, and did what they could not in Dallas, executing flawlessly in the final three minutes.

"First of all, I hoped last night's situation would not happen again, particularly when we had a couple turnovers in a row when they full-court-pressed us," Yao said. "I was concerned about that.

"Then, when we got the ball into the frontcourt, I just focused on the play. I knew we were going to post me up. I just repeated everything I do in practice: catch the ball, locate people, watch the live cutter, find the open man and take the shots."

With the Rockets relying almost entirely on jumpers after taking a commanding lead, they put the ball in Yao's hands and let him go to work.

He hit a turnaround baseline jumper over Tim Duncan. He put in a jump hook in the lane, going up over Duncan before Manu Ginobili could reach Yao in a double-team. He drew a foul and made one free throw. Finally, when a double-team came with 1:05 remaining and the Spurs within nine points, Yao passed to Rafer Alston, who found Shane Battier for the clinching 3-pointer.

Yao finished with 28 points (making 12 of his 24 shots), 13 rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots. But nothing he did was as irreplaceable as what he did toward the end.

"They were going to have to do something with him in there," Adelman said. "The first time he scored. And then we were just going to keep coming downcourt and going to him, making them double him, or he would have the opportunity to score."

Offensive on the boards
The Rockets got nearly as crucial a lift off the bench from Bonzi Wells who had 14 points and 15 rebounds, his 29th career double-double. The Rockets also dominated the boards, outrebounding the Spurs 55-28, and outscored San Antonio 21-3 in second-chance points.

"That was one of the keys tonight to win the game," Yao said. "If you look at field-goal percentage (40.7 percent), we were not shooting that well. But we had ... almost 20 (more) shots with offensive rebounds — Chuck (Hayes, who had four offensive rebounds), Bonzi (who had seven) and me (eight) — some on my shots that I missed and (were) put back in.

"That's about how hungry we were to win the game."

Tracy McGrady made just four of 14 shots en route to 12 points but had nine rebounds and six assists. Duncan, who finished with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting and had 10 rebounds, was defended most of the game by either Hayes or Yao, with guards reaching in to harass him. But McGrady had Yao, who did enough to protect the Rockets' lead.

With the exception of a 3-pointer McGrady sank 33.5 seconds before the fourth quarter and a Hayes layup to begin the second half, all of the Rockets' points in the third quarter came courtesy of Yao.

He had a dunk and consecutive jumpers before hitting three of four free throws. He passed to Battier for a 3-pointer, then found Hayes inside for a layup and a 61-52 lead with less than three minutes remaining in the third quarter.

When Yao followed a missed Luther Head jumper with a slam and then passed to Mike James for a 3-pointer, the Rockets led 75-61 with eight minutes left.

"It's a tough back-to-back to play Dallas and San Antonio," Alston said. "We had an opportunity to win (Monday). We were in that position (Tuesday), except we had the lead. We didn't want to give it up."

Duncan praises Yao
This time, when the pressure hit, the Rockets had their answer.

"Every year, Yao is getting better," Duncan said. "The Rockets show their confidence in him when they go through him at the end of the game like they did. He made some big shots, and that was tough to stop."

It was the difference.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

 

And Blinebury's blather:

http://blogs.chron.com/franblinebury/

November 06, 2007
Put down the sharp objects: Rockets 89, Spurs 81.

Come in off the ledge. Take your head out of the oven.

One night after all was lost, everything was gained.

24 hours after they couldn't close the door on the Mavericks, they kicked it down on the Spurs.

One game after T-Mac was an idiot for not giving up the ball, Yao was a marshmallow for not demanding the ball and Mike James was the most selfish me-me-me guy this side of Donald Trump, the same bunch was playing the game like they helped Dr. Naismith invent it.

Funny how these things happen. Back-to-backs in the NBA can bring out the Jekyll and Hyde in the best of teams, which is what the Rockets are trying to become.

Operative word is "trying."

How in the world did everything get so out of whack that a 3-1 start wasn't good enough?

But to read the blogs, listen to the sports talk shows after the loss in Dallas on Monday night, the earth had opened up and swallowed the hopes of the entire season.

Maybe it was the way it happened against the Mavs, another fourth quarter collapse that was too painfully reminiscent of Utah and the playoffs last spring.

So then, what are we to make of the other side of the coin? How are we to celebrate this Tony Soprano-like whacking of the defending champs?

Quietly.

It's a long season and these are the first baby steps. There are still weeks and months for a remade roster to grow comfortable in an entirely new offense.

There will be nights when McGrady shoots 12-for-31 and you'll want to pull your hair out. There will be nights when Yao looks like he's trying to pass an etiquette class and not offend anyone by demanding the ball. There will be nights when James/Rafer/Luther (pick one) won't be able to locate the basket with help from a GPS device.

There will even be nights when Stevie Franchise is roused from his slumber and does something. But that's another story.

If you got twisted sideways too much by Dallas, then you couldn't appreciate 47 by McGrady in Utah, Shane Battier's game-winner in LA or this gem on against the Spurs when Yao finishes with 28, 13 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks, Bonzi Wells kicks in 14 points and 15 rebounds and the Rockets own the boards by 55-28.

One night ago, Rick Adelman didn't know which end was up and now he's soaring higher than a thousand kites because every lever he pulled was the right one.

Get the ball low to Yao and have him make a move quickly. It worked. Keep McGrady going to the basket even on a night when his drives weren't falling. It worked. Go right back again to the bench tandem of James and Bonzi. It flourished. Even throw Dikembe Mutombo out onto the floor for a 21st century Twin Towers with Yao for five minutes. It made the Toyota Center explode when the old man exploded past Tim Duncan and dunked on Francisco Elson.

There will be nights like this, when the Rockets can touch the sky and see the possibilities. And there will be nights like Monday when they fall flatter than a fat man into an empty pool.

The trick is not to jump off a cliff and miss the good stuff.

Posted by Fran Blinebury at 11:09 PM | Comments (9)