Surprise, surprise....look who writes the article when we lose....
Rockets Launch Into Southwest Division Lead
By John Hollinger
ESPN.com
SAN ANTONIO -- Call it a case of role reversal.
Yao Ming, normally the Rockets' low-post weapon, stood out high. Luis Scola, normally the Rockets' high-post option, was at the basket down low. And twice in the last half-minute, the two connected for Scola layups that gave Houston a crucial 87-85 win over the Spurs.
Asked how often this season that combo had happened, Rockets coach Rick Adelman had a quick answer -- "Twice."
But those two times happened on arguably the two biggest possessions of Houston's season -- once with 29 seconds left to give Houston the lead, and then after a Tony Parker layup to put the Spurs ahead by a point, an encore performance with 11 seconds left. Each time a high screen-and-roll with Aaron Brooks led to Yao getting the ball at the foul line, and while making a shooting motion he noticed Scola at the last minute and delivered it for an easy deuce.
"I saw both men running to me," said Yao, "and I see Luis running to the basket and a small behind him. The second one, when I caught it, I saw him at the last second. I was going to shoot, had the ball up over my head."
And that rare reversal of roles put the Rockets in position for a second switcheroo -- the win put them atop the Southwest Division with 10 games left to play, a half-game ahead of San Antonio. It also moved Houston's record to 16-4 in the 20 games since Tracy McGrady left to undergo microfracture knee surgery.
Houston's win evened the season series at 2-2 in an intrastate rivalry played at playoff intensity, particularly when Bruce Bowen came in to guard Ron Artest in the second half. The two immediately went at it with manic fervor -- probably to the detriment of the Rockets' offense -- but it undoubtedly raised the already high pitch of this game to another level. A strong traveling group of Rockets fans -- making themselves known during the "rockets' red glare" portion of the national anthem -- also took the fever inside the AT&T Center up a notch, and portended great things if these teams meet again in the playoffs.
"We've played these guys the same way three games," said Adelman. "We found a way the last three minutes."
That they did was largely because of Scola, who was clearly the star of the game with 19 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and three steals -- his 11th double-double since the All-Star break.
He pumped his fist and ran up court after grabbing the last of his 17 boards and being fouled with Houston up a point and 0.3 seconds left -- perhaps with an added dose of glee since the Spurs held his rights for years and never brought him in, eventually trading him to Houston in the summer of 2007.
That produced one final bit of drama: Scola missed the first free throw before making the second accidentally. He was trying to miss on purpose in order to run the clock out.
The Spurs called timeout and inbounded to Matt Bonner, who was wide-open at the 3-point line and fired a shot off the back rim. The buzzer didn't go off until well after the shot left his hand, and no officials made a wave-off motion. It was irrelevant once it missed, but it didn't stop Dikembe Mutombo and Ron Artest from screaming at the home timekeepers. Artest joked in the locker room afterward that the buzzer still hadn't gone off.
There also appeared to be some confusion on Houston's end as to what San Antonio could legally do. The Rockets had Yao Ming standing at the rim not guarding anyone, and while Artest said one of the officials told him the Spurs could shoot if they got off quickly, Battier said the opposite.
"I asked Bavetta, 'What, legally, can they do?'" said Shane Battier. "And he said he told me the only legal thing they could do is tip the ball at the rim ... we would have all locked arms and protested at center court [if the shot had gone in and counted] and we wouldn't have left until they credited us with a win."
There was no need, however, as instead the Rockets celebrated a milestone victory that has them in position for an unlikely division le -- even with their top playmaker sidelined by knee surgery and their best reserve, Carl Landry, at home nursing a gunshot wound.
"There's been so much malaise, with all the injuries we've had, lineup shuffles, trades," said Battier. "I don't think too many people thought we'd be here today."
Meanwhile, the Spurs mourned a lost opportunity to all but wrap up the division race. A win would have put them three up in the loss column and given them the season tiebreaker over the Rockets. The Spurs seemed in command of the division race three weeks ago but are now 6-7 in their past 13 games.
"We made three defensive errors down the stretch and that cost us," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, whose team struggled to generate offense after charging out to an early 10-point lead, largely due to injuries to two of their stars.
Tim Duncan, limited by a quad injury, scored 23 points but shot just 8-for-22, mostly on jumpers from the foul-line area. He didn't score a point in the fourth quarter and lost a crucial jump ball to the normally floor-bound Battier. Meanwhile, Manu Ginobili remains sidelined with an ankle injury, though he reportedly picked up the intensity at practice this week.
With Duncan not his usual self and Ginobili out, the Spurs again became overly reliant on Parker, a common theme of late. And while he delivered 22 points and 12 assists, he needed 24 shots to do it and committed five turnovers.
"I thought our point guards did a good job on him defensively," said Adelman. "In the last game he got four or five back cuts on us, tonight he got one early and didn't get any more after that."
Adelman was upset with one defensive error by his own team -- he stomped in frustration after Yao came out too high on a pick-and-roll and gave Parker an easy path to the basket for a layup to put San Antonio ahead 85-84 with 20 seconds left -- one of five lead changes in the final two minutes.
In fact, talking to the Rockets afterward, you didn't get the sense that they felt they were anywhere near their ceiling.
For one, there is Artest's still-grating habit of trying to do too much offensively, especially when challenged by superior defenders such as Bowen.
"Our players have to understand that they can't put it all on their shoulders," said Adelman. "That's what's so great about San Antonio -- they have Tony Parker and Tim Duncan, but they have other guys waiting too. You don't have to score a basket to be playmaker.
"[Artest] gets really aggressive and wants to take over the game. And sometimes you take it over to make them react. We're still trying to find the best ways to get him open and get him shots. He shoots it very well coming off picks and we have to find ways to get him in those situations."
Additionally, both Adelman and the players lamented their inability to get the offense clicking when the Spurs started fronting Yao in the second half -- particularly during a 13-point third quarter.
"They picked their pressure up and fronted Yao and we didn't respond very well, and that's what you're going to face in the playoffs." Adelman said.
But the unlikely combo of Yao-to-Scola bailed them out at the end and left the fans in the Alamo City dejected. As a result the Rockets, despite their injuries, find themselves in the unlikely position of having the inside track for the West's second seed.
John Hollinger writes for ESPN Insider. To e-mail him, click here.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailyd...ge=dime-090322
Though I'm a Spurs fan at heart, I like this Houston team...lots of talent and can match up with any team (including the Lakers) if they can get their heads together....learn how to win the big games when it matters which they did yesterday danbungit!
Expected the article to be a 100% Spurs bashing but it wasn't, thankfully. Fortunately the Spurs have more games to capitalize on any Rockets missteps.
And the Spurs, despite their injuries, are also right there...seeings how they only hold a 1/2 game lead and we have the tiebreaker right now. I forgot Hollinger...where did you predict we would be at the beginning of the season?As a result the Rockets, despite their injuries, find themselves in the unlikely position of having the inside track for the West's second seed.
On the outside looking in.
FAIL.
Leave it to Hollinger. The team with fewer losses has the inside track, moron.
It's all good, we'll take the division and the deuce back from the Rockets before it's all said and done.
We probably won't keep the second seed, but we proved something beating the Spurs away.
I predict that we'll see more of Yao in the high post now like Brad Miller. That Yao to Scola play will be repeated and on purpose instead of just a spur of the moment afterthought. Yao at the high post can dump the ball down low to a penetrating guard or forward. Then Yao can flex down low for the rebound or repost.
these few days are the high point the Rockets will achieve this season. its all downhill from here. soon they will again lose the 'lead', then get roughed up in the playoffs, and in a few months time will reminisce fondly of those few days in march, tears streaming down their faces, when they beat the spurs and felt on top of the basketball world, for a few glorious days.
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