Print
Thursday November 20, 2008 4:23 PM

Rockets Rebound In Big Way


Balanced attack and tough 'D' leads to 91-82 win over New Orleans

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - The scene was all too familiar: Double digit fourth quarter lead and a division rival on the ropes. So with the sting from San Antonio still fresh in their minds, the Rockets made sure there’d be no déjà vu Saturday night.

Thanks to a balanced attack on offense and one of their best defensive efforts of the season, the Houston Rockets (6-4) rolled past Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets, 91-82.

"I thought it was really a solid win for us after last night’s disappointment," said Rockets coach Rick Adelman after the game. "We came out really physical. This team has always been a resilient team, even last year we were very resilient at bouncing back. I had a feeling we were going to be ready to play tonight, because of the game we let get away."

Indeed, right from the start the Rockets made it clear they were bound and determined to make amends for the breakdowns which led to them blowing a 14-point lead Friday night against San Antonio. Houston hit five of its first six shots from the field while claiming a lead it would never relinquish.

Tracy McGrady kick-started the offense with 9 first quarter points, while Luis Scola was tremendous on both ends, finishing the frame with 6 points and 6 rebounds, in addition to frustrating the typically lethal David West with some heady defensive play.

"I felt in the first couple of minutes that the guys had a bad taste in their mouth and they wanted to come out and get this one," said McGrady (18 points, 9 rebounds). "This was a great win for us collectively. The defense for us was superb.

"I was disappointed in myself last night for not being aggressive and not being assertive in the offense. So tonight I wanted to definitely make a statement and let the guys know that I'm here. I'm a little banged up but I'm here. I wanted to get off to a good start and we did."

The second quarter saw the Rockets extend their advantage to seventeen, due in part from the spark provided by Von Wafer off the bench. Relegated to the pine for most of the young season, the fourth year guard from Florida State made the most of his opportunity tonight, scoring 8 second quarter points on 3-of-5 shooting.

"I’m used to sitting on the bench; this is sort of new to me, getting to play," said Wafer. "So I’m just trying to run with it, and when my playing time stops, I’m going to stay ready and hope another opportunity comes.

"I’m feeling a lot more comfortable out there. I think the more I play out there, the better I feel. Last game, I was a little excited. I tried to use that energy in a good way, but made a few mistakes. I made a few mistakes tonight, too, but I feel a lot better about myself out there."

Meanwhile, New Orleans couldn’t get anything going offensively – the Hornets shot an anemic 13-of-39 (.333) from the field in the first half, and were fortunate to only be down twelve heading into the break.

Houston kept the pressure on in the second half, too, as its lead hovered between 12 and 18 points the entire third quarter. That set the stage for the final frame in which the Rockets were given a chance to atone for their sins from the previous evening.

"The loss we had last night really hurt," said Yao Ming, who led the team with 21 points. "It was painful. If we cannot learn from those games, then we will lose more games. Today at the start of the fourth quarter, it looked a little bit like last night. We were up by eighteen points and then the lead was cut down to eleven. We kept saying, remember yesterday. We didn't want that to happen again."

It didn't. The Hornets never mounted a serious challenge and the Rockets cruised to a victory which allowed them to leapfrog New Orleans (5-4) for the Southwest division lead.

Quotes

Rick Adelman

(on the play of Luis Scola): Luis did a good job. To contain them, you have to play five guys against them because Chris Paul is such a handful and creates so much for them. It was crucial that Luis and Chuck [Hayes] be there for help. Chuck, for the minutes he played, was terrific. He does the best job for us when they try to run that stuff.

(on the play of Von Wafer): Von’s going to come in and he’s going to make shots; he’s proven that since we’ve had him. If he gets open looks, he’s going to knock them down, so I thought he really did a good job of coming in and giving us a lift.

(on his team’s resiliency): We have to face facts: Today we’re a lot different team than we were last year. We’re trying to build an identity and find what it takes for us to win. Last night was a game where we didn’t maintain that spread we had like we did in Phoenix. We didn’t stop them – we had guys hurt us who shouldn’t have hurt us. That seems to be a trend with us: that we just go through these lulls where you have a lead and you let the other team back in it. But this team does respond.

Tracy McGrady

(on the play of Houston’s defense): That’s what keeps us in ball games is our defense. Despite us having a bad night shooting the ball, one thing we can do is play great defense night-in and night-out. You’re going to struggle offensively, but defense has been keeping us in the game.

Yao Ming

(on tonight’s game): We don’t need to fool ourselves; the Hornets were not at their best. They missed a lot of shots and made a lot of turnovers. They are not at their best – not yet.

Just like yesterday: The Spurs were missing a couple of their main guys, I feel their team was like a preseason team. So we need to keep building. We need to learn from our mistakes and regroup.

Chuck Hayes

(on his mindset in dealing with his hyper-extended knee): I told myself I couldn’t baby it. I just had to get out there and try. If I can do what I can to help the team then, hey, I’ll play on a bum knee. That’s what we’ve got treatment for.

LUIS SCOLA

(on the win) "We made some mistakes and we didn't play a perfect game but we played the way we had to. We played good defense and we stuck to our game plan, plus we shared the ball. We moved the ball and everybody got touches offensively. When that happens, it's really hard for teams to play defense against us."

(on slowing down Chris Paul's penetration) "We know how dangerous he is and he is so strong and athletic. I think we did a good job."

HORNETS COACH BYRON SCOTT

(on his team’s play) “We didn’t have any life to start the game and it carried over as the game went on. We have to be ready to play games early and we can’t spot good teams with early leads. I’m concerned about our offense, period. We have to get back to the point where we are knocking down our shots.”

(on the game) “ Houston is a very good defensive team and they came out ready to play. We just didn’t attack the goal.”

CHRIS PAUL

(on the team’s play) “We have to be aggressive and not let teams fight back so easy. We have to jump on teams and put them away early. It’s not panic mode yet, it’s too early in the season. We expect so much of ourselves. We have to reach down inside and bring more energy every night. Every time we step on the court we have to fight and play hungry and not just go through the motions.”

PEJA STOJAKOVIC

(on the team’s play) “We could have come out with more energy. We didn’t play well from the beginning. We have to play better on both ends of the court. We need to play smarter and not be so predictable.”

DAVID WEST

(on the game) “I thought we didn’t have any continuity or ball movement. We have to make teams defend us. Defensively, I think we did enough but our offense was stagnant. We can’t seem to get everyone going on offense at the same time.”

(on the team’s play) “We win one and then lose one and we can’t keep pace in the West playing that way. We have to do things on offense to make teams defend us.”

Notes

Tonight’s attendance of 18,303 marks the third sellout of the season at Toyota Center.

Houston continued its strong defensive play at home this season in a 91-82 win over the Hornets. The Rockets have now limited their opponents to just 83.3 points per game (333 TP) over four outings at Toyota Center.

The Rockets also held the Hornets to just 36 points (13-39 FG) over the opening two quarters, which set Houston’s opponent low for first-half points this season. The previous low was 37 points (done twice, last by the Suns on 11/12/08 at Phoenix).

Houston set a season high in second-chance points by outscoring New Orleans by a 20-9 margin tonight, which comes one game after holding a 17-3 edge in second-chance points at San Antonio.

The Rockets were 25-of-28 (.893) from the free throw line tonight. Chuck Hayes should be listed as 1-for-2 from the line. Houston made 29-of-32 (.906) free throws at Dallas (10/30/08) to set their season high in free throw percentage.

Yao Ming, who scored a game-high 21 points (7-12 FG, 7-7 FT) to go along with his six rebounds, was the only player to reach at least 20 points in the game. The Hornets had at least one 20-point scorer in a four meetings last season.

Tracy McGrady finished with 18 points (7-7 FT) and a season-high nine rebounds. He also led all scorers with 13 points (4-7 FG, 1-1 3FG, 4-4 FT) over the first two quarters of play. It marked his best opening half of the season. McGrady’s previous best was 12 first-half points vs. Oklahoma City (11/1/08).

Luis Scola finished with 12 points (5-8 FG) and 10 rebounds tonight. Dating back to his rookie season, the Rockets are now 10-2 when Scola records a double-double (8-2 in 2007-08, 2-0 in 2008-09).

Von Wafer connected on 2-of-3 from beyond the arc en route to 10 points tonight. Wafer, who made his Rockets debut last night at San Antonio (11/14/08), is currently 4-of-5 from 3-point range over his last two contests. He holds a career high of 11 points with the Portland Trail Blazers at the L.A. Clippers (2/27/08).

Ron Artest topped the Rockets with a season-high seven assists. His previous best this season was four assists (done three times).

Chris Paul had 12 points (2-10 FG) and 12 assists tonight. Paul also notched a point-assist double-double in all four games against the Rockets last season (19-11 on 1/13/08, 14-11 on 2/22/08, 37-11 on 3/8/08 and 21-10 on 3/19/08).

Tyson Chandler posted a season-high 16 points (7-10 FG), while David West added his second double-double of the season with 18 points (8-15 FG) and 10 boards.

Got a question for Rockets.com? Send it to Jason Friedman.