PrintRockets Roll Past Sacramento
Artest triggers Rockets attack early, Brooks takes over down the stretch
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Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer
HOUSTON - If Ron Artest felt any pre-game jitters Friday night, they sure didn't surface come tip-off time.
The former King was dominant against his old teammates, staking Houston to an early lead it would not relinquish as the Rockets rolled past Sacramento, 95-90 in preseason play.
It took Artest only seventeen minutes of playing time to stuff the stat sheet - he totaled 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals before taking a well-earned seat on the bench for the entire second half.
"I thought he looked really active tonight and picked his spots a little bit better," said head coach Rick Adelman immediately after the game. "He was all over the court."
Perhaps buoyed by Artest's absence, Sacramento surged at the start of the second half. The always-efficient Kevin Martin scored 12 points in the third quarter, helping his team trim a 15-point halftime deficit down to two.
But from that point on it was the Aaron Brooks show, as the second-year point guard continued his recent run of strong play. Brooks tallied ten fourth quarter points to finish with a game-high 23.
"The game's slowing down and I'm starting to read stuff a little bit better," said Brooks. "I'm feeling a little bit more comfortable. The guys have been really supportive, but it's just getting out there and playing, and the more time I'm out there, the more comfortable I feel.
"We have all these great shooters on the team who can really spread out the floor and make it a lot easier. I just want to be more efficient. I made still made some stupid plays out there, so I know my mistakes and I'm going to try and eliminate those."
Adelman says he agrees with Aaron's self-assessment: "He's making better decisions when he gets the ball in the middle of the court. He's not giving it up so quick. I still think he's got to continue to look for his mid-range shot. People are going under screens to try and keep him in front and he's got to see that, recognize it, and look to make it, because he can hit that shot.
"I thought he and Rafer Alston were pretty good together. I started those two guys together to see how they'd play; plus to see Rafer guard Kevin Martin, because he's a handful. But those two guys are pretty good together."
And 1's: Yao Ming scored 15 points before leaving the game late in the third quarter after apparently rolling his right ankle. Team officials say the All-Star center is fine and that he was just about to exit the game for good, anyway.
The Rockets don't play again until heading to Sacramento for their preseason finale next Thursday night. With so much practice time, Adelman says he's looking forward to working on the art of the entry pass.
"We threw the ball away about three times [in the first quarter] and it was Yao's fault and the passer's fault. When a guy tries to get in front of Yao or side him, he can't back down; he's got to go in the direction the guy's going and the passer's got to throw it away from the defender - and we're throwing it right to him and the defender's getting his hands on it. So it's a combination of both.
"When we move the ball and move people around, and then look inside, it's easier for Yao because then not everyone in the gym knows it's going inside to him. So it's something we have to keep working on. And to be honest, we've only had one day where we've really concentrated on it [up to this point], because I knew we had this [break]. So we'll be doing a lot of work on that over the next two weeks."
Notes & Quotes (courtesy of the Rockets' media relations department):
The Rockets held the Kings to an opponent preseason-low .375 (30-80 FG) from the field tonight, including a 3-for-15 (.200) night from beyond the arc.
Aaron Brooks, who made his first start of the preseason, registered a game-high 23 points (7-16 FG, 4-8 3FG, 5-6 FT) and three assists. He holds a regular season career high of 22 points vs.
Yao Ming, who had 15 points (7-11 FG), four rebounds and one blocked shot in 26:31 of action, averaged 27.0 points in two games against the Kings in 2007-08.
Ron Artest finished with 13 points (5-8 FG), four rebounds, three assists and three steals in just 17:31 of action in his first game against his former team. Artest has now totaled 54 of his 69 points this preseason in the first half.
Von Wafer connected on 3-of-7 from beyond the arc en route to 14 points tonight. Wafer is now 10-of-16 (.625) from 3-point range over the last two contests.
Luis Scola notched a game-high 10 rebounds and nine points tonight. Scola had 14 double-digit rebounding games as a rookie in 2007-08.
Carl Landry recorded 11 points, seven rebounds and one blocked shot tonight.
Mikki Moore finished with 12 points on a 4-for-4 night from the field (4-5 FT).
Brad Miller also registered a preseason-high nine rebounds to go along with his 10 points tonight.
(on the game) "I thought we played pretty well in the 1st half. In the 3rd quarter we came out, and for whatever reason, we were very sluggish and let them control the game. It was a good game to see our young guys again and they get a feel of where we are.
(on Yao Ming) "He has a cold as far as I know and hopefully he'll be fine"
VON WAFER
(on playing with Ron Artest) "I didn't expect Ron to be like he is. You hear a lot of things about players, and I didn't know what to expect from Ron. But what he's giving us, I didn't expect it. Ron's a great guy and he will go all out for you. Once he's on your side, he will go all out for you."
(on the chemistry of the team) "I think this team can be very dangerous, we've got to get it flowing, get
RAFER ALSTON
(on the positives tonight) "The energy. We came out with a lot of energy. We were able to sustain it. I know that's something we were working on the past couple of games, the inabilities to sustain it for 48 minutes and close out games. We were able to close out the game tonight"
(on the play of Aaron Brooks) "He's playing well. He's been having a tremendous training camp. He's working hard and proving with every passing day where we can't say enough about him. We are proud for him, and we are going to need that from him this year. Just be Aaron. The guy can score. He's been a scorer his whole life. Just be Aaron and everything else will come easy."
(on what the Rockets can improve upon) "Staying focused and understanding who you're guarding. We let Kevin Martin get away from us a lot tonight. We have to understand that teams are going to go to him, and understand that with the pump fakes to stay down and make him shoot contested jump shots and not let him get into the lane. We also need to work on our tranistion d(efense)."
(on the game) "All in all, we missed a lot of shots. We shot 38% from the floor. When you look at it statistically, we got up 80 shots. The thing that bothered me the most tonight, is that there were 4 or 5 loose balls that we could have gotten. There were 2 or 3 opportunities that we could have pushed the ball and been more aggressive. Outside of that, Yao Ming, as big as he is, is going to make some shots. We have to be more physical underneath the basket."
(on Ron Artest's impact) "He shoots the basketball well around the perimeter and he's tough around the basket. His presence is very strong on the court."
(on his plans to use former Rocket draft pick Donte Greene this year) "I'm trying to find ways to use him. We have a lot of wings on this team. He is working really hard. He is young. We can give him some minutes at the three spot and we can use him there. He's got a tough road because of our strength is at the wing."
BRAD MILLER
(on his thoughts on the play of Ron Artest) "We knew in this game he was wanting to come out really strong. That is just what he does. He banged down some shots. He was just doing what he does."
(on were you looking at this game because of Ron Artest) "I knew he would be fired up. Everyone wants to play well against a former team."
BOBBY JACKSON
(on playing against his former team) "No special feelings. It was just a preseason game. It's always good to come back and play against a team you played with and see familiar faces."
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