Rockets Team Report

GETTING INSIDE

For six years, the Rockets could always defend. No matter who came and went, from Jeff Van Gundy to Rick Adelman, from Yao Ming(notes) and Tracy McGrady(notes) leading them to highlighting the inactive list, the Rockets remained one of the league’s top defensive teams in every measure.

They still have the personnel to defend well, having replaced McGrady and Yao with strong defensive players. But with the Rockets’ move to a high-scoring, up-tempo offense, opposing teams have found scoring remarkably easy, too.

The Rockets have fallen from the top five to the bottom third in the league in scoring defense and opponents’ field goal percentage and 3-point percentage.

The Mavericks tore through them Wednesday as no team has since long before any Rockets player entered the league. Dallas scored 130 points, more than any team has had against the Rockets since Dallas put up 156 in two overtimes (119 in regulation) in 1995.

“There wasn’t any defense,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “I can’t really talk about it, but it’s kind of the way we practiced yesterday and it came out today, and they (the Mavericks) made every shot. Like I said, our aggression, we were so non-aggressive. They (Dallas) shot almost 70 percent in the first half. We sent them to the line six times. We didn’t even get close enough to them to even foul them in the first half.”

The Rockets, however, were not convinced the game was a one-night aberration. They have had good moments defensively, too, but they know how far they are from the sort of consistently stingy team they had been.

“We are still trying to figure out our defensive identity,” Shane Battier(notes) said. “We’ve got a lot of new faces, and we are trying to figure out what works for us on the defensive end.

“The old defense we had when Yao was here was a little bit different. You would play pick-and-rolls a little differently. Your spacing has to be different and your rotations have to be different. We can do it and we’ve shown that we can do it but there has to be concentration and effort, a concerted effort every night. On most nights when we play poorly we haven’t had that concentration.”

Mavericks 130, Rockets 99:   Rarely has an early lead been more fragile or misleading. For the Rockets, they had to go back to their previous game to find a night a lead was as meaningless. When it was over, they had to go back a lot farther than that to find a loss as bad.

In Dallas, they led by 17 before getting blown out. Against the Mavericks in Toyota Center, they rushed to a 15-2 lead, then were thoroughly whipped, with Dallas rolling through a 26-0 run and eventually leading by as much as 35. The loss was the Rockets’ most lopsided since Feb. 2006. The Mavericks’ 130 points were the most scored against the Rockets since April, 1995, when Dallas scored 156 in two overtimes, but had just a mere 119 in regulation. The Mavericks blew past that number with 2:41 left, long after the latest early Rockets’ lead against them had long since been forgotten.

NOTES, QUOTES

• F Shane Battier hit two 3-pointers to push his streak of games with at least one trey to 27 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NBA. Battier matched Kenny Smith for the second-longest steak in franchise history. Luther Head(notes) holds the Rockets’ record with a streak of 37 games. Dana Barros holds the NBA record with a streak of 89 games with at least one 3-pointer.

• G Tracy McGrady returned to practice for two days. He did not return, however, to the active roster. He did not even return to the bench, remaining in the locker room while waiting to make his season debut. McGrady did, however, make it clear that he believes he is ready to play for the first time since last February’s microfracture surgery.

“I feel I can play, but the coach and the GM obviously feel different,” McGrady said. “They run this team and until they feel I’m ready to play, then I guess I’ll be watching.”

The Rockets have not said how long they expect McGrady to remain out. Team orthopedist Dr. Walter Lowe, however, said in a statement that McGrady will be monitored “over the coming weeks,” indicating his return is not imminent.

Quote To Note:   “Sometimes you need to get hit in the jaw to wake yourself up, and I hope that’s what happens. We can’t play that way. There is just no way we can succeed.”—Coach Rick Adelman.

ROSTER REPORT

Rotation:   Starters—Point guard Aaron Brooks(notes), Shooting guard Trevor Ariza(notes), Small forward Shane Battier, Power forward Luis Scola(notes), Center Chuck Hayes(notes). Bench—Guard Kyle Lowry(notes), Guard Chase Budinger(notes), Forward Carl Landry(notes), Center David Andersen(notes), Forward Brian Cook(notes), Guard Jermaine Taylor(notes).

Player Notes:  

• F Carl Landry was the only Rockets’ player able to keep pace with the Dallas offense assault, making 9 of his 11 shots to score 24 points in 29 minutes. Averaging 11 points on the road, Landry is averaging 21.2 points at home.

• F Chase Budinger continued his recent shooting slump, missing all seven of his shots. In the past six games he is 16-of-49, just 6-of-23 on 3-pointers.

• G Trevor Ariza helped get the Rockets going and was one of the few Rockets that produced to their usual numbers, scoring 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting, adding three assists, two steals and two blocked shots. Ariza, however, had two points in six fourth-quarter minutes.

Medical Watch:  

• G/F Tracy McGrady (left knee) has been working his way back from microfracture knee surgery, participating in portions of practices.

• C Yao Ming (left foot) is expected to miss the season after extensive surgery to repair a fractured bone and reshape the operation of his foot to remove stress on the area.