Houston 109, Nuggets 81
HOUSTON, Nov. 24 (AP) -- Houston's All-Star duo felt as if the Rockets were reverting to last year's bad habits, so they did something about it.
Tracy McGrady scored 35 points and Yao Ming had 22 points and 13 rebounds, and the Rockets snapped a six-game losing streak with a 109-81 win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.
On the plane ride back from Friday's loss to Miami, McGrady told Yao that he thought they were trying to carry too much of the offensive load and opponents were keying on them. They were forced to do that in recent seasons, without other good offensive options.
New coach Rick Adelman has introduced an offense that was supposed to take the scoring burden off McGrady and Yao. And they were back to running it on Saturday night, getting teammates involved and running the floor for easy baskets.
"We said we have to get back to playing the type of offense we played in the beginning of the season and that's what we did,'' McGrady said of the conversation. "Tonight showed how good we can be offensively.''
Shane Battier grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds and Houston outrebounded Denver 57-38 to overcome their 17 percent shooting from 3-point range (3-for-18).
It was easily the Rockets' best performance in two weeks.
"We talked about, after six losses in a row, we are in the wrong direction as a team,'' Yao said. "We need to clear our minds and think. It starts with us, our two guys. It starts with us and then goes the rest of the team.''
Allen Iverson had 18 points and Carmelo Anthony added 17 for the Nuggets, who mustered a season-low point total, shot 35 percent (28-of-79) and committed 18 turnovers.
"Thirty-five percent shooting speaks for itself,'' said Iverson, who went 7-for-18. "They jumped right on us and they had momentum early and throughout the game.''
To make matters worse, Kenyon Martin strained his right knee late in the first half and did not return. The team said he would be evaluated in Denver on Sunday.
McGrady hit 13 of 23 shots and went 8-for-9 from the line, his best game since spraining his right elbow against the Los Angeles Lakers on Nov. 14. He also had five rebounds and two assists.
"Tonight was just one of those nights where I think we came out with great intensity and most importantly, we executed,'' McGrady said. "I played off the ball a lot and we got Yao the ball a lot tonight. Everybody played their role.''
McGrady sat out two games with the injury, then went 11-for-39 in his first two games back. He looked comfortable from the start on Saturday, hitting four of his first six shots as the Rockets jumped to a 24-8 lead.
Later in the first quarter, Adelman went to a small, speedy lineup, with Mike James and little-used Steve Francis sharing the backcourt. Playing for just the second time this season, Francis sank two free throws and tipped in a missed shot as the Rockets stretched their lead to 34-13.
Denver, third in the league in scoring, missed 13 of its first 18 shots. The 13 points was a season-low for a quarter.
"They weren't connecting,'' Battier said. "We'll take nights like that from a good team.''
An early sequence in the second quarter epitomized Denver's night.
On two consecutive possessions, Anthony shot an uncontested airball from 18 feet and Iverson missed a fastbreak layup. The Rockets rebounded Iverson's miss and James raced to the other end for an easy basket.
McGrady had 21 points at the half as the Rockets built a 58-40 lead.
The Nuggets shot 14-for-36 (39 percent) and had 12 turnovers in the half.
"They did everything they wanted to do,'' Iverson said.
The Rockets' lead swelled to 27 in the third quarter as Denver continued to miss shots and get outworked.
Denver coach George Karl benched Iverson and Anthony for the final six minutes.
Notes: Houston's 58 first-half points was a season high. ... McGrady, who missed two games last week with a sprained right elbow, wore a protective sleeve for the third straight game. ... Rockets G Bonzi Wells was inactive after bruising his right ankle in Friday's loss to Miami. ... Anthony missed 12 of 20 of shots.
source : NBA.com
Saturday, December 1, 2007
McGrady Gets Hot As Rockets Roll Past Nuggets
Turkoglu, Lewis Power Magic Past Heat
Orlando 120, Miami 99
ORLANDO, Fla., Nov. 24 (AP) -- Stan Van Gundy could be forgiven for gloating.
He coached his 200th NBA game Saturday night and Orlando stomped his former mentor and boss Pat Riley's team, the Miami Heat, 120-99. With the win the Magic improved to 12-3.
Instead, Van Gundy made fun of himself.
"You can see my knowledge of (Dwyane Wade's) game- we were able to limit him to his season high points of 32,'' said Van Gundy, who coached Wade his rookie year.
Hedo Turkoglu scored 27 points, Rashard Lewis added 19 and Dwight Howard had 17 points and 13 rebounds to hand the Heat its Eastern Conference-leading 10th loss.
"We just want to keep winning,'' Van Gundy said. "I've said all along if you start putting more importance on one game than another, then you're going to end up in trouble, because it's an 82-game grind and you've got to play every night.''
Wade had 32 points, Shaquille O'Neal added 20, and Ricky Davis had 23 points and seven assists, but Miami trailed for all but the opening minutes.
Orlando shot 56 percent from the field but 8-of-22 from the line, while Miami shot 47 percent from the field.
"He's done a great job,'' Riley said of his former protege. "I'm not surprised at him taking a look at what his personnel was and developing a system. We're very familiar with what they do defensively. From an offensive standpoint, they've really benefited from what he's brought to the table.''
Wade scored only two points in the first quarter, but led Miami on a 7-1 second-quarter run, stealing a pass from Lewis and feeding Mark Blount for a fastbreak layup, then making his own on a 3-point play that drew the Heat to 45-44.
Orlando coaxed the lead back to 59-49 at halftime, and Miami never got much closer.
"They are one of the best teams in the league when they are making shots,'' Wade said. "They live and die by the outside shot. Even though they have the post presence of Dwight, they still rely on the outside shot.''
The Magic went 19 minutes without a turnover, then had four in a three-minute span of the second quarter. But the Heat made only one of five shots down the stretch, committing two turnovers.
O'Neal, who started his All-Star career in Orlando, seemed to thrive on the home crowd's boos and his one-on-one matchup with Howard. The two dueled relentlessly in the post, O'Neal answering Howard's left hooks with authoritative dunks.
"I'm the type that I've got to get it in my area to really do work,'' O'Neal said. "If I don't get it in my area it doesn't seem like I'm doing work. But I can't give it to myself in my area.''
Shaq outshined Howard in the boxscore, but the Magic's young All-Star came out ahead. It's been happening that way all year for Orlando. The Magic improved to 12-3, second best in the East behind the Celtics, while Miami dropped to 3-10.
"Whoever we play, we always have a mismatch, so we want to take advantage of that,'' Turkoglu said. "Maybe tonight was different because Shaq isn't used to running. And Dwight runs better than all of us, so we have to take advantage of his attack and just play through him.''
Wade passed up early shots, instead focusing on inside feeds to O'Neal. It worked for a while - Miami started with a 5-0 lead and Shaq scored 10 on 4-of-5 shooting, but the Heat were still down 34-28 at the end of the first quarter.
Wade took control after that, finishing his second straight 30-point game on an array of outrageous drives. He got a technical for arguing a foul on an acrobatic drive late in the third quarter - and was so emotional Riley stepped between him and an official.
"They have a team made for the style of play that they play,'' Wade said, "They have like a Phoenix Suns, Eastern Conference team.''
Turkoglu shot 5-of-7 from 3-point range, including a 3 to cap an 11-0 Magic run in the third quarter. It came after Lewis missed a layup and Keith Bogans came up with a loose ball, finding Turkoglu wide open and putting Orlando ahead 76-58.
Notes: Miami G Penny Hardaway, who with O'Neal took the Magic to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 90s, played his 700th game. ... Howard cracked up the crowd by performing an O'Neal impersonation on the arena TV screen during a timeout. "Hello, this is Shaquille O'Neal from the Miami Heat,'' he said, lowering his voice. ... Orlando has won six straight against Miami; the Heat had won 10 of the previous 11.
source : NBA.com
