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Rockets get hot from long range to bury Nets
Houston 96, New Jersey 89
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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
The Nets clogged the lane to take away the passing lane from Yao Ming and trapped Tracy McGrady on the perimeter to force one of the league's worst three-point shooting teams to beat them from beyond the arc.
Clearly, the Rockets had the Nets right where they wanted them.
Behind a rare hot shooting night from three-point range, the Rockets netted seven three-pointers and eventually got the ball inside to their big man as they held off the New Jersey Nets for a 96-89 victory Friday night at the Izod Center.
The Rockets, ranked 28th in the league in three-point shooting heading into Friday's action, knocked down a surprising 50 percent of their shots from three-point range, matching their best effort from long range this season. McGrady, who was double-teamed through most of the second half, connected on three-of-four three-pointers to pace himself to a 24-point performance, while Rafer Alston and Shane Battier each added a pair from long distance.
"It was a good win for us at the beginning of the trip," said Rockets coach Rick Adelman, whose team opened a three-game road trip. "We played really well in the first half. They had made a run at the start of the second half and we responded. We just kind of kept them at bay."
The Rockets (11-9) did that by making everything that the Nets gave them.
With New Jersey clogging the lane through the first three quarters, the Rockets canned six of their first eight attempts from three-point range. Battier hit the first of those three-pointers in the first quarter by drilling a shot from the elbow to stretch Houston's lead to 28-16. From there, Houston just didn't miss. The Rockets made five in a row at one point before McGrady hit the final of those daggers with just under a minute remaning in the third quarter. That final shot gave Houston a 72-60 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
The Nets tried to cool off the Rockets by stretching their defense in the fourth quarter, but that just opened things up for Yao. The Rockets center scored nine of his game-high 25 points in the final quarter, holding off New Jersey's final push with a flurry of hook shots and jumpers.
"I faced a lot of different double teams," Yao said. "I know they wanted to double team me because they want to get the ball out of my hands. I need to use that advantage, which is pass the ball when we have wide-open shots or just maybe beat the double team and score. Sometimes, I did pass the ball. Sometimes, I did shoot the ball."
The Rockets took care of the rest with their defensive effort.
Despite getting Jason Kidd back in the lineup after a well-publicized one-game hiatus, the Nets didn't get into an offensive rhythm until it was too late. New Jersey had only 60 points through the first three quarters and got almost all of their production from Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter. Carter matched a season-high with 32 points, while Jefferson chipped in with 29 points.
The Nets eventually made a run in the fourth quarter, but never pulled closer than seven points.
"Anytime a team is struggling, you don’t want to let them get caught up in the game and let them get confident," McGrady said. "The point guard they have is Jason Kidd and he is controlling everything. We didn’t want that to happen. So we went at him right away. We didn’t let them get too comfortable. Our defense was pretty solid tonight, especially in the first half. We held the Nets to 30-something percent shooting (in the first half)."
The Rockets, though, didn't have any trouble finding their shot.
