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Nuggets hurt Rockets' chances for top seed
Denver 111, Houston 94
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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
The Rockets still have a slight chance of claiming the top spot
in the Western Conference.
Unfortunately, they didn't help their odds on Sunday night.
Behind an all-around rough performance in the
first half, the Rockets missed an opportunity to gain ground in
the race for the Wes'ts No. 1 seed by suffering a 111-94
setback to the Denver Nuggets at the Pepsi Center.
Allen Iverson scored a game-high 33 points and got plenty of help
from his supporting cast to snap Houston's five-game winning
streak.
The loss dropped the Rockets (54-26) from third to fifth in the
West. But even though they still have an outside chance of
winning the West, it's a long shot. The Rockets are 1 1/2 games
behind the conference-leading Lakers with two games remaining in the regular season.
But with the way they struggled against the Nuggets, the Rockets left Denver with greater concerns than the
top seed in the West.
"It is disappointing because of the way we played," Rockets guard
Tracy McGrady said. "I am not concerned with the No. 1 spot. I am concerned with how we are playing right now."
The biggest concern? That would be who wasn't on the floor for the Rockets.
The Rockets opened Sunday's game without two key contributors --
Shane Battier (bruised foot) and Bobby Jackson (strained knee) --
before finishing it with another starter on the sideline.
Rafer Alston, who has been dealing with a sore hamstring over the past few weeks, was pulled in the third quarter after reaggravating his injury.
None of the injuries are expected to keep the three players out of the playoffs. But Houston would like to be more healthy at this point in the season.
"We had a lot of guys out -- a lot of key guys out," McGrady said. "I was out there with a young crew."
The Nuggets didn't need long to take advantage of the
short-handed Rockets, building a double-digit lead in the first
half and scoring seemingly at will.
J.R. Smith came off the bench to sink four of his five three-pointers in the first half, finishing with 23 points. The rest of the Nuggets did their damage at the free throw line, getting 24 of their 30 attempts from the stripe in the first half. Iverson alone got over half of his 14 points from the line over that stretch.
The Rockets, meanwhile, couldn't keep pace as their fouls and
turnovers piled up. Houston shot 34.8 percent.
"It was a very poor game on our part," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "We haven't had a game like that in a long time. We just never got on track. We turned it over and made a lot of mistakes defensively. Offensively, it was our worst game in a long time. We never made them defend us. It was a very poor effort on our part."
McGrady tried to pick up the offensive load in the first half by driving to the bucket and creating shots for his teammates. But he picked up four early fouls, forcing him to the bench before halftime.
By the time he returned for the second half, the Nuggets had a 61-44
advantage. The lead only grew in the third quarter even though the Rockets avoided committing more fouls.
Eventually, Iverson made a fade-away jumper with a
little over a minute left in the third quarter to extend Denver's
lead to 23 points.
That was the ball game.
"This is the hardest my team has played all season," Denver coach George Karl said. "When my team's playing harder than the opponent and they play with intensity that is admirable, they are hard to beat."
The Rockets will now have to bounce back quickly from the blowout
loss.
On Monday night, Houston will visit Utah in a matchup that could
determine home-court advantage if the Rockets and Jazz once again
meet in the first round of the playoffs.
Of course, there's also still a chance that the Rockets could win
the West.
But with the odds for that happening diminished after Sunday's
setback, the Rockets will more likely spend the final three days
of the regular season trying to get healthy and maintain at least
home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
"We just have to win tomorrow and win the next game," Rockets forward Luis Scola said. "Whoever the team is that we play, so be it -- Utah, Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio, New Orleans, Lakers or Denver. They all are the same. Everybody is the same."
