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Monday March 2, 2009 2:25 AM

Rockets Snap Road Skid With Win Over Wolves

Big third quarter powers Houston to 105-94 victory

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Minneapolis - They didn’t care about aesthetic value. Nor were they concerned with racking up style points. The Houston Rockets simply wanted a road win, period. And thanks to a balanced offensive effort and yet another sensational third quarter, they finally laid claim to the sort of victory which had eluded them for far too long.

With six players registering double figures in scoring, the Rockets quickly bounced back from one of their most discouraging losses of the season by dispatching Minnesota 105-94.

Houston’s win came less than 24 hours after the club’s crushing defeat in Chicago, and also snapped the Rockets’ four-game road losing streak.

“When you lose four in a row on the road, you don’t care how you get it, you just want to get that feeling back of winning on the road,” said Shane Battier. “It’s been awhile for this team. We played solid pretty much all the way tonight and that needs to be our trademark. We’re not going to be the flashiest team, but we should be a workmanlike team and a very solid team night in and night out.”

The key stretch of the game took place during the third quarter, when Houston outscored the Timberwolves 29-16, turning what had been a nip-and-tuck affair into a rather one-sided contest. That the Rockets would use the third quarter to pull away shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise; during the team’s last eight games, Houston has outscored its opponents by 81 points – an average of more than 10 points per contest.

"Attribute that to the coaches,” said Battier. “They make good adjustments at halftime. We come out with the mindset of let's turn up our defense, and it's been our defensive pressure that has allowed us to start rebounding the ball and getting the ball out and getting some easy buckets. We've just done a great job of coming out of the locker room with a ton of energy and discipline."

Of course, the Rockets had similar third quarter success against Chicago, only to fall apart down the stretch in the fourth. This time there was no such meltdown however, despite Minnesota’s use of the same fronting defense which had confounded Yao Ming and the Rockets offense the night before. Houston was clearly ready to see that strategy employed again and, though not perfect, did a better job of figuring out how to exploit that particular defense’s soft spots – in part, because of a new wrinkle Coach Rick Adelman introduced.

“I liked Kyle [Lowry] and Aaron [Brooks] on the floor together,” he said. “That gave us two ballhandlers. Either one can bring it up and either one can make things happen, so that's one thing I wanted to do if they were going to front ( Yao). I wanted to swing it and use those two guys to attack. As long as they can match up defensively and one of them can guard a bigger guy, we have the advantage there."

Both guards said they felt comfortable on the floor together, with Lowry even going so far as to say he could see the duo becoming “a deadly combination” down the line with more time to acquaint themselves with each other’s games. That said, the immediate results were nothing to sneeze at, either. Brooks especially was excellent, scoring 22 points while dishing out a career-high 10 assists (with only one turnover).

“Personally, that [4th quarter against the Bulls Saturday night] was probably the worst quarter I think I’ve ever played," said Brooks. "But [the season] is 82 games, so I just wanted to make sure it didn’t get me down for this one.

“Everybody struggles in this league, but I think as a team we bounce back. That’s what we did this game and got the ‘W’. So now we’re in better spirits and can have a nice flight home.”

And 1’s: By recording 10 assists Sunday night, Aaron Brooks joined Tracy McGrady, Rafer Alston and Luther Head as the only Rockets players since the 05-06 season to record double-digit assists in a single game… Carl Landry returned to action after missing the previous 5 games with a sprained right ankle. He scored 12 points, grabbed 3 rebounds and swatted two shots in nearly 26 minutes of play… Yao Ming set his season-high with 6 blocked shots. His career-high for a single game is 8… Luis Scola recorded his 22 nd double-double of the season. The Rockets are now 23-9 all-time when Scola posts a double-double.

QUOTES

Rick Adelman:

"I'm just pleased with the way our guys came out and played tonight after a disappointment last night, especially in the third quarter. We really controlled the game in the third quarter and took it right to the end."

"We just talked about it at halftime -- they were making a lot of shots. They were really attacking the paint on us. We were shooting over 60 percent and only up one. So we just talked about whichever team was going to maintain the defensive intensity and continue to execute, you're going to open the game up. Whoever that's going to be, and we want it to be us."

"There's no doubt, I still hadn't forgotten (last night). Our guys have to understand: We come down and just sort of stand there looking at Yao again. We can't do that. We just can't do it. But I liked Kyle and Aaron on the floor together. That gave us two ballhandlers. Either one can bring it up and either one can make things happen, so that's one thing I wanted to do if they were going to front. I wanted to swing it and use those two guys to attack. As long as they can match up defensively and one of them can guard a bigger guy, we have the advantage there."

"Really pleased (with the way Aaron bounded back). He came out aggressive. But you know, we talked about that this morning, that whenever we've had games like that, not to that extent, but we had a game against Indiana like that. We've had two or three like that where we've let things slip away. We always responded. That's what we talked about. You've done it before, you've got to learn from last night and you've got to come out and you've got to be resilient and turn it back around. This is a really big game for us. We finally got a road win, stopped the road losing streak, and maybe we can build off that."

We were trying to keep them understanding what we have to do to attack it. If they’re going to front Yao, then we should have an advantage somewhere else. So it’s just something we’ve got to continue to work on.

Ron Artest:

"Every time you get win in on the road, it doesn't matter who you play against, it's always a testament to hard work. Roads wins don't come easy, no matter who you are playing in the NBA."

"Tonight we played hard and we played smart. Yesterday we played hard and built up the lead in the fourth quarter. It was just a different situation for the new unit we have. You need games like that. If everybody was perfect, if every game was perfect, everybody would be champions. It's unfortunate that it's not like that, but it's a challenge and this team more than accepts that challenge."

"Every game we can feel that we can score in the paint. Obviously it's going to be different defenses that are going to be thrown at us but if we are in the right spots, we're basically impossible to guard -- especially with Carl and Luis being very high percentage shooters in the paint and from the outside, so we are very tough to guard."

Carl Landry:

"We have been struggling to get a road win, so snapping this losing streak was good. We started to come together and we started to gel. We played better defensively and that's what we need, especially coming down the stretch."

"I feel like we are finding our rotation. Myself, Kyle Lowry, Ron -- we all have a contribution to make to the team. We have to stay ready every night whoever it is. It's the starters' job to come in and set the tone and it's our job as bench players to come in and keep up."

Shane Battier

“When you lose four in a row on the road, you don’t care how you get it, you just want to get that feeling back of winning on the road. It’s been awhile for this team. We played solid pretty much all the way tonight and that needs to be our trademark We’re not going to be the flashiest team, but we should be a workmanlike team and a very solid team night in and night out.”

(on the team’s third quarter dominance): "Attribute that to the coaches. They make good adjustments at the halftimes. We come out with the mindset of let's turn up our defense, and it's been our defensive pressure that has allowed us to start rebounding the ball and getting the ball out and getting some easy buckets. We've just done a great job of coming out of the locker room with a ton of energy and discipline."

"Especially without Al Jefferson here, we knew that we had to get the big fella the ball, and he did a good job of attacking the basket and getting in the paint and just playing solid."

Yao Ming

Last night made all the difference. When you have a loss like last night, that will make you play different today. Even with a 20-point cushion, you will not let that game go again.

I think we used me well. I’m not just saying they passed me the ball, but all my teammates really used me well. They used the double-teams to get open looks for the rest of the team.

I was always thinking of last night. Last night was a nightmare.

My feeling is we wanted to have two wins on the road trip. We didn’t. We should have that.”

Aaron Brooks

Personally, that [4 th quarter against the Bulls] was probably the worst quarter I think I’ve ever played. But [the season] is 82 games, so I just wanted to make sure it didn’t get me down for this one.

Everybody struggles in this league. I think as a team we bounce back. That’s what we did this game and got the ‘W’. So now we’re in better spirits and can have a nice flight home. I think last game we kind of settled; if Yao wasn’t open we were just sitting there waiting for him to get open instead of doing something else and going away from him to try and score. So this time, if he wasn’t open, we tried to get our own shots.

(on playing with Lowry): He’s a great penetrator and he sees the floor well. I feel comfortable. It gives me a break from bringing the ball up and allows me to spot up and shoot some shots. I was only 1-for-5 from the three-point line tonight, but I got some good looks.

Kyle Lowry

(on playing with Brooks): I think we can be really deadly when we get more reps together and I get to learn another position besides the one. I think it can be a deadly combination.

I think we definitely compliment each other. He’s more of a scorer, so I think him coming off the ball and not having to exert so much energy getting the ball up the court allows him to relax and focus more on scoring, and that’s what he’s good at.

Minnesota Coach Kevin McHale:

"I think the game was really decided in that four- or five-minute period in that third quarter when they got some separation on us. We weren't able to come back. We had some turnovers and drove in there a couple times and got a shot or two blocked, and they got out there and ran out and we weren't able to recover from that. I think we had a 16-point third and I think they outscored us 13 in the third, and most of that was kind of in a four- or five-minute barrage there. We kind of from that point on just played about even with them, and never really got a chance to make a run at them."

"We had a tough time with -- you know, Yao's huge. We got some fouls trying to get Yao off the box a little bit. I thought the guys (who) were able to front him and move around did a much better job on trying to keep him out, and Artest and Brooks really made some shots. Artest made a couple bombs in that stretch. Like I said, we had some offensive sets where we had some open guys and we tried throwing a tougher pass instead of making the easy pass. As has been our case here lately, then we started getting a little bit more searching and a little too much dribbling and a little too much pressing and not enough ball movement."

"We attacked, we had three of four attacks that we made that we didn't score on. We turned it over a couple times, they had a couple blocks that they ran off of, but we tried to battle through that. Then in the fourth quarter we kept playing, trying to play through that, (but) we just couldn't. We only drew 14 fouls tonight. I don't know, it's like the last two games the length at the basket, we're just not moving the ball enough to draw fouls. We've got to get them to foul us on our drives to the basket and get them fouling us on our way there more than we will at the rim. Right now with those big guys in there, we get a little bit, we're just not able to go in there and finish on the top of them."

"It wears everybody down, there's no question about it. But you know what? We had a good practice yesterday, I saw some signs of some stuff, but again, we just had some lapses and we can't have those lapses. We've got to improve, and I talk about it all the time, we've got to get better. We went through some periods in the first half where we didn't keep the people in front of us, and that really hurt us. Our offense led to some of their offense, and that's really the game right there in that stretch. We're not going to be able to have those stretches where we turn it over and all of a sudden it's a 15-to-two run. I think it was a two- or three-point game and then all of a sudden it was a 13- or 14-point game."

"Tonight they got some open shots because of Yao. We're trying to circle the wagons around him and try to keep the ball out of his hands. Again, I thought that we were able to front him and keep it out of there and did a pretty good job, but if you're going to front, you've got to pull the weak side off, and they spun it around and made a couple shots early. It was really during that (stretch) we weren't able to execute and slow them down. At least if you're scoring, you can get back, but they got some breakouts. We had some mismatches or some cross-matches that we didn't run back on, and they got a couple layups and got the lead extended out there pretty good on us."

"The guys, to their credit, we just right now are at a point where we've got to figure out how we're going to be aggressive with the ball yet not go through that period of turning it over. You've still got to attack, so we've got to get better defensively... I think they started out eight for their first nine or something like that, and then we have to take it in. The thing is, they started off with -- and that's where I think we just have to mature and grow -- they started off with a curl play for Artest for two, and other than that it was eight straight jump shots. I kept telling them, make them shoot jump shots, make them shoot jump shots, and they make them and sometimes I think we start overcompensating on the jump shots a little bit. We've got to be able to get better defensively, there's no question about that."

Minnesota Forward Ryan Gomes:

"I would say up until the third quarter with six minutes to go, we played well, and then they just went on a run. The last few games we've been going on droughts scoring for long periods of time and that's been the big difference. We know they're a good defensive team, they have Yao back there and all that, but we can't go for three-and-a-half-minute stretches where they're coming and scoring 10 points, even though it might not be a 10-0 run, but they're scoring 10 and we're not getting anything on the other end."

"I think defensively we made them take the shots we wanted them to take. They hit a lot of jump shots and they didn't get too many points in the paint tonight, so that's what we wanted them to do. Our hats have to go off to them for making their shots. They shot a high percentage, but if you look back at the game it wasn't like we were getting beat up in the paint and they were hitting contested jump shots."

"We actually did a good job on Yao also, so we took them pretty much a little bit out of their game. But Ron Artest hit some shots, Aaron Brooks played well for them, so those guys stepped up when they noticed what we were doing with Yao fronting and them swinging it, and it was finding a guy when we were fronting who was coming to tag and them finding a guy on the weak side."

Minnesota Forward Craig Smith:

"We've just got to make (Yao) uncomfortable a little bit, put him in a position where he doesn't feel comfortable and try to get him off the block and be a little bit physical and push him off the block, and then just see what he's going to do from there."

"Our guys were just finding me, and I had a little bit of an advantage with Yao Ming guarding me, especially with my quickness, so I was just trying to use that and get to the cup... Just put him in a pick-and-roll situation where he can't move his feet very well and I just get out and try to attack him... I'm feeling much better now due to my rib injury, so I'm just getting back in game shape and feeling pretty good."

"It's definitely learning, because we're playing without the big fella and always having a go-to player like Al, it's a learning lesson because we've got to find out -- if we don't have him sometimes, what can we do to be effective and win ballgames? It's been tough. We've been there, we've been in games, we won a good one down in Miami and we've been in a few good ones here. It's just that we come up a little short and just can't seem to buy a bucket in the third quarter."

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