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Tuesday April 17, 2007 8:40 AM


Rockets secure home-court edge in first round


Houston 120, Phoenix 117


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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
HOUSTON -- Tracy McGrady has won two NBA scoring titles and has participated in seven All-Star Games.

He's got a feeling that what he's about to accomplish this season with the Rockets will be more impressive than any of that other stuff.

Before the second largest crowd in franchise history, the Rockets clinched home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs Monday night with a thrilling 120-117 victory over the Phoenix Suns.

McGrady came up one assist shy of recording his third career triple-double with 39 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists, while Yao Ming contributed 34 points and nine boards.

The Rockets (52-19) secured their best record since 1997 and will open the postseason at home against Utah. The series is expected to begin either Saturday or Sunday.

Sounding convinced that his team is poised for a deep postseason run, McGrady said the Rockets proved something with their impressive victory over the NBA's second best team.

"This is one of the greatest accomplishments of my career," McGrady said of a 52-win season and earning home-court advantage for the first time in his career. "There was something major at stake. If we win, we knew we're getting home court. Knowing that and going against a team like Phoenix, and to come out victorious, it was definitely a great feeling."

The Rockets snapped a six-game losing skid to the Suns and ran their current winning streak to five games heading into Wednesday's regular season finale against Utah.

With the victory, the Rockets avoided a potential showdown against the Jazz in what would have amounted to a winner-takes-home-court-advantage matchup.

Instead, the Rockets gave themselves a boost heading into the playoffs. They haven't started the postseason at home -- or won a playoff series -- since 1997.

"I don't want to diminish it, but for some of the guys who have never had home-court advantage, I think it can be misunderstood a little bit (since it only comes into play if there is a Game 7)," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "We've got a lot of studying to do. We have to obviously play very well against a very good team. This isn't about a crusade to win one series. We want to be a championship-caliber team."

The Rockets showed what they're capable of doing against the Suns.

Behind impressive outings from their two marquee players, the Rockets shot 48.4 percent and sank 11 three-pointers. They even dominated the glass by collecting 19 offensive rebounds.

The Rockets also showed how difficult they can be to stop when both of their star players are clicking.

"Tracy played a great all-around game and shot the ball very well," Suns center Amare Stoudemire said. "When Yao got going, it was really hard to stop the tandem."

Despite having already wrapped up the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, the Suns didn't rest any of their starters and pushed the Rockets for the win until the final buzzer.

Behind 13 points from Yao in the fourth quarter and McGrady's torrid shooting night, the Rockets built what looked like an insurmountable 118-108 lead with 2:14 remaining.

The Suns, though, came charging back. Leandro Barbosa ignited the Suns' comeback with a layup and three-pointer. Phoenix guard Steve Nash then came up with a steal and hit Amare Stoudemire on an alley-oop pass to shrink Houston's lead to 118-115 with 48.5 seconds to go.

Despite having multiple chances to complete the rally in the closing seconds, the Suns missed a pair of potential game-tying three-pointers. Nash misfired with 6.4 seconds left and Stoudemire clanked a three-point try with under three seconds left that was put back in the hole for a meaningless basket by Shawn Marion.

The Suns finished shooting 57.3 percent. Stoudemire had 30 points, while Nash had 15 points and 15 assists.

Still, the Rockets managed to hold them off for a much-needed win. Now, they're thinking about making a postseason run.

"I think there's talk about winning a series because the organization hasn't won a series in a while," Rockets point guard Rafer Alston said. "But I don't think the coaches and players are heading into it thinking, 'Hey, let's just win the first round series.' We went to training camp with one goal in mind and that's to win the title."

McGrady couldn't agree more.

"We proved something to ourselves knowing that if something of that magnitude in a game was on the line, we're capable of winning it," he said.