Rockets News

"The Olympics are still three months away, and already Yao Ming is trying to work the officials. Recalling that he fouled out against the United States in his Olympic debut eight years ago, the Houston Rockets All-Star hopes the referees are easier on him when China faces the Americans in its opener in Beijing. "Hopefully they treat the hosts better," Yao joked Thursday. But Yao is serious when he talks about his team's chances. He wants the Chinese to advance out of pool play into the quarterfinals, even though they were drawn into a difficult group..."

"As the Rockets contemplate offseason roster changes, they're also contemplating a historic hire: selecting the successors — or successor — for longtime radio voices Gene Peterson and Jim Foley. Rockets CEO Tad Brown said Thursday that Joel Blank, the team's director of broadcasting, is collecting audition tapes from candidates. He said he hopes to make a decision on the position or positions by the end of July."

"Yes, Yao and T-Mac have taken the Rockets as far into the playoffs as a sportswriter gets into the Playboy mansion. Yes, Yao and T-Mac have turned the Rockets' locker room into a triage center. Yes, yet another tidal wave of injuries to Yao and T-Mac washed away the Rockets' latest quest for an NBA championship. Especially in their current, coming-off-surgery condition, Yao (stress fracture in the left foot) and T-Mac (left shoulder and knee) are worth far more to the Rockets than anybody else. General manager Daryl Morey didn't get a degree from MIT because he wrote a term paper on the wisdom of trading a dollar for 50 cents in return."

"Center Dikembe Mutombo has told the team he will decide in the next two weeks whether to retire or return for an 18th season. Guard Steve Francis on Wednesday exercised an option on a second year of his contract, as he announced he would in January, though it will take much longer before the Rockets know what Francis can offer as he attempts to return from surgery to repair a torn quadriceps tendon in his right knee."

"The nagging injuries that sidetracked and sidelined Tracy McGrady at times during the season will factor into his offseason. McGrady on Tuesday underwent arthroscopic surgeries to remove loose bodies from his knee and shoulder and to repair a slightly torn labrum in the shoulder. He is expected to need three months to be fully recovered, though he can begin rehabilitation in the next week or two. Rockets team doctor Tom Clanton said no structural damage was found in the ligament or cartilage of McGrady's left knee."

"Rookie Carl Landry will be a restricted free agent, but he said he wants to be back with the Rockets. "This is where I want to be," he said. "I love Houston. It's not my decision. It's the Rockets' decision. Both sides have to agree. But I love Houston. This is home. I hope to be back next year."

"Rockets owner Leslie Alexander did not hesitate before offering his typical direct, concise response. The Rockets' loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday ended an eleventh-11th consecutive season before it could reach the playoffs second round of the playoffs. Alexander, as always, was taking the loss hard. Asked then if the Rockets would continue to build around their foundation of Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, veteran All-Stars who have never won a first-round series, Alexander was clear. ``Definitely,'' he said simply. ``Definitely.'' "

"Elston Turner's phone did not ring. Not yet, anyway. He did not mind, but surely he noticed. Turner had been too busy with the Rockets' first-round series against the Utah Jazz to concern himself with another position. But there are just 30 head coaching jobs in the NBA, and he would like one. Yet, as another few have come open, he has not heard his name, not even in rumor mill gossip."

"There have been any number of unexpected turns of events for the Rockets this season. There was getting up off the floor after a 15-17 start. There was continuing to barrel ahead when Yao Ming went down in the middle of the 22-game winning streak. There was clawing their way back after dropping the first two playoff games at home to the Jazz. Then there is Dikembe Mutombo."

"If the Rockets were hoping that the first-round series with the Jazz would serve as opportunities for their rookies to jump in at the deep end of playoff basketball, the series would seem to have offered the full experience with a physical, intense and long series. "Oh yeah, there's no doubt they've gotten better," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "You learn by going through it. You experience what the playoffs are all about.""

"The Rockets finally ran out of comebacks. Resilience, it turned out, could take them only so far, and for only so long. The limit was the playoffs first round. Again. After one last rally back from the brink they had emptied the tank on a season full of them until the Utah Jazz pulled away one more time to take a 113-91 win Friday in EnergySolutions Arena to take the series and end an eleventh-consecutive Rockets season before it could advance past the first round."

"Another embarrassing finish, another long off-season. Will the Rockets ever get it right? They had legitimate excuses for failing again. Don't they always? Yes, they were short-handed. No Yao Ming, etc. It's a bottom-line business, and the bottom line is that the Rockets didn't show up for start of the game that ended their season. They were out-worked by the Utah Jazz from the beginning, and there's no excuse for that. Maybe they were going to lose anyway, but the way they went down should force general manager Daryl Morey to take a hard look at his roster."

"Never mind the 40 points, the 10 rebounds and the five assists produced by Rockets guard Tracy McGrady in Houston's 113-91 Game 6 elimination loss to the Utah Jazz on Friday night. The numbers that NBA fans will probably remember the most this offseason about McGrady are zero and 7, as in his 0-7 personal record in playoff series. He had glowing statistics and a spectacular first half in Game 6, but McGrady didn't help his reputation as a first-round flop. Not that it will cause him much stress this summer."

"Goodbye, Tracy McGrady. Hello, Kobe Bryant. So goes the transition for the Jazz, who dismissed McGrady and his Houston Rockets with a 113-91 victory in Friday night's Game 6 at EnergySolutions Arena and a 4-2 win of their first-round, best-of-seven NBA playoff series. The reward for Utah, which now has ousted Houston from the opening round in two straight postseasons: A best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series with Bryant and his No. 1-seeded Los Angeles Lakers."

"The Houston Rockets showed they can't survive on Tracy McGrady alone, while the Utah Jazz didn't have to rely on just one superstar. In other words, Friday night was a good one for Jazz fans who prefer groups to solo acts and who would rather play Rock Band than Guitar Hero. Sure, Deron Williams took the lead role in Utah's first-round-clinching 113-91 win over the Houston Rockets, but he got plenty of support from some sidekicks during the sold-out show at EnergySolutions Arena."

"The Jazz are moving on in the NBA playoffs. Getting a balance scoring effort to offset a phenomenal first-half shooting performance by Tracy McGrady, the Jazz downed the Rockets 113-91 on Friday night at EnergySolutions Arena to win playoff series 4-2. "

"Though much has been said of the Jazz's strength on their home floor and their vocal fans, Rockets guard Tracy McGrady said there is another factor that makes playing at Utah difficult. "No, it's definitely not the crowd," McGrady said. "The altitude is the most difficult. Those first five minutes are very tough on the lungs. Once you get that second wind, you're fine. We're accustomed to it. We've played up there several times. But I don't care how many times you play up there, the first five minutes are brutal.""

"While their heels may not quite be dangling over the cliff, the Utah Jazz are close enough to the edge to be experiencing vertigo. There's just not much more room to backpedal. Not when they're coming off a 95-69 horsewhipping Tuesday. Not when the Rockets have suddenly made a 3-2 Jazz lead in the best-of-seven series seem razor thin. "We certainly don't want to go back to Houston for Game 7," Utah forward Matt Harpring said. "We have an opportunity to close them out here at home. It's obviously in our best interest to do that.""

"Rockets-Jazz, Game 6, is tonight. Should be exciting, right? If you can stay awake, that is. Tipoff is set for 9:30 p.m. Again. Just as it has been two other times in this first-round playoff series. This is ridiculous. They might as well go right from the postgame interviews to Wolfman Jack. You have to wonder by keeping them up past midnight to see the endings of playoff games, if the league is at all interested in creating new, young basketball fans."

"With the image of the Rockets' Game 5 triumph fresh after several sessions studying the video, Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo came up with another vision. He saw a victory in Game 6. With the Utah Jazz still leading the series 3-2, it would take, Mutombo said, all of the smaller victories that led to the 95-69 win Tuesday to get an equally important win tonight at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City."

"During the fourth quarter of the first two games in the first-round NBA playoff series, he shot a combined 0-for-4 from the field. In the fourth quarter of the next two, it was a combined 3-for-9. Tuesday night's Game 5 between the Jazz and Houston, however, was a different story altogether for Tracy McGrady. On a 13-for-26 night, the Rockets' seven-time All-Star hit three of his six fourth-quarter shots from the floor."

"Rockets forward Shane Battier, though still limited by a bruised left foot and ankle, said a change in his treatment has helped him improve, particularly since Game 4, when coach Rick Adelman had begun planning to go without Battier. "We tried something new," Battier said. "We tried to pull on it a little more. It's responded well the past couple days. It's trial and error. You try to find what feels good and what hurts. It hurts so good, as they say.""

""After you play a team five times, you wake up in the middle of the night and think, 'Oh my gosh, if they're running "automatic," what do I have to do?' That's the advantage of playing in a series. You get to know your opponent really, really well. You should eliminate some of those game-time mistakes." By Tuesday, when the Rockets set a franchise record for the fewest points allowed in a playoff game (69), they almost always ran their defense in lockstep with the Jazz offense. They rarely fell into the traps of backdoor cuts or failed to make pick-and-roll rotations. In a series marked by great defense, they got better."

"Shane Battier wants a beer. Desperately. Not for breakfast. Not for lunch. Not to wash down dinner or to drown any present or future sorrows. Battier is counting on an overpowering craving for a nice, smooth, satisfying cold one in the late hours of Friday night in Utah. He wants to toast a job well done, to salute his Rockets teammates. He'll even cordially invite Utah Jazz fans to come and cry in their watered-down beer."

"Rockets coach Rick Adelman finished third in the NBA Coach of the Year voting, but he had no objection to his former Sacramento Kings assistant, New Orleans Hornets coach Byron Scott, winning."

"As far as Rockets rookie forward Luis Scola was concerned, the reasoning became simple for Game 5 of their playoff series with Utah on Tuesday night."

"With Tuesday's game perhaps teetering on the brink, Alston first drained a 3-pointer, followed that with a dancing layup through the Utah defense and after buckets by Luis Scola and Tracy McGrady, tossed in another 3-pointer to close out a 12-0 run."

"Not after McGrady scored a game-high 29 points Tuesday night at the sold-out Toyota Center to lead the Houston Rockets past the Jazz 95-69 in Game 5 of their first-round NBA playoff series."

"The Houston Rockets did not solve their offensive problems Tuesday night. They just appeared very effective, compared with the Jazz. "

"Whatever the reason, the Jazz suffered a lifeless 95-69 loss in Tuesday night's Game 5. They still own a 3-2 series lead but will have to win Friday's Game 6 at EnergySolutions Arena to avoid a return trip here for Game 7. "

"It can start with one game, one quarter, one play. Pick your play from Game 5. Was it Dikembe Mutombo blocking a shot, then Rafer Alston throwing the long pass and Luis Scola charing like a bull to lay it in?"

"Don Quixote had his windmill. The Rockets' brass has the Olympic Tower. At least that's how Rockets players have come to view efforts to influence those at the NBA's New York headquarters."

"Remember this team? Sure you do. This was the team that won 22 in a row at one point. You remember those Rockets, don't you? They were built on energy, resilience and extraordinary defense."

"With the Rockets facing elimination from another first round, they fought back in the only way that really matters. Their defense was more suffocating than it has ever been in a playoff game and their offense more relentless than it has been in the series as they rolled to a 95-69 pummeling of the Jazz to send the best-of-seven series to Game 6 on Friday with Utah leading 3-2."

"After Saturday's Game 4 in the ongoing Jazz-Houston Rockets NBA playoff series, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan addressed the 3-for-13 field shooting of All-Star power forward Carlos Boozer. "They're doing a pretty good job guarding him," Sloan said of Boozer, who after scoring 20 points in Game 1 of the series has been limited to 13 points in Game 2, 15 in Game 3 and 14 in Game 4. "I don't know how else to explain it."

"Houston coach Rick Adelman's complaints about the Jazz's supposedly physical play in their ongoing NBA playoff series with his Rockets did not end at the postseason game news conference following Saturday's Game 4. Instead, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday, Adelman was talking about the subject again Sunday. And he wishes the NBA would do something about it — preferably in advance of tonight's Game 5 in the first-round, best-of-seven series that Utah leads 3-1."

"Now that the Jazz are up 3-1 in the playoffs, all that remains between them and the second round is a single win, which logically should be like taking candy from a child, or Rick Adelman, whichever whines more. But that doesn't mean the Jazz should slip into cruise control for tonight's game against Houston. Not by a long shot. They've proven their vulnerability by going down to the final seconds in both games in Salt Lake. In fact, they have a fairly extensive list of issues they need to correct in order to become Kobe-worthy."

"Since the Houston-Utah playoff series started, the Rockets have complained about the Jazz's aggressive defense on All-Star Tracy McGrady. Now, coach Rick Adelman has upped the ante. Adelman wants the NBA to look at what he considers the Wrestlemania-type tactics that have limited McGrady's success, especially in the fourth quarter. "

"The Rockets knew the situation. With another loss to the Utah Jazz, their season would be over. Only eight NBA teams have come back from the 3-1 deficit the Rockets face. But they have spent a season not just denying doubts, but relishing them."

"McGrady revealed Monday that he's playing on a left knee that's in such bad shape that he has had to take painkilling injections just to get on the floor. He hinted postseason surgery is a possibility."

"With much attention paid to the physical style of the Jazz's defense, particularly on Tracy McGrady, McGrady said he might have a solution."

"The charges in New York against Rockets guard Rafer Alston were dropped on Friday, Alston's attorney Al Ebanks said."

"A year ago, when the Jazz knocked off the Rockets in the first round and made their run to the NBA Western Conference finals, Ronnie Brewer did not get a single minute of playing time in the playoffs. He was practically tied to the Utah bench."

"Only Game 1 had a final margin of double digits. Each of the last three have gone into the last minute of the game with the outcome up in the air. If the Rockets come out from the start tomorrow night taking the physical play to the Jazz, being aggressive, there's no reason why they can't send this back to Salt Lake City for Game 6."

"But after four games and several marathon film reviews, Adelman was sure of his distaste for the way the Jazz had defended his offense and what the Rockets had to do about it."

"Of all the team's concerns heading into Tuesday's Game 5, Rockets coach Rick Adelman said he was not worried about the Rockets' determination despite needing three consecutive wins to take their first-round series."

"Leave it to Andrei Kirilenko to put a new perspective on Tracy McGrady's continuing inability to get the ball in the basket in the fourth quarter."

"It looks like our happy family could use a few days apart. Why else would Tracy McGrady publicly call out his head coach?"

"Mehmet Okur went past Tracy McGrady to the board, drew a foul and hit both free throws to give the Jazz a 3-1 first-round series lead with an 86-82 victory over the Rockets before 19,911 in EnergySolutions Arena on Saturday night."

"Mehmet Okur's not the best trash talker in the world, nor does he make a habit of doing it on a regular basis. But when he does, like he did on Saturday night, minutes following Utah's 86-82 win over the Houston Rockets in Game 4, he makes it worth listening to. For proof, just check out the following sentence. "