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Hornets strip away win from Rockets in fourth quarter
New Orleans 87, Houston 82
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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
HOUSTON -- During the waning moments of the fourth quarter, Yao Ming wanted the ball in his hands.
He just couldn't keep the Hornets from taking it away.
Despite pleas from the Houston bench for a whistle on consecutive possessions, the Hornets stripped the ball and the game away from Yao and Co. in the fourth quarter to seize a stunning 87-82 victory Sunday afternoon at Toyota Center.
Chris Paul, who had 19 points and 11 assists, scored on a driving layup with 29.3 seconds remaining to give the Hornets the lead for good and then sank four three throws down the stretch to seal the victory.
The game, however, turned minutes earlier on a pair of critical turnovers. The Rockets were clinging to a 78-76 lead when Tyson Chandler twice stripped the ball out of Yao's hands in the final two minutes. Despite appearing to draw contact with Yao's wrist on each play, there was no whistle and the Hornets converted the two turnovers into five fast-break points.
The Rockets didn't see the two miscues as turnovers.
"He didn't strip him," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "He fouled. Superstars are supposed to get calls. He didn't get calls so that's a huge play. Simple as that. That's a five-point play."
The Rockets (20-18) had their season-best five-game winning streak snapped and suffered their seventh loss to the Hornets in their last nine games.
With his teammates struggling to sink open jumpers in the fourth quarter, Yao tried to carry the Rockets. He was the only Houston player to score in the final six minutes, scoring eight points in the fourth quarter. He finished with a game-high 30 points and 16 rebounds.
Unfortunately, Chandler's two takeaways spoiled Yao's afternoon. The Rockets center turned to the game's officials after both strips looking for a foul, but never got a call. He ended up with six turnovers.
"I tried to talk to the official," Yao said. "I said they hit my arm and they said the hand and the ball are the same so I have nothing to say. But on the first one, they grabbed my arm. That's why the ball came out. But those are two turnovers. It's on me."
The Rockets did have their chances to recover.
Yao canned a turnaround, 14-footer in the lane and then got to the free throw line by drawing Chandler's sixth foul. Yao sank both free throws, giving the Rockets a 82-81 lead with 34.3 seconds left.
That's when the Hornets turned to Paul. The Hornets point guard rolled the ball up the floor to save the clock, then scooped it up and beat both Rafer Alston and Yao to the rim for a score.
After Yao missed a hook shot over David West on the ensuing possession, Paul got the ball and was immediately fouled. He swished his two free throws, extending New Orleans' lead to 85-82.
The Rockets' hopes of at least sending the game into overtime came up short when Yao misfired on a last-gasp three-point attempt.
The Hornets closed the game with a 13-4 run, capping off a fourth quarter in which they shot 45.8 percent to erase an eight-point Houston lead.
"We let them score almost 30 points in the fourth quarter and that right there tells you we didn't deserve to win this game," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "You can't have a team down like we did for three quarters and let them score 30 points."
Adelman said the Rockets finished the game about how they started it.
Houston opened the game stagnant offensively and allowed Paul to run the show. The Hornets point guard had five assists in the first quarter, lifting New Orleans to a 26-18 advantage.
Despite warming up a little in the second quarter, the Rockets went into the break trailing 46-39. Houston rookie Aaron Brooks provided a lift by scoring eight of his 11 points in the period.
"I didn't think that we played with enough energy in the first half," Adelman said. "They kind of controlled the tempo on us and we walked around for a good part of it."
The Rockets changed that in the third quarter.
With Yao leading the way, the Rockets erased New Orleans' advantage and built as much as an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter. Yao scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half.
But when it mattered most, the Hornets took the game away.
"We got in control of it and one thing we didn't do is we didn't finish in the fourth quarter like we should," Adelman said. "Even before the last two minutes, we had our chances to maintain the six or eight-point lead and we didn't do it. That's disappointing. We have to learn how to finish games better than that."
