Print
McGrady carries the Rockets past the Blazers
Houston 95, Portland 86
Video Recap
Box Score
Print
RSS Feed
Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Tracy McGrady had been searching for his shot since spraining his left shoulder almost two weeks ago.
On Thursday night, he found his shooting touch.
Behind an impressive second-half scoring spurt from McGrady, the Rockets snapped out of their recent funk with a much-needed 95-86 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden.
McGrady netted a game-high 35 points -- 26 in the second half -- as the
Rockets avoided suffering their third straight setback to begin a five-game
road trip.
The Rockets (50-25) moved into a tie with the Phoenix Suns for fifth in the
Western Conference and, more importantly, remained only 2 1/2 games off the
New Orleans Hornets' pace for the top spot in the conference.
Houston can thank McGrady for that.
Despite missing All-Star guard Brandon Roy and starting guard Martell
Webster, the Blazers hung with the Rockets for nearly 33 minutes after wiping away what was once a 16-point advantage for Houston in the first half.
McGrady, though, made sure his team wouldn't suffer another deflating loss to a team heading to the NBA Draft Lottery.
The Rockets' leading scorer, who had been struggling with his shot since
spraining his shoulder, drilled nine of his final 14 attempts to carry his
team.
The burst started in the third quarter. With the Blazers seizing a 63-61 lead, the Rockets star responded with 12 points over a four-minute span, helping the Rockets end the period with a 13-0 run that gave them a 74-63 advantage.
By the time the fourth quarter was three minutes old, it was clear that
McGrady wasn't going to cool off. He answered every comeback attempt from the Blazers by overwhelming Portland's D with a flurry of pull-up jumpers and drives to the bucket.
With a little over five minutes remaining in regulation, McGrady put
the game out of the Blazers' reach. He bolted past Travis Outlaw for a
runner, drawing a foul that sent him to the line for a three-point play. The
free throw pushed Houston ahead 86-74, ending Portland's chances.
McGrady's efforts led five players in double figures as Houston made up for the absence of injured starting point guard Rafer Alston.
Alston missed Thursday's game with a strained hamstring and is listed as day-to-day heading into Friday's date with Seattle. With their starting point guard out, the Rockets turned to Bobby Jackson and Aaron Brooks.
Jackson made his first start since joining the Rockets, scoring 11 points and handing out four assists. Brooks, a rookie who hadn't seen significant action in almost two months, added 12 points off the bench.
McGrady, though, was the biggest difference.
Despite still dealing with a sore shoulder, he regained his storke when the Rockets needed him most.
