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Thursday November 20, 2008 0:09 AM

Rockets' Offense Goes Ice Cold Against Mavs


Jason Terry leads Dallas to 96-86 victory

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - Maybe it was the absence of Yao Ming. Perhaps it was the early start. Whatever the reason, the Rockets (7-5) were out of sync from start to finish during a frustrating 96-86 loss to Dallas.

"We just didn’t play well enough to win this game," said coach Rick Adelman. "In the first half, we didn’t defend them like we needed to. In the second half, offensively, it was just the same thing we’ve been doing all year: We just got real stagnant, we didn’t have good movement and if we did get good shots we didn’t make them."

Never was that more evident than during a third quarter which witnessed the Rockets shoot a cringe-inducing 2-of-17 from the floor. The lowlights included a dizzying array of missed jumpers, runners and lay-ups as Houston needed nearly six minutes before finally converting its first field goal of the quarter. Unfortunately, the drought didn't end there - the Rockets required another six minutes before netting its next bucket.

Yet thanks to some solid second half defense - and plenty of poor play from the Mavs as well - Houston hung around long enough to make things interesting at the end. Back-to-back fourth quarter treys courtesy of Aaron Brooks and Von Wafer injected some life into a dormant Toyota Center crowd and brought the Rockets within five. Less than a minute later, the fans were given another boost after a Ron Artest steal got converted into yet another Brooks' three-pointer, cutting the Dallas lead down to three.

But just as he'd done all night, noted Rockets-killer Jason Terry came to the Mavs. rescue one more time. Terry, who scored a game-high 31, poured in 10 points over the course of the next seven minutes to effectively keep Houston at bay and allowing Dallas to escape with its fifth win of the young season.

“[Toyota Center is] a good shooting arena," said Terry. "I’ve heard others say it wasn’t, but one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. I like the red back ground, it’s like a bull's eye to me.”

After the game, everyone in the Rockets' locker room was left searching for answers to the issues which have been plaguing the club's offense so far this season.

"It comes and goes," said Rafer Alston. "We'll have a couple of good games and then we'll fall back off. I think we need to think about that and be consistent because we can't have this up and down all the time. Hopefully, we'll become more solid in the future because I think that is a big part of a championship team."

As he's stressed all year, coach Adelman says the solution to his team's offensive woes starts with better ball-movement and decision-making.

"If you don’t have Yao, you have to move the ball. I thought there were time when we had the ball in the hands of someone who could get there and our thought process was very poor – we’d run right in the way of the guy. Yeah, a big part of it is not having Yao, but we have to be an effective team offensively without him, and we certainly weren’t tonight.

"I think a lot of it is our mental approach: We don’t see what’s happening, we don’t see who has the ball. We’re just out of sync."

Quotes

Rick Adelman

(on limiting Tracy McGrady’s minutes): I’ve been told to try and keep his minutes around 30 and that makes it very difficult. He sits around for a long period of time, and I think it’s hard for him to come back in and be ready to go. It’s just something we have to live with right now.

(on his team’s play): I thought we were really discombobulated tonight. Yao being out, Ron missing practice yesterday, it just seemed like we were completely out of sync offensively.

(on getting Ron Artest better looks in the offense): We have to get him in situations where he can catch the ball and give him room to attack. What’s been happening is a lot of times it’s an isolation for him or a post-up, but the defense is already set. That’s why I say we have to find a way to go to one side, then come back to him. If he gets room to take a step when there’s no one around him, he’s very difficult because now he can impose his will. But it’s tough for him when he gets in there sometimes and there’s three guys surrounding him.

I had him in Sacramento and that was a little bit easier for him because we had so many shooters around him, and it was hard to leave those guys. We’re a little bit different, so we’re trying to find ways to get him opportunities.

(on Tracy McGrady): He’s such a creator for us. Right now he’s still very good in the post at finding people, but it’s out in the open floor where he can break people down [that he’s struggling]. It’s going to take him some time – you hope it’s just going to get better as he doesn’t have pain or anything. But it’s definitely affected him and it certainly affects us, too, because we’re so used to him with the ball in his hands and finding people. Right now it’s a little bit of a struggle, but that’s no reason we can’t find a solution to it.

Tracy McGrady

We’re still searching and you can see that out there. The offense is kind of out of sync at times – where we’re getting the ball, the isos, we’re still out there searching offensively. It’s still early, but we need to pick it up and do a better job executing.

(On his time playing) "Right now we stick with the limit and that is what it's going to be. I don't know what that limit is, maybe thirty minutes, but however many minutes I played tonight is what it's going to be."

(On his contribution to the team) "Throughout the game we had some easy shots. Our offense was there but we had some shots and we didn't make them. As far as me, I needed a little bit more touches. I feel a little out of sync on offense and it was really tough to get into the rhythm. Whether it was because we have so many guys or so much depth on our team, I don't know what it is, but it's a different role for me."

Rafer Alston

(On the shots that they had) "The shots were there all night. Our defense was no good. The shots were there."

(On the Rockets defense) "Our second half defense was pretty good but in key moments when we really needed a stop, it wasn't there."

(On the Rockets inconsistency) "We've got to find a way. We can't keep playing up and down in this league. That's flirting with danger."

(On the rhythm of the game) "We didn't play well. We didn't play well the whole night. As coach said, we didn't play good defensively in the first half and we struggled offensively in the second. When you play against a team like Dallas and you play without Yao, if you don't play the way you have to, it is difficult to win. We tried to make a comeback late in the fourth quarter but just weren't playing well enough. So, it was hard."

MAVERICKS COACH RICK CARLISLE

(on Jason Terry’s play )    “We had to ride him tonight. He started off 7 of 7 and we knew he had things going pretty well. The 3 he hit toward the end was huge for us”

(on the game )   “Dirk only played 37 minutes and Jason (Kidd) played 34 minutes and that tells you everyone else had to step up and play well. We need the youth and energy of our young players.”

(on the team’s road trip)    “We have to build on this road trip and concentrate on winning games at home. When you are struggling you have to do all the little things to turn the game around. I’m proud of our guys.”      

JASON KIDD

(on the team’s play this season)    “It was a tough start for us but we are a veteran club and we didn’t panic. We take one game at a time. Our defense is starting to do better and if we can’t defend, we are not going to win.”            

GERALD GREEN

(on the game)    “This was a really important win for us. We started off pretty good at the beginning and then Jason Terry came off the bench and gave us a spark. He always plays good and brings a lot of energy.”

JASON TERRY

(on his play)     “I always play as hard as I can. Shooters keep shooting and I’m always going to keep shooting. I will do what I can for the team and if it is off the bench, it’s okay.”

Notes

Tonight’s attendance of 18,203 marks the fourth sellout of the season at Toyota Center.

With a 96-86 loss tonight, the Rockets have dropped their last four home games to the Mavericks.

The Rockets connected on 22-of-31 (.710) trips to the free throw line tonight, while the Mavericks hit 20-of-26 (.769) from the stripe. Overall, Houston is 51-of-63 (.810) from the foul line in just two games with Dallas this season. The Mavericks have been equally as active from the line in this series, making 48-of-60 (.800) free throws against the Rockets this season.

Houston has allowed at least 30 first-quarter points in each of their last two games (30 on 11/17/08 at Oklahoma and 31 tonight) after allowing just one over the first 10 outings of the season. The first 30-point opening quarter by an opponent this year also came from the Mavericks (33 on 10/30/08 at Dallas).

The Rockets connected on just .118 (2-17 FG, 0-8 3FG) of their shots in the third quarter tonight, setting Houston’s season low for field goal percentage in a quarter this season (prev. low: .273 in 3rd on 11/9/08 at the L.A. Lakers).

Rafer Alston scored a season-best 16 points (6-13 FG, 4-4 FT) tonight and matched his season high of eight assists. His previous high in points was 15 at Phoenix (11/12/08). Alston also dished out eight assists at the L.A. Clippers (11/7/08). Tracy McGrady also had 16 points to tie for the top spot on the Rockets in scoring.

Ron Artest now has a double-double in two consecutive games after a 14-point, 13-rebound performance tonight. Artest also notched 17 points and 11 boards at Oklahoma City (11/17/08).

Luis Scola finished with 15 points (6-12 FG, 3-4 FT) and seven boards, but had his free throw streak snapped at 24 consecutive makes to start the season. His overall streak of 25 in a row (1-1 2007-08; 24-24 in 2008-09) dated back to his final regular season attempt of 2007-08 vs. the L.A. Clippers (4/16/08). Scola, who scored eight of his points over the opening 12 minutes of play, is now averaging a team-high 5.9 first-quarter points this season.

Aaron Brooks added 15 points off the bench tonight for his seventh double-digit scoring performance of the year. Brooks reached 10 or more points nine times all of last season.

Jason Terry had a season-high 31 points (13-21 FG, 2-4 3FG) off the bench tonight. His previous high this season was 29 points at San Antonio (11/4/08). Oddly enough, Terry also topped the Mavericks with 31 points off the bench in the first meeting with Houston last season at Dallas (11/5/07).

Dirk Nowitzki was the only other Dallas player in double-figure scoring with 24 points (9-9 FT) and 12 rebounds tonight. Nowitzki, who led the Mavericks with 36 points (14-14 FT) against the Rockets at Dallas (10/30/08), has yet to miss from the free throw line against the Rockets this season (23-23 FT).

Yao Ming was a DND tonight being held out for precautionary reasons after leaving Monday night’s game at Oklahoma City (11/17/08) in the fourth quarter due to soreness in his left foot.

Josh Howard was placed on the inactive list tonight due to a left ankle injury.

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