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Wednesday December 31, 2008 10:30 PM

Rockets Outlast Milwaukee 85-81


Houston starts fast, holds on late for victory

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

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Houston - Mired in a bit of a mini-slump, the Rockets are willing to take any win at this point - even an ugly one.

But that doesn't mean they have to be happy about it.

Houston (21-12) burst out of the gate and built a big lead, then had to hold on late as the feisty Milwaukee Bucks gave them all they could handle down the stretch.

The end result was an 85-81 victory that left most of the players and coaches feeling relieved, rather than euphoric.

“The only good thing about this is that we get to live another day and it's New Year's," said Ron Artest, who chipped in 15 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. "Other than that, that win was horrible. We've got to play better and that's it. There's so much of the game where we have to play better. To sum it up, that win was not even a win.”

Though not as harsh in his assessment, Yao Ming essentially echoed Artest's sentiments after watching his club allow Milwaukee to trim a 15-point lead down to a single point late in the ball game.

“I really am not excited about the win," said Yao (22 points, 10 rebounds). "I would probably say that we survived from the other game. I think we were up by 9 points with three minutes to go and we did let them come back and it went to a free throw game. This keeps happening and happening again since the Utah game, so I cannot be happy about this win and I think this road trip coming up is going to be a tough five games. We still have to play and figure out a way to win.”

Part of the reason for all the grousing going on in the locker room was the fact that Wednesday night's contest actually began in such promising fashion. With Shane Battier back on the shelf, Rick Adelman threw a new twist into the Rockets’ starting line-up, inserting Aaron Brooks at the two-guard spot while moving Tracy McGrady to small forward. The move certainly seemed to spark Houston’s offense, as the Rockets scored with relative ease through the opening minutes of the first quarter.

In fact, even a potential stumbling block couldn’t completely derail Houston’s first quarter mojo. Yao picked up his second personal foul at the 4:53 mark, forcing him to the bench after having connected on 4 of his first 5 shots from the field. But the Rockets still managed to finish the frame on an 11-5 run, enabling them to take a 27-22 into the second quarter.

From there, Houston continued to build upon its momentum, expanding its lead to fifteen at one point. Contributing to the Rockets’ cause was the club’s proclivity for theft. Houston piled up a whopping 8 steals in the first half alone – just one off the season-high they established against Atlanta on December 9th.

But the second half saw the Rockets fall victim to some familiar offensive issues. Shots stopped falling, turnovers spiked and it took Milwaukee just five minutes to trim its deficit from double digits to a single point.

"We came out in the third quarter and were very lackadaisical," said Adelman after the game. "We were trying to create things on our own and just kind of got away from what we were trying to do offensively. We turned the ball over and they went on a 10 or 12 point run, and it was mostly our doing. We have to be better than that. We have to be more disciplined than that."

The fourth quarter featured more of the same. After building their lead back up to ten, the Rockets' offense mustered only two field goals during the game's final seven minutes. But to its credit, Houston didn't fold and eventually did just enough to ring up a victory. And considering the Rockets entered Wednesday's game having lost 3 of 4, they know they can't afford to quibble too much about the end result.

"A win is a win," said Tracy McGrady (7 points, 10 assists). "You’re going to have some games where you don’t execute offensively and defensively. But I think good teams find a way to win when things are not going so well. Tonight the first half was pretty good for us but we gave them hope in the second half, made a game of it, and we still found a way to win. It was ugly, but it still goes in the win column."

Yet even the upbeat McGrady couldn't resist joining in the search for a solution to the Rockets' offensive struggles down the stretch of recent games.

"I think we get away from execution," he said. "We start to go one-on-one to try to take over the game and then we get out of sync offensively. We’re not in our sets, we turn the ball over because guys are not in the correct spacing and that’s why we get out of sync.

"When we go on the road, we’ve got to bring our ‘A’ game. We can’t allow those kind of mishaps to happen throughout the course of the game. We’ve just got to stay focused."

QUOTES

RICK ADELMAN

It was a struggle again, but we did enough to win the game. We just have to find a way to do it a little bit better.

You have to win games, but I think you have to also try to figure out what you’re going to do in certain areas. Tonight was kind of typical - we let them back into the game. They have good players and they’re a solid team. But fortunately we were able to get a couple stops at the end to make some plays.

(on Rafer and Brooks): They played okay. We wanted to try to keep Rafer on Redd – he did a nice job of getting through screens because he (Redd) is a tough cover. So we decided to go that way when we found out Shane wasn’t going to play.

(on the upcoming road trip): I just think on the road you can build a season. We’ve been successful on the road and that’s what we have to do. We have to try to win some games on this trip because when we get back we’ll be home for awhile. But it’s not going to be easy and we’ll have to play a lot better than we’ve played in these last few games here at home.

TRACY MCGRADY

I think when we’re up on a team like that, we have to realize that you can’t give any team hope in this league. We’ve just got to put them away. New Year’s tonight, I’m sure the guys were ready to get the game over with, especially when they were down that much, but when you give them hope and they feel they can win then that’s what happens – they’re back in the ballgame.

We’ve got a bunch of scorers on this team. That’s why my numbers are down, because I’ve kind of changed my game a little bit, just trying to be a facilitator for this team. We’ve got a lot of guys who can put the ball in the hoop.

(on whether he will play in Toronto or Atlanta): I don’t know if it will be Toronto or Atlanta, that’s a decision between myself and coach. We’ll sit down and have a conversation and make a decision on which game [to play].

RAFER ALSTON

(On the win) “It is good to win but we still don't have the energy and intensity that we need out there..”

(On the Rockets poor play) “We picked it up late in the 4th quarter but right now it doesn't matter what half it is because from start to finish we are not getting it done.”

YAO MING

(On fixing the problems for the upcoming road trip) “We won't have much practice and we won't have much time to help out with those problems and those mistakes from last game. We are getting in late and we are going to be tired and want to go to sleep. We are not going to have much time to think about it.”

RON ARTEST

(On the Rockets 2nd half energy) “It was a couple of possessions where we played hard, maybe 40 percent of the game so hopefully that 40 percent can turn into 100 percent on the road.”  

AARON BROOKS

(on playing with Rafer): It reminds me of college when I was playing. We had two small guards, so I got to be an off-guard with more of a scorer's mentality. We pushed the ball, got out and ran, and were pests on defense, too.

(on their off-shooting night): We have to help Yao out. If teams are going to double him and we're not hitting shots, then it's going to make it a lot harder on him. And me and Rafer haven't been doing that lately, so we're going to pick it up in '09.

LUIS SCOLA

(on the importance of the win) “It was a very important win for us. We needed it big time. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We didn’t play the way we have to, but we got the win”

(on the Rockets allowing to teams to come back when they have a big lead) “We have a lot of time, but at the same time we have a lot of work to do. That’s the good thing, but the bad thing is that we’re not there yet. We do have potential to get there.”

BUCKS COACH SCOTT SKILES

(on the game) “We were a step slow, and we just had too many turnovers to overcome. We bounced back in the 2nd half with a lot more energy. The last 3 or 4 minutes they made the plays and we didn’t. We were sloppy with our offensive execution and it haunted us.”

(on the bench play ) “We need more from our bench. Charlie Bell stepped up, but we need more off the bench. Our productivity from the bench will give our starters a little more rest.”

RICHARD JEFFERSON

(on the game) “We didn’t feel as though we played well tonight especially after the big win in San Antonio. We fought back, but didn’t make the plays down the stretch. I believe we are a good team. We held Houston to 41% shooting and we still could’ve played better. It’s coming for us, and we have to keep fighting and stay together as a team.”

ANDREW BOGUT

(on the game) “We didn’t start well and Houston got off to a hot start. We’re trying to maintain things on a consistent basis game-by-game. This was a letdown after our last win.”

 (on defending Yao Ming) “I had a bad game and Yao got the better of me. He is a handful. Yao works down in the paint a long time, and I gave up too many easy baskets to him.”

CHARLIE BELL

(on the team’s play) “We are making a lot of improvement. People are going to have to watch this team. We have guys that can score, and if we defend we can get into the playoffs. We have to show other teams we are for real.” 

(on the bench play) “We have to come in and pick it up to give our starters some rest. If we’re not going well, the starters get too tired. The deeper our bench plays, the better overall this team will be.”

NOTES

Tonight’s attendance of 18,228 marks the 10th sellout of the season at Toyota Center .

With an 85-81 victory tonight, the Rockets now own an eight-game winning streak (12/31/04-12/31/08) over the Bucks, which extends the longest such streak by Houston in the history of this series (prev. high: 4 straight from 12/2/76-10/27/77). Houston has also captured the last nine straight home games against the Bucks (6-0 at Toyota Center), making Milwaukee and Atlanta the only two opponents that have yet to win in Toyota Center .

Houston now holds an all-time record of 5-4 in games played on New Year’s Eve, including a 3-1 mark against Milwaukee in games played on the final day of the year.

The Rockets recorded eight of their season-high 11 steals in the first half of tonight’s game. Houston ’s previous high is steals was nine vs. Atlanta (12/9/08).

Houston held Milwaukee to an opponent season-low 14 second-quarter points, surpassing the previous low of 15 points in the second quarter by two prior opponents (last by New Orleans on 11/15/08 at Houston ). The Bucks were also limited to just 36 first-half points, which matched the opponent low for an opening half this season also set by the Hornets at Houston (11/15/08).

The Rockets are 2-0 this season when wearing their traditional road-red jerseys at home. Houston also took an 82-71 victory vs. Memphis (10/29/08) while wearing red for the home opener.

Yao Ming finished with a game-high 22 points (9-18 FG) and 10 rebounds, which marked his 18th double-double of the season.

Luis Scola posted 11 points and 10 rebounds, marking his sixth straight game of double-figure scoring (12/22/08-12/31/08) to match the longest such streak of his career. Scola also scored in double digits over six consecutive games (2/24/08-3/6/08) last season to set his career best in that category.

Tracy McGrady dished out a game-high 10 assists tonight, matching his season high of 10 helpers vs. Denver (12/16/08). McGrady now owns 22 career double-digit assist games as a member of the Rockets.

Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey announced today that the Rockets have re-signed unrestricted free agent center Dikembe Mutombo , who was placed on the inactive list for tonight’s game.

Shane Battier was not in the lineup tonight and will not travel with the team on their upcoming five-game road trip in order to continue treatments for inflammation in his left foot. He will be listed as day-to-day following the team’s return.

Milwaukee lost its first game this season when having a better field goal percentage that its opponent. The Bucks are now 11-1 when outshooting their opponent.

Michael Redd, who recorded a team-high 20 points, had his string of consecutive games without a turnover snapped at four straight with his three giveaways tonight.

Charlie Bell had 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting (3-4 3FG) tonight. He also had 11 points (5-7 FG) last night at San Antonio (12/30/08).

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