Print
Monday October 29, 2007 11:04 AM


Rockets have high hopes heading into season opener


Houston at L.A. Lakers, Tuesday, 9:30 p.m.


Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES -- Before catching a flight to Hollywood, Rockets center Yao Ming was asked about Houston's high expectations heading into the 2007-08 season.

He would have preferred to skip town without answering that question one more time.

"I really just want to get out of here and play in a few hours," Yao said. "I've answered that question a lot."

He'll be happy to know the focus is shifting to the court.

After months of preaseason forecasts and answering questions about their bold title hopes, the Rockets will finally open the season Tuesday night when they visit Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center. The game will be featured in an opening night double-header on TNT.

The Rockets' success against the Lakers and beyond will depend largely on how they adapt to a new coaching philosophy under Rick Adelman and mesh a retooled roster around their two returning All-Stars, Tracy McGrady and Yao.

Right now, most are expecting the Rockets to adjust well after a busy offseason. Coming off a 52-win season, Houston added power forward Luis Scola along with veteran point guards Mike James and Steve Francis to a team that was one win shy of reaching the Western Conference semifinals. The additions have escalated expectations in Houston, where fans are hoping that the team has done enough to close the gap on the Western Conference's other top teams.

But even with those promising forecasts, the Rockets are taking a cautious approach into their season opener.

"We have a great team, but we have to go out there and do it on the court," McGrady said. "It looks great on paper, but until we prove ourselves, we're not anything right now."

The Rockets will certainly get an early read of where they're at against the Lakers.

Despite the summer-long soap opera regarding Bryant's future in L.A., the NBA's reigning scoring champ is still wearing a Lakers jersey. He'll have essentially the same supporting cast around him as last season, with the lone notable addition being veteran point guard Derek Fisher.

The Rockets are expecting Bryant to be in his usual form, even though his status coming into the game was somewhat in question because of a sore wrist. The Lakers star is expected to play.

"As long as they got No. 24, you have to go to L.A. prepared," Rockets point guard Rafer Alston said. "Kobe Bryant is dangerous. He's shown that against us because he has a couple of 50-point games since I've been here. The antenna is definitely up when he's on the court."

The early defensive test will begin a tough opening stretch for the Rockets.

Along with the Lakers, the Rockets will face a team that reached last year's postseason in 12 of their first 17 games. On top of that, Houston will be dealing with a who's who of Western Conference title contenders over that stretch with games against Dallas, Phoenix, San Antonio and Utah. They've got a back-to-back against the Mavericks and Spurs following Saturday's home opener against Portland.

That should be a challenge for a team that is still figuring out their roles and adapting to Adelman's new high-motion, uptempo offense.

"It's definitely going to be a test for our character and our will," James said. "The majority of the powerhouses in the NBA have been together at least three years."

The good news is that the Rockets have slowly started to mesh their lineup together.

During the team's final preseason game, Rockets coach Rick Adelman played the nine-man rotation that he expects to open with against the Lakers. He'll have a re-energized Bonzi Wells coming off the bench with Chuck Hayes and Scola likely splitting minutes at power forward.

However, the early rotation won't include Francis. The coach is opting to play Luther Head, Alston and James among others in the backcourt before turning to the veteran.

"We have six perimeter people playing right now and he's not one of them," Adelman said. "We're going to go in a little bit different direction, but it doesn't mean it's going to stay that way. Nothing is written in stone."

Well, maybe one thing. After Friday's game, Yao and Co. won't have to answer the same questions about preseason expectations. They can finally just play.

"Everybody is ready for the first game," Yao said. "We've been waiting a long time for this."