Thursday April 3, 2008 2:15 PM


Rockets still soaring even after losing All-Star center


Houston at Seattle, Friday, 9:30 p.m.


Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer


HOUSTON -- Before guiding his team on an epic winning streak, Rick Adelman spent a large portion of his time fielding questions about how the Rockets would survive without Yao Ming.

The Rockets' All-Star center was lost for the season on Feb. 26 with a stress fracture in his right foot. Unsurprisingly, most NBA critics figured the Rockets would fade from playoff contention.

But five weeks later, the Rockets' coach rarely hears the center's name mentioned in interviews.

"When he went down, it was devastating for us," Adelman said. "Now, it seems like everyone forgets the fact that we don't have Yao."

The Rockets can only blame themselves for the sudden lack of recognition.

Rather than falling apart and earning league-wide sympathy after losing one of the game's best big men, the Rockets have remained in the hunt for one of the Western Conference's top playoff spots.

Houston (50-25) heads into Friday's game against rookie sensation Kevin Durant and the Seattle SuperSonics with a realistic chance of gaining home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs.

They've done it by filling the massive void in the middle of their lineup. The Rockets won their first 10 games without Yao, pacing themselves to a 14-5 mark since losing the center.

Back in February, no one would have guessed that the Rockets would continue rolling following what was supposed to be a devastating blow to Houston's postseason hopes.

"This team has been winning and they deserve a ton of credit," Adelman said. "That's why you'd like to see them finish it off with what they had to go through. We feel we can compete with anybody. But it's not easy without Yao."

The Rockets have managed to scrap within a few games of the leading teams in the West by making up for the center's 22 points and nearly 11 rebounds.

Without the center commanding double teams in the paint, the Rockets have adjusted their offense. They've gone from a post-up game to one predicated on more ball movement through Tracy McGrady coming off the pick-and-roll.

With McGrady leading the way, the share-the-scoring load approach has yielded key contributions from Rafer Alston, Luis Scola and Carl Landry.

Defensively, the Rockets have remained one of the NBA's best despite struggling to contain some of the league's top scoring teams of late. Houston was holding opponents to 85.2 points per game over their 22-game winning streak with 10 of those wins coming without Yao.

The most impressive thing, however, might be the fact that the Rockets have still managed to control the glass. Over the past 18 games without their leading rebounder, the Rockets are collecting an average of five more rebounds per game than their opponents.

"We're really defending the ball and rebounding the ball," Alston said. "We're also learning everyone's comfort zone. We're learning where Landry likes the ball and where Scola wants it."

The other key ingredient: Dikembe Mutombo. For the second straight season, the veteran center has filled in admirably for Yao. Despite being the NBA's oldest player at 41, Mutombo is still turning away would-be dunkers with his shot-blocking and managing to play 20 to 25 minutes per game.

"Deke is the ultimate gamer," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "Every time the popcorn starts popping and the lights come on, he plays like an 18-year old."

The Rockets still have a long way to go without the center.

Assuming the Rockets will be able to lock up a playoff spot over the next two weeks, they'll be facing teams bent on trying to make the absence of their 7-foot-6 center a little more noticeable.

But given what they've accomplished over the first month without their star center, the Rockets have reason to be optimistic.

"We had to have everyone step up without Yao," Adelman said. "When you lose a great player like that, you can get by for a few games. But over the long run, it's going to catch you. Our guys have been able to maintain a pretty consistent effort night in and night out. It's going to be imperative for us to do it down the stretch."