McGrady once again carries Rockets to needed win
Houston 79, Seattle 66
Video Recap
Box Score
Print
RSS Feed
Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Near the halfway point in the third quarter, Tracy McGrady drilled what
seemed like his 100th basket in the period and then shook his head to
suggest that no one could stop him.
Actually, no one did.
With another second-half scoring surge from their All-Star shooting guard,
the Rockets pulled away from the pesky Seattle Supersonics in the second
half to cruise to a 79-66 victory Friday night at KeyArena.
The Rockets (51-25) inched a little closer to securing a playoff spot with
their latest triumph, remaining tied with the Phoenix Suns for the fifth
best record in the conference.
McGrady, of course, had a major hand in that. Like he did one night earlier
in Portland, McGrady bounced back from a subpar shooting half in the opening
24 minutes to put on shooting clinic in the third quarter. He scored 18 of
his game-high 25 points in the third as Houston rolled over the Sonics.
Just like that, the Rockets are back on a roll with a two-game winning
streak.
"He took over," Rockets forward Shane Battier said of McGrady. "When he's
going like that, we want to get him the ball and get out of his way. He got
it rolling there."
McGrady certainly did.
Dealing with a nagging left shoulder injury, the guard once again struggled
in the first half. He scored a mere seven points in the half, missing 8 of
his first 10 shots.
The cold shooting performance from McGrady -- along with some poor
rebounding -- allowed the Sonics to take a stunning one-point lead into the
break. But McGrady didn't need long to fix that.
By sinking a series of jumpers off screens and slashing to the basket at
will, the Rockets' star overwhelmed Seattle's D. McGrady swished 9 of his 13
attempts in the third quarter to pace the Rockets to a 15-point advantage.
By the time he was finished, McGrady had scored 18 points in the quarter
alone.
"When a guy like McGrady catches fire late in the third and early in the
fourth, they had an all-around good game on the offensive end," Seattle
rookie Jeff Green said.
The Sonics' inability to contain McGrady turned what had been a tight game
in the first half into a relatively relaxing win for the Rockets.
Despite struggling to score against Houston's defense from start to finish,
the Sonics actually took a 41-40 advantage into halftime by overwhelming the
Rockets' frontline. Seattle dominated the offensive glass and outscored the
Rockets 21-2 on second-chance points in the first half.
That effort earned the Rockets a tongue lashing from Rick Adelman at
halftime.
"There was a lot of screaming," Bobby Jackson said.
Luckily, the mood changed shortly after the break.
McGrady caught fire and the Rockets did a better job of boxing out. With
their second-chance opportunities negated, the Sonics couldn't score.
Seattle netted only 25 points in the second half and shot 30.1 percent.
Overall, Seattle finished with their third lowest scoring output in
franchise history.
Kevin Durant, the NBA's frontrunner for the Rookie of the Year award, missed
15 of 17 shots to finish with four points.
"That's called Game 74 of a rookie season," Battier said. "I was there. I
played on a team that didn't make the playoffs and I was playing 40 minutes
a night. By Game 70, you're bound to have one of these."
The Rockets didn't shoot much better -- 39.7 percent -- but were able to
generate enough offense despite playing without starting point guard Rafer
Alston for the second straight game.
Jackson had 13 points and six assists in his second straight start and
rookie Aaron Brooks added 10 points off the bench.
But who made the biggest difference?
That would be No. 1.
"His shoulder was bothering him early, but he played through it," Adelman
said. "You look back and you have games like this. Both teams struggled
shooting the ball, but over the course of the season and the way it's gone,
you just take the win. We had to have the win and you move on. We’re one
step closer to trying to get in the playoffs."
