Supporting cast comes up big for Rockets

[RonnieBrewer (Reverse Layup)]

Supporting cast comes up big for Rockets
Charley Rosen / Special to FOXSports.com
Posted: 2 hours ago

Utah Jazz won the battle, but lost the war. They concentrated on their
continuing campaign to subdue Yao Ming, and were mostly successful. Too bad
for the Jazz that several other Rockets took up the slack and led Houston to
a satisfying 96-92 win Monday in Game 5.

Let's take a closer look.

The Jazz defenders constantly laid heavy forearms on the small of Yao's back,
a tactic designed to wear down the big man ─ and he did seem to tire in the
game's waning moments. Yao was also doubled whenever he put the ball on the
floor, most often from behind. As a result, Yao finished 6-18 for 21 points,
15 rebounds and four turnovers. Considering the damage that the 7-6 Yao is
capable of inflicting on opponents, Utah absolutely minimized his outsized
presence.

Indeed, Utah's harassing defense revealed that Yao invariably hesitates
before initiating his offense, and except for a single baseline spin from
the left box, every subsequent move was dreadfully slow and robotic. Also,
there's a noticeable hitch in his release when he unloosens his turnaround
jumper ─ and that's why three of his shots were blocked.

The Jazz likewise took full advantage of Yao's habit of bringing the ball
down to his waist after grabbing an offensive rebound and before attempting a
put-back. On several sequences the Jazz managed to either steal the ball
outright, or at least slap it out of his grasp.

In truth, most of Yao's field goals were strictly manifestations of his size.
As when he caught the ball at the threshold of the basket and dropped in
layups.

On offense, the Jazz resolved to attack Yao's heavy-footed defense, which
they did with consistency. Carlos Boozer faced up and shot, drove, posted,
beat Yao with off-the-ball dive cuts, and beat the biggest big for 23 points.
And on one occasion, even Derek Fisher drove the ball at Yao and scored on a
reverse layup

With the game on the line, Jeff Van Gundy was forced to yank Yao from the
game whenever the Jazz had the ball. Moreover, with the game apparently on
the line, Mehmet Okur chumped Yao into committing an offensive foul.

However, if Mount Yao was conquered, Tracy McGrady, Luther Head, Shane
Battier, Juwan Howard and Chuck Hayes collectively met the challenge.

T-Mac was at his driving, whirling, passing, shot-making best. During the
first half, McGrady swiveled into the middle only to pass out (or in) to
open teammates. He was the engine that kept the Rockets aloft.

In the second half, McGrady changed his modus operandi ─ after getting into
the lane he now looked for his own shots. Short poppers, an occasional slam
and a particularly gorgeous spinning, reaching left-handed flip. Late in the
fourth quarter, T-Mac even gave the Jazz a taste of their own medicine when
he ducked backdoor and converted a neat pass from Howard into a layup. For
good measure, McGrady also hit a pair of treys. More critical than his 26
points were his 16 assists.

The Jazz tried to control McGrady with a variety of strategies: They called
for their bigs to show long and hard on high screen/rolls ─ to no avail.
They tried alternating defenders: Derek Fisher's savvy, and his ability to
get into McGrady's body as he released his shots. Gordan Giricek's
chest-to-chest aggression. And Andrei Kirilenko's long and spindly limbs.
Over the long run, none of these approaches proved to be successful.

At the other end, the Jazz effectively attacked McGrady's soft defense with
back-door cuts and post-ups by Harpring.

Utah also wanted to ruthlessly bang McGrady whenever it had the opportunity.
This was only partially successful, briefly sending him to the locker room
with a hip pointer late in the first quarter. In order to get to Game 7, the
Jazz must hit T-Mac harder and more often.

Head bagged several important triples, as did Battier. Howard was 6-6 from
the field and played a flawless floor game. And Chuck Hayes saved the victory
by drawing a charging foul against Fisher.

In the end, the game came down to many factors: The Rockets sank 12-of-24
treys, to Utah's 5-12. Mehmet Okur had another poor shooting game (3-7), and
except for a late-game spurt, so did Matt Harpring (also 3-7). And the
Rockets focused on containing the only opponent who could possibly hurt them
with his offensive creativity ─ Deron Williams. Credit Houston's sliding
defensive help for limiting Williams to 4-16, 6 assists, and 13 points, while
inducing four turnovers.

Perhaps Williams' inept performance convinced Jerry Sloan to call Fisher's
number with the Jazz trailing by two and the game clock ticking down. (Boozer
would have been too easily doubled.) But Fisher, with his limited one-on-one
skills (that mostly depend on his being left-handed), committed the fatal
charge, and Houston prevailed.

Previous to Fisher's charge (a somewhat dubious call), Okur and Harpring
missed open shots that would have extended the game into overtime. One is
left to wonder if the Jazz felt that the Rockets won the game, or that they
lost it.

In any event, Utah's hard-nosed discipline was certainly up to the task of
topping Yao's size and bulk. But the Rocket's athleticism eventually beat the
Jazz like a drum.

Who knows what kind of martial music will accompany the next episode of this
fascinating hand-to-hand, forearm-to-back, and elbow-to-sternum combat?


     http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6759920?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=73 

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