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Saturday March 21, 2009 0:28 AM

Rockets Make It Look Easy

Balanced effort helps Houston cruise to 107-88 victory over Timberwolves

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Houston - With a huge two-game road stand on the horizon, the Rockets knew they couldn’t afford any sort of letdown against the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves. So Houston went about its business in a methodically efficient manner Friday night, disposing of the opposition with relative ease 107-88.

Boasting 7 players with double-digit scoring, the Rockets overwhelmed Minnesota with their balanced offensive attack. Ron Artest led the way with 20 points, collecting 13 of those in the decisive third quarter, when Houston pulled away from the Wolves and put the game out of reach.

“I was feeling it a little bit,” said Artest, who also added 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. “It felt like all my shots were going in. Yao picked it up later in the quarter and a lot of our other players picked it up (as well). It was pretty much a team effort.”

Indeed, the Rockets received contributions from up and down their roster, as the club’s bench especially was effective. Houston’s reserves combined for 41 points Friday night, while frequently providing the spark which helped the team run away and hide from the Wolves.

“We just kept our foot on their necks and we wanted to keep being aggressive,” said Von Wafer, who scored 13 points in 20 minutes of play. “We didn't want to let up. We didn't and we got the win.”

Houston’s victory, combined with San Antonio’s 80-77 defeat at the hands of Boston, sets up a Sunday afternoon showdown in the Alamo City with first place in the Southwest Division on the line. The Spurs currently own a half game edge over Houston in the standings and a 2-1 lead in the season series between the two teams, so the stakes couldn’t be much higher for a Rockets’ squad which has fought through injury and adversity all year long in order to put themselves in this position.

“Who’d have thought we’d be here?” asked Shane Battier who chipped in with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks. “We stayed the course, stayed together and set ourselves up for this matchup. It’s going to be a tough atmosphere. We just saw the Spurs last week so we know what they’re about. We have to start playing better on the road against good teams, and we’ll get our chance real soon.

“We know what the Spurs are going to do. They’re going to run the high pick-and-roll and they’re going to post (Tim) Duncan and spread the floor. Can we eliminate the mistakes we had against them, especially in the fourth quarter?”

Brent Barry says the Rockets will be defined by how they answer that question.

“We have a lot of young guys who need the experience of being in close games and having to make the right play at the right time. So [it’s important] for Aaron (Brooks) and Kyle (Lowry), and Ron and Yao to understand what each is capable of at the end of the game and, most importantly probably, for Coach Adelman to see who he can trust at the end of the game with the ball and who’s going to get it to him, and try to be better because those scenarios come up often when you’re talking about playoff basketball in the NBA.”

With 15 wins in their last 19 games, the Rockets seem ready for their toughest test of the season. Not only does San Antonio await, but Houston has a date with the arch-rival Jazz in Salt Lake City two days later. It's a brutal stretch, but a necessary one as the club prepares to transition into playoff mode. And with only 11 games left in the regular season, the timing couldn't be better.

Or more appropriate.

For Houston secured this showdown on March 20th - the first day of the Vernal Equinox. And today, more than any other this year, hope springs eternal for the Rockets.

QUOTES

RICK ADELMAN

I just thought we were very consistent with the way we played. I thought we defended them well until the third quarter, when they got it going a little bit. Overall, we did what we had to do to get the win and get ready for the road.

We needed to get this win before we go on the road. We’ve got 11 games left and have a lot of road games against good teams for the most part, starting with San Antonio. It’s the old cliché: You’ve got to take it one game at a time, get yourself ready and then play a solid game in San Antonio, before getting ready for Utah. You just have going at it.

(think it helped that you’ve had rocky moments against this team this year?): We talked about it, that a team like this really has nothing to lose. They’re just trying to finish the season off strong and you don’t want to let them into the game where they think they have a chance to win. That’s where, even though we gave up 29 points in the third quarter, we opened the lead up and maintained that every quarter. That’s important

(kept pounding the ball inside in the third quarter): We had to. We knew they didn’t have a lot of shot blockers and we were going to be able to attack the rim. I thought Yao got a lot of good looks, they just didn’t go down [early]. In the second half he was better, but overall our guys off the bench gave us a lift. It was just a solid team win.

(playing the Spurs): We just played them a week ago so there’s not going to be any surprises. It’s who’s going to execute the best and it’s going to be the same in Utah. It’s like a playoff game. You have to keep winning, You can’t have any slip-ups. We’ve got two tough games in a row against teams who have given us trouble, so it will be interesting to see how we react to it.

(playing for the division lead): I think it’s important. If you can get that win, you’re 2-2 with them in the season series and you’re right there fighting for the division, and it gives you another goal to try to reach. Like I said, if we’re going to keep moving forward, we have to win on the road against good teams. No better place to start than San Antonio.

JAMES WHITE

(on his first action as a Rocket): It felt great. I was kind of nervous, but it felt great to get out there and get some run in. I haven’t played against anybody in a long time, so it was good to get the rust off a little bit.

(the jumpers he knocked down): That was the easy part because I’ve been doing that every day, just shooting stand-still jumpers and coming off curls and stuff like that.

SHANE BATTIER

(on playing San Antonio for the division lead): Who’d have thought we’d be here? We stayed the course, stayed together and set ourselves up for this matchup. We haven’t played the Spurs well this year – we’re 1-2 in the series – so we need to get this for tiebreaker purposes and for a lot of other reasons. But we’ve hung in.

It’s going to be a tough atmosphere. We just saw the Spurs last week so we know what they’re about. We have to start playing better on the road against good teams, and we’ll get our chance real soon against the Spurs and the Jazz.

We know what the Spurs are going to do. They’re going to run the high pick-and-roll and they’re going to post (Tim) Duncan and spread the floor. Can we eliminate the mistakes we had against them, especially in the fourth quarter? That’s really the name of the game come playoff time, so it’s a good test for us.

(On the win) “We have struggled with teams like this all year. We didn't want to let a great opportunity, another great home win, to get away from us. We came out and took care of business and it was a solid effort.”

BRENT BARRY

(on what it means to play tough games down the stretch): It’s very good for us to do that. We have a lot of young guys who need the experience of being in close games and having to make the right play at the right time. So [it’s important] for Aaron and Kyle, and Ron and Yao to understand what each is capable of at the end of the game and, most importantly probably, for Coach Adelman to see who he can trust at the end of the game with the ball and who’s going to get it to him, and try to be better because those scenarios come up often when you’re talking about playoff basketball in the NBA.

YAO MING

(On playing against Minnesota) “Actually, earlier in the season, they gave us a really hard time both at home and on the road. They're trying to finish the season as good as they can. This year we've lost a lot of games against teams that are below 500. We have two very strong opponents coming and we really needed this win before we get out on the road. I think the entire team played really well.”

(On the importance of resting in 4th quarter with a big lead) “It's been 70 games already and I think some of our players get tired, either their bodies or mentally. The second unit played strong. It really helps us to just have some off time and to allow your body to recover.”

RON ARTEST

(On the win) “They didn't have (Al) Jefferson today. With Jefferson, I almost guarantee you he would have scored pretty easily in the paint and they would have been a better rebounding team but we did what we had to do. It wasn't a great 1st half but we did what we had to do to put them away.”

(On the Rockets 3rd quarter run) “I was feeling it a little bit. It felt like all my shots were going in. Yao picked it up and a lot of our players picked it up. It was pretty much a team effort. They kept feeding me and then we started going to other places.”

AARON BROOKS

(On the importance of tonight's win) “It's very important. It's very important that we came out. We had a game plan and we followed it well. We matched their intensity and it was a good game for us.”

(On putting them away) “I think we played a great 48 minutes. We sustained our intensity throughout the whole game. Sometimes we get away from that in the 4th quarter but we actually won the 4th quarter and I'm pretty sure we did a good job.”

VON WAFER

(On the 2nd half) “We just kept our foot on their necks and we wanted to keep being aggressive. We didn't want to let up. We didn't and we got the win.”

(On putting them away) “Most definitely we didn't want to end on a bad note. We got a few tough games coming up. This is a tough stretch and we have to be ready to play and we just didn't want to end on a bad note. I felt like we ended this game on a good note.”

TIMBERWOLVES COACH KEVIN MCHALE

(on the game) “They beat us up pretty good. We couldn’t get anything going offensively and then our defense didn’t come through. It was a bad combination for us. Our guys fought hard. Craig (Smith) and Kevin (Love) did a decent job. We missed a lot of lay ups and free throws. Houston made corrections when we fronted Yao and then they beat us to the eight ball. We weren’t able to establish anything against them.”

(on the playoffs race) “In the West there are going to be a lot of teams that are about the same. A break here or a break there will make the difference who wins. There ‘s not much difference between two and eight (seeds).”

CRAIG SMITH

(on defending Yao at 6’7” vs. 7’6”) “It has a ring to it, doesn’t it? Both ways, it’s a big mismatch. Yao is a big dude and he can go either way and I just try to slow him down. We tried to move the ball in the first half and keep it away from him. In the second half he got it going.”

(on the Rockets) “They came out and kicked out butt. They wanted the game more and they were much more aggressive. They got it going to the rack and knocking down their shots.”

RANDY FOYE

(on the game) “Give a lot of credit to Houston, they played very well. They played great defense on us. They put Shane (Battier) and Ron (Artest) on our best shooters and that killed us. The Rockets got in a good rhythm and were knocking down their threes. When you put two or three guys on Yao, then other guys are going to be open. Yao is so tall and you have to front him, But is still so tough.”

KEVIN LOVE

(on his play vs. Rockets) “I try not to think about the last game vs. the Rockets. It was one of my two worse games of the year. I kept a level head and got off to a good start.”

(on defending Yao) “ Yao is a great player and very tough to stop. We started off fronting Yao and then when we played behind him he would just shoot his hook over us.”

NOTES

Houston captured a 4-0 season sweep of Minnesota with a 107-88 victory tonight, which gives the Rockets a win in each of the last eight meetings with the Timberwolves (2/5/07-3/20/09).

The Rockets matched their season high of 18 fast-break points tonight. Houston originally set its season best with 18 off the break at Oklahoma City (1/9/09).

Houston scored 35 points in the third quarter to equal its season high for that period. The Rockets also had a 35-point third quarter vs. Sacramento (2/11/09).

The Rockets connected on 11-of-20 (.550) from beyond arc and 14-of-14 (1.000) from the free throw line tonight. Houston marked its 17th game of the season with 10 or more 3-pointers made and matched its season high in free throw percentage set in a 14-of-14 night from the line at Chicago (2/28/09).

Houston had seven players with 10 or more points tonight.. The Rockets have now had seven players reach double figures in the same game three times this season (11/29/08 vs. San Antonio and 12/27/08 vs. Utah ).

Ron Artest led the Rockets with 20 points (8-16 FG), six assists and two blocked shots tonight. Artest actually netted 13 (5-8 FG) of his points in the third quarter, giving him double-figure scoring in the third quarter in each of the last four games.

Yao Ming finished with 14 points (6-16 FG) and eight rebounds. Yao, who averaged 4.33 blocks over the first three meetings with Minnesota this season, failed to record a block tonight after posting at least one blocked shot in the 17 previous games he had played.

Aaron Brooks recorded 13 points (4-9 FG) and four assists, extending his career-best streak of double-figure scoring to seven consecutive games (3/9/09-3/20/09). Kyle Lowry added 10 points (4-7 FG) and four dimes off the bench to give the combo a combined 23 points and eight assists.

Shane Battier had 11 points (4-5 FG, 2-3 3FG), six rebounds, two blocks and one steal tonight. Battier now has a total of 33 blocks over his last 33 games played.

James White saw his first action with the Rockets tonight, notching five points (2-2 FG, 1-1 3FG), one assist, one steal and one blocked shot in 3:42 of action.

Craig Smith had a team-high 19 points (8-11 FG) to go along with his seven rebounds tonight. Smith also netted 20 points (9-11 FG) off the bench at Minnesota (3/1/09).

Kevin Love posted 18 points (7-13 FG) and 12 rebounds tonight, marking his 23rd double-double of the season.

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