# Regular Season Game 3: Houston Rockets vs. Portland Trail Blazer



## Cornholio (Feb 13, 2005)

​*(2-0)/(0-2)*

When/Where:
*Saturday, November 3, 7:30 p.m. CST*
*Toyota Center*​












































*Alston / McGrady / Battier / Hayes / Yao*














































*Jack / Roy / Webster / Aldrigde / Przybilla*


*Preview

During the past four seasons, the Rockets developed a reputation as one of the toughest defensive teams in the NBA.

They're hoping to be known for more this season.

Nearly a month after an offseason makeover and shift in coaching philosophy, the Rockets head into Saturday night's home opener against the Portland Trail Blazers seeking a more-balanced identity. Rather than only being recognized as a strong defensive team, they'd like to be known for what they're getting done on the offensive end too.

Despite winning 52 games last season with a grind-it-out approach, the Rockets opted for a coaching change in hopes of making a deeper playoff run. Houston turned to Rick Adelman in hopes that his high-motion, high-tempo offense will create a more balanced and potent team in the postseason.

The question now is how quickly the Rockets can develop that ideal approach.

"I think Jeff (Van Gundy) did a great job," Adelman said. "How do you argue with 52 wins? He developed Yao into a great low-post player. He limited turnovers and he put the ball in the hands of his playmakers.

"Now, maybe it's my job to expand that," the coach added. "I believe in pushing the ball and giving guys the freedom to make decisions. Jeff wanted a little more control over that. I don't know what's right and what's wrong. But if we're struggling at all, I may take a few pages from his book. It's not going to happen all at once, but this team has the ability to push the ball, move the ball and still be effective."

The Rockets are well aware that they'll have to exercise some patience before becoming well-rounded on both ends of the floor.

Still, they're already seeing some positive results.

During Thursday's win over the Jazz, the Rockets looked like a different team than the one that was eliminated by Utah in the first round of the playoffs. Instead of settling for jumpers or waiting for McGrady to create for everyone else, Houston found openings down the middle of the lane. They ended up netting 48.8 percent of their shots in a 106-95 victory.

That doesn't mean everything has been smooth. The Rockets are, after all, averaging 16.5 turnovers in their first two outings. But if they can fix that and develop chemistry within a new offense, the Rockets could become a much tougher team to defend than past seasons.

"If we can keep the turnovers down, we can get even more shots and opportunities at the basket," Rockets point guard Rafer Alston said. "We can be a really tough team to defend if we get those turnovers down."

Besides adapting to a new offense, the Rockets are still getting familiar with each other. Houston essentially has three key reserve players -- Bonzi Wells, Mike James and Luis Scola -- who weren't in the rotation last season.

The Rockets hope the adjustment period with those new additions will be expediated since the team isn't trying to mesh a bunch of young talent into the system.

"Besides Scola, our new guys are a bunch of veterans," Alston said. "They'll be smart enough to understand where they fit into things. They can still be aggressive, but they also have to understand that we have two superstars that are going to carry the team. Right now, we just got to get our chemistry down. That's something that you work on as the season goes along."

McGrady and Yao are expected to benefit the most from the new offense.

Over the past three seasons, the Rockets have generated nearly all of their offense through the two stars. Yao handled things in the post, while McGrady was asked to take his man -- or two -- off the dribble. But in Adelman's system, the duo will be able to get more looks through the offense itself. McGrady is catching more passes off screens and Yao is becoming more of a playmaker from the high post.

McGrady, at least, seems to be already benefitting from it. By finding a variety of shots in the new offense, McGrady opened the season with two consecutive 30-point games for the first time in his career. The seven-time All-Star said he sees endless possibilities for how he can score in Adelman's offense.

"There are a lot of opportunites for me on the offensive end," McGrady said. "I can play off the ball and I can come off screens. I can hide behind Yao sometimes. There are so many ways I can score in this offense. It's great."

The Rockets would still like to resemble the team that was one of the best defensive units in the league last season.

Since Houston's own pace should increase the number of possesions in a game, the numbers might not show it. But with solid defenders like Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes, they don't expect much of a drop off and will still make plenty of stops. The Rockets are so far allowing 94.5 points per game.

Adelman has told his players to apply the same defensive principles that the team had under Van Gundy. By taking that approach, the Rockets are hoping to become a team that is sharp on both ends of the court.

"We are going to be more of an offensive team than we've been in the past," Rockets guard Luther Head said. "But we're still going to be a pretty good defensive team. We aren't forgetting about that end."

The Rockets just don't expect their defense to necessarily be their lone calling card like it was over the past four seasons.

They're hoping to be more well-rounded.

"I want them to keep the same identity that they had last year as a defensive team," Adelman said. "But I want to push it more and have more possessions and that sometimes causes some defensive breakdowns. But we want to be difficult to guard. We want to give the ball to Tracy and Yao in situations where you just can't lock in on them. That's going to take some time."*


_*Next Games*_
vs.








vs.








vs.


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## Cornholio (Feb 13, 2005)




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## @[email protected] (Jan 19, 2005)

we will win, we will win big!
Go, Rockets


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## Krimzon (Feb 26, 2007)

We can win this. The games after this one will be tough.


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## CrackerJack (Jul 2, 2005)

hopefully yao can bounce back and go 30 and 15 which is very possible against the blazer front line. bowen was able to shut roy down completely and hopefully batman can do the same, plainly because if you take roy out aldridge is the go to man and chuck and scola shouldnt have too much trouble D'ing him up


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

Another must win. Yao needs to establish his dominance this game. Aldridge is looking solid so far this season, Hayes and Scola will have their hands full with him.


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

Hope Yao gets 20points & 15 rebounds.

I am not overly worried about his points I think he will get them some way or another.

But I am worried about the fact he grabbed so few rebounds last game.


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## gi0rdun (May 31, 2007)

I might watch a tiny bit of this tomorrow but I have this charity walk to go to tomorrow. Oh well. Go Rockets

Rockets 102-76


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## Dean the Master (Feb 19, 2006)

Home opener, finally! I wish Yao can have a good game today unlink the last one with the Jazz. 3-0, book it.


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## Pimped Out (May 4, 2005)

Aldridge's height and length will be difficult for chuck to deal with.


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## lingi1206 (Jun 2, 2006)

12 point favs.? thats quite a bit but YEAH ROCKETS LETS GO!


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## AZNoob (Jan 21, 2006)

Hey, can someone know/put up a link for SopCast?

I am ticked that NBA P2P changed its site...its hard to navigate around, and the only link I could find was for the Jazz game.


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## yaontmac (Jul 5, 2006)

AZNoob said:


> Hey, can someone know/put up a link for SopCast?
> 
> I am ticked that NBA P2P changed its site...its hard to navigate around, and the only link I could find was for the Jazz game.


It's on NBA TV for "free". Does your cable TV get it?


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

looking for a better game from Mr. Ming, Roy loves to show off that jumper of his vs the Rock - Look for Aldridge to play BIG tonight - Rock by 10


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

11-4 run to start by the Rock, Yao scoring early - Tmac still heated


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Yao spins baseline & scores a sweet 2

Tmac jumper - good!


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

13-0 Run - Tmac is crazy Hot!

Blazers stop the run


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## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Tracy is pissed:azdaja:


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

somebody turned up the A/C in the Toyota, everybody cold


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Yao slams home the last bucket of the 1st! 25-12 Rock


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

go yao!


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Mike James...Who?!

Scola steal


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

Rockets up by 18


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

This guy Scola does it all! Tim Duncan was right, he can play!


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Head didn't work on his dribble this summer - typical


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

Tmac Back2Back jumpers good 42-23 Rock


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

this has been a blow out since tip off. Damn


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

And 1, bonzi shooting 1 after Timeout


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

OneBadLT123 said:


> this has been a blow out since tip off. Damn


Think Francis could get some "tick" in this one? :biggrin:


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

AllEyezonTX said:


> Think Francis could get some "tick" in this one? :biggrin:


I really hope we can give him some PT


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

13 - 4 turnover stat - I like that


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

how can you not like Chuck "Hustle" Hayes?


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## darkballa (Sep 19, 2003)

t-mac, 3 straight missed shots...not good.


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## AZNoob (Jan 21, 2006)

darkballa said:


> t-mac, 3 straight missed shots...not good.


Yao isn't doing well either...

They were hott in the first half, and now they're stagnant. Hopefully, we can pull away.

Seems like we still can't shake them, even though we lead by 16...


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## Hakeem (Aug 12, 2004)

Bull**** charge call on Yao.

He's playing like ****, though.


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## darkballa (Sep 19, 2003)

low scoring for us tonight. Good thing is, even though mac and yao aren't doing that well, all the other players are keeping us in, especially mike james and bonzi. and luther head is doing a great job of passing the ball around.


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## AZNoob (Jan 21, 2006)

Yao was like...

"Rightttt...THEY knocked it out of bounds...teeheehee!"


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## darkballa (Sep 19, 2003)

not what i was expecting from a rick adelman offense tonight. 73 points with about 5 minutes to go. mcgrady and yao cold but i just saw an interesting stat: 22 assists on 34 field goals. definitely a rick adelman stat


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

THis is why Alston starts.

James is 5 from 14............ with just the one assists

Rafer is 4 from 9 with 6 assists.


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## AZNoob (Jan 21, 2006)

Crap...down to a 9 pt lead...

We better not make this a nail biter...


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## darkballa (Sep 19, 2003)

were having a horrible 4th quarter: we let them score 30 points in the 4th.


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## AZNoob (Jan 21, 2006)

hroz said:


> THis is why Alston starts.
> 
> James is 5 from 14............ with just the one assists
> 
> Rafer is 4 from 9 with 6 assists.


James is basically a version of last year's Luther Head...

Off to bench to create offense, then back to the bench with ye!


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## AllEyezonTX (Nov 16, 2006)

3-0! "WE WANT STEVE!" lol


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## hroz (Mar 4, 2006)

hmmmm.....

Not sure how I feel about this?

Did we do what we had to?


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## darkballa (Sep 19, 2003)

damn, this was a bad game, we let them score 32 on us in the 4th after holding them down to less than 20 in the first 3. basically everybody went cold after the half, we shot below 40% but like i said...i like the assist to fieldgoal ratio


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## AZNoob (Jan 21, 2006)

We ALWAYS have our problems in the fourth quarter. It is sooo annoying.


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## OneBadLT123 (Oct 4, 2005)

These turnover numbers have been looking great since the season began. Looking good

30 points from our bench tonight. So this is what a deep team must feel like? hahahaha


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## CbobbyB (Feb 16, 2006)

Good win, although the old "can't close out the game" problem came back for a while. Oh well, 3-0!


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## CrackerJack (Jul 2, 2005)

lucky for us a win by a few points is the same as a win by 20+ cos this season could turn into a nervous one if we continue to let teams back into the game with less than 5min to go


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## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

How quickly people are to turn on Mike James... his job's to create offense, and when everyone is ice cold he's got the green light to try to generate something himself, and unfortunately he was cold tonight too. Are you guys seriously complaining about him scoring 17 for us off the bench??

Anyway, good win, 3-0 baby!


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## gi0rdun (May 31, 2007)

3-0. If the season ended right now T-Mac would be MVP.


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## Legend-Like (Mar 25, 2006)

Mike James still continues to impress me!


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## AZNoob (Jan 21, 2006)

giordun said:


> 3-0. If the season ended right now T-Mac would be MVP.


Haha, a three game season?

When is the trade deadline? between games one and two?

XD

Our true test begins with our next two games. Dallas AND San Antonio. We beat them, we can beat anybody in the league.


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## jdiggidy (Jun 21, 2003)

I really didn't like the offense sputtering the way it did but we have enough off the the bench to overcome that. Our defense has saved us down the stretch of these first few games. I know it is only 3 games but, we have allowed the fewest points per game in the Western conference so far.

I don't see any reason why we shouldn't be Dallas.


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## Dean the Master (Feb 19, 2006)

Here is the Highlights in case you missed the game or want to relive those Rockets moment. Brought to you by R2K.


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