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Thursday April 16, 2009 4:15 AM

Dallas Ruins Rockets' Night

Mavs win 95-84, relegating Rockets to No. 5 seed

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

Dallas - Sometimes life’s most important lessons are those which prove most painful; they’re not fun, nor are they even mildly pleasant – just necessary if you want to move forward. That’s the reality the Rockets must now embrace after experiencing the pain of a disappointing 95-84 defeat at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night.

Up 14 points and riding a red-hot Yao Ming in the third quarter, Houston appeared well on its way to a sixth straight win, the Southwest Division title and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. But an old bugaboo came back to bite them when the Mavericks broke out their fronting defense on Yao – a tactic which has repeatedly given Houston fits this season – and the results were immediate and devastating. The Rockets’ offense, so efficient while scoring 31 second quarter points, could only muster a paltry 26 points during the game’s final 21 minutes, spelling doom for Houston’s hopes of hosting Game 1 of their first round series at Toyota Center this weekend.

“It was the same thing,” lamented Coach Rick Adelman of his club’s struggles against teams that front Yao. “We did a very poor job of moving the ball. We have to get in the right spots and you’ve got to be aggressive in moving the ball and understanding what they’re taking away with the front, and attack the other sides and be aggressive with it. We get really tentative and it really hurts us.

“It’s something we’ve worked on, we get better at it, and then we drop off. But like I told the team, it’s a really good learning experience for when we play this weekend because that’s what the pressure is going to be like and we’re going to have to respond to it.”

The team promising to apply that pressure will be none other than the upstart Portland Trailblazers, a club which has already engaged Houston in a few memorable battles this season. Portland’s roster is blessed with loads of length and athleticism, yet decidedly light on postseason experience. On paper, it’s the sort of evenly-matched pairing one would expect from a series pitting the Western Conferences Nos. 4 and 5 seeds, and the Rockets know they’re in for a serious challenge despite getting the better of the Blazers two of the three times they met this season.

“Everybody knows the playoffs is a different game,” said Yao, who finished with 23 points and 9 rebounds Wednesday night. “Whatever you’ve done in the regular season, that can be healthy but also you have to learn to play a new game.”

“It’s going to be a hard-fought contest,” added Shane Battier. “We’ve had some great games with them, both in our place and their place, and they’re a young, hungry team. But that’s OK because so are we.”

Indeed, players and coaches were already in the process of putting the pain of the Dallas game behind them by the time they made their way out of the locker room Wednesday night. There’s simply too much prep work to be done to hold on to the hurt for long. The second season begins in two days. During that time the team will practice and pour over film for hours on end. There will be late nights and early mornings, hard work and perspiration. And all of it – every bead of sweat and sleepless night – will be worthwhile if the Rockets grasp the lessons learned in defeat and apply them toward a Game 1 victory.

QUOTES

Rick Adelman

“Just disappointed with the way we played, especially with halfway through the third on.”

(Was it different in any way from any of the defenses you’ve seen on Yao?) – “No, it was the same thing. They put Bass up there to pressure a little bit, and they fronted him, and we did a very poor job of moving the ball. We have to move the ball and take advantage of what they’re trying to do and we didn’t do a good job of it.”

(Were some of those opportunities Yao had in the third quarter the kinds you want?) “Some of them. But we’ve got to make better decisions. We’ve got to see what’s happening and somehow he’s ( Yao) – I don’t know, I’m afraid to say too much. He plays a lot of minutes, touches the ball a lot and shot one free throw. I don’t know.”

(How much of your half court execution, or lack of, is Brooks and Lowry at the point?) – “It’s the whole team. It’s not one or two guys, it’s the whole team. We have to get in the right spots and you’ve got to be aggressive in moving the ball and understanding that they’re taking away with the front and attack the other sides and be aggressive with it. And we get really tentative and it really hurts us. So it’s just something we’ve worked on, we get better at it, and then we drop off. But like I told the team, it’s a really good learning experience for when we play this weekend cause that’s what the pressure is going to be like and we’re going to have to respond to it.”

(what do you take from this season?): We’ve played very well all year long. We went through a lot of stuff during the year and our guys responded, and we’ve won a lot of places. We’re confident in the way we can play. We feel we can play with anybody, so it’s just a matter of regrouping after tonight and getting ready for the weekend.

Ron Artest

On fourth quarter shooting:

“I think we did everything we were supposed to do. They had a couple of fouls that I didn’t know where they were coming from. Then they took the lead.”

(On being disappointed by the loss?) “We’re still in the playoffs. We still have a chance when the chips fall.”

(On what he takes away from the regular season to start the playoffs) “We got better as the season went on and our team should get better throughout the playoffs.”

Shane Battier

“The 14 [points] in the fourth quarter pretty much summed it up. They turned up the pressure and that’s what a good playoff team does. They played very well and they’re a tough team to beat at home, and we gave effort but didn’t have the execution and focus that we needed to win this game tonight.”

(Follow up: Did he mean the offensive end?) “Yeah, the big fella [Yao] was rolling and we sort of got away from him which is probably the dumbest thing we can do, especially when the big fella gets it going. We started to look elsewhere and started to take long contested jumpers which fed into their game plan of getting out and running. They had a couple of threes and got back in the game and after that it was tough to slow them down.”

(How disappointing of not winning the division title) “The way you look at it you can’t come in here and be disappointed with one game. We had so many opportunities during the year we could have won this thing. Two losses at Memphis, the loss to the Clippers, the loss to Washington at home, those are the games you look back at the end of the year and go ‘Man, why didn’t we come and play?’ If we had a couple of those we wouldn’t have to worry about tonight, and Yao and Ron and the guys could get the rest. But we had a shot and didn’t take care of it, and we’ve moved on.”

(match-up with Portland): They’re a very good team, a hungry team. It’s going to be a hard-fought contest. We’ve had some great games with them, both in our place and their place, and they’re a young, hungry team, but that’s OK because so are we. So this should be fun series.

Yao Ming

We’ve struggled all season against fronts. We have a plan for how to play against a front defense and I think we didn’t do well tonight. In the second half I only catch a couple post-ups early in the third quarter and then we had ball movement problems and also I didn’t hold my post well – that’s my problem. The good news is we’ll have two days to fix it.

The second half they (my teammates) were still looking for me but the Mavericks changed their defense – they fronted. It doesn’t mean they (my teammates) weren’t looking for me.

(match-up with Portland): Everybody knows the playoffs is a different game. Whatever you’ve done in the regular season, that can be healthy but also you have to learn to play a new game. They’re a very good team. I don’t know when we’ll play the first game, but we have to do our homework before the tip-off.

Mavericks Head Coach Rick Carlisle

“Coming into the game with the opportunity to win 50, and a lot of questions about running it [50 wins streak] to a ninth straight year that it would symbolize that this franchise is still an elite franchise. This would be an elite franchise anyway. But I’m really proud of the effort that our guys made tonight. We were a little stale in the second and third quarters but found energy off the bench. Josh really gave us a huge lift in the third quarter, and Kidd just played a great all-around game, and Dirk and Jet were huge. Big, big credit tonight to Bass and Hollins because they just got us going defensively and that got our crowd into it. It’s good to have momentum going into the playoffs. It doesn’t guarantee anything but I really feel like it’s good for our team to be winning heading in.”

(On Howard’s performance…) - “He had a tough start. I was just hoping that Jason [Kidd] would find a way to get him into the game. He hit the one jumper [at the beginning of the third] and then we finally started to get some stops, and when we get some stops the ball gets up the court that’s his dimension and he makes great things happen. It lead to one trip to the line, and another, and another, and Jason [Kidd] got in some pick-and-roll stuff with him that was productive and Josh made a couple of good passes as well. That was a key stretch because we needed to get our fans into the game - that was really important. Jet [Terry] had a great game really from start to finish, but we just need that one other guy to give us some scoring.”

(Jet’s 7-0 run in the fourth quarter by design?) – “Well, the first play was a designed play. And then the next two or three things – Kidd called one play, and then there was one play where Bass got a rebound and kicked it out to Dirk and Dirk hit Jet and we hit a three. That sent it to 5 or 7 [points], I’m not sure which. But that was huge and then it just helped energize us even more defensively. Brandon he’s about 6’7-6’8 and he’s a foot shorter than Yao but did it with his legs, his body, and his heart. I mean he really, really worked out there and made Yao work, and just our actively defensively as a team took a quantum leap when you’ve got a guy working like that.”

Mavericks guard Jason Terry

(Talk about the 50 wins this season?) – “Fifty wins is tremendous. Since I’ve joined this organization it hasn’t been less than that and our fans really appreciated it tonight.”

(Talk about scoring as many points at the Rockets with 14 in the 4th?) – “In the 4th quarter I definitely want the ball in my hands. I’m not going to take the shot all of the time, but most of the time and hopefully it goes in. I have to give credit to all of my teammates. Brandon Bass setting great picks and Jason Kidd’s court vision is unbelievable. The defensive effort that we had in the 4th quarter on Yao and Artest was the key to the ball game.”

(Talk about Bass’ defense in the 4th quarter) – “Well he’s got to use his quickness and we tell that to him all of the time. A lot of times he’s going to be out sized by these big men, but if he uses your quickness your team is going to be there to help him and he did an outstanding job tonight.”

(Talk a little about the Spurs as your 1st round opponent in the playoffs?) – “We’re going down to the riverwalk. A place we’ve been many times before. It’s going to be an outstanding series, a big rival of ours and they’re placing pretty good basketball. Tony Parker is not in the MVP talks but he should be.”

Mavericks guard Jason Kidd

“Once we got down by 14 points in the 3rd quarter we had to find a way. We’ve been playing well at home and we finally started to play some defense and our offense kicked in and Jet and Dirk were big on the offensive end, but we got stops when we needed. Houston is a talented team.”

“Damp, Hollins and Bass did a pretty good job of slowing down Yao in the second half. They just tried to make him work hard for his points on the offensive end, but the biggest thing was we made him work on the defensive end too. Jet (Jason Terry) got him on some pick-n-rolls and we took advantage of that matchup.”

“We’re a veteran ball club and we understand how important is in to win at home and we’re confident at home. We’ve got to find a way to win on the road in the playoffs.”

“JHo (Josh Howard) has been big in this stretch run for us. When we’re healthy and he’s out on the court for us you can talk about his offense but if you look at what he does for us defensively he’s big for us. He took over again in that 3rd quarter when we were down and started to get to the basket, get to the free throw line and that put a lot of pressure on their defense.”

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