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Wednesday February 4, 2009 1:11 AM

Rockets Go Wire-to-Wire In Win Over Bulls

Yao and Scola lead Houston to 107-100 victory

Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO PLAYER OF THE GAME INTERVIEW WITH TRACY MCGRADY - AND CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE HOUSTON ROCKETS POSTGAME HIGHLIGHTS SHOW.

Houston - He is often overlooked and underappreciated. He rarely, if ever, wows you with SportsCenter worthy plays. His numbers are solid, yet hardly spectacular.

But know this: Luis Scola has been the lone source of consistency on a Rockets team riddled with injuries and lineup changes this season. And for that reason, and more than a few others, Shane Battier says it’s about time people start giving his hirsute teammate his due.

“No ifs and or buts, he’s been our MVP,” says Battier. “He’s been so solid for us. Every night we can not only count on his rebounds, but his passion and energy – he never takes a night off. He has been the foundation that has held this team together to this point.”

It’s hard to argue with Battier after having watched Scola’s performance Tuesday night at Toyota Center. The second-year forward was a rebounding dynamo against the Bulls, pulling down a career-high tying 18 boards to go along with 13 points during Houston’s 107-100 victory. It marked Scola’s 15th double-double of the season and the 17th time he’s corralled double-digit rebounds in a game – already three more than he had all of last season.

“He was so active tonight,” raved Rockets coach Rick Adelman after the game. “He rebounded the ball consistently all night long and it was all effort. He pursued it and went after it. He’s really had a great year. He’s just gotten better since last year. He’s doing more things and you just can’t give him enough credit.”

In typical Scola fashion, he deflected much of the postgame attention, simply saying, “I just try to help this team. I run hard and I play hard, and if it helps then that's great.” But such understated simplicity is, in itself, misleading. Scola is not simply some hard-working overachiever. He is both of those things, of course, but also so much more. There is a tremendous amount of skill lurking within Scola’s 6-9 frame and that’s become increasingly obvious during his sophomore season in the NBA.

“I think he’s grown in confidence,” says Battier. “When you’re a rookie, you sort of question whether you can play in the big leagues. Even though he’d been one of the best power forwards in Europe for many, many years, as a rookie you’re left feeling, ‘Can I fit here?’ After that first year when we had a lot of success, he realized not only can he survive, he can thrive.”

The results from that added confidence were first demonstrated on the international stage when Scola helped carry his Argentinean side to a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing. And though he’s been asked to assume more of a supporting role with the Rockets, he still consistently manages to contribute in myriad ways.

“Energy, toughness, rebounding, steals, everything,” says Tracy McGrady when asked what Scola brings to the table. “He does things that really don’t show up on the stat sheet sometimes and to be a great team you need players like that. Sometimes stats really don’t show how great those guys have been on the basketball court.”

But if the traditional boxscore numbers can’t quite capture Scola’s impact, Battier is all too happy to fill in the blanks.

“I had heard about him before he came to Houston, but after playing with him for a year and a half now, I’m a believer. I don’t care if he can’t jump very high or run very fast, he’s one of the best power forwards in the world.”

And that - far more than any mere numbers, hype or highlights - says it all.

And 1’s: Tracy McGrady brought the house down with his first quarter, left-handed dunk over Chicago’s Tyrus Thomas. 48 games worth of frustration seemed to fill that ferocious flush and, after the game, T-Mac didn’t even try to hide how good it felt to finally dip back into his aerial bag of tricks once again.

“I think that was more a confidence and ego booster. Just being able to attack the basket and knowing I can jump again and not feel anything. I was waiting on a moment like that, honestly. Because I was just so timid going to the basket and then trying to dunk the ball. I’m glad tonight was that night. I didn’t know when it was coming, but it’s a good thing it happened tonight. It felt good and I know I can do it again.”

QUOTES

RICK ADELMAN

(On the game ) “I'm happy for the win. We did the same thing in this game that we’ve done in a number of games. We get a lead and we just don't grab hold of it and keep it. At the end of the game our mental discipline just wasn't there. We gave up two 3's and one of them was because we were trying to get a steal in the back court. We talked about, if we get in trouble, calling a timeout. We took a jumper with 12 seconds on the clock.. It was almost like we did everything possible to get them back in the game and they got back in the game. Then, Aaron made a really nice drive to put us back up. Overall, it's just good to get the win and we've got to try to build during these days before the All Star game.”

(On the impact of Yao Ming) “We know that there is something that we definitely can go to every time down and, without him in the lineup, we are still just kind of disjointed in what we want to do. With him, we know he's going be the emphasis and the other team is worried about him and then you can run some other things, you can get some other things because of his presence on the court. He's the only one we have, that around the basket, is going to make it difficult. If he stays back there around the rim, he's going to change shots and they are going to be a jump shooting team. So, there's no doubt that it calms our team down when he's on the floor.”

(on Scola): Tonight, against that team especially – they have so many jumpers and everything else – he wasn’t just getting his man off [track], he was pursuing the ball – he was going out and getting it. Sometimes we don’t do that. Sometimes we stand in one spot and wait for it to come to us. You have to pursue it and he did that tonight.

(on T-Mac): I thought he looked much better tonight. He struggled some in practice yesterday, but he was a lot better tonight and hopefully that’s something he can keep getting better at. He didn’t play that much tonight so with the game tomorrow that should help. He moved a lot better defensively tonight than he did yesterday and that’s a good thing.

(on his rotation): I don’t know how I could have one at this point in time. I really think heading into the fourth quarter, that’s the thing that’s going to be the most difficult. Who’s going to play? How are we going to matchup? I hate to take Luis out of the game and put four small guys in with Yao when he does such a good job and is so comfortable. So it’s something I’m just going to have to get a feel for.

I talked to Brent a little bit about how someone was going to be left out of the [rotation] and Brent’s been around a long time, so he’s got the ability to step in and play when we need him. And I think you’ll probably see that. You’ll probably see that at some time I’ll go to Brent for a three or four or five game period and let him play because I really do like Brent on the court with Aaron. I think he really has a settling influence on Aaron and can help him out. So I’m just kind of seeing how it goes right now. Hopefully we’ll get some sense of who we’re going to be and how we’re going to rotate people.

(on Aaron finishing games): I have no problem doing it. The more he does it, the more comfortable he’s going to be. Again, I’m just going to have to see how the game is going and everything else. That team got another nice flow again, got a 13, 14 point lead, and it’s good experience for him to go through these stages like this at the end of the game..

VON WAFER

(On the game) “We got the job done out there. We came together as a group. At the end there, it was a little bad but we were able to stay together.”

(On the defensive adjustment at the half) “Coach came in and got on us pretty good at half time. We clamped down and gave up too many layups and we did that. We almost folded there. That is something we have to work on. We've got to finish on a better note than that but we got the W.”

TRACY MCGRADY

(On playing after injury) “I was a little worried coming into the game because I didn't move extremely well in practice yesterday. I got a good warm up and made sure that I was ready to go tonight. In the 1st quarter I kind of tweaked it (ankle) a little bit when I stepped on somebody's foot but I was just excited to be back on the basketball court. This is a pivotal time for our team. It's good to be back out there.”

(On his 1st quarter dunk on Tyrus Thomas) “I've been telling myself to go to the basket and be aggressive. I've been kind of hesitant to jump off my leg and tonight it was just one of those moments where you got a guy down there that can block shots and he's going to try to jump and block everything. My mentality was to go in there and go with strength and I put one down on him.”

RON ARTEST

(On what happened in the 4th quarter) “I think the guys put it away. Mac was on the bench. Rafer, Scola, myself (were all on the bench). The guys that were out there with Yao, Aaron, Von and Carl, they showed that they can help sustain the lead and that's what they did. They put them away.”

(On the chemistry of the team) “It's going good. We've got to keep on continuing to play hard and play together. We've got a really tough team. We have to make sure we continue to play.”

YAO MING

(On his role in the 4th quarter) “I have the confidence. I just needed to get my work in when I came back into the game in the 4th quarter. Obviously, we know how important it is and we've done this a lot before. I wanted to have the ball deep (in the paint) and try to draw the defense and double teams so that I could see that I could do something or just kick it out.”

(On McGrady's dunk in 1st half) “I'm just glad I'm not the guy over there. That was very impressive.”

LUIS SCOLA

(On the progress of the team) “I feel good. I am happy with our position and I just wish we would have won a few games that we lost. We could be in the top three in the West but we are getting better. I think I'm getting better and that's what it's all about.”

AARON BROOKS

(On the game) “I think it was a good win. The Bulls were on a roll. I think we did a good job of limiting their transition and we finished it up in the 4th quarter.”

(On what went wrong in the 2nd half) “We just made a couple of bad plays. They went on a run and we weathered it. We got back to what we were doing. We force-fed Yao and when you’ve got a horse like that in the middle, he can make so many mismatch problems, and we found him and he found us, and that’s our plan.”

BULLS COACH VINNY DEL NEGRO

(on the game ) We did not get off to a great start but our guys kept fighting. I was pleased with our overall effort. (Aaron) Brooks had a big effort off the bench for Houston and (Luis) Scola was very strong on the boards.

(on his team’s play ) Our guys hung in and our turnovers were kept down for the game. I was happy to get out of the game in the first half. When the ball goes inside to Yao (Ming), everyone else feeds off him. The foul trouble hurt us and we tried to go small and run and get uptempo. Houston made shots and plays. We got hesitant and that hurt us. Give Houston credit, they made plays when they had to.

LUOL DENG

(on playing against Yao Ming ) Yao (Ming) is very tough. We tried to double-team him. When they are healthy, they are a very dangerous team. Yao (Ming) did a good job of knowing when our double teams were coming. We weren’t getting enough stops.

(on the game ) When you lose, you have to look at what you did wrong and then come back the next game. Houston is a very good team and it’s tough to play them on the road.

DERRICK ROSE

(on playing against Yao Ming ) He is huge. Playing him is very different. He is 7-6, and it’s very tough to go inside on him.

(on the team’s play) We didn’t stop and we kept playing until the end. Houston is a very good team and is very hard to match up with.

JOAKIM NOAH

(on trying to defend Yao Ming) It was tough. There was very little I could do. I got some early touch fouls and I never got in my rhythm. Yao (Ming) has great size and touch around the basket. He is a good passer out of the double teams and he really hurt us.

NOTES

The Rockets took a 107-100 win over the Bulls tonight, extending Houston ’s overall winning streak over Chicago to six games.

Houston never relinquished the lead tonight after scoring the first five points of the game. The Rockets have now gone five games this season where they have not trailed in the contest.

The Rockets, who outscored the Warriors by a 48-22 (+26) margin in the paint in the previous game, posted a 48-38 (+10) edge in the paint over the Bulls tonight.

Yao Ming recorded 28 points (9-12 FG, 10-10 FT), eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Yao had gone three prior games played without a blocked shot (1/23/09-1/31/09). Tonight also marked Yao ’s second time this season to be perfect from the free throw line with at least 10 attempts: 13-for-13 at Cleveland (12/23/08).

Luis Scola had 13 points and a career-high-tying 18 rebounds (career-high-tying 14 defensive). He now has 17 double-digit rebounding performances this season after notching just 14 over his entire rookie season of 2007-08. Scola set his career high in rebounds with 18 (13 defensive) vs. Minnesota (3/26/08) and equaled that with 18 (career-best 14 defensive) vs. Indiana (11/26/08).

Tracy McGrady returned to the lineup tonight after missing the last game vs. Golden State (1/31/09) with a sprained left ankle. He notched 16 points (7-14 FG) and six assists, ending the longest active streak of consecutive 20-point games against Chicago at 15 straight, which dated back to his time with Orlando . The next closest is Denver ’s Carmelo Anthony with eight consecutive 20-point performances against the Bulls.

Ron Artest finished with 10 points (5-9 FG) and six assists. Artest was also 0-for-3 from downtown, ending his streak of contests with at least one 3-point field goal made at 24 straight games he had played.

Aaron Brooks added 18 points (6-12 FG, 3-6 3FG) off the bench, giving him 25 double-digit scoring performances in 2008-09.

Luol Deng, who registered 28 points tonight, began the game with a 12-point first quarter. It marked the best opening-quarter point total by a Houston opponent since a 13-point performance by Josh Smith at Atlanta (1/3/09). Sacramento ’s John Salmons also netted 13 points over the opening 12 minutes at Houston (12/19/08), which stands as the most first-quarter points by an opponent at Toyota Center this season.

Tyrus Thomas recorded 14 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three.. Thomas now has eight double-doubles on the season. Thomas also tied his season high in rebounds (previously recorded vs. Philadelphia on 12/2/08)

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