PrintHow Sweet It Is!
Rockets roll into second round after dispatching Portland 92-76
Jason Friedman
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Houston - It felt like the most blissful combination of euphoria and relief. Twelve years of playoff frustration, utterly eradicated by the final score on the jumbotron: Rockets 92, Portland 76.
Yes, Houston is moving on to the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since 1997 thanks to its 4-2 series win over the Blazers. As a result, the constant questions posed to players like Yao Ming and Shane Battier about their inability to lead the Rockets out of the first round are now gone for good. That burden has been shed, leaving in its place a welcome lightness of being for the men who have labored beneath its weight for far too long.
“Biggest win of my NBA career,” said Yao Ming of Houston’s Game 6 victory. “That is a big step for me. It felt so great when the clock ran down and I still can't believe that came true. Obviously, we need to keep moving forward.
“We need to get another goal which is the next level. Obviously before tonight people talked about how many years the Rockets didn’t make it out of the first round and how many years I didn’t make it out of the first round. Right now, there’s a new meaning. We just need an entirely new mindset to find a new goal, recharge ourselves and keep going.”
Yao will undoubtedly lead the way toward that new goal, much as he did Thursday night, setting the tone early by diving for loose balls and even racing the floor to swat a Steve Blake lay-up attempt on a fast-break. They were precisely the sort of plays one would expect from a man who prefers to quietly lead by example, and his teammates had no trouble deciphering the message of urgency they carried within.
“When the big fella shows that energy and is on the floor running, it lifts up everybody,” explained Shane Battier, who is also on the verge of experiencing the second round for the first time in his NBA career. “The crowd gets energized because they see how much Yao wants it, and you can’t do anything but play harder when you see the big fella motoring down and playing both ends of the floor. When he does that, he doesn’t realize how much that energizes us.”
Yao was not the only Rockets player providing an early spark, though, of course. Ron Artest, who had struggled offensively for much of the series, was a revelation throughout Game 6 with his aggressive, attacking style on both ends of the court. Houston’s prized offseason acquisition led the team with a game-high 27 points on 11 of 21 shooting yet he, too, preferred to praise Yao’s effort rather than seize the opportunity to take some credit of his own.
“I enjoy playing with (Yao) because he’s always the first one in the gym and last one to leave. He’s a real leader and he is the reason why we’re having success and everybody knows that.”
Then Artest made sure to point out that his team’s work is far from done.
“I’m not happy just getting out of the first round,” he said. “That’s just not how it goes here. That’s not LA’s goal, that’s not Boston’s goal, that is not Cleveland’s goal and it’s not our goal.”
For the Rockets to continue advancing they’ll have to somehow negotiate their way past the mighty Lakers, a team that swept the season series between the two clubs this year. Clearly, then, Houston faces an extremely tough task in the next round but its fans are ready – the soundtrack to the next series began echoing throughout Toyota Center with about three minutes remaining in Thursday’s contest when the crowd unleashed the first of many “Beat LA!” chants – and so, too, are the players.
“The good news is that the bandwagon is clear,” deadpanned Battier. “I don’t think that we’ll have to worry about overconfidence or that we’ll have people telling us that it will be an easy series for us, so we have that going for us. It will be a tough series. They’re playing as well as anyone in the league right now, they have the best record in the West and we’ve had some issues with them this year but we’re going to go in there and try to much it up and try to make it a knuckleball-spitball game and try to win ugly.
“We’re playing with house money now. Like I said, no one is expecting much out of us – we’re expecting something out of us – but we’re going to go there and try to steal one in LA the first two games like we did in Portland.”
The path, then, has been laid out before them and their next goal is crystal clear. But before looking too far into the future, Rockets players and fans deserve to bask in the recent past just a little bit more for there’s simply no way to overstate the importance of Thursday night’s accomplishment. In fact, it seems quite likely that it’s impossible to state, period – the unburdened smile on Yao’s face and the pride in head coach Rick Adelman’s eyes conveyed far greater meaning than mere words ever could.
For this was a night twelve years in the making; an evening in which pain, fear and frustration were finally, mercifully, replaced with joy and relief. It allowed a city and its team to exhale in tandem, together drawing strength for the long-awaited new journey about to begin.
QUOTES
RICK ADELMAN
(On the win) “I couldn't be prouder of our team. After the game the other night a lot of stuff was written about how they (Portland) really took us out of things but this team is not going to come out and not play hard and they did that. Ron (Artest) made shots early and we really defended them. They got points from their two big guys (Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge) but we really shut everybody else down and we rebounded the ball well. It was just a great effort all the way through, all the way along on our team."
(On the play of Yao Ming) “He was terrific and he was very patient. Again, he did a better job of moving around tonight and not just letting them front him all the time. But it makes a total difference when we come out and Ron (Artest) starts making shots and in the 2nd half Aaron (Brooks) started making shots. The shots are there if they ( Portland) are going to play that way. So I think as a team it was a great team effort.”
(Ron Artest diving on the floor in the fourth quarter): That’s how our team has played. That’s why they stayed together and fought through this series. We got the first win there to get home-court advantage and it paid off for us.
I thought Kyle was terrific in the first half with the energy he gave us and then Aaron picked it up in the second half.
(getting out of the first round): I know what it means to me. I won't have to answer that question, you know, for twelve year or whatever it is, the ghosts of Houston past. I think it means a lot to Yao. I know he’s been in two series where they’ve had a chance and lost where it looked like they were in control of them. So you just gotta keep persevering. The rest of the team, I said it all along, wasn’t locked into all that stuff and I really believed that. This team was playing their own destiny. This was the first time they’d been together and I really believed that’s how they really felt no matter all the questions – and I’m sure they got tired of them – but that wasn’t going to be a factor with us. I’m sure it was with Yao because he had been through a lot of disappointments.
There’s always a sense of relief when you get past the first round. There’s no guarantees in the first round. There’s always a sense that you’ve moved on ad learned from it. We played a very good team. I told Nate after the game that after four games it could have been the other way – the games were so close – and they took it to us last game, but our guys really came out and played the way we’re capable of here at home.
(on his feeling before the game tonight): I didn’t know if we were going to win or not, but I knew we were going to come out and really take it to them. The whole key is we shot the ball better. We started making shots and that just changed the whole thing. Ron started making shots and I thought we got a little bit rushed at times, but for the most part we did what we wanted to do offensively and got the win.
YAO MING
(On the importance of getting out the 1st round) “That is a big step for me. It felt so great when the clock ran down and I still can't believe that came true. Obviously, we need to keep moving forward.”
(On diving for loose balls) “I think that at that time I felt so close to the win and we just kept trying to get a little bit closer. We believed with that body language that if we sacrificed ourselves and hit the ground and tried to save the ball from going out of bounds that we would be sending a message to our teammates that we are really, really close.”
We need to get another goal which is the next level. Obviously before tonight people talked about how many years the Rockets didn’t make it out of the first round and how many years I didn’t make it out of the first round. Right now, there’s a new meaning. We just need an entirely new mindset to find a new goal, recharge ourselves and keep going.
(biggest win?): Biggest win of my NBA career.
(how much did the pressure weigh on you?): I did feel the pressure. I have an example: Usually I would take a nap before the game. But today I would wake up and hour and half before I usually wake up. I even think about the gameplan and those technical problems while I’m asleep. Seriously.
(on his feeling heading into the game): When I came in this locker room I feel that the pressure is left at the door. Also, I’m very happy that today Dikembe came to the locker room and enjoyed this moment with us. I could feel that minute when he walked in and speak to everybody; I said, ‘That’s the locker room we have.’ I feel like we played with full confidence.
SHANE BATTIER
(On he win) “I know it's been a long time coming. I've only been here three years but you feel the frustrations of the fans here and they love a winner here. We are glad that we could get a win for them tonight. This one is for the fans and the people of Houston.”
This is really for the fans in Houston. They’ve had a lot of frustration and a lot of good teams that just couldn’t get out of the first round so we were glad to get them to the second round and hopefully we can get them to the third round now.
I’ve been here three years and I can appreciate the frustrations of the city. When you go out you just feel that they want a winner so bad here and you could feel their frustration last twelve years. And even though they didn’t really blame us as the guys on the team right now, it will feel good to hang out in the summer and say this is the start of something really good. I think we’ve got many years to compete and build on this, and it’s a great start for us.
(on the defensive effort): We knew from the start that we could really defend this team. The games that we didn’t defend them well we fouled them and put them in the bonus really early in the quarters. We knew tonight that if we didn’t foul them or keep them off the free throw line that they’d have a tough time scoring and that played true. They have a heck of a team and LaMarcus and Brandon had great games again tonight but we did a great job on everybody else.
(On Von Wafer): Von was in a lot of pain from a dunk attempt a few days ago but he’s been huge for this team all year and he wouldn’t miss this game. I’m proud of his effort.
(on the Lakers): The good news is that the bandwagon is clear. I don’t think that we’ll have to worry about overconfidence or that we’ll have people telling us that it will be an easy series for us, so we have that going for us. It will be a tough series. They’re playing as well as anyone in the league right now, they have the best record in the West and we’ve had some issues with them this year but we’re going to go in there and try to much it up and try to make it a knuckleball-spitball game and try to win ugly.
I’m excited to dive in to the research that we have on the Lakers. We had some great stuff on Portland, we really did I don’t know if it always showed but we really had a good gameplan and Daryl and his staff did a fantastic job of getting me a lot of ammunition. I might need a lot of numbers and a lot of research on Kobe, Lamar and the boys out in LA but I’m excited to dive in.
(on Yao diving for loose balls): When the big fella shows that energy and is on the floor running, it lifts up everybody. The crowd gets energized because they see how much Yao wants it, and you can’t do anything but play harder when you see the big fella motoring down and playing both ends of the floor. If he does that, he doesn’t realize how much that energizes us.
He’s got a lot of pressure on him – more pressure than anyone in this room can understand – from his homeland. He carries the dreams of an entire nation on his shoulders and, as much as the fans in Houston want to see the second round, 1.2 billion people in China also want to get to the second round, so this is his team and you can be proud that he finally got the monkey off his back.
(On the Blazers) “We knew that they played with so much emotion in game 5 but they wouldn't be able to replicate it. So it was so important for us to come out and jump on them and keep them at bay and make it okay for them to lose tonight. They're a heck of a team. I'll tell you what, they pushed us. When people look at the series they will see that the Rockets won 4 to 2 but this was a very tough series for us to win. We are extremely proud of this victory to beat a great team.”
(On Artest): I think the Chuckster (Charles Barkley) motivated him a little bit tonight. He came out with a different look inside and was aggressive from the start, and really set the tone for tonight.
Ron was really on us to finish the game out. He doesn’t want to show any let-up in a game like this. He did a fantastic job from start to finish.
(where do you go from here?): We’re playing with house money now. Like I said, no one is expecting much out of us – we’re expecting something out of us – but we’re going to go there and try to steal one in LA the first two games like we in Portland.
(on what it means to get past first round): The only change is that after today I’ll never have to answer that question which is a welcome change. It’s not going to change my life too much – I know that my career is a failure if I were to never get out of the first round – but it will be nice not to hear that question anymore.
RON ARTEST
(On his mindset tonight) “This team is unique because we have so many scorers and I heard a lot of people say that Ron Artest's career playoff average is down from 17 (points) to 13 (points) but that wasn't important. How can you be happy averaging 27 or 30 (points) and be down 2-3 or be happy averaging 10 points and be up 3-2.”
(on Yao): I enjoy playing with him because he’s always the first one in the gym and last one to leave. He’s a real leader and he is the reason why we’re having success and everybody knows that.
(on getting out of the first round): I’m not happy just getting out of the first round. That’s just not how it goes here. That’s not LA’s goal, that’s not Boston’s goal, that is not Cleveland’s goal and it’s not our goal.
(on heading into the game): Deke came before the game to give us some confidence and I was just so happy to see him there, and it means a lot. Hopefully he can come to LA but with him in that locker room it really helped me out and the team.
(On the importance of the Rockets low turnovers) “I think last game Portland put so much pressure on us, not defensively but just the tempo of the game, by pushing the ball and really attacking us. We were turning the ball over on offense and being really aggressive. Tonight we just stayed with it. In the 1st quarter we were playing a little out of control and then we started to have some composure and that's why you saw the turnovers the way they were tonight.”
(on his dive into the stands in the fourth quarter): "I've been in the stands before. It was home court. I wanted to soak it in, I had to sit down ... actually, this guy offered me some beer. When he did that, I was like, you know what? I'm gonna sit down and enjoy this. He's not throwing it at me. I was gonna take a sip, but it's too many cameras."
AARON BROOKS
(On the play of the bench) “Our goon squad came in and did an excellent job. They came in and extended the lead. They got us off to a great start and they were playing pretty well for us the whole game.”
(On the defensive energy) “We played great help defense. We did a good job by helping each other out. We tried to make every shot they took difficult. I think at the beginning of the game they were sitting on us. We kind of wore on them a little and used this to stack up a lead.”
VON WAFER
(On how it feels to move to the second round) “It feels good. I'm glad we got the win. It feels good to get the win and get this series over with.”
(on deciding to try to play): I was at home laying down and I was feeling a little better. I ran up and down the stairs of my house and I felt good so I thought I’d try to go and warm up and see what happens.
(On the importance of maintaining energy going into L.A.) “It's going to be a dog fight. We just have to go in there and know that we can win. We can't go in there and be good with a close game down the stretch. We have to try to win. We just can't get satisfied with playing and being there. We feel like we can go in there and win and we deserve to win. All the pressure’s on them. They're predicted to be NBA champions by everybody so the pressure’s on them.”
TRAILBLAZERS COACH NATE MCMILLAN
(on the loss) “I really wasn’t prepared for this because I thought we had a chance but they gave their all tonight. I thought they fought hard, they gave everything they had and it just wasn’t enough. Houston was better tonight, but they had an unbelievable year and I loved what they did this season. They showed potential to be a good team, to be a playoff team, to be co-champions (of the Northwest Division), but we need to take another step. We look at this moment tonight and we move forward to getting ourselves better for next year because the playoffs was a goal for us this season, it is expected for us next year and we should be looking for bigger and better things.”
(on the Rockets defense) “Their defense was pretty much tight and aggressive and they were the more aggressive team tonight. Even in that first quarter we made some buckets but they were hard baskets and nothing was really easy. In the second quarter they broke it open, I think they had a 30 point quarter. Each time they have had a 30 point quarter they have gone on to win to win the game. Basically, we couldn’t recover from that.”
BRANDON ROY
(on the disappointment of the loss) “I think the guys felt the same way as coach. It just felt like we were going to play on. Nobody before the game thought we were going to lose tonight. There is just a lot of silence. We’ve had a great year but we felt like there was more that we could do this season. I’ve got to give the guys credit. We played extremely hard and we’ve got to give the Rockets credit. They were the better team this series. This was a good experience for us.”
(on the play of the Rockets) “They did a good job. They played extremely hard tonight. You could tell they were playing to get out of this first round and they were just better than us.”
STEVE BLAKE
(on the difference in the game) “It was really a tough loss for us but you have to give Houston a lot of credit. They played great defense. We couldn’t get our rhythm going. When it got into the fourth quarter, midway, they had the game in hand. We kept fighting. We believed throughout the whole game. It was their night and not ours. Ron Artest made some really tough shots. He is so strong and very hard to stop.”
(on how the team feels) “It hurts now because we thought we were better. We’ll use this series loss for motivation for next year.”
GREG ODEN
(on the game) “ Houston came out with more energy and Ron Artest really got them going. They played harder than us and they hit their shots and our defense wasn’t there. With my early foul trouble I definitely couldn’t get into the flow of the game.”
LaMARCUS ALDRIDGE
(on Ron Artest’s play) “He came out strong and responded and led them to victory.” (on the game) “ Houston made all the hustle plays and that made all the difference. When they made the run to get up by 15 or 16 we knew it was going to be tough to come back. They made all the plays and got big offensive rebounds.”
TRAVIS OUTLAW
(on the game) “In the third quarter we made a hard push and then things kinda got iffy after that. We were kind of tired and they were the better team.”
(on the Rocket – Laker series) “I think it will be an okay series if they put together a few good games they might be able to sneak a few victories.”
NOTES
Tonight’s attendance of 18,376 marks the seventh straight sellout for the Rockets dating back to the regular season (3/28/09-4/30/09).
The Rockets recorded a 92-76 win over the Trail Blazers in taking the series 4-2, which marked Houston ’s first series win since the 1997 NBA Playoffs. Houston has now captured all three playoff series with Portland (1987, 1994 and 2009), while remaining a perfect 7-0 all-time at home against the Trail Blazers in the postseason.
Houston has now won all three series in which it was up 3-2 with Game Six at home: 1981 Western Conference Semifinals – Rockets lost Game Six at home, but won Game Seven at San Antonio ; 1995 Western Conference Finals – Rockets won Game Six at home over San Antonio .
The team that won the first quarter took all nine games this season, including all six meetings in this playoffs series. All nine times in 2008-09, the winning team also led at halftime.
Houston was able to break trend in the rebounding battle, winning for the first time within this series despite getting outrebounded by a 42-41 count by Portland . The team that won the battle of the boards had taken all of the previous games this season.
Ron Artest registered a game-high 27 points (11-21 FG, 3-11 3FG) tonight, which was just one point shy of his playoff-best 28 points set at Miami (5/12/04). Artest actually notched 19 points (7-11 FG, 3-7 3FG) over the first two quarters to mark his highest scoring half of the entire season.
Yao Ming posted 17 points (8-16 FG), 10 rebounds and two blocked shots tonight. Yao has now posted three consecutive double-doubles and four straight games of double-figure rebounding.
Shane Battier matched his playoff career highs with nine rebounds and three steals tonight. Battier also had nine boards at Phoenix (4/24/05) and grabbed three steals in three prior postseason outings (last on 5/5/07 vs. Utah ).
Kyle Lowry led the Rockets in assists with three off the bench, but all five Houston starters recorded two helpers. It was the only time this series that the five starters from either team all recorded multiple-assist performances in the same game.
LaMarcus Aldridge had a team-high 26 points (12-21 FG) and five rebounds tonight, notching 12 points (6-9 FG) in the first quarter alone. Aldridge, Brandon Roy (8), Travis Outlaw (2) and Nicolas Batum (2) were the only Portland players to make more than one field goal in this game.
Brandon Roy recorded 22 points (8-17 FG, 2-3 3FG, 4-6 FT), four boards and four assists tonight. Despite marking his only game of this series to not lead or share the team lead in scoring, Roy stood as the only player from either team to reach double-digit scoring in all six games.
Joel Przybilla recorded all five of his blocked shots in the first half tonight. Przybilla also had eight rebounds, including six offensive boards.
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