The AP reports: Ron Artest hurried to the Sacramento locker room after scoring 13 points in the Houston Rockets’ 95-90 win over the Kings in a preseason game on Friday night… Yao Ming scored 15 points in 27 minutes before twisting his right ankle and leaving for good with 3:07 left in the third quarter. Coach Rick Adelman said Yao was also fighting a cold… Aaron Brooks scored 23 points in McGrady’s place and Luis Scola grabbed 10 rebounds for Houston. Artest played only 18 minutes, all in the first half… Kevin Martin scored 19 points and Brad Miller had 10 points and nine rebounds for the Kings, who shot 37.5 percent (30-for-80) and went 3-for-15 from 3-point range.
Category: Houston Rockets Blog
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Oct 15: Rockets 101, Grizzlies 97
The AP reports: Von Wafer scored 17 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, D.J. Strawberry added 20 points and the Houston Rockets put on a 3-point shooting clinic in beating the Memphis Grizzlies 101-97 in a preseason game Wednesday night… Aaron Brooks finished with 14 points and nine assists for Houston, while Rafer Alston scored 13. Darrell Arthur, the rookie from Kansas, and Rudy Gay led Memphis with 14 points each. Darko Milicic and Mike Conley had 12 points apiece. Hakim Warrick and Quinton Ross finished with 10 each. While the Rockets were hitting 18 shots from outside the arc, Memphis was 4-of-12 on the night.
Oct 13: Thunder 110, Rockets 104
The AP reports: Kevin Durant shrugged off a late injury and scored 20 of his 26 points in an electrifying final 8 minutes to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder past the Houston Rockets 110-104 on Monday night for their first preseason win… Aaron Brooks scored 20 off the bench to lead the Rockets, D.J. Strawberry added 16 and Yao Ming had 15 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks in one half of action— playing the first and third quarters. Nick Collison had 21 points off the bench, Desmond Mason scored 16 and Chris Wilcox added 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Thunder.
Oct 11: Celtics 90, Rockets 89
The AP reports: Gabe Pruitt banked in a 13-foot shot with 6.6 seconds left to give the NBA champion Boston Celtics a 90-89 exhibition victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night. Paul Pierce led Boston (2-1) with 15 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. Glen Davis had 12 points, Kevin Garnett and Leon Powe added 10 each, and Pruitt had eight. Yao Ming led Houston (2-1) with 16 points, Luis Scola added 14 and Ron Artest had 13.
Oct 9: Rockets 85, Spurs 78
The AP reports: Ron Artest had 18 points and five rebounds and Luis Scola added 13 points as the Rockets beat the short-handed Spurs 85-78 on Thursday night. By design, Popovich used mostly reserves. Tim Duncan, Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley all watched in street clothes and Tony Parker scored eight points in 14 minutes, all in the first half. Rookie Malik Hairston scored 10 points to lead the Spurs, while rookies Devin Green and Anthony Tolliver added seven points each… Yao played the first quarter and had one basket and three rebounds.
Oct 7: Rockets 96, Grizzlies 93
The AP reports: Ron Artest gave Houston fans an early glimpse of what he brings to the team. Artest scored 12 of his 15 points in the first quarter of his Rockets debut, and Houston beat the Memphis Grizzlies 96-93 on Tuesday night in its preseason opener… Tracy McGrady sat out to rest his sore left knee… Carl Landry, Yao’s backup, had 18 points and nine rebounds… Rudy Gay scored 14 for the Grizzlies and had a pair of highlight-reel dunks in the fourth quarter. Hakim Warrick led Memphis with 15, including a dunk that tied it at 92.
Yao Ming says foot is healthy
The Houston Chronicle (Jonathan Feigen) reports: Yao Ming again declared the condition of his foot at 100 percent, showing the familiar sense of humor that had abandoned him when a third consecutive season was interrupted by a major injury. “I feel good,” he said. “I can’t say it’s like brand new, but it’s like my foot.” Yao has looked forward to a chance to start over since he blamed himself for the Rockets’ first-round exit last spring in Salt Lake City. As much as he cherished his experiences in the Beijing Olympics, he said Tuesday that in many ways it was valuable as preparation for the Rockets’ season to come, forcing him to prepare early and then pushing his conditioning to the point he reported 13 pounds lighter than last season and feeling far more fit than a month ago.
Rockets need backup center
The Houston Chronicle (Jonathan Feigen) reports: Though Rockets coach Rick Adelman and general manager Daryl Morey said they are confident about using their rotation of power forwards as backup centers, Adelman said the time will come he will want a true center to play behind Yao Ming. Dikembe Mutombo said last week he would wait for the Rockets to make planned roster maneuvers to move beneath the luxury tax threshold to sign. “Eventually we’re going to need somebody behind Yao,” Adelman said, specifically citing matchups with Shaquille O’Neal and Greg Oden. “When you’re playing the Shaqs of the world and now Portland with their young big guy (Oden), just size alone hurts you when Yao is out of the game. We’ll address that as we go. I feel good about the depth everywhere, but when you play a big guy, it’s really hard for Carl (Landry) and Chuck (Hayes) and Luis (Scola) to try to play some big strong, physically dominating player.”
InsideHoops.com editor says: I say Mutombo should record a music album, where he sings rock and pop classics of the 70’s and 80’s. His voice is too golden not to get utilized in a recording studio.
Tracy McGrady has multiple injuries
The AP reports: The Houston Rockets, buzzing about the arrival of Ron Artest, already have injury concerns with Tracy McGrady. Houston’s leading scorer said Monday that his left shoulder is arthritic and will require surgery after this season. He also said his left knee is healing slower than expected from surgery in the spring. McGrady sprained his shoulder against Sacramento on March 24, and wore padding to protect it for the rest of the season. He had surgery in May to clear loose tissue in his shoulder and knee. He said his knee is “probably 75-80 percent” healthy and will take another two months to fully heal.
Celtics re-sign Sam Cassell
The Boston Celtics announced today that they have re-signed guard Sam Cassell. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. InsideHoops.com assumes it’s just a one-year deal. Cassell has made several statements in the past suggesting he’ll retire after the season and get into coaching.
Last season it didn’t look like Cassell had much left in the tank. He’ll probably be at the end of the Celtics bench in 2008-09.
Cassell, a 6’3”, 195 pound guard, is a veteran of 15 NBA seasons. Cassell won his third NBA title as a member of the Celtics last season after signing mid-season from the L.A. Clippers. Cassell averaged 7.6 points and 2.1 assists in 17 regular season games with the Celtics last season and finished the season with combined averages of 11.2 points and 3.9 assists per game. The 2003-04 All-Star scored 20 or more points 10 times last season including a season-high 35 points against the Indiana Pacers on November 7. He scored a high of 22 points with the Celtics against the Knicks on April 14.