With All-Star center Yao Ming sidelined, the Houston Rockets found themselves on the wrong side of a 97-89 score against the Utah Jazz at the Toyota Center on Sunday night. The loss ended Houston’s four game winning streak and brought to light Houston’s season long free throw shooting woes.
Yao, who sat out the game with an upper-respiratory infection, has been listed as “day-to-day” on the injury report. In his place, rookie Luis Scola scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds. Yet, the Rockets were left scrambling to find a lineup to defend against notorious Rocket killer Carlos Boozer (13 points, 10 rebounds) and star point guard Deron Williams (17 points, 12 assists).
In addition to overcoming Yao’s absence, the Rockets were faced with a poor shooting first half, in which Houston scored a season low 35 points. Tracy McGrady went 1-for-8 with 2 points and backcourt running mate Rafer Alston followed suit by shooting 2-for-8 before intermission. McGrady finished the game with 21 points, 9 assists, and 6 rebounds – yet his early play set a negative tone for the game.
Nevertheless, Houston was able to triumph over its early misdeeds and march to a three point lead near the end of the third quarter. However, a defensive failure in the match’s waning minutes, as well as missed free throws, led to the Rockets’ ultimate demise. In the last eight minutes of the game the Utah Jazz made 11-of-14 field goals, scoring on their final 13 possessions. Meanwhile Houston continued its season-long abysmal performance at the charity stripe (72.7% as a team – 8th worst in the NBA), hitting only 9-of-19 attempts as the game winded down to a close.
The loss dropped Houston two games behind the Portland Trailblazers for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Photo: flickr user jeffbalke
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