- I had a chance to duck into the Cavs lockerroom after the game and I asked LeBron about how the Cavs just couldn't seem to finish off nay of their runs when they drew close but never close enough and about how hard Shane Battier made him work for what he got tonight. He said, "They countered with makes every time we got close and we had some good looks ourselves, but just didn't knock 'em down."
On Shane he said, "He's a very good defender, but I feel like I work for what I get every night. They did a good job, they did a really good job on making sure nobody else hurt them tonight, but he is one of the best in the league."
- Cavs head coach Mike Brown said, "We got outworked on the boards and we got outworked on all the loose balls. Houston is a very solid defensive team that forced us into some bad shots. It was evident when LeBron has 11 free throws and Larry (Hughes) has two and nobody else has any that there was a problem. Bottom line, they outworked us.
He added about T-Mac playing in the game, "We felt he was going to play all along. That's the way we prepared. He didn't play last year and the kicked out behinds."
- Rick Adelman talked about how the effort was outstanding right from the tip-off and even though he liked the way they played in the first half - the Rockets were only up one simply because the shots weren't falling - that changed to open the ssecond half when they hit their first five shots and really never looked back.
"That was a great win by us against a good team. We were terrific, the 2nd half especially. The 3rd quarter we came out and moved the ball well. We worked hard defensively, ball movement was terrific, though. We had 29 assists (ties the season best) and only 9 turnovers (actually 10). That's going to get you a long ways. I was really pleased with the effort. (That's) just the type of game we needed to come out and start this home stand."
- The Rockets had 6 turnovers in the 1st 3 quarters that led to just 5 Cavs points. Thru 9 minutes of the 4th quarter, they've committed 3 costly turnovers leading to 6 Cavs points. (HOU 83-77, 3:12)
- The 18,402 in attendance (ha-ha) represents the largest home crowd in franchise history.
- The Cavs draw to within 75-68 on a Damon Jones 3 and a James driving layup. The Rockets answer wuickly with a long pass downcourt to Rafer who is behind the defense and drives baseline for his 17th point. Mac follows with a deep corner jumper (3-5 in 2nd half) and the Cavs, down 11, call another timeout. (HOU 79-68, 6:04 4Q)
- Don't you just love how Zydrunas Ilgauskas makes Yao look fast?
- The Cavs defense is looking very shaky in the 3rd quarter. Houston is getting just about any shot they want, hitting 10-of-16 to start the period and assisting on 8 of the buckets. 4 of the 5 Rockets starters are already in double figures - not McGrady who has just 5 (HOU 65-51, 3:15 3Q)
- They follow that up with 3 more jumpers to open the half 5-5 and open up a 9pt lead - their largest of the game. Battier dropped in a long 2, then T-Mac his his first 2 shots of the 2nd half, from 22-feet and a 25-footer. He is exclusively a jump-shooter tonight, but a good timeout by Cleveland since it appeared he was feeling pretty good after his halftime rest. (HOU 53-44, 9:25 3Q)
- The Rockets were 1-11 from downtown in the 1st half - they open the 2nd half with back-to-back triples from Rafer and Battier.
---------------- HOU 40-39, Half-----------------
- Houston had a chance to take a 9-pt lead on a Shane Battier wide-open, corner 3-pt attempt with about 3 minutes to go before the half. But after he missed, the Rockets got outscored 9-4 to take just a 1-pt lead into intermission. T-Mac did play 17 first half minuets,but he missed all five of his shots - all long jumpers. Houston still doing a great job on the glass - they've allowed the Cavs just 1 offensive rebound and the Rockets have just 3 turnovers.- As usual Carl Landry has been extremely active since checking in late in the 1st quarter. He grabbed 5 rebounds (4 offensive) and has had his hands on several others, extending a pair of possessions. Still can't believe it took 3 months to work Landry into the mix. (HOU 32-27, 5:29 2Q)
- Interesting defensive match-up with Chuck Hayes opening the second quarter checking Lebron. Both T-Mac and Bonzi are in the line-up but Hayes gets the assignment. He drove on Hayes both times to open the quarter, turning it over once and drawing a shooting foul on Hayes on the second. (HOU 25-21, 11:19 2Q)
---------------HOU 23-19, End of 1st-----------------
- Houston obviously thinks they can dominate the paint as Scola (3-5) and Yao (4-9) take 14 of the Rockets 22 1st quarter shots. Houston also holds a 14-8 advantage on the glass.- Tracy McGrady recovers enough to make the starting line-up. Looked a little sluggish, but he did contribute a pair of assists as the Rockets assisted on 7 of their first 8 buckets en route to 21-15 lead.
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