Houston Roundball Review Archive: January 2007 men's hoops MP3s

Monday, January 29, 2007
Rockets Cruise to 21-point win over Sixers

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- Monday night at Toyota Center, the Houston Rockets do what good teams to bad teams -- jump on them early and not let up until garbage time.

The Rockets (28-16) completely overwhelmed the Philadelphia 76ers (14-32) 105 to 84 before an announced crowd of 14,216 fans.

Houston led by as many as 41 points during the ball game.

Rafer Alston: "...shut 'em down tonight..."

Tracy McGrady led all scorers with a game-high 25 points in just 29 minutes and 40 seconds of action.

Juwan Howard added 20 points; 10 rebounds; and six assists in just 30 minutes of game time.

The Rockets led 29 to 21 at the end of the first quarter; and, during that period, Houston dished out 11 assists on their 12 made baskets.

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Friday, January 26, 2007
JVG, Bonzi, T-Mac after Rockets Blast Blazers by 30

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- Unlike my media colleagues, I don't have to go into detail about blowout victories.

Take tonight's Rockets 99 to 69 rout of the Portland Trail Blazers (18-26) at Toyota Center.

After leading 10 to 2, Houston's offense bog down and Portland crept into the lead.

Then, the rest of the first half crawled to a woeful 36 to 34 Rockets lead at halftime.

Thankfully, Houston's Tracy McGrady took over in the third quarter.

T-Mac outscored Portland 17 to 14 in the period and the Rockets blew the game wide open with a 32 to 14 performance.

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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Coogs come from behind and beat UCF in OT

HOUSTON, TX (Hofheinz Pavilion) -- MP3s won't go here at least right now; but, I just want to comment on the Houston Cougars huge comeback win (73 to 70) tonight over UCF.

The Cougars trailed the Golden Knights 35 to 15 at halftime; and, UH looked listless and lost and worse than the 20 point halftime deficit indicated.

However, to the team's credit, the Coogs methodically "walked down" UCF in the second half until they tied the score at 64 on a three-point shot by junior guard Marcus Malone with just 43 seconds left in the second half.

UCF failed to score on the next possession; and, Houston's Robert "Fluff" McKiver missed a three-point shot at the buzzer.

Overtime.

With the score tied at 68 in the extra session, Malone drained another three-point shot (again with 43 seconds left) to give Houston a lead it would not surrender.

Oliver Lafayette made two free throws with six seconds left to give Houston a 73 to 70 lead.

UCF's Jermaine Taylor missed a three-point attempt to give Houston the dramatic victory.

Considering Houston blew a 24 point second half lead last week to crosstown rival Rice, the heart the Cougars showed tonight in this win over UCF was definitely a sight to see.

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Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Suns Too Much for Rockets, 100 to 91

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- Heading into tonight's match-up with the Phoenix Suns, the Houston Rockets knew they would face the Suns without center Yao Ming.

Well, before the ball game, the Rockets' players learned they would also face the Suns without star player Tracy McGrady.

T-Mac didn't suit up tonight due to sore lower; however, the injury isn't believed to be as serious as his back pain last month which resulted in him missing seven straight games.

McGrady's status is listed as day-to-day.

Phoenix (30-8) defeated Houston (25-15) 100 to 91 before the 11th announced (18,244) sell-out crowd at Toyota Center.

Houston tonight played in just its 10th game ever (1/10/06-1/18/06; 4/12/06-4/19/06; 1/17/07) without the services of both Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming.

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Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Rockets' Team Effort Routs Lakers by 25

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- So much for the Tracy McGrady versus Kobe Bryant show Wednesday night at Toyota Center.

The Houston Rockets raced past the Los Angeles Lakers in the second half to rout LA 102 to 77 before a sold out crowd of 18,331 fans.

Surprisingly, the Rockets defeated the Lakers despite a poor shooting performance by McGrady.

T-Mac scored eight points and shot just 4 for 16 from the field; however, he did dish out a game-high 12 assists.

Bryant finished the game with 20 points on 6 for 18 shooting.

He did not finish the ball game due to a strained groin.

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Friday, January 5, 2007
McGrady's 44 Leads Rockets to Win over Jazz

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- I'm sure the Tracy McGrady "haters" will find fault with his 44-point performance tonight; but, I have nothing but positives to say about T-Mac.

He led the Rockets (21-12) to a very solid 100 to 86 win over the Utah Jazz (23-10) tonight at Toyota Center before an announced sell-out crowd of 18,059 fans.

As usual, Rafer Alston took the first shot of the game; and, he swished a three-point shot which seem to set the tempo for the Rockets the rest of the game.

McGrady followed with two free throws and two consecutive three-point shots to give the Rockets a quick 11 - 0 lead barely two minutes into the ball game.

Deron Williams ended Utah's scoring drought with a three-pointer of his own; but, McGrady followed a Dikembe Mutombo tip-in with a driving lay-up and his third three-point shot to push Houston's lead to 18 to 3 with 8:41 left in the first quarter.

McGrady finished the first quarter with 19 points on 6 for 10 shooting (3 for 5 on threes and 2 for 2 on free throws).

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Wednesday, January 3, 2007
JVG after Rockets 103 - 96 win over Seattle

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- Much of my time tonight was spent covering the Houston Comets (Van Chancellor resigned as Comets' head coach today), I didn't get a chance to watch much of tonight's Rockets - Sonics game.

(Apparently, many more fans missed the game, too, the announced attendance was 11,133.)

Houston (20 - 12) defeated Seattle (13 - 21) 103 to 96.

Tracy McGrady scored a team-high 31 points and dished out a team-high seven assists while Juwan Howard scored 18 points.

Rafer Alston scored 13 points and forward Shane Battier added 12 points.

Once again, Dikembe Mutombo, the young fella, controlled the boards with 12 rebounds including key offensive rebounds down the stretch of the ball game.

Here are Jeff Van Gundy's post-game comments: "...we found a way to win..."

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Ray Allen after Sonics' loss to the Rockets

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- Because I spent much of the game working on Houston Comets news (Van Chancellor resigned as Comets' head coach today), I didn't get a chance to watch much of tonight's Rockets - Sonics game; however, I did see Seattle Supersonics star guard Ray Allen score 12 points in the fourth quarter on some very difficult shots.

Ray shot 4 for 6 in the fourth including shooting 2 for 3 from behind the three-point line. (Man, he's got a beautiful jump shot!)

Allen finished the game with 32 points; however, Seattle lost to Houston 103 to 96.

Here are some of Ray's post-game comments: "...we didn't get any stops..."

Damien Wilkins added 19 points for the Supes; followed by 13 from Chris Wilcox and 11 points from center Johan Petro. Guard Luke Ridnour added seven points and eight assists.

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