By Mike Fisher -- DallasBasketball.com
The Mavs and the Rockets are ‘all up in each others’ business,’ as the kids nowadays say.
You’ve got Mavs assistant coach Del Harris preparing to mentor Yao Ming. You’ve got ‘Super Bowl Steve’ Francis and his history of dissing Dallas after he leads his Rockets to another loss. Now, you’ve got Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy flatteringly announcing that the Mavs are his measuring stick.
There is so much co-mingling, so much nosing around, so much Midwest Division basketball incest here, you’d think somebody was putting on a rubber glove to poke up somebody’s gay marriage, or something.
Anyway. ...
BARRY’S TICKETS
ROCKETS NEWS
MAVS-ROCKETS BOX
Let’s us straighties just concern ourselves with things that really matter: The Mavs’ continued domination of the Rockets.
In the Yao Ming Era, Houston is now 0-6 against its upstate rival, and with this somewhat shocking 97-88 victory, Dallas has won 10 of the last 12 meetings. This despite Francis’ constant post-loss prattling about how Dallas isn’t really that good, and this despite this season’s hiring of Van Gundy, whose emphasis on defense has paid off for the Rockets, maybe the West’s best defensive club.
And it worked for awhile Saturday at American Airlines Center. Dallas opened the game down 19-3. … and somehow found itself up by 17 in the fourth quarter. That’s a 33-point teeter-totter fueled, surprisingly, by the overall presence of Josh Howard and Eduardo Najera playing at the same time.
Of course Dirk Nowitzki (25 points and 12 rebounds) and Antoine Walker (coming around a bit with 17 points and 10 rebounds) get credit, too. But Nelson’s defensive-minded gamble was the key. Howard (28 minutes) and Najera (22 minutes) forced the issue on the defensive end (often inside a zone). But also, because the Rockets are rather plodding (you might say they’re not “light in their loafers’’), Howard and Najera helped force them back down the floor with an aggressively-paced offense (Dallas earned a 24-4 edge in fast-break points).
"Both of those guys were the only reasons we were close in the first half," Nelson said.
Najera was even a factor inside, helping to negate Yao Ming, who finished with just five rebounds. Del Harris will try to get more out of him this summer when Del runs the Chinese National Team in the Olympics; Van Gundy will try to get more of him now, as his pregame comments reflect the love (not that there’s anything wrong with that) the Rockets coach has for where Dallas is.
"We've got to get to Dallas' level, which is hard to do," Van Gundy said. "They have been a very good team for quite a period of time. "We have a level to get to before we get to Dallas'. We've got to get in the playoffs. That would be a start. Dallas is at that, you know, Western Conference final (level). Right there. … Dallas can play for a championship.’’
This was the start of a five-game home streak against West foes for a team that now leads the NBA with a 24-4 home record. It’d be nice to get some Midwest Division traction here, and even nicer to do it without missing 13 of the first 14 shots, as was the case Saturday.
Despite the loss, Houston does have one thing going for it. Kudos to the Rockets for changing out of those old pinstripe-pajama uniforms. They were. … well, gay.