http://www.nba.com/rockets/news/Rockets_st...-208313-34.html<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>HOUSTON -- Before Yao Ming fractured the bone below his right knee on Dec. 23, Rockets point guard Rafer Alston was concerned more with running Houston's offense and sinking open jumpers.He wouldn't have guessed that he would end up adding a little more rebounding to his job description. "I can't really do it on offense because I have to get back on defense, but I find myself going in and trying to grab a few more rebounds on the defensive end," Alston said. "It doesn't always work because there are some big guys down there, but I've come away with five or six rebounds on some nights. I'm just doing what I can to help us win the rebounding battle."The new role is sinking in. Not just with Alston, but with all of the Rockets. Despite playing the past month without their top rebounder in the lineup, the Rockets have remained one of the league's leading rebounding teams heading into Saturday's game against the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets.Houston is a surprising fifth in the NBA in both rebounding percentage and rebounding differential. The Rockets have pulled it off even though Dikembe Mutombo is the only player in the current eight-man rotation standing at least 6-foot-10. Making up for their lack of size, the Rockets have been crashing the boards with a gang-rebounding mentality. "With the lack of size that we have, it really is surprising," Rockets forward Tracy McGrady said. "The only big guy we really have is Dikembe. Our smalls do a great job of getting their hands in there and grabbing a few. Juwan (Howard) and Chuck (Hayes) have done a good job, but I am surprised by what we've been able to do without Yao." The Rockets don't have a player among the NBA's top 30 rebounders, but the team has found plenty of help on the glass.Mutombo has essentially replaced Yao's rebounding digits by averaging 11.9 rebounds in the starting lineup and Howard has posted six of his eight double-digit rebounding games in the past month.Van Gundy said Mutombo's play has negated Yao's absence in terms of rebounding, but he has relied on the rest of his lineup to make up for their lack of size by being aggressive on the boards."We're small basically with the rest of the lineup so we have to compensate for that by being a block-out team and gang-rebounding the ball," Van Gundy said. "When McGrady rebounds, it gives us a better chance because it gives us some athletic rebounds that maybe other guys can't get."The guards have certainly tried to help. During the 18-game span without Yao, McGrady has grabbed at least five rebounds in 11 games and Alston has reached the mark on five occassions. Alston said their main job is reaching the long misses that their frontcourt teammates can't get to."We can help those guys by hanging around and getting the long rebounds," Alston said. The approach has worked. Houston has been outrebounding opponents over its past 18 games by an average margin of 2.1 boards. The Rockets are 8-1 over that stretch when they win the rebounding edge.Hayes believes there's a pretty simple explanation for why the Rockets are getting it done without their big man. "We're forcing teams into bad shots and beating them to the loose ball," Hayes said. "We're hungry and we need the ball. We're pretty much small and we're not the most athletic team out there, but our hard work and drive to get the ball is the difference."</div>Records: Houston (29-16), Hornets (19-26) Day/Time: Saturday, 7:30 PM CST<u>Projected Starting Lineups</u><span style="color:#FF0000"><u>Houston Rockets</u></span>PG: <span style="color:#FF0000">Rafer Alston</span>SG: <span style="color:#FF0000">Tracy McGrady</span>SF: <span style="color:#FF0000">Shane Battier</span>PF: <span style="color:#FF0000">Juwan Howard</span>C: <span style="color:#FF0000">Dikembe Mutombo</span><u>Injury Update</u>C Yao Ming (tibia) and G Bob Sura (knee/back) are out for the Rockets;<span style="color:#00BFFF"><u>New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets</u></span>PG: <span style="color:#00BFFF">Chris Paul</span>SG: <span style="color:#00BFFF">Rasual Butler</span>SF: <span style="color:#00BFFF">Desmond Mason</span>PF: <span style="color:#00BFFF">David West</span>C: <span style="color:#00BFFF">Tyson Chandler</span><u>Injury Update</u>F Peja Stojakovic (back) is out for the Hornets. LETS GO ROCKETS!!!!!!
Doesn't get much uglier than that game. They used T-Mac horribly, making him do pick and rolls when no one else was hitting shots. That puts a double team on T-Mac, and leaves him no room to operate. Thus, the offense was ugly and stagnant.
that game was ugly. evrybody was cold, t-mac got his wrist injured, mason and alston ejected, haven't seen a game from the rockets like that in a while.
Well that was a boring low-scoring game to watch. The Hornets pulled it out by playing good defense but the Rockets also shot very poor from the field and T-Mac just had an off night, which he doesn't experience very often. The Rockets have been playing well w/o Ming so they will have to hope they can keep that up until he returns in March. The Hornets have had Chris Paul back and is clearly making a difference he is the leader of their team and clearly the best player. Now that they have Paul back they will be a scary team with Paul,Chandler,Mason,West, and Jackson. If they get Peja Stojakovic back this season they might be there in the playoff hunt.
