Nov 13, 2008 DALLAS, TX (AP) -- The Houston Rockets survived another opponent's 4th-quarter flurry to capture their 7th win in a row, a 101-95 road victory at the expense of division rivals, the Dallas Mavericks.
The inside-out attack of Yao Ming and Ron Artest got Houston rolling to an early 9-point lead as the duo combined for 19 of the team's 30 points in the opening quarter. But Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and veteran sixth-man, Jerry Stackhouse, would lead an 10-0 run to capture a 49-47 advantage at the half.
The second half would mirror the first, as Houston would look again to the Ming/Artest tandem to build a 92-83 lead by the 3:21 mark of the final period. But Nowitzki refused to go quietly and helped close the gap using rare but tremendous defense to bring Dallas within 3 at the 1 minute mark.
Houston would fail to score on its next possession and with Dallas surging, Devin Harris would find a cherry-picking Stackhouse for the easy stuff and nip at the Rockets' heels 94-93 with 37.4 seconds remaining.
But Houston's Artest would power-drive in the lane converting the basket despite heavy contact for a 96-93 edge to finally snap the Mavericks' momentum; a steady flow of free throws would help the Rockets cruise the rest of the way.
Artest seemed fully recovered from a recent spell of back spasms and finished with a team-high 26 points while adding 3 boards, 3 assists and a steal. Yao, who's on All-Star pace so far this season, poured in 24 points, a team-high 12 rebounds and also 4 assists plus 2 blocks.
Nowitzki led the way for the Mavericks with 20 points and collected 8 rebounds and 3 blocks while Erick Dampier finished a solid 16 point, 10 rebound double-double. Stackhouse was strong off the bench for Dallas with 12 points and 2 assists but it wasn't enough for the win.
Their 7th-consecutive victory now improves the Rockets to 8-1, the best record in the league; meanwhile the Mavericks sink further in the opposite direction with a league-worst 1-7 record.
Next, the Rockets will continue its road stretch in Milwaukee to take on the intimidating 7-footer trio presence of Tyson Chandler, Andew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva.
Rookie phenom, Lorenzen Bryant, continues to dazzle fans and opponents alike and was 1 rebound shy of a triple-double in a 100-94 victory over the Portland Trailblazers. Bryant finished with 17 points, 9 rebounds, 11 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
Nov 15th, 2008 11:45pm Salary Cap Adjustment, Teams Revamping
The victory over the Mavericks marked our team's 7th-consecutive victory and a buzz of excitement now stirs here in Houston. The minor mania has even gone so far as a local sports-talk radio show host comparing us to the 72-10 Bulls, which is absolutely absurd at this point. Such epic feats happen once in a lifetime (if you're lucky enough to have Michael Jordan on your side) and the game of basketball is just too dynamic and ever-changing for such bold comparisons; that's not even counting the myriad of possibilities which occur off the court that have subtle influence on your team's eventual outcome, as we found out tonight.
November 15th marked the day Stern's salary cap re-adjustment went into effect, increasing the base salary cap from $51M to 58.68M across the board for all teams, a necessary move to stave off a potential player's strike and allow teams to keep more players here in the States and not lose them to the temptations of the growing, financially attractive international market. A free-for-all of free-agent hiring was to be expected, yet nobody could have foreseen how events actually went down.
The first announcement came just past noon, as the Cleveland Cavaliers announced the signings of point guard, Jose Manuel Calderon and center, David Harrison.
Calderon, a 3-year pro from Spain was the younger of two top-rated point guards still left in the free agent market and adds a much needed savvy playmaker to compliment King James and company. Adding Harrison, a 4th-year pro and 29th pick of Indiana back in '04, now gives them a legit back up to Ilgauskas and the additions likely make them a big favorite out East.
The signing of Andre Miller, the other top-rated point guard mentioned, was announced shortly after by the Memphis Grizzlies, as well as the acquisition of former Laker forward, Luke Walton.
Both players will likely be inserted as starters and immediately improve their lineup. Unfortunately the Grizzlies have the misfortune of being in our ultra-competitive Southwest division; this team's been struggling for some years now but Miller's addition may finally give them some grounding. It's unlikely but too soon to tell if these latest player additions make them strong enough to compete for a playoff position.
Mid afternoon saw the signings of two league veterans. Grant Hill convinced another of our division rivals, the New Orleans Hornets, to sign him to a 1-year, league minimum.
The Hornets, last season's best-record holder, are already one of the league's most dangerous teams and Hill's senior leadership just adds to their depth which definitely doesn't help our cause any.
Like the Hornets, the Utah Jazz looked to improve their bench depth as well, bringing in veteran shooting guard, Eddie Jones, also on a 1-year, league minimum contract.
Even in the twilight of their respective careers, both players are accomplished veterans whose experience can still get the job done and I expect each to be assets more than liabilities.
But the biggest shocker of the day came by late afternoon when the world champion San Antonio Spurs not only announced the re-signings of last year's critical championship components, Bruce Bowen and Michael Finley, but the blockbuster signing of the top free agent - power forward, Antawn Jamison.
All three players backed down from larger initial asking prices, Jamison's being the most significant from a 17.93M, 2-year request to the agreed upon 1-year, 3.75M. While extremely surprising and admittedly a bit disheartening, one needs only to look back to 2003 with my Lakers' signings of Gary Payton and Karl Malone to see such a move as Antawn's isn't necessarily unprecedented by players in the latter end of their careers looking for their best opportunity to secure a ring.
In hindsight, it's quiet possible that coach Popovich and staff had been in talks with the three players all along and that Jamison's ridiculous initial asking price was merely a deterrent for other teams so that the Spurs transaction would go through smoothly; I'm sure such secretive negotiations would have legal ramifications but since there's no way to really prove, it's pointless to speculate. Like all the other teams in the league, we'll just have to deal with it. All I know is, with some key pieces back in place and now the addition of a seasoned power forward in Jamison, the quest to wrestle the trophy away from the defending champions just got a whole lot tougher.
"I'm ready to help this team keep the trophy right here in Texas," said San Antonio's new power forward, Antawn Jamison