[外電]Rockets down Kings 109-104 in overtime
來源:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4551817.html
The Kings just kept demanding more.
They required that Tracy McGrady finally find his touch late in the fourth
quarter and come up with a key offensive rebound and defensive stop in the
last minute of overtime.
They demanded that the Rockets get every one of Shane Battier's 25 points and
Luther Head's last drive to a score with 32.8 seconds left of overtime. The
Kings, and particularly Ron Artest, kept pushing the Rockets to the brink,
only to have the Rockets answer with a late fourth-quarter run to force
overtime and another run in the last 2:13 of overtime to take a 109-104 win
Tuesday at Toyota Center.
McGrady led the Rockets with 28 points and 12 assists. Head scored the
Rockets' final four points, giving him 15. He made 3-of-5 3-pointers while
Battier was 4-of-9, including his last with 2:13 left to put the Rockets in
front to stay.
The Rockets took a 103-102 overtime lead on Shane Battier's 3-pointer. But
Artest, whose last-minute 3 in regulation tied the game, drew a foul and made
both free throws to give him 39 points, matching a career high set earlier
this season.
McGrady came back with a jumper to put the Rockets in front, and after Mike
Bibby missed a 3, McGrady looked for Battier again in the same corner.
Battier missed, but McGrady batted the long rebound out, giving the Rockets
another last-minute possession.
With the shot clock running down to its final ticks, Head drove to a basket
for a 107-104 lead.
With that, finally, the Rockets slammed the door. The Kings could get no one
free, until John Salmons lost the ball once and then again, with McGrady
slapping it off Salmons' knee and out of bounds with 9.6 seconds remaining.
The Kings put Head on the line, and Head made both free throws with seven
seconds left in overtime for a five-point Rockets lead.
Before the Rockets surged late to turn the game around, McGrady had made just
one of six shots in the second half. He had made just 5 of 16 on the night,
also missing five of nine shots from the line.
But with Kings leading by nine with 4 1/2 minutes remaining, he tossed in a
3-pointer, and the Rockets took off.
McGrady made five of his next six shots with his drive giving the Rockets a
97-94 lead with 57.2 seconds left. But by then, Artest had been even more
unstoppable. He had bulled his way into the lane on a drive on the previous
possession, then stepped back to hit a corner 3 over Shane Battier much like
the 3 with he banked in with 3.3 seconds remaining to force overtime against
the Rockets in Sacramento last month.
This time, Artest tied the game with 40.8 seconds left. And with Chuck Hayes
heading to the basket with the ball and 24.9 seconds left, Artest stripped
Hayes to give the Kings a chance to shoot for the win.
He never got off a shot. Unable to shake Battier, he twice dribbled himself
into the floor, finally losing possession with two seconds remaining.
McGrady picked it up and heaved a last shot at the buzzer from just inside
midcourt, missing high to send a second-consecutive game between the Kings
and Rockets to overtime.
The Rockets needed a fourth-quarter run to get that far.
After a few solid defensive minutes to finish the first half and send the
Rockets back in front, the Kings were scoring easily again, leading by as
much as six with five minutes remaining before the fourth quarter and by
75-67 with 3:45 remaining.
McGrady had made 1 of 4 shots and left the floor with three fouls. But before
things could get out of hand, the Rockets responded with a sudden 8-0 run,
and trailed by 80-77 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Kings immediate got layups from Kenny Thomas and Corliss Williamson and
the Rockets spent the rest of the night climbing uphill. With the Kings
leading, 87-83, McGrady launched consecutive long jumpers, missing both to
move to 1 of 6 in the second half. Artest scored on a drive, drawing a foul
on Bonzi Wells for a three-point play, and a three-point play for a 90-83
Kings lead.
Hayes missed a reverse before Artest put in a runner to beat the shot clock
and give Sacramento a nine-point lead with 4 1/2 minutes left.
With that, and with absolutely no warning, the Rockets suddenly took off,
scoring the game's next 12 points. And McGrady, who had been unable to find
his shot all night, hitting everything from a banked-in 3-pointer to the
20-footer that put the Rockets ahead, 95-92, with 1:20 left.
The Rockets rolled offensively through much of the first half. It just did
not do them much good with the Kings scoring even moreeasily.
Sacramento led through much of the half and by as many as 12. By the time the
Kings had their largest lead, 45-33, they had made 17 of 32 shots with 5:44
remaining before halftime.
The Rockets had made half their 28 shots, but the shootout style was not
working for them, so when the Rockets finally turned it up defensively, they
turned around the half.
From the Kings' largest lead to Artest's missed 3-pointer from 28 feet,
Sacramento made just 1 of its last 8 shots and the Rockets on a 21-6 run,
going from the 12-point hole to a 54-51 lead.
McGrady never seemed to find his touch, though he did make a jumper in the
lane late in the half. But with the shot not working, he found shooters all
around him until he finished the first half with nine assists.
The key, however, is when the Rockets found their defense. The trick would be
making it last, or coming up with enough to answer all that the Kings would
throw at them.
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