Dec. 21, 2007, 2:24AM Nuggets have plenty of answers for Rockets By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle DENVER — Yao Ming turned to the Rockets bench and with the last bits of energy he had left, pumped his fists. The Rockets had gone to him at the end of regulation and again at the end of the first overtime. But this time, in the final seconds of a second overtime, after he had played most of 52 minutes of basketball, he had swished two free throws to put the Rockets in front. Then a thought occurred to him. "I knew we needed one more rebound," Yao said. It never came. After overcoming everything from the absence of Tracy McGrady to playing two overtimes in the second game of a back-to-back, the Rockets could not overcome a last defensive mistake. Nuggets guard Anthony Carter, who had not attempted a shot since early in the second half, pump faked Bonzi Wells off his feet and with eight-tenths of a second left and nailed a 15 footer to lift the Nuggets to a 112-111 double overtime win over the Rockets on Thursday. "You have to make people shoot over you," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "You can't go for a pump fake. Sometimes you make mental mistakes, but give (Carter) credit; he knocked down the shot." Wells declined to comment. The Rockets had overcome everything else, mostly the fatigue and it seemed, their history without McGrady. They had won just 2 of 13 games that he missed the past two seasons and have gone 11-41 without him since he joined the team. But for all the times they seemed defeated, they rallied back from each, until the one time they seemed to have had the game won. "We hung tough and dug deep inside ourselves," Rafer Alston said. "We found some energy and played hard in a double overtime game. It was tough. We were right there till the end and Carter hit a big shot." Until that moment, the Rockets had seemed to have done just enough. With the Nuggets rushing double teams to Yao, they made 12 of 34 3s, the most they had made or taken in a game this season. They had a season-high 27 assists and scored a season-high 111 points. With McGrady out, Luther Head moved into the starting lineup and had his best game of the season, scoring a season-high 22 points with a season-high six assists, and making half of his 10 3-pointers, including a 3 that tied the game and forced overtime. Wells had 17 off the bench. Alston had 18 points and 10 assists. On a night in which he made 4 of 12 shots, Shane Battier hit a 3 to start the first overtime and late in the second overtime when the Rockets trailed in the final minute. "We did a lot of good things," Adelman said, "but we didn't finish. They seemed to have finished the Nuggets when Yao was fouled by Eduardo Najera with 4.5 seconds left in the second overtime. The Rockets had gone to him for the last shot at the end of regulation and the first overtime. But in regulation, he could not shake free of Marcus Camby and missed a tough fadeaway. In the first overtime, Camby slapped the ball from him just as he started to go up for his shot. Yao had not scored in the fourth quarter or first overtime, but he began the second overtime with a slam and followed it with a tough jumper. With the game on the line, the Rockets went to him, just as they had to end regulation and the first overtime. When he got the ball in the closing seconds of the second overtime, he moved toward the paint and began his move for a turnaround jumper when Najera shoved him. He swished both free throws, putting the Rockets ahead 111-110 and finishing with 26 points and season-bests of 19 rebounds and six assists. "He was terrific," Adelman said. "He had an unbelievable game. He battled the whole game. The rebounding the pressure he puts on the other team. He had six assists. He was terrific all night. The Nuggets answered with Carmelo Anthony coming back from a 2 of 17 first half to score 37 points with a career-high 16 rebounds. Allen Iverson had 36, with both scoring more than their combined 35 in the 109-81 loss to the Rockets last month. Yet after playing so much basketball in the span of two days, the Rockets were one second from a win. "Our team was terrific to come back after last night and play that way," Adelman said. "Sometimes you lose a game and don't see the progress you're making. We made a lot of progress, but we got to get a win. We got to find a way to get a win." [email protected] -- 前面大多是在敘述比賽過程還有球員的情況。 主要是最後一段： 矮豆人說：＂我們不期不待隊在昨晚的比賽結束後回神，打了一場非常好的比賽。有時候 當你輸球後只看到結果卻沒有看到過程。在過程中我們做了非常多的努力，但是我們應該 要贏的。我們必須找到勝利的方式。” 雖然大家已經輸到沒感覺了，不過這場給我的感覺是還有一些希望。姑且不論下兩場的輸 贏，若是能在這一趟五天四戰的馬拉松中，像今天一樣喚醒姚的霸氣，喚醒其他副將的信 心，喚醒大家的三分球，接下來剩下的就是等T-MAC回來了。小頭、小AB也都有很大的進步 空間，今天也確實有發揮，RA最近的表現有接近明星的味道(囧)。而且我在這兩場中看見 了拼戰精神以及韌性，這是以往所沒有的。若能維持這種感覺，再加上小麥的回歸，之後 有機會來一波觸底反彈。（反正再慘也慘不到哪裡去　囧>） --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.113.138.43 ※ 編輯: reccatsai 來自: 140.113.138.43 (12/21 23:52)