The Rockets have grown accustomed to getting something from Luther Head, but he has been a non-factor in two playoff games. On Monday, he did not have a field goal in the Rockets' 98-90 win over the Jazz.
They kept missing and kept shooting, until suddenly, just as Tracy McGrady had turned around his misfiring night on Saturday, they all did Monday, getting another second-half surge of offense to turn the game around, and send them to a 98-90 win and a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.
Richard Hamilton scored 22 points, one of four Pistons with at least 17, to lead Detroit to a 98-90 victory over the Magic on Monday night and a 2-0 lead in their first-round series.
Leandro Barbosa, among the fastest players in the NBA, ran away with the league's sixth man award Monday. The "Brazilian Blur" received 101 of a possible 127 first-place votes from a media panel.
With the Rockets' offense slow and ragged in a few stretches of Saturday's Game 1, coach Jeff Van Gundy said the solution is, in a word, simple.
For the Utah Jazz, proud of their offense that is balanced by preference as much as necessity, the idea of losing to a team so reliant on two scorers just doesn't sit well.
Utah's Derek Fisher understands the danger in trying to contain Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady in the hope other Rockets won't score.
McGrady finished with 23 points. Before his outburst, the Rockets relied on Yao Ming, who finished with 28 points and 13 rebounds.
This is how it should be. Strength against strength. Best versus best. The Rockets' defensive rebounding against the Utah Jazz's offensive rebounding.
The seven-time All-Star enters his sixth postseason on Saturday when the Houston Rockets open their series with Utah. The Rockets have the best record (52-30) of any team McGrady has played for in 10 seasons and, for the first time in his career, McGrady's team has the home-court advantage.
Kobe Bryant and the Lakers get another chance to finish the job against the Suns. The Chicago Bulls try again to knock out the Miami Heat in the first round. The NBA's second season is all about second chances.
The series was going to open in Houston no matter what, so the watered-down version of the Rockets didn't include Tracy McGrady or Yao Ming as they rested up for the postseason.