The Houston Rockets leave smoke that chokes the Pacers Friday night here at Indianapolis
The Indiana Pacers’ coach Jim O’Brien later described the game as a ‘painful’ loss when they lost 102-99 to the Houston Rockets Friday night.
Seven-time all star centre Yao Ming’s fans were once again disappointed to bear one more game without him. Ming was missed by his teammates as much as his fans missed him. They will have to endure one more week without the key
player as he is still recovering from a sprained left ankle.
Brad Miller and Kevin Martin were there to rescue the team out of danger and fill in for the missing player. Brad Miller scored 23 points whereas Kevin Martin scored 20 for the Rockets.
The Rockets coach Rick Adelman sounded optimistic as he said, “We can't worry about who isn't here. We've gone without Yao for a year and a half.”
Quotable Quotes
"They're a very talented team," Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said referring to the opponent team. "They're used to playing without Yao. I think it's fools' gold if somebody is out of the game [to think] you have an edge."
The inactive players among Rockets were Aaron Brooks, Ming and Patrick Patterson whereas those among the Pacers were Jeff Foster, A.J. Price and Lance Stephenson. The Houston Rockets took nine rebounds and the Pacers took eight.
The Rockets took nine offensive rebounds and the Pacers took 11. Both the teams gave 15 turnovers to each other and they also scored the same number of fast break points: 5. The biggest lead was taken by the Rockets at 10 and the Pacers took 5.
U-Turn
In the fourth quarter the Pacers quietly made past the Rockets with a five point lead (87-82). The Rockets turned the game over in their direction by scoring 18 points after that to take a 100-95 lead with 2:14 remaining.
"We couldn't get stops when we needed to," Dunleavy from the Pacers said. "We let them get away and we just couldn't keep up with them. We never got into our tempo or our rhythm. We had a lot of breakdowns on both sides of the
ball."
Brad Miller hit three point field goals on back-to-back possession that tied the game 93-93. After that Miller hit another free throw on the next possession and that made the Rockets fly past the Pacers and they never faltered
again.
Pacers forward Brandon Rush was not in his complete form as he missed all five of his first half shots. His performance was unlike the one he gave on Tuesday when he scored 16 points on 54.percent after he came back after a suspension.
He contributed two points on 1 of 7 shooting in this game. Rush is lacking consistency since the three NBA seasons that he has played.
Roy Hibbert is among those players who are continuously in a quest of excellence. He is an emerging force in the court as well as the stat sheet and that makes him one of the brightest stars of the Indiana Pacers. He plays centre
for the Pacers and has been playing for three years for them. He is a key to the Pacers’ offense and is increasing his minutes day by day. He scored 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds for the Pacers on Friday. He also blocked a second quarter dunk shot by
the Rockets forward Jordan Hill.
Coming Up
The Rockets will play against New York Knicks on Sunday, Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, Oklahoma City Thunders on Thursday. As for the Pacers, they will play against Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday and Los
Angeles Clippers on Thursday.
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