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Rockets crush Clippers for home-court advantage
Houston 93, L.A. Clippers 75
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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
HOUSTON -- Tracy McGrady was walking through the Rockets' locker room when he paused in front of a television screen showing Wednesday night's game between the Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs.
He didn't need any help figuring out who the Rockets would be opening the playoffs against in the first round with the Spurs rolling towards a win over Utah.
"It looks like we've got the Jazz," McGrady said.
The Rockets do -- again.
Twelve months after being knocked out of the playoffs by Utah, the Rockets hammered the Los Angeles Clippers 93-75 in Wednesday night's regular season finale to set up a first-round rematch against last season's postseason foe.
The Rockets (55-27) finished the season with their best record since 1997 and, more importantly, gained home-court advantage in the opening round of the playoffs. With the fourth-best record in the Western Conference, the Rockets will host Utah in Game 1 of their best-of-seven series Saturday night at Toyota Center. The Jazz (54-28) finished a game behind Houston with Wednesday's setback to San Antonio.
The Rockets had little trouble securing home-court advantage by leading the Clippers from start to finish. Luis Scola paced the Rockets to as much as 25-point advantage with his 10th double-double of the season, tallying 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Though talk about a rematch with the Jazz already started swirling inside Houston's locker room after Wednesday's win, the Rockets could appreciate what they've accomplished by finishing with the fourth-best record in the West even after losing Yao Ming.
"Considering all the stuff we've been through this year, to put ourselves in a great position to come out with home-court advantage, that's a fabulous job on our part," said McGrady, who had seven points and 11 asssits. "This team stayed with it despite losing a great part of our team. We should be proud of ourselves. With the parody in the West, you know how great these teams are out here and for us to have a young team and have home-court advantage, that's pretty special."
The Rockets made quick work of the Clippers.
Despite opening the game without starting point guard Rafer Alston, the Rockets netted 10 of their first 17 shots and raced to a 35-17 lead before the first quarter was finished.
Scola created the most chaos for Los Angeles' defense, swishing 5-of-7 shots to score 11 points in the first 12 minutes.
"They have found a way to win all season," Clippers forward Corey Maggette said. "The key is Scola. He's not a rookie. He's a veteran and plays really big on the court."
During the second quarter, Maggette heated up to try to make things interesting. The Clippers' swingman scored 15 of his team-high 22 points, helping L.A. pull as close to 12 points.
With another run to start the third, the Clippers reduced Houston's lead to 10 points. But that's as close as it got. The Rockets used a 10-2 run near the end of the third to end all of the drama.
"We wanted to set a tone going into the playoffs this weekend," said Rockets guard Bobby Jackson, who had 15 points. "We definitely didn't want to take these guys for granted. We wanted to put our best foot forward tonight and we did that. We didn't shoot the ball the way we wanted to, but we did a lot of great things. We won and that's the important thing."
The Rockets can now shi
Since facing Utah in last season's first-round playoff series, the Rockets have retooled their roster by adding players like Luis Scola and Jackson. The Jazz are also a little different after adding Kyle Korver and losing Derek Fisher.
But even with new faces on both sides of the floor, the Rockets are expecting another physical series with the Jazz.
"We're pretty familair with them," Rockets forward Shane Battier said.
"I went to bed thinking Utah sets last year. They have a lot of wrinkles to the sets that they run. But you're never surprised by Utah. Utah is a really good team and they run their stuff as well as anybody."
