[CHRON] Headway at halfway mark

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3004836

Jan. 22, 2005, 10:59PM

<b>Headway at halfway mark
Surging Rockets making progress on road to where they want to go</b>
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

The suggestion was made that the Rockets were in gear. They had worked out the kinks and the early struggles and were the team they had expected to be all along.

Van Gundy did not know what to say.

"I disagree with your premise," he said, sounding almost apologetic.

It was pointed out that they had won five of their last seven games. They had gone a healthy 16-8 since the season's 6-11 low point. They were on a roll.

"I still don't agree," Van Gundy said. "OK, you're right. We've got it going."

Midway through the season, the only thing clear seemed to be what the Rockets are not.

They are not the team that stumbled through the start of the season and through an often-dismal December.

But they also were not ready to declare themselves unbeatable or, for that matter, a sure-thing playoff team.

Mostly, they were much better than they used to be.

"Considering the start we had and where we're at now, we've come a long way," Rockets guard Bob Sura said. "We're making strides. We're getting better every night.

"Who knows? I think if we get in the playoffs, no one will want to face us. That's for sure."


<b>Comfort zone</b>
The Rockets might have wasted the soft part of their schedule when they lost in Atlanta, blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead against the New York Knicks and lost twice to the expansion Charlotte Bobcats. But they have improved.

Tracy McGrady, Van Gundy said, has found a comfortable balance between dominating opponents and his early-season concern about monopolizing the ball.

Yao Ming has come out of his offensive funk with three consecutive 20-point games.

Sura, who was trying to find his game in December after offseason back surgery, has become a high-energy leader.

"We got one in Sura, even though he's not a true point — hobbled, ... two-one, mentality of a four, ready to fight at the drop of a hat — he's a difference-maker," Van Gundy said. "Those are hard to find."

The trades for David Wesley and Jon Barry have seemed to balance the rotation. Though it is too soon to know, the Rockets hope the addition of Rod Strickland will provide the veteran point guard's steady hand.

"I'm happy with the way we've played the last 13, 14 games," Wesley said. "This is really, really big to get a tough road win to have a good finish of this stretch."

There are still issues. Sura has become an enormous key, but continues to play on a sore right knee.

The bench has contributed in many ways, with Dikembe Mutombo exceeding expectations and Barry adding the passing and passion the Rockets lacked. But bench scoring can be nonexistent with Maurice Taylor struggling even before he went on the injured list with the flu.

Though they have made moves, the Rockets have had no luck in moving one of their excess power forwards and hefty contracts.

Most of all, the toughest tests are to come. The Rockets have not been to San Antonio or Phoenix this season and have not played Miami or Seattle. The field of Western Conference playoff contenders has thinned, but not by much, with the Los Angeles Lakers winning without Kobe Bryant and the Memphis Grizzlies turning around their season even more dramatically than the Rockets.


<b>Making a difference</b>
When the Rockets reached the midpoint of the season with a last-second win in New York while the Knicks were considered so disappointing that Lenny Wilkens stepped down to no one's surprise, Van Gundy said the "reeling" Knicks and "surging" Rockets were more alike than different.

"We're both struggling to try to break through mediocrity," Van Gundy said. "Nobody wants to be in the mediocrity of the NBA or any league, but it's much harder to break through that than one would think.

"We were seventh last year. The West is better this year. We had more injuries this year than last year. That's why it's always a struggle."

For now, the Rockets are among, if just barely, the Western Conference's playoff bracket's eight teams.

"The easiest thing is to get in the lottery," Van Gundy said. "They hardest thing is to get out. It is easy to be a six, seven seed. It's harder is to get home-court advantage. If you don't have home-court advantage, it's very, very rare you're going to do anything.

"Every team needs a player like (Tim) Duncan. That's why we made the Tracy McGrady trade. We felt although it had gone bad for him in his last year there (in Orlando) and you never know someone until you coach him, you're going to try to get that one guy who is a difference-maker."

With that, the Rockets reached the midpoint of the season back where they started — having proved little, but with optimism that they had made the move needed to break through the cycle of mediocrity. But if returning to where they started might not seem like progress, getting there was difficult enough to at least feel as if they are heading in the right direction.