While Tuesday night's preseason game in Dallas was in fact a test for the Rockets, it was far from the type of test that most expected.
The Mavericks were nothing at all like the team that went to the NBA Finals last year as they opted to sit Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Erick Dampier, Devin Harris and newcomer Devean George in this one.
It still didn't keep the Mavs from making the Rockets look sloppy in Houston's 72-69 win, a game that marked the return of Yao Ming.
Yao had 8 points, 8 boards and 4 fouls in 23 minutes of play. He was just 3-9 from the floor and looked winded. More importantly, the rest of the Rockets looked lost trying to play with him in half-court sets.
Tracy McGrady, Rafer Alston and Kirk Snyder couldn't pick up any slack, combining to miss 18 of 25 shots. Perhaps we're giving the Mavs' defense too much credit as the Rockets couldn't even hit their free throws (15-29, 51.7%) this night.
Josh Howard (22 points, 8-13 shooting) looked like the best player on the floor. He helped the Mavericks build a 10-point second half lead before calling it a night. Even after Howard left and it was pure Scrubville for the Mavs, McGrady and Yao looked painfully sloppy.
It wasn't until they exited really that good news came.
Vassilis Spanoulis, Steve Novak and Luther Head were the bright spots on this night. Each played a key role in helping the Rockets come back and made strong cases to be in Jeff Van Gundy's rotation.
Spanoulis, who finished with 6 points, 4 boards and 4 assists, hit a long jumper with just over a minute to go, then drew a full-speed charge from Darius Washington with under a minute to go and the Rockets up just 2. He looked energetic and more under control in this one.
Head finished with 13 points and was 3-5 from beyond the arc. He also set up Novak (5-10, 12 points, 7 boards) for what amounted to the game-winning three-pointer with 37 ticks left that put the Rockets up 5.
Novak is looking like a straight steal for the second round. His shooting touch from the outside is near magical and he's making it tough for the likes of Scott Padgett and Casey Jacobsen to see any court time -- or worse: Even make the squad.
Overall, very sloppy play from the starters, but that's what the preseason is for. Another look at the Rockets with Yao comes tonight against the Bucks.
