--Shane Battier, having spent seven months rehabilitating his left ankle, found a new worry. Playing for the first time this season, he found himself forced to treat the right ankle, in a bit of irony he could barely believe.
"My first thought was, 'Get the retirement papers ready, this could be my last game," Battier said of spraining one ankle in the first game after finally coming back from surgery to the other. "I came down on (Danny) Granger's foot a little bit and turned it. Hopefully, (I'll) get the injuries out of my system in November." Battier went out after two outstanding plays, blocking Granger's shot, and then while hopping on one foot, drawing a charge on Granger. He did return to the game, and played 30 minutes in his first game of the season.
"Shane's jumping right into the fire," Ron Artest said. "He's already thinking about defense. He's been shooting the ball well. It's going to be fun to watch us.
"Shane, he knows how to play. We'll be fine. Shane is a good shooter. They got to guard him out there. Same with Tracy (McGrady), you got to guard Tracy. Shane is not as creative as Tracy is, but he can knock down a shot and he can post up a smaller defender. And on defense, I think he's a better defender than Tracy, if I'm not mistaken. It should work out."
--As stunned as the Rockets were by losing a 10-point lead in the final 6-1/2 minutes, they could not have been shocked. It was the second time in the past two weeks, having blown a 10-point lead in the final 4-1/2 minutes against San Antonio.
"It could happen once," forward Luis Scola said. "We make mistakes. When it happens twice, then you have to reflect about it."
There were other similarities. The Spurs' run was started by consecutive Matt Bonner three-pointers. The Pacers began their comeback with Troy Murphy hitting consecutive 3s. The game ended with missed lay-ups, with Aaron Brooks having his drive blocked by Tim Duncan in San Antonio, and Yao Ming missing at the rim against the Pacers.
"With six minutes to go we were ahead like 10 points," Yao said. "I think we stopped pushing. We knew, 'OK, that's 10 points, that enough for the rest, for six minutes. We may have five, six points in six minutes and that's the game.' But if you have that in your mind, you never get success. You never get that win. Six minutes is a lot of minutes."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "This is a worrisome thing. With a game like this, it makes my stomach hurt." -- Yao Ming.
