They Were Ready for Anything

The Houston Rockets weren’t concerned with flights schedules, on-time arrivals, and the hour gained by the move from Mountain to Pacific time.

Kobe Bryant or not, they turned their attention elsewhere before Wednesday’s tipoff, watching tape of Game 4 and planning not for Bryant’s arrival, but in hopes of avoiding an early playoff departure.

Houston Coach Jeff Van Gundy discussed Bryant’s situation briefly before moving on to other pregame topics.

“I do feel like it’s an unfortunate thing for him and them,” Van Gundy said. “They’ve done it twice, handled it well twice and won twice, so I’m sure it’s not a big concern for them either.”

Van Gundy said he wanted to see Bryant on time, in uniform, ready to go.

“Frankly, when you’re in this situation, you want to play against everybody,” he said.

“You want to play against the best, so certainly I hope he makes it back.”

Any suspense was ended early. Bryant arrived at 6:56 p.m. and took the court for warm-ups amid cheers from the Staples Center crowd at 7:11.

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Houston talk-radio shows have had a field day with Steve Francis’ turnover problems in the series, all but ignoring his near-triple-double stats.

It has been that kind of a career for Francis, who came to the Rockets in a blockbuster 10-player deal after he refused to sign with the Vancouver Grizzlies following the 1999 draft.

Vancouver fans can’t carry much of a grudge because the Grizzlies now reside in Memphis, Tenn., 2,500 miles southeast, but those in Houston have vacillated between holding Francis’ feet to the fire and lavishing upon him the nickname of “Stevie Franchise.”

Francis, who had averaged 4.3 turnovers against the Lakers before Wednesday’s game, has had his share of eyesores, including his fumble out of bounds in the final minute of overtime in Game 4. But Van Gundy remained behind his point guard.

“I’m not really a big statistic guy with him,” Van Gundy told reporters. “I think he’s done a good job involving his teammates. When Steve shoots, he gets criticized. When Steve passes, he gets criticized.

“He’s a very unselfish player. We’ve been happy with how he’s played and how hard he’s played. This being his first playoff series, hopefully this will make him hungrier and hungrier to continue to do the things it takes to get back here and win big.”