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Yao battles for a loose ball against Orlando Magic center Steven Hunter in Houston on Saturday night. The Rockets beat the Magic 96-86 and improved their record to 4-1. Despite a poor shooting night, Yao finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 1 block. (Photo courtesy AP).

1st quarter - Yao loses the opening tip.
10:51	Assist	Jim Jackson delivers the ball to Yao in the post, just outside the lane on the right edge. Immediately, Yao is double-teamed by Juwan Howard, who is supposed to be guarding Kelvin Cato. Reacting to the opportunity, Cato breaks toward the hole from the 3-point line. Yao sees Cato running into the lane and easily passes over the much shorter Howard to hit Cato perfectly with the pass, and Cato lays it in! The crowd roars on the great execution! Orlando color analyst and former NBA player Jack Givens says, "I don't think you can double-team Yao Ming. He's too good a passer."
10:18	Blocked!	On the very next possession, Yao gets the ball along the right edge of the paint. This time he dribbles into the lane, jump stops, and puts up a fallaway 3-foot attempt over Hunter, but Drew Gooden comes in at the last second and blocks Yao's shot from behind. You rarely see that! Yao is 0-for-1 from the field.
9:42	Offensive foul	Yao gets the ball outside the lane on the left side in his favorite spot, posting up Magic center Steven Hunter. Yao then spins baseline and dribbles twice toward the basket and puts up a reverse layup attempt. But wait! The referee calls Yao for pushing off! Yao runs this play all the time and is never called for offensive fouls! Yao can't believe the call, and you can see him yell, in English, "What!?" Looking closely at the replay, Hunter was so faked out by Yao's quick baseline move, he leaned the wrong way and almost fell down! So the referee must have thought Hunter couldn't have stumbled so bad without being pushed.
8:28		On offense, all the Rocket players are moving well without the ball. Jackson passes the ball to Yao on the right edge of the lane once again. This time he quickly turns toward the baseline and shoots a fallaway jumper...and SWISH! Nothing but cotton! Yao is now 1-for-2 from the field with 2 points. The score is tied at 11-11.
7:33		From the left side of the court, Orlando's Juwan Howard drives into the lane, stops, and puts up a fallaway jumper where he releases the ball as far back as he can (since Yao has his hands outstretched like a skyscraper). Howard's attempt to get it over Yao is unsuccessful since Yao blocks it! That is Yao's first block of the game.
5:54	+ Free Throws	Jim Jackson throws up another 3-pointer that's off the mark, and Yao hustles to get the rebound in front of the rim, and misses with a little jump hook. But he hustles to gets the rebound once again, goes up immediately for a dunk attempt, and is fouled by Steven Hunter. Hunter may have been given a bad break because it looks like he blocked it without touching Yao. Wow, Hunter has some serious hops! This may make up for the bad offensive foul call the refs called earlier on Yao for supposedly pushing off on Hunter. Regardless, Yao makes both free throws. He now has 4 points (1-for-4 from the field, 2-for-2 from the line). The Rockets lead 15-13.
4:52		From the baseline corner, Jackson delivers the ball to Yao just outside the left edge of the lane. Yao dribbles once and moves a foot closer to the lane, then elevates and launches a fallaway jumper...and it rattles inside the rim and falls for the score! Beautiful. Yao is now 2-for-5 from the field with 6 points. Jack Givens says, "That's just nice touch. You're not going to block his shot. He (Yao) understands that, so he just turns around and shoots that jumper."
2:57	Steal	Drew Gooden foolishly drives into the lane, jumps toward the bucket, but sees too late that Yao is in front of him. Knowing there's no way he can put up a shot without getting it blocked, he double-clutches and tries a reverse layup, but his shot attempt hits the bottom of the backboard! Yao grabs the loose ball and outlets the pass for a fast break. Yao gets credit for a steal, although he only just intimidated Gooden to put up the wild shot. At least Yao gets credit for the intimidation in a stat column.
2:17		Yao checks out of the game for Bostjan Nachbar. In ten minutes of play, Yao has 6 points on 2-for-7 shooting.
1:25	Excited!	Bostjan Nachbar launches a 3-pointer right in front of Yao, who is sitting on the bench. While the shot is in the air, Yao rises from his seat with anticipation. Nachbar's shot goes in for the 3-pointer, and Yao raises his arms in triumph for his good friend Boki! (Note: later the same thing happens in the 2nd quarter when Boki nails another trey).
2nd Quarter - At the end of the first quarter, the Rockets lead 29-26. From 3-point range, they help themselves by shooting 3-for-8. Yao has 6 points on 2-for-7 shooting.
6:50		Yao checks back into the game. The Rockets lead 42-34.
:7.8		Jim Jackson throws up an alley-oop for Yao that's way off the mark. Yao can't get to it. But the ball hits the backboard, and Yao grabs the rebound while falling backward since Drew Gooden banged into him trying to get the loose ball. Realizing he's close to being called for traveling while falling backward and that there's only 2 seconds left on the shot clock (and probably recognizing he might be called for being in the lane for 3 seconds), Yao jumps while falling away and launches a high-arching shot, and the shot goes in as he crashes backwards onto the floor! Great clock awareness by Yao to get the shot off! Yao is now 3-for-10 with 8 points. The Rockets lead 57-49.
Halftime - The Rockets lead 57-51. They are helped by the fact they hit 5-of-7 three-pointers in the quarter! Now they are 8-for-15 from behind the arc. The Rockets bench is outscoring the Magic 13-4. Yao is struggling a bit from the floor, shooting 3-for-10. He has 8 points.
3rd quarter - Yao starts the 3rd quarter.
5:37	Intimidation	Tracy McGrady cuts into the lane, and Juwan Howard passes to him from the top of the key. Realizing he can't pass up a shot so close to the hoop, T-Mac goes up for a point-blank layup, BUT YAO COMES OUT OF NOWHERE TO MAKE HIM ALTER THE SHOT and the ball clangs off the iron. Great presence by Yao to make McGrady think twice.
5:21		Yao gets the ball down low on the left edge of the lane and is guarded one-on-one by Steven Hunter. Yao turns toward the baseline and leans in to put up a shot, but Hunter (with his serious jumping ability) jumps high enough to make Yao double-clutch it, which is not a good move. It's blocked by Hunter! This guy is giving Yao a tough time with his pogo-stick impersonation! Kind of reminds one of Eddie Griffin. Yao is now 3-for-13, and he has missed 7 of his last 8 shots! The Rockets trail 70-61.
3:15		Cuttino Mobley delivers the ball to Yao on the right edge of the lane. Guarded one-on-one by Hunter again, he dribbles into the lane, jumps, and shoots a left-handed hook shot from about 5 feet away. This time it goes in! Great skill with the left hand! That was Yao's first score in the 3rd quarter. Yao is now 4-for-14 from the field with 10 points. The Rockets now lead by ten points, 75-65.
:19		Yao gets an offensive rebound in front of the bucket. Intent not to finesse the shot, Yao goes up forcefully for an uncontested dunk...but HE MISSES IT! This is not Yao's night! He's now 4-for-15 from the floor.
4th quarter - At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Rockets lead 79-73. The Rockets only shot 9-for-16 in the 3rd quarter. Cuttino Mobley has helped the Rockets keep the lead by shooting 5-for-6 from the floor in the period. For the game, Yao is 4-for-15 from the field with 10 points. Padgett is in the game for Yao at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
5:53		Yao checks into the game for Padgett. The Rockets lead 87-80.
5:27	Free Throws	Moochie Norris delivers the ball to Yao on the right edge of the lane, and Moochie clears out so he can take away his own defender from double-teaming Yao. Yao is guarded once again by Hunter one-on-one. Yao dribbles once into the lane, but then reverse pivots toward the baseline, pump fakes Hunter to get him to jump in the air, and Hunter comes down on Yao to foul him. Yao has learned how to neutralize Hunter's jumping--by pump faking him! Yao makes the first free throw, but misses the second one. He now has 11 points (3-for-4 from the line, 4-for-15 from the field).
4:00		The Rockets hold only a 7-point lead, 88-81. Yao gets the ball on the left edge of the lane, and is guarded by Hunter once again. Yao dribbles into the lane, pump fakes, and gets Hunter to bite! Hunter goes airborne, and as he flies by, Yao dips his shoulder underneath Hunter, jumps off his left foot toward the basket, and puts a shot off the glass that rattles in! What a beautiful move by Yao! And it's another clutch bucket by Yao in the fourth quarter when they need him! (just like the last game on Tuesday against the Nets). This play also shows how Yao makes great adjustments during the game to counteract the strengths of a defender. Hunter can jump high to alter Yao's shots, but he does it by gambling! Now he's making him pay. Yao is now 5-for-16 from the field with 13 points.
2:50	+ Free Throws + Technical Foul	Guarded on the right block by Hunter again, Yao dribbles into the lane and puts up a right-handed hook shot, but it misses off the back iron. However, Yao is there to grab the offensive rebound and Juwan Howard goes after the ball and fouls him excessively hard across the arms! Yao tries to shed him off by clearing out with his elbow, and is called for a technical! What a bad call. If Karl Malone does this, it's okay. If Yao does it, he's called for a tech. When watching the replay, it's funny to see the look Howard gives a teammate after the play is dead. He looks at him and seems to say, "Whew! That was a close one!" You can bet Howard will never try fouling Yao as hard the next time! Yao misses the first free throw, but makes the second. Rockets lead 91-84.
1:06		Yao grabs an offensive rebound in front of the rim. With a couple of Orlando players around him, Yao goes up forcefully and finger rolls it in for the bucket! The Rockets now lead 96-84, and that just about does it! Yao checks out of the game later with :39 minutes left in the game, and finishes 6-for-18 from the field for 16 points. He also had 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. The Rockets end up winning the game 96-86, and extend their winning streak to 3 games. They are now 4-1.