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Yao Ming blocks a Jahidi White shot Friday night in Houston. The Rockets beat the Suns 90-85. Yao scored 21 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. (Photo courtesy AP).

SATURDAY, 11/15/03 - It wasn't the prettiest game of the year, but the Rockets pulled out a victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night in Houston, 90-85. This Rockets-Suns matchup is becoming quite a rivalry. First, you have the fact the Suns beat out the Rockets for the final playoff spot last year by just one game. Second, you have Stephon Marbury and Steve Francis going after each other, both who are extremely talented point guards with very similar games. Marbury also said a few things last year that showed he held a grudge against Francis when Francis made the All-Star team, and Marbury didn't. Then you have Yao vs. Amare Stoudemire. Although Yao plays center and Amare plays forward, you can't help but try to compare the two players' performances since Stoudemire was able to steal away last year's Rookie of the Year award. One of the big factors for that outcome was that the Suns made the playoffs, and the Rockets didn't. Friday night's game offered all kinds of fun while watching all four of these players. Steve vs. Stephon Francis had 12 points by halftime on 5-for-8 shooting, but compared to Marbury numbers, you had to wonder who was the better guard. Marbury was on fire as he scored 20 points in the game's first 16 ½ minutes. He cooled off in the third period, scoring only 2 points, and that's when the Rockets were able to fight through their early scoring troubles and keep the game close by outscoring the Suns 22-17. Marbury scored 11 in the fourth quarter and finished with a season-high 33 points. But Francis was really able to turn it up a notch in the second half, and hit some key buckets to help pull the Rockets through. Francis had 14 points in the second-half to finish with 26. Although Marbury had 7 more points and 5 more assists (6-1) than Francis, because the Rockets won the game, you can consider this matchup a wash. Yao vs. Amare Although we hold a small grudge against Amare Stoudemire because of some of the things he said about Yao last season after he won the Rookie of the Year Award, he was incredible by blocking 5 shots and scoring on some thunderous dunks. After sinking a few jumpers, you can tell he has also improved his outside shot from last season, adding another dimension to his game. Stoudemire finished with 18 points and 9 boards. You can read about some of the plays which involved Yao and Stoudemire below in the Detailed Yao Analysis. Yao had a much better game compared to his previous night's performance in Dallas. He scored 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting, and was 5-for-8 from the free throw line. Some of those missed attempts were because of fatigue. Yao himself acknowledged that it was an exhausting game. "It was not really my best game this year," Yao said. "It was a very tiring game. We kept going even when we were tired." Yao also had 14 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Overall, you can say Yao won this battle against Stoudemire. The Houston "D" Houston's defense was outstanding once again, holding the Suns to 38% field goal shooting and forcing them into 20 turnovers (compared to their league-leading average of only 12 per game). The Rockets needed that defense since their own offense struggled on 39% shooting from the field, and also shot a poor 65% from the free throw line. To make matters worse, the Suns had 7 fast break points compared to the Rockets 2 points, and had more blocks (12-7). With those kind of stats, it's surprising the Rockets pulled this game out. But they were able to prevail by playing scrappy and applying more defensive pressure in the fourth quarter after the game was tied at 69-69, holding the Suns scoreless for over four minutes. Phoenix players blamed their scoring drought on missing open jumpers, but you have to think that Houston's defense made those Phoenix players' legs more tired than they normally get, thus contributing to missing those shots. The JVG Difference? This was one of those games where you have to "will" your way to a victory when big parts of your game aren't clicking, and the Rockets accomplished that objective, which is something they didn't do very often last year. Chalk up the difference to Jeff Van Gundy's attitude infusion this season. The Rockets are now 6-2 and lead the Midwest division! Is the criticism on Yao legitimate? A lot of people in the media, especially in Houston, seems to be getting on Yao for not being aggressive enough on offense. They say he doesn't call for the ball strongly enough, and that he tries to finesse his shots when he could really dunk them. The first claim may or may not be true. I see him with his hands up plenty of times when the Rockets are on offense, so I don't really have too much of a problem with that part of his game. However, regarding the second criticism of him not dunking the ball, there are many times when I am preparing my Detailed Yao Analysis where I see that Yao really had no chance to go up for a dunk. Yet he'll get criticized for not going up strong with a dunk. It's so easy for a member of the media to jump on a claim that everyone else seems to be chanting, which can become sickening if you know the claim is a myth. Remember last year's comments from the media where everyone thought Yao was a flop, which led to my creation of the 'Expert' Hall of Shame? Well I intend to do the same kind of thing here. To see if everyone is generalizing too much about Yao saying that he should dunk the ball more, I'm going to try to start tracking all the times where Yao misses a shot that could have been dunked. That way we'll have tangible numbers to really see if he's not being powerful enough. I'll also track the number of times he dunks the ball when he DOES have a defender around him, or in his face, in order to give him credit for those times where he is being aggressive around the rim. For the past two games, here's how Yao has done: If you ask me, two shots in 2 games where Yao could have been more aggressive by dunking the ball doesn't seem to indicate he is being passive around the rim. We'll see if future games bear the same results.

1st quarter - Kelvin Cato is assigned to the jump ball rather than Yao.
11:45		Mobley splits two defenders on the left side of the court, and is able to find Yao outside the left edge of the lane with no one guarding him. Yao smartly drives to the hoop and goes up strong over Amare Stoudemire, but Stoudemire is able to block it! Give Yao credit for taking it to the rack for the dunk, but Stoudemire just made a good play!
10:53	Assist	Yao is passed the ball on the left edge of the paint, but he is double-teamed. That leaves Jim Jackson open behind the arc along the left sideline. Yao spots him and throws a pass to him, and Jackson nails the trey! Chalk up an assist for Yao! Rockets lead 5-0.
10:23		Yao misses a fallaway jumper from the left edge of the lane.
9:44		Steve Francis drives toward the hoop along the right baseline, then bounces a pass to Yao on the other side of the basket along the left baseline about 3 feet away from the basket. Yao takes a step toward the hoop and goes up for a little fallaway hook shot over Jahidi White and Shawn Marion, but it misses. This was one of those missed shot attempts where Yao could have dunked the ball.
8:20		Francis shoots a 3-pointer that misses, but Cato is able to tip the rebound off the backboard, which bounces straight to Yao who is standing in the middle of the lane. Yao immediately goes up and shoots a little 6-foot jumper, and hits it! Yao is now 1-for-4 from the field with 2 points. The Rockets lead 9-5.
8:00		Jahidi White has the ball offensively on the left edge of the lane, posting up Yao. He spins toward the baseline and tries to lay in a shot from underneath the rim, but Yao follows him every step of the way and blocks it! White gathers the loose ball, lowers his shoulder against Yao, then falls back and shoots a fallaway jumper, BUT YAO TIMES IT PERFECTLY AND BLOCKS IT AGAIN! The sellout crowd at Toyota Center goes crazy!
7:43		After the two blocks, the Rockets bring the ball down the floor. From the left side of the court, Mobley passes the ball to Cato, who is standing at the free throw line. Yao catches it and immediately passes the ball toward the basket, where a cutting Yao gathers it in and slams it down right-handed! Awesome ball movement by the offense, and nice touch pass by Cato! We didn't know he had that kind of court vision! Also, great aggression shown by Yao on these last two plays! The crowd is going bonkers! Rockets lead 11-5. Yao has 4 points on 2-of-5 shooting.
5:02		Yao checks out of the game for Scott Padgett. Yao has 4 points, shooting 2-for-5 from the field, and has 2 blocks. The Rockets lead 14-12.
2:13		Yao checks back into the game, this time for Cato.
:51		Yao misses a difficult fallaway jumper. Yao is now 2-for-6 from the field.
2nd quarter - The Rockets lead 24-21. Houston has shot 37% from the field (10-of-27) while the Suns are shooting 29% (5-of-17). Francis has been spectacular with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Yao has 4 points, shooting 2-for-6 from the field, and has 2 blocks. Amare Stoudemire has only 1 point, but two impressive blocks. Both teams have 4 blocks each.
11:30	Assist	Jim Jackson passes the ball to Yao, who is midway between the three-point line and the lane. Yao sees Scott Padgett penetrate into the middle of the lane, and throws a two-handed pass over the two defenders guarding him, hitting Padgett perfectly on the run in the lane. Padgett then lays it in! Credit an assist to Yao using his great vision and passing!
10:47		Jackson bounce passes the ball to Yao, who is standing underneath the basket all alone, but Shawn Marion comes flying through the air to block Yao's dunk attempt! But Yao gets the loose ball and throws it down right-handed! You have to give credit to Yao for not being weak on both shot attempts. He went up strong for both. Yao is now 3-for-8 from the field with 6 points. He also has 6 rebounds. Rockets lead 28-21.
8:57		Jim Jackson misses a fallaway jumper, but Yao gets the rebound about four feet from the basket and brings it down, spins and tries a little jump hook in the lane, but it misses. It's debatable if Yao could have dunked that ball. He might have had an opportunity if he had not brought the ball down and did the spin move, but he could have been called for charging into Jake Voskuhl, who was between Yao and the basket. Our opinion is that Yao could not have dunked that ball because he was too far away from the basket, and had to settle for a hook shot. Yao checks out of the game for Cato after being called for a loose ball foul after that missed shot.
4:16		Yao checks back into the game for Cato. The score is tied 36-36.
3:39		Yao gets the ball just outside the left edge of the lane, this time guarded by last year's Rookie of the Year Amare Stoudemire. With his back facing the basket, Yao pivots left and goes up for a fallaway jumper and it swishes through the basket! No way Stoudemire was going to block that one! Yao has 8 points on 4-for-10 shooting. Rockets lead 39-38.
:47		Yao posts up Jahidi White on the left edge of the lane. Yao dribbles twice while making it appear he will turn into the lane, but then he spins toward the baseline, leans toward the basket, jumps and puts up a little hook shot about 3 feet from the basket. But Stoudemire jumps and times it perfectly for the block! No question: Stoudemire does have hops! There's no way Yao could have dunked that shot attempt.
:39.3		Yao checks out of the game.
Halftime - The Suns outscore Houston on a 25-11 run in the second quarter to erase the Rockets' first quarter 8-point lead. In the last 9 minutes, Houston only had 3 field goals. The Suns lead 48-42. Mobley has had a tough shooting night thus far, shooting 1-for-7 from the field (1-for-4 from the line) for three points. Marbury has 22 points thus far. The Rockets are only shooting 35% from the floor (Phoenix is shooting 41%). Yao is 4-for-11 with 8 points, and has 2 blocks. Stoudemire has 9 points and 5 blocks.
3rd Quarter - Yao starts the quarter.
11:13	Intimidation	Amare drives into the lane and goes up high for a running hook shot, but Yao is there, jumps with Stoudemire and puts a hand up to make him alter the shot, which badly misses.
10:14	Turnover	Yao is posting up on Jahidi White and is backing into White to get better position, but White backs away and Yao falls backward to the floor and turns the ball over. That's what they call "pulling the chair" from underneath your opponent. This rarely happens to Yao. It maybe happened one time last season. By the way, we have also seen this happen to Shaq, so Yao shouldn't feel so bad.
8:27		Yao is being guarded by Jahidi White all by himself along the left edge of the paint. Yao turns and puts up a hook shot, but he misses. There was no possibility of a dunk on this play. Yao is 4-for-12 from the field with 8 points.
7:21		Mobley drives into the lane, and at the last second dishes it off to Yao, who is standing underneath the basket. Yao gathers the ball in, goes up and dunks it left-handed with authority! This is the first Rocket field goal of the second half. Yao has 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
5:48	Free Throws	On a pick-and-roll between Francis and Yao, Francis delivers a pass to Yao, who cut into the lane after setting the screen for Francis. Yao takes a step toward the basket and you can tell he's about to throw it down, but he's grabbed by one Sun and then fouled by Jake Voskhul. Yao goes to the line, but is perspiring profusely, and he looks a little tired. He misses the first free throw, but makes the second. Yao now has 11 points.
1:11		The Rockets are down by one point (59-60) to the Suns, and are looking for points. Yao gets the ball along the left edge of the lane, and he is guarded one-on-one by Jahidi White. Yao pivots toward the baseline and goes straight up for his BEAUTIFUL FALLAWAY JUMPER, AND IT HITS NOTHING BUT NET, AND HE'S FOULED! Excited by scoring during such a pivotal time, Yao pumps his fist down toward the floor with the classic "AND ONE!" signal. With how tired Yao looks, you've got to give him credit for having the strength to hit that shot perfectly. The Rockets take the lead! Yao makes the penalty free throw, and the Rockets lead 62-60. Yao is 6-for-14 from the field with 14 points.
4th quarter - At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Suns lead 65-64. Francis had 10 points in the quarter. The Rockets outscored the Suns 22-17. Yao has 14 points on 6-of-14 shooting. Yao played the entire quarter, which is unusual. He also starts the 4th quarter, so we wonder if Yao is getting even more tired?
11:29		Getting the ball by accident on a deflected pass, Yao shoots a difficult fallaway jumper, which is no good. Yao is now 6-for-15 from the field.
10:43		Yao checks out of the game for Cato.
7:55		Yao checks back into the game for Cato.
7:37		With the game tied at 69-69 in a tight game, the Rockets need some points since they haven't scored in almost 2 minutes. From the 3-point line, Jackson passes to Yao a couple of feet outside the left edge of the lane. Guarded one-on-one by Voskhul, Yao actually dribbles a couple of times away from the basket and then LAUNCHES A LONG FALLAWAY JUMPER, AND HE HITS IT! THE CROWD GOES NUTS! The Rockets lead 71-69. Yao is now 7-for-16 from the field, and he has 16 points and 13 rebounds.
2:24		Mobley drives from the three-point line into the lane, splitting two defenders along the way. He jumps into the air to draw a defender standing in the lane, then dishes off to Yao at the last second. Yao goes up and lays it in, and is fouled by Marbury for the AND ONE! Yao hops into the air like a school kid after making the basket! Yao makes the penalty free throw, and the Rockets lead 80-75. Yao is 8-for-17 from the field with 19 points.
:43.4	Free Throws	With the Rockets leading 84-78, Yao gets a big defensive rebound and is fouled. Yao goes to the line, but he misses both free throws! We thought his being tired would have an effect on him, and that appears to have happened at the free throw line.
:30.1	Free Throws	Leading by only 4 points, the Rockets inbound the ball to Yao, and he's fouled. This time he makes both free throws, and the Rockets lead by 6 points. Yao has 21 points, and is 5-for-8 from the line. However, the Suns bring the ball down the floor and Bostjan Nachbar fouls Marbury on a layup, which goes in! Marbury makes the penalty free throw, so the Rockets only lead by 3 points!
:22.8		Francis is fouled on the inbounds play. Yao checks out of the game and Francis makes both free throws. The Rockets lead by 5 points, 88-83. After the Rockets grab a key defensive rebound from a missed Suns shot, Yao pops off the bench and hops with both hands held high in celebration! The Rockets go on to win 90-85!