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Yao Ming scores the go-ahead basket with 17.2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter after Utah center Greg Ostertag flops to the floor. The Rockets went on to beat the Jazz 107-101 in overtime Wednesday night in Houston. Yao had 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 8 rebounds. To get more detail on the play, visit the Detailed Yao Analysis below. For more photos from the game, click here to visit the topic in the YaoMingMania.com discussion forum. (Photo courtesy Sina)

THURSDAY, 12/04/03 - When the Rockets started off Wednesday's game flat and uninspired, falling behind quickly to Utah 24-10, we were wondering, "THIS is how they play after having 2 days off to practice? THIS is how they play at home after losing 3 in a row on the road? THIS is how they avenge a loss last week to the less-talented Jazz?" The boo-birds at Toyota Center felt the same, and the Rockets were really feeling the pressure. A loss on Wednesday night would have surely created a firestorm on the Houston sports radio talk shows. Fortunately for the players, they quickly got themselves back into the game in the second quarter. Although they played in roller-coaster fashion in the second-half, the Rockets were finally able to pull out a 107-101 win in overtime. The good We were pleased with Yao's game. He struggled from the field early, shooting only 3-for-9 at first, but he made his last 3 shots to bring his field goal percentage for the game to 50% (6-for-12). One of those buckets was a clutch basket near the end of regulation, which put the Rockets ahead by one point. It's ironic that Yao had the opportunity to score the go-ahead basket (and not Steve Francis) on a busted play where the team had to improvise, instead of relying on one-on-one moves by Francis (more on that later). Cuttino Mobley had the best game of any Rocket, scoring 32 points on spectacular 11-of-18 shooting, and a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line. He also sucked it up and played the most minutes of any Rocket (51) while maintaining his ranking as fifth in the league in minutes played per game. I know Mobley gets a lot of flack for supposedly being selfish, but in this game he lead the team with 5 assists. Without Mobley this season, the Rockets would probably have lost more games. Shooting guard Eric Piatkowski played more minutes in this game since Jim Jackson was out with the flu, and Pike scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting. If you have been reading my analysis over the past three games, you probably know that Jackson's stats aren't where they should be for a starting guard. I have been vocal that they need to make a change at that position, and let Jackson come off the bench. Coach Jeff Van Gundy will have an interesting decision to make. Does he now start Piatkowski and bench Jackson, or does he try to be sensitive to Jackson and let him start the next game? If it were up to me, it would be the former. You may remember last year when Yao was in a similar position. Yao was not the starting center at the beginning of last season (hard to believe, I know). But when Kelvin Cato had to leave town for personal reasons, Rudy T. had to start Yao, and Yao hasn't relinquished the starting position since. Although Boki Nachbar started the Utah game, Pike got most of the minutes (37 to Nachbar's 15) and points (13 points to Boki's 5). We'll see what Van Gundy does in this very similar situation. The Rockets actually started the fourth quarter down by 7 points. But they went on a 9-0 run in two minutes to take the lead. That run was instrumental in getting back into the game. The Rockets made their first 23 free throws in a row, which kept them around in a very close game. That's a vast improvement to their terrible performance at the line in Seattle where they missed 7 free throws in the fourth quarter alone, and lost the game by 7 points. Not so good The Rockets had 7 turnovers in the first quarter on Wednesday, and only had 1 assist compared to Utah's 10. Despite his vow to improve his performance over the Jazz guards, Steve Francis was still out-assisted by Raul Lopez 9-to-4. Lopez is a pure point guard in the John Stockton mold, whereas Francis still tries to be more of a scorer. Lopez was so threatening, if he hadn't gotten hurt at the end of regulation with a sprained ankle, it might have been tough for the Rockets to stop the Utah offensive attack. At least Francis had a few nifty assists, equaling the three that Lopez had. In crunch time in the fourth quarter, we were disappointed that the only offensive scheme Van Gundy came up with was to clear everyone out, and give Francis the ball and let him shake-and-bake and drive to the basket, and if he misses a difficult shot, hope for a foul, (just like RudyBall last year). In this game, Francis drove to the hole near the end of the fourth quarter and was fouled, but he missed the first free throw attempt, which also broke the Rockets string of making 23 FTs in a row. If you're point guard is going to attack the basket like that in a close game, they HAVE to make both free throws (Francis later missed another key free throw). In sum, it would be nice if the offense was more imaginative that involves passing to keep the defense guessing. As mentioned earlier, Yao scored a key go-ahead bucket near the end of regulation where the defense scrambled for a loose ball, which left Yao open to receive a nice pass from Maurice Taylor and score. We just wish the Rockets could design plays like that (without the risk of a loose ball) so other players can be involved, and give Yao the chance to take advantage of his shooting or passing skills. Missed shots Yao could have dunked Over the past 11 games, Yao has had four missed shot attempts that perhaps should have been dunked. His supposed lack of aggression still seems to be a myth. About this chart A lot of people in the media, especially in Houston, seem 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 start tracking all the times when 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.

1st quarter - Kelvin Cato jumps the opening tip for the Rockets.
10:35		Yao gets the ball on the right edge of the lane, and immediately puts up a right-handed hook shot over Greg Ostertag. The shot misses, but Yao gets inside position on Ostertag and grabs the rebound, then while falling backward puts up a right-handed shot off the glass AND IT GOES IN! Nice hustle and accuracy on the second shot! Yao is 1-for-2 from the field. The Rockets trail 2-4.
6:41		Yao misses a left-handed hook shot in the middle of the lane. It appears Andrei Kirilenko was able to get a finger on it to make the shot go off target. Yao is 1-for-3 from the floor.
5:55		Yao checks out of the game for Maurice Taylor. The Rockets trail 6-14.
3:23		Yao checks back into the game for Kelvin Cato. The Rockets are really struggling, trailing 10-23.
2nd quarter - At the end of the first quarter, the Rockets trail 15-28 and are getting thoroughly outplayed. The Rockets shot 36% from the field and had only 1 assist compared to Utah's 60% shooting and 10 assists. The Jazz also had 7 steals in the quarter. Yao has 2 points on 1-of-3 shooting.
11:26	Free Throws	Moochie and Yao are leading a very rare Rockets fast break. Moochie is dribbling the ball down the left sideline, then passes the ball to Yao in the middle of the court at the free throw line on the dead run! After catching the ball, Yao takes one big step, elevates and goes up for a right-handed slam, but he is fouled by Curtis Borchardt. Great running down the floor by the Big Man! Yao goes to the line and makes both free throw attempts. The Rockets trail 20-28, and Yao has 4 points (2-for-2 from the line).
7:32		From the left baseline, Yao decides to break away from his defender, Ostertag, and come out to the left elbow of the lane area (which is pretty far away from the basket for Yao). Moochie then passes the ball to Yao, and seeing that no one is guarding him, shoots a wide open jumper from 16 feet, AND IT'S GOOD!! Unless Yao was freelancing, it actually looks like the Rockets ran a specific play for Yao to shoot a jump shot! The Rockets trail 29-30. The Rockets have gone on a 14-2 run in the last 4+ minutes, and only trail 29-30. Yao is 2-for-4 with 6 points. I think running plays occasionally for Yao to shoot from the outside is a good move. Yao can really stroke it when facing up to the basket, but yet he is expected to score down low in the paint area all the time. All I have to say is that if Brad Miller is allowed to shoot jump shots from outside, why can't Yao? He is probably one of the Rockets' most accurate jump shooters. I wonder if Yao told coach Van Gundy that he wanted to shoot more of those?
6:39		Yao posts up Greg Ostertag on the left edge of the lane, turns into the lane and elevates for a jump shot, but Andrei Kirilenko comes over from the weak side to block it! It looks like Yao double-pumped on that shot, and it actually gave Kirilenko more time to make the block. Kirilenko is a great shot blocker, though. Yao is now 2-for-5 from the field with 4 points. The Rockets trail 29-32.
3:46	+ Free Throws	Yao shoots an airball from the left baseline. He is now 2-for-6 from the field. A few seconds later, Maurice Taylor bounces between two defenders a beautiful pass to him to the right of the basket, and as Yao goes up for the layup, he is fouled by Ostertag. Yao gets to shoot free throws, and he makes them both. He is now 4-for-4 from the line, and has 8 points. The score is tied 36-36!
Halftime - The Rockets outscored the Jazz 29-15 in the second quarter, and lead 44-43. Houston improved their shooting in the second quarter, where they shot 53% and now are 45% for the game overall. The Rockets also had 14 bench points compared to the Jazz having 7. And unlike the Sonics game on Saturday night, they have improved their free throw shooting and are 13-13 from the line. Yao has 8 points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field, and is 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
3rd quarter - Yao starts the quarter.
6:12		Yao gets the ball in the middle of the paint with Greg Ostertag defending him, and he immediately pivots along the right edge of the lane, dribbles once, and with 3 guys around him launches a right-handed hook shot from the edge of the lane AND HITS IT! The Rockets now lead 57-55. Yao is 3-for-7 from the field with 10 points.
4:36		Yao checks out of the game for Maurice Taylor. Yao is 3-for-7 with 10 points. The Rockets trail 59-61.
2:22		Yao checks into the game for Kelvin Cato. The Rockets trail 63-66.
2:10	Free Throws	Yao is fouled by Harpring while jockeying for position. He gets to shoot two free throws, and makes them both. He is a perfect 6-for-6 from the line and now has 12 points. The Rockets trail 65-66.
1:05		Yao gets the ball just outside the left edge of the lane guarded one-on-one by Borchardt. Yao dribbles a couple of times to get into the middle of the paint, then pivots toward the baseline and hesitates for some reason, then goes up for a jump shot. Little did Yao know that Kirilenko came over to double-team him as he made his pivot move toward the baseline, and the hesitation by Yao actually gave Kirilenko time to come over and get a hand on the ball as Yao was about to release it from the top of his jump. Yao probably needs to make his move quickly and not hesitate or double-pump because if gives great shot blockers like Kirilenko that extra half-second they need to come over and get a hand on the ball. Yao is now 3-for-8 from the field.
4th quarter - The Rockets trail 67-71 after being outscored 23-28 in the third quarter. Yao has 12 points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field.
9:58		Yao grabs a rebound right under the basket after Francis misses a layup attempt. Surrounded by 4 Utah Jazz players, Yao realizes if he puts the ball on the floor, it will probably get stripped. So rather than bring the ball down, Yao tries to go up immediately to dunk it. He tried to go up forcefully, but Jarron Collins and Ostertag both do a good job of getting a hand on the ball as he goes up, and the ball is stripped. At least Yao has learned that it's probably much better to go up immediately for a shot rather than bring the ball down and give the defense more time to react. Yao is now 3-for-9 from the field.
7:36		Maurice Taylor misses a jump hook shot in the lane, but Yao gets the rebound in front of the basket and without bringing the ball down, HE SLAMS IT THROUGH FOR THE VERY EASY BUCKET AND SHAKES THE ENTIRE GOAL LIKE SHAQ DOES! Yao is 4-for-10 from the field with 14 points. The Rockets lead 78-75.
2:05	Free Throws	Trailing 88-90, Yao is fouled by Ostertag while trying to shoot a jump hook, and he goes to the free throw line. He makes the first BUT MISSES THE SECOND! THAT'S A HUGE MISS. Yao's father in the crowd actually shows a little bit of emotion by sighing somewhat. The Rockets still trail 89-90. Yao is now 7-of-8 from the line and has 15 points.
1:13	Assist	Still trailing 90-89, Yao gets the ball at the top of the key as Cuttino curls toward him. Yao hands Mobley the ball, stays put to screen off Mobley's defender, and Mobley shoots a 15 foot jumper from the free throw line -- AND IT'S GOOD!! THE ROCKETS TAKE THE LEAD 91-90. Great assist by Yao! The Rockets take the lead 91-90. Mobley has 30 points.
0:17.2		With the Rockets trailing 92-93, the Rockets need a big bucket. Francis drives into the lane, but sees Ostertag and Kirilenko defending the rim, so he wisely passes off to Maurice Taylor in the left baseline corner. Taylor dribbles and spins, but Kirilenko gets a hand on the ball to knock it loose! Taylor chases it and manages to pick the ball up just inside the free throw line. Because the loose ball made the defense go after it, Taylor sees Yao open on the right edge of the lane and DELIVERS A PASS TO YAO! YAO THEN DRIBBLES ONCE TOWARD THE BASKET, LOWERS HIS SHOULDER ON OSTERTAG WHO CAME OVER TO DEFEND, AND OSTERTAG "FLOPS" TRYING TO DRAW A CHARGING CALL AND GOES FLYING BACKWARDS TOWARD THE FLOOR! THE FLOP LEAVES YAO WIDE OPEN, AND YAO PUTS A PERFECT SHOT OFF THE GLASS FROM ABOUT 3 FEET OUT FOR THE SCORE! THE TOYOTA CENTER ERUPTS! THE ROCKETS LEAD 94-93! I think Ostertag learned too much flopping from Karl Malone over the years! Looking at the replay, one of Ostertag's feet was inside the circle, so he should not have tried the flop! That's one of Yao's biggest buckets ever! He is now 5-for-11 from the floor with 17 points.
0:05.6	Foul on Yao	The Rockets lead 94-93. Raul Lopez delivers a pass to Kirilenko in the paint. Yao is there with good position with a hand up to make it very difficult for Kirilenko to get off a good shot. Kirilenko double-pumps, and Yao bites on the fake and jumps to try to block it, but Kirilenko is smart by moving his non-shooting arm into Yao's arm, making it look like a foul, and the referees buy it! Yao should have just held his ground since he had good position on Kirlenko already. Kirilenko makes the first free throw to tie the game at 94-94, BUT HE MISSES THE SECOND! The score is tied 94-94, and after a couple of turnovers from both teams, we head to overtime.
Overtime - The game is tied 94-94. Yao is 5-for-11 with 17 points. The Jazz are now without point guard Raul Lopez because he twisted his ankle badly on the last play of regulation.
3:44		Probably feeling like they have new life because of Kiilenko's missed free throw, the Rockets come out and play more confidently. After Piatkowski hits a three-pointer and Maurice Williams (Lopez's substitute) turns the ball over, Yao gets the ball on the left edge of the lane. Guarded by Ostertag, Yao pivots toward the baseline and launches a fallaway jumper and HE DRAINS IT JUST LIKE HAKEEM OLAJUWON DID SO MANY TIMES FROM THAT SAME SPOT! The Rockets lead 99-94, and Yao is 6-for-12 from the field and has 19 points. The Rockets lead 99-94.
0:31.06	Free Throws	Leading 106-101, the Rockets are able to beat the trapping defense that Utah has put on the Rockets by getting Maurice Taylor and Yao breaking toward the basket on a 2-on-1 fast break. Taylor gives the ball up to Yao, who is streaking toward the basket on the right side. Yao is fouled by Raja Bell as he tries to go up for the dunk and falls to the floor. Yao is okay, though. He goes to the line and makes the first, but misses the second. The Rockets still lead 107-101, though, and they go on to win the game! Yao finishes with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting (8-for-10 from the line) and 8 rebounds.