YaoMingMania.com

Yao Ming slams one home Tuesday night in Washington en route to Houston defeating the Wizards 93-80. Yao had a breakout game scoring 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting (and 9-of-10 from the line), 11 rebounds and 2 blocks in 33 minutes of play. (Photo courtesy Sina.com)

1st quarter
9:19		Yao gets the ball a couple of feet outside the left edge of the lane, guarded one-on-one by Brendan Haywood. With his back to the basket, Yao pump fakes, then dribbles to the edge of the lane, then spins toward the baseline and launches a high arching fadeaway jumper over Haywood...AND SWISH! BEAUTIFUL!! Phil Chenier, the Washington color analyst and former NBA player, comments, "Not much you can do to defend that. Good footwork. Good post-up position. Drove to the middle, forced the defense to react and then shot the fadeaway jump shot. The Washington play-by-play man says, "Unless you have a step ladder, I don't think you're going to get to it." Yao is 1-for-1 from the field and the Rockets lead 4-0.
6:55		Kelvin Cato misses a point-blank layup, and Yao grabs the rebound in front of the rim, brings the ball down, then goes up for a layup, but Brendan Haywood blocks it! Yao shouldn't have brought the ball down. He should have kept the ball above his head and shoot the little jumper. Bringing the ball down gave Haywood time to react. Yao is now 1-for-2 from the field with 2 points.
6:28		Yao misses a jumper from about 3 feet outside the left edge of the paint.
2:00		Yao checks out of the game for Kelvin Cato. Yao has 5 rebounds and 2 points. The Rockets lead 19-11.
2nd quarter - At the end of the first quarter, the Rockets lead 22-17. Cuttino Mobley had 7 points and Francis had 6 points (two three-pointers). The Rockets made 4-of-7 from downtown. The Rockets went on a 19-5 run, but the Wizards countered with a 14-3 run. Yao is 1-for-3 from the field with 2 points, and has 5 rebounds.
8:39		Yao checks back into the game for Maurice Taylor. The Rockets trail 26-28. With him in the game, the Rockets were +10. With him out, they are down -12.
8:00		Etan Thomas puts up a wild hook shot as he comes across the lane, perhaps hoping to draw a foul on Yao, but the shot bounces strong off the backboard. For some reason the official scorekeeper gave Yao credit for a block, but he didn't ever touch the ball. Oh well, we'll take the blocked shot credit for Yao!
6:11	Free Throws	Yao gets the ball along the left edge of the lane, guarded one-on-one by Etan Thomas. Yao then quickly spins baseline and gets past Thomas. As Yao goes up for a layup, Thomas fouls him across the arm. Yao goes to the line and makes the first free throw, but misses the second. The Rockets lead 30-29. Yao has 3 points on 1-of-3 shooting from the field, and is 1-of-2 from the line.
5:56		Etan Thomas gets the ball down low along the right side of the rim and tries a little jump hook over Yao, but Yao easily blocks it! That's Yao's second block of the game!
5:20		The Wizards are putting on a press in the backcourt, and Francis breaks the press by passing to Cato in the frontcourt. Cato dribbles the ball to the free throw line and hooks a right-handed pass to Yao, who has manuevered into the lane in front of the rim AND THEN YAO JAMS IT DOWN RIGHT-HANDED WITH AUTHORITY! This was a nice, fast play with lots of movement! The Washington crowd roars in awe! Yao is now 2-for-4 from the field with 5 points! The Rockets tie the game at 32-32.
2:31		Okay, this may be one that's hard to follow, but it's worth it since Yao pulls a bunch of moves: Yao gets the ball a few feet outside the left edge of the lane a few feet from the baseline, guarded by Etan Thomas. Yao dribbles a couple of times towards the free throw line, stops about 2 feet below the elbow, pump fakes, then pivots toward the basket, BUT THEN REVERSE PIVOTS AWAY FROM THOMAS AND TOWARD THE FREE THROW LINE, THEN SHOOTS A FADEAWAY JUMPER...AND SCORE IT! The Rockets trail 36-39. Yao has 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting, and has 7 rebounds.
Halftime - At the end of the second quarter, the Rockets lead 43-41. The Wizards continued their run at the end of the first quarter and ended up taking a 7-point lead at one time. But the Rockets went on a 9-0 run near the end of the quarter and took the lead going into halftime. Cato has 8 points on 4-of-5 shooting. Mobley has 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting. Francis has 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 turnovers. Houston is 5-for-10 from three-point range (49% overall), but they had 11 turnovers (7 in the second quarter) that led to 16 Wizard points. Yao has 7 points on 3-of-5 shooting and 8 rebounds..
3rd quarter - Yao starts the quarter.
8:30		Yao gets the ball along the right edge of the lane, guarded one-on-one by Brendan Haywood. Yao dribbles once and fakes like he is going to turn into the lane, but then turns baseline and fades away along the left baseline for a falling jumper....AND COUNT IT! Yao has 9 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor. The Rockets now lead 50-45.
5:47		Yao misses about a 21-foot jumper from almost the three-point line. We don't mind him taking that shot, though, since he usually makes it! Yao is now 4-of-7 from the field. The Rockets lead 54-52.
5:17	Fouled hard + Free Throws	Jim Jackson drives into the top of the lane and zips a beautiful one-handed underhand shot to Yao, who is outside the lane on the right side and catches the ball as he is moving toward the basket. Yao goes up strong for a thunderous dunk attempt, BUT BRENDAN HAYWOOD COMES OVER AND FOULS HIM IN MID-AIR, AND YAO COMES CRASHING TO THE FLOOR AND LANDS RIGHT ON HIS REAR WITH A LOUD THUD! THE WASHINGTON CROWD ROARS IN EXASPERATION! YAO ROLLS OVER FACE DOWN AND STAYS ON THE FLOOR FOR ABOUT 30 SECONDS! HE EVENTUALLY ROLLS OVER ON HIS BACK AND IS WINCING IN PAIN. Yao goes to the line and makes both free throws! Thattaboy Yao! Good concentration to fight through the pain and make your throws! The Rockets lead 55-52, and Yao has 11 points.
4:17		Kwame Brown is guarding Yao along the left side of the lane, but for some reason Brown leaves Yao alone. So Yao goes running over to the top of the key, gets passed the ball with no one guarding him, and Yao squares up, launches a 17-foot jumper AND BANG! Yao swishes the shot, and Brown didn't come out to put a hand in his face because he probably doesn't realize how good Yao is shooting from the outside! And good job by Yao for being assertive and coming out to get the ball and pull the trigger on the shot without any hesitation. Yao is now 5-of-8 from the field with 13 points. The Rockets lead 60-54.
3:38	Free Throws	Yao spins baseline on Kwame Brown to put up a shot, but Yao pump fakes, and Brown bites on the fake and fouls Yao as he puts up a shot. Yao goes to the line and makes both free throws. The Rockets lead 62-54. Yao now has 15 points (5-of-8 from the field, 5-of-6 from the line).
3:25	Free Throws	Yao is fouled from behind on a defensive rebound, so he goes to the line and makes both free throws. The Rockets lead 64-54. Yao now has 17 points (5-of-8 from the field, 7-of-8 from the line).
0:54	Free Throws	Yao spins in the lane and puts up a shot in front of the rim, but he is fouled. Yao goes to the line and makes both free throws. The Rockets lead 71-61. Yao now has 19 points (5-of-8 from the field, 9-of-10 from the line).
0:26		Francis has the ball behind the arc on the right side of the court. Yao flashes into the lane and raises both arms to signal that he is open, but he doesn't get the ball automatically. Yao then moves over the the left edge of the lane to avoid getting a 3-second call, and Maurice Taylor bounces a pass to Yao right there. Yao then dribbles into the lane, reverse pivots toward the baseline, and Etan Thomas backs off him for some reason, SO YAO JUST GOES STRAIGHT UP AND DUNKS THE BALL HOME! The Rockets lead 73-63, and Yao now has 21 points (6-of-9 shooting from the field, 9-of-10 from the line). He haD 14 points in the third quarter alone!
4th quarter - At the end of three quarters, the Rockets lead 73-65. The Rockets outscored the Wizards 30-24 in the third quarter. Yao had 14 points (making 8-for-8 from the line) in the quarter alone. Jim Jackson had 8 points in the quarter, too. Yao starts the 4th quarter.
10:04		Yao is called for an offensive foul (on a flop by Kwame Brown) and so Yao checks out of the game for Kelvin Cato. The Wizards cut the Rockets lead to 75-73, but the Rockets respond by turning on the jets and win going away 93-80. Yao did not play the rest of the game, but finished the game with 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the field, and 9-of-10 from the free throw line. He also had 11 rebounds and 2 blocks!