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Yao tries to contest a rebound of Zeljko Rebraca's on Sunday night in Houston against the Atlanta Hawks. The Rockets won in a classic triple-overtime slugfest, winning 123-121. Yao had a monster game, scoring a career-high 41 points on 15-of-21 shooting, 16 rebounds and 7 assists! (Photo courtesy AP).

1st overtime
:02.9		With the Rockets trailing 104-107, the Rockets are in desperate need of a three-pointer to tie the game. Jim Jackson is double-teamed and passes the ball to Steve Francis in the right baseline corner, and is standing behind the three-point line. Francis decides to jack up a trey AND HE HITS IT TO TIE THE GAME! TOYOTA CENTER ERUPTS!! OH WHAT A FEELING! (as the Toyota TV ads used to say). That's probably one of the biggest shots of Francis' career! The score is tied 107-107.
0:00		The Hawks have possession of the ball and can win the game. Jason Terry gets the ball and penetrates into the lane and puts a shot off the glass, and the ball bounces off the backboard perfectly and comes to rest on the front of the rim, then falls right off! The Rockets escaped a close call there! That ball looked like it was going to go in! How did Terry ever get to the basket so easily?
2nd overtime
3:00		With the Rockets down 110-107, Yao contests a running jumper by Jason Terry in the lane, which makes Terry alter his shot. The shot hits the rim and rolls off, and Yao grabs a huge defensive rebound.
2:20		After several missed shots by the Rockets, Francis skies for a rebound in the middle of the lane, then spins while in mid-air and gets to the hoop and lays it in! That was a big-time play by Francis! The Rockets trail 109-110!
1:49	Free Throws	With the Rockets trailing 109-111, Yao gets the ball in the middle of the lane, and is guarded by Joel Pryzbilla. Yao quickly spins and faces up to the basket, elevates to get over Pryzbilla, and shoots a shot off the glass that misses. But Yao was fouled on the play by Pryzbilla, who fouls out of the game. Yao goes to the line and makes both free throws. He is now 11-for-13 from the line and has 33 points! The game is tied 111-111! For the first time in the game, 7-foot center Momadou N'diaye checks in for the fouled-out Pryzbilla.
:53.4	Wow!	With the shot clock down to 1 second for the Hawks, Jason Terry picks up a deflected pass near the half-court line, dribbles in a couple of steps and launches a 40-foot prayer...AND HE HITS NOTHING BUT NET! UNBELIEVABLE! The Hawks go up 114-111, and that shot has to deflate the Rockets! The Hawks must be feeling good about their chances now!
:39		Down 114-111, Mobley tries to hit a three-pointer, but it misses. Maurice Taylor grabs a tipped rebound to the right of the rim, and goes up for a dunk, but he misses it and the rebound goes to the Hawks! Oh no! However, it looked like Taylor was hacked on the arm on that shot, and no foul was called! Tough break for the Rockets!
:16		Up 114-111, the Hawks' Bobby Sura drives the baseline and puts up a running jumper over Yao, but Yao's presence makes Sura loft the ball much higher than usual, and it's an air ball! Steve Francis grabs the rebound and starts dribbling the other way for one last chance to try to tie it up...
:13		With the game clock ticking down, Francis dribbles up the entire length of the court, and as he nears the three-point line, it looks like he's got an open three-pointer he could attempt to tie the game. But insted, he jukes and gets past Bobby Sura and takes the ball to the hole. Francis elevates to the left of the rim with two Hawks draped all over him, and it looks like he's going to have to attempt an impossible two-point shot which will do the Rockets no good since they are down by three points. THEN SOMEHOW FRANCIS IS ABLE TO SEE THROUGH THE TWO DEFENDERS THAT JIM JACKSON IS ALL ALONE IN THE CORNER BEHIND THE THREE-POINT LINE, AND SOMEHOW IS ABLE TO WHIP A NO-LOOK PASS (BEFORE HE TOUCHES THE GROUND AND IS RULED FOR TRAVELING) TO JACKSON. With only 7 seconds left on the game clock, Jackson calmly elevates and launches a three-pointer...AND HE HITS IT TO TIE THE GAME! THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE! TOYOTA CENTER GOES ABSOLUTELY BONKERS WITH EVERYONE STANDING UP AND CHEERING! Give lots of credit to Francis for passing up the three-pointer and somehow getting the ball to Jackson in the coffin corner as Francis was about to touch the ground, which would have been a traveling violation.
:05.8		On the inbounds play, the ball comes to reserve 7'0" center Mamadou N'diaye just inside the three-point line with Yao guarding him, and there is really no one else open, so he launches a long bomb which is way short...BUT BOBBY SURA COMES RUNNING IN FROM THE LEFT BASELINE TO CATCH THE BALL AND PUT UP A REVERSE LAYUP ATTEMPT AT THE BUZZER, BUT IT MISSES! THAT WAS A CLOSE ONE! The game clock runs out, and we're going to a third overtime tied 114-114!
3rd overtime
4:42		Yao gets the ball in perfect position in the middle of the lane on N'diaye. He then spins toward the basket and muscles one up off the glass for the deuce! The Rockets lead 116-114, and Yao is 12-of-17 from the field with 35 points! N'diaye had almost no chance on that play!
3:45		Maurice Taylor grabs an offensive rebound underneath the Houston basket, then dishes to Francis who is penetrating toward the hole and who puts up a shot that falls off the front of the rim, BUT YAO IS THERE TO CLEAN UP THE MESS BY GRABBING THE REBOUND, THEN PUTS IT UP OFF THE GLASS FOR THE GARBAGE BASKET! Yao is now 13-of-18 from the floor with 37 points. The Rockets lead 118-116.
3:21		Jason Terry, who is on fire tonight, hits a three-pointer from the right wing to put Atlanta up 119-118!
3:03		Yao gets the ball a couple of feet outside the right edge of the lane. With his back facing the basket, he fakes to his right, then spins quickly toward the baseline, takes one giant step, elevates and launches a 7-foot fadeaway...AND SWISH! YAO IS AUTOMATIC DURING THIS OVERTIME PERIOD. HE IS BECOMING THE "GO-TO" GUY! The Rockets lead 120-119, and Yao is 14-for-19 from the field with 39 points, which ties his career-high!
1:59		With the Rockets still up 120-119, Yao gets the ball in the middle of the paint, then does a nice spin move in the lane and puts a shot over N'diaye for the basket! But wait: Yao is called for traveling! Yao visibly is upset with the call, but looking at the replay closely, Yao indeed picked up his pivot foot that contributed to him taking three steps for the traveling violation.
1:41		N'diaye gets the ball dished to him just to the left of the rim, and he has the courage to go up and challenge Yao, who is standing underneath the basket ready to guard the rim. As N'diaye goes up for a dunk, either Yao in front of the rim or Mobley behind N'diaye is able to get a hand on the ball and deflect the shot. The ball bounces high off the rim, and a jump ball is called between Stephen Jackson and Steve Francis. Eventually after a couple of mis-jumps, the ball is tipped toward mid-court where Jason Terry picks up the loose ball at halfcourt, BUT THE BACK OF ONE OF HIS FEET ARE JUST A FEW INCHES OVER THE HALFCOURT LINE, AND THE HAWKS ARE CALLED FOR A BACKCOURT VIOLATION AND THEY TURN OVER THE BALL! The Rockets still lead 120-119.
1:25		Yao misses a left-handed jump hook in the lane and goes over the back trying to get the rebound. That's Yao's fourth foul, and he is 14-of-20 from the field. The Rockets still lead 120-119.
1:07		After Jason Terry misses a three-pointer, the Rockets' Maurice Taylor turns the ball over on a deflected pass by Stephen Jackson, and Taylor fouls Jackson. With 47 seconds remaining, Jackson misses the first free throw but makes the second. The score is tied 120-120.
:37.2		Cuttino Mobley shoots a three-pointer from the left baseline which goes into the basket BUT THEN RIMS OUT! That was close! The rebound comes down to Bobby Sura, and Steve Francis fouls him to foul out of the game! After playing 58 minutes, Francis checks out with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. The score is tied 120-120. Sura makes the first free throw, but misses the second. The Hawks lead 121-120.
:23.4		Yao gets the ball about 4 feet outside the left edge of the rim and is TRIPLE-TEAMED BY THE HAWKS DEFENSE! Yao is able to drop-step to the baseline, THEN PIVOTS AWAY FROM THE BASELINE, SPLITS BETWEEN TWO DEFENDERS AND FINDS A SEAM THROUGH WHICH HE TAKES A HUGE STEP AWAY FROM THE BASKET, FALLS AWAY AND SHOOTS A PERFECT 8-FOOT FLOATER INTO THE BASKET! YAO REALLY WANTED THAT ONE! HE'S TAKING CONTROL! HE ALSO PUMPS HIS FIST WITH VIGOR AS HE IS RUNNING BACK DOWN THE COURT! He is now 15-of-21 for a career-high 41 points, and the Rockets lead 122-121! The Hawks call timeout, and Yao comes back to the Houston bench and everyone is giving him high-fives!
:10.4		Jason Terry drives toward the basket and elevates for a running jumper, but once again, Terry sees Yao defending the rim and coming right at him for a block. While in mid-air with nowhere to go, Terry tries to dish off but Yao gets a hand on the ball, but unfortunately it bounces right to N'diaye underneath the rim. N'diaye goes up for a point-blank layup, BUT HE MISSES IT -- PROBABLY BECAUSE HE KNEW IF HE WASN'T QUICK WITH HIS ATTEMPT, YAO WOULD BLOCK IT! THE BALL BOUNCES OFF THE RIM AND GETS TIPPED BY SEVERAL PLAYERS IN HELTER-SKELTER FASHION, AND ADRIAN GRIFFIN IS ABLE TO CHASE DOWN THE BALL AND CALL A TIMEOUT! During the timeout there's some lively music playing, and Yao's parents are actually shown in the crowd moving to the music and his father is actually clapping to it! This game is so exciting and nerve-wracking, even Yao's normally stoic parents are having to burn some nervous energy!
:8.4		With the Rockets leading 122-121, on the inbounds play for the Rockets, Cuttino Mobley is fouled and he goes to the line for two free throws. He makes the first one, BUT MISSES THE SECOND! Atlanta gets the rebound and calls time-out. We can't slight Mobley too much. He has scored 28 points, and he has played almost 60 minutes of action, so his legs are surely tired!
:0.0		With a chance to tie the game, Bobby Sura drives toward the basket and puts a shot up toward the basket, BUT YAO IS THERE TO MAKE SURA RELEASE THE BALL A LITTLE BIT SOONER THAN USUAL SO HE CAN LOFT IT OVER YAO'S OUTSTRECHED ARM, AND THE SHOT MISSES! THE BALL IS TIPPED BACK TOWARD THE THREE-POINT LINE, AND BY THE TIME THE HAWKS GET POSSESSION, THE GAME CLOCK EXPIRES! ROCKETS WIN 123-121! Francis and Yao embrace after the horn blows, and Yao has the biggest smile and sense of relief on his face after getting the triple-overtime victory. Yao finishes with a career-high 41 points on 15-of-21 shooting, 11-of-13 from the line, 16 rebounds and 7 assists! What an amazing stat line!