Just a few minutes ago in the first quarter Yao came down after trying to block a shot by LA Clipper Tim Thomas, and hurt his knee. Yao was in extreme pain holding on to his knee for a few minutes while writhing on the floor. I have never seen him in so much pain.

Here’s what happened: Chuck Hayes was falling underneath him (he was charged into by Thomas), and as Yao came down his leg got hit by Hayes accidentally, making him land wrong. At minimum it’s a hyperextension, but by looking at the pain on Yao’s face, it looks much more serious. To add insult to injury, Hayes was called for a blocking foul when it was clearly a charge, sending Thomas to the line.

The air came out of Toyota Center after Yao was helped off the court and into the locker room. But give the Rockets credit for keeping focused and maintaining a 23-22 lead after the first quarter.

More to come later.

Yao shoots one of his unstoppable fallaway jumpers against Tim Duncan Friday night in a suprising victory over San Antonio 97-78, snapping a 17-game losing streak in the Alamo City. Yao got into foul trouble and scored ‘only’ 22 points, but the rest of the team stepped up and played one of their most impressive games of the season. Click here for more photos.

All the odds were against the Rockets heading into Friday’s game against the Spurs in San Antonio. After all, the Rockets had lost 4 of 5 games, they had been on the road 10 straight days, T-Mac was still out because of injury, and Houston’s bench hadn’t been doing anything lately.

On top of that, they hadn’t won in San Antonio in over 9 years, having lost 17 in a row there, and San Antonio has been playing very well lately in winning 9 of their last 10 and holding the league’s best record. (20-6)

But the Rockets put all that behind them and shocked me and the rest of the world by playing one of their best games of the season, winning convincingly 97-78. Give them credit for bouncing back after a tough loss against Portland Wednesday night.

Yao got into foul trouble that limited him from dominating the boxscore (“just” 22 points and 7 rebounds). But everyone else pulled their weight, and then some.

Yao did start the game off strong, scoring 10 of the Rockets first 12 points (14 points in the first quarter) thanks to a couple of nice assists from Rafer Alston passing over the top to Yao while he was being fronted defensively. Luther Head also had a nice dish by penetrating to the basket along the baseline, then whipping a pass to Yao for a layup. Not a bad way to start.

Chuck Hayes also ‘exploded’ offensively in the first, scoring 6 points on 2-of-2 shooting, with one of those buckets coming from a nice hustle tip-in after crashing the boards. He also hit 2-of-2 free throws, even with that strange hitch in his shooting form. You knew the Rockets were destined for a good night after seeing him sink both of those!

Bonzi Wells also hit 2-of-2 shots in the first, thanks to a sweet pass from Juwan Howard for a layup. Overall, the Rockets did a fantastic job moving the ball around to get great looks, hitting 12-of-22 shots for a 30-21 lead after the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Yao cooled off and only hit 1-of-5 shots, but the Rockets got a great contribution from one of my favorite underdogs, John Lucas III. I was pleasantly surprised Van Gundy put him into the game so early since he had played only 6 minutes in the past four games.

In the course of one minute of action, Lucas scored by finishing nicely on two fast breaks. I always get skeptical when the Rockets are running on a fast break, because other than T-Mac, they really don’t have someone you can count on who can jet down the floor and finish reliably with a defender or two in the way. But Lucas has an uncanny ability to get a good angle on the rim during fast breaka, elevate over other guys and lay balls in (as he showed on thes fast breaks), which is incredible since I have stood next to him and he’s no taller than 5’10” (listed as 5′ 11″).

Lucas is fearless going to the hole, and is quick and can create his own shot like when he hit a sweet stop-and-pop jumper a couple of minutes later. His quickness reminds me a little of Tony Parker, and Van Gundy may have wanted to fight Parker’s quickness with Lucas’. It can’t hurt to fight fire with fire. Lucas finished the game with 9 points in 13 minutes on 4-of-6 shooting, including a big three-pointer in the fourth quarter.

All I have to say is this: keep playing John Lucas! He showed what he could do in Vegas, and his situation reminds me a little bit of Mike James when James, a virtual no-name when he came to the Rockets, made a name for himself offensively after coming to Houston.

Bonzi also showed he can play and is quickly getting into shape by hitting 3-of-5 shots in the second quarter, including a drive to the basket that caught the Spurs surprised. Later in the quarter he also scored on a fast break. Bonzi brings an element to the game the Rockets have sorely lacked since T-Mac’s back fired up again – the ability to create his own shot.

I have also been impressed with Bonzi’s willingness to make a pass when he is faced with a low-percentage shot. He passed the ball a couple of times to other players when his shot wasn’t as high percentage as an open teammate’s. Thank God Van Gundy wasn’t too stubborn several weeks ago when he was having his differences with Bonzi and kept the door open for him to return, especially after T-Mac got hurt. That move (or non-move) could have been the best break of the year for the Rockets.

By halftime, the Rockets had shockingly hit 55% of their shots and led 53-36. Yao had 18 points and 4 boards, and the Rockets offense held a 21-12 rebound advantage, holding the Spurs to zero offensive boards.

Since the Spurs’ Francisco Elson and Fabricio Oberto were having a hard time containing Yao, Tim Duncan had to help out in defending Yao. The effort required to defend Yao must have limited Duncan’s offensive effectiveness since he only scored 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting. But you also have to give credit to Juwan Howard (along with Yao and Chuck Hayes) for playing great D against him.

Juwan also was extremely valuable offensively, hitting several long jumpers as the Spurs’ defense packed it in low and left him open, allowing him to score 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting. He also chipped in 4-of-5 free throws. Give the guy credit for still be very productive in his 13th year. He was needed this night since Yao picked up his 4th foul about midway through the 3rd quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Spurs threatened a couple of times after Yao had to sit after picking up his fifth foul with 7:53 remaining in the game. Manu Ginobili kept the Spurs within striking distance by hitting two three-pointers in the fourth quarter (4-of-6 overall), but Luther squashed a rally when he created his own shot and hit a jumper to make it 81-65 with 7:23 remaining. A couple of minutes later, Alston hit a three-pointer to make it 86-68, then put the game out of reach with about 4 minutes remaining when he hit a Parker-like floater in the lane.

In sum, there were several reasons why the Rockets enjoyed success against the Spurs to snap their losing streak in San Antonio:

1) they got off to a fast start
2) they moved the ball extremely well. Luther Head had a career-high 11 assists.
3) everyone stepped up and hit shots (51% shooting overall), including the much maligned bench (15-of-26).
4) their defense held San Antonio to their lowest scoring second quarter (15 points) first half (36) and final score for the season (78). The Rockets’ defense will always keep them in games.
5) they have a few new weapons the Spurs aren’t accustomed to seeing. In addition to having to defend Yao, they have to account for Bonzi, Lucas, a much improved Alston (compared to last year), and a great shooting Juwan.

I loved seeing the reaction by Yao and his teammates at the end of the game, with lots of high-fives and attempted chest bumps between Yao and Juwan that failed to connect cleanly, creating lots of laughs. But on a night where everything else was clicking, those missed attempts were easy to overlook.

John

Click here for the Houston Chronicle’s game story.

Click here for the boxscore.

Yao posts up Portland’s Joel Pryzbilla on his way to scoring 34 points, grabbing 9 boards and blocking 5 shots. But it was all for naught as the Rockets lost their fourth close game out of their past five, losing 89-87 in Portland Wednesday night. Click here for more photos.

The Rockets lost another close one Wednesday night, this time against the red hot Portland Trailblazers, 89-87. Although Portland has now won 5 in a row, if you looked at the Rockets’ schedule before this 5-game road trip started, you would think this is the one they would have to win because the Blazers werer still the weakest of all the teams on the trip.

The Rockets just got outplayed defensively. Portland had 8 blocks against Houston, the most I can remember against them in quite some time. Meanwhile, Portland’s Jarrett Jack (13 points) and Brandon Roy (9 points) did just enough to put them over the hump with a few big plays, including Roy’s tough shot driving toward the rim with 19.9 seconds remaining that put them up 86-82.

The Rockets were down 70-60 headed into the fourth quarter, and they made a run to get it close down the stretch. With about 41 seconds remaining and the Rockets behind 84-82, Luther Head had a chance to tie it, but he missed a fairly close jumper at the corner of the paint.

To me, that’s what it really boiled down to – the Rockets needing a basket to put big pressure on Portland to respond, but falling short. That’s what great team do, and the Rockets haven’t had much of that lately on this road trip with T-Mac out because of his back problems. Yao will always have a few opportunities in crunch time to do it, but when he’s double-teamed and the Rockets need a player to create his own shot off the dribble with the pressure on, they don’t have that.

The same thing almost happened Sunday in LA when they blew a lead against the Clippers and had a terrible possession at the end of the game that looked like the Keystone Cops, but got lucky when they were bailed out with a foul during a loose ball chase.

Yao continued to showe his dominance, scoring 34 points (17 in the third quarter alone), grabbing 9 boards and blocking 5 shots. But he did only score 4 points in the fourth quarter as Portland played pretty good defense on him.

Other than that, nothing stands out in the boxscore for the Rockets. Chuck Hayes scored zilch, Shane Battier scored two, Juwan Howard scored 8, and Bonzi Wells (6 points) missed 8-of-10 shots, which really hurt. If he could have made just 1 or 2 shots in the final couple of minutes, which you hope to get from an offensive force like him, the Rockets could have won a game that was there for the taking.

Click here for the game story from the Houston Chronicle.

Yao lifts up over Chris Kaman Sunday afternoon on his way to pouring in 32 points on 12-of-18 shooting, 10 rebounds and a career-high 5 assists to lift the Rockets to a 108-103 victory to snap their 3-game losing streak. Click here for more photos.

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I know it might be getting old, but I just cannot believe how much Yao Ming continues to impress me. It takes a LOT for me to say that. Not since Hakeem Olajuwon have I had chills run down my spine like I have the past few weeks seeing what I have been seeing Yao do.

With the Rockets’ season slowly turning into a big disappointment having lost their last 3 games they arguably should have won, Yao came out against the LA Clippers, said enough is enough, and came out and dominated once again with a 32-point, 10 rebound, and season-high 5-assist masterpiece to win it 108-103. And he did it while experiencing some stomach problems after eating something that didn’t agree with him in LA on Saturday. After the game, he joked the stomach problem may have helped him. But it’s not like he was struggling and needed something physical to whack him out of it, like T-Mac ‘s concussion a couple of weeks ago.

I was lucky enough to go to the game in LA and witness his dominance in person. At first I was disappointed the Rockets didn’t come out and blowout a struggling 10-12 Clippers team, especially after losing in broken-hearted fashion against the Lakers, Warriors and Lakers their past 3 games. The score was only 26-26 after the first quarter, with Yao scoring 8 points on 3-of-3 shooting. I was hoping it would be something like 26-16.

Yao’s first score came from a right-handed heave after jumping into the air, getting fouled by Chris Kaman, and banking it amazingly off the glass. It was a sign of what was ahead for Yao.

In that second quarter, Yao scored another 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting, and Bonzi Wells finally got going – after missing his first four jumpers of the game – by taking it to the rack for a dunk. I said to myself, “it’s about time,” since I have felt Bonzi can get things going earlier if he doesn’t settle for outside shots.

By halftime, the Rockets actually trailed by one point 46-45. But the way the Rockets had blown big leads recently, maybe it was good for them to be involved in a tight game where it would be harder for them to lose their concentration. One key stat that kept them in the game was an extremely low number of turnovers by halftime – only four (and 9 by the end of the game)!

I don’t know what Jeff Van Gundy said at halftime in the locker room, but the Rockets came out in the third quarter and scored their largest number of points in a third quarter this season, a nice turn of events for once.

Rafer Alston came out and took what the defense gave him – open 3-pointers since the Clippers were collapsing down low on him. He got hot and hit 3-of-4 treys to score 11 points in the third, giving the Rockets a somewhat comfortable 79-71 lead.

Entering the fourth quarter, I had a sinking feeling that maybe the Rockets were going to squander this lead like they had done the previous two games against Golden State and the Lakers. After all, other than Yao, who else had stepped up in crunch time during their 3-game losing streak?

It turned out to be a committee of four players: Yao, Alston, Juwan Howard, and yes, finally….Bonzi Wells.

Rafer pumped in 9 points, thanks in part by taking it strong to the hole a couple of times with 3 minutes remaining to score on two consecutive possessions, including a sweet crossover move to get into the lane to put up a twirling hook shot. Until T-Mac is back, it’s aggressive moves like that which the Rockets need more of during clutch time, and for which I have criticized him in the past. Rafer finished with 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting, 3-of-6 treys, 7-of-8 free throws, 8 assists and only two turnovers. You have to give Alston a lot of credit for bouncing back after that 8-of-22 shooting, 7 turnover atrocity against the Lakers Friday night. I’ll get off his back if he gets a line like that every game.

Yao scored six points in the fourth quarter, which is no surprise there. But his biggest basket came when the Rockets, only leading 100-96 with a little over a minute remaining, had to score to keep the Clippers from getting too close for comfort as they continued their run. Yao hit a huge fallaway jumper than silenced the crowd. Actually, it made them oooh and aahhh, which I love hearing in an opposing team’s gym when the crowd watches a great player making a back breaking play.

The Rockets got lucky a couple possessions later. Leading 102-98 with a little over 30 seconds remaining, they were very disorganized and almost turned the ball over two or three different times on a helter-skelter possession, but were fortunately bailed out when Luther Head got fouled. Head ended up making 1-of-2 free throws to make it 103-98. After that, Rafer hit two free throws with 14.7 seconds remaining after being fouled intentionally, and that was essentially the ballgame.

Other key contributors during the fourth quarter was Juwan Howard, who scored four of his 9 points in the quarter, including a baseline jumper with 2:09 remaining that gave them a 100-92 cushion.

Last but not least, Bonzi scored 6 points in the fourth on 3-of-4 shooting, including a spot-up jumper where he was able to create his own shot, get an easy dunk after chasing down a loose ball in the backcourt, and a layup after getting a beautiful dish from Yao – a night where Yao created so much opportunity for his teammates that they didn’t squander.

When asked about his season-high assist count (5), Yao responded, “Actually, I watched a lot of film from last year. They double team quick and hard on the catch so I knew I had to know where my teammates were.”

I asked him after the game if he was tired after playing so many minutes against the Warriors and Lakers, and he responded: “Today was my shortest game of the past three games. Thirty-eight minutes is not too hard for me, and also my teammates today did so many great jobs. Help me on defense, share the pressure on offense. They know when they (the Clippers) came to double team, they cut to the basketball very fast, very well, right on time. When I hit them, they scored. Just harder to guard.”

Other tidbits from the game:

I have been to several arenas around the league, and I have to say the Staples Center is one of the best. Very clean and beautiful concourses.

I had the good fortune to sit next to the Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen for the entire game on press row. Jonathan really knows the game, and very personable, too. I got to know him during training camp in Austin. Classy guy.

Yao and John Lucas were giddy in the locker room after the game about the day off they were getting on Monday.

Yao goes after Smush Parker’s shot on his way to a career-high 8 blocked shots. But it wasn’t enough as the Rockets blew another big lead to the Lakers and lost a tough one in double-overtime 112-101. Click here for more photos.

Okay, since the Rocket-Laker game was nationally broadcast on ESPN Friday night, I’m sure many of you all saw the debacle like I did, so I’m going to spare you the details. You saw how it all went down. So I’m going into my “loved it” and “hated it” list instead:

HATED IT:

* It ticks me off the Lakers can come back from a 21-point deficit to close the deal, while the Rockets didn’t close out their home game against the Lakers a few days ago after making a 25-point comeback (all because of damn missed free throws at the end of the game). I thought the Rockets would have enough revenge and anger in them to put away the Lakers in this game. When they were up by 21 points in the first quarter, and 18 in the second, you KNEW they were going to blow it, and they did thanks to another 3rd quarter collapse. They still haven’t learned to maintain big leads. I’m tired of it. Radical changes are in order (more on that at the bottom of this post).

* I’m chapped that Yao put up unbelievable numbers in front of a national TV audience (35 points, 15 boards, 8 blocks) and the Rockets still didn’t win. I am concerned about his making only 15-of-35 shots, one of his worst shooting games with that many attempts taken. But it was a two overtime game, he’s tired after the 41-minute game the night before, and he’s carrying the load for a missing T-Mac.

* I’m bummed that stud guards like Kobe Bryant and Baron Davis will always be more valuable to a team’s overall success than a superstar center, mainly because players like them can slice through defenses and create their own shot. That was clearly evident these past two games.

* I’m tired of all the turnovers the Rockets are coughing up. They turned the ball over 25 times Friday night after turning it over 20 times in each of their last two games.

* I’m furious at Rafer Alston for turning the ball over 2-3 times in the final two minutes of regulation (7 turnovers overall!), as well as shooting an airball late when it counted most. He hurt his team when they needed him the most. And 8-of-22 shooting for the night! Oh my God!

* I don’t like how Bob Sura is taking up a roster spot. Either retire or start practicing. The Rockets cut Casey Jacobsen at the end of the preseason because Sura thought he could still play once he’s healed (whenever that happens), and the Rockets thought Sura deserved the chance because he was a proven veteran. I think Sura could really bring something to the table, but c’mon, it has been almost 1 ½ seasons now and there are still no signs of him making a contribution. Meanwhile, Jeff Van Gundy loved Jacobsen before he decided to let him go, and I thought he brought penetrate-and-dish ability into the offense, as well as a capability to hit some jumpers more reliably.

* I don’t like how Luther Head only put up 7 shots and scored 7 points after scoring 26 and 21 the previous two games. He can’t disappear like that while T-Mac is out.

* I’m mad the Rockets got unlucky with Kirk Snyder breaking his hand a few weeks ago. They could really use his speed and penetration ability right now.

* I’m still pissed that the Rockets let one get away Thursday night against Golden State they should have won.

Here’s what I LIKED, which isn’t much in comparison:

* I liked how the Rockets were putting Kwame Brown, a 40% free throw shooter, on the line with a Hack-a-Kwame strategy late in the game. But Luther Head stupidly fouled Brown with less than a minute remaining, putting Kobe on the line by rule, and that FT helped them tie the game and send it to OT. Pretty dumb. I guess I should have put that in the what-I-hated-section. Oh well.

* I like how Bonzi is starting to come around. Nine points on 4-of-10 shooting, 8 rebounds. It’s getting better. We need you Bonzi. Thank God you’re around to give this team some hope with T-Mac’s fragile back hijacking this season into mediocrity.

* I liked Juwan Howard‘s hitting 7-of-8 shots (14 points) and 6 boards. I was getting a little down on JuHo over the past several games. He’s still got some game left in him.

* I love how Yao finally came out and made the most demonstrative plea of his career about the officials. Maybe when a class act like Yao starts sending messages like the following to David Stern, he’ll listen and do something about it:

“I feel that is not fair. I can’t only shoot eight free throws yesterday (against Golden State) and six free throws today and they just let their big guy keep pushing me. I would say Kwame Brown and Andrew Bynum fouled me 10 times in tonight’s game, and yesterday’s game also, and they did not call it. That’s not fair.

“I know I’m big. That’s not my fault. They have two hands pushing on my back and keep pushing while I’m shooting the ball. They’re not fouling upstairs, not fouling on my hands. They foul on my body. I shot only six free throws. I know that’s not right. I hope the league, somebody can help with this. It’s not just one or two games. It’s been a couple weeks already.”

* I also liked how Yao seemed to be enjoying the moment like I haven’t seen in the past. His determined fist pump after a big baseline jumper, the smirk he had on his face after missing another one late that could have won the game, and his joking with Kobe Bryant as they were lining up in the lane for a free throw during crunch time all showed to me that Yao is extremely confident in being himself on the court. In other words, he knows he’s good. Damn good. And he’s not afraid to let people know how he’s feeling.

Final Thoughts & Recommendations:

This is the worst feeling. You know the season is slipping away — like I commented even after the win against Washington last Saturday night where T-Mac’s back spasms knocked him out of that game — and there isn’t much you can do about. You just get the feeling T-Mac is going to have back problems the rest of his career and the Rockets are doomed….UNLESS they decide to go for broke and realize they can’t continue to have this problem lingering that can strike at any time.

It may be the time to consider the bold moving of trading him to a similar team that may be struggling, has a superstar guard looking to win a ring with a big center like Yao, and also needs to take a chance to mix things up (remember the ‘risky’ Clyde Drexler trade with Portland in 1995 that resulted in another ring for the Rockets). And I’m not talking about Iverson at Philadelphia. He would not fit in with this Rockets team. How about someone like Ray Allen? I know he’s hurt with a strained foot, but hey, that’s not as bad as a bad back. And the Sonics are 10-14, so maybe they are looking to shake things up? I don’t know. I’m just throwing stuff out there to get something started. It’s better than squeaking into the playoffs knowing they are going to get knocked out in the first round…again.

If there is no other player available to replace T-Mac via trade (there has to be) who can do what Baron Davis and Kobe Bryant can do, I say play Vasillis Spanoulis and/or John Lucas III at point guard many more minutes to see if their positives far outweigh their drawbacks. Both players have shown flashes of brilliance this season in limited duty. Bring back Casey Jacobsen while you’re at it. I’m desperate. If Phil Jackson of all people (6 rings, prefers veterans over rookies) can give a rookie guard like Jordan Farmar more minutes and upset a veteran like Smush Parker, then Van Gundy (0 rings, prefers veterans over rookies) can do the same. The Rockets need someone better than David Carr, er, I mean, Rafer Alston quarterbacking this team. Carr (Houston Texans’ quarterback) and Alston are similar in some ways: they put up decent stats, have athletic skills, but they are not winners who can make plays in the final minutes to get their team over the hump.

The NBA released its All-Star game voting totals yesterday, and Yao leads everyone in the League. Not too many people can dispute Yao’s lead like they might have done in previous years. Forget all that crap, like Shaq’s in the past, about how there are a billion Chinese voting. Yao deserves all the votes he’s getting. Click here for the story.

Yao rises up for a layup Friday night in Golden State. The Rockets lost in the final seconds on a huge 3-pointer by Baron Davis. Because of Tracy McGrady’s absence because of back spasms, Yao played 41 minutes, scored 38 points and grabbed 18 boards. Click here for more photos.

The Rockets lost a heartbreaker against Golden State Thursday night, with Baron Davis putting on an amazing performance (34 points, 8 assists) and hitting a 3-pointer with just 1.2 seconds remaining to not only break their heart, but rip it out and stomp on it.

I’m sure many of you saw the play where Davis rebounded Yao’s air-balled hook shot from the right baseline, did NOT call timeout, then dribbled it the length of the court and nailed the trey.

It was a smart move for Golden State to NOT call timeout since the best way to probably attack Houston’s vaunted defense is to do it when they don’t have a chance to prepare.

I replayed that play about 20 times to see if Yao should have stayed with Davis all the way down the court rather than switch off to cover Adonal Foyle as Davis approached the 3-point line with just a few seconds left. Yao actually played pretty good defense on Davis all the way down, keeping his hands up so there was no way Davis could get off a shot.

But when Yao made his switch off of Davis, as I’m sure he has been trained to do by Jeff Van Gundy when in a situation with a smaller guard who can blow past him, it gave Davis just enough daylight to launch the game winner.

You might be able to say that Davis wouldn’t have been able to get off a decent shot if Yao had stayed with him, or even pass it to a teammate for a better shot attempt. But that would have required Yao to be watching the game clock and know EXACTLY how much time was remaining on the clock while simultaneously running down the floor, which is really difficult to do in that situation. If he had switched off Davis with .2 seconds remaining rather than 4 seconds, Davis’ shot might have been a lower percentage attempt, but how is Yao supposed to know that running down the floor while concentrating on Davis?

You just have to give credit to Golden State for pulling this game out. They made plays down the stretch. It was an incredible fourth quarter for both teams. But Golden State was just a little bit better, and they had their star rise to the occasion in a clutch and frantic situation.

Yao also rose to the occasion, scoring 38 points (15-of-32 shots, 8-of-8 free throws) and grabbing 18 boards in a whopping 41 minutes, but in that final situation if you have a guard who can create his own shot, you’re a little better off. The Rockets’ Tracy McGrady has done that many times (remember the San Antonio game a couple of years ago where he scored 14 points in 30-something seconds?). But since T-Mac sat out this game with a bad back, they didn’t have that element in this game.

That’s what really sucks about this game – they were so close to pulling out a victory, and needed a win after losing against the Lakers on Tuesday night and just started a tough 5-game road trip out West. These past two games could have easily been won. Turning the ball over 20 times in each game doesn’t help.

The only bright side to this game is that Luther Head stepped up for the second straight game in T-Mac’s absence, scoring 26 points on 10-of-20 shooting, grabbing 9 boards and dishing 4 assists. He’s showing he’s the real deal, and it looks like Houston finally has made a smart draft pick (other than when it’s a no-brainer like Yao). I love watching a player rise from obscurity to becoming a star, and that’s what it looks like the Rockets have.

Rafer Alston also played well, hitting 5-of-10 three pointers on his way to 19 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds. He still shot only 6-of-15 from the floor, but we have come to expect that from Alston. As long as he doesn’t shoot lower than that, continues to hit big treys and racks up close to 10 assists, I’m relatively okay with it.

Shane Battier was solid with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting (3-of-5 treys), 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Bonzi Wells played 17 minutes and only made 2-of-7 shots for 4 points, but the Rockets need to invest that time in him to get him up-to-speed since T-Mac’s health is in question, and they need as much firepower as they can get against the Lakers on Friday night.

Yao convenes with John Lucas during the Rockets’ amazing run in the fourth quarter when they went on a 26-1 run to pull within two points, but missed big free throws in the final two minutes that kept them from taking the lead and winning the game. Click here for more photos.

The Rockets almost pulled off a miraculous comeback against the Lakers Friday night. Down by 27 points in the fourth quarter, they came storming back on a 26-1 run mainly by going ‘small’ with reserves like Steve Novak, Scott Padgett, Luther Head, Chuck Hayes and John Lucas III.

If it hadn’t been for 4-of-6 MISSED free throws in the final two minutes, the Rockets could have had a comeback story for the ages. Unbelievably, Scott Padgett missed two free throws in a row that could have tied it, and Luther Head and Chuck Hayes both missed 1-of-2 free throws before that.

I’ve got to give props to Jeff Van Gundy for leaving these guys in the game as they ratcheted up the defensive intensity to cool off the hot-shooting Lakers, who went on a huge run themselves in the third quarter. The Rocket subs got back into the game by throwing caution to the wind by jacking up three-pointers and taking it to the hole aggressively. It almost worked.

You have to question Van Gundy leaving some of these guys in a little too long after they pulled within two points, such that they were dog-tired down the stretch and couldn’t hit throws with wobbly legs. They had expended so much energy trying to get back into it, they apparently didn’t have the strength to finish it out.

The Rockets were also robbed when Kwame Brown committed goaltending by tipping in a Kobe Bryant missed layup attempt with 57 seconds remaining when only up by two points, but the refs didn’t call it as the Rockets’ bench erupted. That no-call was a backbreaker.

Luther Head picked up the slack for an injured Tracy McGrady by more than doubling his average point total to 21 points. T-Mac’s injury could really give Luther the chance to become a star. And John Lucas III showed the world the same energy and scoring ability he showed me at the Vegas Summer League where he absolutely dominated. So although the Rockets will dearly miss T-Mac while he’s out because of back spasms, it will be fun to watch these guys – along with Vassilis Spanoulis – step out from behind his shadow, improve as players, and improve their bench depth over the long-haul.

The Rockets went to Yao early to milk his hot hand after that 38-point outburst last Saturday night against Washington. He made 5 of his first 6 six shots and scored 12 in the quarter. Kwame Brown couldn’t stop him, getting scored on early and picking up two early fouls.

Yao scored 9 more points in the second quarter to finish the half with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting. By that time, no one really stepped up to replace T-Mac’s missing points other than Juwan Howard with 10 points in the second quarter. Rafer was 2-for-7. Shane Battier was 1-for-6. Still, the Rockets only trailed 54-51.

The third quarter was all Lakers, showing they are for real this year by going on a 30-13 run and making 65% of their shots while Houston turned the ball over a whopping 10 turnovers and making only 4-of-13 field goals.

Since they couldn’t stop the Lakers and were trailing 84-64 heading into the fourth quarter, and extended it to 90-64 with 10:36 remaining, Van Gundy had enough and decided to go with a smaller, quicker team and give his subs a chance. Out went Yao, Juwan, Alston and Shane. In came Chuck Hayes, Padgett, Lucas, and Novak. Luther stayed in the game.

The Lakers extended their lead to 93-66, but the subs went on that amazing 26-1 run with a no-holds barred attitude offensively, great defense and rebounding. Here’s how it all went down with 10 minutes remaining in the game:

93-68: Novak hits a running jumper with 9:27 remaining

93-71: Luther hits a three-pointer with 8:42 remaining

93-73: Luther hits another jumper with 7:49 remaining

94-72: Kobe makes 1-of-2 free throws with 7:34 remaining

94-75: Novak makes a trey with 6:52 remaining

94-77: Luther makes a jumper with 6:19 remaining

94-79: Chuck Hayes scores on a layup with 5:57 remaining

94-81: John Lucas III makes a jumper with 5:08 remaining. Now down by only 13 points. A complete comeback may be possible.

94-84: Scott Padgett makes a trey with 4:35 remaining

94-87: Lucas makes a huge trey with 4:02 remaining. Phil Jackson decides to put his starters back in the game.

94-90: Luther makes another three with 2:54 remaining

94-91: Luther makes one of two free throws with 2:01 remaining

94-92: Chuck Hayes misses one of two free throws with 1:38 remaining

– Scott Padgett is fouled on a defensive rebound, and he goes to the line and misses both free throws that could have tied the game. The second attempt teased everyone by rolling around the inside of the rim, then spinning out. You could tell he was either weary from the effort expended to get back into the game, was thinking way too much when shooting those throws, or both.

96-92: No goaltending is called on Kwame Brown’s tip-in when it should have been with :57 remaining. This no-call was huge.

– Novak misses a trey.

98-92: Smush Parker scores on a runner in the lane.

Here’s a couple of other tidbits from the game:

I thought the game was poorly officiated, like the goaltending on Brown that wasn’t called, Yao getting fouled as he was going up for a sure layup late in the game with no call, and a couple of other blown calls!

Yao only scored five points in the second half and finished with 26 points overall. In the second half, the Lakers defense tightened up and forced Yao to throw the ball away numerous times or get it stripped. For the game, Yao turned it over 6 times.

Bonzi Wells finally got a chance to fill the T-Mac void and didn’t do much in the third quarter, which was expected since he hardly has played this season. But he did show some nice passing skills by dishing a nice, selfless touch-pass to Yao down low for a dunk.

It was very strange, but good, to see all of the Rockets’ starters on their feet cheering with the crowd as the subs pulled them out of their hole. On average that only happens once or twice a season.

Yao goes airborne to chest bump Juwan Howard after Yao hit a backbreaking shot with 11.4 seconds remaining that helped beat the Washington Wizards. Yao scored 23 points in the fourth quarter alone on his way to 38 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks. Click here for more photos.

I have seen a lot of fantastic performances by Yao over the past 5 seasons, but the game he had Saturday night against the Washington Wizards ranks as one of his best ever.

With an ailing T-Mac in the locker room because of back spasms (oh no, not again!), Yao took over and scored 23 points in the fourth quarter on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the field, and 11-of-12 from the line. His points mainly came from unstoppable fallaway jumpers, capped with a baseline jumper while falling out of bounds with 11.4 seconds remaining to expand a one-point lead to three, 112-109. The Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas missed a 3-pointer that could have tied it, and Shane Battier sank two free throws to seal the victory, 114-109.

Yao finished with a season-high 38 points on 13-of-19 field goals, 11 rebounds and 6 blocked shots. My goodness, Yao is indeed worthy of NBA MVP consideration.

With T-Mac’s back acting up again on a night where he was pretty good himself (28 points on 10-of-21 shooting, but 1-of-5 from three-point range), Yao knew he had to take over in the fourth quarter.

“(McGrady) was out in the fourth quarter, and it was very tough to score,” Yao said. “I was thinking, ‘Do more.’

“It a little bit changed my play. I was more aggressive. Tracy, who is the best player on our team, is out, and somebody had to step up.”

It’s comical how the Associated Press writer for the game watered down Yao’s performance and attributed it to Etan Thomas and Brendan Haywood having to leave the game because of injury. There may be just a little truth in that, but to have that be the leading theme in the story smacks of more anti-Yao thinking we had thought had finally been put to rest. You can read the AP writer’s take on the game by clicking here.

As much as this cat tried to downplay Yao’s game, Wizards coach Eddie Jordan gave Yao the ultimate respect after the game:

“I don’t think anybody has an answer. If you have personnel to look him in the eye a little bit, just a little bit, that helps. But the guy has an arsenal that I haven’t seen before. He is equally dominant on either box. Now you tell me: Who in the history of the NBA can you say that about?”

“Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was dominant on the left box and darn good on the right. This guy shoots turnaround jump shots, gets post-ups, makes free throws. He does everything.”

While watching the game, here were some of the other plays that stood out to me:

1st quarter – Luther Head led a fast break that ended with a beautiful alley-oop to T-Mac for a dunk. I hadn’t seen that from the Rockets in awhile.

2nd quarter – Gilbert Arenas scored 19 points in the quarter alone, at one point scoring 13 of the Wizards’ points in a row. Rafer Alston led a break and faked a behind-the-back pass to T-Mac to juke his defender, then laid it in easily. Very Skip-to-my-Lou-ish!

2nd & 3rd quarter – Alston scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting. While Yao is out resting, T-Mac takes over and scores 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting and 5-of-7 free throws.

4th quarter – With the Rockets leading 90-87 with 7:34 remaining, Juwan Howard foolishly fouls Antawn Jamison while shooting a 3-pointer, and on top of that, was called for a technical for reacting to the call, which led to a 4-point play. Big mistake that keeps Washington in the game. But Luther hits two huge three-pointers down the stretch to help the Rockets maintain the lead.

Even though Gilbert Arenas scored 41 points, overall, the Rockets defense played very well, holding the high-scoring Wizards to 39.7% shooting. 12 total blocks by the Rockets definitely helped. Houston shot lights out: 55%.

Now the main thing that concerns the Rockets is the future of T-Mac’s back. This is much more concerning than the concussion he had last week. If he’s going to continue to have problems with his back like he did last season, then it was a bad night overall, even with Yao’s amazing performance.

John

Click here for the Houston Chronicle game story.

Yao skies over Charlotte’s Emeka Okafor Friday night on his way to 21 points in 25 minutes during a blowout victory over the Bobcats, 92-62. Click here for more photos.

Friday night the Rockets got payback for losing games they should have won against woeful Charlotte the past couple seasons. Sure, the Bobcats were without starting point guard Brevin Knight and Adam Morrison had another awful night shooting (1-of-11 for 2 points), but the Rockets didn’t care.

Last season they lost their only game in Charlotte, and the previous season they lost both games to them within a span of 4 days – losses that eventually affected their playoff seeding and forced them to play a much tougher Dallas Maverick team in the first round. We all know how that turned out.

The Rockets took care of business Friday night, holding the Bobcats to the lowest number of points in their three seasons by a mile (9 points), blowing them out 92-62 and holding them to 28.4% shooting.

The defense is playing like I have never seen before, holding their opponents to more than 4.5 points per game than anyone else in the league. Houston (86.52 ppg) leads San Antonio’s 91.05. Those numbers are incredible. They are second to San Antonio is average point differential per game (9.2 vs. 6.47).

What has really helped those numbers over the last week is that the Rockets held Cleveland to 63 points last Saturday night, then set their franchise record by holding Charlotte to 62 points on Friday night. We bow down to you, Jeff Van Gundy, Shane Battier, and the rest of the team.

What else can you say in a blowout win? There are no complaints from me, and you can’t say anything else to describe it other than “dominant.” Yao (21 points in 25 minutes) and T-Mac (23 points in 27 minutes) hardly played in the fourth quarter where they led by as much as 36 points.

Let’s hope this extra rest helps them in their back-to-back against Washington Saturday night. The rest they got in the fourth quarter against Golden State on Tuesday certainly didn’t help them in their awful performance Wednesday night against the Timberwolves.

Juwan Howard got lots of playing time Friday night and rebounded from his 0-for-5 shooting game against Minnesota by hitting 6-of-11 (12 points) and grabbing 6 rebounds.

The Rockets shared the ball very well, dishing out 14 assists, with T-Mac getting 5 of those. Battier had three assists, and chipped in 3 steals and 6 points. But his defensive job on Morrison was his greatest contribution, which is becoming a common theme against big-time scoreres (e.g. Lebron James).

John

Click here for the game story.