Yao shows great reaction to a loose ball to snatch it away from Portland’s Brian Skinner, then takes it strong to the hole for a score. Yao was incredible again with 32 points and 13 rebounds to overwhelm the Blazers in a 102-84 victory Sunday night. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

SUNDAY, 3/5/06 – For the past four years, I have waited for the time where stating, “Yao dominated another game” would get old, but I never had reason to say it consistently. I can now.

Yao went off on the Blazers Sunday night in Houston, scoring 32 points and grabbing 13 boards to put away Portland, 102-84.

Surprisingly trailing 40-39 at halftime, the Rockets turned it around in the third quarter when Yao scored 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field (and 7-of-9 from the line) to lead Houston to its highest scoring quarter of the season (37 points).

With those kind of stats, Yao was obviously unstoppable scoring down low with relative ease since Portland’s 7-foot center Joel Pryzbilla was out and their tallest starter was only 6’9”.

Portland’s coach Nate McMillan conceded how difficult it was to stop Yao. “Yao was too much for us,” McMillan said. “We tried doubling him and playing him straight up and he had an answer for whatever we put on him. When we double-teamed, he knocked down his shots.”

Portland’s Darius Miles agreed with McMillan: “(Yao) looked real good tonight. He was patient in the post and did what he had to. Yao is getting better ever year. You can see it.”

Jeff Van Gundy, who has been throwing a lot of compliments Yao’s way lately, had nothing but great things to say again about Yao after the game. Check this out from JVG:

“I think he is the best regular-season center in the NBA now. Some other guys may play better in the playoffs, but he’s the best during the season because he comes to play every night.”

“He’s had many good stretches, it’s just that sometimes we get caught up in the numbers. I look at the whole thing, his pick-and-roll coverage, his transition defense. I think he’s gotten better from his first game in the NBA through now.”

Teammate David Wesley acknowledged the same: “He’s becoming a powerful force inside for us. He’s doing a great job. Yao is becoming that dominating player we really need.”

Yao had the following to say:

“Since I came back (from toe surgery), my body feels the best it has ever felt. And I feel I’m playing my best. It’s a very special feeling right now. I can’t figure out what it is but I’m trying to keep it to the next game and the next game until the end of my career.”

More about the game:

Okay, enough about how great Yao is playing these days. He didn’t get off to that great of a start on Sunday night, going 2-for-10 from the field in the first quarter. But he recovered nicely, going 8-for-11 the rest of the way and making 12-of-15 free throws overall.

In that first quarter while Yao was struggling, T-Mac took over to score 12 points, equaling Portland’s offensive output and giving Houston a 25-12 lead. But their offense was dreadful in the second quarter, shooting 5-for-17 from the field, not scoring over a 5-minute stretch of play, and seeing Portland get back into the game with a 19-4 run.

I was a bit worried that they had let Portland – the team with the worst record in the Western Conference – back into the game and let them hang around. It would have been devastating if the Rockets had let Portland win this game since Houston needs to win as many games possible to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Luckily in that third quarter the Rockets finally got some separation from the Blazers thanks to Yao’s dominance, and took a 76-62 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Rockets didn’t let up in the fourth, staying aggressive and opening up a 92-70 lead at one point. They coasted the rest of the way.

It wasn’t all good news on Sunday, though. T-Mac (18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) had to leave the game near the end of the third quarter because of those back spasms again. Man, that’s all the Rockets need. Here they are playing a lot better, still have a chance to get the final playoff spot, and they get another injury. Hopefully it’s not serious, though. We’ll see before a big game Tuesday night in Minnesota, a team also battling the Rockets for that final playoff spot.

But even with Yao playing the way he is, they still won’t have a chance to win that spot unless T-Mac and Yao are in the lineup together for every remaining game left in the season. With the Lakers shocking upset of the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night, the Rockets are still four games behind the Lakers with 22 games remaining. I think the Rockets will have to go 15-7 the rest of the season and finish 42-40 to have a chance to play in the post-season.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

Denver’s Carmelo Anthony goes up against Yao Friday night with no success in a loss to the Rockets 89-78. Yao finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds. To see more photos from the game, click here and here.

by John

FRIDAY, 3/3/06 – I was able to catch the second half of the Rockets-Nuggets game after coming back home from a business trip Friday night, and was impressed with how some of the Rockets came up with big shots and big blocks to beat Denver 89-78 at Toyota Center.

Denver – winners of seven of their last 10 games and leaders of the Northwest division– were obvious favorites in this game, but the Rockets drew raves from coach Jeff Van Gundy after playing with more intensity than they had in their previous two losses at home.

The Rockets only shot 41.7% from the field, but Yao was his usual high-percentage self (9-of-17 for 21 points), and T-Mac was 8-of-16 for 23 points. But the biggest surprise was Stromile Swift‘s return to action after missing the previous 5 games because of a sprained ankle. Stro’ looked great in scoring 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 6 rebounds and two blocks.

He made all kinds of athletic moves around the basket, including a couple of authoritative dunks and a wild prayer of a shot he jacked up underneath the basket for the score, drawing a nice ‘oooh’ from Yao heading back up the court. Yao said after the game about Stromile:

“He brings a lot of energy. He’s a great cutter. Like today, when the other team double-teams on the post or double-teams (Tracy) McGrady, he cuts very quickly. With his size and the way he can jump, that really helps us.”

So maybe Stromile isn’t on the trading block as rumored. I haven’t been really down on Swift this year like other people have. But I’ll save detailed commentary on him for a different time.

Other than that, the boxscore for the Rockets makes you glad someone like Stromile was able to contribute offensively. Without Yao, T-Mac and Swift playing very well, the Rockets would have lost this game. Here’s why:

Rafer Alston: 2-of-10 FGs for 6 points (but 7 assists)
David Wesley: 1-of-7 FGs, 1-of-4 free throws, 1-of-5 from three-point territory

That’s the second game in a row where the Houston starting guards have struggled offensively. How did they win this game?

Probably because of great defense. Except for Carmelo Anthony, who was unstoppable with 34 points on 12-of-23 shooting, the Rockets held the other Nugget players to 18-of-67 shooting (27%)!

Let’s not forget about Yao, though. Although he barely missed getting another double-double (23 points, 9 rebounds), he arguably had four blocks (only received credit for 3 officially). including a huge block on Andre Miller. In the fourth quarter with about 2:33 remaining, Miller decided to challenge Yao by going strong to the hole and trying to posterize him with a tomahawk jam, but Yao stuffed him at the rim for a huge rejection that got the crowd riled up!

With Friday’s victory, Houston remains four games behind the Lakers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. They next play the team with the third worst record in the league – Portland – on Sunday night after the Lakers play Detroit Saturday night.

If the Rockets play like they did Friday night, look for the Rockets to close within 3 games by late Sunday night and make things very interesting.

John

P.S. As some of you may have noticed, I had the wrong caption under the photo above for several hours. That’s because I got home from my trip around 1:00am, and didn’t finish watching my recording of the game and filing my report until 4:00am. So you can imagine I was dead tired. Man, I wish this blog could be my full-time job.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

Allen Iverson drives past Yao on Wednesday night in a game where A.I. scored 40 points and dished out 10 assists to eclipse Yao’s 22 points and 13 rebounds. The 76ers beat the Rockets 106-101 in Houston. To see more photos from the game, click here.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 3/1/06 – The Rockets lost a tough one Wednesday night. Yes, the 76ers have a better record than the Rockets, but Houston has always matched up well against Philadelphia. And with a playoff berth at stake, the Rockets don’t have much room for error with 24 games remaining until the post-season starts.

Allen Iverson (40 points, 10 assists) was incredible, putting his team on his back in the fourth quarter to score 12 points (4-of-6 shooting, 4-of-4 from the line). And Kyle Korver hit 3-of-4 from three-point land in the fourth quarter. Result: a disappointing 106-101 Houston loss.

It’s hard to believe this was the same 76er team that didn’t make a field goal in 19 minutes of play in their last game in Philly a few weeks ago. With Houston’s defense breaking down at the most inopportune time, Iverson and Korver could hardly miss down the stretch while T-Mac (25 points) and Yao (22 points and 13 rebounds) missed a few too many shots, making only 4-of-11 collectively as the Rockets’ lead withered away.

The Rockets were looking good with an 11-point lead with 5:00 minutes remaining in the third quarter, and held a 77-73 lead heading into the fourth, thanks to T-Mac scoring 12 points of his own in the third. However, Houston’s main failure in this game occurred with their guards’ shooting. Rafer Alston shot a paltry 5-of-15, David Wesley was only 3-of-11 — falling in love too much with the three-pointer (1-of-8) — and Keith Bogans was 2-of-6.

It was ironic this kind of shooting occurred on the same day the Rockets waived Jon Barry. I understand the Rockets were doing Barry a favor by giving him the opportunity to sign with a team so he could have a chance to play in this year’s playoffs. But it’s hard to stomach the fact that Barry could have contributed something from the outside in this game and the rest of the season.

On the bright side, Chuck Hayes was awesome, making all five of his field goal attempts, scoring 11 points and grabbing four boards in only 14 minutes.

The other good thing from Wednesday night is that the Lakers were upset by the Portland Trailblazers , so the Rockets are still only 4 games back in their quest for the final playoff spot in the West. It doesn’t get any easier for the Rockets’ in their next game when they play the Northwest division leading Denver Nuggets (31-27).

John

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

Yao greets last year’s NBA League MVP, Steve Nash, Monday night at Toyota Center. Despite Yao’s 27 points and 18 rebounds, the Suns snapped the Rockets’ four game home winning streak, winning 111-94. To see more photos from the game, click here.

by John

MONDAY, 2/27/06 – As I mentioned in my blog entry last night, I was not going to be able to watch the Rockets game against the Suns Monday night because of a family commitment that conflicted with the game. But I was able to see online that the Rockets had a 44-43 lead with a little over two minutes remaining in the second quarter, but then had to go off-line for a few hours. I was hoping the Rockets would shock me and pull off an upset of the heavily favored Suns, but it wasn’t meant to be.

The Suns showed why they are so good and blew past Houston to win going away 111-94. Yao pulled his weight, tallying another double-double with 27 points and 18 boards. But T-Mac struggled with only 13 points on 6-of-18 shooting.

It’s performances like Yao’s that won him NBA Western Conference Player of the Week honors, as it was announced on Monday by the NBA (see more details below).

Oh well, the Rockets weren’t expected to win this game, so at least I picked the right game to miss.

John

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

MONDAY, 2/27/06 – Great news about Yao! He was finally rewarded for great play on Monday. Here are excerpts from the NBA.com story:

NEW YORK, Feb. 27, 2006 – The Washington Wizards’ Gilbert Arenas and the Houston Rockets’ Yao Ming were named the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week, respectively, for games played Tuesday, Feb. 21 through Sunday Feb. 26.

Other nominees for Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Week were Boston’s Paul Pierce, Detroit’s Ben Wallace, Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki, Miami’s Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade, New Jersey’s Jason Kidd, Philadelphia’s Allen Iverson and Phoenix’s Shawn Marion.
John

Yao contests a shot from Orlando’s Dwight Howard on Sunday afternoon. Yao had another excellent game, scoring 29 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in 34 minutes of play to hold off the Magic 89-84. More analysis of the game is forthcoming late Sunday night. To see more photos from the game, click here.

by John

For those NBA fantasy league managers who have Yao on their roster and were hurt earlier this season when he was out 21 games with his toe injury, surgery, and recovery, I have great news for you. You are now being rewarded for your suffering.

In the four years I have been running this Web site, I don’t think I have ever seen Yao play so well with such consistency.

Yao has had stretches like this previously in his career, only to take a few steps backward. But not this time around, Yao has really hit his stride and is racking up double-doubles consistently.

He had another one Sunday afternoon in Orlando, scoring 29 points (15-of-19 from the line, the most makes and attempts this season by a Rocket) and grabbing 11 boards to lead the Rockets to an 89-84 win. You can honestly say that without Yao in the lineup, the Rockets would be losing most of these games. It used to be that’s what you would say about T-Mac. Don’t get me wrong – T-Mac has been very important, but without Yao, the Rockets would not have won 10 of their last 12 games.

One of the reasons for Yao’s improvement lately is his ability to stay out of foul trouble. Another is his improved conditioning. It also helps he had more of a physical and mental break this past summer without as many commitments to the Chinese national team. Another is that his toe feels a lot better after finally getting it treated.

That was no more evident when he made one of his quickest baseline spin moves this season in the second quarter Sunday, exploding around Tony Battie, leaving him in his wake, then throwing down an authoritative one-handed jam sideways!

But the main reason for Yao’s success has to be his increased confidence after seeing how much his team needed him during his 21-game absence. When you realize your team is better with you in the lineup than not, you tend to play a lot looser and relaxed knowing a mistake or two isn’t going to kill your team.

In the first half against Orlando, Yao scored 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting, giving the Rockets a 44-39 lead. T-Mac was also a stud in the first half, hitting 5-of-10 shots and scoring 14. But the rest of the way, T-Mac struggled, making only 1-of-6 field goals and scoring 5 points.

Yao picked up the slack for T-Mac in the third quarter, scoring 13 points – 7 points coming from the free throw line.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Rockets opened up a 20-point lead (74-54), and it looked like the Rockets were going to cruise to an easy victory. But then Orlando went on a 25-8 run – thanks to lots of free throws – and pulled within three points with 1:21 remaining when Hedot Turkoglu hit a three-pointer from the corner to make it 82-79, Houston.

But an unlikely hero, Juwan Howard (12 points on 6-of-12 shooting), hit a cold-blooded baseline jumper on the following possession to push Houston’s lead to five points and was able to hold on the rest of the way.

I’m not too concerned the Rockets have been blowing big leads lately. If they were leading the Western Conference and were looking to tune every facet of their game for the playoffs, it would be a different story. But the Rockets are just trying to scratch and claw their way into the playoffs, and I will take a ‘W’ any way I can get it.

And with the Lakers losing to Boston by one point Sunday night, the Rockets are now only 3 games behind LA for the 8th and final spot in the Western Conference playoffs. Amazing the Rocket have gotten themselves back into the hunt.

The only problem is that on Monday night at Toyota Center the Rockets play a back-to-back and face the sizzling Phoenix Suns, winners of 6 games in a row and the team that handed the Rockets their worst loss of the season just 10 days ago, 109-75.

Unfortunately, I probably won’t be able to file a report for that game since Monday is my wife’s birthday. For you married guys out there, you know how bad of a move it would be for me to stay home and watch that game versus taking my wife to dinner on such a special day.

If history is any indicator, it won’t matter much that I miss that game since it could be over by the third quarter. But just in case they surprise me, I’m going to record it.

John

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

Yao throws down a two-handed jam in the second quarter Friday night after his patented spin move on the baseline against Golden State’s Troy Murphy. Yao had a monster game, scoring 22 points, grabbing 21 boards and blocking 2 shots to lead the Rockets to a 91-88 victory. To see more photos from the game, click here.

by John

When it was announced that Tracy McGrady wouldn’t be able to play Friday night because of the death of his fiancee’s mother, the Rockets faced a test they had failed 13 times before in a row – trying to win a game without T-Mac in the lineup.

But this team is a little different now, and the Rockets finally got the monkey off their back, beating Golden State 91-88 Friday night at Toyota Center.

Once again, Yao put in a magnificent performance, scoring 22 points, grabbing 21 boards, blocking 2 shots, and committing only 2 fouls in 37 minutes of play.

He started off slow, hitting only 1-of-5 in the first quarter. But he then went on a tear in the second, making 5-of-7 shots to rack up 16 points by halftime and propelling the Rockets to a 52-45 halftime lead.

He scored 4 more points in the third, contributing to a Rockets 76-68 lead heading into the fourth. Unfortunately, he missed all four of his field goal attempts in the final quarter, and the Rockets only shot 5-of-17.

Everyone else struggled, too. The Rockets missed their first 9 shots in the fourth quarter, didn’t score for the first six minutes, and the Warriors capped a 16-0 run to take an 82-76 lead.

But Houston made some big shots to get back into the game and take the lead. Thanks to great defense in the final seconds by Yao on Jason Richardson, who had made 7-of-11 treys in the game, J-Rich’s shot missed badly, and the Rockets held on for a hard-fought 91-88 win.

Give credit to Houston’s defense for holding the Warriors to 9-of-25 shooting in that fourth quarter. Otherwise, a couple of more Golden State field goals, and this could have been a devastating blow to the Rockets attempt to pull within a half game of the Warriors in the scramble for the final playoff spot. That final position, held by the Lakers, is now only 4 games away with 27 games left to play.

I would be negligent if I didn’t give props to Keith Bogans, who played superb in T-Mac’s absence. In the first quarter alone, Bogans scored 9 points on 4-of-5 shooting and grabbed 3 rebounds. He finished with 13 points and 5 rebounds. Not bad, Bogie (not sure if he’s called that, but it sounds good).

And Juwan Howard rebounded from a terrible shooting performance on Wednesday (2-of-11) to match Yao in the points column (22), making all of his free throw attempts (6), and grabbed 8 boards. What a great time to step up in T-Mac’s absence!

Finally, Luther Head had one of his best games in a long time, hitting 3-of-7 treys, scoring 11 points, and dishing out 7 assists – the most assists he has dished in 3 months.

The Rockets next play the Magic in Orlando on Sunday afternoon, this time without Steve Francis, traded a few days ago to the Knicks. We still don’t know if T-Mac will be able to play in that game because of bereavement, but I’ll bet he will play to 1) take his mind off the sadness, and 2) not miss the only game he gets to play in his old team’s arena and stick it to ‘em.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

Yao challenges the Clippers’ Elton Brand Wednesday night at Toyota Center. The Rockets handed the Clippers their fifth loss in a row, winning 106-102. Yao dominated with 29 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks. To see more photos from the game, click here.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 2/22/06 – After losing their worst game of the season against the Phoenix Suns right before the All-Star break, it was going to be interesting to see if the Rockets could put that debacle behind them leading up to their game against the LA Clippers on Wednesday night. It could have been very easy to let that loss affect all of the confidence they had built up winning 7 of their previous 8 games.

Give the Rockets credit for not only coming back with a nice win against the Clippers, but having the strength to fend off a very motivated team that was probably very angry they got blown out 128-97 in their own gym just eight days prior, and had lost four in a row.

The Rockets blew some leads in this game, but I’m not complaining. The Clippers are a very talented team, and they are going to make runs. I’ll take a 106-102 win against them anytime. The Rockets need as many wins as they can get over the remaining 28 games if they are going to hunt down that final playoff spot, which is currently 4 1/2 games above them.

Yao had a monster game, scoring 29 points and grabbing 15 boards. His teammate Tracy McGrady remarked after the game, “Yao has been playing out of his mind lately. Since the guy’s been back, he’s been extremely aggressive, he’s playing with a great deal of confidence.”

T-Mac got himself out of his recent funk, at least for now, scoring 26 points and dishing 5 dimes. He did only hit 9-of-23 from the field, however. Hopefully he meant it after the game when he said about his recent personal problems off the court, “That’s over with. It’s time to move on. We’re not even mentioning that. I’m not going to talk about it.”

The main surprise in the game was the offensive production from David Wesley, who shot an amazing 8-of-10 from the field, including 4-of-6 three-pointers, to score 21 points. Combine Yao, T-Mac, and Wesley’s points, and they scored almost 75% of Houston’s points. Reminds me of “The Big 3” days of Hakeem, Clyde and Barkley. If this Rockets team goes as far as that team did — the Western Conference championship round — I’ll be extremely happy (and shocked).

Last but not least, Rafer Alston continues to play well, scoring 9 points on 4-of-9 shooting, and doling out 11 assists. No wonder Wesley is playing better these days — Rafer has taken alot of those point guard responsibilities off his shoulders to make him very refreshed.

The Rockets next play on Friday a Golden State team that has been really struggling lately, so that game should be a win for the Rockets (it better be) and their fourth win at home. If they don’t win that game, you can just about write off the rest of this season because there is not much room for error over the remaining 28 games. They have to win every game they are expected to win, and pull off a few upsets to grab that final playoff spot.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

In case you didn’t see it, the Houston Chronicle has a great article about the hilarious dance move that Yao and the other Western Conference starters put on during the All-Star game introductions.