Yao is double-teamed by the Sonics’ Ray Allen and Vitaly Potapenko Thursday night in Seattle. Yao played another great game, scoring 26 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to help Houston win it’s fifth game in a row, 104-98. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

THURSDAY, 12/15/05 – For the second night in a row, a late game on the West Coast was worth staying up to watch for Rocket fans. Houston came through in a nerve-wracking fourth quarter against Seattle to astonishingly win their 5th straight game (104-98), fourth in a row on their longest road trip of the year, and they now have a rapidly respectable 9-12 record.

It’s strange to say it after having a 4-12 record only a couple of weeks ago, but I think the Rockets are now playing with the same confidence they were last year when they were making their incredible run to the playoffs, and they are doing it without a starting point guard (Rafer Alston) and sharpshooting veteran (Jon Barry). Just a couple of weeks ago they were playing their worst basketball in years. What a difference a McGrady makes!

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Unbelievably on this play involving Golden State’s Baron Davis, Yao is called for a foul. It didn’t matter, though, since the Rockets had an amazing comeback in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime where they closed out their fourth straight win. Yao led all scorers with one of his best games this season, scoring 30 points on 67% shooting and grabbing 16 boards. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 12/14/05 – I was dreading writing this report tonight when the Rockets were down 11 points to Golden State with 4:40 remaining Thursday night. They had played so well in the first half, and everything had looked so promising at halftime for a pretty big upset on the road against a much improved Warriors team.

But the Rockets made an amazing comeback to tie the score at the end of regulation to put the game into overtime, then pulled off one of their most improbable and amazing wins of the young season Wednesday night, shocking the Golden State Warriors to win in overtime 111-105.

NOW I am VERY motivated to write about the details of this game (funny what a win will do, huh?). There’s only one problem: the game ended close to 12:30am Houston time, and I don’t have enough time to provide a normal report. I wish I could have everyone come over to my place and watch a replay of the game on my Tivo because this game had everything. But here’s a short synopsis of some of the highlights.

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Yao gets defended by the Trail Blazer’s Ha Seung-Jin Sunday night in Portland. Yao got into foul trouble, fouled out, and scored only 9 points. But T-Mac picked up the slack, scoring a season-high 35 points to lead the Rockets to a 100-86 victory, their third straight win. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

SUNDAY, 12/11/05 – Remember a couple of weeks ago when the Rockets were in the midst of that tough stretch of games where every opponent was very good, they didn’t have T-Mac, and they were losing every game?

Well, things have started equaling out: the Rockets have played two struggling teams in a row (Sacramento and Portland), they have T-Mac back, and Houston now has a 3-game winning streak – their longest of the season.

Watching Portland against Houston on Sunday night, I couldn’t help but be thankful Houston wasn’t playing a better team. The Rockets were letting a very young team that had lost 8 of its last 10 games with a record worse than their own hang around through the first two quarters, holding only a 47-42 lead. You just wondered when T-Mac, who had 16 at halftime, was going to light it up and put the game away.

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Yao shoots over Sacramento’s Brad Miller in a stunning game where the Rockets came back down from 14 points in the third quarter to ultimately win 102-95. Yao had 21 points and 9 rebounds to help the Rockets win their second game in a row. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

THURSDAY, 12/08/05 – When the game started between the Rockets and Sacramento Kings Thursday night, I was feeling pretty bad because of some type of bug I caught today. As I watched the Rockets fall behind by 14 points in the third quarter, I was feeling even worse. The Rockets were stinking it up.

But then something incredible happened. The Rockets revived themselves, made a huge comeback, and came away with a huge win. I felt a little better after their explosive 106-95 win, but since it was a late game on the West Coast, I am fading fast and have to file a short report.

I was down on a lot of the Rocket players until they made their huge comeback. Derek Anderson was making all kinds of mistakes offensively and defensively in the third quarter. I couldn’t believe Jeff Van Gundy was keeping him the game. Yao was turning the ball over way too much (he had six TOs overall).

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Yao goes after a shot of Boston’s Paul Pierce Tuesday night in Houston. Yao was outstanding defensively, causing all kinds of problems for the Celtics. Yao finished with 12 points, grabbed 9 rebounds and had three assists in a 91-73 victory. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

TUESDAY, 12/06/05 – The kind of game the Rockets played on Tuesday night was the kind Rocket fans had been waiting for against a fairly decent team for quite some time. The Rockets finally put together an all-around game with great defense and pretty good offense and beat Boston handily, 91-73. The Rockets held the Celtics to 34% shooting while shooting 45% themselves.

After the game, T-Mac said he felt good and like his old self, scoring 35 points and hitting 14-of-20 shots. Combine that with 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and his holding Paul Pierce to 3-of-10 shooting, and you’ve got to think T-Mac is ready to put his recent injury troubles behind him and lead the Rockets out of their 5-12 hole. Anytime the Rockets looked like they were going to hit a scoreless stretch in this game, he would stop the bleeding by hitting a big bucket.

Yao played well, too. He scored 12 points on 4-of-9 shots, grabbed 9 boards and had 3 assists. Even though he only recored one block, he had numerous intimidations of Celtic shots down low in the paint and was able to stay out of foul trouble.

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Yao goes up to throw down a dunk Saturday night in Houston on his way to scoring 29 points, but the Rockets were blown out by Memphis most of the game, losing 90-75 to the Grizzlies. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

SATURDAY, 12/03/05 – I attended my first Rockets game of the season on Saturday night. I rarely use the elevator at Toyota Center to get to the upper level where I usually sit because the elevator can get a little cramped. But tonight I was in between the two escalators I normally take to get to the upper level, and the elevator was right there with the doors open, so I jumped on.

Wouldn’t you know it, on the elevator’s first stop, Rockets’ owner Leslie Alexander got on, along with a woman who I believe is his wife. I figured when I got off, I would say hello or something. When my stop came, Leslie got off the elevator temporarily to make room so the people in the back of the elevator like me could get off.

After I passed through the elevator doors, I said hello to him for just a second, and he and his wife seemed really nice. But a couple of minutes later, I was KICKING myself because I thought MAYBE I could have scored some better seats by telling him real fast, “Hi Leslie, I’m the guy who writes for the Yao Ming Fan Club site, and does it for free. My seats are in the upper deck. Is there a chance I might be able to sit close to where you’re seats are tonight?” Of course, I would do it tongue-in-cheek without any expectations of getting such a gift. But hey, it never hurts to ask, right? You never know: by some stroke of luck and a kind heart, maybe I could have gotten a great seat near the court – maybe even on the floor where he usually sits. After all, it turned out there were plenty of empty seats all around the arena tonight.

But after seeing the Rockets put on one of their worst performances WITH T-Mac this season, maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t ask for that favor and can hope for that same situation to occur again when the Rockets are playing better, because the way the Rockets played on Saturday night, I didn’t miss a thing sitting down low.

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‘Reunited and it feels so good.’ Yao and T-Mac play in the same game on Tuesday night for the first time in five games. Both Yao and T-Mac scored 25 points in beating Atlanta, 100-85, to snap their 7-game losing streak. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

TUESDAY, 11/29/05 – I was ecstatic to hear before the Rockets game against Atlanta that T-Mac would play! It felt like Christmas 26 days early!

After watching McGrady’s impact on the team Tuesday night and seeing his team defeat the Hawks 100-85, it will be fun to watch the Rockets try to dig themselves out of their 3-11 hole (now 4-11). Okay, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself since Atlanta (now 2-11) is not Detroit or San Antonio. It’s still not going to be easy.

It’s amazing the difference that T-Mac made right out of the gate, scoring Houston’s first six points. Since it had been 11 days since his last game action, he had to ask coach Jeff Van Gundy for a break at the 6:16 mark of the first quarter because he was so winded. However, he came back a few minutes later to finish the quarter with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and pushed Houston to a 26-22 lead heading into the second quarter. Can it get any more obvious how valuable he is to this team?

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There’s a definite ‘must’ read in today’s Houston Chronicle about Yao. Here’s one of the quotes from Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy:

“I know right now, everybody’s hopping off the Yao bandwagon,” Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. “That happens. People are fickle. When a guy doesn’t make (shots) it’s condemn Yao. It’s either Yao is right behind Shaq (O’Neal) or Yao is right below the worst center in the league. With Yao, the only thing I feel badly about is people try to raise expectations up so high, they’re actually satisfied with nothing that he does. I feel badly for him in that way.

“I’m not going to jump off because everyone else has.”

Click here for the article.

“I’ve dealt with a lot of players and there (are) more misconceptions about Yao Ming than anyone.”

– Miscellaneous quotes from Jeff Van Gundy, 11/2/05

“I’ve already paid enough money (to the league in fines). Let’s not go there. It’s too early in the season.”

— Jeff Van Gundy, when asked about Yao Ming’s foul trouble, 11/2/05

“Yao has sold that very, very well, about fatigue being an issue. It’s not. Yao is a great worker. He just wanted some free time, I think more mentally than physically, and no one should begrudge anybody that.”

– Jeff Van Gundy after Yao requested some time off, 11/13/05

“I know right now, everybody’s hopping off the Yao bandwagon. That happens. People are fickle. When a guy doesn’t make (shots) it’s condemn Yao. It’s either Yao is right behind Shaq (O’Neal) or Yao is right below the worst center in the league. With Yao, the only thing I feel badly about is people try to raise expectations up so high, they’re actually satisfied with nothing that he does. I feel badly for him in that way.

– Jeff Van Gundy sympathizing for Yao and showing faith in him, 11/27/05

“It wasn’t as tough for me as Yao, because I had the ball 90 percent of the time. It’s different for a guy like Yao because we have to get him the ball. I already had the ball. I can create my own shot and create shots for other guys. That’s why it’s on us to get him the ball.”

“With the rule changes and the ability to completely take a guy out of the game like they’ve been doing, it’s simple. I was trying to tell the guys, it’s on us. It’s on the guys handling the ball to get him the ball. It’s going to be hard to get him post-ups. It’s going to be hard to throw him the ball on the post with a guy playing in front of him and a guy playing behind him. With me out, all the attention is focused on Yao.”

– Teammate Tracy McGrady, wanting to help out Yao because of NBA rule changes making it difficult for centers to dominate, 11/27/05

“He had a bad stretch. We had a bad stretch. A post player is much more dependent on who he plays with than a perimeter player. Our strength as a team is not entering the ball to the post. We’re getting better.”

“Certainly the game has been made harder on the post player, and it’s a perimeter game. The foul calls the perimeter players get can be a little softer than inside. The touch fouls on the perimeter and the mayhem inside can be…for any big guy, a little bit difficult to figure out. But that’s how the league is.”

– Jeff Van Gundy on Yao’s recent troubles offensively, 11/27/05

Yao falls to the floor in pain after Chicago’s Malik Allen stepped on his ankle. Yao shook off the injury to score a season-high 30 points, 14 coming in the fourth quarter to lead a Rocket comeback. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough as the Rockets lost their 7th straight, 94-89 to the Chicago Bulls. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

SATURDAY, 11/26/05 – If you watched the Rockets game on Saturday night against Chicago, you actually missed a pretty entertaining game. It reminded me of an expansion team playing in front of their home crowd that knows their team is not going to make the playoffs, are playing for pride instead, and everyone is okay with that.

It’s gotten that low, folks, when I’m comparing the Rockets to an expansion team.

You’ve got to give credit to the Houston fans for cheering on their team as they made one of their biggest comebacks of the season. They got very loud as the Rockets crept back into the game. Down 75-60, the Rockets went on a 25-10 run, powered by Yao hitting 6-of-6 shots in the fourth quarter (14 points) on his way to scoring a season-high 30 points. Before he got hot, Yao had only made 3-of-12 shots, and had only hit 1 of his last 9 shot attempts.

I could go into lots of details on how it all panned out, but since they lost it doesn’t really matter. I’ll just say the Rockets had plenty of chances to snap their 6-game losing streak. But when the game was tied 85-85 with 1:37 remaining, the Rockets’ defense (second-best in the NBA, which is shocking) let Kirk Hinrich (forcing Yao to foul him and foul out of the game) and Chris Duhon score on easy drives to the hole without any resistance, and that was just about it.

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