Yao goes up for a rebound over the Grizzlies’ Shane Battier on Friday night. Although Yao grabbed 12 boards and scored 15 points, Battier led Memphis to a 86-81 victory by scoring 20 big points and grabbing 7 boards. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

FRIDAY, 11/25/05 – If the Rockets end up making the playoffs after T-Mac comes back this season, he should be immediately named NBA MVP because there would be no other player more valuable to their team than T-Mac. The Rockets are now 0-7 without T-Mac (3-10 overall) after losing to Memphis Friday night, 86-81. Without him, they are a lost cause.

The same story applied Friday night: the Rockets were competitive for a little over 3 quarters, but they couldn’t make enough big shots to win when it counted.

I thought this game was going to be different, especially considering the hot start the Rockets had. David Wesley started the game hitting 3 treys in a row, putting the Rockets up 9-0. Then Juwan Howard scored on a strong move to the hole, giving them an 11-0 lead. Finally some good karma that could break Houston’s five game losing streak, right? Naah.

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Yao and Juwan Howard show their dejection during their loss against the Phoenix Suns, 100-88. The Rockets have now lost five in a row and are 3-9. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 11/23/05 – It’s really difficult for me to get motivated to write game summaries these days. After watching Houston lose its fifth in a row Wednesday night against Phoenix 100-88, it’s tough to get motivated to write about the worst team in the Western Conference at 3-9.

Not only were the Rockets outscored, they were outshot (45% vs. 41% field goals), were killed from behind the 3-point line (14-7), out-assisted (33-17), turned the ball over more (15-8), out-stolen (10-4), and out-blocked (5-0).

Yao, who only scored 8 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, had the following to say:

“I can’t believe how we’re playing right now. We have a game plan and we know what we need to do and we’re not doing it. I’m a big part of that, too. Time’s running down. There are 70 games left but I think this is a very bad, bad stretch for us.”

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Dallas’ Jason Terry pushes off on Yao Ming with no offensive foul called. The Rockets gave the heavily favored Mavericks troubles on Tuesday night, but Dallas prevailed in the fourth quarter to win 102-93. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

TUESDAY, 11/22/05 – Despite a 102-93 loss, both of the Houston TV announcers were beaming about how great of an effort the Rockets put in Tuesday night in Dallas. Sure, they played better, led at halftime, and put up a good effort. But they choked in the latter half of the fourth quarter and lost another one. What else is new? A loss is loss, and there are no moral victories. As Jeff Van Gundy recently said, there is no positive spin to failure.

Let’s see…Yao could have kept it close in the fourth quarter, but he made only 1-of-4 shots in the quarter, missing two easy consecutive shots in the lane, including a blown layup when the Rockets only trailed 94-89 with 2:37 remaining.

I hate to say it, but Yao cannot carry a team through four quarters by himself without a superstar like T-Mac to help him. He either doesn’t have the mental toughness to do it, the stamina, or both. But in the first quarter, he was absolutely dominant, scoring 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting and hitting 7-of-8 free throws.

You can tell Yao has more energy in the first quarter, moving quickly without the ball jockeying for position. But as the game wears on after he has logged lots of minutes, he starts to fade. In the third quarter, he was only 1-for-6, and finished 2-for-10 in the second half altogether scoring only 5 points.

So here’s a thought: how about play Yao about 8-10 minutes in the first half, hope the Rockets can keep it close, then play him about 20 minutes in the second half so he will be fresh and can hopefully be quicker than his defenders? I don’t know if that will work, but it’s worth a shot. After all, we’re dealing with something here that no other NBA coach has ever encountered: playing one of the largest guys on the planet in a very active sport, in a very intense Van Gundy defensive system. Maybe it’s just not feasible for a 7’6” guy to play the same minutes as a 6’11” guy and stay as fresh.

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Yao shoots a jump hook over Indiana’s Jermaine O’Neal, but it was another tough game for Yao and the Rockets, who lost 85-74 and fell to a 3-7 record. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

SUNDAY, 11/20/05 – Although it didn’t surprise me, I was bummed to hear that T-Mac was not going to play Sunday night against Indiana because of his injured back. Forget the fact that Rafer Alston was not going to play because of his injured leg. That really doesn’t hurt you much. But lose T-Mac with this cast of players, and you have no chance to win, especially against the Pacers. If they were going to win this game, it was going to take a heroic game from a couple of unexpected players.

That didn’t happen. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Rockets had their chance, trailing only 58-52 thanks to their defense, which has been pretty decent through their recent losses. But like clockwork, the Rockets’ offense (the little that was there) gave out, and the Pacers went on a 19-4 run to put away Houston and ultimately win 85-74.

Yao was only 4-for-16 until the game was well out of reach, making his last 5 shots to make his final boxscore look better than how he played: 8-for-21 for 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Yao still cannot shake inconsistency, missing lots of shots down low in the paint. But you know what? Maybe Jeff Van Gundy shouldn’t be trying to force feed Yao consistently down in the lane. Maybe the Rockets need to change up the offensive attack, bring Yao out of the paint, and let him shoot those straight-up jumpers and give him a break from all of that pounding inside. He was an accurate shooter from outside in his first two seasons. Hopefully Van Gundy’s emphasis on working Yao strictly in the lane has not made him lose his touch from the outside. I don’t know if that’s the answer, but with how badly the Rockets are struggling offensively, it can’t hurt.

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ClubYao’s correspondent in Hong Kong, Raymond, has translated a Sina.com article from Chinese to English reporting some of Yao’s and Jeff Van Gundy’s thoughts after the Pistons game on Friday night. You can read those quotes by clicking here. Thanks Raymond!

Yao prepares to make a strong move against Detroit’s Ben Wallace. Yao showed lots of aggressiveness all night, played 37 minutes, and recorded a double-double (20 points and 12 rebounds). But the rest of the Rockets struggled, and the Rockets lost again, this time 78-70. For more photos from the game, click here. Photo courtesy of NBAE via Getty Images.

by John

Like the Rockets, it has been a long week for me at work and I’m dog tired, so this is going to be a relatively short report. Watching the Rockets play the Pistons didn’t give me any extra energy since the game was relatively boring and low-scoring. Both teams couldn’t score (39-36 at halftime), the same number of points was scored in the second half, and the Rockets lost 78-70.

The only real excitement in the game was watching Yao take Ben Wallace to school, showing aggressiveness down low and scoring 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting. And although Houston’s offense was sucking again (except for Yao), the Rockets managed to keep it close and had a shot at the end to win it.

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Yao comes out to the perimeter to defend against the Spurs’ Tony Parker Thursday night in San Antonio. Houston got rolled in the game, losing 86-80. Yao finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds. For more photos from the game, click here. Photo courtesy of NBAE via Getty Images.

by John

What a joke. The Rockets were outclassed in every way Thursday night against San Antonio on national TV. It was embarrassing. I am so flustered, I can’t file another report on a bad loss like this. Forget the final score of 86-80. The Rockets made a run in the fourth quarter to make it look closer than it really was.

Houston was down by 9 points after the first quarter (21-12), 13 after the second (49-36), 18 after the third (70-52), 20 points in the fourth, then made a meaningless run when the pressure was off to lose 86-80.

They were out-hustled to loose balls and let the Spurs have their way to get into the lane, outscoring them 36-14 in the paint in the first half alone. Yao was the entire offense in the first half, scoring 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting. But then he only scored 1 point the rest of the game AND ONLY TOOK 1 SHOT IN THE 2nd HALF.

T-Mac had only scored 4 points on 0-for-7 shooting in the first half, but then scored 23 on 8-of-15 the rest of the way to finish with 27 points on 8-of-22 shooting, 12 rebounds and 4 assists.

Other than Yao, T-Mac, and Luther Head (11 points on 4-of-7 shooting), everyone else was abysmal. Check out these stats:

Rafer Alston: 2 points / 1-of-6 FGs; 3 assists
Juwan Howard: 4 points / 1-of-6 FGs
Derek Anderson: 2 points / 1-of-4 FGs; 1 assist
David Wesley: 6 points / 2-of-6 FGs
Jon Barry: 3 points / 1-of-2 FGs

This is about as low as it gets, people. Look for a resignation, firing, and/or massive trade soon. If one of these things doesn’t happen, it probably won’t get better anytime soon.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To read the Houston Chronicle’s story of the game, click here.

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

I ask the above question after seeing tonight that former Rocket point guard Mike James, traded for Rafer Alston on October 4th, went off again for the second time in 3 games.

Tonight (Wednesday night), James scored a career-high 38 points and dished out 9 assists! Just last Sunday, James scored 36 points . Sure, the Raptors are losing, but he is still extremely productive.

Man, I’m sorry to keep harping on it, but I can’t believe the Rockets traded a guy we all knew had skills the Rockets sorely need right now — scoring, and now assists. On the day the trade happened, I wrote an entry that expressed my shock and disappointment on the deal.

You can check out James’ stats by clicking here. Check out Rafer Alston’s stats by clicking here. I’m sad to say, the numbers speak for themselves.

So what do you think? You can provide your thoughts in this discussion forum thread.

Yao puts up a hook shot over Minnesota’s Michael Olowokandi on Tuesday night. Despite a rough start for Yao and the Rockets, Houston made a comeback in the second half to trip up the Timberwolves 94-89. Yao finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and grabbed 7 rebounds. For more photos from the game, click here. Photo courtesy of NBAE via Getty Images.

by John

TUESDAY, 11/15/05 – Finally the Rockets showed some heart in the fourth quarter of a game Tuesday night, beating Minnesota on the road 94-89. The victory wasn’t pretty, but these days they will take any victory they can get. Give credit to clutch plays by T-Mac in the fourth quarter, and some long-awaited scoring by a supporting cast that had gone AWOL for most of the season.

Yao got off to a terrible start. In the first three minutes, Michael Olowokandi took Yao to school twice for two buckets, got Yao to pick up two fouls, and blocked one of his shots. It was an inauspicious start for Yao.

Meanwhile, the Rockets missed 8 of their first 9 shots and quickly fell behind 11-2. I thought, “Uh-oh, here we go again.” This time the Rockets didn’t have the excuse they had on Sunday of playing back-to-back games since they hadn’t played in 48 hours.

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The day after the debacle in Boston, check out a Boston writer’s perspective about Yao and the Rockets’ 102-82 loss against the Celtics on Sunday night. Even a Boston writer can tell how bad the Rockets were.