Yao tries to stop the Celtics’ Mark Blount Sunday night as Boston had a party at Houston’s expense, blowing them out 102-82. For more photos from the game, click here. Photo courtesy of NBAE via Getty Images.

by John

SUNDAY, 11/13/05 – I’ve got a couple of things to say after the Rockets got blown out of Boston Sunday night 102-82.

1) Coach Jeff Van Gundy coached one of his worst games in recent memory
2) The trade of Mike James for Rafer Alston continues to haunt Houston
3) The scoring punch we expected Derek Anderson to deliver is not happening

Regarding point #1 above, it was unbelievable how the Rockets kept leaving Celtic center Raef LaFrentz open for wide open three-pointers. LaFrentz was 7-for-7 from behind the three-point line in the first half alone. You would think after he hit the 3rd or 4th three-pointer, some defense would be put on him.

Alston was absolutely worthless (again), going 0-for-5 through the first three quarters and getting one assist. What were the Rockets thinking when they traded James, who scored 36 points (including 6 three-pointers!) for Toronto Sunday against Seattle? Oh yeah, I forgot. Point guards who play under the Jeff Van Gundy system shouldn’t be scorers. They should be passers first.

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Yao shows his speed in trying to defend New Jersey’s Richard Jefferson on Saturday night in New Jersey. Although Yao scored 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting, T-Mac was the star of the game, miraculously scoring 35 points, grabbing 10 boards, dishing 4 assists, and blocking 3 shots in his first game off the injured list. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

SATURDAY, 11/12/05 – Tonight’s game between Houston and New Jersey had to be one of the greatest games of a player coming off the injured list seen in recent NBA history.

We were all pleased to see Tracy McGrady get back into the starting lineup tonight, about two weeks ahead of schedule. No one could fault him for shooting 1-for-9 in the first half and scoring only 5 points. As of Thursday, the dude wasn’t even expected to play for a couple more weeks. He was going to be rusty. He’s human. At least in the first half he was contributing with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and a block.

But in the third quarter he showed he is more than human by warming up and hitting 5-of-8 for 10 points.

Then when the Rockets needed him in the fourth quarter, T-Mac stepped up and scored 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 4-of-4 from three-point territory! Result? The Rockets broke their three-game losing streak and won on the road in New Jersey, 99-91.

I typically would claim a performance like T-Mac’s on Saturday night had to be one of the most amazing second halves played by a Rocket player in years. But when you’re talking about T-Mac, it really isn’t. On March 28th of this year, T-Mac scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to pull out a win in Utah.

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Yao shoots a jump hook over Alonzo Mourning in Miami Thursday night, and was playing very well against him in the first half, scoring 14 points. But in the fourth quarter, Yao and Houston’s offense struggled again and they lost their third straight, 88-84. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

THURSDAY, 11/10/05 – This is getting ridiculous. In my last post after Tuesday night’s game (see entry directly below), I mentioned maybe the Rockets might eventually regret trading point guard Mike James during the off-season because they could really use his offense right now. Well, I don’t think we have to wait any longer: trading Mike James was a mistake. When I first heard about the trade on October 4th, I cringed. But I thought we should give it a chance because the Rockets usually know what they are doing. But without Tracy McGrady in the lineup, these Houston guards are ‘offensively’ terrible right now, no pun intended.

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Yao meets up with old teammate Steve Francis before Tuesday night’s game between the Rockets and Magic. Francis was finally able to get beat his old team since the trade, leading Orlando to a 76-74 victory with 27 points. Without T-Mac, Yao scored 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

TUESDAY, 11/08/05 – With Tracy McGrady out because of a bruised spine, the Rockets are in big trouble. With all the talent on the team, no one thought they would struggle offensively as much as they have their past two games without T-Mac. The Rockets shot poorly again (37%) and lost to a winless Orlando team 74-71 Tuesday night at home. It probably won’t get much better as Houston embarks on a tough 5-game road trip.

Maybe a repeat of last year’s 5-11 start could happen again this season? Oh well, if the Astros can start off poorly for the second straight year and still make it to the World Series, they there is still hope for the Rockets to get to the Finals.

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Yao goes up against New Orleans/Oklahoma City’s PJ Brown on Saturday night in a frustrating game for the Rockets, who led by 8 points with about six minutes remaining in the game, but got blasted by the Hornets down the stretch. Playing without the injured Tracy McGrady, Yao scored 20 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and had 7 blocks in the 91-84 loss.

by John

SATURDAY, 11/5/05 – Recently whenever New Orleans has hit troubling times, Houston has been there to help. And I’m not only talking about Hurricane Katrina. I’m talking about the Rockets giving away games to the New Orleans Hornets last season, this preseason, and once again…Saturday night at Houston’s Toyota Center.

Houston and the Hornets played an ugly game against each other, but at least the Rockets had the game in hand in the fourth quarter leading 82-74 with 6:09 remaining. But then Houston’s offense shut down faster than the city’s freeways during a hurricane evacuation, or Houston Astros bats in a World Series. New Orleans/Oklahoma City (a.k.a. “NOK” for short) took advantage of Houston’s struggles, broke out of its own shooting slump, and blew past them on a 17-2 run to stun the Rocks once again, 91-84.

Yao was playing a great game, hitting 6-of-12 in the first three quarters for 16 points, and rejecting everything in sight (7 blocks overall, matching his career high). But he ran out of gas down the stretch (37 minutes of action, six minutes above his average) and missed 8 of his last ten shots. Jeff Van Gundy probably played Yao more minutes because of T-Mac’s absence, but it’s reasonable to wonder why JVG didn’t budget Yao’s minutes more wisely.

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John Lopez of the Houston Chronicle had some good things to say about Yao after Wednesday night’s season opener. I agree with everything he says about Yao in this article.

Additional commentary from Lopez can also be heard by clicking here (requires the Real Player to be installed).

Yao and his teammates crack up before the start of their season opener against Sacramento after Jon Barry made fun of coach Jeff Van Gundy to the entire Toyota Center crowd. To read more about Barry’s comment, please read below. In the game, Yao scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in a 98-89 victory. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 11/2/05 – The “special” potential (a term used a lot by Rocket players lately) that the Rockets hold entering this season was thankfully seen on Wednesday night in Opening Night against Sacramento at Toyota Center. Sure, the Kings got blown out in New Orleans the previous night, but that made a pretty talented team even more dangerous. The Rockets started off slow, but special players and plays helped them pull away in the second half and win 98-89.

Yao lived up to all expectations with a dynamite double-double: 22 points (10-of-16 shooting), 10 rebounds, and 4 assists. He followed the trend from previous years by getting into foul trouble, limiting him to just 25 minutes of action. But some of the fouls were questionable, which I’ll explain in more detail below.

T-Mac got of to a slow start, but ended up scoring 23 points (9-of-21 shooting, only 3-of-7 from the free throw line), grabbing 5 boards, and doling out 4 assists.

But the player of the game, and the only other Rocket who scored in double-figures, was 13-year veteran reserve Jon Barry. It was Barry who kicked off the new season before the game by addressing the crowd, and imploring the fans to do what they did with the Houston Astros’ recent success and get ready for the “Rocket Ride.”

Even more interesting was Barry telling the crowd, “I hope you are as optimistic and excited as our coach,” an obvious jab at Mr. Pessimism — Jeff Van Gundy. When Barry joined the pre-game huddle on the sideline a few moments later, you could see lots of chuckles from almost all the Houston coaches and players on the joke Barry had pulled.

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Yahoo! Sports put Yao front-and-center on it’s sports home page, probably because the Rockets start their season later tonight. You can read the article by Yahoo! Sport’s Dan Wetzel by clicking here.

With the Rockets starting their regular season on Wednesday night against Sacramento, here’s an interesting piece in the Houston paper titled, “At 7-6, Yao having trouble being noticed.”

“If he listened to every critique about himself, he would be in a mental ward right now because he would have such self-doubt.”…

“I see a very productive player, a player who keeps getting better and an organization who just gave a guy every amount of money it could for a reason. Yeah, he’s got things he can work on and does work on and thankfully, Yao is a great worker.”

– Jeff Van Gundy giving rare props, 10/28/05

“He looks more aggressive this year. He’s looking good. He’s staying strong and holding his position. That’s our best offense, getting the ball to him and going inside-out or me and him playing pick-and-roll.”

– Teammate Tracy McGrady near the end of preseason, 10/23/05

“Yao is a very harsh critic of himself, and I think that can lead to good things when guys are very, very tough on themselves, and at times, he should worry less, have a shorter memory about mistakes. Sometimes being a harsh critic of yourself serves a guy well. Most of those people are perfectionists, which I think Yao is.”

“Where is he at? He’s a very fine player.”

– Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy as training camp starts, 10/05/05

“There’s so much on him. He has to not even worry about that, just go out be the best basketball player he can be and help his ballclub win. Then there won’t be that pressure. I don’t think he’s gotten that. But he’s young, and he’s improving every day.”

– Teammate Tracy McGrady as training camp starts, 10/05/05