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Making shots wasn't easy in the Big Easy The Rockets had plenty of chances to beat the New Orleans Hornets Friday night, but shot a paltry 39% from the field and lost by two points in overtime 98-96. The Hornets weren't much better having only shot 44% from the floor, and scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter to give the Rockets a chance. But the Rocks couldn't capitalize and looked terrible with their shooting. Steve Francis (10-28), Glen Rice (1-5) and Maurice Taylor (0-5) couldn't shoot a basketball in the Mississippi River this particular evening. If it weren't for Kenny Thomas' breakout game of the season (29 points on 12-22 shooting), it would have been a lot worse. It's all so strange since the Rockets practiced for two days before this game, and the flight to New Orleans is only about an hour from Houston. So fatigue shouldn't have been a factor. How did Yao do? Officially, Yao shot 6 for 19 from the floor for 16 points. But two of those shot attempts (#1 and #2 in the Detailed Yao Analysis below) were low-percentage tip-in attempts where Yao was really just trying to keep the ball alive. However, the league has to recognize those tips as shot attempts because they occurred around the basket and hit glass or the rim. Another bucket Yao scored wasn't actually counted (between shots #4 and #5), and another shot attempt was tallied as a block against Yao when he was actually fouled (#15). So Yao feasibly could have been 7 for 16 from the field [But of course, we'll hear the media who don't analyze the game thoroughly say that he shot poorly]. We don't think it was THAT bad. We'll agree, though, that Yao missed shots he normally would make, and had the chance to be a hero in overtime in addition to the hero bucket he scored in the fourth quarter with 25 seconds left (see Analysis below). Where Yao really made his presence felt was on the defensive end, where you could see the Hornets were having problems with him. Yao had 3 blocks, multiple intimidations, snagged key rebounds, took a charge, and even committed hard fouls (like in the last play in the analysis below) that really let the Hornets know he's no push-over. Next game: Saturday night After playing the Hornets, the Rockets turned right around and came home for Saturday night's match-up against the 76ers in Compaq Center. It will be interesting to see if the Rockets shoot better after playing a game the night before. It will also be good to have Cuttino Mobley back in the line-up, his first game in about two weeks. We have to think his shooting has to help the Rockets since they have been getting hardly any scoring from Juaquin Hawkins (or any of his other replacements consistently for that matter). And since Cat is from Philly, we know he's pretty jacked to be playing on the tube for his fans back home. So look for him to put up alot of shots.

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Detailed Yao Analysis

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1st quarter
12:00		Yao starts the game and wins the tip.
11:23		Yao is delivered a quick pass at the edge of the lane as he is moving towards the basket. He has to take a quick shot or else he'll be called for a charge as he's moving forward. He puts a tough shot off the glass that misses. Eddie Griffin rebounds and misses the put-back. Yao is there for Griffin's miss and tries to tip it towards the basket, but that's a tough follow-up shot also and it misses high off the backboard. The ball is tipped out of the bounds by the Hornets, and the Rockets get the ball on the inbounds play.
11:11		After the Rockets inbound the ball, Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot--the left side just outside the lane. He sees Maurice Taylor under the basket and zips him a quick two-handed pass from over his head. But Taylor misses the layup as he's contested on the shot. Yao hustles over and tries to tip the ball into the bucket, but that attempt missed. He tries to tip it again on a very tough play, and THAT MISSES, TOO! What a bummer: Yao is trying all of these tip attempts that really have no chance of going in, BUT THEY COUNT AS FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS, AND THUS WILL DRIVE DOWN HIS AVERAGE. The Hornets gain possession and start their break the other way. Later it looks like the official scorekeeper didn't count his second attempt as a miss, so that's good for fantasy leaguers who have Yao on their team and really care about Yao's field goal percentage.
8:33		Showing his skillz, Jamaal Magliore gets the ball in the middle of the paint, with Yao right behind him playing good defense and standing his ground with his arms up. But Magliore turns and elevates over Yao with a baby hook shot and hits it. Not bad. He went right at Yao, and Yao wasn't able to stop him. Hornets lead 2-0.
10:12		Guarded one-on-one in his favorite spot on the left side (back facing the basket), Yao dribbles once to his left and goes up definitively with a fadeaway jumper, and hits it!
8:40		Steve Francis dribbles quickly to the corner of the lane and goes up for a jumper, but sees Yao cutting into the lane from the arc and dishes off to Yao, WHO CATCHES THE QUICK PASS, JUMP STOPS, AND HITS A RUNNING ONE-HANDER OFF THE GLASS....AND HE'S FOULED! Beautiful pass by Steve, and great touch shown by Yao! But then the idiotic refs say Yao was fouled before starting his shot, which was dead wrong!!! So the basket does not count!!!
7:35		On the left side of the paint, Yao posts up Magliore, then shoots a turnaround jumper from about 8 feet. SCORE IT. Yao is automatic. When the Rockets are struggling as they are now (down 11-4), Yao can "right the ship." The score is now 11-6, Hornets. Yao has 4 points.
7:00		From the right side opposite his favorite spot just outside the paint, Yao is delivered the ball, he bounces once towards the basket, then turns the other way towards the baseline and shoots a hook shot...but it misses too strong off the iron. Regardless, we can't help but marvel that Yao has so many moves for a 22 year-old rookie!
4:02		From his favorite spot, Yao pump fakes. Magliore bites on the fake and goes straight up in the air, while Yao goes right past him toward the basket!! The New Orleans crowd roars OOHHHHH! Yao takes one giant step and beautifully finger rolls the ball to the basket, but P.J. Brown goaltends it! COUNT IT! Yao has 6 points.
3:35		From his favorite spot on the left side, Yao gets the ball and the rest of the Rockets clear out so he can go one-on-one (just like the Hakeem days). He dribbles once toward the lane, then faces up toward the basket and then simply leans around his man toward the basket AND PUTS UP A BEAUTIFUL BANK SHOT HIGH OFF THE GLASS TO SWISH IT!! Yao must have practiced this shot thousands of times! Yao now has 8 points (4-8 from the field), even counting those tip attempts earlier that shouldn't have counted as shots. The Rockets trail 14-19.
2:24		From the left side, Yao spins quickly toward the baseline and dribbles down the edge of it and puts up his reverse layup from underneath the basket, but it misses. It looks like Hornet Elden Campbell had pushed Yao as he was going up for the shot, but no foul was called.
1:54		Again from YFS (Yao's favorite spot), he spins baseline and lets fly his fadeaway jumper, but it missess. However, Yao is able to tip the loose ball to Eddie Griffin.
1:00		Yao checks out of the game with 8 points on 4-10 shooting.
2nd quarter - Yao did not play, but the Rockets did well without him by taking a 46-45 lead into halftime
3rd quarter
11:23		From the left edge of the paint, Yao posts up, dribbles once and shoots a fallaway jumper. The shot is too strong, and bounces to the Hornets.
6:26		The Hornets' Jamal Mashburn drives across the lane and towards the basket and goes up for a layup, BUT YAO IS THERE PIN THE BALL AGAINST THE GLASS FOR A BLOCK! The Rockets are regaining some momentum after being outscored 9-0. The score is 59-55, Hornets lead.
5:48		Yao gets the ball a little bit closer to the basket near his favorite spot. He pump fakes his man as he faces the basket, bounces the ball once, then pivots to complete a 360, then falls away for a jumper....and BANG! No one can stop him. Yao now has 10 points on 5-12 shooting. The Rockets trail 57-61.
5:16		The very next possession down the floor, Yao gets the ball in the same spot. It looks like it's time to exploit his man again. This time he just quickly goes up for a shot. BAM! He mades it look so easy. This kind of shooting touch with his 7'6" height should be banned from the NBA if they want to give other teams a fighting chance.
5:03		...a few seconds later on the Hornets next possession, Yao steps in front of a driving P.J. Brown to get the charging foul on Brown. Great D! It doesn't hit the score sheet, but it shows many of the little things Yao does that he doesn't get credit for.
3:43		From his favorite spot, Yao dribbles away from the basket around his man and curls into the edge of the lane (which we haven't seen do except maybe once or twice). He quickly picks up his dribble in the middle of the paint and shoots a relatively flat shot that skims the top edge of the iron and JUST misses.
1:23	Free Throws	The big guy gets the ball in his spot of choice against Elden Campbell, who is bumping him hard as Yao dribbles for position. Yao takes a step toward the baseline and it looks like he's going to shoot his fadeaway, but Campbell blocks the ball but hits Yao on the arm (no call, though). The ball comes out along the baseline and Yao picks it up on one bounce and goes up for his reverse scoop shot from underneath the backboard...but Campbell comes back and hacks him across the arm hard! It looks like Campbell is just saying, "I don't care what I have to do. I'm going to make it very difficult and painful for Yao to shoot." Yao goes to the free throw line for the first time tonight. He misses the first one but makes the second. Yao now has 13 points.
:36.3		On the very next Rocket possession, Yao starts from his normal spot and quickly spins baseline on Campbell and gets around him, and CAMPBELL HACKS HIM ACROSS THE ARM AGAIN! Yes, he is definitely not going to let Yao get any cheapies. Remember what we said a few weeks ago about how teams would eventually resort to a HACK-A-YAO approach? Looks like it's starting. For some reason, though, the refs are giving Campbell a break and said there was no foul. On the ensuing inbounds play, Yao is double-teamed as he receives the ball. Yao is able to find Thomas out by the 3 point line, who then zips it to Francis for an awesome dunk! Great ball movement, with Yao being the easy man to inbound the ball to because of his height.
4th quarter (New Orleans leads after 3 quarters, 74-69). Cato starts the quarter in place of Yao.
7:20		Yao enters the game with the Rockets trailing 71-78. The Rockets shooting has been horrid without Yao.
6:00		Getting the ball on the right edge of the lane, Yao pivots and shoots a hook shoot but misses short. For some reason, his form he used in his right hand for this shot was very awkard, and it barely hit the iron. On a night the Rockets are shooting poorly, it must be contagious.
5:15		Davis drives the lane and passes to Magliore, who is standing underneath the basket. Thinking he has an easy dunk, YAO JUMPS UP QUICKLY AND SWATS THE BALL OFF THE GLASS FOR THE REJECTION. This guy is always working!
3:20		With the Rockets down by 3 points, 77-80. Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot and shoots his trademark fallaway jumper along the baseline. It goes into the hoop and out for the miss!! Oh so close!
1:51		The Rockets only trail by 1 point, 80-81. Yao gets the ball in good position along the left edge of the lane with Campbell guarding him. Yao pump fakes to freeze Cambell, then pivots left away from the basket and puts up a right-handed jump hook that seems to come off his hand awkwardly, and it misses. This is the second hook shot in a row where it doesn't seem to be flowing for Yao. Maybe he should stick with the two-handed jump shots until he can work this new kink out of his shot in practice.
:25.6		The Rockets trail by two points. Steve Francis drives to the basket from the right side of the court at the 3 point line and somehow is able to put up a shot in heavy traffic. The ball misses high off the glass BUT YAO COMES OVER FROM THE WEAK SIDE TO GET THE REBOUND IN FRONT OF THE RACK AND LAY IT IN!!! HUGE BUCKET. THE SCORE IS TIED 84-84!! The Rockets are able to maintain the tie and take the game into overtime.
Overtime (Yao is 6-19 from the field with 13 points).
4:10		With the Rockets up by 3 points thanks to a Kenny Thomas bucket and free throw, Jamal Mashburn drives the lane and puts up an acrobatic shot, BUT YAO IS UNDERNEATH THE BASKET TO SWAT IT AGAINST THE GLASS! BIG BLOCK!
2:10	Free Throws	With the Rockets down 87-89, Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot and dribbles twice to get great position underneath the basket. He goes up for a shot, but is fouled. Yao misses the first free throw, but makes the second. The Rockets are down 88-89.
1:53		Baron Davis has a clear path to the basket and tries to go up for a monster one-handed jam, but Yao is there to knock it away! Even though Yao is called for the foul, it was a good one to plaster on Davis since he isn't going to be gettin' away with trying to violate our man Yao. Davis misses one of the two free throws. The Rockets go on to lose the game because they couldn't get a bucket in clutch time. They had their chances, but really didn't deserve to win this game (but neither did New Orleans).

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