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Ben Wallace of the Pistons fouls Yao in the first half Monday against Houston. The Rockets lost their third in a row, 94-78 in Houston, to Detroit. Yao only took four shots and scored 6 points in 23 minutes.

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It's tough being a Rockets fan. After holding a 5-point lead in the 2nd quarter against the Detroit Pistons, the Rockets became even more disjointed than normal as the Pistons pulled away in the third quarter and won easily 98-74 in Houston Friday night. That's the second blowout in a row, and third loss in a row after their fantastic victory against the Lakers just one week prior. The Rockets proved for the umpteenth time this season that despite their athleticism, they do not have a reliable system that can carry them through offensive droughts. When they are not hitting shots, you can basically 'fuggedaboutit'-they do not have the ability to 'grind out' wins as much as Rocket teams of the past. You would also think after having more than a couple of days between games (they played Dallas on Tuesday) the Rockets would be rested and prepared to play, but that has not been the case this season. According to our calculations, the Rockets are now 3-8 after having three or more days between games, quite odd for a 23-18 team. What's going on during those three days? Looks like not enough. I guess during those days the team loses touch with each other, thus requiring them to get reacquainted on the basketball court in front of our eyes. We should point out the Pistons are no slouches. Of all Eastern conference teams, they have the best record against Western conference teams (9-4). Their defense also leads the league in fewest points allowed (86.5) per game. But perhaps the Rockets took them lightly since the Pistons hadn't won in Houston in 9 tries (since 1992). The Rockets' lackluster performance prompted Detroit television analyst and former NBA center Bill Laimbeer to remark in two separate instances: "Houston has no idea what really hit them," and later… "I don't like the way Houston is playing at all…they just seem confused. No one really wants to take charge out there. Give the Pistons credit, but I think Houston really has played a poor game." Keys to the game were the Pistons' 46 points in the paint compared to Houston's 26, and the Rockets being outrebounded 60-45. The surprising thing is that the Rockets cut down on their turnovers (11) after racking up 26 against the Mavericks Tuesday night, but it didn't help. They also only had 12 assists as a team, and have averaged only 10 assists over the past two games. You're not going to win many games with one-on-one play inherent with that statistic. How'd Yao do? Yao had four field goal attempts and only made one, scoring 4 points total. He was fouled on three other shot attempts, but only made 3-of-6 of those free throw attempts. Yao also seemed tentative offensively (see Detailed Yao Analysis below). We're not sure if Detroit's Ben Wallace's menacing presence had something to do with it. Wallace, voted the starting center of the All-Star game for the Eastern Conference opposite Yao in the West, racked up 18 rebounds (most against the Rockets this season), 3 blocks and 9 points. Yao has definitely lost much of his shooting touch over the past couple of weeks. We have also observed that when Yao starts missing shots in a game, he becomes hesitant to take more shots perhaps out of fear he may be hurting his team. He most likely respects the veteran status and offensive firepower of Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley, and defers to them to carry the offense when he is struggling. But we believe that if Yao can get the ball close to the basket, he will have a good chance of scoring. The key is that the Rockets need to feed him the ball more down low, perhaps through more high lob passes over the defense, which seemed to be effective Friday night. The second requirement is that Yao needs to go up strong and hammer it down when he has the chance, regardless if he gets hammered himself from the defense. Yao's free throw shooting is good enough overall to make it a net gain for his team...assuming he's willing to put up with the bruises and cuts (which I'm sure he is). He's already got several of them. Twin Towers Two? The one interesting wrinkle that Rudy threw into this game was playing Yao and Kelvin Cato at the same time for a few minutes, the first time that has happened this year. Both centers played in the second half, and Yao was able to pull the defense outside to allow Cato to score on a couple of monster dunks inside. On paper, it would seem to be a formidable challenge for any team to counter, similar to the effectiveness of other Twin Tower tandems like David Robinson and Tim Duncan in San Antonio. In addition, both Yao and Cato are great rebounders, which is a necessity considering the number of bad shots taken by the Rocket guards. Given the predictability of the Houston offense this season, at least there's something creative on the horizon to which we hope can turn around this underachieving Rocket ship.

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Detailed Yao Analysis
vs. Detroit Pistons 1/24/03

1st quarter - Yao starts the game, and wins the tip.
9:46		On the right side outside the lane, Yao posts up Ben Wallace. Yao pivots toward the baseline, pump fakes, then jumps off his left foot away from the basket while forcing a shot to his right toward the basket. Yao's body was twisted on this very low-percentage shot. It's not like Yao to shoot such a difficult off-balance shot like this one.
6:46		On a screen and roll play, Yao sets a pick for James Posey just outside the paint on the right side. Yao then rolls through a wide open lane toward the basket, but Posey doens't get him the ball in time before Ben Wallace recovers defensively. After Wallace gets back on Yao, Posey passes the ball to him. Yao receives the ball, bounces one time and leans into the center of the paint, then reverse pivots to his right and puts up a beautiful 8-foot jump hook...SWISH! The Rockets lead 14-13. Piston TV analyst and former NBA center Bill Laimbeer states, "You're never going to come close to bothering that shot."
6:19	Big rebound	Cliff Robinson of the Pistons puts up a 14-foot shot from the right side, but it clangs off the iron. Ben Wallace (the league's leading rebounder) and Yao are both jockeying for the rebound as the ball is in the air. Wallace briefly touches the ball with both hands and tries to tip it in the basket while in mid-air, but Yao is there to fluster his shot attempt and tip the ball, and comes up with the rebound! Great hustle by Yao to win the battle of the boards against the league's best on this possession.
5:24		On the left side in his favorite spot, Yao pivots with the ball as he is guarded vigorously by Wallace and Piston Mike Curry. For an instant the ball is knocked into the air, and Yao recovers, takes one big step and leans into the basket for a little layup attempt, but Wallace comes from behnind and blocks Yao's shot at the glass. Yao and Ben are now tied 1-1 in the 'big play' department against each other.
3:01		Yao checks out of the game for Cato.
2nd quarter - Rockets lead 20-19.
5:47		Yao checks into the game for Jason Collier. That means Yao and Cato are in the game together for the first time this season. This should be interesting. Does that mean Yao is a 7'5" power forward? If he is, I don't care. Anything is worth trying. Later, Cato gets two easy dunks because of Yao's ability to pull the defense out of the lane when setting up out high.
5:25	Free Throws	From his favorite spot, Yao faces up on Mehmet Okur and shoots a jump shot, but he's fouled on the hand and will go to the free throw line. Yao misses the first free throw, but makes the second. The Rockets lead 33-29.
3:37		After he picks up his second foul on a questionable call, Yao checks out of the game for Mobley.
Halftime - The Pistons lead 47-41. Yao has 3 points on 1-of-3 shooting and 2 rebounds.
3rd quarter - Yao starts the quarter.
11:32		On a screen and roll out high with Yao and Francis, Yao breaks toward the basket and Francis delivers the ball to Yao on the run. Ben Wallace comes over to challenge him and jumps into the air about 6 feet from the basket to try to block his shot. Rather than taking the shot, Yao fakes a shot and passes off to Maurice Taylor. Taylor dribbles into the lane and passes off to Francis in the lane, but the Rockets are called for 3 seconds since Yao couldn't get out of the lane in time. This was a play where Yao should have taken the shot rather than passing off. He definitely would have been fouled by Wallace to go to the free throw line. By passing the ball, it fouled up the Houston offense. On the way back down the floor, you can hear Francis trying to get Yao's attention by yelling, "Yao, Yao" and motioning with his arm a shooting motion advising him to take the shot next time.
10:57	Free Throws	Just a minute later, Yao is passed the ball out high and Wallace gambles by going for the steal which leaves him out of defensive position. Sensing a relatively clear path to the basket, Yao immediately seizes the opportunity, drives to the hole and is fouled by a collapsing defender. It seems Yao realized he erred on the last offensive play by not going up strong, and was determined to show the Pistons and the world he is no patsy. However, Yao misses both free throws, and is 1-for 4 from the line.
8:42	Nice rebound &	Trailing 53-45, Maurice Taylor shoots a long jumper that bounces high off the rim. Like always, Ben Wallace has great position underneath the basket, but Yao is so tall he is able to reach above Wallace and tap the ball up in the air, not once but twice. The ball bounces to Francis who taps it to Mobley. Later in this same possession, Mobley shoots and misses. Yao grabs the rebound right in front of the rim with Wallace between himself and the rim. We're thinking Yao is going to go up for one of his monster jams, but he puts the ball on the floor, pivots away from the basket and shoots a hook shot from the middle of the lane, which misses. We would have loved to have seen Yao give Wallace a facial.
5:44		From the free throw line, Mobley throws a beautiful lob pass to Yao who is cutting toward the basket. When Yao lands he is almost directly under the hoop. Instead of passing off since he's got men around him, this time Yao goes up strong for a lay-in attempt, and he's fouled. Looks like the Rockets are taking Celtics TV analyst Tom Heinsohn's advice (inside joke). Yao misses the first free throw, but makes the second one. Yao is now 2-for-6 from the line and has 4 points.
3:59		Yao checks out of the game for Cato. The Rockets trail 52-63, and go on to lose 74-98. Yao finishes with 4 points on 1-for-4 shooting, and 2-for-6 from the field with 6 rebounds and no blocks in 23 minutes of play.