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Yao Ming blocks a shot by Miami's Lamar Odom on Tuesday night in Houston. Yao had an NBA career-high 7 blocks, along with 16 points and 8 rebounds. The Rockets won their fourth in a row in beating the Heat 90-70. (Photo courtesy AP).

1st quarter - Yao loses the tip to 6'9" Brian Grant.
7:19	Free Throws	Yao gets the ball for the first time the entire game, and boy, do the Rockets need him! They have missed all of their shots and are trailing 8-0. Yao gets the ball in the post on the left edge of the lane. Yao fakes the ball to Francis, who is cutting along the baseline, then turns to his left into the lane, but then pivots right toward the baseline, and he's fouled by Brian Grant as he goes up for the shot. Yao makes the first free throw, which draws a big roar from the crowd since it's Houston's first points in over 4 1/2 minutes of action. Yao proceeds to make the 2nd free throw. The Rockets trail 8-2.
7:02		Miami's Lamar Odom puts up a fallaway jumper along the baseline, but he misses. Yao is there in front of the rim to grab the defensive rebound, but somehow Udonis Haslem is able to wrestle the ball away from Yao. Haslem then goes up for a shot in front of the rim. Perturbed by Haslem's taking the ball away from him, Yao is there to swat the ball away!. The loose ball goes to Lamar Odom outside of the paint area, and Oldom zips a pass to Haslem who is still in the paint (no 3-second foul has been called). Recognizing that Yao is directly in front of the rim, Haslem goes up this time for a little 3-foot fallaway jumper, BUT YAO IS THERE TO SWAT IT AWAY EVEN MORE FORCEFULLY, and Haslem goes crashing backward to the floor! WHAT AN AWESOME DEFENSIVE SEQUENCE BY YAO! TWO BLOCKS IN A ROW! THE CROWD GOES CRAZY!! The loose ball goes to the Rockets, and down on the other end Cato scores on a jumper, and he's fouled! Cato makes the penalty free throw, and the Rockets now only trail 8-5. Yao has ignited the crowd and some Rockets momentum with his defense!
4:42		The Heat's Eddie Jones drives into the lane and bounces a pass to Haslem along the baseline. With Yao standing underneath the basket, Haslem decides to challenge Yao again. Haslem goes up into the air, double clutches to get Yao to bite on a fake, BUT IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE YAO BLOCKS THE SHOT EVEN BEFORE THE BALL LEAVES HIS HAND! THAT'S YAO'S THIRD BLOCKED SHOT, and they are all against Haslem!
3:56		The Heat's Tyrone Hill gets a deflected pass underneath Miami's basket, and he tries to put up a shot over Yao, but Yao is able to get a finger on it for his 4th block!
1:24	Free Throws	Yao is fouled trying to get a loose ball on the defensive end. He goes to the other end of the floor and hits 2 free throws. Yao now has 4 points, all on free throws. The Rockets trail 15-14.
0:38	Should be a block!	Miami's Dwyane Wade drives the baseline and goes underneath the basket for a reverse layup, but Yao gets his hand on the ball for a block. However, the statisticians don't credit him for the block! Too bad, because that would have given him one more block to add to his impressive total!
2nd quarter - The game is tied 16-16 at the end of the first quarter. The game has been very ugly with both teams shooting poorly (10-for-36 combined). Houston has 5 turnovers, Miami has 4. Rockets radio play-by-play man Gene Peterson says, "This is probably the ugliest quarter of basketball I have seen in a long time." That's saying something considering Peterson has been announcing Rocket games for 29 years. Yao is 0-for-1 from the field, and 4-for-4 from the line with 4 points total. But he does have 4 blocks. Yao rests at the start of the second quarter while Torraye Braggs plays in his place.
3:12		Yao checks into the game for Torraye Braggs.
2:02		Francis passes the ball to Yao near the left edge of the lane, but Yao doesn't get a good handle on the ball so he tips it back to Francis. Francis picks up the loose ball and decides to drive past Yao toward the baseline. Since Francis is such a threat driving to the hoop, the Heat decide to double-team Francis. Francis then decides to make a spin move between the two Heat players double-teaming him, and rather than put up a difficult whirling-dirvish kind of shot, Francis passes a difficult sidewinder pass to Yao, who is standing unguarded about 15 feet from the basket. Yao then squares up, and with perfect form launches a jumper, and it hits nothing but cotton! Beautiful freelancing play by Francis and Yao! That play was definitely not designed as evidenced by the amount of creative moves that Francis displayed. Yao is now 1-for-2 from the field with 6 points. He also has 4 blocks (should be five).
0:00	Excited!	Steve Francis launches a high-arching 3-pointer at the buzzer, and Yao reacts by hopping and raising both arms in exhaltation! The Rockets lead 43-36. Yao has 6 points on 1-for-2 shooting from the field and 4-for-4 shooting from the line. He also has 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Mobley has 13 points, and Francis has 10. The Rockets are shooting 46%, and the Heat are shooting 33%.
3rd quarter - Yao starts the third quarter.
11:15		From the top of the 3-point line, Lamar Odom drives down the middle of the lane and dishes to Haslem on the left baseline. Haslem decides to put up what he thinks will be an uncontested jumper, BUT YAO HUSTLES ALL THE WAY OVER FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PAINT TO BLOCK HASLEM'S SHOT! Incredible desire, anticipation, speed and timing to block that one! That is Yao's fifth block of the game, and his fourth block on Haslem alone in this game!
9:21	Assist	Calling for the ball with both hands high in the air, Yao gets the ball delivered to him on the left edge of the lane in the post. Since he is quickly double-teamed by Cuttino's man, Yao sees Mobley out at the 3-point line all by himself. In textbook fashion, Yao zips a pass to Mobley, and Cuttino calmly launches a trey that goes in! Great assist by Yao to Cuttino, who nails his fourth 3-pointer of the game! Mobley now has 19 points! The Rockets lead 50-40.
5:55		As he drives toward the basket on the right baseline, Lamar Odom puts up a scoop shot that bounces off the rim and doesn't go in. He hustles to get the rebound and puts up a fallaway jumper in the middle of the lane in Jordan-like fashion where he hangs in the air as long as he can to throw off Yao's timing to block the shot, but IT DOESN'T MATTER BECAUSE YAO IS SO TALL HE'S STILL ABLE TO BLOCK THE SHOT AND SLAP IT BACK IT DOWN ON HIM AS ODOM GOES CRASHING TO THE FLOOR! That's Yao's 6th block!
5:11		Yao checks out of the game for Scott Padgett. Yao has 6 points (1-for-3 from the field) and 6 blocks. The Rockets lead 59-47.
4th quarter - The Rockets lead at the end of three quarters 65-56. Yao starts the 4th quarter.
11:15		Mobley drives toward the bucket on the left side and puts up a scoop shot high off the glass. The ball bounces softly off the front edge of the rim, but Yao is there to softly tap it in for the bucket! Nice garbage basket by Yao! It's rare that he gets an easy one like that! Yao now has 8 points on 2-of-4 shooting. The Rockets lead 68-56.
7:19		From the right side of the court, the Heat's John Wallace dribbles into the lane and challenges Yao on a layup attempt right in front of the hoop, but Yao is there to meet him at the top of his jump and reject it! Tack on another block for Yao! That's 7 -- an NBA career high for him!
5:18		Scott Padgett has the ball at the top of the 3-point line while Yao is battling for position against 6'9" Brian Grant. However, Grant is no match for Yao. Yao spins off him toward the middle of the lane, and Padgett sees Yao the split-second he breaks free from Grant, and delivers a bullet pass to him in the middle of the lane. After Yao catches the ball, he takes one step toward the basket unimpeded and slams it home two-handed! Grant looks to the ceiling in disgust because of the fact that Yao was able to break free from him. You have to feel sorry for guys like Grant who are virtually powerless trying to defend someone 8 to 9 inches taller than himself. Great assist by Padgett, too! That's 10 points for Yao on 3-for-5 shooting from the field. Yao has now scored in double-figures in all of his games this season! The Rockets now lead 79-61.
4:30		From the top of the 3-point line, Steve Francis shakes-and-bakes into the middle of the lane and draws four Miami Heat players toward him. Francis goes up into the air for what looks like will be a shot, but then whips a behind-the-head no-look pass to Yao, who has come over to the edge of the lane along the left baseline. Yao picks up the bounce pass, jumps straight up and shoots a 3-foot hook shot over two defenders, and he scores again! Nice play by Francis to get the ball to Yao. Yao now has 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. The Rockets lead 81-62.
2:44	Free Throws	Yao is fouled away from the ball, so he gets to shoot free throws. He makes both. That's 14 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field, and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. Yao is able to pad his stats here in the final minutes of the game.
2:12		Rocket guard Mike Wilks is in the game. He drives into the lane and bounces a pass between two defenders to Torraye Braggs on the baseline. It looks like Braggs is going to go up for a layup attempt, so that draws Yao's man over to him. But Braggs has the presence of mind to dish the pass off to Yao in the middle of the lane, and Yao goes up AND SLAMS IT DOWN WITH HIS RIGHT-HAND, AND HE'S FOULED! Nice sequence and passing! Miami's color analyst Mike Fratello comments, "That's some beautiful interior passing. Break the defense down, make the first pass, as soon as you feel the next defender coming, make the next pass." Fratello's sidekick, play-by-play man Eric Reid, points out astutely, "They (the Rockets) are playing very unselfishly tonight...30 field goals, 20 have been accompanied by an assist." Yao misses the ensuing free throw, though. He now has 16 points (5-for-7 from the field, 6-for-7 from the line).
2:08		Yao checks out of the game with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field (and 6-of-7 from the line). He also has 8 rebounds and an NBA career-high 7 blocks (it should have been 8)!