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Yao lofts a hook shot over Portland's Zach Randolph on Friday night in Houston. The Rockets held off the TrailBlazers 89-85 to halt Portland's 5-game winning streak, and put Houston over .500 for the first time in 5 years. Yao scored 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting and had 4 rebounds. (Photo courtesy AP).

1st quarter
11:07		Yao misses a right-handed hook shot from the right edge of the lane.
8:32	Assist	Yao dribbles into the middle of the lane from the left side of the court, and draws a double-team to him which leaves Cuttino Mobley all alone behind the three-point line. Yao then whips a one-handed pass to Mobley, and Mobley squares up and drills the three-pointer! Most of the time Yao will take a jump hook in that situation, so this is a new wrinkle for him!
7:16		Yao gets the ball just inside the right edge of the lane, then pivots toward the basket along the edge of the lane, elevates with the ball extended high above his head and BANKS A SHOT HIGH OFF THE GLASS FOR THE BUCKET! The Rockets lead 14-4, and Yao is 1-for-2 from the field with 2 points.
6:33		Yao shoots a right-handed jump hook from the right edge of the lane about 7 feet away, but it's blocked by the 6'9" Darius Miles who anticipated the shot from the other side of the lane and had a running start to his jump! However, looking at the replay, it looks like Miles blocked it just as the ball was heading downward, which would technically be goaltending. But since it was so borderline and NO ONE EVER has touched one of Yao's jump hooks that high in the air, the refs probably weren't watching closely. Give credit to Miles for even getting up that high! Fortunately for the Rockets, the ball comes down to Cato underneath the rim who SLAMS IT HOME! Rockets lead 16-6, and Yao is 1-for-3 from the field.
5:04		On the right side of the court, Damon Stoudarmire tries to dribble past Yao, but Yao holds his ground and Stoudamire charges into him for the offensive foul! I don't think I have ever seen a play where a player like Stoudamire (5'10") has ever charged into a player 2 feet taller than him (Yao at 7'6"), but it happened, and it was a legit call!
3:19		Yao picks up a foul after blocking Darius Miles on the baseline. Yao acknowledges the foul by raising his hand, which is a rare sight to see in the NBA. After picking up his second foul, Yao checks out of the game for Maurice Taylor. The Rockets lead 21-12.
2nd quarter - At the end of the first quarter, the Rockets lead 27-24. Houston shot 55% from the field (12-of-22) and Portland shot 8-of-17. Houston had a 23-10 lead, but then Portland went on a 10-2 run to get back into the game. This reminds me a little bit of the Dallas game when the Rockets had a big lead early, but couldn't hold onto it.
9:39		Yao checks into the game for Clarence Weatherspoon. The Rockets lead 30-29.
6:31	Assist	Yao is passed the ball at the top of the key, and very quickly he gets rid of the ball and BOUNCES A PERFECT PASS TO MAURICE TAYLOR, WHO BROKE INTO THE LANE AHEAD OF HIS MAN on the left side. Taylor picks up the pass underneath the rim and scores! We hadn't seen Yao make a pass like that from the top of the key in quite some time!
5:58		The Rockets have one of their most exciting offensive possessions this year. Here's what happened: Piatkowski passed to Mo Taylor in the lane. Double-teamed with no options, Taylor throws an underhand pass to Mark Jackson at the three point line. Jackson immediately bounces a pass to Mobley at the top of the three-pont arc, and Mobley shoots and misses. But Taylor out jumps Zach Randolph to snare the rebound in the middle of the lane, then Taylor throws an underhand pass around Damon Stoudamire to Yao underneath the rim, AND YAO THROWS IT DOWN HARD TWO-HANDED! What great ball movement by the Rockets! Toyota Center belts out a thunderous roar, and the entire Rockets bench rises from their seats! The Rockets lead 39-38, and Yao is 2-for-4 from the field with 4 points.
5:35		As exciting as the last play was, this one is just as good: Mo Taylor drops a pass off to Eric Piatkowski on the left side of the court, and Pike drives the baseline, goes airborne underneath the basket, THEN DROPS OFF A BOUNCE PASS AND YAO PICKS IT UP AFTER STREAKING ALL THE WAY IN FROM THE THREE-POINT LINE ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE COURT. YAO GOES UP, COCKS THE BALL IN HIS RIGHT HAND HIGH OVER HIS HEAD, AND THROWS IT DOWN OVER THEO RATLIFF!! WOW!! THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST AGGRESSIVE PLAYS I HAVE EVER SEEN FROM YAO! And it looks like this play might have been improvised because the Rockets have never run a play like that for Yao! TOYOTA CENTER IS ELECTRIFIED AFTER THESE LAST TWO OFFENSIVE POSSESSIONS! The Rockets now lead 41-38, and Yao is 3-for-5 from the field with 6 points.
3:32	Bad call!	Theo Ratliff steps in front of Yao as he is coming down the court and into the lane, and Ratliff gets the ref to call a charging foul on Yao! That's B.S.!! Ratliff must have taken lessons from Dallas' Eduardo Najera on how to flop on Yao as he is coming into the lane! C'mon refs! Yao is isn't happy about it. He raises both arms like he's saying, "What are you talking about?" That's Yao's third personal foul, so he check outs of the game for Kelvin Cato with 6 points on 3-of-5 shooting.
Halftime - At the end of the second quarter, the Rockets trail 50-49. In the quarter, Portland was 3-of-3 from three-point land (Derek Anderson - 2; Dan Dickau - 1) and 10-of-15 from the floor. Houston was 9-of-22. Overall, Portland is shooting 56% and Houston 48%. The difference in the game has been 9 turnovers for Portland, which have resulted in 16 points for Houston. Houston only has 4 turnovers.
3rd quarter - Yao starts the quarter.
11:24	Free Throws	Yao gets fouled in the lane by Theo Ratliff as he tries a nifty up-and-under move on him that got Ratliff up in the air and to come down on Yao. Yao goes to the line and makes both free throws. He now has 8 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field, and is 2-of-2 from the line.
10:36		Yao rebounds a bad shot from Jim Jackson that didn't draw iron, so he has to quickly put one up off the glass before the shot clock expires. Yao gets it off from the left edge of the lane with two defenders on him, but it misses off the glass. Yao is now 3-for-6 from the field with 8 points, and the Rockets trail 51-52.
9:20		Jim Jackson drives down the middle of the lane and puts a shot off the glass, which draws two Portland defenders with him. The shot misses strong off the backboard, BUT YAO COMES IN BEHIND JACKSON AND GRABS THE REBOUND UNDERNEATH THE RIM AND LAYS THE BALL IN FOR THE BUCKET! The Blazers paid too much attention to Jackson and didn't account for Yao. The Rockets now lead 53-52, and Yao is 4-for-7 from the field with 10 points.
8:15		Yao misses a fallaway jumper along the right baseline. He is now 4-for-8 from the field.
7:16	Free Throws	Yao gets intentionally fouled by Zach Randolph in front of the rim after getting great position. Yao goes to the line and misses the first free throw, but makes the second. He is 3-for-4 from the line and is 4-of-8 from the field with 11 points. The Rockets lead 54-52.
5:22		Darius Miles is on a fast break dribbling the ball up the court. Yao is in the lane and sees Miles coming full speed ahead. So Yao sets himself in position about 3 feet inside the free throw line (nowhere near the semi-circle underneath the rim) and MILES CHARGES INTO HIM, BUT THE REFS CALL A FOUL ON YAO FOR BLOCKING!! That's Yao's fourth foul, so he has to check out of the game for Maurice Taylor. The game is tied at 56.
4th quarter - At the end of the third quarter, the Rockets lead 67-64. The Rockets outscored the Blazers 18-14 in the third quarter. Yao was 1-for-3 in the quarter.
5:49		Yao checks into the game for Kelvin Cato. Houston leads 81-76.
5:32		Mobley gets the ball about 4 feet outside the right edge of the lane, and from the left elbow Yao flashes into the lane, and Mobley delivers a pass to him about 5 feet away to the right of the rim. Yao then pump fakes on Theo Ratliff, GETS HIM IN THE AIR, THEN GOES UNDERNEATH HIM AND LAYS IT IN FOR THE SCORE! He really got Ratliff to bite on that one! Yao is now 5-for-9 from the field with 13 points, and the Rockets lead 83-76.
3:48		Yao gets the ball in the middle of the lane and immediately goes up for a right-handed jump hook, but it misses. Yao is now 5-for-10 from the field with 13 points. Houston leads 85-78.
3:02	Turnover	Yao sets up outside the left edge of the lane and is double-teamed. Unfortunately, Zach Randolph is able to take it out of Yao's hands as he held the ball above his head. A close look at the replay shows Randolph was lucky he didn't get a foul called on him because he caught part of Yao's hand. There's no way he could have gone up as high as he did and stolen that ball without getting a little piece of Yao. The Rockets lead 85-79.
1:03		The Rockets go on to take an 89-81 lead on a Steve Francis jumper with 1:03 remaining. Portland makes it interesting after a missed Cato dunk by scoring on a fast break, which made it 89-85 with 33 seconds remaining. Francis then turned the ball over on a double-dribble call, and Portland could make the game even closer with 13 seconds remaining. But on the ensuing Portland possession, Yao was able to alter Derek Anderson's running jumper in the lane by standing his ground and making him miss. The ball got batted around for a few seconds and the Rockets held on to win 89-85! Yao finishes with 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting! Not the most spectacular stats, but the Rockets did win!