Saturday night Yao attended the Rockets-76ers game. Unfortunately the Rockets went cold in the second half and lost.

Click here for more photos from the game.

On Monday morning, Yao will be flying back to China, in part for Chinese New Year, which is next Sunday, February 14th.

Yao gave an exclusive interview to Fox 26 Houston where he talks about becoming a father for the first time. It aired Friday night (ignore the cheesy bail bondsman ad that plays the first few seconds). This interview about his baby is more in-depth than what we have seen in the Chinese media.

Here’s a full recap of the interview on the Fox26 Web site. Below is the part of the article that isn’t in the video interview:

Yao is always sensitive to Chinese tradition, but keeping this news under wraps wasn’t easy.

“It’s very hard,” Yao said. “It’s been very, very hard. You kind of feel that it is the best thing you ever get in your life.

“That’s something that inspires you.”

Once the news was out that Yao will become a father soon, he began getting advice from everywhere, especially from within the Rockets team.

“It’s easy to say right now I am going to take more responsibility and I have to take care of my family,” Yao said. “It’s easy to say, but harder is how to do it.

“I have to say I have no experience now and I’ve been told by some of my teammates, (guard) Aaron Brooks, you know he’s younger than me. He tells me his experience of how to be a father. That’s very strange.”

It will be real strange if the 7′6 Yao Ming hits the floor when his child his born like he jokingly fears.

“Hope I’m not passed out,” Yao said. “I will put my baby on the bed before I pass out.”

He is also keenly aware that dad has to take care of the baby when mother is not available and that can mean some long nights for a professional athlete who needs his sleep.

“I think next season I come back to play with some sleepy eyes, people don’t be surprised,” Yao said.

Yao said he and his wife have already come to grips with the fact the birth of their first child is world-wide news

“I have to deal with that,” Yao said. “I really appreciate a lot of guys pray for my baby.

“I got a lot of e-mails and messages so happy about (me) having a baby. It’s all good things. I appreciate those people who really care.”

After Yao and his wife have their first child, they will look forward to having another.

“I plan to have more than one kid because you know the law we have in China, one child for each family,” Yao said. “I feel a little bit lonely when growing up.

“I still had a lot of neighborhood kids, played together. I would liked to have had either a big brother or sister to protect me or a younger brother or sister I can command.

“In our situation we are allowed. Me and my wife are both only child from our families. Follow law we can have two.”

In a few months Yao, his wife and all of their relatives will celebrate a new addition to their family.

At some point after the baby is born Yao will share his joy with the world, but not right away.

“I try to enjoy (my) privacy,” Yao said. “That’s a big time for our family.

“The next generation come out. While it’s not the first kid in our family, a big family, but still big for me. I have no words now. I have no words.”

On a completely different note, on Wednesday Yao attended the opening of a new restaurant that bears his name. It’s the second “Yao Restaurant & Bar” in Houston, this one being downtown very close to Toyota Center. Interestingly, it’s a Japanese sushi bar. It’s funded and run by friends of the family, not by Yao or his parents.

Click here for photos from the opening, as well as an article about the restaurant.

A few days ago in China the second part of the Yang Lan interview aired (part 1 is at the bottom of this post).

Here’s the video to part 2, and here’s Raymond’s translation of Yang Lan’s blog post about the interview, which is good stuff.

YaoMania spoke to Yao several hours before Sunday’s Phoenix-Houston game at Toyota Center before Yao started his workout. Yao told us that the doctors would be checking out his foot, and based on their determination, decide if he could shoot baskets Sunday without his protective boot on, something he hasn’t done since the surgery. It turns out they must have cleared him to shoot free throws, just like we thought they might, since free throws don’t put any pressure on his feet in comparison to jump shots.

You may remember how we shot video of Yao in the fall shooting baskets from a chair to keep weight off his foot. Yao told us on Sunday afternoon he really hadn’t been shooting any baskets at all the past several weeks and months - especially since he had been in China the past few weeks — and also because he had plenty of time to regain his shooting touch before next season. That’s why we find it amazing that Yao reportedly hit 92 of 100 free throws Sunday without really having any practice lately!

Here are more photos of Yao shooting the free throws, and here’s some video.

In the video you’ll hear Rockets’ broadcaster Bill Worrell saying that the TV crew spoke to Rockets management that Yao was videotaped shooting free throws without his protective boot on, and that Rockets’ management was surprised by that news. But it’s obviously a mis-communication since Yao told us as he was headed to Toyota Center, that there was no way he was going to shoot baskets unless he was cleared by the doctors after they examined his foot.

After arriving back in the U.S. from China on Friday the 22nd, Yao attended the Rockets-Hawks game on Monday night. He worked out at Toyota Center earlier in the day. Notice how Yao no longer needs crutches, but he’s still wearing his protective boot.

Click here for more photos from the game.

It’s clear the Rockets, who lost their second straight game at home and haven’t been playing very well lately, are really missing Yao these days. Some fans who thought the Rockets might not need Yao when they were hot earlier in the season are definitely thinking he would be a valuable asset to have now.

Yao returned to Houston from China a couple of days ago for a check-up on his foot. It’s unknown how long he’ll stay in Houston since his charity gala scheduled for this coming Saturday has been moved to March 28th. The reasons for the postponement are unknown, but I’m guessing the upcoming Rockets’ “Tux & Tennies” charity event scheduled during the All-Star break two weeks after Yao’s event made it necessary to spread things out a bit.

in the meantime, Raymond has translated one of the best interviews of Yao spoken in Chinese. The interview was recorded about 12 days ago but was recently released. If you understand Mandarin, you should definitely check out the video.

If you don’t understand the language, you can read Raymond’s translation here, who worked very hard on it because of the length of the interview.

In the interview, Yao talks about the following:

* What the 2010 Shanghai EXPO means to him.
* His injuries and the earliest possible timeframe for his return to the court
* The prospects of Chinese basketball in the post-Yao era
* His plan for the Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks
* The changes he went through the past 10 years
* What money means to him

ANOTHER interview of Yao is also available. Click here for the video or here for Raymond’s translation and more photos from the interview session. The interview was recorded on January 7th, but aired January 23rd in China on Yang Lan’s One-on-One show. Part 2 airs January 30th.

Overall, if you’re a Yao fan and you understand Mandarin, you couldn’t find better interviews of Yao to watch. I don’t think I’ve ever seen video interviews of Yao that are this long and detailed. If you don’t understand Mandarin, Raymond’s translations are excellent.

For the first time, Yao sat on the bench with his players (John Lucas III at far left) and staff as he watched his Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks win their 4th game in a row, and 10th overall, with a Wednesday night victory over the Quingdao Double Stars Hawks.

Click here for more photos of Yao on the bench, and here for details of the game.

The next day, Yao attended the 100 Day Countdown Celebration for the Shanghai 2010 EXPO since he is the Global Ambassador/Image Spokesperson for the Shanghai EXPO.

Click here for lots of colorful photos from the festivities. They know how to throw a shindig in China!

On Saturday, Yao (along with Mr Zhou Qifeng, the new president of Peking University) was a presenter at the 2009 CCTV/Anta Sports Personality Award Show in Beijing where he presented the Best Female Athlete of the Year award.

Yao Ming was also there as a nominee for the Special Contribution Award. He knew beforehand that he had little chance to win the award. He told CCTV reporters before entering the show that he did not know why he was nominated for the award in the first place. He said he was injured and sidelined for most of 2009 and did not think he had made any contribution to his sports and his team at all in 2009.

Click here for more photos of Yao at the awards ceremony.

The Shanghai Morning News also ran an interview of Yao the past couple of days. In this article that Raymond translated, Yao talks about the following:

- The progress of his rehabilitation. Since coming to China in mid-December, his workouts never stopped. He practiced and trained every morning for 3 hours, including biking, strength and conditioning exercises, jogging in the pool, etc. His personal trainer Anthony Falsone returned back to the U.S. last Wednesday. Yao returns in a few days to get a check-up on his foot.

- How he’ll have to change his style of play to fit in with the Rockets’ current style of play

- His aspirations for his Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks

- His rationale for choosing Bob Donewald Jr. as the head coach for the Shanghai team

- His current feeling about becoming a father, including what it was like to see a sonogram of his baby due to be born in July.

Click here to read the entire interview.

Raymond reports the following from China…

Yao cheers on his Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks to beat Wang ZhiZhi’s Bayi Fubong Rockets 119-113 in OT Wednesday night.

It was the first time a team of Yao’s had beaten a team with Wang ZhiZhi on it in almost 10 years. For more photos of Yao and details of the game, click here.

On Friday, Yao’s Sharks beat Fujian SBS Xunxin 116-102…

Click here for more details and photos from the game.

Between both games on Thursday night, Yao attended with his wife the show of Shanghainese comedian Zhou Libo…

Click here for more details and photos of their night at the show, and meeting with Zhou Libo afterwards.

Since promoting the Shanghai Expo in Los Angeles at the start of the New Year, Yao returned to China. Raymond reports that on Thursday, January 7th, Yao for the first time in months got rid of his crutches and appeared in the recording of a Phoenix TV talk show: “The Zhou Libo Show” 壹周·立波秀, a talk show similar to some of the late night talk shows in the U.S. where the host Zhou Libo, a famous Shanghainese comedian that Yao Ming likes to watch, chats and crack jokes with his guests on news and happenings around the world and China.

Click here for more photos of Yao on the talk show.

Then on Saturday, January 9th, Yao shot a commercial and gave an interview (click here for the video, which is very slow to stream in the U.S.)

For the first time in public, Yao admitted there will be a new addition to his family. He thanked his fans for their support and good wishes, and asked that everyone give him and his wife some room while they rest and prepare for the arrival of their newborn child in a few months.

He also clarified the rumor that he can now walk normally without his crutches. He said he could now walk on his own for about 50 meters, but if it’s any longer than that, then his doctors advise that he still use the crutches.