Yao gets hacked by Golden State’s Adonal Foyle in Oakland on Monday night in a wild game, with the Rockets holding off a mad rush by the Warriors to win their fifth game in a row, 97-94. Click here for more photos from the game.

by Chia-Chi

TUESDAY, 3/15/05 – The Golden State Warriors personified a hungry team and provided some unexpected turbulence for a Rockets team that continues to soar. While the Rockets now extend their winning streak to five games, beating the best of the West on their way (Suns, Sonics, Kings), the road weary Rockets team faced a final road trip game that was far from easy.

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Sacramento’s Mike Bibby runs into the Great Wall of Yao on Sunday in Sac-town. The Rockets continue to stun the West, beating the Kings 111-96 in their own gym. Yao scored 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting and hit 7-of-8 clutch free throws. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

SUNDAY, 3/13/05 – Not having won a game at Arco Arena this century, the Rockets came into Sacramento having beaten three of the top four teams in the West: the Mavericks, Sonics and Suns.

Surely the Rockets were due for a loss. That’s what Houston teams are typically known for doing: when they play well and win several in a row, they get complacent and lose games they should win, right? Especially in an arena like Sacramento’s where they have folded multiple times, and with a national television audience watching to boot, right?

Not this Houston team. They are something special to behold in Rocket-lore.

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3/12/05, SATURDAY – The game versus the Suns was easily Yao’s best game of the season. Possibly one of the best of his career. For those of you who saw the game you witnessed exactly what I did. For those of you that didn’t see it, let me sum it up: Imagine Yao as the superstar everyone hyped him up to be, a player that changed the game, a dynasty player, a player that you just watch in awe, imagine Yao playing to his fullest potential – that was Yao against the Suns. Dominant, unstoppable, a force.

27 points, 22 rebounds, 5 blocks.

It is hard to describe what transpired last night, but it was nothing less than complete domination of the best team and the best offense in the league. It was a Rockets offense so in tune that it scored 41 points in the fourth quarter. It was a hungry, aggressive,in-your-face Yao that scored a double-double in the fourth quarter alone.

It was defense so smothering it limited the Suns to 14 points in the fourth. It was blowing out the best team and doubling their previously largest loss margin at their home. It was Yao completely shutting down Amare Stoudamire’s offense in the second half making him alter and miss countless shots and blocking four of them. It was T-Mac playing like a madman that couldn’t miss if he tried. It was a Rocket’s team that feared nothing and believed they can make it all the way.

But more than just a huge victory, there was a change. A slight change, but a change that holds the possibility for so much more. Finally we saw Yao imposing his will on the game, grabbing rebounds like a machine, scoring like a machine, and playing as if nothing could stop him.

It was embarrassing for the Suns. It was a defining moment in the Rockets’ season. It is a warning shot to all the other teams in the league. The Rockets and Yao are coming.

Chia-Chi
zenithnadir@YaoMingFanClub.com

Yao reacts after scoring two of his 27 points in a shocking 127-107 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Friday. Yao also grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

FRIDAY, 3/11/05 – With Bob Sura returning to the lineup for the first time Friday since being put on the injured list a couple of weeks ago, everyone expected the Rockets to at least be competitive against an awesome Phoenix Suns offense. But there was no way they were going to win considering they were in for a “track meet” and certain to fade down the stretch.

Instead, the exact opposite happened. Sura’s contribution was minimal (2 points on 1-of-5 shooting, two rebounds). But the one-two punch of Shaq-Kobe, er, I mean Yao-T-Mac carried the Rockets to an improbable 127-107 victory against the best offense in the league…and on the road in Phoenix!

The Rockets were down 14 points in the third quarter that made most pre-game predictions look like they were going to be fulfilled. But their 41-17 outburst in the fourth quarter was completely unexpected, thanks to Yao and T-Mac doing their thing.

Yao was incredible in this game, dominating in the fourth quarter with 14 points to finish with 27 overall on 10-of-18 shooting (7-of-9 from the free throw line). Yao also grabbed a career-high 22 rebounds and had 5 blocks. Maybe I’ve been reading too much hype about Amare Stoudemire, but I couldn’t believe that Yao was able to take Stoudemire (who only scored 7 points on 2-of-10 shooting) to school like he did in the second half. Four of Yao’s 5 blocks came against Stoudemire, leaving him discombobulated.

Rather than myself include lots of quotes here about how amazed Yao’s teammates were with his performance, you’ve got to read all the props they gave Yao after the game by clicking here and reading the Houston Chronicle’s coverage of the game.

T-Mac was also amazing, scoring 38 points on 16-of-27 shooting, filling it up with 21 points in the second half. He also had 9 rebounds. What else can you say about him? He’s unbelievable.

Other amazing stats of this game were that the Rockets outscored the Suns 20-9 in fast break points, and had 6 steals to Phoenix’s three.

My colleague Chia-Chi is traveling right now, but he will provide his take of Friday’s game later today (Saturday).

Now that the Rockets have won two games in a row on the road that hardly anyone expected them to win (Seattle and now Phoenix), the hopes of a sweep of the remaining games on this road trip (Sacramento and Golden State) may amazingly be possible.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

Yao shoots a jumper over Jerome James Tuesday night in Seattle in a shocking 97-95 victory against the Sonics, the third-seeded team in the West right now. Yao had a dominating fourth quarter, scoring 10 points and exhibiting much welcomed toughness. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

TUESDAY, 3/8/05 – The Rockets headed into Seattle’s Key Arena Tuesday night, a place that hasn’t been very friendly to them over the years. They have only won 5-of-17 games at Key, and are 23-54 overall in Seattle. Facing one of the top teams in the West, the task wasn’t going to be easy. ClubYao’s Chia-Chi was in the arena for Tuesday’s game, and he will be filing his up close and personal report on Wednesday morning.

Well, at first it looked like it was going to be easy when the Rockets took a quick 6-0 lead, but the Sonics then went on a 28-6 run by outclassing the Rockets, getting to the hoop very easily and hitting uncontested three-pointers. It was “bombs away” for the Sonics, who hit their five treys in a row in the quarter and held a 16-point lead at one point.

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Yao drives past Dallas center Shawn Bradley on Sunday in Houston. The Rockets defeated the Mavericks 90-69, who were without Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley and Erick Dampier because of injuries. Yao scored 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in 28 minutes of play. Click here for more photos from the game.

by Chia-Chi

SUNDAY, 3/6/05 – On Sunday, the Rockets dominated the Dallas Mavericks for a surprising 90-69 victory. But Dallas has been plagued by injuries lately, with leading scorer Dirk Nowitzki a late scratch from the line-up Sunday because of mysterious knee swelling from the Mavericks’ game against the Lakers on Friday. Michael Finley has also been out of the lineup because of a bruised calf, and the Mavs’ main line of defense against Yao, the meaty Erick Dampier, has also been hurt.

But after losing four out of their last five games, any addition to the Rockets’ W column is welcomed by Rocket fans.

One of the areas head coach Jeff Van Gundy emphasized before the game was the team’s offensive rebounding, and the Rockets delivered in the first quarter, collecting 6 in that quarter alone. Yao also came out active in the first, scoring four quick points. His rebounding also improved, collecting 9 boards in the first half. But even without their leading scorers the Mavericks kept the game close, ending the first quarter down only 20-18.

However, the Rockets’ defense glowed in the second, leading to Maverick turnovers and fast break opportunities, holding the Mavs to 37% shooting. By the end of the second quarter the Rockets had amassed a 44-35 lead.

However, Shawn Bradley did a good job defending Yao in the first half, limiting his touches and holding him to 2-of-5 shots. But a pep talk during halftime seemed to invigorate Yao, who came out with six HUGE points in a row to deflate a Mavericks run that put them within 1 point.

The first play was off a nice pass from T-Mac, which lead to a two-handed jam that the Maverick’s offense could only watch in vain. The second was a pass to Yao while triple-teamed. With a quick release, he got the shot off, which was goaltended. The third was a — *gasp* — pass to Yao off a pick-and-roll. Yao’s path to the basket was partially blocked by Shawn Bradley, so he paused and used some nice footwork to get around Bradley to finish with a huge jam.

The majority of the fourth quarter was played by T-Mac, Dikembe Mutombo,
Jon Barry and Mike James. While the Rockets offense was slow in the beginning, they quickly found their offensive and defensive pace and dismantled the Mavericks’ hopes. Mutombo did a great job guarding the basket, and the Houston guards forced multiple turnovers.

The Mavericks offense grinded to a halt, scoring only 14 points in the final quarter. Yao came in for the final few minutes while the Rockets were up by 20 and scored four more points, including an emphatic dunk in the final minutes to seal the victory.

While the victory was expected against a short-handed Mavericks team, the win was still critical in building the Rockets’ confidence, especially heading into a road trip against Seattle and Phoenix. On a
good note, Bob Sura will play on the road trip, and none too late.

In other developments, the team seems to be getting more comfortable passing to Yao off the pick-and-roll, which can only be a good sign. Van Gundy also seems to have cooled off Mike James‘ offensive engines in return for defensive output.

The Rockets play Seattle on Tuesday to start their four game road trip. I personally will be watching live from Key Arena to provide Yao Ming Fan Club coverage. Go Rox!

Chia-Chi
zenithnadir@YaoMingFanClub.com

John’s take of the game

With Dirk Nowitzki, Michael Finley and Erick Dampier out of this game, the Rockets had no excuses if they had lost this game. The Dallas offense clearly struggled in the first half without their big horses in the lineup. Things were looking good for the Rockets with their 44-35 lead and 29-21 rebounding advantage.

But the Rockets were on the verge of having their ego shattered when Dallas came back in the third quarter, going on a 12-0 run in the first four minutes to take a 47-46 lead. The Rockets half-court offense looked as bad as it did in November, missing shots and turning the ball over.

But as Chia-Chi mentioned above, something magical happened. The Rockets went on an 8-0 run, with Yao scoring 6 of those points. Then when Dikembe came into the game for Yao, he made his presence immediately felt, forcing the Mavericks to miss seven of their next 8 shots. By the end of the third quarter, the Rockets had righted the ship and led 61-55 and completed a 23-4 run that stretched from the third and into the fourth to lead 80-59 with 5:35 remaining.

Similar to the Rockets loss against the Spurs on February 23rd when they didn’t have Bob Sura in the lineup, the Mavericks held tight until the loss of a key player caught up with them and the bottom fell out. By scoring only 69 points, the Mavericks scored their least amount of points in 6 years. But give the Rockets credit for some good defense, too, especially Dikembe, who finished with four blocks.

One of the stories of this game was T-Mac getting hit in the chin, requiring him to go to the locker room and get six stitches. Coming out of the locker room, T-Mac wasn’t fazed one bit, finishing with 32 points on 11-of-22 shooting, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. Another amazing stat was the Rockets 17-6 advantage in fast break points against a team known for its run-and-gun offense.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

Yao stretches out for a rebound over the Wizards’ Antawn Jamison on Wednesday night in Washington. Yao had a below average game, scoring 11 points on only 3-of-9 shooting from the floor, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks. The Rockets ended up losing the game 101-98. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 3/2/05 – Just one day after getting lucky against the Chicago Bulls when shooting guard and catalyst Luol Deng had to leave his game against the Rockets for good, Houston had the exact opposite occur against them against Washington on Wednesday night.

Wizards guard Larry Hughes returned to the lineup for the first time after missing 20 games because of a broken thumb. Washington really missed him during his absence by winning only 9 of those games, and had lost 5 of their last six games. Hughes’ return made a big difference as he scored 31 points, grabbed 6 boards and had four assists to lead the Wizards to a 101-98 victory.

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Yao shoots one of his eight shots against the Bulls on Tuesday night in Chicago. Limited to only 11 minutes of action because of foul trouble, Yao scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting and grabbed only 3 rebounds. Luckily, the Rockets didn’t need Yao during a blowout win against the Bulls, 119-89. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

3/1/05, TUESDAY – What happens if you remove one valuable guard like Luol Deng from the Bulls lineup? Probably the same result as when you remove a veteran guard like Bob Sura from the Rockets line-up: a huge collapse.

In the first minute of play between the Bulls and Houston at Chicago’s United Center, Deng injured his ankle and did not return the rest of the game. Houston took advantage of his absence, went on an offensive tear and never looked back, winning 119-89.

You wouldn’t have thought this kind of victory could have happened considering the Bulls had won 6 of their last 7 games, 11 of its last 12 games at home, and had a very respectable record of 29-24, the same record as Houston’s record less three wins.

Because of Deng’s injury, T-Mac exploited the mismatch by taking his replacement on the defensive end, Kirk Hinrich, to the hoop and scoring 10 points in the first quarter, including a sweet alley-oop on a fast break to T-Mac for a beautiful layup. Yao had 8 points in the quarter, scoring on 3-of-3 shooting from the field. The Rockets also made 9 of their last 11 shots in the quarter to finish with 70% shooting in the quarter and lead 36-24.

In the second quarter, the Rockets opened up a 20-point lead, 48-28, after Mike James hit a jumper. After Dikembe Mutombo picked up his third foul of the game, Yao entered the game and immediately picked up his third foul by fouling Eddy Curry with 6:12 remaining until halftime.

As an indicator of how things were going for Chicago, Curry stepped to the line and missed the two ensuing free throws. That made it four missed free throws in a row by Curry. The Rockets took advantage, hitting more shots to bump the lead to 52-28. Curry was fouled again, and missed his first free throw, making it 5 misses in a row. But he hit his second, bringing them to 52-29.

The Rockets kept pouring it on. Jon Barry then hit a jumper, and after a T-Mac steal, Barry pulled up for another one of his three-pointers on a fast break to put the Rockets up 57-33. By halftime, the Rockets led 66-39, the most amount of points they have scored in a first half all season long.

By the intermission, Mike James had been sensational, having scored 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting. T-Mac’s mismatch against Hinrich led to 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. The Rockets shot an amazing 61% from the field compared to Chicago’s 39%.

Houston also hit 5-of-8 from three-point territory, and had an 18-0 advantage in points off turnovers, only turned the ball over three times, and had a 9-0 lead in fast break points.

After halftime, the Rockets scored 5 straight points after James hit a three-pointer, pushing the lead to 71-39. Yao, who started the second half, picked up his fourth foul only one minute into the third quarter, forcing him to check out.

You had to be really upset if you were a Yao fan. He just can’t keep himself from committing silly fouls, but at least his team was winning despite him. Not a good sign if you’re trying to keep yourself an essential component of the offense.

The Rockets run since the start of the first half was extended to 9-1 before Bulls’ coach Scott Skiles decided to overhaul his lineup and replace every player on the floor since the Rockets lead was 75-40.

Having played only 7 minutes in the game because of foul trouble, Yao came into the game at the start of the fourth quarter, surprising since the Rockets led 97-65. He proceeded to hit a fallaway jumper to draw oohs from the crowd to push the Rockets lead to 99-67.

Yao continued to redeem himself from his early foul troubles by drawinig more oohs from the Chicago contingent, pump faking on Othella Harrington, then doing a quick 360 spin move that no other 7’6” guy has ever done and faking Harrington out even more, then took two steps toward the hoop and threw it down one-handed, pushing the lead to 101-67!

That was the highlight of the quarter as the Rockets cruised to their huge 119-89 victory. The Rockets finished shooting 55.5% from the floor, a slight decrease from their incredible 59.4% after three quarters. That was an amazing stat, considering the Bulls lead the league in opponents field goal percentage, limiting opponents to 41.9% shooting.

T-Mac finished with 32 points and 7 assists after only three quarters of play, not needing to play a minute in the fourth. The surprising star of the game was new point guard Mike James, who scored 26 points on 11-of-15 shooting and 4-of-5 three-pointers. He also did what point guards should do, dishing out 5 dimes.

And although Yao only played 12 minutes, he finished with a respectable 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, but he only grabbed three rebounds. Fortunately for Yao, he got plenty of rest leading up to Wednesday night’s game in Washington against the Wizards.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To read the Houston Chronicle’s post-game analysis, click here.