Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy agonizes over a humiliating performance by his team to the lowly New Orleans Hornets, the team with the worst record in the league. The Rockets lost 76-73 in part because Yao Ming did not play because of a calf injury. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

FRIDAY, 4/1/05 – Yao was held out of Friday’s game night against the New Orleans Hornets because of swelling in his calf resulting from an injury that occurred late in Wednesday’s game against Portland.

What a difference it made. Without Yao, the Rockets struggled offensively more than anyone could expect, losing to the second-worst team in the league 76-73. The Hornets are now 17-54.

Ironically, like Yao, yours truly is not in very good shape. I have been laid up because of a bad case of the flu, so I’m going to have to punt on covering this game. If I had to skip one game to cover, this one is it since Yao didn’t play and the Rockets shot a dismal 31% from the field.

Now excuse me as I go back to sleep.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 1st, 2005 at 11:55 pm and is filed under vs. New Orleans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.