Yao comes out to the perimeter to defend against the Spurs’ Tony Parker Thursday night in San Antonio. Houston got rolled in the game, losing 86-80. Yao finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds. For more photos from the game, click here. Photo courtesy of NBAE via Getty Images.

by John

What a joke. The Rockets were outclassed in every way Thursday night against San Antonio on national TV. It was embarrassing. I am so flustered, I can’t file another report on a bad loss like this. Forget the final score of 86-80. The Rockets made a run in the fourth quarter to make it look closer than it really was.

Houston was down by 9 points after the first quarter (21-12), 13 after the second (49-36), 18 after the third (70-52), 20 points in the fourth, then made a meaningless run when the pressure was off to lose 86-80.

They were out-hustled to loose balls and let the Spurs have their way to get into the lane, outscoring them 36-14 in the paint in the first half alone. Yao was the entire offense in the first half, scoring 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting. But then he only scored 1 point the rest of the game AND ONLY TOOK 1 SHOT IN THE 2nd HALF.

T-Mac had only scored 4 points on 0-for-7 shooting in the first half, but then scored 23 on 8-of-15 the rest of the way to finish with 27 points on 8-of-22 shooting, 12 rebounds and 4 assists.

Other than Yao, T-Mac, and Luther Head (11 points on 4-of-7 shooting), everyone else was abysmal. Check out these stats:

Rafer Alston: 2 points / 1-of-6 FGs; 3 assists
Juwan Howard: 4 points / 1-of-6 FGs
Derek Anderson: 2 points / 1-of-4 FGs; 1 assist
David Wesley: 6 points / 2-of-6 FGs
Jon Barry: 3 points / 1-of-2 FGs

This is about as low as it gets, people. Look for a resignation, firing, and/or massive trade soon. If one of these things doesn’t happen, it probably won’t get better anytime soon.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To read the Houston Chronicle’s story of the game, click here.

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

I ask the above question after seeing tonight that former Rocket point guard Mike James, traded for Rafer Alston on October 4th, went off again for the second time in 3 games.

Tonight (Wednesday night), James scored a career-high 38 points and dished out 9 assists! Just last Sunday, James scored 36 points . Sure, the Raptors are losing, but he is still extremely productive.

Man, I’m sorry to keep harping on it, but I can’t believe the Rockets traded a guy we all knew had skills the Rockets sorely need right now — scoring, and now assists. On the day the trade happened, I wrote an entry that expressed my shock and disappointment on the deal.

You can check out James’ stats by clicking here. Check out Rafer Alston’s stats by clicking here. I’m sad to say, the numbers speak for themselves.

So what do you think? You can provide your thoughts in this discussion forum thread.

Yao puts up a hook shot over Minnesota’s Michael Olowokandi on Tuesday night. Despite a rough start for Yao and the Rockets, Houston made a comeback in the second half to trip up the Timberwolves 94-89. Yao finished with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and grabbed 7 rebounds. For more photos from the game, click here. Photo courtesy of NBAE via Getty Images.

by John

TUESDAY, 11/15/05 – Finally the Rockets showed some heart in the fourth quarter of a game Tuesday night, beating Minnesota on the road 94-89. The victory wasn’t pretty, but these days they will take any victory they can get. Give credit to clutch plays by T-Mac in the fourth quarter, and some long-awaited scoring by a supporting cast that had gone AWOL for most of the season.

Yao got off to a terrible start. In the first three minutes, Michael Olowokandi took Yao to school twice for two buckets, got Yao to pick up two fouls, and blocked one of his shots. It was an inauspicious start for Yao.

Meanwhile, the Rockets missed 8 of their first 9 shots and quickly fell behind 11-2. I thought, “Uh-oh, here we go again.” This time the Rockets didn’t have the excuse they had on Sunday of playing back-to-back games since they hadn’t played in 48 hours.

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The day after the debacle in Boston, check out a Boston writer’s perspective about Yao and the Rockets’ 102-82 loss against the Celtics on Sunday night. Even a Boston writer can tell how bad the Rockets were.

Yao tries to stop the Celtics’ Mark Blount Sunday night as Boston had a party at Houston’s expense, blowing them out 102-82. For more photos from the game, click here. Photo courtesy of NBAE via Getty Images.

by John

SUNDAY, 11/13/05 – I’ve got a couple of things to say after the Rockets got blown out of Boston Sunday night 102-82.

1) Coach Jeff Van Gundy coached one of his worst games in recent memory
2) The trade of Mike James for Rafer Alston continues to haunt Houston
3) The scoring punch we expected Derek Anderson to deliver is not happening

Regarding point #1 above, it was unbelievable how the Rockets kept leaving Celtic center Raef LaFrentz open for wide open three-pointers. LaFrentz was 7-for-7 from behind the three-point line in the first half alone. You would think after he hit the 3rd or 4th three-pointer, some defense would be put on him.

Alston was absolutely worthless (again), going 0-for-5 through the first three quarters and getting one assist. What were the Rockets thinking when they traded James, who scored 36 points (including 6 three-pointers!) for Toronto Sunday against Seattle? Oh yeah, I forgot. Point guards who play under the Jeff Van Gundy system shouldn’t be scorers. They should be passers first.

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Yao shows his speed in trying to defend New Jersey’s Richard Jefferson on Saturday night in New Jersey. Although Yao scored 18 points on 5-of-7 shooting, T-Mac was the star of the game, miraculously scoring 35 points, grabbing 10 boards, dishing 4 assists, and blocking 3 shots in his first game off the injured list. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

SATURDAY, 11/12/05 – Tonight’s game between Houston and New Jersey had to be one of the greatest games of a player coming off the injured list seen in recent NBA history.

We were all pleased to see Tracy McGrady get back into the starting lineup tonight, about two weeks ahead of schedule. No one could fault him for shooting 1-for-9 in the first half and scoring only 5 points. As of Thursday, the dude wasn’t even expected to play for a couple more weeks. He was going to be rusty. He’s human. At least in the first half he was contributing with 6 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal, and a block.

But in the third quarter he showed he is more than human by warming up and hitting 5-of-8 for 10 points.

Then when the Rockets needed him in the fourth quarter, T-Mac stepped up and scored 20 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 4-of-4 from three-point territory! Result? The Rockets broke their three-game losing streak and won on the road in New Jersey, 99-91.

I typically would claim a performance like T-Mac’s on Saturday night had to be one of the most amazing second halves played by a Rocket player in years. But when you’re talking about T-Mac, it really isn’t. On March 28th of this year, T-Mac scored 22 points in the fourth quarter to pull out a win in Utah.

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Yao shoots a jump hook over Alonzo Mourning in Miami Thursday night, and was playing very well against him in the first half, scoring 14 points. But in the fourth quarter, Yao and Houston’s offense struggled again and they lost their third straight, 88-84. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

THURSDAY, 11/10/05 – This is getting ridiculous. In my last post after Tuesday night’s game (see entry directly below), I mentioned maybe the Rockets might eventually regret trading point guard Mike James during the off-season because they could really use his offense right now. Well, I don’t think we have to wait any longer: trading Mike James was a mistake. When I first heard about the trade on October 4th, I cringed. But I thought we should give it a chance because the Rockets usually know what they are doing. But without Tracy McGrady in the lineup, these Houston guards are ‘offensively’ terrible right now, no pun intended.

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Yao meets up with old teammate Steve Francis before Tuesday night’s game between the Rockets and Magic. Francis was finally able to get beat his old team since the trade, leading Orlando to a 76-74 victory with 27 points. Without T-Mac, Yao scored 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting. For more photos from the game, click here.

by John

TUESDAY, 11/08/05 – With Tracy McGrady out because of a bruised spine, the Rockets are in big trouble. With all the talent on the team, no one thought they would struggle offensively as much as they have their past two games without T-Mac. The Rockets shot poorly again (37%) and lost to a winless Orlando team 74-71 Tuesday night at home. It probably won’t get much better as Houston embarks on a tough 5-game road trip.

Maybe a repeat of last year’s 5-11 start could happen again this season? Oh well, if the Astros can start off poorly for the second straight year and still make it to the World Series, they there is still hope for the Rockets to get to the Finals.

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Yao goes up against New Orleans/Oklahoma City’s PJ Brown on Saturday night in a frustrating game for the Rockets, who led by 8 points with about six minutes remaining in the game, but got blasted by the Hornets down the stretch. Playing without the injured Tracy McGrady, Yao scored 20 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and had 7 blocks in the 91-84 loss.

by John

SATURDAY, 11/5/05 – Recently whenever New Orleans has hit troubling times, Houston has been there to help. And I’m not only talking about Hurricane Katrina. I’m talking about the Rockets giving away games to the New Orleans Hornets last season, this preseason, and once again…Saturday night at Houston’s Toyota Center.

Houston and the Hornets played an ugly game against each other, but at least the Rockets had the game in hand in the fourth quarter leading 82-74 with 6:09 remaining. But then Houston’s offense shut down faster than the city’s freeways during a hurricane evacuation, or Houston Astros bats in a World Series. New Orleans/Oklahoma City (a.k.a. “NOK” for short) took advantage of Houston’s struggles, broke out of its own shooting slump, and blew past them on a 17-2 run to stun the Rocks once again, 91-84.

Yao was playing a great game, hitting 6-of-12 in the first three quarters for 16 points, and rejecting everything in sight (7 blocks overall, matching his career high). But he ran out of gas down the stretch (37 minutes of action, six minutes above his average) and missed 8 of his last ten shots. Jeff Van Gundy probably played Yao more minutes because of T-Mac’s absence, but it’s reasonable to wonder why JVG didn’t budget Yao’s minutes more wisely.

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John Lopez of the Houston Chronicle had some good things to say about Yao after Wednesday night’s season opener. I agree with everything he says about Yao in this article.

Additional commentary from Lopez can also be heard by clicking here (requires the Real Player to be installed).