Yao throws one down Wednesday night against the Sonics on his way to a dominating 29-point, 10-rebound, 5-assist, 3-steal game. The Rockers enjoyed a rare blowout victory, defeating Seattle 115-97 after holding a huge 40-point lead in the third quarter.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 3/29/06 – If only the Rockets could have played like this without T-Mac weeks ago.

That’s what I was thinking after watching the Rockets destroy the Seattle Sonics Wednesday night at Toyota Center, 115-87.

Although Seattle had a mediocre record before the game (29-41), they actually have beaten some decent teams recently: San Antonio on Sunday in Seattle, then Memphis Tuesday night in Tennessee. But playing 3 games in four days really isn’t fair for any team. You had to think the Sonics were dead tired, and it didn’t help that their second-leading scorer, Rashard Lewis, was sitting out because of a sprained ankle.

The game was over after the first quarter as the Rockets held a 29-10 lead, the lowest number of points they have allowed an opponent all season in a first quarter. Seattle shot only 3-of-21 in the first quarter while Houston pushed their fast break more than any other time this season.

I’m sorry, but the league’s scheduling has got to be overhauled. It’s ridiculous that teams are forced to play so many games in such a short period. They need to cut down the length of the pre-season and spread those extra days throughout the regular season.

The Rockets widened the lead to 32 points by halftime, doubling Sonics’ offensive output to lead 64-32. They had 9 fast break points to Seattle’s three, and had a 22-8 advantage in points in the paint.

Yao was amazing, scoring 12 points and grabbing 6 points by halftime. He had a couple of sweet moves around the basket that befuddled smaller Sonic defenders, showing his “unstoppability.”

Even more impressive was Stromile Swift, who was scoring at will (6-of-8 for 12 points by half) both inside and outside, including a jump hook along the baseline that hit the top of the backboard, bounced a couple of times on the backboard, dropped and hit the rim, bounced a couple of times, and fell through for the basket! He also had a couple of sweet dunks off assists from Yao, and a couple of long jumpers near the top of the key. He was showing it all.

A lot of people have been down on Stro’ this year, including Jeff Van Gundy, but I am still bullish on him. He reminds me of how many critics who cracked on Robert Horry early in his career, and didn’t get more consistent until a few years into his career.

Another big unexpected surprise was newly acquired Richie Frahm hitting 3-of-3 from three-point territory. Maybe the Rockets have found a consistent 3-point shooter in this disappointing season after all!

Back to the game…scoring their most amount of points in a first half this season (64), the Rockets were shooting an incredible 63% at half compared to 22.5% for Seattle.

The Rockets kept pouring it on in the third quarter, opening up a 40-point lead. Yao was even better in the third, scoring 17 more points in the quarter on 6-of-7 shooting and 5-of-5 from the line. He rested the entire fourth quarter, finishing the game with 29 points (9-of-14 from the field, 11-of-11 from the line), 12 rebounds, a season-high 5 assists, and a career-high in steals (3), all in just 29 minutes.

Frahm and Swift both finished with 16 points each. Juwan Howard played another solid game, scoring 13 points on 6-of-7 shooting. And both of Houston’s guards, Rafer Alston (10 points, 8 assists) and Luther Head (14 points, 5 assists), shot 5-of-12 from the field. A solid game all the way around.

The 31-40 Rockets are now 4.5 games behind the Sacramento Kings for the eighth and final spot for the playoffs, with only 11 games remaining. You already know there’s no way they will make the playoffs, but after Wednesday’s game you’ve got to be encouraged that the talent is in this team to position them decently for next season.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 29th, 2006 at 11:59 pm and is filed under vs. OK City/Seattle, Yao's best games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.