Yao shoots over New Jersey’s Nenad Krstic on his way to scoring 36 points and grabbing 9 boards. But several of Yao’s teammates shot poorly, leading to a disappointing loss, 90-77. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

MONDAY, 3/13/06 – Behind three games in the standings for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with only 19 games to play, the Rockets could not afford to lose to the Nets on Monday night. Although the Nets are good, they are beatable since the Rockets had beaten them 3 games in a row. Second, it was a home game for Houston at Toyota Center. Earlier in the season that didn’t mean much, but lately they have won their last 3 games at home.

Yao put his team on his back, scoring 36 points, making 18-of-20 free throws, and grabbing 9 boards. But without T-Mac and David Wesley in the lineup, the Rockets had to rely on Yao’s supporting cast to shoot decently. They didn’t. The Nets ended up with an easy victory, winning 90-77, and IMHO virtually dooming Houston’s chances of making the playoffs. They are now 3.5 games behind with 18 to play, but they still have to play Dallas, San Antonio, the Clippers, and Dallas again over their next four games.

The Rockets shot a season-low 34.2% against the Nets. Here were the culprits:

Stromile Swift: 1-for-5 overall, 2 points
Rafer Alston: 1-for-5 from three-point territory
Keith Bogans: 1-for-12 (ouch), 2 points
Juwan Howard: 3-for-13 (ouch), 9 points

This report is going to be very short because of work deadlines I’m facing this week. In fact, my reports all week will probably be short because of my work duties, and if the Rockets continue to lose as the season winds down. It’s kind of depressing to write much about a game where the Rockets’ role players shoot awful while the season slips away before our eyes.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

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

San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili goes to the rack and throws down a left-handed jam late in the fourth quarter for a huge bucket on the way to defeating the Rockets 88-81. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

SUNDAY, 3/12/06 – On a pure coincidence, I was in San Antonio today during the Rockets-Spurs game. But I wasn’t at the game. Instead, I was stuck in the worst traffic jam I’ve ever been stuck in that backed up cars for 10 miles, on the verge of missing a flight out of San Antonio’s airport.

I couldn’t believe how bad the congestion was, and it didn’t even look like there was an accident! Instead, it looked it was all because of construction. Good going, San Antonio. Do construction on one of the most heavily-trafficked arteries on the one of the busiest afternoons of the week.

Needless to say, I wasn’t very happy with the city of San Antonio today, and I have even a bigger disdain for the city when the Rockets play the city’s team that has beaten them 16 games in a row at home.

Luckily when I got to the airport late, my flight was delayed. So I thought maybe my good luck would rub off on the Rockets and they could pull off an upset of the Spurs. I even had enough time to check out an airport TV and see that the Rockets held a 42-38 lead at halftime, and Yao had scored 17 points at the half.

But then I heard David Wesley was not going to be coming back into the game because of a rib injury. And that’s on top of T-Mac’s absence with a bad back.

Then I saw the Rockets fall apart in the third, with Yao getting only 3 shots in the quarter while the offense showed poor shot selection, scoring 11 points, their worst third quarter of the season.

Meanwhile, San Antonio had their way with Houston offensively in that third quarter, scoring 26 points. By the time the third was over, the Rockets were down by eleven, 64-53.

I had to cease watching the game and go catch my flight with the sinking feeling the Rockets were going to lose yet another game to the Spurs. However, after my plane landed, I heard the Rockets had made a run and almost pulled off a major upset, but they couldn’t close the deal and lost 88-81.

I had recorded the game on my Tivo and really wanted to see how the Rockets played in the fourth quarter. So I decided to watch what happened. I was pleasantly surprised to see a valiant comeback attempt.

Luther Head hit a big three-pointer to cut the San Antonio lead to 77-75 with 3:20 remaining. The Rockets’ prospects were still looking good with Houston trailing only 79-77 with about 2:30 remaining. But the game turned on the next 3 possessions.

Rick Brunson was guarding Michael Finley fairly well in the corner, but then he made a mistake in positioning and got caught in a pick, giving Finley a clear path to the basket for a slam dunk to make it 81-77.

On the ensuing possession, the Rockets turned it over, and the Spurs came down and Manu Ginobili threw a tough left-handed fallaway floater in the lane for a bucket, and that was about it, 83-77 with two minutes remaining.

For good measure with 1:08 remaining, Ginobili took Luther Head to school by getting him caught in a Tim Duncan pick, broke into the lane, shifted direction to fake Yao out, and threw it down with a left-handed dunk, giving them an 85-79 lead.

Finley rubbed some salt in Houston’s wound with 40 seconds remaining, hitting a wide-open three-pointer, and that was the ballgame.

In that fourth quarter, give credit to Luther for making 2-of-4 shots for four points, and Rafer Alston going strong to the hole and scoring 7 points on 3-of-6 shooting. Even the newest Rocket, Brunson, hit two treys in the fourth quarter to score 6 points.

Yao finished with 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting, made all 7 of this free throw attempts, and had 3 blocks. But he was smothered in the second half by San Antonio’s double and triple-teams, and Yao’s teammates couldn’t make the Spurs pay, especially in that third quarter.

One small concession is that Alston had his best shooting game in a long time, hitting half of his shots (7-of-14 for 15 points) and dishing five assists.

Keith Bogans (5-of-10 shooting for 11 points) played very well in place of T-Mac, out with a bad back for the next 5 weeks.

What’s sad is that the Rockets either beat or tied the World Champion Spurs in almost every statistical category, like:

Field Goal %: 46.4 (Rockets) vs. 45.6
FT%: 72.7 vs. 69.2
Rebounds: 39 vs. 40
Assists: 19 vs. 17
Steals: 8 vs. 8
Blocks: 4 vs. 3
3-pointers: 7-of-16 vs. 5-of-17

But they couldn’t make the plays down the stretch, which is that clutch performance championship teams like the Spurs are known for doing. Take T-Mac out of the Houston lineup, and the chances of Yao doing it all by himself against a team like the Spurs is extremely low.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

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

Yesterday it was announced that Tracy McGrady could miss up to 5 weeks because of his injured back. Oh boy. Click here for the story.

This is going to make a serious dent on Houston’s playoff hopes. Yao has been playing fantastic lately, and the Rockets have won their last two games without T-Mac, but to finish out the majority of the season without T-Mac and still make the playoffs is going to be tough.

Hopefully everyone else can pick up the slack, like Keith Bogans, who scored 14 points in T-Mac’s absence Wednesday night. But the Rockets’ chances aren’t good.

Let’s think positive, though, starting Sunday afternoon against the World Champion San Antonio Spurs.

Depressing, huh?

In case you didn’t see, I love this article from John Lopez from the Houston Chronicle.

Man, all the respect that Yao is getting around the league now is so sweet. His hard work has really paid off.

Yao goes up to score two of his season-high 38 points on Wednesday night, leading Houston to a 17-point comeback win against the Indiana Pacers. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 3/8/06 – You can’t beat what you saw Wednesday night if you’re a Yao Ming and Houston Rocket fan.

Down 17 points late in the third quarter, the Rockets came back to win one of their most electric – and important – games of the season, 103-99 against the favored Indiana Pacers.

Yao was absolutely unstoppable, scoring a season-high 38 points (14-of-21 from the field, 10-of-10 from the line), grabbing 10 boards and blocking 5 shots. What else can you say about him?

This was his third game in a row where he had scored at least 30 points and grabbed at least 10 rebounds. He scored 20 points in the first half, and scored 13 in a row for Houston starting near the end of the second quarter and the start of the third.

Needless to say, Yao knows what he’s doing down low and shooting with so much confidence, there is no way to stop him when he’s playing this well. He is playing at the level we all knew over the past four years he could reach. Hopefully he can keep it going. If he can, he could be one of the most dominant big men in NBA history.

Scoring 6 points in the fourth quarter, Yao had a lot of help in the fourth with Juwan Howard hitting 2-of-2 from the field in addition to the four points he scored at the end of the third. Keith Bogans scored 7, and Stromile Swift scored six. Altogether, the Rockets shot 7-of-10 from the field and 10-of-12 from the line in that pivotal quarter, while holding the Pacers to only 4-of-25 shooting.

Toyota Center was rocking like a college fieldhouse during the comeback, especially when Swift threw down a dunk off a sweet dish from Luther Head with 3:53 remaining that put the Rockets ahead 94-93 for their first lead since the first quarter!

The lead see-sawed a couple of more times, and then Stromile had another huge play with 2:13 remaining. Indiana’s Scot Pollard caught a long pass on a fast break underneath the basket and was about to lay it in to put Indiana up 99-98, but Stromile came out of nowhere to reject Pollard’s shot at the rim!

It didn’t look like the Rockets were going to be able to pull this game out since they committed 4 straight turnovers in the final few minutes, and gave up 4 offensive rebounds in one possession to the Pacers when Indiana was still down 98-97. After that series of offensive boards, the Rockets gave up a layup to Peja Stojakovic on an inbounds play to give Indiana a 99-98 lead.

But Yao intimidated two shots by Jeff Foster and a block on the next Pacer possession. After Houston got the rebound, Rafer Alston pushed it on offense and got it to Bogans for a hard driving layup that put Houston ahead for good 100-99 with 25.3 seconds remaining.

The rest of the way the Rockets held on defense and sank 4 free throws to get their biggest win of the season.

What’s amazing is that the Rockets went through most of the second half without T-Mac, whose back flared up on him again. T-Mac finished with “just” 15 points in 20 minutes of action.

But his teammates picked up the slack. Bogans, who replaced T-Mac in the second half, scored 14 points and grabbed 8 boards. Juwan Howard scored 16 points, and Rafer Alston dished a season-high 14 assists (and scored 5 points).

Altogether, the Rockets shot an amazing 53% from the floor, 81% from the line, and held Indiana to 39% shooting.

Now the Rockets will have a full 3 days of rest after winning their fourth game in a row, and their 7th win in their last 9 games. But it’s not going to get any easier. They play a brutal stretch of games against San Antonio, New Jersey, Dallas, San Antonio again, the Clippers, Dallas, New Orleans and Cleveland.

This stretch of games will make or break the Rockets season. No doubt about it. I have predicted sour results before against tough competition, but with the way Yao is playing, anything is possible – even without T-Mac.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

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

Yao rises above the T-Wolves for a beautiful hook shot on his way to 30 points, 13 boards and 4 blocks in an impressive Rocket win over Minnesota without T-Mac in the lineup. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

TUESDAY, 3/7/06 – Before the Rockets game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was announced that T-Mac wouldn’t play so that he could rest his back.

I then wrote down a note to myself that said, “If the Rockets win this game, it will be quite an accomplishment.” After all, the odds were stacked against them. They were playing without T-Mac (2-13 without him) on the road against a Minnesota team that also is vying for the 8th and final spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

And as we continue to witness the evolution of his greatness before our eyes, Yao Ming came up with yet another dominating performance, scoring 30 points, grabbing 13 boards and blocking 4 shots to propel the Rockets to a huge 93-87 victory Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

The chips were on the line, and he delivered big-time. The only thing he didn’t do was hit all of his free throws. He missed all four of his FT attempts in the first half (0-for-4), but he made all eight of his attempts in the second half to finish 8-for-12 from the line.

Also coming up big was Houston’s team defense. The Rockets trailed at the beginning of the fourth quarter 67-61, but then locked down on D and forced the T-Wolves to make only 1-of-19 shots in the quarter while the Rockets went on an amazing 18-3 run to take a 81-70 lead with 1:52 remaining.

It would have been cool if the Rockets could have played good defense through the final 1:52 and hold Minnesota to 3 points overall in the quarter, but then they (e.g. Rafer Alston) started committing stupid fouls and putting Minnesota on the line.

The T-Wolves ended up scoring 17 more points in garbage time to salvage their reputation, but give credit to Houston and their defense. It was a thing of beauty as they forced Minnesota to take bad shots.

Houston was awful in the first half. In the first quarter, the Rockets shot only 35% and trailed 25-16. In the second quarter, both teams shot terribly, with each team shooting 1-of-7 to start the quarter. But that’s when Yao made his move, shooting 4-of-7 from the field. Excluding Yao, the rest of the team shot only 3-of-15.

Except for that fourth quarter stretch where the Rockets clamped down, it was frustrating through the whole game watching lots of boneheaded plays, like missed layups (Keith Bogans, Alston), traveling on the way to an easy layup (David Wesley), throwing dumb passes when they had wide-open layups (Luther Head, among others), and missing 17 free throws!! (28-of-45)

Even with all those mistakes, Yao came through when the Rockets needed him most. He also got help from Alston, who hit 4-of-7 three-pointers. Without those threes, Minnesota would have run away with this game in the first half. Also chipping in was Stromile Swift, who went strong to the hole, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, and playing great D.

Houston is now only 3 games behind the Lakers for that final playoff spot, but they have a tough back-to-back on Wednesday night against Indiana at Toyota Center. The Pacers are in the middle of a pack of teams in the Eastern Conference where only two games separate the fifth team (currently Indiana) and the #8 team.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

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

The Houston Chronicle has an excellent article about Yao now that his scoring and rebounding averages are both in double figures (a.k.a. “double-double”). I love the sarcastic comments that Jeff Van Gundy makes. Click here to read the story.

Yao shows great reaction to a loose ball to snatch it away from Portland’s Brian Skinner, then takes it strong to the hole for a score. Yao was incredible again with 32 points and 13 rebounds to overwhelm the Blazers in a 102-84 victory Sunday night. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

SUNDAY, 3/5/06 – For the past four years, I have waited for the time where stating, “Yao dominated another game” would get old, but I never had reason to say it consistently. I can now.

Yao went off on the Blazers Sunday night in Houston, scoring 32 points and grabbing 13 boards to put away Portland, 102-84.

Surprisingly trailing 40-39 at halftime, the Rockets turned it around in the third quarter when Yao scored 17 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the field (and 7-of-9 from the line) to lead Houston to its highest scoring quarter of the season (37 points).

With those kind of stats, Yao was obviously unstoppable scoring down low with relative ease since Portland’s 7-foot center Joel Pryzbilla was out and their tallest starter was only 6’9”.

Portland’s coach Nate McMillan conceded how difficult it was to stop Yao. “Yao was too much for us,” McMillan said. “We tried doubling him and playing him straight up and he had an answer for whatever we put on him. When we double-teamed, he knocked down his shots.”

Portland’s Darius Miles agreed with McMillan: “(Yao) looked real good tonight. He was patient in the post and did what he had to. Yao is getting better ever year. You can see it.”

Jeff Van Gundy, who has been throwing a lot of compliments Yao’s way lately, had nothing but great things to say again about Yao after the game. Check this out from JVG:

“I think he is the best regular-season center in the NBA now. Some other guys may play better in the playoffs, but he’s the best during the season because he comes to play every night.”

“He’s had many good stretches, it’s just that sometimes we get caught up in the numbers. I look at the whole thing, his pick-and-roll coverage, his transition defense. I think he’s gotten better from his first game in the NBA through now.”

Teammate David Wesley acknowledged the same: “He’s becoming a powerful force inside for us. He’s doing a great job. Yao is becoming that dominating player we really need.”

Yao had the following to say:

“Since I came back (from toe surgery), my body feels the best it has ever felt. And I feel I’m playing my best. It’s a very special feeling right now. I can’t figure out what it is but I’m trying to keep it to the next game and the next game until the end of my career.”

More about the game:

Okay, enough about how great Yao is playing these days. He didn’t get off to that great of a start on Sunday night, going 2-for-10 from the field in the first quarter. But he recovered nicely, going 8-for-11 the rest of the way and making 12-of-15 free throws overall.

In that first quarter while Yao was struggling, T-Mac took over to score 12 points, equaling Portland’s offensive output and giving Houston a 25-12 lead. But their offense was dreadful in the second quarter, shooting 5-for-17 from the field, not scoring over a 5-minute stretch of play, and seeing Portland get back into the game with a 19-4 run.

I was a bit worried that they had let Portland – the team with the worst record in the Western Conference – back into the game and let them hang around. It would have been devastating if the Rockets had let Portland win this game since Houston needs to win as many games possible to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Luckily in that third quarter the Rockets finally got some separation from the Blazers thanks to Yao’s dominance, and took a 76-62 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Rockets didn’t let up in the fourth, staying aggressive and opening up a 92-70 lead at one point. They coasted the rest of the way.

It wasn’t all good news on Sunday, though. T-Mac (18 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals) had to leave the game near the end of the third quarter because of those back spasms again. Man, that’s all the Rockets need. Here they are playing a lot better, still have a chance to get the final playoff spot, and they get another injury. Hopefully it’s not serious, though. We’ll see before a big game Tuesday night in Minnesota, a team also battling the Rockets for that final playoff spot.

But even with Yao playing the way he is, they still won’t have a chance to win that spot unless T-Mac and Yao are in the lineup together for every remaining game left in the season. With the Lakers shocking upset of the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night, the Rockets are still four games behind the Lakers with 22 games remaining. I think the Rockets will have to go 15-7 the rest of the season and finish 42-40 to have a chance to play in the post-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.

Denver’s Carmelo Anthony goes up against Yao Friday night with no success in a loss to the Rockets 89-78. Yao finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds. To see more photos from the game, click here and here.

by John

FRIDAY, 3/3/06 – I was able to catch the second half of the Rockets-Nuggets game after coming back home from a business trip Friday night, and was impressed with how some of the Rockets came up with big shots and big blocks to beat Denver 89-78 at Toyota Center.

Denver – winners of seven of their last 10 games and leaders of the Northwest division– were obvious favorites in this game, but the Rockets drew raves from coach Jeff Van Gundy after playing with more intensity than they had in their previous two losses at home.

The Rockets only shot 41.7% from the field, but Yao was his usual high-percentage self (9-of-17 for 21 points), and T-Mac was 8-of-16 for 23 points. But the biggest surprise was Stromile Swift‘s return to action after missing the previous 5 games because of a sprained ankle. Stro’ looked great in scoring 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 6 rebounds and two blocks.

He made all kinds of athletic moves around the basket, including a couple of authoritative dunks and a wild prayer of a shot he jacked up underneath the basket for the score, drawing a nice ‘oooh’ from Yao heading back up the court. Yao said after the game about Stromile:

“He brings a lot of energy. He’s a great cutter. Like today, when the other team double-teams on the post or double-teams (Tracy) McGrady, he cuts very quickly. With his size and the way he can jump, that really helps us.”

So maybe Stromile isn’t on the trading block as rumored. I haven’t been really down on Swift this year like other people have. But I’ll save detailed commentary on him for a different time.

Other than that, the boxscore for the Rockets makes you glad someone like Stromile was able to contribute offensively. Without Yao, T-Mac and Swift playing very well, the Rockets would have lost this game. Here’s why:

Rafer Alston: 2-of-10 FGs for 6 points (but 7 assists)
David Wesley: 1-of-7 FGs, 1-of-4 free throws, 1-of-5 from three-point territory

That’s the second game in a row where the Houston starting guards have struggled offensively. How did they win this game?

Probably because of great defense. Except for Carmelo Anthony, who was unstoppable with 34 points on 12-of-23 shooting, the Rockets held the other Nugget players to 18-of-67 shooting (27%)!

Let’s not forget about Yao, though. Although he barely missed getting another double-double (23 points, 9 rebounds), he arguably had four blocks (only received credit for 3 officially). including a huge block on Andre Miller. In the fourth quarter with about 2:33 remaining, Miller decided to challenge Yao by going strong to the hole and trying to posterize him with a tomahawk jam, but Yao stuffed him at the rim for a huge rejection that got the crowd riled up!

With Friday’s victory, Houston remains four games behind the Lakers for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. They next play the team with the third worst record in the league – Portland – on Sunday night after the Lakers play Detroit Saturday night.

If the Rockets play like they did Friday night, look for the Rockets to close within 3 games by late Sunday night and make things very interesting.

John

P.S. As some of you may have noticed, I had the wrong caption under the photo above for several hours. That’s because I got home from my trip around 1:00am, and didn’t finish watching my recording of the game and filing my report until 4:00am. So you can imagine I was dead tired. Man, I wish this blog could be my full-time job.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

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

Allen Iverson drives past Yao on Wednesday night in a game where A.I. scored 40 points and dished out 10 assists to eclipse Yao’s 22 points and 13 rebounds. The 76ers beat the Rockets 106-101 in Houston. To see more photos from the game, click here.

by John

WEDNESDAY, 3/1/06 – The Rockets lost a tough one Wednesday night. Yes, the 76ers have a better record than the Rockets, but Houston has always matched up well against Philadelphia. And with a playoff berth at stake, the Rockets don’t have much room for error with 24 games remaining until the post-season starts.

Allen Iverson (40 points, 10 assists) was incredible, putting his team on his back in the fourth quarter to score 12 points (4-of-6 shooting, 4-of-4 from the line). And Kyle Korver hit 3-of-4 from three-point land in the fourth quarter. Result: a disappointing 106-101 Houston loss.

It’s hard to believe this was the same 76er team that didn’t make a field goal in 19 minutes of play in their last game in Philly a few weeks ago. With Houston’s defense breaking down at the most inopportune time, Iverson and Korver could hardly miss down the stretch while T-Mac (25 points) and Yao (22 points and 13 rebounds) missed a few too many shots, making only 4-of-11 collectively as the Rockets’ lead withered away.

The Rockets were looking good with an 11-point lead with 5:00 minutes remaining in the third quarter, and held a 77-73 lead heading into the fourth, thanks to T-Mac scoring 12 points of his own in the third. However, Houston’s main failure in this game occurred with their guards’ shooting. Rafer Alston shot a paltry 5-of-15, David Wesley was only 3-of-11 — falling in love too much with the three-pointer (1-of-8) — and Keith Bogans was 2-of-6.

It was ironic this kind of shooting occurred on the same day the Rockets waived Jon Barry. I understand the Rockets were doing Barry a favor by giving him the opportunity to sign with a team so he could have a chance to play in this year’s playoffs. But it’s hard to stomach the fact that Barry could have contributed something from the outside in this game and the rest of the season.

On the bright side, Chuck Hayes was awesome, making all five of his field goal attempts, scoring 11 points and grabbing four boards in only 14 minutes.

The other good thing from Wednesday night is that the Lakers were upset by the Portland Trailblazers , so the Rockets are still only 4 games back in their quest for the final playoff spot in the West. It doesn’t get any easier for the Rockets’ in their next game when they play the Northwest division leading Denver Nuggets (31-27).

John

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

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