Saturday night the Rockets lost their 7th of seven games when Yao and T-Mac aren’t in the lineup, losing to the Memphis Grizzlies 93-81 at Toyota Center.

Houston trailed 29-17 the first minute into the second quarter, but then outscored the Grizzlies by 10 points in the second quarter to get a 46-46 tie at halftime. I thought maybe the Rockets were in position to upset the 46-33 Grizzlies, currently the 5th seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Stromile Swift was looking great, hitting 4-of-5 field goals in the second quarter alone, and leading all Houston scorers with 10 points at halftime.

But that’s all Stromile would score, attempting only 2 shots (and missing them both) in just five minutes of action in the second half. Not sure why Stro’ didn’t get more playing time after such a great first half.

The Griz’ pulled away as you would expect in the second half, opening up an 18-point lead early in the fourth quarter. It was clear sailing from there.

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Yao had surgery on his foot yesterday (Friday).

Here’s a report from the Houston Chronicle:

Rockets center Yao Ming underwent successful surgery on Friday to repair a clean break of the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot.

“When I spoke with the doctors, I was told that’s how long it takes for a bone to regain its full density,” Dawson said. “I’ll say this. Yao has shown us in the past that he’s a quick healer.”

The Chronicle also had some quotes from Jeff Van Gundy about Yao’s foot:

“I think the bigger concern is he’s had a lot of problems with his left foot, and (big players) with foot problems are a concern,” he said. “He had the ankle surgery on his left foot, the toe surgery on his left foot, now he’s broken it. He broke it earlier when he was 19. So to me that’s the bigger concern and that’s why it’s imperative that he stays in great shape and keeps his weight down throughout his career, to lessen the opportunities to place undue stress on his feet.

“I’m not saying any one (injury) has anything to do with the other. But foot problems on big guys are especially — looking at the history of the NBA — are problematic. You don’t want to turn around one day and be looking at a Bill Walton.”

Speaking of Van Gundy, it looks like Rockets’ owner Les Alexander wants him to return next season. That’s no surprise. However, I do like how Alexander isn’t going to be patting anyone on the back this off-season for a job well done.

“You want me to say to the fans (that) Jeff did a great job this season when we won less than .500? I didn’t do a good job. He didn’t do a good job. We didn’t do a good job. Nobody did a good job. That’s impossible. Last year we won 51. I thought that was a great job. Nobody did a good job this year. That’s my theory.”

Bone-headed moves like trading away Mike James for Rafer Alston and letting go Scott Padgett, one of Houston’s best 3-point shooters, were some of the reasons for the Rockets’ demise this year. The jury is still out on Stromile Swift, but if you remember, he was the most sought-after power forward during the off-season last year, and they got him. So you can’t fault them for that move…yet.

To see the entire article about Alexander’s comments, as well as Van Gundy’s, click here.