Yao shoots over New Orleans/Oklahoma City’s Tyson Chandler on Sunday night in New Orleans. Yao picked up 3 early fouls in the game’s first five minutes, which limited his playing time, leading to the Rockets losing 96-90. Click here for the story. Click here for more game photos.

For the second game out of the Rockets first 3 games of the season, Yao has reverted to getting in foul trouble again, something we thought he had conquered late last season when he went on his phenomenal run.

It’s questionable if some of the fouls being called on him are legit, but it’s clear Yao needs to understand once again that he is more prone to having the refs call fouls on him simply because he’s a bigger guy who will attract more attention from the refs’ whistles.

On Sunday night in New Orleans, Yao picked up 3 fouls in the game’s first 5 minutes, and it restricted him to just 27 minutes of play and 11 shots, leading to just 17 points coming on the heels of his huge 36-point game the night before against Dallas. The Rockets could have used his help, who lost to New Orleans 96-90.

But it’s not all Yao’s fault. The rest of the team struggled, too, hitting only 40.5% of their shots collectively and turning it over 20 times while New Orleans shot much better (47%) and kept much better control of the ball (15 turnovers).

Tracy McGrady continues to struggle, making only 5-of-15 shots and committing 5 turnovers. Perhaps T-Mac is having a hard time adjusting to the new Spalding basketballs. Like Jeff Van Gundy said after the game, I believe in the greatness of McGrady and I think he’ll straighten things out soon.

Luckily the Rockets have more scoring power at other positions to help out this season when T-Mac struggles, as we saw Saturday night against Dallas. Shane Battier hit 5-of-13 three pointers to lead the Rockets in scoring in this game.

But unlike the Dallas game, no one else really stepped up. Rafer Alston, who looked so good Saturday night, reverted to his old ways by missing 3 shots (including a layup) in the first quarter, and committed 3 turnovers. Overall, he finished with 13 points (5-of-12), only 3 assists, and 4 turnovers.

One trend is starting to become evident in this young season. Last year Houston was very strong on the road, finishing with a better road record than home one. This year is shaping up to be the opposite. They are 0-2 on the road, and 1-0 at home.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 6th, 2006 at 12:58 pm and is filed under vs. New Orleans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.