Yao gets swarmed by Tim Duncan and Tony Parker Tuesday night on his way to a 7-for-21 shooting night and 20 points. The Spurs showed why they are so good, rallying from 19 points down to defeat the Rockets 92-84. Click here for the game story. For more photos from the game, click here.

The Spurs showed Tuesday night why they were only a play or two away from going to the NBA Finals last season.

I’m not going to go into too much detail about it. You can read this Houston Chronicle story to find out more about the Rockets’ collapse and the Spurs’ big scoring runs in the 3rd and 4th quarters to win 92-84. The numbers aren’t pretty.

But I knew when the Rockets closed out the half with a scoring run of their own thanks to back-to-back 3-pointers by Scott Padgett — capped with a trey by T-Mac with .1 seconds remaining before halftime — their 13-point lead was going to be fleeting.

Actually, it wasn’t fleeting for awhile. The Rockets opened up a 19-point lead on the Spurs in the third quarter, then everything went south. Offense. Defense. You name it.

Yao only shot 7-for-21 (when is the last time we saw numbers like that?) for 21 points. Once the Spurs put Tim Duncan on him, he showed why he is a former league MVP. Duncan, along with his teammates, pretty much shut down Yao, and the rest of the Rockets for that matter.

For some reason I’m not too upset about this loss. Of course I love to see the Rockets win, but they have been getting so much recognition the past week or so having won 4 in a row, it can serve some good to get slapped back into reality.

The Rockets now know there is another level to which they need to aspire. They know they can’t coast to a win after building a big lead, and need to play hard against great teams like the Spurs.

Yao’s teammates know he is not going to dominate every night, and that they need to provide some help on the scoring side.

Bonzi Wells really knows now his team needs him because there will be some nights where they need his scoring punch.

Jeff Van Gundy knows that when the Rockets’ shooting is suffering, he needs to consider bringing Steve Novak off the bench. Novak didn’t play.

On the bright side…

T-Mac was the T-Mac of old in the first half, scoring 21 points (3-of-4 three-pointers). We’ll forget he only scored 5 points in the second half. He finished with 26.

Thank God the Rockets brought Padgett back to Houston after they let him go two years ago. He was their best 3-point shooter that season, and he showed he still has the touch. Those two 3-pointers he hit late in the second quarter almost brought the house down. He finished 2-of-3 from 3-point territory, and the Rockets were 7-of-11 in the first half.

That first half was unbelievable, with the fans and the bench showing lots of enthusiasm when the Rockets went on their run. It’s going to be fun at Toyota Center this season.

Dikembe Mutombo showed he still has it, blocking Tim Duncan twice in the first half.

Houston only committed 3 turnovers in the first half. They finished with 9. Luther Head had four, though. Tough night for a dude who has been playing pretty well this season.

In the first half they scored 56 points and shot 50% from the field. Although they shot 24% in the second half and scored 28 points (9 in the fourth quarter), we know that kind of poor shooting won’t happen too many times this season. It will probably be more in between those figures.

Look for the Rockets to come out with a vengeance all four quarters against the Bulls Thursday night.

This from SportsTicker…

NEW YORK (Ticker) – Atlanta Hawks swingman Joe Johnson and Houston Rockets center Yao Ming on Monday were named the NBA Players of the Week.

Other players nominated were Denver forward Carmelo Anthony, Golden State guard Baron Davis, Indiana forward Al Harrington, Los Angeles Clippers guard Sam Cassell, Miami guard Dwyane Wade, Milwaukee guard Michael Redd, Portland forward Zach Randolph, Sacramento swingman Kevin Martin, San Antonio guard Tony Parker and Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer.

Yao contests a shot of Shaq’s Sunday night in Miami. Yao got the better of Shaq with 34 points and 14 rebounds, and arguably is now the NBA’s best center. Click here for the game story. For more photos from the game, click here. Photo courtesy Getty Images.

Despite Yao’s contention and humility, an official “changing of the guard” took place last night in Miami.

Yao dominated Shaq, scoring 34 points and 14 rebounds compared to Shaq’s 15 points and 10 boards. In my opinion, Yao is being too nice when he said the following after the Rockets 94-72 victory:

“He (Shaq) is the dominant center in this league, even at his age (34). He’s not the same in the regular season as he is in the playoffs. Like last year. If it was the playoffs, I would have seen a totally different Shaq. I would say the regular season doesn’t matter. Maybe one day I could meet him in the Finals.”

Yao forgets that Shaq’s NBA Finals performance last season was just so-so, averaging less than 14 points and scoring less than 10 points twice in the 6-game series. There’s almost no way that Yao would put up that low of numbers in a Finals the way he’s playing now. And he’s putting up bigger numbers than Shaq (14 ppg) all the time now.

The entire country — having access to watching the game nationally on ESPN – could see for themselves just how good Yao is. He’s hitting fallaway jumpers with consistency, hook shots in the lane, running the floor for layups, even throwing up tough left-handed shots while falling to the floor, and most of them are going in. 11-of-19 went in last night.

He’s also money from the line, which Shaq is definitely not. Yao made 12-of-13 free throws. It’s clear just how much of a force Yao is now in the league.

He’s also playing pretty good defense. After Shaq made his first 4 shots with relative ease against Yao, he only made 2-of-10 the rest of the way (6-of-14 was the final total).

Sure, Yao is not playing a perfect game. He still got blocked a couple of times, but he’s better than any other center in the league.

I even like how he’s keeping his cool. Shaq doesn’t like the notion of having been replaced as the NBA’s ‘best center’ or even ‘most dominant,’ so he threw a couple of shots at Yao that showed how much of a thug he can be. Battling for position for a rebound, Shaq threw an obvious elbow at Yao’s head that sent him falling to the floor in pain. Later he pushed Yao with his left arm while Yao was vulnerable in mid-air while going up for a rebound.

Yao didn’t lose his composure and retaliate against Shaq because of these cheap shots. I probably would have, but that just shows how much Yao is under control mentally of his game right now.

This game was also a statement game for the Rockets. They showed the world how good they are, beating the defending World Champions and extending their record to 5-2. And they are doing all of this with Tracy McGrady struggling from the floor.

T-Mac only hit 6-of-18 shots for 12 points, but he’s showing how great of a difference maker he can be by making excellent decisions with the ball and dishing out a game-high 8 assists.

Until T-Mac gets back to normal with his jump shot, I think he should just continue going to the rack to get easier shots, which he did a few times Sunday on some highlight reel plays.

As far as the other Rockets, most notable was Shane Battier continuing to make solid contributions with 11 points (5-of-10 shooting) and 3 assists. I remember seeing a couple of weeks ago the results of a survey of NBA General Managers asking them what was the most consequential trade during the off-season, and the Rockets acquisition of Battier for a draft day trade of Rudy Gay ranked #1. After seeing Battier play this season in the Rockets lineup, I think I would have to agree with them. I also think a lot of people who didn’t like that trade might have changed their mind by now.

Chuck Hayes also made his presence felt by battling hard for rebounds (6) and scoring on some nifty moves around the basket using the rim well to shield against getting his shot blocked. He did run into Shaq in the second half and hyperextended his left knee. Looking at the replay on TV, you can tell it really hurt. Hopefully he will be okay because they really need his garbageman mentality.

Juwan Howard came in to replace Hayes, and he did a pretty good job, 2-of-5 shots and grabbing four boards.

Luther Head continues to play extremely well, hitting 4-of-9 shots (3-of-6 treys) to score 11 points.

But the night belonged to Yao. Even T-Mac got caught up in the excitement after the game when he stated:

“The big fella is playing at his best. I don’t know if he can get better. He’s phenomenal out there, man.”

“Now, I know what it feels like to sit back and watch a great player right before your eyes. Guys I played with in the past got caught up in the moment of just watching something great. That’s what I’m doing right now, watching something great.”

Yao goes after a shot from New York’s Eddy Curry Friday night in Houston. Yao was unstoppable, scoring 35 points, grabbing 17 boards and blocking 7 shots in an 103-94 win. Click here for the game story. For more photos from the game, click here. Photo courtesy Bill Baptist / Getty Images

The dominance of Yao we saw last year is back. Yao had put up decent numbers this season before Friday night’s game against the Knicks at Toyota Center. He had a monster game against Dallas 4 games ago at home, but since then, he had averaged “only” 21.3 points, 8 rebounds and 1 block.

Returning home after a three-game road trip, Yao put up the amazing numbers we loved seeing so much last season. Friday night’s line:

35 points, 17 rebounds, 7 blocks

If he does that well Sunday night against Miami and Shaq on Sunday night on ESPN, he should win Player of the Week honors.

Yao abused Eddy Curry and the rest of the Knick front line all night. It was clear that Curry didn’t want to have anything to do with Yao, putting up very little defense on most possessions. The Knicks also opted not to double-team him much.

Yao took advantage of it, hitting uncontested fallaway jumpers and layups most of the night, and started by scoring 10 of the Rockets first 12 points of the game. He even hustled down the court a couple of times for a dunk and layup.

Midway through the second quarter, he had 14 points and 5 blocks. On defense, he was even smart enough to back off of Curry and “pull the chair” from him to make him tumble to the floor and call a timeout. The trick that several players had pulled on Yao in previous seasons is now part of his own repertoire. He does it all.

As strong as Yao and the Rockets looked by shooting 50% in the first half, they still only led 51-46 with a couple of seconds remaining before halftime. Dribble penetration by the Knick guards had broken down the Rockets’ offense on numerous occasions, keeping the game somewhat close. But Tracy McGrady gave the Rockets the wider margin they deserved by hitting a fallaway 3-pointer off the glass at the buzzer!

By that time, Yao had 18 points to go along with those 5 blocks.

Yao continued his onslaught by hitting a fallaway jumper in the lane to start the second half. The Rockets continued to roll, and opened up an 18-point lead with 7:30 remaining when Chuck Hayes blocked Jamal Crawford ‘s shot, which started a fast break where Rafer Alston threw it to T-Mac at the top of the three-point line for a dagger!

McGrady, who had started the game 0-for-5, made 4 of his next five shots to give Yao some help, and the Rockets were cruising into the fourth quarter with an 82-66 lead.

But just like their previous game against Milwaukee, the Rockets couldn’t put the Knicks away in the fourth quarter. Houston turned the ball over four times in the first 3 ½ minutes of the quarter while New York scored 6 straight points.

But just like the Milwaukee game, Alston came threw when the Rockets were reeling and scored on a tough hook shot at the baseline to stop the bleeding. But the Knicks still kept it close, and with a little over 3 minutes remaining in the game and the Rockets only up by 8 points, Alston came through again with a HUGE buzzer-beating 3-pointer a couple of feet behind the three-point line to give them a 95-84 cushion.

I bashed Alston plenty of times last season, but I have to give him props for playing pretty well in this young season. He has hit big shots and is hitting a respectable 39% from three-point territory this season, with many of those shots being hit during clutch moments. Skip-to-my-Lou finished with 13 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. If he continues to play at this rate, he could become a candidate for most improved player of the year.

Back to the game…the Rockets led 99-86 with about 2 minutes remaining after Yao hit a jump shot, and it looked like the game was in hand. But within 45 seconds, the Knicks had gone on a 7-0 run to cut it to 99-93 with 1:15 remaining, a run that included an amazing rebound and dunk by 5’9” Nate Robinson which even got Houston fans sitting behind the goal out of their seats!

On the Rockets’ ensuing possession, Yao had the ball and Robinson came by and hacked him on the arm as he was passing to Alston (no foul was called), which made the pass go off line and made Alston mishandle it and the ball went loose. A mad scramble occurred, with the Rockets desperately needing to gain possession since they couldn’t afford to have New York score again. That’s when Alston dove to the floor for the ball, knocked it to another Rocket to save possession, and T-Mac was fouled and drained two free throws to make it 101-93 with 48.7 seconds remaining.

Then on the next possession, Stephon Marbury missed a free throw that could have made it 101-95, and Yao grabbed the rebound. But once again, Robinson mugged Yao and slapped him purposely in the face. A technical should have been called, but it wasn’t. Very quickly Robinson has showed to me he’s a bit of a thug by playing so physical. He better be careful, or he’s going to get hurt one day.

After the hack in the face, Yao kept his cool, and drained two free throws to make it 103-94 to put the game out of reach, and finish with an incredible night 35 points on 15-of-21 shooting.

Although Yao committed 8 turnovers, you can’t complain much considering the other columns in his boxscore.

Speaking of boxscore, the Rockets had all five starters plus Luther Head score in double-figures, with all players shooting 54.8% collectively. Luther, who was sort of the “forgotten man” during all the preseason hype about new players joining the team (Steve Novak, Vassilis Spanoulis, Shane Battier, Kirk Snyder, Bonzi Wells) continues to amaze from three-point territory, hitting 3-of-4 shots.

And Chuck Hayes (10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, 6 rebounds) continued to impress on offense. One of those scores was a whirling dervish spin move in the lane for a layup that would leave even LeBron James impressed.

Battier (12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, 5 assists) was also huge, blocking out and tipping a rebound to Yao late in the game on a key possession. But my most favorite play of Shane’s was when he took a charge with 6 minutes remaining, and the entire Rocket bench got up to salute him! When teammates are applauding each other for taking a charge, you know the defense that Jeff Van Gundy is emphasizing must be working.

I could keep going on with this game and Yao’s dominance, but I’ll stop here and recommend you read some of the quotes from Yao in this Houston Chronicle story.

Yao drives the baseline on Milwaukee’s Andrew Bogut Tuesday night in Milwaukee. Yao won the battle between the two former #1 draft picks, scoring 23 points and grabbing 7 boards, compared to Bogut’s 7 points and 3 rebounds. But for Yao, it was still an “off” night, making only 10 out of 24 shots. Still, the Rockets escaped with a 97-93 win to complete their road trip. Click here for the game story. For more photos from the game, click here.

Okay, I’m finally getting back on schedule. I have been traveling the past 4 days and it has been hard for me to watch Yao and the Rockets play “live” and provide timely analysis. As a patchwork solution, I have been using a Slingbox to watch the games from my DirecTV Tivo late at night from a hotel room, or from a free wi-fi hot spot.

Obviously, the Slingbox isn’t as good as watching on a TV because the picture is grainy, especially when the players are moving fast. Because it’s difficult to see what actually happened with the grainy picture, I have to constantly ‘rewind’ to see a play over again. And when you’re doing that on a Slingbox, it takes about three times as long to get it to the right place in the recording because of the delay involved. It’s even worse when you’re watching it over a Windows Mobile phone, which I had to do last night because I couldn’t find a wi-fi hotspot.

It takes awhile to watch an entire game, but I at least I got a pretty good gist of what happened during last night’s Rocket win against Milwaukee. But since I had to wake up extremely early to catch a flight back to Texas, I didn’t have time to post my report until now. So here you go…

It was a weird night for Yao Ming last night in Milwaukee. Once again, he got in foul trouble, a problem we thought he had finally conquered last season. He picked up his third foul late in the second quarter, and because he was playing limited action, he was held to only 6 points in the first half.

Luckily, Dikembe Mutombo did a great job subbing for him. Deke grabbed 8 rebounds and scored 8 points in ten minutes of work in the first half alone! The Rockets led 48-39 at halftime, thanks also to great team shooting (47%), three-point shooting (5-of-7), and 26 rebounds, which led to 10 second-chance points and 15 points from the bench.

Then Yao came out in the third quarter on fire, seemingly determined to put the Bucks away. In the first six minutes of the second half, he made 6 of his first 7 shots and scored 12 points. Meanwhile, Milwaukee struggled in their shooting and when the Rockets opened a 17-point lead, a chorus of boos rained from the rafters.

The Rockets continued to impress with a run-and-gun offense in the third quarter, opening up a 73-50 lead at one point and hitting 65% of their shots in the third. I was impressed — and surprised — the Rockets could play so well at the end of a long road trip, along with it being their fourth time in five nights.

But just when I started to think the Rockets were going to slide out of Milwaukee with an easy win, the wheels fell off. As solid as he was in the third quarter, Yao completely lost his shooting touch. The Rockets went to him early in the fourth quarter to try to put the Bucks away, but Yao hit a cold spell and missed 7 of his last 9 shots.

I don’t know if fatigue finally hit him or what, but often when Yao gets a hot shooting hand, he tends to cool off dramatically. I think it has a lot to do with confidence. Once he’s on a roll, he’s tough to stop. But once he starts missing jump shots, I think it can get into his head a little bit.

That dry spell let the Bucks back into the game. Fortunately, Rafer Alston came up with some big shots, hitting a jumper from the top of the key, and a three-pointer a few minutes later to stop some of the bleeding.

But the Bucks’ Michael Redd and Charlie Bell continued to pour in points, and the Rockets missed 7 of their last 8 shots in the game’s final four minutes. As a result, the Rockets’ once insurmountable lead was whittled down to 5 points with just a few minutes remaining.

T-Mac came to the rescue, though, making 4 free throws in the waning moments of the game to fend off the pesky Bucks, sealing a 97-93 win that almost slipped away – a typical game that the Rockets frequently lost last season.

Overall, it was probably McGrady’s best game this season when he has been struggling so much since the season began. T-Mac finished with 32 points on 11-of-19 shooting, hit 3-of-5 three-pointers, and had 6 boards, 5 assists, and 3 blocks. Fantasy Leaguers who have T-Mac on their team can finally breathe a sigh of relief that he’s back on track.

Now the Rockets have a respectable 3-2 record and come back for some home. Based on the only game they have played at Toyota Center this season when they destroyed Dallas, the Rockets may have a much better chance of creating a true home court advantage. The Rocket Rowdies with their constant screaming may have made a huge difference. We’ll find out soon enough starting Friday night against the Knicks.

Oh yeah, speaking of Dallas, have you noticed they are now 0-4? Wow, how fleeting can good times be? Enjoy them while you can, I guess.

Yao Ming fell on his knee and bled, turned an ankle on an opposing player and fell to the floor in pain, was posterized by rom Dahntay Jones on a massive dunk, got hit in the eye with no foul called, and turned the ball over six times in the first three quarters.

But when it came time for the Rockets to put the Memphis Grizzlies away Tuesday night, Yao put all those bad things behind him, put his team on his back and scored 9 of the Rockets first 10 points of the fourth quarter to help them win 86-80.

I am traveling this week on business and don’t have as much time to do a full report because of all the commitments I have on this trip, but I did record the game and watched it on my Slingbox late last night before falling asleep. When I’m traveling like this and the Rockets are playing a back-to-back like they are tonight against Milwaukee, I’ll put together a “joint” report where I’ll combine my analysis from two games into one.

Well, the hotel front desk just called, and they are pressuring me to check out. So I’ll check back here later, probably on Thursday afternoon when I get back into town.

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.

I was able to watch the Rockets beat up on the Mavericks, then I pulled an all-nighter doing some work on another project. Now I have to head to the airport and won’t be online all day Sunday, but I will provide some analysis late Sunday night after the Rockets-Hornets game.

In case you missed it Saturday night, the Rockets looked unbeatable in a 107-76 win over Dallas at Toyota Center. I can’t believe how well everyone (well, almost) played. These guys played like they wanted to make an early statement that they will be a force in the league this season. Yao scored 36 points on 12 of 16 shooting, and made all 12 of his free throws.

I can’t contain my excitement after this one. Good thing I have to shut down my computer and head to the airport, or I would be writing for hours!

Yao’s frontcourt mate on the Chinese national team, Yi Jianlian, has been given permission by his Guangdong Tigers team to enter next year’s NBA draft. However, he still needs the approval of the Chinese Basketball Association and an exemption from a CBA rule that Chinese players are not eligible for the NBA draft until they turn 22.

There has been lots of questions about Yi Jianlian’s true age. He is listed as being 18 or 19 years old, although he reportedly told Shane Battier he was 24 this summer during the World Championships, which Yi later denied. Regardless, when he does enter the draft, he is expected be a high draft pick.

Click here for more on the story. Click here for more about Yi.

Yao battles for a rebound against Utah’s Jarron Collins in both teams’ season opener on Wednesday night. Yao scored 22 and grabbed 9 boards, but his foul troubles and the Rockets poor play in general led to a 107-97 loss. Click here for the story. Click here for more game photos.

There was bad news and good news Wednesday night for the Houston Rockets.

The bad news is that they started off their season Wednesday night reminiscent of last season’s overall performance – disappointing.

The good news is that they didn’t lose by 42 points like the defending World Champions Miami Heat did the night before in their season and home opener. At least some other team with high expectations placed upon them failed to deliver more than the Rockets.

The Rockets shot poorly (T-Mac: 8-of-24 FGs, 8-of-13 FTs), missed too many layups, missed too many free throws (23-of-36), played poor defense (gave up 35 points in the first quarter) and gave up big shots down the stretch to lose in Utah 107-97.

The Rockets fell behind by 19 points in the second quarter, but Rafer Alston atoned for an 0-for-6 first half by hitting big shots in the second half (15 points, three treys in the fourth quarter). But that early deficit was too large for the Rockets to make up, even with a late surge that cut it to 99-94 with 3:30 remaining. That’s because Mehmet Okur, Deron Williams and Derek Fisher hit consecutive jump shots to send the Rockets home lamenting their poor start.

Yao scored 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting and grabbed 9 boards, but he got in early foul trouble after picking up his third foul with about 8:30 remaining, and his fourth foul with 3:56 remaining in the third quarter.

Those two fouls were silly enough to take you back a couple years when Yao frequently got into foul trouble. I’m not sure what he was thinking. Maybe his mind is rusty after not playing much in the preseason. The foul trouble held him to only 32 minutes of action, and the Rockets missed his firepower since T-Mac was shooting so poorly.

The Rockets’ problems just didn’t exist on the offensive side of the court. Their defense made the Jazz offense look like the late Red Auerbach‘s championship Celtic teams from the 1960’s, unable to stop big shots from Carlos Boozer (24 points, 19 rebounds), Williams (18 points, 10 assists), and Fisher (13 points, 6 assists).

Speaking of Fisher, somehow he got away in the fourth quarter with barreling his way TWICE into Yao on double-teams to “steal” the ball away without being called for a foul by the refs. That’s another reason why I have always hated that guy – he gets away with flops and fouls all the time.

But this game came down to the Rockets playing poorly and not playing hard enough. All I know is that Jeff Van Gundy is sure to start his annual ritual of working long nights breaking down game footage, with the dark circles under his eyes soon to return.

Click here for the game story.

Click here for the box score.