Fran Blinebury of the Houston Chronicle writes a short column on Yao doing some singing to promote the All-Star game. I love that about Yao. Although he’s shy when it comes to that sort of thing (most people are), he still sucks it up to indulge American commercial makers who think they know what will entertain us.

The Rockets continue to roll, beating the 76ers 105-84 in a game that wasn’t that close Monday night. At one point the Rockets held a 41-point lead, which the reserves blew in the fourth quarter, getting outscored 33-16.

Van Gundy wasn’t happy about how the bench played after the game was a moot point.

“The fourth quarter is totally unacceptable. That’s why I never want to hear somebody else tell me they want to play more.”

Ouch.

But he lightened up a bit after that.

“I want to see guys play well. That’s all I want to see. I want to see with my eyes that guys are improving. But that fourth quarter isn’t going to get me sideways from the core group playing good basketball through three quarters.”

Indeed, the starters played exceptional. 31 assists as a team. T-Mac hitting 8-of-14 shots for 25 points. McGrady easily could have scored more, but he sat out his second straight 4th quarter. It’s nice to see him get rest when it isn’t induced by injury.

Juwan Howard (20 points on 10-of-15 shooting) hit jumper after jumper from the top of the key that he seems to make so incredibly well. It just reminds me how much damage he could have done to the Mavericks a couple of seasons ago during that Mavs-Rockets playoff series when he was sidelined because of a heart issue. If he had been able to play and hit those shots, that series could have had a completely different outcome.

Rafer Alston finally had 50% shooting! 5-of-10 for 12 points, plus nine dimes. If he continues to shoot like that, look out league!

The best compliment came from 76er Andre Miller after the game.

About the Rockets’ chances come playoff time.

“They’ll be at the top and give anybody a run for their money.”

No, they didn’t collide in the workout room. They both ran into each other at the Yao Restaurant & Bar in Houston. You can read more of the details and see more photos by clicking here.

It’s really hard to find anything to nitpick in the Rockets’ 30-point thrashing of Portland, 99-69. They did blow a 12-2 lead to start the game, but then let Portland go on a run to actually lead 20-19 after the first quarter. By halftime, the Rockets still led only 36-34, and I thought this was going to be one of those games where a young or average team comes in and catches Houston by surprise (remember the Denver game last week?).

But that’s when Tracy McGrady turned it on in the third quarter, scoring 17 points to lead a Houston attack with 71% field goal shooting in the third quarter. Meanwhile, the Rockets’ defense clamped down and held Portland to 14 points on 38% shooting in the third.

From there, the Rockets opened up a 35-point lead at one point (their largest lead of the season), with T-Mac resting the whole fourth quarter. He finished with 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting, and 5 assists.

Big win. No complaints. Short blog. What a rarity. I like it.

To read more about the game and Tracy McGrady’s imitation of Jeff Van Gundy, click here for the Houston Chronicle story.

Even though he won’t be able to play in the game because of his leg injury, Yao was voted once again as a starter in the NBA All-Star game for the Western Conference. He led the Western Conference in votes, and was edged by Lebron James for most votes overall. Click here for more photos of Yao in his All-Star uniform.

Here’s the official NBA announcement on Yao making the All-Star game for the fifth straight year. And as you’ll read in this Houston Chronicle article, it looks like Yao is going to continue his rehab work in Vegas. I think that’s a good move. Yao has been incognito a little too long.

Tracy McGrady blows by the Spurs’ Bruce Bowen Wednesday night in a game where T-Mac willed the Rockets to a 90-85 victory with 37 points.

Before the Rockets’ game on Wednesday against the Spurs, Tracy McGrady vowed they would come out ready to play after one of their most disappointing losses of the season against Denver the game before.

So I was watching very carefully to see what kind of start the Rockets would have in San Antonio.

It turns out T-Mac was wrong, at least at the start. The Rockets turned the ball over 4 times to start the game, couldn’t hit anything, and quickly were down 12-2.

I was thinking, “How could these guys guarantee they would be ready, and then stink up the joint like this?”

But the Rockets recovered, kept the game close, even took a big 13–point lead in the fourth quarter, blew that, but held on for a 90-85 win.

McGrady ended up being The Man at the end, redeeming himself with his vow that he would be ready. He scored 37 points on 14-of-24 shooting and made 8-of-9 free throws. He also had three assists, all which came on three consecutive possessions when he drew the double-team, then kicked it to Juwan Howard for buckets. Those plays were artistry in motion. He scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to hold off a Spurs’ charge that almost ended up with another late-game Houston collapse.

His biggest miscue, and recovery, occurred with about a minute remaining in the game. The Rockets led 85-81, and T-Mac was stripped bringing the ball up the court. He almost recovered it, but he slipped, and that led to a layup by Tim Duncan (37 points) to cut the lead to 85-83.

On the ensuing possession, McGrady made up for it by hitting a huge 20-foot jumper, was fouled on the shot, and hit the free throw to give the Rockets a 5-point cushion with 55 seconds remaining.

The Spurs’ Manu Ginobili responded just a few seconds later to cut the lead 88-85. After that, the Rockets needed a big hoop to fend off the Spurs, but Rafer Alston came up empty on a running jumper.

That gave the Spurs a chance to tie the game. However, Brent Barry passed up a three-pointer and dumped it down low to Tim Duncan, who had good D played against him as he missed a short bank shot off the glass. Alston came up with the rebound, got fouled, and surprisingly hit both free throws to sew up the victory, 90-85.

I have to give Alston credit for hitting those free throws. He’s not known as the best clutch FT-er in the game. He also had a decent stat line: 19 points on 7-of-15 shots, 3-of-6 three-pointers, 7 assists and only two turnovers. All the Houston Chronicle guys are giving him credit for a good game. And yes, he deserves some praise.

But the maddening thing for me is the fact he could be so much better. He’s a quick guard who can get to the rim anytime he wants. Except on a few rare occasions, he just can’t finish. Except for a big bucket where he floated a teardrop over Duncan in the fourth quarter, he blew several easy layups in this game, too. ESPN mentioned how Alston realizes he’s now known as not being a great finisher. So you would think he would avoid his weakness by not taking it to the rim so much and sending his second-lowest FG% in the league (for a starter) to even greater depths.

One other mental lapse had: late in the game there was a jump ball between T-Mac and Tony Parker. You know T-Mac was going to win that jump, and you knew exactly where he was going to tip it: right where Alston and another Rocket (can’t remember who) lined up next to each other. That’s just how you play jump balls.

But Alston fell asleep and let Brent Barry get behind him as the ref threw the ball up in the air. T-Mac tipped it right where it should have been tipped, behind Alston, and there was Barry to catch it.

Okay, enough of my Alston bashing. Since he had a good stat line, I’ll lay off for now.

To finish up on a positive note, you have to give credit to the Rockets for pulling out a huge victory without Yao on the road against a 30-13 team, and to do it after one of their worst losses of the season against Denver at home without Carmelo Anthony in the line-up. The Rockets have won two in a row in San Antonio, something that hasn’t happened in 10 years.

Now the Rockets come home for 5-straight games against what TV analyst Bill Walton called “cupcakes” (I love it): Portland, Philly, Seattle, New Orleans/OKC, and Minnesota. All teams with losing records.

If the Rockets don’t win all 5 of these games, then it will be very easy to forget about this big W against the Spurs.

Since injuring his leg on December 23rd, Yao makes one of his first public showings at the Rockets’ annual Tux ‘n Tennies benefit. Click here for more photos of Yao and his teammates at the benefit.

A Yao sighting! Yay Yao! Click here for more photos from the event (images may load slowly).

About a month ago when the Denver-Phoenix game was postponed because of a blizzard (an NBA rarity), I said to myself, “Great. That means the Rockets won’t face Carmelo Anthony after all when he comes back from his 15-game suspension. Chalk that up as a sure win.”

Well, the Rockets blew a golden chance to get a fairly easy one against the Nuggets without their MVP candidate Saturday night in Houston.

This game really makes me mad. The Rockets had an 8-point lead against the Nuggets with 2:49 remaining in the fourth quarter, and still blew it to lose in OT, 121-113.

Sure, the Rockets’ defense was bad as you’ll read in this Houston Chronicle story. But at least they were ahead against an average team and were on the cusp of putting them away in the fourth quarter.

With 1:23 remaining, the Rockets led 108-105, had the ball, and basically could have put the game out of reach when Rafer Alston zipped a pass to Tracy McGrady cutting to the basket for an easy reverse layup – but T-Mac blew the shot!

That miss cost them dearly. It gave the window the Nuggets were looking for. Allen Iverson made them pay with a three-pointer the other way to tie the game. Then Alston felt like he had to be a hero and take another ill-advised shot, which he missed (of course), ultimately sending the game to OT where the Nuggets pulled away for a shocking ‘W.’

The glaring weakness in the Rockets’ offense was Alston, who missed 13-of-18 shots (didn’t he score 29 the other day?), took stupid shots down the stretch, and had easy passes go through his hands for turnovers (4 overall). This guy’s inconsistency is driving me nuts. And why is a point guard taking 18 shots?

Meanwhile, Iverson scored 36 and only had 3 turnovers.

On the bright side, the Rockets other role players played very well offensively. Bonzi Wells played superb, hitting 5-of-9 shots for 12 points. Juwan Howard was 8-of-13 with 21 points. Shane Battier was solid with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting. And Luther Head was 6-of-14 with 15 points.

Meanwhile, T-Mac was just so-so, making 9-of-25 shots for 24 points. On a night when he wasn’t shooting well, at least he was a playmaker with 10 assists.

That’s what is so gut-wrenching about this game. Except for Alston, most of the guys shot pretty well and the Rockets had this one in the bag. They even had a 13-point with 10:30 remaining.

But bad defense (Nuggets hit 15-of-29 three-pointers) and poor shooting suddenly has put Houston one game behind the Lakers in the 6th playoff spot in the Western Conference playoff seeds.

This game reminded me of those games last year when they couldn’t close out close games. Now the Rockets have lost three in a row, and they play the Spurs in San Antonio on Wednesday. You know the Spurs will be looking for payback when the Rockets beat them pretty bad last time in their own gym. Games like this one against Denver (19-17 record coming in) should be automatic W’s.

Coming into Wednesday night’s game against the Rockets, the Phoenix Suns had won 10 games in a row, and 29 of their last 32. We’re all realists here. We knew there was no way the Rockets were going to win.

Then compound the fact Tracy McGrady was not going to play because of stiffness in his back — plus the Rockets were on the second night of a back-to-back after losing to Dallas Tuesday night — and you finally had the makings of an old-fashioned blowout loss.

But I have to give the Rockets credit. Although they lost 100-91, they put a scare into the Suns. With the odds stack so much against them, the Rockets led by 15 points in the first half (the Suns’ largest deficit in almost two months!), and still trailed by only 4 points with about 3 minutes remaining.

But after coming within striking distance, the absence of Yao and T-Mac was profound. The Rockets missed their last 6 shots down the stretch for the loss.

However, with the heart the Rockets are showing, if the Rockets finish in one of the top 5 playoff seeds, I say Jeff Van Gundy may deserve consideration for Coach of the Year honors. This effort was incredible against a team as strong as the Suns.

Believe it or not, Rafer Alston was the key to the Rockets’ staying competitive, finishing with a season-high 29 points on 12-of-25 shooting and 8 assists.

It looks like Tracy’s back is going to be fine. It’s not related to the back spasms that knocked him out of a few games earlier in the season. He says he’ll play Friday against Denver.

For the Houston Chronicle story on the game, click here.