Today Dikembe Mutombo signed a one-year contract with the Rockets, which will be his last season in the NBA. After former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy inexplicably only played Dikembe 40 minutes in that 7-game playoff series against the Jazz last season, Dikembe’s return was in serious doubt.

But thanks to Rocket legend Hakeem Olajuwon, he was able to convince Dikembe to come back after a 3-hour conversation.

We all know how well Dikembe filled in for Yao when Yao hurt his leg and missed 33 games last season.

You can read all the details in this ESPN piece, as well as read about how Rafer Alston may not be as guilty as we first thought.

After two great games in a row where he had scored 30+ points, Yao Ming had a relatively bad game Monday night against Moscow CSKA, making only 5-of-14 shots on his way to 27 points (he made only 17-of-23 free throws). Yao also only grabbed 4 rebounds, committed 4 turnovers, and had 4 personal fouls. Not the kind of “4-4-4″ you want that Moses Malone talked about almost 25 years ago. Without Yao having his A-game, the Chinese lost 83-77.

For more photos from the game, click here.

According to our Raymond, immediately after the game against Moscow CSKA, Yao bolted quickly from the venue, even skipping his shower, so he could go back to Shanghai for the rehearsal of the Opening Ceremonies of the Special Olympics. He will then skip the last summer game for the Chinese and head back to Texas on Wednesday for Rockets training camp.

I’m sure no one at training camp will be concerned about Yao’s performance against Moscow. However, if I get the chance, I’ll bring it up to him to see what happened in that game.

Yao dominated for the second game in a row, this time with 32 points in leading China to a 78-75 victory over Italy’s Benetton Treviso. Yao made 11-of-15 field goals and 10-of-11 free throws (the last FT he missed intentionally). He also grabbed 10 bards. So it looks like Yao is getting into good shape with two games in a row now where he scored more than 30 points. He did have 5 turnovers, though.

For photos from the game, click here.

For pre-game warmup pics, go here. For photos from the team practice, you can check ‘em out right here.