Because of travel and other commitments over the weekend, I was finally able to watch Saturday night’s game against Dallas. We all know most of the Rockets had a tough time hitting shots, which is par for the course in this season of underachievement. But there are many other problems with this team. The biggest thing that stood out to me during Saturday night’s game was the poor play of Steve Francis, who started in place of the injured 0-fer Alston.

Francis not only missed 7-of-8 shots and turned the ball over 5 times, but it was the way he turned them over. There were a couple of possessions where he either dribbled it out of bounds, or it was easily stolen, like by Dallas’ Devin Harris.

Even Francis had to admit how poorly he played, when he said the following:

“Yeah, it was really tough. For me, it was really embarrassing coming back playing and having five turnovers. The timing for myself wasn’t very good and it kind of snowballs when your point guard turns the ball over. That’s really going to hurt your team.”

Hey, if a player swallows his pride and ego and admits he was awful like Francis did, then you won’t see me piling on. That’s what I call taking responsibility. You’ve got to have hope that since he realizes it was an embarrassing performance, he has a chance to work back from it. That’s the kind of guy you really want to pull for, and shows his increased level of maturity compared to his first go-round with the Rockets.

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On Sunday night, the Rockets’ players participated in their annual season ticket holder event where they had to hob-nob with the people who pay their salaries. Here Yao plays some blackjack.

You can check out more photos by clicking here (courtesy of Raymond). I had a few observations after looking at these photos.

*It was really crowded on the floor of Toyota Center. You can bet the players weren’t too excited about having any wahoo be able to walk up to them and ask them questions about why they aren’t playing better. When you’re playing bad as a team, it must not be fun to talk to anyone (at least it wouldn’t be for me).

*It seemed odd that it was a casino night theme just 9 days before Christmas. It seemed like it would have been a better night to raise money for charity or something. Casinos and Christmas don’t seem to jibe with each other.

*I didn’t see GM Daryl Morey on the floor wheelin’ and dealin’. Hopefully he was on the phones upstairs talking with other teams about potential deals, because so far this season has been a ‘bust,’ or a pair of ‘snake eyes’ (or make up your own gambling metaphor).

As many of you know, I wasn’t able to watch the Rockets-Mavericks game on Saturday night, but Raymond posted some photos of the game in the forum, like this one:

Click here and here if you’re interested in seeing more photos from the game.

As I anticipated, I didn’t miss much since the Rockets lost again, this time 96-83. Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle writes in this story how bad it was, except for Yao Ming‘s 28 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 blocks.

Meanwhile, Tracy McGrady made only 5-of-18 shots for 12 points, while Steve Francis (who started in place of the injured Rafer Alston) was 1-of-8 for three points.

This is really pathetic. From what I’m guessing, rookie Aaron Brooks will be getting some important playing time soon, especially since the Rockets called him up from the D-League.

So I’m glad I didn’t see the game. However, I did record it, and I will try to watch it remotely using my computer and give my supplemental thoughts about the debacle sometime late Sunday, time permitting. Or I may be so disgusted by what I see, I may turn it off and say, “screw it, I’ve seen enough.”

Hey everyone, I’ll be traveling today and will have a conflict later tonight in watching the Rockets-Mavericks game that I can’t get out of, so I probably won’t be able to watch the game and blog about it. This usually happens maybe a handful of times throughout the 82-game season (I haven’t missed one yet this season).

It will be interesting to see what happens tonight. The Mavericks have been struggling lately, too. I wish I could watch it. I’m already starting to think of the withdrawal pains I’ll be having during the game.

Check out this photo from today’s press conference involving Rockets owner Leslie Alexander and the rest of the team regarding the 2008 Tux & Tennies charity gala.

Click here for more hilarious photos from the press conference.

The good folks over at Sports Illustrated China were gracious enough to send me an English translation of the article that appears in their publication after Yao was awarded the 2007 Sportsman of the Year award in China. Here it is!

Yao Ming, sportsman of the year
Written by Mary Nicole Nazzaro

Fast-forward 25 years.

Yao Ming is 52 years old and his basketball heroics are far behind him. He and wife Ye Li have their own family, maybe even a basketball player. They bask in nice memories of Olympic Games and Toyota Center lights and crowds. Their lives are peaceful and uncluttered. The glitz and glamour of the NBA are a distant memory.

Watch the highlight movie of Yao Ming’s sports career for a moment in your mind, and then ask yourself – what will be the best moment of this film? What will be the moment when I will look back and think,yes, that’s the Yao Ming I remember, the man who single-handedly introduced millions of American basketball fans to the most populous country in the world, the man who was named SI China’s Sportsman of the Year, way, way back in 2007?

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Through public voting, Yao was selected as the S.I. China Sportsman of the Year. He beat out several prominent Chinese athletes, including Milwaukee Buck Yi Jianlian and last year’s winner Liu Xiang. Raymond has posted some of the photos from the article in the forum. And for a limited period of time, you can see some of the same photos they are displaying on the S.I. China home page at http://www.sichina.com.

Yao Ming shoots over Detroit’s Rasheed Wallace Wednesday night. Yao scored 21 points, grabbed 13 boards, had 3 assists, and blocked 4 shots. He also hit some big shots in the fourth quarter that were instrumental to a close 80-77 win. Click here for more photos from the game.

It was ridiculous how the Rockets escaped with this win. They overcame one of the worst free throw shooting games ever (6-of-22), the Pistons were extremely cold in the first half shooting only 27% from the field, the Rockets blew a 14-point first half lead, a 10-point lead in the 4th quarter, and the Pistons had two chances at the end of the game to win it on two consecutive three-pointers that missed. But the Rockets will take a win anyway they can get it. That’s how desperate they are for W’s.

The game started out with Rick Idle-man not rewarding the players who had given effort in Philadelphia on Monday with a starting assignment. Luther Head, Mike James, Kirk Snyder, Luis Scola and Bonzi Wells were all on the bench to start the game. James and Snyder didn’t play one minute of the game, and neither did Steve Francis.

It was clear from the outset that Idle-man was going to stick with his old ways, hunker down with a few key players, and be more conservative than ever to scratch out a win any way he could. He even had McGrady consistently playing point guard in the fourth quarter. It was like a throwback to the JVG era.

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I listened to a podcast of Tracy McGrady‘s interview on Houston’s 790AM sports station on Tuesday. It appeared that McGrady was obligated to make the call to promote his deal with Yahoo! Fantasy sports, not to come on and say he’s pissed about what’s happening with the team, and what he’s going to do about it.

Remember last year how McGrady said “It’s on me,” during last season’s playoff series against the Jazz, and how he has always referred to his teammates as his “supporting cast?”

Well, now that times are tough for the Rockets, it looks like McGrady thinks Yao is The Man and the “franchise player” instead of him. Here’s what he said when asked about his reaction to Yao’s comments that the Rockets were soft.

“My first reaction was….Finally. Yes! Yes, Yao. That’s what he has to do. Vocally. Express yourself. Let us know how you feel. Don’t hold it inside…that’s just showin’ signs of leadership. What he says is true. It’s showing up on the basketball court. I’d rather for him to come out and say it than me. He’s more of a franchise player than I am.”

I can’t believe the interviewer didn’t dig deeper and question him if he really believes Yao is the franchise player. Instead, after that last statement, the interviewer immediately comments (and basically interrupts him before McGrady has a chance to explain), “We (the audience) know better than that,” and bails McGrady out by moving on quickly to a softball question like, “It’s gotta help that the big man in the middle is saying it, right?” Instead, I would have loved to hear him ask, “When did Yao become the franchise player?” or “What’s your role in calling people out?” or just let him continue talking. Sometimes the best interviews are when the interviewer just lets the interviewee talk.

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We take a break from our serious discussion of how bad the Rockets are playing to show some photos of Yao and some of his Rocket teammates making a visit to the Ronald McDonald House in Houston

Click here for more photos from the visit.

I’m sure the news cameras were around and we’ll be seeing either an “NBA cares” commercial from the visit, or a future segment in an upcoming FSN-Houston halftime telecast.