Dikembe Mutombo reacts after a referee’s call Sunday afternoon in San Antonio as the Spurs blew out the Rockets, 109-88. San Antonio shot 53% from the field, 64% in the first half while Houston only shot 40% with Tracy McGrady shooting only 23% for 13 points.

If you’re a fan of basketball in the state of Texas, you had to be dumbfounded that some of the geniuses at the NCAA decided Friday night to schedule the huge ballgame game between the Texas Longhorns and Memphis for Sunday afternoon so that it would conflict with the Rockets-Spurs game, another huge basketball game in the state of Texas.

What were they thinking? There was plenty of opportunity for the NCAA to schedule the UT-Memphis game in the mid-afternoon so there would be no conflict. But nooooooo, they had to screw the basketball fans having tickets to either game from watching the other game on TV, or fans at home who wanted to watch both games without having to flip channels every 10 seconds.

Luckily for the NCAA, hoops fans in Texas who wanted to watch both games really didn’t have to face a choice since the Rockets game was essentially over as the Spurs took an early lead, built it up to 25 points, and coasted to a 109-88 win.

The Spurs started off shooting hot, making 76% of their shots in the first quarter to take a 35-24 lead. The Rockets were trying to keep the Spurs from getting into the lane and creating all kinds of problems, so they forced them to shoot outside, and the Spurs made them pay.

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After going so long without seeing Yao, we get to see photos of Yao Ming in public for the second night in a row, this time at the Rockets annual “Tux & Tennies” benefit.

In the second image below, Yao meets fellow Houstonian and former President George Bush. Pretty cool.

Thanks go to Raymond for all the photos in the forum of Yao taking photos with fans for $500 a pop (for charity), other Rocket players and their significant others, and all the cool stuff that went up for auction.

It had been a few weeks since any of us had seen Yao, maybe dating back to February 26th when he announced he’ll be having season-ending surgery. That’s due to the fact that Yao can’t really walk without crutches and has been resting at home.

He finally was seen Wednesday night to watch the honoring of Dikembe Mutombo at halftime of the Rockets game against Minnesota (injured Steve Francis was also there). It’s good to see the big fella’ back:

Click here and here for more photos of Yao at the game.

Francis did some guest commentating during the FSN telecast, and he had a couple of interesting things to say:

1) When Francis had his knee surgery, he said Yao was one of the first people who visited him at the hospital. Francis really appreciated the gesture. Obviously Yao and Steve still remain very close friends.

2) Francis said although he’ll become a free agent at the end of this season, he doesn’t want to leave Houston and wants to sign with the Rockets again. It could get awkward if the Rockets want to move forward without him.

As far as the game goes, the Rockets were prime for an upset from the Timberwolves because I think they’re alot better than people give them credit for. Al Jefferson is a stud of a player (he proved it with 21 points, 10 boards and 5 blocks) and former Rocket Kirk Snyder played very well (12 points on 5-of-7 shooting) by attacking the basket and getting several dunks.

On top of that, the Rockets were going to have more than 3 days before their next game against San Antonio on Sunday, which is almost an eternity in the NBA. So it would have been easier for the Timberwolves to catch the Rockets looking ahead to the break and their huge game against the Spurs.

Minnesota made a game of it by getting as close as 2 points in the fourth quarter, but Tracy McGrady finally got his shot going by scoring 10 points in the quarter (5-of-10 shooting) to finally give the Rockets a bigger cushion and eventually win it 97-86. Before McGrady started hitting shots in the fourth, he had missed 11-of-15 of them. He would finish with a game-high 23 points.

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Rafer Alston penetrates into the lane and dishes for an assist against the Sacramento Kings. Alston would finish with 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting, 5 assists, and no turnovers to lead the Rockets to a 108-100 victory over Sacramento.

After watching the Rockets-Kings game on Monday night, I just had to watch the second half and overtime of the Lakers-Kings game on NBA TV because of the playoff implications that game had for the Rockets.

If the Lakers had lost that game like they did on the first night of a back-to-back on Sunday night against the Warriors, then the Rockets would be tied for 1st place in the West with L.A.

Unfortunately, the refs made one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen that basically gave the game to the Lakers (more on that later). That ‘win’ by the Lakers might be the difference of a few spots in the playoff standings for the Rockets down the stretch given how tight the race is in the West.

With other games getting top billing for the night, like Lakers-Warriors and Suns-Pistons, the Houston-Sacramento game was really an afterthought.

It was strange to see one of Houston’s games being so low-profile after every game during the 22-game winning streak seemed to be the top sports story, or their subsequent games after the streak against high-profile teams like the Celtics, Hornets, Warriors and Suns getting plenty of attention, too.

So Houston had to get “up” for a game against a very dangerous team on a Monday night when everyone else interested in the NBA was focusing on other games. It has all the signs of being another let-down game after the streak ended.

But give credit to Houston for taking care of business by beating the Kings 108-100. It wasn’t easy, though.

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Phoenix’s Amare Stoudemire was too much to handle for the Rockets as he scored 38 points, grabbed 13 boards, made 20-of-20 free throws, and blocked 4 shots on the way to beating Houston 122-113. This game continues to illustrate how much the Rockets are missing Yao Ming’s presence in the middle.

I did something I rarely do watching a Rockets game. They were stinking it up so bad in the first half in Phoenix Saturday night, I changed the channel.

I couldn’t take the massacre I was watching. As they fell behind by 17 points in the first quarter, they didn’t deserve any Rocket fan’s attention. Things got worse as they fell behind by 23 points in the second quarter. So instead, I watched a much better game between UCLA and Texas A&M, a hell of a game which the Bruins pulled out in the final minutes. That was the best decision I made all day.

For good measure, I decided to record the Rockets game just in case some fluke happened and they made a game of it. To my surprise, when I watched the recording I saw the Rockets end up closing the deficit to 8 or 9 points a couple of times in the second half. But the whole time I thought Phoenix was just toying with them. Anytime the Rockets got close, the Suns would turn it on and make the Rockets look like pretenders.

When I had earlier changed the channel away from the game, it was halftime and the Suns had shot an incredible 76% from the field, had 18 assists, and scored 30 points in the paint to lead 74-57. You’ve got to be kidding me — 74 points by halftime?

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Carl Landry reacts strongly after a basket against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night in Oakland. It was Landry’s first game after missing 7, and he returned with a vengeance, scoring 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 11 points in the fourth quarter to hold off a surging Warriors team. The Rockets ended a two-game losing streak by beating Golden State 109-106.

Although the Rockets held on for a huge 109-106 victory against the Warriors at Golden State on Friday night, I was happy on many fronts, but irate on another.

For most of the game, and especially during the third quarter, I couldn’t understand what Rick Adelman was thinking. I thought it was one of his worst coached games in weeks. I can understand why he had decided to “go small” by starting Luther Head instead of Dikembe Mutombo to match up with Golden State’s smaller and speedier lineup.

But after awhile it was clear the strategy wasn’t working. By halftime, Luther had only scored 4 points on 2-of-5 shooting, while on the other end of the court, the Warriors were grabbing offensive rebounds (9 by halftime, 20-10 offensive rebound advantage overall) and getting to the hole for easy layups time-after-time. The Rockets were lucky to be up 52-50 at halftime. The lead should have been bigger.

Meanwhile, Luis Scola wasn’t doing much on the defensive end down low, and he had only scored 4 points on 2-of-4 shooting himself.

So they weren’t getting much from Landry and Scola offensively, AND they were being torched on the boards and in the paint defensively. Not a good combination, especially in the third quarter when their interior defense was pathetic by letting the Warriors get to the hole uncontested so many times.

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One of the most questionable trades in Rockets’ recent history came back to haunt them Wednesday night when Bonzi Wells torched his former team for 20 points in the fourth quarter and 25 points overall to lead New Orleans to a 90-69 win over the Rockets. The win propelled New Orleans to a 1/2 game lead over Houston, pushing the Rockets from 1st to the 3rd spot in the Western Conference playoff standings.

As much as Rocket fans may be gloating they got one over on a division rival like San Antonio by stealing Luis Scola from them, Hornet fans may be doing the same thing toward the Rockets. Houston hasn’t been that charitable to New Orleans since providing help after Katrina.

I knew that trade was questionable at best when it happened, even if it got rid of Mike James‘ contract, because you just don’t want to help a team you’re trying to beat in your own division with a player who can play very well when motivated. By the look of things Wednesday night, they are at risk of Bonzi creating even more damage against Western Conference foes.

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I’ve always felt if you’re going to lose a big game, it feels better to lose big. That way you don’t tear yourself up about how one play here or there could have been the difference in the ballgame. A good shellacking can also get you extra motivated to improve your weaknesses.

That’s what happened Tuesday night as Boston blew out the Rockets in the third quarter and cruised to a 94-74 victory.

The Celtics’ defense was outstanding on Tracy McGrady, who didn’t attack the rack much in this game like he had been doing during the streak.

McGrady gave major props after the game to their defense, coached ironically in part by former Rocket assistant coach and defensive stalwart Tom Thibodeau. I was impressed the Celtics decided to play McGrady one-on-one most of the time, with former Rocket (and one of my favorites) James Posey manning up against him far away from the basket.

You may remember Posey being instrumental to Miami’s championship run a couple of seasons ago. Regardless, it would have been nice to see McGrady take it strong to the hole and draw some fouls, even if they were going to be hard fouls.

Instead, he only took 11 shots (mainly jumpers) and only made 4 of them for 11 points.

This game made it clear that Yao Ming and Carl Landry‘s absence in the paint hurts immensely.

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Carl is out again and won’t play against the Celtics, but it sounds like he’s close to being game ready. Hopefully he’ll play Wednesday night against New Orleans, and that they’ll be gunning for #24 in a row if they get by Boston tonight.

I had full intentions last night to follow-up what I had posted after the Rockets victory over the Lakers with another detailed post, but I was so tired last night after a long day, I felt like Shane Battier after an exhausting game guarding Kobe Bryant. I didn’t have any more energy left in me. But I’m now rested and ready.

The good thing is that I’ve had about 17 hours to reflect on yesterday’s historical win (they’re all historical now during this streak) and write about what stood out from yesterday’s game.

First, any Rocket fan who comes to this site who didn’t see yesterday’s nationally televised game probably had some obligation that had them kicking the dog or yelling at the wife. You knew how big of a game this was: the top teams in the West, the No. 1 seed and a long winning streak at stake, the Rockets trying to get respect nationally. If you missed it, my sympathies go out to you. Try to find a friend somewhere who has it on a DVR.

Not that the victory was a thing of beauty. That 15-point halftime lead getting whittled down to barely anything after the Rockets started the third quarter 0-for-12 made the game a little too interesting. But they righted the ship when necessary, held on to maintain the lead, then blew the game open with a 14-2 run midway through the fourth quarter to win #22 in a row and take one more step toward national credibility on a big stage: ABC on Sunday afternoon.

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