Raymond has photos posted in the forum of Yao leaving China to come back to Houston, where you’ll see he no longer needs crutches.

Raymond also has a report of what he Yao plans to do once he’s back in H-Town.

* Take a photo in front of the Hakeem Olajuwon monument

* Show up at the bench on the last home game versus LA Clippers

* Show up at the bench to support his teammates when the playoff starts

* Have a good laugh and enjoy the Roast & Toast Charity on April 17th.

* Start his rehabilitation aggressively with the Chinese medicine he brought back from Beijing

* Start watching video of his national team temmates

* Start asking the Rockets for video of Luis Scola so he can be well prepared playing against Scola during the Olympics.

Thanks for the scoop, Raymond!

Determined to win a big game that could decide homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs, the Rockets started Shane Battier in Utah Monday night, something they should have done the night before in Denver where they lost.

The Rockets also played Bobby Jackson, probably because Rafer Alston’s hamstring injury was worse than Jackson’s knee problem. Perhaps Jackson should have played in Denver, too.

Even with these two key players back in the lineup, it was still going to be tough since Utah was at home where they had been 36-4, they had everything to gain (like homecourt against Houston in the first round of the playoffs) and maybe a chance to move up to 2nd in the conference.

With all the improvements the Rockets have made this season since last season’s playoff series loss against Utah — role players like Luis Scola, Carl Landry, Jackson, Aaron Brooks, Mike Harris, and an improved Steve Novak – it still wasn’t enough as the Rockets went down again to their nemesis, 105-96.

So just like that, within the span of 27 hours the Rockets went from playing for a chance to win the Western Conference, to facing the likelihood they will be the fifth seed without homecourt advantage. What a disappointing way to close out the regular season.

The Rockets now have to hope that the Spurs beat the Jazz Wednesday night in Houston while the Rockets take care of the Clippers. If that doesn’t happen, the Rockets will not have home court advantage and will have to face the possibility of playing a potential Game 7 in Utah, an almost impossible game to win.

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