Calvin Murphy is involved in organizing a roast of Yao on Thursday, April 17th in Houston. I was lucky enough to speak to Calvin today, and he said that he would be able to provide a 50% discount to a select number of Yao Ming’s fans to the roast. Seat tickets normally go for $150 (proceeds go to charity), but if you mention the code word “ClubYao,” they should be able to hook you up for $75 per seat. This offer is limited until all the seats are sold out.

Here’s a description of the event from the Windsor Village United Methodist Church where the roast will be held:

This roast and toast dinner event will feature Charles Barkley (via video), Clyde Drexler, Rafer Alston, Steve Francis and other sports luminaries. All of the Houston Rockets are scheduled to be there. Proceeds will benefit The Leader’s Academy.

The Web site for the church is here. However, to get tickets, don’t call the number on the Web site. Instead, call 832-455-6565 during business hours (9:00am to 5:00pm Central time) and mention the “Club Yao” discount code.

A reception is being held from 6:30pm to 7:30pm, with the roast promptly starting at 7:30pm and lasting until 9:00pm.

I’ll also be there. They say the event is “black tie,” but I don’t know if that means guys have to wear a suit or a tux (I imagine it’s just a suit and tie). If you’re interested in going to the event, make sure to confirm what kind of attire they recommend you wear.

Here’s a map to the church location where the roast will be held.

If you have any questions, please submit a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer them.

After seeing earlier in the day the Phoenix Suns blow a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter to the Mavericks and lose, that had to give Houston even more reason to take care of business in LA Sunday night.

A win against the Clippers, and Houston could move one full game ahead of Phoenix for the 5th playoff spot in the West, and one game behind San Antonio and the Lakers for second or third place with 5 games to play.

So the Rockets came into Staples Center and put together one of their most complete games since the 22-game winning streak, beating the Clips 105-79. It’s exactly what they need to get in a playoff mindset.

It didn’t hurt that the Clippers have been injury-riddled the entire season, with more games missed by players than any other team this season. With Chris Kaman and Shaun Livingston out for the season, Elton Brand playing just his third game of the season after missing most of it because of Achilles surgery, and their leading scorer (22.5 points) Corey Maggette having to leave the game early for good with a strained hamstring, they really had no chance.

Meanwhile, Houston’s offense started off hot as the Rockets made 11 of its first 19 shots to take a 30-20 lead. That 10-point lead was an important milestone since the Clippers are only 7-47 this season when they fall behind by double-digits.

After that point, the Rockets were never really threatened as they built a 20-point lead by halftime, 62-42. Hitting 6-of-11 three-pointers was a key to building that lead compared to LA’s 1-of-3 (that one three-pointer is all they would make for the entire game).

The Clips would cut it to 13 points in the third quarter as Houston’s offense stagnated with only 18 points in the quarter. But Houston’s reserves did an admirable job in the fourth, surging the lead back to 20+ points to show the Rockets’ offense is getting tuned for the stretch run.

Houston’s offense was firing on all cylinders as 6 players scored in double-figures, led by backup point guard rookie Aaron Brooks. On the bench for so long after the acquisition of Bobby Jackson, Brooks has shown the past couple of games he hasn’t missed a beat.

AB used his speed and ability to get into the lane (or to the hole) in a flash, hitting 7-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 three-pointers to score a game-high 18 points. He also had 4 assists and zero turnovers. Houston’s point guard future is bright.

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As close as the Western Conference race is with only 12 days to go in the season, it was still tough to get psyched up for the Rockets-Sonics game Friday night.

Let’s see…Seattle is terrible with only 17 wins this season. They have lost 20 of their last 22 games, and they will have their worst record ever.

It was a late start for Houston fans in the central time zone with tip-off a little after 9:30pm.

It was a Friday night game, when most workers like yours truly are tired from a long work week, especially after watching another late night game the night before against Portland.

And then you’ve got other more important games on national TV taking away your attention, like Jazz-Spurs, Mavericks-Lakers, and even the Final 4 games on Saturday right down the freeway in San Antonio.

The way Tracy McGrady and Kevin Durant started the game, you’d think they were tired, disinterested, or both as well. McGrady made only 1-of-8 shots in the first half, and KD was worse: 1-for-10.

McGrady was clearly affected by a bandage on his left shoulder, still hurting after banging it in a game against Sacramento on March 24th. Only 2-for-10 by halftime, he took it off and came out much more aggressive in the second half.

Although Seattle shot 29.4% in the first half, somehow they led 41-40, thanks to 21 second-chance points by the Sonics due to terrible defensive rebounding by Houston.

McGrady’s poor shooting and Houston trailing a terrible Sonics team inspired him to take over for the second 3rd quarter in a row, just like he did in Portland the night before. He made 9-of-13 shots for 18 points in the quarter to put Houston ahead 69-54 heading into the fourth quarter, which was essentially the ballgame since both team shut down their offenses in the fourth. Houston would 10 and Seattle 12 to give the Rockets a 79-66 victory.

Seattle’s 66 points were the fewest scored by a Houston opponent all season, and was Seattle’s third lowest scoring game in their franchise history. Their 25 second half points were the fewest the Rockets have allowed in the second half this entire season.

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Our Raymond has done a great job gathering photos from Yao’s press conference in China on Friday, as well as translating Yao’s answers to the questions the press asked him. Click here for more photos and the translation.

I’m still hurting after that loss against Sacramento on Tuesday night and how mediocre the Rockets have played since the 22-winning streak ended.

But Houston’s win against Portland on the road Thursday night makes me hopeful that the Rockets can get back to the way they were playing during their historic run.

They still had times where they struggled, like when they gave up a 16-point lead in the 2nd quarter and eventually fell behind by two points with 3:50 remaining in the third.

At that point, I thought they were ripe for a collapse. And all of this was happening without last year’s rookie of the year – Brandon Roy – playing for Portland because of an injury. Without Roy in the line-up this season, the Blazers had lost 6-of-7 games.

But give credit to Tracy McGrady for finally finding his shot. He had been 5-of-15 by the time the Rockets fell behind by two points, 63-61. But then he exploded by hitting 5 of his next 6 shots to help Houston go on a 13-0 run to finish the third quarter, giving the Rockets a 74-63 lead headed into the fourth.

The Blazers would cut the deficit down to 7 points a couple of times in the fourth, but the Rockets would respond and finished strong to win 95-86.

McGrady was in more of an attack mode in this game, and it made all the difference. On top of the 35 points he scored on pretty decent 14-of-29 shooting and 4-of-6 from three-point territory, he would dish 6 assists.

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You probably saw the photos a couple of days ago from Yao working out. Now we’ve got video from NBA TV of him working out as well! Check out the video by clicking here.

Our Raymond reports that even though Yao Ming had been working out his limbs and legs in Houston, the wound on his left foot is still very swollen. So with the approval of his Houston doctors and Rockets management, he flew back China to seek more medical help from Chinese doctors and arrived late Thursday night, Beijing time.

For more photos of Yao’s arrival in China, click here.

Yao will stay in Beijing for about 10 days and will go through some Chinese therapy and treatment. After that, he will return to Houston for his Roast and Toast charity event (organized by Calvin Murphy) on April 17th, and continue his rehabilitation in Houston.

On Tuesday we got hold of some photos of Yao doing rehab in his pool at home so he can do leg workouts without having to apply too much weight on his foot.

To see more photos from Yao’s workout in his pool (including a visit from Steve Francis), continue to read the rest of this post.

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The Rockets’ loss to Sacramento was absolutely inexcusable Tuesday night. It was a huge, huge loss in the Rockets’ quest to stay in the hunt for home court advantage in the playoffs since New Orleans and San Antonio both won earlier in the night.

The Rockets are now 2 ½ games behind those teams with only 8 games remaining, 1 game behind the Lakers, and ½ game behind Phoenix in 6th place in the West.

If the playoffs started today, the Rockets would play the third-place Lakers and would NOT have home court advantage. That’s how big these recent losses have been, including this one they should have won Tuesday, their first loss to a team with a losing record in 3 ½ months.

The Rockets still managed to blow it against a team that had lost one of their best players and rebounders, Brad Miller, who got ejected midway in the third quarter because of two technical fouls. And the Kings were already playing without another big man, Spencer Hawes.

Their absence in the game helped give the Rockets an incredible 49-28 rebounding advantage, including a 21-4 advantage on the offensive boards. I have never seen a team dominate on the boards like that and still lose a game!

Attribute this disaster to the Rockets missing their first 10 shots in the fourth quarter, and shooting only 20% in that quarter and 40% overall.

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Raymond has some pics in the forum of Yao working out on March 31st to try to stay in shape while he rests his injured foot after it was surgically repaired in early March. Click here for more photos from Yao’s workout session.