In my mind…Thursday night against the Dallas Mavericks, Yao Ming scored some of the ‘quietest’ 30 points I’ve ever seen in a 112-102 victory at American Airlines Center for the Rockets to go 2-0 on the season.

(Click here for more photos from the game, thanks to Raymond in the forum)

Maybe it was because I had to watch a game in a sports bar and didn’t have access to my statistics over the Internet during the game, thus surprising me when I saw the final boxscore.

But I think a big reason had to be the incredible display that Ron Artest put on. We all knew he was good, but I don’t think many people expected he would be this valuable to the Rockets this fast. Having an injured Shane Battier out of the lineup is requiring Artest to get more playing time than originally intended, and it hasn’t hurt the Rockets too much.

Yao was his usual solid self, shooting 11-of-15 from the field, making a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line (he was 9-of-9 Wednesday night in the season opener), and grabbing 13 boards. Amazingly, we’ve almost come to expect these kind of numbers from Yao, which is a sign of his greatness, and hell, might ultimately win him the league MVP if he keeps this up and doesn’t get hurt like in previous seasons.

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I’ve been pretty quiet on this blog over the past few weeks, with me intentionally not getting too involved with the details of the preseason Rockets, and instead focusing more of my time on work, as well as the election. Like many of you, I’m not a big fan of the preseason – it’s way too long and not indicative of how the regular season will turn out for most teams.

But something magical has happened over the 24 hours. The juices started to flow in anticipation of Wednesday night’s regular season opener for the Rockets against the Memphis Grizzlies. It’s now time to get serious as the Rockets prepare to launch a winning campaign of their own with their new running mate, Ron Artest. [Click here for Raymond’s photos from the excitement of opening night].

It wasn’t pretty, but the Rockets overcame a disjointed offense to win 82-71 with their defense — ironically the thing that concerned them the most at the end of the preseason. The 11-point margin makes it seem like a bigger win than it really was. It was much closer.

Houston’s defense made an early statement against the Grizzlies offense when they stole the ball 3 times in their first four possessions, with Ron Artest getting two of them. This display before their very eyes of one of the league’s most celebrated defensive players whipped the fans in Toyota Center into a frenzy as the Rockets took an early 7-0 lead. I myself couldn’t contain my excitement as I envisioned what an extra 2 or 3 steals per game from Artest will mean to the the Rockets’ cuse this season.

The lead expanded to 11-2 thanks to an active Yao Ming grabbing two offensive boards for a tip-in and dunk.

Yao’s performance Wednesday night would remind everyone just how much he was missed during last season’s playoff series loss against the Utah Jazz. Anytime you take out of the lineup a game-high 21 points, 10 rebounds and 9-of-9 shooting from the free throw line like Yao had Wednesday night, you’re not going to be near as competitive against a playoff team like Utah.

Click here for more photos from the game.

Welcome back, Yao. We’re glad to have you.

Houston looked like they were well on their way to a blowout against a young Memphis team after building a 26-18 first quarter lead. But then Houston’s offense went south with Houston’s second unit getting more action, hitting only 4-of-21 field goals in the second quarter for 17 points, and scoring only 15 points in the third.

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Yao Ming scored 17 points, grabbed 7 boards and had 2 blocks in Sacramento Thursday night as the Rockets easily beat the Kings 110-97.

Yao slightly pulled his groin in the first quarter and went to the locker room for treatment, but managed to play 32 minutes total and rested during the entire fourth quarter. Hopefully he’s okay — he must be if coach Rick Adelman played him that long.

Click here for more photos from the game.

Ron Artest was the Rockets’ high scorer with 19 points in his first game back at ARCO Arena since being traded in the off-season. He also had 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

You can probably tell I don’t get that fired up about preseason games, so I’m glad it’s finally over. The Rockets now have several days off before next Wednesday night’s season opener against Memphis.

Raymond has posted photos of Steve Francis and Tracy McGrady back at practice. Tuesday was McGrady’s third day in a row back at practice without any pain, and Francis’ first.

Click here for more photos from the practice that Raymond has posted in the forum.

Carlos Boozer (UTA)

6-9, 266 lbs | 6 years pro

Mehmet Okur (UTA)

6-11, 263 lbs | 6 years pro

Head-to-head in ’07-’08, Record 0-1

CB: 30 pts, .520 FG%, 16 rebs, 5 TOs

MO: 16 pts, .500 FG%, 3 3FGs, 10 rebs

YM: 11 pts, .357 FG%, 7 rebs, 6 TOs

DIAGNOSIS: The amount of sheer hatred that these two Jazzees inspire from Rockets fans is enough to place them in the no. 1 spot. The Jazz are strongest where the Rockets are weak. Point guard and mobility/versatility in the front-court. Boozer may be undersized at 6-9 but unlike Dwight Howard, Booze is bottom heavy and consistently able to force Yao to post up further from the rim than he likes. And his lower center gravity mixed with excellent footwork, gives Yao fits.

Mehmet Okur is a different look, kind of like how NFL teams like to change it up with their backfield. Don’t know if Steve Slaton/Ahman Green qualifies yet but you get the picture. Mehmet is just old school in the low-post. Meaning he’s a hack. He even looks a little like Bill Laimbeer. Okur will push, shove, knee, trip, elbow and hack until the refs call it. He leaves it up to them. If Yao can get square, solid position, Okur has no answer. And for that matter, neither does Boozer, but both do a hell of a job to prevent that.

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Yao Ming and Luis Scola were two of several Olympic athletes honored at yesterday’s Houston Texans game at Reliant Stadium. Check out some video here:

Earlier that morning, Yao and the Rockets had a practice and workout at Toyota Center. Click here for more photos from the practice.

After sitting out Wednesday’s game against Memphis, Yao Ming was back in the lineup Friday night against Sacramento.

Yao scored 15 points in 26 minutes, hitting 7-of-11 from the floor. But shockingly, he only made 1-of-5 free throws. He left the game in the fourth quarter after tweaking his ankle, but he’ll be fine.

Meanwhile, Ron Artest played well against his former team, scoring 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting. He also had 3 steals and two assists.

Aaron Brooks had a fantastic game, scoring 23 points since he got more minutes (42) than normal because Tracy McGrady sat out to rest his sore right knee. Brooks made 7-of-16 field goals, including 4-of-8 from 3-point land.

Click here for more photos from the Rockets’ pre-game shootaround as well as the game. Click here for game coverage from the Houston Chronicle.

Amare Stoudamire (PHX)

6-10, 249 lbs | 6 years pro

Head-to-head in ’07-’08, Record 1-1

AS: 23 ppg, 11 rpg, 1 bpg, 5 fpg

YM: 21.5 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 1 bpg, 3.5 fpg

DIAGNOSIS: No player has more consistently given Yao fits since they both entered the league in ’02. Amare certainly has benefited from a creative and effective Suns scheme that included heavy doses of running and Shawn Marion but those days are gone.

Now, Amare has Shaq, which in theory should give the Suns a solid defense against Yao (Shaq was no. 5 after all), but Amare’s best defense against Yao is his offense. He’s added the 15-footer to his repertoire off the pick & roll, he still attacks the basket as well as any big man in the league and as long as he has Steve Nash looking for him, he’ll be almost impossible to stop. Which usually spells foul trouble for Yao.

It’s almost as if Phoenix was built to stop Houston. But no, the Suns were thinking about the Lakers and their front-court of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. And now all three of these Western Conference powerhouses, and in some respects the Utah Jazz, are looking awful traditional in the new NBA.

PROGNOSIS: With Scola, Landry, Hayes, Joey Dorsey and surely at some point, Ron Artest, available to fill in at the PF position, Yao won’t have to guard Stoudamire. But count on Shaq playing less minutes than Yao and if Stoudamire finds success against the scrappy but undersized Rockets forwards, Yao may have to switch back in spurts and Stoudamire has no fear of guarding Yao even if he never has quite slowed Yao in single-coverage.

And when Nash inevitably goes back to the pick & roll, the Rockets’ backside help defense should be that much better with Artest and Battier available to drop down in the paint. The benefits of adding a third dynamic player of Artest’s class keeping popping up everywhere.

Yao was held out of a meaningless game against the Grizzlies Wednesday night in Memphis.

The Rockets seem to be sticking to their guns about managing Yao’s time wisely to avoid unnecessary wear-and-tear. After all, this was the Rockets third preseason road game in a row within a 5-day period.

Turns out they didn’t need him after beating the Grizzlies 101-97. Click here for the Chronicle story on the game, including some commentary on the Rockets’ decision to try to make up for not having the height of Dikembe Mutombo in the lineup using the quickness of their power forwards.

Click here for Raymond’s photos from Yao’s pre-game shootaround.

Dwight Howard (ORL) | 6-11, 265 lbs | 4 yrs pro

Head-to-head ’07-’08

DH: 18.5 ppg, .500 FG%, 9.5 rpg, 5.5 fpg

YM: 22.5 ppg, .472 FG%, 13.5 rpg, 3.5 fpg

DIAGNOSIS: You may be wondering why DH only comes in at no. 3, especially considering most NBA analysts and bloggers have put Howard as the no. 1 center in the NBA now. It’s mostly because Orlando is one of the few teams that will let their center try to match-up one-on-one with Yao and Yao has had some of his best games against Howard. Like most centers in Howard’s mold, Yao is just too big for him.

When healthy, Yao really hasn’t been contained in the last two years one-on-one by anyone in the league. With the arrival of a rookie center with true center size and uncommon explosiveness (and who frighteningly resembles a young Shaquille O’Neal) in Greg Oden and the evolution of Andrew Bynum, that might soon change, but for now, if teams want to single up on Yao, it means they’re satisfied with letting him get his.

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