The Rockets lost a heartbreaker to Portland on a 30-foot buzzer beater by Brandon Roy. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see the game, and I’m glad I didn’t. You can read and weep the game story here at the Chronicle site.

I do have something I need to tell you that’s pretty important, though. I have decided after running YMM for over 6 ½ years, I’m going to have to take a break from the site, and it could be permanent (gulp!).

I could have just disappeared and not said anything, but then all of you would be wondering what happened. I owe more to you guys than that.

I had decided several months ago that heading into this NBA season, I can’t continue to sacrifice my time, money and health without making a reasonable financial return on the site. It has been like a second job to me. Even moreso now since I’m not in Texas as much as usual because of a time-consuming job which makes it very difficult for me to watch Yao’s games. Also, every extra hour I can get back in my life is precious. I have become extremely busy over the past year, and it’s not going to let up.

Many of you know I have accepted donations in the past, but I refuse to take those any longer. I very much appreciate your past contributions, but after seeing what was donated the past few years, it’s far from being enough to make it financially viable.

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What geniuses at the NBA league office in New York scheduled a game as big as the Rockets-Celtics on the same day as election night, one of the biggest nights in the nation over the past 4 years?

Because of the importance of the evening, there was no way I could watch the game AND the election results on TV. Well, I actually tried to watch the game online through NBA’s League Pass Broadband offering because I’m not in Texas right now, but after multiple attempts their video wouldn’t load, and I just said “screw it.”

It turns out I didn’t miss much considering the Rockets lost their first game of the season, and Yao Ming had a crappy night, getting in early foul trouble, and scoring only 8 points on 4-of-14 shooting, which included getting his shot blocked 3 times. On the bright side, he only played 28 minutes (sarcastic tone inflected).

After the game, Yao said, “The early fouls changed a little bit of my game but cannot be my excuse. I played a bad game, probably one of my worst games in a long time. I need to figure out what happened besides just thinking about those early fouls. I think I hesitated, worried about getting another foul. I think I moved not quick enough.”

I’ll refer you to the Houston Chronicle for the rest of the game story.

Here’s a link to Raymond’s photos from the game.

Raymond has translated in the forum an interview that Yao gave after the Rockets pushed their record to 3-0.

He talked extensively about problems he has seen with the team thus far, and about the common concern of his fans about the extraordinarily long minutes he has played in this young season. Yao admits that if he keeps his minutes up at this rate, he won’t last more than 40 or 50 games. Click here for the full translation.

However, even with an excused absence from attending Sunday’s practice to prevent wear-and-tear, Yao decided to attend the practice after all! Hey Yao, be careful out there! Click here for photos from the practice.

Yao Ming and Aaron Brooks high-five each other during Houston’s game against Oklahoma City Saturday night at Toyota Center. Yao would go on to score 16 points and 11 rebounds in 39 minutes in an 89-77 victory. Click here for more photos. Click here for the Houston Chronicle’s game story.

This Yao Ming Mania game summary is from guest contributor Ren Hsieh…

Well, the offense still isn’t pretty yet but there’s just enough flashes of brilliance at just the right time to keep even the most critical of fans from losing faith. Three wins, all closed out in the 4th in the convincing fashion the Rockets often struggled with last season.

Granted, two of these wins came at the inexperienced, potential debacles of Memphis and Oklahoma City. While Houston’s team .364 shooting against an actually fairly solid Thunder defense (and their .426 shooting for the season) might raise some concerns, their own defense effort should not.

The Rockets are giving up only .400 FG% to opponents and a league-leading .138 from behind the arc. And they need the defense to bide through the growing pains of the offense; for which they should continue resisting the temptation to veer away — winning helps the cause. The OKC game was a good example of why. On off shooting days, which Rockets fans are more than accustomed to, the offense provides enough open looks to bide the cold streaks. This was evidenced by the Rockets’ balanced scoring, getting 6 players in double figures.

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