As steady as Yao has been lately — helping the Rockets beat the Utah Jazz Wednesday night with 19 points (9-of-9 from the line) and 12 rebounds in 30 minutes of action — Rafer and Wafer have been almost as key to the Rockets winning 5 of their last 6 games, too.

Yao spins baseline on Utah’s Paul Milsap Wednesday night on his way to 19 points. Click here for more photos from the game.

Alston scored a season-high 23 points, including 5-of-7 three-pointers, 7-of-13 from the field, 4-of-4 from the line, 8 assists, and only 1 turnover. Wow! Rafer has been stepping up big-time in Ron Artest and Tracy McGrady’s absence.

And Von Wafer is still playing the role of Cinderella at the ball, scoring 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including a dagger of a 3-pointer with 2:32 remaining that gave the Rockets some breathing room, 94-87. The rest of the way, the Rockets hit 12-of-12 free throws in the final 2 minutes to ice it.

So let’s see…the Rockets are #5 in the league in free throw shooting (they were an incredible 27-of-28 from the line Wednesday night), they have a point guard who is playing out of his mind lately, they have consistent and athletic role players like Luis Scola (19 points on 6-of-10 shooting) and Carl Landry (10 points, 4-of-8 from the field). They have a virtually unstoppable All-Star center who is playing at an MVP level. They have an experienced backup guard who can hit the three and who has won championships (Brent Barry – 3-of-4 from behind the arc).

On top of that, their offense is moving the ball around like they did during their 22-game win streak last season, one of their best players (Ron Artest) will be rejoining the team very soon, Tracy McGrady will be playing again in a couple of games, and they have one of the biggest surprise players of the league (Wafer) who can score in bunches and shoot for a high percentage.

Finally, they have 2 very good role players — Aaron Brooks and Shane Battier — who are in shooting slumps right now, but you know they will get it going again. And when they do, watch out!

I don’t know about you, but I’m a pretty conservative guy and don’t say things like the following off-the-cuff. But with all the Rockets have going for them again, it is not unreasonable to expect them to be playing in June.

Okay, now more about their 108-99 victory over the Jazz Wednesday night. The Rockets remind me of the Jazz a couple of years ago when they had all these new players like Ronnie Brewer and Paul Milsap, and there was no let-up when these reserves came in. It was unbelievable! That’s the way it is this season for the Rockets when phenoms like Von Wafer, Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks come into the game. There’s hardly any drop-off in intensity and energy.

For the second straight game, I’ve put together a summary of the top plays from the game on a quarter-by-quarter basis. Enjoy!

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I was listening to an old interview that Shane Battier gave to a local radio station a couple of weeks ago, and I was struck by this conversation that Shane had with the interviewer talking about Yao getting little respect from referees, but still manages to maintain his cool.

Interviewer: “Yao never loses it against players who are beating him all the time…”
Shane: “He’s amazing. I wouldn’t trade him for anyone in the entire league. Anybody.”

Interviewer: “What do they say to you?”
Shane: “I don’t know. They just sort of blow us off. I don’t know what it is about Yao. I wish Yao would even go after the refs a little harder and just let them know, hey, ‘I’m a 6-7 year All-Star in this league.’ I deserve some calls sometime.”

I love Shane for his loyalty toward Yao.

On another front, Raymond has translated an interview that Yao gave to Sohu Sports where he talks about improved cohesion in the locker room, his performance late in games, and what will happen with the team when Tracy McGrady returns to the line-up.

Finally, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle wrote an excellent article about Yao’s effectiveness in the fourth quarter.

Channel 2 in Houston has one of the longest video interviews I’ve ever seen of anyone on any Web site — approximately 13 1/2 minutes where they talk to Tracy McGrady and his personal trainer Wayne Hall about why McGrady (with the Rockets’ approval) decided to take 2 weeks off to improve his conditioning. Hall also talks about some of McGrady’s physical improvements, like his time running 40 meters decreasing from 5.1 seconds to 4.6, and bench pressing 185 pounds five times, up from 115 pounds.

Of course, it’s up to each viewer to decide if McGrady could have worked harder during off-season rehab, or if the surgeries he had on his shoulder and knee were legitimate excuses to not come into training camp in shape.

Ron-Ron and Tracy went through a light practice on Tuesday where they walked through sets without any scrimmaging.

Click here for more photos from Tuesday’s practice.

McGrady may play Sunday in Detroit or Monday in New York. It’s still unknown when Artest can play, pending results from an MRI late Tuesday and a bone scan scheduled for Sunday.

Raymond has translated an interview of the Rockets’ strength and conditioning coach, David Macha (who also has trained Yao), gave to Sohu Sports where he talks about McGrady’s progress in rehab. I found it interesting that Macha also talks about McGrady’s confidence level.

For Raymond’s complete translation, click here.

Since the Rockets-Nuggets game ended so early because it was a matinee on MLK Jr. Day, most of you already know what happened. So I’ll try to go “old school” on you and do some play-by-play on this huge victory the Rockets pulled off. They’ve now won their 5 of their last 6 games, defeated a Denver team that had won 9 of their last 12, and pulled within 1 game of the Nuggets in the Western Conference standings.

Yao Ming was outstanding with 31 points on 13-of-19 shooting. Over his past 2 games, he’s averaging 28.5 ppg and is 25-for-31 from the field. At this rate, Yao is in serious contention for Player of the Week Honors. He’s leading this team and seems to be back to the level he was playing last year before his bid to win league MVP was cut short because of his foot injury.

The refs had questionable calls against Yao most of the afternoon.
Click here for more game photos.

1st quarter:

The Rockets scored 36 points in the first quarter, a season-high. But they also gave up a season-high 36 points. The Rockets shot 57.7% while the Nuggets shot 57.1%

Von Wafer jetted fast down the court and scored on a layup to make it 25-24, Houston. Then a few minutes later, Von took an offensive rebound the length of the court coast-to-coast, took it strong to the hole, scored, and was fouled! I loved his reaction both times – a little leg kick combined with a fist pump. Von finished the quarter with 9 points on 3-of-7 shooting.

Wafer is kind of like Avery Johnson – a journeyman who finally landed with a team and became a force. You don’t see that very often. Hopefully the Rockets will keep Von as long as the Spurs kept Avery.

Rafer Alston hit his first three 3-pointers and was 5-for-6 in the first quarter for 13 points, including a sweet fake in the lane, then hoisting up a teardrop for the score.

At about the 1 minute mark, Yao grabbed an offensive rebound under the basket and threw down a one-handed reverse dunk over Chris Andersen. Yao finished the quarter with 8 points on 4-of-7 shooting.

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I’m at work today but followed the progress of the Rockets’ MLK game this afternoon against Denver. I’m glad I recorded the game on my home DVR so I can report on it later tonight, because this game sounded like a classic! Houston won 115-113, with lots of exciting moments, including Yao Ming grabbing a game-saving steal at the end of the game. Yao also dominated in the fourth quarter with 13 points, and finished with a game-high 31 points on 13-of-19 shooting. Yao is really stepping it up in Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest‘s absence.

This game was huge because with the win, the Rockets, now 26-16, pulled within 1 game of the Nuggets in the Western Conference standings.

I can’t wait to watch this game when I get home tonight so I can provide more details. Stay tuned!

Saturday night’s Rockets win over Miami was the epitome of what all Houston fans thought they were going to get from Yao Ming when the Rockets drafted him as the #1 pick in the draft seven years ago. Accurate shooting, hard to defend in the post, good decision-making to kick the ball out when double or triple-teamed, etc.

Yao played one of his best, and most consistent, games of the season as he broke a 32-year old Rockets’ team record, hitting more shots without a miss by going 12-for-12 on his way to racking up 26 points.

He actually had secured the team record at 11-for-11, but obviously no one told him before he shot — and luckily made — a baseline jumper with the game in hand with less than a minute to play.


Yao Ming was unstoppable against Miami’s short front line as he shot a perfect 12-for-12 from the field, a franchise record for shots in one game without a miss. Click here for more photos from the game.

It wasn’t like he exploded in one quarter to make all his points. He was 5-for-5 in the first quarter, 2-for-2 in the second, 3-for-3 in the third, and 2-for-2 in the fourth. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and a couple of assists, choosing wisely when to shoot over his defender and when to pass to a cutter for an easy basket.

Ironically, Yao attempted a difficult offensive move where he probably wouldn’t have made the shot, but he was called for traveling even though both Yao and coach Rick Adelman complained he had been held by a defender who caused him to travel. If the refs had let that travel go and Yao had put up that difficult shot, then we might not be talking about the team record that Yao broke.

We all know what Yao is capable of doing. The guy who continues to exceed all expectations over the past 7 games, who received lots of attention during the Miami TV pregame coverage, was a big part of the Rockets’ offense in the first half Saturday night, is Von Wafer.

Quick as a cat, Wafer was aggressive going to the hole a couple of times for layups or dunks, and tied Yao for high score in the first half with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and played the most number of minutes by far for any Rocket in the first half – 22:46 of 24.

He would miss all 7 of his shot attempts in the second half, maybe because he plays “all out” when he’s in the game, and because he played so many minutes in the first half. He finished with 17 on 7-of-18 shooting. I love watching his game. His confidence is really skyrocketing, and if he continues playing like this, he will continue to get big minutes even after McGrady comes back (if he does).

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It’s tough to write up this one. The Rockets had every chance in the world to pull off a big upset given both Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest didn’t play to rest their injuries.

Yao Ming battles Trevor Ariza and Lamar Odom for a rebound.
Click here for more game photos.

But two of Houston’s veterans couldn’t come up big in the clutch while the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant did.

After Shane Battier hit a huge three-pointer to give the Rockets a 100-99 lead with 47.9 seconds remaining, Kobe hit a cold-blooded three-pointer over Shane that was a dagger. Lakers 102-100.

Rafer Alston was fouled on the following play, but he missed both free throws. A veteran point guard needs to make those. The Rockets fouled Pau Gasol intentionally, who missed 1-of-2 free throws, to give Houston a chance to tie it with a 3-pointer.

But the Rockets’ offense broke down. Aaron Brooks fed the ball to Yao in the post. The ball was tipped away from Yao, who gathered it and put up a 2-pointer with just a few seconds on the clock. Oops. Not good.

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Big news is that the Rockets have decided that McGrady needs rest without all the uncertainty of when he would play and when he wouldn’t. It’s about time. Here’s more detail in the Chronicle about it.

Meanwhile, we all wait additional test results of Ron Artest‘s ankle (Monday’s MRI bone scan was inconclusive). Raymond found some interesting photos of Artest during Saturday’s game wearing a special protective shoe.

Click here for more photos of Artest’s boot.

Hopefully the final diagnosis won’t be as serious as it looks.