Right after the All-Star break when the Rockets traded Rafer Alston, McGrady was going to be out for good, and many were uncertain about the Rockets’ future, I said the following after the win over Dallas: “I absolutely love this team more than ever.”

As confident as I was with that statement, I never thought they would make me so proud so soon.

The Rockets trounced Cleveland for probably their most impressive win of the season, firing on all cylinders and playing solid defense yet again for a 93-74 victory. I felt a whole bunch of Houstonians jump on a bandwagon Thursday night.

Without having to defer to, or tolerate, McGrady’s erratic shot taking, Yao Ming is clearly the #1 option on offense now (maybe for the rest of his career in Houston), and Thursday’s game in my mind was a statement game that has made it obvious that this is HIS team. There’s no more confusion among his teammates about who needs to get the ball. No more egos are distorting that view. It’s Yao time.

Yao throws one down from under the basket after a dish from Kyle Lowry.
Click here for more photos from the game.

He proved it by dominating a very good Cleveland team with 28 points on 13-of-15 shooting. His turnaround jumper from the post was automatic, and it’s clear it has become his patented move – a la Hakeem’s Dream Shake or Kareem’s Sky Hook – that can carry him into the Hall of Fame. It’s almost unstoppable because it really can’t be blocked.

Even though this shot isn’t Yao’s turnaround jumper, it’s another shot that’s almost just as unblockable.

And you have to love the throw-down that Yao had over Lebron in the third quarter. He almost posterized him. Love it! Here’s a video that Raymond found of it on Chinese TV. I love the reaction from the fans behind the basket…

Even Cleveland coach Mike Brown had to remark after the game, “Yao was awesome.”

Meanwhile, Lebron James was held by Shane Battier (4 blocks, drew a couple of charges) and Ron Artest to one of his most blah games of the season: 21 points on 7-of-21 shots. And in 40 minutes, he also failed to get an assist for the first time in his NBA career, and only had 1 REBOUND. I think Hell just froze over.

I said a few games ago that the Rockets should not have been toying with the idea of trading Artest before the All-Star break, and that they should do everything in their power to sign him to a longer term deal before he gets tempted in free agency to leave. The guy lives up to his self-proclaimed warrior reputation. With him manning up Lebron, you actually have to feel even more confident that a guy with a body as close to Lebron’s build can actually hold his own against him. That can’t be said very often for whoever is assigned to defend the King.

And did you see the crossover that Ron-Ron threw on Lebron to fake him out of his jock, followed by blowing past him into the lane, then dishing off to Yao for a dunk? That got the Houston crowd to ooh-and-aah. And how about that one-handed tomahawk jam with his left hand with about 4 minutes remaining in the second quarter. That got the bench and fans up off their feet after that one. The man is fun to watch.

Under the radar who gave Cleveland’s defense fits, especially Ben Wallace, was Luis Scola in the lane faking out the former Defensive Player of the Year to score on whirling dirvish moves a couple of times. That’s impressive. I didn’t think Scola could play so well in the lane against a real physical defender like Big Ben. Luis never ceases to amaze me. He finished with 14 points on 5-of-7 shots and led the team in rebounds with 9.

Vonnie “the Microwave” Wafer scored 19 points, with 14 coming in the fourth quarter alone as Houston held off a late push by the Cavs, only to see Von finish ‘em off. It was kind of a coming-out party for Wafer to a national TNT audience, many who had never seen him play before. He made a great first impression to casual NBA fans by hitting 4-of-6 three-pointers.

As great as they played on offense, their defense was even better. They held the Cavs to the lowest number of points in the first and third quarters, 11 and 10 points respectively. Oh my goodness! I’ve heard of one low scoring quarter like this for an NBA team in the same game, but for two of them to occur in the same game is unheard of. And 33.8% shooting for an NBA champion contender? Houston’s defense is baaaaack.

It’s unbelievable that Charles Barkley said after the game that he doesn’t think Houston is a contender, even after this big victory. And before the game, I don’t know why he and Kenny Smith kept saying that trading Rafer Alston was going to mean a big drop-off in production for Houston’s offense. And that they didn’t think Brooks was ready to run a team because he’s too inexperienced. Have they been watching their former team at all this season?

Read the rest of this entry »

I never thought I’d say an ugly win could be so beautiful as it was Tuesday night when the Rockets beat the Blazers 98-94.

Houston had blown a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter with less than 6 minutes remaining, a lead that got whittled down to 2. But rather than collapse like they did several times before the All-Star break, this time the Rockets found a way to win.

Rather than jump on them and lament how the team continues to struggle in putting teams away like they did so many times this season with McGrady and Alston, it’s hard to do that this time. That’s because we know they finally have a cancer off their team that will allow their healthier “cells” to grow over the time.

Also because they’ve got a starting point guard who can actually hit big shots and free throws down the stretch, like Aaron Brooks did by draining 2 big free throws to make it 94-90 with 21.5 remaining.

The rest of the way the Blazers fouled Ron Artest twice, and like a true superstar, he hit his free throws when the chips were down. Those 4 FTs were a majority of the points the Rockets would score (7) in the last six minutes, all coming from FTs.

Artest may not have had the best shooting night (5-of-13), but he made 9-of-10 free throws on his way to a team-high 20 points. He also had 5 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and only 1 turnover.

Two of my favorite plays from the night involved Artest when he did a pick-and-roll with Luis Scola in the lane, dumping it off to him for a layup. Then later, Artest grabbed a defensive rebound, dribbled it coast-to-coast on a semi-fast break to the other end, and dumped it off to Scola for another layup! It’s rare to see a player this versatile: a burly small forward who can play power forward and post-up in the lane, or start in the backcourt with Brooks and be dishing dimes on fast breaks.

Scola would finish with 15 points on 5-of-9 shots, plus 11 rebounds, including 2 or 3 in the clutch that kept Houston possessions alive and staved off the Blazers’ comeback attempt.

Aaron was fantastic with 20 points on 8-of-20 shots, but it was the way he made those shots that was impressive. It just wasn’t off 3-pointers (2-of-5). He attacked the basket more than Rafer Alston did, blew by defenders, and scored on at least 4 layups Tuesday night because of that aggressiveness.

He also had some sweet dribble moves to get into the lane, then would elevate and pop a jumper over defenders who were backing up because they thought he was taking it to the rack. It’s a sweet move, and almost impossible to defend.

Yao had a so-so game. He ‘only’ scored 15 points on 6-of-15 shots. He missed his first 4 shots, which included 2 back-to-back dunk/layup attempts within a few seconds of each other in the first quarter. The first dunk attempt was a one-handed jam attempt over Joel Pryzbilla, who appeared to get a hand between the ball and the rim.

But Yao’s second miss was a flat-out blown layup from underneath the rim, and Yao had to slap his hands frustration that he had missed such an easy shot.

Yao’s night was even more frustrating because referee Scott Foster fell for two Pryzbilla flops by calling them as offensive fouls on Yao. They were absolutely ridiculous calls.

Pryzbilla flopped on Yao 4 times in the game, getting caught only once.
Click here for more photos from pre-game and the game itself.

But fortunately Foster would finally expose Przybilla for what he was when Pryz went to the well too often in the fourth quarter with 2 flops on Yao within a few seconds. The second flop is when Foster called him for a defensive foul, giving a little bit of payback for Yao.

The first half for Houston was incredible as they scored 60 points, and in the second quarter the reserves came in – like Von Wafer, Chuck Hayes, Kyle Lowry – who actually widened the lead after Yao went out, going on a 34-17 run without him. During that scoring outburst, I loved how the bench (including Yao) was on their feet cheering them on and pumping their fists!

Read the rest of this entry »

The Chronicle has a good recap of a press conference held yesterday with Rockets’ team physician Dr. Tom Clanton, who will observe the microfracture surgery that’s being done on Tracy McGrady‘s left knee today.

One thing that Clanton said in the press conference that was interesting was the following: “I think that I let him return to play a little too quickly. Perhaps if we had strengthened his knee more at the start, maybe he wouldn’t have had these symptoms.”

Does this change your mind about how all of the controversy played out with McGrady’s knee? Personally, I think McGrady still holds a big part of the blame because 1) he didn’t strengthen his knee enough during the off-season (he’s never been known to be a tireless worker like Yao Ming is), and 2) he said multiple times his knee felt good, until the end when it was convenient for him to find something to blame like his knee.

Also, the way he didn’t tell the team about his decision to have the surgery before announcing it publicly was a nightmare.

With the Rockets playing the same day as the Oscars were handed out, I was going to make a crack that compared Tracy McGrady’s salary drain on the Rockets with Slumdog Millionaire, but I won’t go there.

Even with team executive Michael Jordan at Toyota Center, the Rockets blew out the 22-34 Charlotte Bobcats 99-78 Sunday afternoon to win their fourth in a row, avoiding suffering the lapses they encountered against sub-par teams so many times before the All-Star break.

The Rockets are now 14 games over .500 for the first time all season at 35-21.

I feel true momentum building here.

Yao Ming only took 6 shots in the first half and made 3 of them. At first it didn’t look like the Rockets would need much of his scoring since they got off to a great start, shooting 55% in the first quarter and opening an 11-point lead in the first half.

Charlotte’s Emeka Okafur had little chance of blocking
Yao Ming’s jumpers and hook shots Sunday afternoon.
Click here for more photos from the game.

But then they hit a dry spell and the Bobcats whittled the lead down to 2 points by halftime, 44-42. That’s when you had to ask yourself if the Rockets were going to go back to their old ways and struggle against teams they should handily beat.

I knew there was no way, though. This team is just too balanced to have that happen again after all the optimism from the past few days. But you never know. That’s why they play the games.

It didn’t take long for them to finally make their statement. Yao Ming was more aggressive to start the 3rd quarter, scoring the first 6 points. He followed that up with a sweet no-look pass in the post over the head of his defender to Shane Battier for a reverse layup, which gave the Rockets a 54-46 lead.

Yao later followed that up with a block of Gerald Wallace, who challenged him by taking it strong to the hole. The blocked ball led to a 3-pointer by Shane on the other end, extending the lead to 61-50. Then less than a minute later Yao threw a long pass from the post across the court to Battier again for his second triple in a row. After that, the Rockets cruised the rest of the way.

After the game, Yao said, “We have some adjustments made at halftime. I think I don’t give them enough pressure in the paint, so I need to be a little more aggressive. Make them play me, make them double-team me, try to find the open man. That’s when I was able to come out and score three shots in a row.”

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m filing a late post here because I had to watch the Rockets-Mavs game twice to digest –- and enjoy — the 93-86 win all over again. After all, it’s a new team with McGrady and Rafer out of the picture, Aaron Brooks now the starter at point, and Kyle Lowry his backup. My verdict? I absolutely love this team more than ever.

Yao Ming led all Rockets in scoring with 22 points and 13 boards in a 93-86 victory over Dallas Friday night. Click here for more photos of Yao from the game.

I really think they are going to shock some people the rest of the season. They have so many weapons that play better as a TEAM now that you-know-who is out. They also have become more athletic, the ball doesn’t stop on offense, the defense is better, they play smarter, and the crowd is behind them more than ever now that the cancer and drama are gone from the headlines.

Thank you Mr. Morey. You have made watching the Rockets for the rest of the season something that every Rockets fan wants to check out now, and maybe even wipe the slate clean from all of those disappointing losses against bad teams earlier in the season.

With the “problem player” out of the locker room and off the court, it’s more obvious than ever the Rockets may be even better than the 13-6 record they have had this season when T-Lack doesn’t play.

They also didn’t fold when they fell behind by 16 points in the first quarter to Dallas, fighting hard to get back into the game late in the second quarter, and outscoring the Mavs 30-13 in the third quarter to build a nice lead. They also showed some fortitude by holding off a late charge by Dallas, something that we didn’t see very much in games before the All-Star break.

They may be less experienced without McGrady & Alston, but I say “who cares?” since they immediately upgraded their athleticism. Brooks and Lowry attack the basket more, you can already tell they’re probably better at finishing at the cup than McGrady-Alston, and for being young, you can tell they take smarter shots, especially Aaron.

Brooks finished with 19 points on 7-of-15 shots and hit a 3-pointer with less than 24 seconds remaining to put the game away. Actually, it was his 2nd three-pointer in a row, but who’s counting? He finished 3-of-5 from downtown.

Aaron Brooks reacts to a big 3-pointer he made late in the game against Dallas to seal a big victory. Click here for more photos of Brooks and other Rocket players from the game.

Although Brooks is no stranger to scoring in bunches, it’s got to help his confidence in becoming a go-to shooter in clutch time. Starting guards in this league who can score are also expected to make big shots late in games, and Big Shot Brooks delivered in front of an ESPN national TV audience Friday night.

A.B. also had 6 rebounds and 8 assists. I really think his passing ability is underrated. He can penetrate into the lane at will to draw the defense, then does a good job kicking it out accurately to a shooter.

And did you see that play in the first quarter when he blew by Jason Kidd and a couple of other Mavs for a layup? He may be at a slight disadvantage on defense because he’s small, but he makes his opponents have to play defense, too.

Read the rest of this entry »

As I wrote about earlier today, Rafer is gone. But the thing I liked most about today’s trade are the players who were NOT traded.

Consistent with what I had hoped for a couple of days ago, the Rockets kept Artest, Landry, and Scola, assets that other teams probably wanted more than anything. Thanks Daryl Morey for not getting rid of these guys who play hard, are effective, and I think are the Rockets’ future (especially Landry and Scola).

It wasn’t the deal I expected, even with McGrady probably not being part of the Rockets’ future. Rafer Alston was traded at the deadline in a 3-way deal with Memphis and Orlando where the Rockets will get Kyle Lowry and Brian Cook.

I remember games against the Rockets where Lowry lit up the Rockets, and he’s super quick. But he’s only 6 feet tall, not much bigger than Aaron Brooks. And Cook is another power forward that creates more of a logjam with Carl Landry, Luis Scola and Chuck Hayes already there. Cooks is different in that he’s a good 3-point shooter, just under 40% for his career (44% this season), but I don’t expect him to get many minutes. Think Matt Bullard, Steve Novak or Robert Horry — a specialist.

Obviously the Magic thought they had to do something with Jameer Nelson out because of shoulder surgery, so they needed some experience at the helm.

Quite frankly, I’m surprised Rafer was traded since — despite his inconsistency — he had become more reliable over the past few weeks, just like he did last season, and when he was hitting his 3-pointers, was a very surprising weapon. He also seemed to be hitting his stride from an assist perspective, as witnessed in his last game Tuesday against the Nets with 11 and 13 against Sacramento the game before that.

He also became more of a team leader than anyone else. Just last night I was impressed listening to him on the radio doing an interview during the Tux & Tennies event. He always made himself available to the press and called it like he saw it. He even told the interviewer last night that he didn’t mind being interviewed even more, and would make himself available at any time.

My exposure to him in person was always professional. Even though I got on him since he became a Rocket , he had won me over with his grit to pull himself up by the bootstraps and make a contribution considering all the criticism he received from the fans, something that McGrady had a hard time dealing with.

Read the rest of this entry »

Raymond has posted lots of pics in the forum from the Rockets’ annual Tux & Tennies Charity Gala!

Here Yao and his wife Ye Li appear on stage.

Click here for all the photos and Raymond’s coverage!

By the way, McGrady wasn’t there. Surprise, surprise.

After clearing their head during the All-Star break, the Rockets won in impressive fashion over New Jersey 114-88 at Toyota Center Tuesday night, showing again that without McGrady in the lineup, they are a tougher team to beat. The numbers don’t lie. The Rockets are now 13-6 without him around. More to come about the game after our daily drama report about McGrady.


Yao prepares to throw down a vicious one-handed dunk over fellow countryman Yi Jianlian. Yao would lead all Rockets in scoring with 20 points. Click here for more game photos.

It was reported by ESPN late Tuesday night that McGrady said he would have to get season-ending microfracture surgery on his left knee. This is after all of the confusing messages that have been coming from him over the past few weeks, but with Rocket doctors still holding firm that nothing is structurally wrong with his knee. Someone isn’t telling the truth. You can probably guess who isn’t, but I guess we’ll all find out soon as more tests are conducted over the next couple of days.

I’m thinking there has been a big delay in everyone understanding the real story because 1) the Rockets aren’t really motivated to have McGrady play because they are playing well without him, 2) McGrady is a nut so why embarrass him, and 3) the Rockets’ annual Tux & Tennies Gala is Wednesday night, and if the Rockets made a major announcement before the event, it might taint the entire evening, and maybe even make some big-time contributors unhappy that they can’t sit next to the players they were expecting to see. So if a big trade happens, expect to hear about it on Thursday after Tux & Tennies.

I won’t get into the timeline of what has been said by McGrady over the past few weeks that has made this whole drama such a cluster. I’d be writing about it forever. You probably already know most of it, so no need to report it.

The latest confusing part of the plot is Rockets’ owner Leslie Alexander saying late Tuesday night that McGrady was NOT going to be traded, and that McGrady is “a superstar” and “a great competitor.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday in Phoenix before the All-Star game, Yao Ming was recognized by his Team Yao member Bill Duffy and his agency BDA Sports for the first annual BDA Giving Award for Yao’s philanthropic efforts over the past year. Steve Nash‘s foundation was also recognized.

Duffy also contributed $5,000 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in the memory of Leandro Barbosa‘s mother who passed away recently. Barbosa is represented by BDA Sports.