On Sunday Yao made a rare appearance at a famous Beijing school, Shi Jia Primary School, and spent time with hundreds of school kids on the eve of International Children’s Day (June 1st).

It has become an annual tradition for Yao to spend June 1st with children. This time his wife Ye Li was with him, as well as other Chinese celebrities and athletes.

Click here for more photos from Yao and Ye Li’s day with the kids.

After making a trip to Chicago, Yao Ming and wife Ye Li arrived in Beijing, their first trip back to China in months (since before the 2008-09 NBA season began).

Click here for more photos of Yao and Ye Li’s arrival at the Beijing airport.

Yao is there for more charity work associated with his efforts to help rebuild schools that were destroyed from last year’s Sichuan earthquake. To read more about the details of Yao’s charity trip, click here for Raymond’s description.

On Thursday Yao and his wife Ye Li went to Chicago to help raise funds for victims of the Sichaun Earthquake, which occurred a little over a year ago.

Click here for Raymond’s coverage of Yao’s visit to Chicago in the forum (lots of pictures).

Yao provides his thoughts about the Game 7 loss to the Lakers, his team’s achievement this season, and his summer plans in this interview that Raymond has translated for us.

All of the Rockets, except Tracy McGrady (surprise), showed up at Toyota Center on Tuesday to talk with the media before they take off on their summer break.

All of the players were interviewed in the locker room, except for Yao, who answered questions in the press room.

Click here for more photos of Yao and his teammates.

Yao said that he’ll personally be taking the summer off, the first time that’s happened in 11 or 12 years.  He also said that the biggest off-season priority for the Rockets is to sign Ron Artest, who he likes both on and off the court.  Click here for a summary of what Yao said during the interview.

Sunday afternoon turned out to be a horrendous day for me, and not just because the Rockets lost another Game 7.  That’s almost inconsequential the way I’m feeling right now.

As you may know from my earlier post, I decided late Saturday night to buy a ticket online from Ticketmaster under a program they call TicketExchange where you can buy tickets from season ticket holders who put their own seats up for sale to anyone who comes to the Lakers’ Ticketmaster Web site, and pick them up from “will call” the day of the game.

So I flew to LA on Sunday morning and everything was going fine.  Flight down there.  Check.  Rental car pickup.  Check.  Parking.  Check.  Laptop in hand to be able to take some notes and maybe use the Internet during the game (if Staples makes it available like Toyota Center does).  Check.

That’s when things started going south.

When I went to the will call area at Staples, they have this kiosk where you can swipe your credit card to have your will call tickets printed from the machine.  I tried doing that on two different kiosks, but it didn’t work.  The message on the kiosk screen said go to a will call ticket window staffed by a human.  So I did that.

I had my iPhone in my hand as well as my brand new Macbook, and set them down on the counter so I could reach for my wallet and pull out my ID.  (NOTE: Because I was attending this game not as part of the official media, they don’t let regular fans come in with backpacks or cases.  So I had to carry everything in my hands).

As I was giving my ID to the will call agent, all of a sudden I heard this loud “boom!” on the counter, I looked down, AND BOTH MY IPHONE AND MY MACBOOK WERE GONE!!!  I guess the loud sound was someone slamming their hand down on it and running away with it!

I looked behind me to see if anyone was fleeing the scene, but there was no one other than a whole bunch of people standing around who were in line to get their tickets.  Then I asked if anyone had seen anything, and no one did.  Then I went over to 2 police officers, and they said they didn’t see anything, either, and they couldn’t help me and that I should talk to building security.  What a waste.  Later I found out these guys were “off-duty” police officers who were hired as private contractors to stand there to deter criminals, but if anything happens, they refer you to Staples security, and you’re essentially S.O.L.  WTF??!!!!

So I basically had to become like a crazy man running around like Jim Valvano after NC State beat the University of Houston in 1983, going back-and-forth between the off-duty police, building security, and on-duty officers hoping that the thief was still in the vicinity and could be caught.  Meanwhile, every minute that elapsed was giving the thief a better chance of getting away or blending in with the crowd.

It’s a long story on what I tried to do for the next 3 hours trying to find my iPhone and Mac Book, like waiting 45 minutes for a detective to show up at the Staples Center police sub-station who could take a police report.

I couldn’t focus on the game at all and was trying to get the Staples Center security to take a closer look at the video taken from cameras above the will call area to see if they had a recording of what happened.  I had to lobby with 4 layers of bureaucracy to find the person who would ultimately watch the tape to see if they could find the perpetrator  They wouldn’t let me into their “restricted area” where all of their security monitors are, so I had to trust they were going to be diligent looking at the footage.  Meanwhile, I spent alot of time walking around Staples hoping by chance I might come across someone carrying my laptop under their arm.

I’m angry at Ticketmaster for their kiosks not working as designed.  That forced me to go to lines with lots of other people around, some with bad characters in those lines looking to prey on unsuspecting people.

All of this explains to you why I couldn’t Tweet during the game on my phone, because I didn’t have the tools to do so!  Most of the time I was working hard to get the security guys and police around Staples to work on my case.  I could see what was going on during the game through the TVs in the concourse, and because the game wasn’t going well at all, it allowed me to focus on trying to help solve the crime that just happened.

So now I’m in the process of talking to Apple, and the police, about seeing if there’s a way to recover my gear.  Luckily I password-protected my machine, so alot of my private data *should* be safe.  And of course, the major problem is the data that is on the machine may now be gone forever.  Like most people, I hadn’t backed up the data very much.  The amount of time it will take to try to piece just some of the data back together will take forever, with no way for me to put it all back together again.  Dozens of hours of work are on that machine, as well as lots of vacation photos I recently took.

As you can guess, I’m not too thrilled about writing about what happened in Game 7, partly because I didn’t see much of it, but also because it looks like all the players and myself had awful days.  So let’s try to move on without rehashing the angst.

I guess there’s also a part of me that hopes whoever stole my stuff will catch wind of this post, realize the iPhone and MacBook are no good to them since they’re both password protected, and contact me at john @ yaomingfanclub.com, and ship them to me  intact with the deal I won’t pursue prosecution after the police identifies the thief on the security camera tape.

So who would have thunk after me seeing almost every Rockets game this season, I wasn’t able to see the biggest game of the year.  Looks like I didn’t miss much.

Through an 11th hour decision, I’ve decided to buy a ticket to Sunday’s Game 7 in LA. I thought since I happen to be in California right now for work, there are plenty of Laker fans who have decided to sell their tickets at a somewhat reasonable price, and I never cared to go to a Laker game unless it meant something for Houston, it was now or never — all the planets have aligned and I’m going!

This time it won’t be attending as a member of the media like in Games 3 & 4 last weekend in Houston. I’m going as a fan. That means I can clap and yell just like any other Rocket fan would. It’ll be nice.

The only downside is that I won’t have Internet access there like I had last weekend, and I probably won’t be able to file my report until hours after the game, probably later Sunday evening, because I’ll have to fly back to the San Francisco Bay Area where I’m working. But hopefully by my being at Staples I’ll be able to bring a different perspective to my game report. And I may be able to file a very short report at halftime and after the game through my iPhone. Better yet, FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER during the game and I’ll try to tweet during some of the timeouts.

I hope this trip turns out a lot different than it did 4 years ago when I went to that Game 7 debacle in Dallas where the Rockets got blown out by 40 points. I have to admit that I never thought I would set myself up for such disappointment again, but after seeing the heart this team has shown, I’ve got to go and support them!

This is a fascinating thread I found on a Laker fan site. Some say a Laker loss on Sunday to the Rockets in Game 7 could be the worst in Laker history, but be one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Gotta give credit to the people in there who are giving props to the Rockets for showing so much heart in this series.

On another note, I went on the the Lakers’ Ticketmaster site where fans can buy tickets from other fans through a program called TicketExchange, and I’m amazed at how many tickets are being sold by Laker fans for the right price. Maybe it’s an indicator of these sellers’ lack of confidence that their team can pull it off.

We all know the Rockets are playing to win for the fans and themselves. But one thing I can’t believe that hasn’t been discussed at all among the local or national media (maybe they will after they read this post) is that in four attempts, Rick Adelman has never beaten Phil Jackson in a playoff series, going 0-for-4.

The first series loss was in the NBA Finals in 1992 between TrailBlazers and Chicago Bulls. Then Adelman lost 3 playoff series in a row to the Lakers as coach of the Sacramento Kings in 2000, 2001 and in 2002. That 2002 series was the Western Conference Finals, a series in which disgraced referee Tim Donaghy said wrong calls were intentionally made in Game 6 to force a Game 7.

So let’s win this game for Adelman, too, because he’s probably too soft-spoken to ever admit that he would like to beat Jackson at least once in a playoff series.

It’s still amazing to think how the Rockets defied the oddsmakers who marked Houston as 9-point underdogs before Game 6, and had them down as 70-1 favorites to win the championship. I don’t know what their odds are now, but something tells me it’s better than 70-1 now. Funny how one stunning win can change everything. I bet there are a lot of people who wished they had put money down on that game and the Rockets’ chances of winning a ring.

One of the stats that I thought was amazing is that the Rockets are now 13-2 this season after suffering double-digit losses. Also, the Lakers have only scored 36 points in a first half only twice all season long, and those two games happened to be in Games 4 & 6 of this series. And the Rockets only had 1 TO in the 4th quarter. They have matured and evolved so much the past few months. Remember just a few months ago how we were talking about how they didn’t have poise in the 4th quarter?

And did you hear how the Rockets-Lakers game on Thursday was the most watched NBA game on ESPN in that network’s history?

This is the obviously the most anticipated Game for the Rockets in 12 years. One thing for sure is that Houston fans will remember this team for a very long time, win or lose Sunday afternoon. This year’s Rockets team reminds me, when I was a kid, of the 1980-81 Rockets making an improbable run to the NBA Finals with a 40-42 record led by Moses Malone. And people forget that in the playoffs the 1981 team unbelievably BEAT THE LAKERS led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a best of 3 series!

I think the reason why the first round playoff series were “Best of 3” back then is because the disparity between good and bad teams was so large, they thought there was no way a top seed would lose to a lesser-seeded team in the first round.

This year’s Rockets team is like that 1981 team, except with Yao now out, imagine that team without Moses! No way that 1981 team could have gone as far as this one has without Moses, which makes the last two victories this team has had over the Lakers in this series even more impressive.

Outside of Moses, that team had the following players (I’ve noted who their 2009 counterparts would be):

– Calvin Murphy/Allen Leavell (Aaron Brooks/Von Wafer — scorer galore, quick to the basket)
– Billy Paultz (Chuck Hayes — shorter, but tough as nails and nice defender)
– Robert Reid (Ron Artest – tough defender, can hit the jumper)
– Rudy Tomjanovich (Shane Battier, a decent outside shooter, not as good as Rudy, and a much better defender than Rudy)
– Mike Dunleavy (Kyle Lowry – tough playmaker, can hit the outside shot)
– Bill Willoughby (Carl Landry — great dunker who attacks the rack)

No one on that team really matches Luis Scola, who has so many moves down low, except when he shoots from the top of the key, there are some Rudy T. similarities.

Looking ahead to Sunday’s game, the Rockets need big games from Aaron Brooks, and I’d love to see Carl Landry rattling some rims like he did on Thursday night, and Scola dominating down low. It would be nice if Artest had a bounce-back game statistically. If he did, and the other players come through, then this game is a lock.

So here we go! It doesn’t get much bigger than Sunday’s game! This is what it’s all about – these ‘unknown’ players showing how good they are on the world stage. All I know is that if the Rockets win Sunday, it could be one of the greatest series upsets since the #8 seed Golden State Warriors defeated the #1 seeded Dallas Mavericks two years ago. If the Rockets do win, do you think their win would be bigger than the Warriors beating the Mavericks in that series? If so, why? (without citing the obvious reason that Yao is out).

If the Rockets win, I can’t wait to hear Jim Rome’s show Monday morning. I like Romie, but he’s an unabashed Laker fan and cracked down on the Lakers after they lost to the Rockets after Game 4 and Game 6.

The Rockets continued their run of stunning almost everyone around the league Thursday night. After being smacked down by 40 points against the Lakers Tuesday night, they resurrected themselves in an elimination game (down 3-2 in their series), coming up with one of their most inspiring victories in years when everyone thought they would lay down and die.

Yao continues to join his teammates in pregame huddles to show his commitment toward his team. Click here for more photos of Yao at the game.

What else can be said about this Rockets team that hasn’t already been said in Houston?…well, almost everyone in Houston except for one particular Houston Chronicle columnist I referenced earlier today who thought the Rockets were dead on arrival, trying to bring down the whole town to his depressing level.

We all know the national media hasn’t given much to what the Rockets have been able to do this series against the Lakers. The chatter has been all about how the Lakers are making stupid mistakes and aren’t playing with energy or commitment, and how they should be “embarrassed” playing down or below Houston’s level.

As much as my brain or the oddsmakers told us they had no chance Thursday night (9-point underdogs), my heart told me they could show that amazing resiliency at least one more time.

Every game they win against the Lakers, it seems like it’s a different player, or players, who step up and surprise them. It could be Aaron Brooks, Shane Battier, or Chuck Hayes like in Game 4. However, I knew it was just a matter of time before the Rockets’ power forwards would make their impact late in this series.

Luis Scola and Carl Landry had almost become forgotten men. Scola had only averaged 11 points per game in this series before Thursday night, not scoring more than 12 points or hitting more than 5 field goals in any of those games.

Well, Scola knew it was time for him to step up in a do-or-die game, and he erupted by doubling his series averages, scoring 24 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including scoring 14 points in the first quarter on a variety of slick offensive moves and jumpers that made him a tough cover. Oh yeah, he also grabbed 12 boards, AND HE WAS DOING IT WITHOUT YAO MING IN THE LINEUP to give him more “open looks.” Scola scored in the heart of the Laker defense over Pau Gasol.

Luis Scola is pumped after an impressive bucket he scored in the low post. Click here for more action photos from the game.

This type of performance is the reason why I was so ecstatic to hear before last season started that the Rockets had landed a savvy, skilled, and seasoned veteran power forward in Scola who could score in the low post.

Meanwhile, Landry had only scored 2 points in that incredible Game 4 win, and 9 points in the Game 5 blowout. So he was due for a big game. He delivered when they needed all hands on deck.

Landry attacked the rack like we’ve seen so many times before, especially during that 22-game winning streak last season, but not much in front of a national TV audience where he could show how athletic he is. Landry would make all 6 of his shots, almost all highlight reel plays, for 15 points. He also grabbed 9 boards and had 2 blocks.

I think the Lakers must now be wondering, “Man, now we’ve got ANOTHER guy to worry about?”

And Aaron Brooks was money at home again, scoring a game high 26 points on 8-of-13 shots. He knew if he was going to be effective, he had to recapture some of that same Game 4 mojo back where he scored 34 points by penetrating into the lane and being aggressive with his shot.

On Thursday, Brooks amazed the entire country again with his fearlessness of going into the trees and taking shots in the crowded paint scoring over tall guys like Gasol or Lamar Odom, or being confident enough to take tough 3-pointers when the game was in the balance. It’s just incredible to see a young player who everyone doubted to become closer to Tony Parker levels so quickly, earlier than anyone thought could happen

This is all good for Yao Ming fans, you know. With the success of players in this series like Brooks, Battier, Scola and Landry, they are going to be so much better next season playing with even more confidence. Because of it, the Rockets could be THE major force in the West once Yao returns to the lineup. And they could even become what the Spurs have been the past few years.

Ron Artest had a slightly better game than he’s had recently, scoring 14 points and hitting a couple of big buckets. I have to admit when he launched some of those shots, I was wondering what in the world was he doing? But then they went through the basket, and I’d say, “Whew!” Artest would only make 6-of-17 shots on the night, but he had 3 assists. Just think how convincing these wins would be once he starts hitting for a higher percentage.

There was so much to this game, I could keep writing and writing. But since we have almost 3 days before Game 7 in LA, I’m going to call it a night, but you can bet I’ll be back to write more in the next 48 hours.

I’ll leave off on this note, though. The last time a Texas team went to LA to play against a heavily favored opponent to win something major where no one gave them a chance, it was the Texas Longhorns facing the USC Trojans in the 2006 National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl. No one gave Texas a chance, and looked what happened in that one!

The question is, who can be the Rockets’ “Vince Young” on Sunday?

If I were a betting man, I think it will be a team effort, just like it has been all series long.