So sad, I can’t even put it into words. Here are more details as well as a short Rockets press release.

Having gotten to know him over the years, I feel so bad for Yao. He doesn’t deserve this. His career may be over.

On Wednesday night the Rockets lost to Oklahoma City in a game you probably could have placed a sure bet on. As much as the Rockets kept the score close through most of the first half, they failed to finish out the 2nd and 3rd quarters and were overwhelmed by the Thunder in the second game of a back-to-back on the road.

It’s not travel fatigue that you can point to being the root cause for the Rockets not to play up to the Thunder’s standard. Houston reverted back to its early season problems of not being able to finish strong the ends of quarters. I won’t get into all the numbers and details since it’s “deja vu all over again,” although OKC’s shooting an astounding 57% from the field is the highest FG% the Rockets have given up this season, and the highest OKC has racked up against an opponent this season.

The Jeff Van Gundy era seems like eons ago. JVG is starting to look like George W. Bush to Rocket fans — the more time passes, the more his favorability rating rises.

Not that I’m a Rick Adelman basher. I did plenty of that in his first year as Houston’s coach when I nicknamed him Rick “Idleman” for failing to make quicker personnel adjustments and inserting young talent into the lineup. He may still have that problem to a degree, but you’ve got to give him credit for giving Chase Budinger a lot of minutes last year, and doing the same with Jordan Hill this season, which has paid big dividends. I would have liked to have seen it with Jermaine Taylor, but he’s gone now. I’d still like to see it with Jared Jeffries, who has length and is a good defender. Isn’t that what they need more of now?

However, I do reserve the right to bring out the “Idleman” moniker if Jeffries continues to ride the pine. More importantly, the problem with the Rockets lies with personnel in a few key positions, to no fault of anyone who plays on the team who runs it. Not that Houston has bad players. I actually think every one of them has something to contribute. But as we have seen with Oklahoma City, it takes a few special players in key positions to make the difference from being an elite team and a mediocre one.

Not that this is any secret. Daryl Morey has been saying this for years. The only player the Rockets have that could be considered elite (at least two years ago) is Yao, and who knows how good he’ll be when he gets back to full speed. Aaron Brooks may be close, but his size brings up defensive liabilities. Luis Scola is great, but his defense is also suspect. Kevin Martin can score with the best of them, but his defense won’t scare anyone. Shane Battier is a good defender, but he doesn’t produce enough offense or wear out his man who is defending him. You get the point.

What really makes me mad is that in order to become an elite team in the NBA, you either have to be in a “special” market (LA, New York, Miami, Chicago) that attracts free agents or players wanting to be traded there, or you have to be terrible for a few years so you can get really high draft picks. Why Houston — the fourth largest city in the country — can’t attract free agents like the aforementioned frustrates me. But at least Philadelphia as the #5 city faces the same dilemma, although it didn’t bother Elton Brand a few years ago.

Oklahoma City (formerly Seattle) took the latter route of just being a bad team for a few years, and now they are on the verge of building a dynasty for a decade or more. Let’s go over who they have been able to draft over the years after putting up terrible W-L records:

2006-07 season: 31-51 record
2007 draft:
– Kevin Durant – 2007 – #2 pick
– Jeff Green – 2007 – #5 pick acquired in a package deal with Boston for Glen Davis (#35 pick in the same draft) and Ray Allen

2007-08 season: 20-62 record
2008 draft:
– Russell Westbrook – 2008 – #4 pick
– Serge Ibaka – 2008 – #24 pick

2008-09 season: 23-59
2009 draft:
– James Harden – 2009 – #3 pick

You have to give them credit for the trade to get Green, although they did give up a lot in hindsight. Also getting Ibaka at the #24 spot is pretty good drafting. But Durant, Westbrook and Harden were can’t-miss picks at #2, #4, and #3 respectively. All they had to do was suck and get a good draft pick each of those years.

It’s tough that a team like Houston — who has been stuck with late 1st round or 2nd round picks for several years — has to build more through trades and free agency. It’s very difficult to do that and win championships. It makes you wonder if they should take the easy route for a year or two and just be really bad in order to get a game-changer of a draft pick. That’s what they were before they drafted Ralph Sampson, Hakeem, and Yao (notice how I didn’t put Steve Francis on that exclusive list). I know intentionally being bad by tanking the season isn’t going to happen in Houston. The owner and GM want to win too much to do that, and I commend them for that. There is always a chance the Rockets can knock off a top seed in the first round of the playoffs, kind of like the Laker series a couple of years ago, or Golden State with the Mavericks a few years ago.

In the meantime, it would be nice if the NBA expanded the lottery a few more teams, like to 6 to 8 more, since the teams who are on the lower end of the playoff brackets (#5-#8) really don’t have any chance of winning a championship without some draft pick help.

What’s interesting is that the Rockets now have a record (after acquiring Terrence Williams) of acquiring physically gifted players who were worthy of being lottery picks, but who hadn’t worked out with the original team that drafted them. First it was Jordan Hill from the Knicks (a #8 pick in the 2009 draft), now it’s Williams from New Jersey (#11 pick in 2009). Not a bad strategy to take if you’ve got the culture and coaching to course correct with players who have gone awry early in their careers. But it’s not like Houston’s a bastion for making guys shake off bad karma they gathered at previous teams (e.g., McGrady).

I’m all for trying to get players who have relatively ‘clean’ reparations who are overachievers given their physical limitations like Brooks, Battier, Scola and Kyle Lowry, just to name a few. But it has become clear that the Rockets believe that in order to get to the next level, they have to take a few risks trading for guys who have all the physical gifts but may be a problem with the coaching staff or in the locker room. We saw how they pulled the plug on Von Wafer pretty quick after he showed disrespect to Adelman.

Given these deals, I wonder now if Houston is giving up on the idea of acquiring “basketball IQ” types like Battier (and giving up Rudy Gay)? Perhaps in order to keep up with the Thunder and all the other tough teams in the West, you need to have athletic thoroughbreds. If they are, it won’t hurt if the Rockets do suck this year, get a very high pick, and hope that player turns into an elite player like so many teams seem to have these days (Minnesota, Clippers).

Is it worth it to go ahead and build for the future by playing younger guys now, finishing with a poor record, and load up on more lottery picks for a couple of years in order to build a dynasty for the next 10 years? If it is, I wouldn’t mind it so much. I like to see young players develop and improve, as long as it pays off in the long run and the team becomes better equipped to head off the Oklahoma City locomotive that’s barreling downy the tracks for many years to come.

The other question that comes to mind is how much does coaching really matter when so much of your success is predicated on getting really good players? I wonder just how good of a coach OKC’s Scott Brooks really is? Did he hit the lottery himself by being promoted to head coach right when their high draft picks were destined to gel anyway?

The Rockets took care of business Tuesday night, putting a shellacking on the 5-16 Sacramento Kings at Toyota Center. Before getting there, though, the Rockets’ starters were letting the Kings in the first quarter and part of the second slice through their interior defense to get lots of easy shots up close. The game was close until the end of the second quarter when the Rockets’ bench started a huge scoring run that went into the third quarter. When the starters came back, Houston opened up a 22-point lead and cruised to a 118-105 victory.

It was a highlight reel of a game with all kinds of passes from Kyle Lowry (9 assists) to his teammates, with Luis Scola getting many of those passes on his way to 23 points, 14 coming in the 3rd quarter on 6-of-7 shots. Lowry-to-Scola is almost becoming like the new Stockton-to-Malone as far as Rockets’ history goes. Although Hakeem was in the house courtside Tuesday night, I don’t remember any point guard (Kenny Smith, Sam Cassell, etc.) during his Dream’s time as a Rocket feeding him the ball as much as Lowry has done for Scola lately.

Probably the signature moment of the game was when Jordan Hill posterized Samuel Dalembert with a ferocious one-handed dunk that had a Phi Slama Jamma snap of a wrist to it. I had to watch that one several times over on my DVR.

Jordan Hill throws one down over Samuel Dalembert. Click here for more photos from the game.

When the season started, the bench that we all thought was impressive (on paper, at least) was really the difference in this game since the starters were sluggish in the first quarter. But Houston’s bench is far superior to Sacramento’s, so we have to take Tuesday’s dominance with a grain of salt.

Interestingly, Jermaine Taylor didn’t play at all in garbage time. I didn’t expect he would since it’s been reported that Taylor will be traded to the Kings (coincidentally) for a 2011 second round pick (if Sacramento finishes with one of the top 5 records in the league, yeah, you heard me right) to make room for New Jersey’s Terrence Williams, who has been traded to Houston. So you can bet the Rockets weren’t going to do anything to risk Taylor to injury. But wouldn’t that have been wild if they had played him? Can you imagine the reaction that would have come from the Sacramento bench if they had played Taylor?

I’m kind of bummed that Taylor won’t be able to show what all he can do in a Houston uniform. I’ve been high on him all season long, and when he did get some playing time, he showed just how much of a scorer and how athletic he is. I think it’s always a disappointment when the Rockets’ front office drafts a guy, they talk him up to get the fans excited, then we never really get to see them live out their potential before trading them. Now we have to get excited about Morris. Oh well, it was nice knowing you, JT. Just don’t come back and haunt us as the second coming of Michael Jordan.

Now that the Rockets have redeemed themselves somewhat with wins over Cleveland and Sacramento after suffering that embarrassing loss in Milwaukee, Houston will have a chance to either let us down again with a stinker of a game on the road against an explosive Oklahoma City team, or get an unlikely ‘W’ like they did against the Lakers at home a couple of weeks ago.

Which Rockets’ team will show up? Based on recent history, I’m not getting my hopes up.

There have been a few interviews with Rocket players written over the past couple of days about how the team has turned the corner on the season, now better able to execute in late-game situations, getting defensive stops, etc.

With this kind of talk, you can’t help but think the Rockets were going to take care of business, at least over their next 3 games, by beating teams they should beat, starting with one of the worst offensive teams in the league — the Milwaukee Bucks (lowest in scoring, field goal percentage, and 3-point shooting percentage). After all, they also had 3 days of rest since their Tuesday night victory against the Pistons.

I have to admit I was buying into the groupthink.

Instead, the Rockets suffered one of their most embarrassing losses of the season Friday night. Not because it was a loss to a mediocre Milwaukee team with a record in of 8-13 in the East, which is a lot worse than the Rockets’ 7-13 in the tougher Western Conference. Well, it’s partly because of it.

It’s because as Daryl Morey said on Thursday during a radio interview, the Rockets just about needed to win all of their upcoming games against the upcoming run of poorer NBA teams to get back into the playoff hunt. Unfortunately on Friday, they regressed in problem areas you’d think they had already conquered.

The Rockets gave up 48.1% shooting to a Bucks team that was averaging as a team 40.4% for the season. The Bucks also scored a whopping 56 points in the paint, thanks to Andrew Bogut going off for 24 points, as well as 22 rebounds, 7 of them on the offensive glass. The Rockets had no one who could match his size, or could counteract his shot blocking ability (5 blocks).

One of the apt microcosms of the defensive struggles the Rockets went through the entire game was when Luis Scola stupidly made contact with Ersan Ilyasova on a 3-pointer, sending him to the line with 35 seconds remaining and a 90-85 lead. Ilyasova made all 3 free throws, giving them a seemingly insurmountable 8-point advantage. But Kyle Lowry followed up that mistake by hitting two consecutive 3-pointers in a row sandwiched around a Brandon Jennings free throw, cutting the lead down to 94-91 with 21 seconds remaining.

Brad Miller would miss a 3-pointer with 13 seconds remaining that could have brought them to within one point. If only Scola hadn’t committed that dumb foul, there could have been a different outcome. But it’s bad defense like that which gave the Bucks the opening that was provided to them to seize the win.

Throw-in surprisingly bad shooting by Kyle Lowry (4-of-15 for 11 points), Kevin Martin (5-of-13 for 23 points), Luis Scola (4-of-13 for 10 points), and Shane Battier (2-of-8 for 4 points), the Rockets had no chance. Especially given they were out-rebounded 48-37.

It’s funny how when the team does well with guys like Kyle Lowry stepping up, people start thinking the Rockets don’t need Aaron Brooks after all. Well, we saw how important it is to have Brooks’ scoring, kind of like what we saw last year where there was talk that the team didn’t really need Yao when they were winning, only to run out of gas and put that nonsense talk to rest.

The only bright spots for Houston was the bench. Jermaine Taylor actually got decent minutes and delivered like I always knew he would, scoring 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting in 17 minutes. He also had two steals. Finally it looks like Taylor’s athleticism and production is too good to ignore. Similarly, Courtney Lee scored 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting, and Jordan Hill hit 4-of-7 shots for 8 points.

Frankly speaking, the Rockets’ psyche has got to be shaken after such a dud of a performance in a game that had “W” written all over it beforehand. They won’t have much time to sulk about it since they play another mediocre team, Cleveland, in the second game of a back-to-back. The Cavs are 7-15 in the East, having lost 6 in a row, with 5 of those losses coming from losing margins of 19 (vs. Boston), 28 (vs. Miami), 34 (vs. Minnesota), 10 (vs. Detroit), and 20 (vs. Philadelphia).

The saving grace for the Rockets seem to be that they play much better at home where they have won their last 4 games, which is the way it should be. Remember a few seasons ago when they played better on the road than at home?

I’ll make this quick since there is no controversy in how the Rockets took care of business last night beating Detroit, blowing them out with a 19-6 run to close out the game in a 97-83 victory.

Luis Scola is making a great case for an All-Star spot with 35 points on 16-of-25 shots, one point short of his career high at Golden State in the second game of the season.

Kyle Lowry’s growth as a point guard continues, scoring 22 points and racking up 12 assists and 6 steals, both career highs. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens when Aaron Brooks returns to the court soon since Lowry has raised the bar on Houston’s point guard expectations. A little bit of pressure to be more of an assist man isn’t a bad thing.

The part of Lowry’s game that has made him even more dangerous is his 3-point shooting, which has drastically improved over the past few games. He was 4-for-5 from 3-point land, and 11-of-19 over the past four games.

Joining forces in the 20+ scoring club for Houston was Kevin Martin, who continues to amaze with his aptitude to get to the line, hitting 14-of-15 free throws.

Who would have thought just a couple of years ago the Yao Ming/Ron Artest/Tracy McGrady “Big 3” would be replaced by the Scola/Lowry/Martin triumvirate? Add Yao and Aaron back into the mix, and you’ve got a very formidable lineup that could get the Rockets back into the playoff hunt as they face a very weak schedule of teams in December to make up for all those opponents they faced before last night’s game. But they’ve got to play defense like they did Tuesday night, although Rip Hamilton getting himself ejected from the game gave the Pistons little hope offensively.

Speaking of McGrady, his return back to Toyota Center for the first time since leaving the Rockets provoked an interesting reaction. I heard many more boos than I had anticipated, but perhaps that’s because most of the crowd got word that McGrady dissed Houston before the game by saying the Rockets’ poor start this year is correlated with his leaving, or something like that.

When you read this quote, you’ve got to be happy this selfish, insecure bufoon is gone:

“It wasn’t my fault it ended the way it did, but yeah, I regret it. I want to know who they’re blaming around here now that I’m gone.”

Yes, it was your fault McGrady, and you hold partial blame for sucking tens of million of dollars from the Rockets’ cap the past two years in Houston when you hardly played, taking us through all of your drama, and handcuffing Houston from being able to get a legitimate free agent during your last two years here.

Back to Houston’s roster: Chase Budinger continued to struggle Tuesday, hitting only 2-of-6 shots, including an air ball on an open jumper from the free throw line, then missing 2-of-3 free throws after getting fouled on a 3-pointer. I haven’t seen a “sophomore slump” like this one in quite some time. Something has got to give here with Budinger’s playing time.

Rick Adelman said before the game that he was going to play more of Jermaine Taylor so he can add some size to the backcourt since Ish Smith isn’t all that big (and he’s not playing so spectacularly to give him lots of minutes). We’ve been calling for more playing time for Taylor for weeks, so I’ve got to give credit to Adelman for adjusting like he did with playing Jordan Hill more. But he only gave 6 minutes to Taylor on Tuesday night. Hopefully we’ll see more of them, although the Rockets might not need him as much with Milwaukee (7-13), Cleveland (7-14) and Sacramento (4-15) as upcoming opponents.

Here’s part 2 of the video that FoxSports Houston produced that aired last month. Although it chronicles Yao’s recovery this past year from the foot surgery he had in 2009, I bet many of the same rehab techniques shown in this video are the same as what he is doing to recover from his bone bruise. Here’s part 1 of the video.

Yao will not play tonight against the Pistons. He had targeted this game as his return, but this is what he said Monday:

“Every day is closer. It’s just not strong enough to support me running, jumping. I think they (the medical staff) made the decision based on that.”

At least we know that Yao won’t try to suit up like Tracy McGrady did last season when he was trying to force the Rockets to let him play when they said he wasn’t ready. Remember that? McGrady returns to the scene of his crimes tonight with the Pistons.

It’s not known if Yao will be able to practice on Wednesday. I’m okay with that. Take it slow, big guy.

After big wins against the Lakers and Memphis this week, could the Rockets on Saturday make us believe they had finally turned the corner on their season and win a game in Chicago against a better team than the Grizzlies on the road in the second game of a back-to-back?

After a valiant comeback effort in the fourth quarter where they showed no signs of being mentally soft, the Rockets built a 5-point lead with 36.5 seconds remaining. Even the most skeptical Rocket fans had to be thinking, “There’s no way they can lose this game with this kind of lead.”

But this is the Rockets we’re talking about here.

They came within tenths of a second of shaking off their reputation this season for mental weakness in the clutch, but a defensive breakdown that let Derrick Rose hit a wide-open 3-pointer with 0 seconds on the game clock tied the game and sent it to OT, and Houston went on to blow another game they should have won.

Derrick Rose celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer that tied the game against the Rockets, sending the game into overtime. Click here for more photos from the game.

So now we’re back to the problems the Rockets have encountered all season long – play well enough to take leads, but not being able to close the deal.

Below I have broken down the big plays from about the halfway mark in the 4th quarter all the way through overtime so you can see just how they imploded down the stretch. Here are a few of the high-level takeaways that are referenced in those details:

– The Rockets pick-and-roll defense was terrible on Rose. Not just on that buzzer beater that forced the game into overtime, but blowing two other pick-and-rolls involving Rose to let him score.

– Brad Miller played a great game in many ways, hitting four 3-pointers and scoring 20 points, but he also was a problem, missing a big free throw (even though he’s an 88% FT shooter this season!) that could have iced the game (same goes for Kyle Lowry missing a FT late), being involved in those pick-and-roll breakdowns, and jacking up a terrible 3-pointer at the buzzer that had no chance when he had plenty of time to pass to an open man. It’s too bad he couldn’t do to the Bulls what he had done to the Rockets last season when he played for Chicago: be the nemesis that would beat them.

– I can understand why Luis Scola hasn’t been playing in late-game situations lately with Rick Adelman opting to play Jordan Hill instead. You’ll see in my breakdown why Scola is known for being a liability on the boards and defensively. I’m not sure why Adelman played Scola, and not Hill, late in this game, especially since Adelman said that Hill is the best player who can go get rebounds. And also since Brad Miller was on the court most of the 4th quarter and overtime, and Adelman recently stated he likes playing Miller and Hill together.

Before you read the details below, here are a few more observations from the game:

– Jermaine Taylor got some early action in the second quarter (8 minutes) and had some good moves, scoring on 2-of-5 shots for 4 points. But Adelman didn’t play him the rest of the game, but continued to give Chase Budinger more playing time, and he responded with an 0-for-6 game and 1 point. Ouch.

I like Budinger, but he’s having a terrible year (35% shooting, 23% on 3-pointers), and I think it’s way past time to give Taylor more playing time. Maybe that will change up Budinger’s routine or something to knock him out of his funk because he is clearly hurting the team.

– Kevin Martin didn’t play at all during the time I started and ended the breakdown (midway through the 4th quarter and through overtime). I understand he was sick, although he did score 14 points in 28 minutes on 5-of-10 shooting – sounds like he was okay to me. They could have really used his free throw shooting instead of Miller’s when the Bulls intentionally fouled him that could have won the game if he had hit both free throws.

Okay, here are the plays that show how the Rockets overcame their deficit, took the lead, then let it slip away, along with the game:

6:39 – Courtney Lee hits a 3-pointer. The Rockets pull within two points. It’s 89-87, Bulls.

6:04 – Hill scores on a jump hook over Boozer. Beautiful move and shot. 92-87 Bulls.

5:29 – Budinger misses a 3-pointer and Joakim Noah grabs the rebound, but Lowry steals the ball from Noah! Seven seconds later, Miller nails a three! 94-92 Bulls.

4:12 – Lee hits another 3-pointer, this time from the corner! 96-95 Bulls

3:39 – Brad Miller drops a nice bounce pass to Lee along the baseline on a backdoor play, Lee lays it in, and he’s fouled! That’s the Adelman offense we’ve always loved! Lee hits the free throw. 98-97, the Rockets take the lead!

3:20 – Lee steals the ball from Rose, who had it over his head after picking up the dribble!

3:06 – Brad Miller hits a three! 101-97 Rockets!

2:52 – Kyle Korver hits a wide-open 3-pointer off a pick-and-roll. Defensive breakdown. 101-100 Bulls.

2:35 – Lowry drives to the basket, misses a layup that’s contested, but Carlos Boozer is called for a loose ball foul against Scola, which is questionable. Scola makes both free throws. 103-100 Rockets.

2:22 – Scola loses Boozer by looking toward the baseline where Rose has dribbled, Roses pass the ball to Boozer, who gets a wide-open look at the elbow for a field goal. 103-102 Houston.

1:59 – Miller drives to the baseline and throws up a little jump hook, but misses. However, Rose is called for a loose ball foul against Lowry. Lowry makes both free throws. 105-102 Rockets.

1:29 – The Rockets play good defense to hold Chicago scoreless on two shot attempts.

1:04 – 24-second shot clock violation on Houston. Miller put up a tough shot that was blocked, but it came after the shot clock went off anyway.

0:56 – Rose drives through the lane, gets to the hole, BUT MISSES A TOUGH LAYUP ATTEMPT! THE ROCKETS COME DOWN WITH THE REBOUND. THE ROCKETS STILL LEAD THE GAME 105-102 WITH LESS THAN A MINUTE LEFT!

0:36.5 – LOWRY DRIVES TO THE BASKET AND MAKES A TOUGH REVERSE LAYUP! THE ROCKETS LEAD 107-102 WITH 36.5 SECONDS REMAINING. THERE’S NO WAY THEY CAN LOSE THIS GAME NOW, RIGHT?

0:24 – Scola allows himself to be easily pushed out from underneath the basket without any resistance by Boozer, and Boozer taps in a missed shot by Noah. 107-104 Rockets.

0:23.6 – Lowry is intentionally fouled by Rose. He misses the first free throw, but makes the second. 108-104 Rockets.

0:14.7 – Scola tried to block a Rose shot in the lane, but that low-percentage block attempt took himself out of the play, which allows Boozer to get inside position and grab the offensive rebound to lay it in.

0:10.7 – Miller missed one of two free throws. 109-106 Rockets.

0:00 – Rose gives the ball to Noah, then cuts back behind Noah’s screen to shake Courtney Lee. Rose rises up and nails a 3-pointer to tie the game. Lee should have fouled Noah by running into him as he was setting the screen. Tie ballgame.

Overtime:

3:33 – Lowry jumps into the air on a Luol Deng pump fake, opening up a lane to the basket that Deng drive through for a layup. 111-109 Bulls.

3:17 – Scola misses a contested layup in the lane.

3:07 – Miller blocks a Rose shot attempt near the rim. Good defense!

2:52 – Miller makes a 3-pointer! 112-111 Rockets.

2:28 – Noah gets a wide open pass in the lane for a layup, and is fouled by Scola on a bad, ticky-tack call by the ref on Scola! Miller came over to help on Rose, who broke down Lee to get into the lane. Scola didn’t help out in putting a body on Noah to keep him from getting wide open. Overall team defense breakdown. Noah misses the free throw. 113-112 Bulls.

2:08 – Scola scores on a nice jump hook in the lane. 114-113 Rockets.

1:49 – Rose gets wide open on a pick-and-roll very close to the same area where he hit his 3-pointer to tie the game. Lee got caught behind the screen, AND ROSE DRAINS A 3-POINTER AGAIN! 116-114 Bulls.

1:32 – Scola hits a jumper at the elbow. Tie game: 116-116.

1:17 – Courtney Lee gets caught behind another pick-and-roll with Noah and Rose, leaving a lane wide open for Rose to drive the lane and score. Miller stayed way out high, which didn’t help any in clogging the lane. The pick-and-roll defense on Rose has been terrible. 118-116 Bulls.

0:59 – Miller misses a 3-pointer

0:26 – Rose misses a jumper. Good one-on-one defense by Lee to contest the shot.

0:08 – Miller barely misses a wide open 3-pointer that could have given the Rockets the lead.

0:04.5 – Ronnie Brewer is fouled on a loose ball to stop the clock. Brewer makes only 1-of-2 free throws. 119-116 Bulls. The Rockets have a chance to tie it.

0:02 – Miller received the inbounds pass and put up a very low-percentage shot with 2 seconds remaining on the clock, which is still plenty of time to pass the ball to an open man. The shot falls way short. Game over. Meanwhile, Lowry was wide open behind the 3-point line Miller should have tried to pass the ball to. Rockets lose 119-116.

Random thought:

I watched the WGN broadcast of the game, and I’ve never seen a broadcast crew (that includes former Bull Stacey King) whine so much about a foul that didn’t happen. When Derrick Rose drove to the basket and missed it with 56 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter, they slowed down the replay and said Rose was fouled 3 different times on that one drive AND NONE OF IT WAS TRUE! THEY WERE MAKING UP FOULS THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN, and then continued to whine about it for a couple of minutes during a timeout. Give me a break!

The Rockets did something Friday night they hadn’t done all season long: win a game after winning an even bigger game. In other words: not have a letdown.

Two days after beating the Lakers, the Rockets went to Memphis for another test of their mettle. That’s because on 3 different occasions this season they had let us down, not showing up when we thought they had turned the corner. Remember these games?

– Nov. 7th – Houston blows out Minnesota for their first win of the season, then loses to a bad Washington Wizard team
– Nov. 24th – A big win against Golden State to stop a 4-game losing streak, followed by a bad loss in Charlotte
– Nov. 28th – A great victory against Oklahoma City, then blown out by Dallas

The Rockets finally delivered with a win after a big win by beating Memphis 127-111, scoring more points against Memphis than any other team had done this season. And they did it in ways that we had seen with other great Houston teams: amazing 3-point shooting (16-of-23 for 70% shooting) and shooting overall (60% for the game). We know these are fluky stats that we won’t see again anytime soon and will just come out of the blue, especially since coach Rick Adelman didn’t even expect it based on this post-game quote:

“You’re always going to be surprised when you have an offense run like that, especially when we couldn’t make a shot in shootaround. So, maybe we saved it for the right time.”

What they DID get that’s more sustainable over the long-term were performances from players we have expected great things from this season.

Kyle Lowry scored 28 points against his former team, hitting 11-of-15 from the field and 4-of-5 from 3-point land for 28 points. Hitting 4-of-5 is incredible considering Lowry had only made 8 of 31 shots (26%) from behind the arc for the season. He balanced out that long-range shooting by scoring 12 of his points in the paint. Lowry also had 12 assists, which tied his career high.

Kyle Lowry scores two of his career-high 28 points against the Grizzlies.  Click here for more photos from the game.

Lowry’s backcourt mate Kevin Martin delivered with numbers we expected from him when he was acquired: 28 points on 11-of-15 shots, and 5-of-6 on three-pointers. Getting 56 points from your backcourt is reminiscent of what the great teams in the NBA can get.

Brad Miller proved how great of an acquisition we thought he would be with 23 points on 7-of-7 shots, including 3-of-3 from long range. There’s not much more you can ask from your backup center in just 24 minutes of play. Luis Scola was a solid 6-of-11 for 15 points. Courtney Lee had one of his best games of a Rocket, hitting 7-of-9 shots for 16 points. Even former Grizzly Shane Battier had another great game shooting following up his awesome game against the Lakers with 12 points on 4-of-8 shots, making 2-of-3 three-pointers.

The only player left out of the party was Chase Budinger, who was just 1-for-5 from the field for 3 points. But in the long run, these things tend to even out, and there will come a day where Chase will bail out his teammates with hot shooting like Lowry and the other players did Friday night.

Having passed the test of winning a game after a big victory over a team like the Lakers, Houston fans are now looking to see if the Rockets can do it again, this time against Chicago on a back-to-back facing one of their toughest match-ups in the league: Derek Rose, who lit them up for 33 points last time. Carlos Boozer is also back in the line-up, but the Bulls have lost 3 of their last 4 games. Fortunately, Kevin Martin has averaged 26 points in his last 3 games in Chicago.

Raymond has posted some photos in the forum of a workout that Yao Ming had with Jordan Hill today at Toyota Center, the first time Yao has returned to the court for some real action since hurting his ankle last month. From reports of the workout, it sounds like Yao’s ankle is doing very well considering the intensity of the workout.

Yao will stay in Houston while the Rockets are on their 2-game road trip, with Yao’s goal to get back on the court next Tuesday night at Toyota Center against Detroit.

Yao works out against Jordan Thursday at Toyota Center as Rick Adelman and other Rockets’ conditioning staff look on. Click here for more photos from Yao’s workout.

What a Wednesday night! The Rockets did so many things right that they’ve done wrong this season, like making plays in crunch time. And doing it against the world champion LA Lakers. Although the Lakers have lost 4 in a row, the first time that’s happened since April 2007, it still counts as Houston’s finest win of the season. And it comes only two days after getting torn up in Dallas, putting them in one of their deepest valleys in this tumultuous season. The question now is if they can keep it up, especially after disappointing their fans several times this season after encouraging victories.

If they don’t, at least we can enjoy the memory of a full crowd at Toyota Center sticking around — and standing and cheering — until the very end of a game. It reminded me of the playoff game atmosphere from a couple of seasons ago when they won 3 games at home in front of electrified home crowds to take the Lakers to 7 games. Fans were high-fiving each other and jumping up-and-down. That’s what we live for, and we haven’t had much of it this season.

Houston fans also received good news before the game that Yao, who participated in a shootaround with the team before Wednesday’s game, may be able to get back to action next Tuesday night against Detroit. And Aaron Brooks got in some court action, too, and may return 3 days after Yao against Milwaukee. Just the THOUGHT of having those guys on the practice court with target return dates had to give their beleaguered team a lift before facing the Lakers.

But the man of the hour was Shane Battier, who went on a tear to score 11 points in a row in the final 3 minutes of the game to overcome a 97-94 lead the Lakers had built. You know a performance like that from Shane won’t happen again anytime soon, but the Rockets will take a player who steps up in crunch time any way they can get it.

Shane Battier defends against Kobe Bryant, but in the end, it was Shane’s offense in the last 3 minutes that gave Kobe and the Lakers trouble. Click here for more photos from the game.

And Shane did most of his damage after halftime, not making a bucket the entire first half. The 3-pointers he hit were huge, of course, bringing down the house and befuddling the Lakers. But the most amazing shot for Shane during his run came after Kobe fell down trying to defend him, and in Kobe-like style, Battier took advantage of his mistake, dribbled once, and put up a tough shot with his body still moving somewhat, and drained it! He basically created his own shot without having any time to think about it — that’s not how Battier does it! You know when that shot went in, the Rockets were destined to win, and they did so by going on a 22-6 run to end the game.

My rule-of-thumb from a few seasons ago continues to prove me right: if Battier scores, the Rockets win. There’s probably no other stat from any player on the roster that’s correlated more to the Rockets winning games than that one.

From a team perspective, it’s no surprise that when the Rockets hit more 3-pointers than their opponent, they win. That was the case again Wednesday night, hitting 10-of-22 (46%) compared to 5-of-16 for LA.

I’ve been thinking this season that people have overreacted and overestimated how good the Lakers are. Sure, they’re good, but people forget that Boston almost took them last year in the Finals with no Kendrick Perkins in Game 7, Kobe had a terrible game in that game, they were saved by Ron Artest (who had 4 points against Houston Wednesday night) having the game of his life in that Game 7, and the refs started making calls completely different in the 4th quarter from what they had called in the previous three. If Perkins had played, Artest hadn’t shown up, or the refs had stayed consistent, people might be thinking the Lakers are good, but not that good. All of a sudden with that win, they have become larger than life, and everyone now thinks they are better than what they really are. But hey, at least it makes for good theater, and if a victory over the “back-to-back” champions helps create more confidence for Houston, I’m all for it.

One key point of the game that gave Houston hope was when they went on a 13-2 run at the end of the first half to cut the lead to one point before Kobe hit a jumper at the buzzer to give LA a 56-53 halftime lead. Without that, I think the Rockets would have gone into halftime with much less confidence. FoxSports Houston reported at halftime they could hear a lot of energy and yelling (the good kind) coming out of Rockets’ locker room, emboldened by what they had done to close out the half. Perhaps that finish to close-out the first half propelled them to excel in the second half.

Jordan Hill did a much better job in the second half on Pau Gasol, who only scored 8 points in the game on 2-of-8 shooting. Hill outscored him with 10 points. By cultivating Hill through the first 17 games of the season, perhaps the Rockets have found their athletic big who can go up against the best of them. No better way to make Houston fans forget about not signing Erick Dampier. I love how Hill, a throw-in to the Tracy McGrady/Kevin Martin deal, is surprising people with his progress. Just a few weeks ago people were thinking the kid was a bust. You have to give Rick Adelman credit for giving him playing time, and Daryl Morey and his staff credit for acquiring him as an afterthought to the McGrady deal last year.

And you have to give credit to the much maligned Houston bench, who outscored LA’s bench 40-30.

Random thoughts:

– So Wednesday night a 5-12 Texas team (Houston) beats a 13-5 LA team. Strangely on the same night, a 4-14 LA team (Clippers) beat a very good 15-2 Texas team (San Antonio). It was a night for the underdogs. Anything can happen any given night in the NBA.

– When I saw Kobe warming up with the red-and-white shooting shirt for Wednesday’s World AIDS day, it made me think what he would have looked like as a Rocket. It also made me think back to a few years ago when the Rockets had a chance to trade McGrady for Kobe when he was disenchanted with LA and was thinking of leaving. Just image how much of Houston and LA’s fate might have changed over the past few years if that trade had occurred!