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.

Here’s a 1-minute video snippet from Yao’s pre-game press conference that occurred earlier today:

I’ve also gone ahead and uploaded the ENTIRE AUDIO from earlier today. You can go check it out at the new YaoMania! Facebook page at Facebook/YaoMania. Just look for the little ‘music player’ underneath the ‘Fans’ box in the left-hand column to play the audio.

While you’re there on that Facebook page, go ahead and login using your Facebook account and become a fan of the page so you can get YaoMania updates on your Facebook wall.

You can also check out lots of photos like the one below of Yao before and during the game that the Rockets dominated against the Lakers. My report of that game will be coming shortly.

Raymond has translated a phone interview Yao gave Saturday night to Titan Sports after the announcement was made he’s out for the playoffs. Check it out here.

Raymond has translated another interview that Yao gave where he talked about his feelings of getting out of the first round, his assessment of the Rockets’ current team compared to teams of previous years, what they must do in the second round of the playoffs, and his prediction of their chances of advancing to the Western Conference Finals.

I also thought it was interesting to read what Yao said in Chinese about the foul problems he thinks he can get Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum into.

Raymond has done it brilliantly again: spending several hours translating an interview that Yao Ming gave to a Chinese publication after the loss to Dallas.

In this interview, Yao talks extensively about the upcoming playoffs, his assessment of the regular season, how badly he wishes to get past the first round, and the pressure and responsibility on his shoulders for carrying the Rockets in the playoffs.

Thanks for the translation, Raymond!

Raymond has translated an interview of Yao that he gave to Sina Sports where he talks about his satisfaction levels for this season and the pressure he’s felt, his leadership on the team, playing in the NBA versus the CBA, the matchup between him and Greg Oden, and much more!

Thanks to Raymond for his tireless work on this translation (4 hours)!

Raymond has done a great job translating this interview that Titan Sports conducted with Yao on his desire to not show up his teammates on the court in trying to get them to pass him the ball.

Raymond has posted a translation of an interview that Yao Ming gave after the Rockets’ loss to San Antonio where he talks about a variety of things, including a late-game play involving Aaron Brooks where they had a chance to take the lead.

I find it very surprising on that play that Rick Adelman designed it to get the ball to Ron Artest on a long pass from Brooks rather than to Yao in the post, or a pick-and-roll of some sort. What happened to Yao being the first option in late game situations, per Jonathan Feigen’s suggestion last week?

I guess it all depends if you think the Rockets needed to go up by 2 points with a 3-pointer, or go with a higher percentage play with Yao in the post and lead only by 1. What would you have done in that scenario?

Raymond has translated an interview that Yao gave after the Denver game to Sohu Sports. In this piece, Yao talks about the differences between Aaron Brooks and Kyle Lowry, explains why he tried to steal the ball from Chauncey Billups at halfcourt that fouled him out of the game, and much more. Thanks Raymond!

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.