Yao Ming & Steve Francis cheer on the Rockets Tuesday night as the Rockets blew out the Utah Jazz to force a Game 6 in Salt Lake City on Friday night. Click here for more photos of Yao and Steve at the game.

Now THIS is the way it should be. Down 3-1 in their series to Utah and facing elimination with one more loss, the Rockets manhandled the Jazz in Game 5 Tuesday night 95-69, extending their playoff series to at least one more game that will be played in Utah Friday night.

Finally everything came together like we knew this team was capable of doing. We just wonder why it took four games for it to happen. Sure, they won Game 3 in Utah thanks to a Carl Landry block at the end of the game. But this game was different. Unlike that Game 3 win, the Rockets built a double-digit lead in the first half, and every time the Jazz made a run to make it look like they would rip the heart out of their Rockets and fans with a comeback win to win the series, the Rockets would respond and hold them off.

When they could have just laid down and died against the big, bad Jazz, and head into the off-season with a sour taste in their mouths, the Rockets were like an animal backed into a corner and they came out fighting. And they never let up.

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Almost everything went the Rockets’ way when it came to scoreboard watching the two big games Tuesday night that were relevant to their hopes of winning home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The Blazers’ defeat of the Lakers puts the Rockets just 1/2 game behind LA, and New Orleans’ loss to Utah puts Houston 2 games behind the Hornets for first place in the West. New Orleans and Houston have 5 games left to play in their season, and the Lakers have four.

Right on Houston’s tail is Phoenix, who won Tuesday night and are only 1/2 game behind Houston. Phoenix has four games remaining.

Although Houston wants Phoenix to lose to hold them off, I think we want to see them win Wednesday night, as crazy as it sounds. That’s because they’re playing San Antonio (on ESPN, I might add). If the Suns win that game, and the Rockets take care of business against Seattle, THEN THE ROCKETS WILL BE TIED WITH THE SPURS AND THE LAKERS with 4 games remaining in all 3 teams’ seasons. And all 3 of these teams will only be 1 1/2 games behind New Orleans for the Western Conference lead. Wow! I won’t even get into the tie-breaker situation because it’s so complicated.

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Hey everyone, I’ll be traveling today and will have a conflict later tonight in watching the Rockets-Mavericks game that I can’t get out of, so I probably won’t be able to watch the game and blog about it. This usually happens maybe a handful of times throughout the 82-game season (I haven’t missed one yet this season).

It will be interesting to see what happens tonight. The Mavericks have been struggling lately, too. I wish I could watch it. I’m already starting to think of the withdrawal pains I’ll be having during the game.

Raymond reports that Yao and his new bride Ye Li filmed a commercial for Chinese life insurance company China Life on Monday in Houston. Here’s one photo from the commercial shoot:

Click here for more photos from the commercial shoot.

Raymond also has photos from Monday and Tuesday’s Rockets practice. Thanks Raymond!

The Rockets are about to tip-off against the Lakers in Game #1 of the season. I’m stoked it’s finally here. There is so much promise for the season and Big Yao.

Unlike the first few years I ran this site, I haven’t tried to create alot of hype before this season begins. No predictions. No report cards from the preseason. Just hoping the Rockets can make a run for the ring and let their play speak for themselves. It will be tough, but they’ve got a shot. It’s time.

Our Raymond did an awesome job in the YaoMania! forum capturing all the activities from Yao’s participation in the Special Olympics. Here Yao Ming enters the stadium during the Opening Ceremonies in Shanghai…

Yao was joined in the ceremony by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose mother-in-law Eunice helped start the Special Olympics movement.

There are just too many photos to show on this page, so I’ll refer you to the following links.

Link 1 - Check out the gradiose stadium and pageantry of the ceremony — I can only imagine what the real Olympic Opening Ceremonies are going to be like next year in Beijing.

Link 2 - Includes an article about the ceremonies, more pics, and quotes from Yao on how important the Special Olympics is to him after he received a high award.

Link 3 - Yao at the airport headed to Texas, and saying goodbye to Jackie Chan in some very funny poses.

With that, Yao is now finished with his Chinese commitments for awhile, and is headed to Austin to join his Rocket teammates for training camp.

Just like last year, there’s a good chance I’ll get to spend some time with Yao later this week when he arrives in Austin for training camp. You never know…plans could change, but I’m confident it will happen.

I’ve got several questions I’m going to ask him, but I thought I’d get your input on the type of questions YOU would like for me to ask. I’ll report here later in the week what he says.

Feel free to post your questions by using the comments link directly below. I’ll approve them throughout the day on Monday, and sporadically through Tuesday and Wednesday. I’m thinking I’ll get to talk to him on Thursday or Friday sometime.

I found an interesting mp3 and video on the Net today from Rockets Media Day.

First, here’s an mp3 of an interview with Bonzi Wells. From the sounds of the interviewer’s shocked response, it looks like Bonzi has ripped himself into shape. Here’s a photo of how he looks…

Impressive. Looks like a totally different guy. I can’t wait to see him play being so much lighter.

Through this interview, I also sensed a much better attitude in his voice compared to how gruff he was last year. I speculate his agent must have given him lots of advice to go out of his way to be nice with the media this year since it can only help in a contract year. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Second, here’s a video from the local Houston news station about Media Day, with special attention paid to Rafer Alston:

Today Dikembe Mutombo signed a one-year contract with the Rockets, which will be his last season in the NBA. After former Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy inexplicably only played Dikembe 40 minutes in that 7-game playoff series against the Jazz last season, Dikembe’s return was in serious doubt.

But thanks to Rocket legend Hakeem Olajuwon, he was able to convince Dikembe to come back after a 3-hour conversation.

We all know how well Dikembe filled in for Yao when Yao hurt his leg and missed 33 games last season.

You can read all the details in this ESPN piece, as well as read about how Rafer Alston may not be as guilty as we first thought.

After two great games in a row where he had scored 30+ points, Yao Ming had a relatively bad game Monday night against Moscow CSKA, making only 5-of-14 shots on his way to 27 points (he made only 17-of-23 free throws). Yao also only grabbed 4 rebounds, committed 4 turnovers, and had 4 personal fouls. Not the kind of “4-4-4″ you want that Moses Malone talked about almost 25 years ago. Without Yao having his A-game, the Chinese lost 83-77.

For more photos from the game, click here.

According to our Raymond, immediately after the game against Moscow CSKA, Yao bolted quickly from the venue, even skipping his shower, so he could go back to Shanghai for the rehearsal of the Opening Ceremonies of the Special Olympics. He will then skip the last summer game for the Chinese and head back to Texas on Wednesday for Rockets training camp.

I’m sure no one at training camp will be concerned about Yao’s performance against Moscow. However, if I get the chance, I’ll bring it up to him to see what happened in that game.