This story is one of the reasons why I have respect for Jeff Van Gundy. I love how he speaks his mind, and isn’t worried about fines and such.

Yao Ming fell on his knee and bled, turned an ankle on an opposing player and fell to the floor in pain, was posterized by rom Dahntay Jones on a massive dunk, got hit in the eye with no foul called, and turned the ball over six times in the first three quarters.

But when it came time for the Rockets to put the Memphis Grizzlies away Tuesday night, Yao put all those bad things behind him, put his team on his back and scored 9 of the Rockets first 10 points of the fourth quarter to help them win 86-80.

I am traveling this week on business and don’t have as much time to do a full report because of all the commitments I have on this trip, but I did record the game and watched it on my Slingbox late last night before falling asleep. When I’m traveling like this and the Rockets are playing a back-to-back like they are tonight against Milwaukee, I’ll put together a “joint” report where I’ll combine my analysis from two games into one.

Well, the hotel front desk just called, and they are pressuring me to check out. So I’ll check back here later, probably on Thursday afternoon when I get back into town.

I love how Yao is using his celebrity to make statements on various topics, like not eating sharks’ fin soup. In this story, he wants his fellow countrymen to show courtesy to visitors during the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

This is nothing new for people from host Olympic countries to ask their fellow citizens to be more welcoming of visitors for the Games. I remember during the 1984 Olympics in LA and 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, city leaders asked local residents to stay off the roads to prevent traffic jams. And during the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Mormons were asked not to proselytize visitors to their religion.

There are countless other examples of these kinds of recommendations being made. So anyone who thinks Yao is overstepping his bounds needs to keep things in perspective. After all, these statements were part of a 2008 publication released by Olympic organizers.

Yao dwarfs 6’10” forward Steve Novak during Sunday’s Rocket practice. This was the first time that Yao had been able to practice in a week. Click here for an article on Yao’s condition. For more photos from the practice, click here.

After not practicing with the team for over a week because of his toe problem, Yao says the lost time has put him out of shape, and he has to work extra hard after practice to get his conditioning back.

Also in this Houston Chronicle article, Yao comes out — when he wasn’t even asked — that his Reebok shoes were not the source of his toe problem. You’ve got to think that Yao was asked by his business team to settle the shoe controversy once and for all. Still, coach Jeff Van Gundy doesn’t want to rule out the shoes.

Mike Kahn of FoxSports.com comes out and says in this article what we’ve all been expecting to hear for a couple years now.

Looks like Yao won’t be back on the court this week after all, starting tonight in an exhibition game against Memphis. The decision was made to remove the nail on the big toe that gave Yao problems last week at training camp in Austin after someone reportedly stepped on it.

As you can read in this article in the Houston Chronicle, coach Jeff Van Gundy is starting to lose patience, as is Tracy McGrady.

During a session with the media in Austin a couple of days ago, I was able to get some great quotes from Jeff Van Gundy on a variety of topics.

This is the kind of unfiltered content you can expect to get with a modest paid membership to the new ClubYao this coming season. More information will be coming soon about memberships. Most of the proceeds will go to Yao’s favorite charities.

Question: What do you think of guard Kirk Snyder:

JVG: “He’s got some really good qualities, and yet, he has some things that he has to clean up and correct to find a niche for himself on a team for more than a single season.

“Kirk is a very good finisher around the basket. Very strong. Good athleticism up to the basket. He finishes very well. Not a bad 3-point shooter. I think too many times he pulls up for an 18-foot jumper which is not really a shot they (the defense) mind giving up. His game should be built around free throws, at the basket, and a spot-up three.”

Question: Is this Rockets roster better than the team you had last season?

JVG: “I liked the team last year that we had — even at the end of the year — very much, when it comes to intangibles, as far as commitment, attitude, and chemistry. Those guys were outstanding, not good. Outstanding. All those areas. Where we fell short last year was basketball IQ at times and skill level. We didn’t shoot it well, and we made a lot of basketball IQ mistakes, and that is on me as much as it is on the team. The difference is I’m not sure where our team is going to go this year as far as commitment, attitude and chemistry. But if we can recreate the same things in those areas that we had last year, I certainly think we have better skill level and athletic talent this year.”

Question: Is the roster a little deeper to handle an injury to a key player?

JVG: “If McGrady and Yao go out…just name the top two off any team in the league. Terry-Nowitzki. Parker-Duncan. Just go on. Wade-O’Neal. You might win some, but you ain’t gonna win big. This isn’t just us. It’s not just our team. And yet, when one of them is out (McGrady or Yao)….We certainly should win more. We should have won more last year. We lost a lot of close games last year. We had some basketball IQ issues, decision-making late in games that cost us. I really thought we were positioned last year at 29-33 to make a run for that last playoff spot, then McGrady went out and we went 5-15.”

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Yao cleared up some of the confusion about the shoe controversy that was reported yesterday in these notes from the Houston Chronicle.