It had been a few weeks since any of us had seen Yao, maybe dating back to February 26th when he announced he’ll be having season-ending surgery. That’s due to the fact that Yao can’t really walk without crutches and has been resting at home.

He finally was seen Wednesday night to watch the honoring of Dikembe Mutombo at halftime of the Rockets game against Minnesota (injured Steve Francis was also there). It’s good to see the big fella’ back:

Click here and here for more photos of Yao at the game.

Francis did some guest commentating during the FSN telecast, and he had a couple of interesting things to say:

1) When Francis had his knee surgery, he said Yao was one of the first people who visited him at the hospital. Francis really appreciated the gesture. Obviously Yao and Steve still remain very close friends.

2) Francis said although he’ll become a free agent at the end of this season, he doesn’t want to leave Houston and wants to sign with the Rockets again. It could get awkward if the Rockets want to move forward without him.

As far as the game goes, the Rockets were prime for an upset from the Timberwolves because I think they’re alot better than people give them credit for. Al Jefferson is a stud of a player (he proved it with 21 points, 10 boards and 5 blocks) and former Rocket Kirk Snyder played very well (12 points on 5-of-7 shooting) by attacking the basket and getting several dunks.

On top of that, the Rockets were going to have more than 3 days before their next game against San Antonio on Sunday, which is almost an eternity in the NBA. So it would have been easier for the Timberwolves to catch the Rockets looking ahead to the break and their huge game against the Spurs.

Minnesota made a game of it by getting as close as 2 points in the fourth quarter, but Tracy McGrady finally got his shot going by scoring 10 points in the quarter (5-of-10 shooting) to finally give the Rockets a bigger cushion and eventually win it 97-86. Before McGrady started hitting shots in the fourth, he had missed 11-of-15 of them. He would finish with a game-high 23 points.

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Yao Ming scores with Minnesota’s Al Jefferson looks on Monday night in Minnesota. Yao would only score 16 points and grab 5 boards in a game that went down to the wire, which the Rockets won 92-86. Click here for more photos from the game.

Before the Rockets ever played the Timberwolves on Monday night, I knew the Rockets were going to be in for a fight. Although Minnesota had a 10-36 record entering the game, they had won 4 in a row at home, 5 of their last 7 games, and had beaten Golden State and Phoenix during that stretch.

That was enough to strike fear in my heart. This is the type of team the Rockets have given away games so many times in the past, and I knew the risk of them losing this game was going to be extremely high.

So during the first 3 quarters of play, I was just happy the Rockets hadn’t blown the game already. They led 24-18 after the first quarter, 47-42 at halftime, and 66-63 headed into the fourth quarter.

Things were looking great when they opened up a 10-point lead, 75-65, with 7:25 remaining in the game. I was ecstatic the Rockets appeared to have taken care of business, even if it was an ugly game getting to that point. But who cares, a win is a win, right?

Except this is the Rockets we’re talking about. Rather than cruise to a victory, they absolutely fell apart on the worst display of basketball I have seen since…well, the Rockets blew that 12-point fourth quarter lead to the 76ers on January 15th at home.

You know the saying in basketball, “live by the three, die by the three?” That applies here to some degree since Tracy McGrady hit a late 3-pointer to pull the game out to help the Rockets win 92-86. But I have a twist to that old adage: “live by the ‘T,’ die by the ‘T.’” When I say ‘T,’ I do mean Tracy.

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Yao Ming contests the shot of Minnesota’s Corey Brewer in a game where Yao wasn’t needed much. Yao only played 28 minutes and scored 15 points in an easy 113-82 win. Click here for more photos from the pre-game shooting practice.

Because of really bad shoulder pain, I am not able to type with both hands as normal. So I’m going to try something new and file an audio report about my thoughts on the Rockets’ impressive victory Friday night over Minnesota 113-82. Click on the player below for part 1:

In part 2 using the player below, I talk more about my shoulder situation and shoulder injuries in general (which is relevant because of Yao’s plan to have shoulder surgery after the Olympics), D-Wade’s shoulder injury last season against the Rockets, and the upcoming New Orleans game on Sunday. Duration: about 4 minutes.

Another game where I don’t have anything to complain about. The Rockets showed fire and energy Monday night — and got payback against the Timberwolves for their last two losses in a row in Minnesota — dominating the T-Wolves 105-77. I can get used to this.

Tracy McGrady was back to his old self, scoring 32 points on 12-of-27 shooting, including 16 points in the third quarter. Juwan Howard was almost as good, scoring 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting.

Some other amazing stats from the game.

*The Rockets biggest lead was 37 points.
*They committed only 6 turnovers.
*They had 9 steals compared to Minnesota’s one.
*They outscored Minnesota 42-18 in the paint.
*They outscored the T-Wolves 17-0 on fast break points.

Wow!

Although they upchucked in their last game against the Hornets on Saturday night, the Rockets showed their pride. Van Gundy gave his team one of the best compliments I have ever seen when he said after the game:

“I loved the way we played, the energy level we had.”

That’s just as astounding as the stats mentioned above. JVG was also more encouraging during the game than seen in recent memory, clapping and applauding his players throughout.

The Rockets completed their 5-0 homestand against “cupcakes” 4-1, and are now 30-13. I’ll take it.

Just one day after I wrote that the Rockets definitely still need Yao, my point was driven home hard given the Rockets’ lousy game against Minnesota Sunday afternoon, losing 103-99 in OT.

It was painful to watch Houston launch ill-advised jumpers and bad shots (37% through 3 quarters). Minnesota didn’t shoot much better and only led 71-62 heading into the fourth quarter. That’s when the Rockets woke up, got the pathetically shooting Rafer Alston out of the game (0-for-10 in the 2nd and 3rd quarter), put John Lucas in, got T-Mac going, made Luther Head get more aggressive offensively, and got back into the game to tie the game late in the fourth and force OT.

It looked like the Rockets were going to pull off an improbable win when T-Mac started off OT by hitting a long two, and Juwan Howard hit two jump shots to give Houston a 94-93 lead with 2:24 remaining.

But the rest of the way, the game ended by the Rockets laying bricks…

Steve Novak missed a three
Mark Blount scored on Novak
T-Mac missed a 7-footer
Rafer (back in the game) missed a trey (no surprise there)
T-Mac missed a trey
Luther turned it over

Meanwhile, the T-wolves capitalized on the Rockets crumbling defense, and Minnesota took a game that — if Yao had been it –would have been a different story.

Here were other keys to the loss:

Alston hitting only 4-of-17 shots. Something has GOT to be done. After stinking up the joint, at least Van Gundy played John Lucas 22 minutes, the most number of minutes he has played all season by far. I did a quick calculation of Alston’s shooting percentage over the last 12 games, and it’s an unbelievably bad 31%.

I think I know the Rockets’ front office well enough that they are looking RIGHT NOW to clear the missing-in-action Bob Sura off the roster and bring in someone who can also play PG, as well as give Lucas a few more minutes. There’s probably not much out there, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Rox bring back Casey Jacobsen (I think he could be in Europe), who they reluctantly let go when Sura said he thought he could still play this season. I know it’s not the answer, but at least JVG liked him enough to publicly acknowledge that he had something to offer, which is saying alot for Van Gundy. Thanks, Sura. Were you hanging around Jeff Bagwell the past few months before claiming you thought you could come back?

T-Mac was really off the first three quarters, hitting only 6-of-19 shots (many of them bail-out jumpers) until he woke up and made 4-of-6 in the fourth quarter to bring the Rockets back and send the game to OT.

Kevin Garnett (11-of-24, 26 points, 13 boards), Blount (6-of-12, 21 points, 10 boards), Trenton Hassell (5-of-10, 14 points), and Ricky Davis (6-of-12, 16 points) just killed the Rockets. Without Yao clogging up the middle, the Wolves had their way with the Rockets only getting two blocks all game long. The only thing that made the game close was Mike James making only 3-of-12 shots, but he did have 10 assists – 7 more than Alston. So even on a bad night for James, he still was able to prove he was the wrong man the Rockets said bye-bye to last summer during the free agency period.

On the bright side, Shane Battier made 7-of-12 shots and hit 4-of-7 three-pointers for 20 points. Solid as always. So was Juwan, who was 7-of-14 with 19 points, and Dikembe grabbing 13 boards. And Lucas was 3-of-5 with only one turnover.

All I know is that all the praise the Rockets were getting having won four games in a row without Yao is going to be long forgotten if they lose to Chicago Monday night in a back-to-back.

Kevin Garnett puts much of his weight in defending Yao Ming in the paint Wednesday night. Tough Timberwolve defense against Yao held him to his lowest shooting percentage of the season (26%), yielding only 14 points in 41 minutes in a 90-84 loss in Minneapolis. Click here for more photos.

Yao had his worst shooting game of the season Wednesday night in Minnesota, shooting only 26% (5-of-19) and scoring only 14 points in 41 minutes in a 90-84 loss to the Timberwolves. It looks like the rest he was able to enjoy the previous night by taking the fourth quarter off didn’t help.

Kevin Garnett, Mark Blount and Craig Smith showed they can play defense, too. There’s a reason the T-Wolves are third in the league in opponents’ scoring average (92.9 points per game). They did a good job pushing him further away from the basket than he likes to be, which happened to him earlier this season and resulted in a poor shooting night.

You would think if teams knew that’s what it took to contain Yao, they would do it all the time. But give credit to Yao for being strong enough and fighting hard to get great position against most of his opponents and average 26 points per game.

The fourth quarter was especially disastrous for Yao. He was called for a very questionable tech – his first of the season — after posterizing Eddie Griffin on a dunk and belting out a yell.

Later on he was called for goaltending against Troy Hudson, which gave the T-Wolves an 85-77 lead with a little over 5 minutes remaining.

Shortly afterwards, Yao was blocked at the rim by Garnett, but grabbed the rebound and blew a layup. I had just written a few days ago how impressed I was that Yao wasn’t blowing chip shots this season like he had done so often in previous seasons. After the game, Yao vowed, “I will make those next time.”

Throw in 7 turnovers on the night for Yao, and you have his worst overall night of the season.

Yao didn’t get much help from his partner Tracy McGrady, who also finished with 14 points and shot worse than Yao (didn’t think that could be possible), making only 5-of-21 shots, missing all 3-point attempts, and turning it over 5 times himself.

So although the Rockets have a decent 12-6 record, it’s clear they aren’t as good against tougher competition. Even with such a bad night for Yao and T-Mac, at least they didn’t get blown out. They had a chance to tie it very late in the game with a three-pointer, but like all night, they couldn’t get off a decent shot and lost.

Yao prepares to lay in one of his 11 field goals Tuesday night against Washington. Yao scored 25 points and grabbed 10 boards in a 82-75 win, while Shane Battier chipped in with 17 points in a game where Tracy McGrady was limited because of an injury. Click here for the game story.

Where would the Rockets have been last night with Yao and Shane Battier? Both players shot lights out (Yao: 11-of-15, Shane: 6-of-11) while every other Rocket struggled (13-of-53 combined). But the Rockets’ defense and some timely three-pointers late in the game prevented Minnesota from completing a fourth quarter comeback.

Despite the Rockets propensity to lose big leads this season – this time they lost an 11-point lead to allow Minnesota to tie it at 68-68 with 4:42 remaining – they were able to close it out, thanks to Shane hitting two treys in a row (he made an incredible 5-of-5).

Then Rafer Alston made up for a poor shooting night (4-of-15 overall) to hit a three, and followed with a runner in the lane to make it 79-70, and that was the ballgame as the Rockets finished with a win, 82-75.

Alston has impressed me this season to hit big shots down the stretch, even when he has struggled shooting earlier in the game. He has made me forget this year about the Rockets’ inability to sign Mike James this off-season, who finished with only 4 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and one steal in 23 minutes. Meanwhile, Rafer scored 13, had 7 assists, 3 steals, and grabbed 3 rebounds

Although the Rockets are known for losing big leads in the fourth quarter, they are winning (they have won 9 of their past 11), and I have said all along it doesn’t matter if they lose leads. Just win, baby. And if you lose leads and still figure out a way to win, it just makes you stronger later in the season when the pressure gets really intense. Yao seems to agree:

“Actually, at the point it’s getting close, I’m not nervous,” Yao said. “I didn’t feel worried. That’s the way we play. We’ve gone through this many times.”

Tracy McGrady got hit in the abdomen late in the first quarter and was in-and-out of the game all night long. He finished with 8 points (4-of-14) and 7 assists in 32 minutes of play.

It doesn’t look good for him to play against Phoenix on Wednesday night, but at least the injury didn’t occur in his back where things could get really scary after missing so many games last season, leading to a disastrous record.

Since the Rockets are out of the playoffs and Yao is hurt, my reports for the remaining four games are probably going to be very short…especially since I’m working some late hours at work, and I haven’t even started my tax return yet!

No surprise that Houston lost its third in a row Wednesday night. What’s sad is that they blew an 18-point lead (their largest blown lead of the season), and lost 82-79 to a Minnesota team that had lost 14 road games in a row.

To read more about the debacle, click here for the Houston Chronicle article on the game.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

Yao rises above the T-Wolves for a beautiful hook shot on his way to 30 points, 13 boards and 4 blocks in an impressive Rocket win over Minnesota without T-Mac in the lineup. Click here for more photos from the game.

by John

TUESDAY, 3/7/06 - Before the Rockets game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, it was announced that T-Mac wouldn’t play so that he could rest his back.

I then wrote down a note to myself that said, “If the Rockets win this game, it will be quite an accomplishment.” After all, the odds were stacked against them. They were playing without T-Mac (2-13 without him) on the road against a Minnesota team that also is vying for the 8th and final spot in the Western Conference playoff race.

And as we continue to witness the evolution of his greatness before our eyes, Yao Ming came up with yet another dominating performance, scoring 30 points, grabbing 13 boards and blocking 4 shots to propel the Rockets to a huge 93-87 victory Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

The chips were on the line, and he delivered big-time. The only thing he didn’t do was hit all of his free throws. He missed all four of his FT attempts in the first half (0-for-4), but he made all eight of his attempts in the second half to finish 8-for-12 from the line.

Also coming up big was Houston’s team defense. The Rockets trailed at the beginning of the fourth quarter 67-61, but then locked down on D and forced the T-Wolves to make only 1-of-19 shots in the quarter while the Rockets went on an amazing 18-3 run to take a 81-70 lead with 1:52 remaining.

It would have been cool if the Rockets could have played good defense through the final 1:52 and hold Minnesota to 3 points overall in the quarter, but then they (e.g. Rafer Alston) started committing stupid fouls and putting Minnesota on the line.

The T-Wolves ended up scoring 17 more points in garbage time to salvage their reputation, but give credit to Houston and their defense. It was a thing of beauty as they forced Minnesota to take bad shots.

Houston was awful in the first half. In the first quarter, the Rockets shot only 35% and trailed 25-16. In the second quarter, both teams shot terribly, with each team shooting 1-of-7 to start the quarter. But that’s when Yao made his move, shooting 4-of-7 from the field. Excluding Yao, the rest of the team shot only 3-of-15.

Except for that fourth quarter stretch where the Rockets clamped down, it was frustrating through the whole game watching lots of boneheaded plays, like missed layups (Keith Bogans, Alston), traveling on the way to an easy layup (David Wesley), throwing dumb passes when they had wide-open layups (Luther Head, among others), and missing 17 free throws!! (28-of-45)

Even with all those mistakes, Yao came through when the Rockets needed him most. He also got help from Alston, who hit 4-of-7 three-pointers. Without those threes, Minnesota would have run away with this game in the first half. Also chipping in was Stromile Swift, who went strong to the hole, finishing with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, and playing great D.

Houston is now only 3 games behind the Lakers for that final playoff spot, but they have a tough back-to-back on Wednesday night against Indiana at Toyota Center. The Pacers are in the middle of a pack of teams in the Eastern Conference where only two games separate the fifth team (currently Indiana) and the #8 team.

john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.

Yao gets in a workout before Friday’s game against the Timberwolves. Although Yao didn’t play in the game, he is expected to be back in action around the middle of next week. For more photos from Yao’s workout, click here.

by John

FRIDAY, 1/27/05 - It looks like we’re only a few days away from Yao being back! Yao, who has missed 18 games since having toe surgery on December 19th, said on Friday, “Everything is going well. I’m getting close.”

Too bad he wasn’t in the lineup against the Timberwolves on Friday night. After winning 3 of their last 4 games, it looked like the Rockets may have righted the ship and were ready to put some of their miseries behind them. They had good chances to beat Minnesota, but the T-wolves’ trade for Ricky Davis really paid off.

Davis, who was traded from Boston yesterday in an exchange involving several players, didn’t need any time at all to get acclimated to his new team, scoring 26 points to equal Kevin Garnett’s 26.

On the other side, T-Mac ‘only’ scored 19 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Who knows, he might have been bothered by a plastic mask he wore after getting hit in the nose after his last game [click here to see photos of the scary-looking thing.] David Wesley and Rafer Alston both shot only 6-of-15, dragging down the Rockets’ field goal percentage to 40% while Minnesota hit a sizzling 49%.

I won’t go into the details since a loss is a loss. But you can read more about the Rockets’ missed chances by clicking here.

On the bright side, Stromile Swift came back from a 9-game absence (because of pink eye) and played well, scoring 19 points on 7-of-13 shooting. Chuck Hayes continues to show he is NBA material, scoring 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting, and grabbing 7 boards in 27 minutes.

The Rockets next play Miami on Sunday where they will need all the rebounding help they can get against Shaq and the boys.

John
john@YaoMingFanClub.com

To see the boxscore from the game, click here.

To read the Houston Chronicle’s article about the game, click here.