I was lucky enough to get a chance to "sit down" (via video-conferencing) with Yao Ming on Thursday. Yao was in Houston at the time, but met with a few writers from New York and Beijing to talk about the upcoming Olympics and how his busted foot's holding up. You can read the full feature here; of particular interest is a candid quote where he talks about how "beaten and defeated" his injuries have left him feeling at times.

While the Chinese media were understandably focused on Yao's take on the upcoming Olympics, I was hoping to get his thoughts on this year's playoffs, and, more specifically, the Rockets. So I asked him who he thought was going to win it all this season. He seemed a little taken aback by a non-Olympic question, but he eventually said he sees the Lakers and Celtics in this year's finals. And he even predicted a winner.

"I like the Celtics to win it all," said Yao. "The Big 3 makes a difference. The Celtics are focused on defense, and defense always wins championships."

After that, I asked him what he thought the Rockets needed to do to contend next season.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Rockets-Jazz game tonight.

1. Home Is Where The Last Stand Is: Let's make this clear. Yes, Utah won Games 1 and 2 in Houston. But that was the old new Houston. This is the new new Houston. With Alston back, a nothing-to-lose attitude, Tracy McGrady resembling an actual player of substance, and a rotation starting to click again, a loss tonight in Utah for the team with the best home record would be an absolute disaster for the Jazz. There seems to be a prevailing current that this is a mere formality. Maybe I'm tempered by some anti-statutory-rape feelings. Maybe I'm tired of kicking dirt on the Rockets and promptly having their hand shoot out of the ground and attack me. Or maybe it's because all season long I've had the same feeling about this Jazz team. Good. Not great. And very succeptible to a hot team. A game seven would be nightmarish pressure for the Jazz, much the same way the Rockets felt (and whithered under) pressure last year in Game 7. The Jazz have to end this, tonight.

2. Bench Evaporation: An excellent article out of the Salt Lake Tribune today brought up an excellent analysis about the Jazz bench: it's completely evaporated. Jerry Sloan is a pretty tight-reined coach. He's not going to let a lot go by. So if you're out there and you're not producing, he's going to yank you. Especially in a series as tense as this one has gotten. But if you're not playing, how do you work out of your slump? The Jazz need to be a force on the boards and on the perimeter. Paul Millsap and Kyle Korver can go a long way in that direction. They need to step it up tonight to end this.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.

In this video, we try to find out from Lamar Odom and Kobe Bryant in what city would they rather make their next playoff run.


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Last night's Houston-Utah Game 5 will get little play this morning, for three reasons: 1) D'Antoni's exit is a league-rattling event; 2) Dallas's loss will lead to a league-rattling shake-up; and 3) no one cares about defense. If Tracy McGrady had dropped 49 points, or Luis Scola earned a triple double? Then we'd hear about it. But if Houston holds the league's best offense to 69 points in 90 possessions (a pro-rated offensive rating of 76.7, which is about 20 points worse than the Knicks offense), forcing the Jazz to shoot 37% from the field and 22% from three, causing 18 turnovers? We should hear about this.

Houston's defense has been unbelievable all season (it finished second in the league behind Boston); but this work is likely the Rockets' best game of the season. The Game 3 win in SLC was solid, but it didn't remind you of Houston's 22-game win streak. This one did. The offense of McGrady and Scola got the bulk of the credit for the midseason roll. In actuality, the defense sparked the streak ... and that's largely in the hands of Shane Battier (who shot 1-for-8 and was still a +12), Rafer Alston, Dikembe Mutombo, and the bench duo of Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry. (Not to diminish Mac and Scola's roles in the defense -- they do their jobs, and McGrady's man D can be downright awe-striking in moments.)

Most may shrug at Houston's Game 5 victory -- even the Associated Press game story (linked above) leads the fourth paragraph with "Now, the Jazz can end the series at home, where they went 37-4 during the regular season." What a relief, a Game 6 at home! Whew, glad we just got out of Houston alive! Earth to ... um, Earth: Houston just destroyed Utah. Let's hold off on foregone conclusions for a minute, yes?

If Houston's defense plays like that again, Utah's going down.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Suns-Spurs game tonight.

1. Anybody Else Want To Try?: The Rockets have been looking for a hero in this entire series. So far, they've had Luis Scola as the rock, and Tracy McGrady as the nice, cheap paint. But other than Rafer Alston in Game 3, there hasn't been a support player to step up. Scola is supposed to be that guy, but he has to be a primary without Yao Ming. The Rockets need somebody, Rafer, Battier, Landry, heck, even Luther Head will work, to step up and give them the big playoff buckets. If it's just T-Mac versus Jazz, well, we know how that works out.

2. AK Can Maintain: Andre Kirilenko on defense has been stellar in this series, but he needs to step it up offensively. He's held McGrady from being absurd in this series, but he's only averaging 10 points a game. If he's able to step up and knock down his jumper, this thing ends tonight, and the Jazz can rest a bit.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Rockets-Jazz Game 4 tonight.

1. Sustainable resources. Houston's one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the league; Utah is the absolutely worst on the defensive glass. In Games 1 and 3, Houston was able to exploit this for tons of second-chance opportunities -- it didn't matter in Game 1, when the Rockets couldn't hit the broadside of Charles Barkley's ass; it was the difference, however, in Game 3 as Houston earned an almost remarkable 16 o-boards in 42 opportunities. Carl Landry and Luis Scola are the culprits here; Carlos Boozer and friends need to box out much better to keep Houston's wayfaring offense from bolstering it with easy buckets.

2. Retrospective exploration. Houston's vaunted defense (second best in the league this season) has had trouble slowing down Utah's vaunted offense. The Rockets are well equipped to contain an offense with a star wing scorer or a lanky post stud. But the Jazz offense is too diverse for easy solutions, and it's showed. Even in Houston's Thursday win, Utah's offense was strong, scoring 92 points in just 82 possessions. Rafer Alston's offense in Game 3 was beautiful, but he needs to make Deron Williams look less lovely to keep Utah's offense from romping.

Three more, after the jump.

Carl Landry's block on Deron Williams to seal Houston's win in SLC was (as Shoals notes at The Sporting Blog) the stuff of legends. (It might even be comparable to Tayshaun Prince's absurd block-from-behind on Reggie Miller earlier this millenia, insofar as a momentum-shifting play which catapaults an unheralded but excellent kid into some decent attention.) Landry was able to deny Deron, sure ... but he couldn't deny the missile-like desire of Rafer Alston. The one-minute mark is the ... sweet spot.



Via Awful Announcing.

Every single night of the playoffs there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the L. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Everyone likes to blame Tracy McGrady when the Rockets. I know it, you know, he knows it. So in light of Houston's series-saving victory on Thursday (going down 0-3 isn't technically the same as being eliminated, but it's close enough), let's allow McGrady to soak in a little bit of the credit for this one: he scored 27 points with five boards, seven assists and a block, playing 43 minutes in Houston's slim 94-92 win. Yes, it took a last-second block by Carl Landry to seal the deal, but the Rockets would be lost without T-Mac.

Also Receiving Votes:
It's borderline criminal how much point guard talent the Raptors are hoarding this year. Check out the combined production of Jose Calderon and T.J. Ford on Thursday: 39 points (13-22 FG), 12 boards, 16 assists, two steals and four turnovers in 46 minutes. How'd the Magic fare?

Umm ... not as well. Jameer Neson and Keyon Dooling mustered just 14 points (5-13 FG) and seven assists in 46 minutes. Not surprisingly, the Raps won going away.

I wasn't worried about it for a second. I knew this was still going to be one of the best playoffs in recent memory, maybe in the last decade. Too much energy, too much drama, too much talent. Yes, we'll have duds in Boston v. Atlanta and Lakers v. Denver, but across the board, after tonight, it's time to face the reality. These playoffs are more compelling than any we've seen in a while. Consider the following.

With the 36 point blowout win tonight, the Wizards not only look to be back into contention, but look like this is going to be a 12-round slobber-knocker, with each fighter taking a round wholly to assert themselves. The Cavs pounded the Wizards at home, the Wizards returned the favor, at least in the first game back in DC.

In the first two games, the Cavs were efficient, tonight they were anemic. In the first two games, DeShawn Stevenson was paper-bag material, tonight he and Roger Mason combined for 37 points. Even in a blowout, this series is compelling, if only to watch the vast momentum swings. For a series to truly be great, it has to have it's share of early blowouts. Suns-Spurs may be the only series that can survive seven grueling down to the wire games, and it may not get there if San Antonio delivers the death stroke tomorrow night. Washington-Cleveland, however, has both teams getting a feel for each other, delivering haymakers, and gearing up for the late games when things really get intense.

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Rockets-Jazz Game 3 tonight.

1. Return O' Da Rafer: Rafer Alston is probable for tonight, but will probably come off the bench. The problem is that at this point, Deron Williams is feeling comfy. He's got his offense, they're shooting 48% from the field in this series, he's creating opportunities for his teammates, and now they're back in the loving arms of the Utah faithful. Let's all pause ten seconds to applaud me for not making a single Mormon or Bucher joke in that entire sentence. ... Got it? Good. Alston needs to come off the bench, set up Luis Scola in the block, and immediately knock down a three. He needs to do it for his own confidence, for his team's confidence, and to quiet the crowd. He needs to send a message, and do it without opening his notoriously loud mouth.

2. Pout Or Power?: Tracy McGrady has had his little tantrum with the press. He's complained and moaned and done everything short of donning eye-liner and putting on a My Chemical Romance album. But let's be clear. The Rockets cannot, and will not win without a stellar performance from McGrady for all four quarters. These next two games don't just decide this series. They could very well decide whether T-Mac is in Houston next year. And as much as he may be frustrated with his struggles, there are much, much worse places he could be traded to. He should think about that before putting it in cruise control tonight.