<div align="center"> VS Dec. 23, 2006, Saturday Toyota Center, Houston, Texas 07:30 PM (CT), FSNSW Starting Lineups <font color="blue">Los Angeles Clippers:</font> <font color="blue">S.Livingston(PG),C.Mobley(SG),C.Maggette(SF),E.Brand(PF),C.Kaman©</font></div> Leading Scorer: Elton Brand(19.0 PPG) Leading Rebounder: Elton Brand(9.4 RPG) Assist Leader: Shaun Livingston <div align="center"><font color="red">Houston Rockets:</font> <font color="red">R.Alston(PG),L.Head(SG),S.Battier(SF),C.Hayes(PF),Y.Ming©</font></div> Leading Scorer: Yao Ming(26.8 PPG) Leading Rebounder: Yao Ming(9.7 RPG) Assist Leader: Tracy McGrady(6.3 APG) <div align="center">Keys To The Game</div> <font color="blue">Take Advantage of the Rockets Small Backcourt:</font> The last time they met Shaun Livingston scored 21 points going against either Rafer or Luther. His height advantage combine with his quickness is a big plus for the Clippers. He can also see the floor well when directing the offense. Cuttino also provides experience and familiarity going against his former team. <font color="blue">Elton Brand Should Dominate:</font> Elton's aggressiveness has diminished this season and it shows clearly with the Clippers' subpar season. Going against Chuck Hayes and Juwan won't be hard enough as he has the mobility and strength to overpower them in the paint. <font color="blue">Keep Yao From Dominating:</font> Keeping Yao out of the paint area reduces his effectiveness. Yao's arsenals are his jump hooks, fadeaways and turnarounds. He's very deadly when positioned inside the paint. Kaman should have adequate help to push Yao out of the lane. <font color="red">The Effectiveness of Balance Scoring:</font> With TMac's return still uncertain the Rockets looks to Yao to light up the scoreboard but it results in fewer success. Due the dominating efforts Yao puts on the first 3 quarters his stamina has gone down in the 4th especially in the critical moments of the ball game. Role players should step up and be involved in the offense to save Yao's energy. The reemergence of Juwan and Bonzi is very critical to the Rockets success especially if TMac will be out for a long time. <font color="red">Cut Down On Turnovers:</font> Aside from failure to deliver in the clutch in their losses another main thing that contributes to opponents comeback or preventing the Rockets doing a comeback is their proness to turnovers. Not taking care of the ball and not making timely passes gives the opponents opportunities to score on the other end especially if the turnover results in fastbreak points. In their 2 wins without TMAc they have regulated their TOs which translate to effective basketball. Yao should be protected from ball hawks coming from the weakside. Rafer and Luther should duplicate the way they play against the Clippers last week and the Spurs yesterday. <font color="red">Avoid Foul Trouble:</font> I guess sometimes there's nothing you can do about it the way some officials see the actions. The Rockets this season have been effective on fishing offensive fouls from the opponent courtesy of Shane Battiers better positioning on the defense. Hayes ,Yao and Howard are having a hard time against premier PFs and slashing guards. Putting up lots of fouls early in each quarter changes the defensive strategy aside from going into penalty. Players with foul troubles have diminished performance due to their avoidance of fouling out. Better positioning, coverage and effective help defense is a must. Predictions: With both teams coming from a game last night intensity should be slightly affected. The Rockets have the advantage however because they are playing home and have come up with a victory last night against the mighty Spurs while the Clippers were blownout by the Mavs and are still wondering what went wrong. Although the Rockets misses TMac same goes for the Clippers' Cassell. Sam has been missed for his leadership and clutch shooting. Rockets Win 105-97
Coming off a huge win at San Antonio, I have a feeling the Rockets will win on their home turf. Rockets 110 Clippers 88
Tim Thomas drove to the hoop, Chuck Hayes tried to take a charge and fell backwards right onto Yao's knee, hyperextending it. Yao was on the ground for about 5 minutes before being helped off the floor. That was probably the longest 5 minutes for Rockets fans. Yao's dad and Ye Li quickly came down from the stands and into the training room. Let's hope he recovers as well as Chuck Hayes did with his hyperextended knee, and not take as long as Shaq.
From Rotoworld: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Yao Ming injured his right knee and left in the first quarter of Houston's game against the Clippers on Saturday night. He will not return. Yao was leaping for a blocked shot as Chuck Hayes and Tim Thomas hit the floor beneath him. His knee appeared to get caught under Thomas' body and Yao immediately grabbed his knee and screamed in pain. Yao limped off the floor, with teammate Bonzi Wells helping him. He was diagnosed with a bone bruise and his status is uncertain after tonight.</div> Rox just can't catch a break. Hopefully he's only out for a short time and T-Mac can get back soon.
Damn, with Yao out for six weeks, it'll be tough for the Rockets to win games without both Yao and Tracy. Hopefully Tracy can get back in time and the Rockets just hover at around .600, then make a surge after the All-Star break with a healthy Yao. That's certainly an attainable goal.
If T-Mac doesn't come back, the only way we can win games is if guards (Rafer, Head, Bonzi) and score along with Battier.
