mostly rehash of the other stuff with tiny bit of new stuff and denver game stuff. http://www.msnbc.com/news/829269.asp DENVER, Nov. 1 — Houston is hoping Yao Ming won’t have the jitters in his second NBA game as the Rockets visit the Denver Nuggets on Friday night. Yao, taken by the Rockets with the first overall pick, had a forgettable debut Wednesday night. The 7-foot-6 center from failed to score, had two rebounds, was called for three fouls and had two rebounds in 11 minutes as Houston lost 91-82 to the Indiana Pacers. He said he started thinking about an NBA career two or three years ago but certainly he envisioned a better start than this. LEARNED THAT I still have a lot to learn, and I’m just a rookie,” Yao said. “It’s a very long road and it’s difficult.” Yao entered to begin the second quarter and Jonathan Bender went right at him for an easy basket. The 7-5 Chinese rookie pulled down his first rebound with 8:45 left in the half and later had an assist to fellow first-rounder Bostjan Nachbar. Otherwise, Yao was a non-factor on offense, showing little willingness to aggressively post up. He picked up three fouls on defense. “Sometimes it was like I was in a dream,” Yao said through an interpreter. Yao had shown a soft touch with his jump shot during the preseason, but was bowled over by body checks and often got into foul trouble. He had few chances against the Pacers to shoot his jumper and was a non-factor defensively. “I don’t think the speed is so hard on defense; it’s tough for me to get up the court on offense at times,” Yao said. Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said it would take time for Yao to get adjusted to new surroundings and it was too early to gauge his progress. NBA news, features • INTERACTIVE: Preview of the 2002-03 season • GUOKAS: Vince Carter with something to prove • VENTRE: Looks like four in a row for Lakers • GUOKAS: 5 storylines to watch this season • CELIZIC: Sixers' Brown, Iverson need each other • GUOKAS: Count on Sacramento to win it all • CELIZIC: Nets still best team in weak East • CELIZIC: Sorry Knicks must rebuild • WALTON: top legends • 2002-'03 schedule • 2002-'03 TV schedule • More on NBA “The guy’s been here 10 days. He’s just trying to get acquainted with our offense, our defense,” he said. “We’re happy with him. It’s going to take some time get acclimated.” Two other foreign players drafted in the lottery had much more promising NBA debuts Wednesday in the Nuggets’ 83-77 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Brazilian Nene Hilario, taken by the New York Knicks with the seventh pick and sent to Denver in a trade, had 10 points and 11 rebounds. Nikoloz Tskitishvili, a native of the Republic of Georgia taken with the fifth pick, made three 3-pointers and scored nine points. Hilario is 20 and Tskitishvili is 19. “Our younger players are talented,” said Nuggets coach Jeff Bzdelik, who was making his NBA coaching debut. “That’s why I believe we have a great future here in Denver. I’m not going to ever use youth as an excuse. I think that will help expedite the growth process, by not using that as a crutch.” Those two players helped lead a strong Denver bench. Reserves scored more than half of the Nuggets’ points (39 of 77), led by Chris Anderson’s team-high 16. Advertisement Bench play was a problem for the Rockets, as their reserves scored just four points. In fact, while Houston got 39 points from Steve Francis and 22 from Cuttino Mobley, the other seven players managed just 21 points. The Nuggets will have to play Friday’s game without Juwan Howard, who was suspended by the NBA for the first two games of the regular season after an altercation during a preseason game.
