[NYTIMES:] Yao Looms Over Knicks and Leads Rocket to Win

Debated putting this in the game thread or another news article thread. Decided to put it on its own. Every now and then I like to get the perspective of the "other side's" view. They did get Yao's stat line wrong though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/11/sports/basketball/11knicks.html?ref=sports

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Rockets 103, Knicks 94
Yao Looms Over Knicks and Leads Rockets to Win
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By HOWARD BECK
Published: November 11, 2006
HOUSTON, Nov. 10 — There are nights when Eddy Curry rules his world, when he is the biggest, baddest man in the paint, when he moves to the basket at will and bodies wither around him. A 6-foot-11, 285-pound man becomes accustomed to his natural advantages.

But Curry’s physical edge vanished Friday, and his fighting spirit quickly followed. Yao Ming — using all of his 7 feet 6 inches and 310 pounds — towered over Curry, blanketing and bullying him until Curry faded into the floorboards. The Knicks went with him.

Yao produced one of the best games of his career — 33 points, 17 rebounds and 7 blocks — fueling the Houston Rockets’ 103-94 victory over the Knicks at the Toyota Center.

The experience left Curry in a daze. He could convert only 2 of 11 shots, and 4 of his 8 misses were swatted away by Yao. Attempting to describe his night, Curry could only exhale, chuckle and force a smile.

“Oh, man, it was bad out there,” he said. “It’s crazy. He doesn’t even seem real sometimes. He’s just up there shooting. You’re jumping and the ball is like two feet over your hands.”

The Knicks did what they could, which was not much. Kelvin Cato, Malik Rose, David Lee and Renaldo Balkman all threw themselves at Yao, to little effect. Lee and Balkman had a few good moments in the fourth quarter, when the Knicks knocked a 16-point deficit down to 6, but they never solved Yao or threatened the Rockets.

It was a horrific night for the 23-year-old Curry, whose development is critical to the Knicks’ success, but Coach Isiah Thomas framed it as a learning experience.

“What I said to him was that if you look at it, he really hasn’t played in a week, and I think he’s lost his rhythm,” Thomas said, referring to the foul trouble that has limited Curry’s playing time. “They foul him out of every game and tonight he had a chance to play, but he was really kind of out of rhythm.”

It was a generous assessment by Thomas. Although Curry kept shooting, he never physically challenged Yao at either end of the court. He played 23 minutes — only 21 seconds in the fourth quarter — collecting 7 points and 5 rebounds. Curry has now been held to single digits in scoring for two straight games despite being the first option in the Knicks’ offense.

The loss left the Knicks with a 2-4 record as they headed to San Antonio for the final game of this road trip Saturday.

The Knicks trailed for all but the first 1 minute 58 seconds of the game. They fell behind by 10 points in the first quarter and by 19 in the third. In a near repeat of Wednesday’s comeback victory in Denver, they rallied down the stretch, cutting the deficit to 99-93 with 1:15 to play.

Nate Robinson, all 5-9 of him, scored on a putback dunk, and Stephon Marbury hit a 3-pointer, momentarily chilling the building. But Yao took over from there, with a pair of rebounds and a pair of free throws that sealed the Rockets’ victory.

Stephon Marbury led the Knicks with 22 points and 5 assists. Jamal Crawford, starting his second game in place of the injured Steve Francis, finished with 18 points on 7-of-20 shooting.

Thomas, never one to dwell on the negatives, praised his team’s fighting spirit.

“I told the guys when I went in the locker room, I said I’ve never been prouder to be associated with a group of guys this early in the season right now than these guys, because we get down 18, we get down 20, and we fight our way back,” Thomas said. “We never give up. There’s a lot of fight in this team, and once we get everybody healthy and we catch back up with the schedule, if we can keep this fight and resiliency, it’s going to be a pretty good year for us.”

Curry scored on his first shot, a baseline dunk past Yao, then missed his next nine attempts, with Yao blocking four of them in the first half. Curry also had a 24-second violation, shot wide right on a free throw and committed three fouls. In literally his lowest moment, Curry fell on his backside when Yao cleverly pulled away during Curry’s post move in the paint.

REBOUNDS

The commissioner’s office is reviewing the play in which Steve Francis sprained his ankle while landing on Bruce Bowen’s foot in Monday’s loss to San Antonio. Bowen has a reputation for some questionable defensive tactics; on the play in question, he extended his left leg under Francis while Francis was in the air shooting. Coach Isiah Thomas recalled a similar play by Bowen that injured Vince Carter, then with Toronto, in February 2004. Thomas said he would “beat” anyone who tried such a move, calling it “murder.” “When you’re in the air, you’re really exposed,” he said. “There’s a certain code, since grade school — when a guy’s up in the air, at any point in time you want to, you can take a guy out. Certain things you just don’t do.” Thomas did not specifically accuse Bowen of intentionally hurting Francis, saying, “I really don’t know if it’s intentional or just instinctive, the way he kind of challenges.” If the league concludes the play was over the line, Bowen could be fined or suspended. ... Francis sat out his second straight game Friday because of the injury. His status is uncertain for Saturday’s rematch against the Spurs.