[Chron] Rockets get used to having Yao around again

Offense adjusts to Yao
Rockets learn that another option can jolt rhythm

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

BOSTON - Larry Hughes began a move to his right, then took off left, a flash heading down the lane toward the rim.

There was no way at that split second to know how the play would end, though a crash of bodies, several moving toward Hughes' path, was a possibility. But Yao Ming had no time to consider risk or option. He moved over, batted at Hughes' shot, and with that, took an important step toward his comeback from his fractured right leg.

Yao blocked the shot, just as he hoped to that night in December when he came over to defend a Tim Thomas drive, only to have Thomas and Rockets teammate Chuck Hayes collide and fall into him, leaving him broken on the court and out for the Rockets' next 32 games.

Instincts take over

Last week in practice, Yao had been hesitant to put himself in such harm's way. But Monday in Cleveland, in his first game back, instincts took over, and Yao moved further from the injury and closer to being what he was before his best NBA season was halted.

"I was overthinking (about) my knee, particularly in my first day of practice," Yao said. "Somebody made a layup, and people were chasing over. I was feeling I was overthinking (about) my knee. My jump was not a full jump. (On Monday) I was not thinking about it too much. Maybe because it was the game."

His competitiveness allowed him to react, rather than plot in that moment. But with the ball in his hands, Yao wasn't quite his old self.

When he was rolling through December, Yao could handle the ball in the low post, feeling the defender on his back or side, while finding the double team coming and looking for an open teammate. On Monday, he said he could handle only one of those duties at a time, too slowly to burn a defense playing at midseason speed while he worked out preseason kinks.

His timing on shots was off, sometimes because he was unable to get his legs under him to give him the lift that makes him such a deft shooter.

The Rockets' offense was similarly hesitant and uncertain. Tracy McGrady laughed at the notion he struggled with the adjustment to Yao's return, pointing out he took a season-high 32 shots.

"At times I was trying to search him out to try to get him going, get him back in the flow of things," McGrady said. "But I was staying on top of my game. I wasn't trying to change anything. It's going to take him awhile to get back in game shape anyway. It would be stupid on our part to search him out too much when he's not ready for that type of play."

Yao missed his first five shots and eight of nine in the first half. But the goal was to get him back to normal as quickly as possible, without abandoning the style that worked in his absence: scoring earlier in the shot clock.

"Whenever you see Yao, you want to get him the ball," guard Luther Head said. "(Coach) Jeff (Van Gundy) told us before the game he didn't want us to play that way; he didn't want us to play slow. It's hard not to play that way with Yao because you want to get him the ball so bad because of what he's been doing.

"We didn't expect him to come in and be great right away. We know it's going to take time."

Center of attention

Yet the Rockets might find no better way to get their offense going than to get Yao back to the scoring that made him the NBA's top point-producing center this season and last. Van Gundy said the team lacked offensive energy in the first three quarters Monday while trying to keep Yao involved, slowly running plays they had not used the past 10 weeks.

"My whole thing was I wanted to get him going, tried to get him going early, just to get his feet wet again," guard Rafer Alston said. "I think I eased up a little bit in my aggression and on the tempo.

"When McGrady swings it, we still have to look for him (McGrady) when he's ducking in or call another set for him. But posting Yao deep in the paint — or one-dribble turnarounds — those are good shots. He missed a lot of games. He's a little rusty, but it's good to get him out there and get him going again."

The trick will be getting everyone else going, too.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

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