Yao feels pressure of slow start

PHOENIX (AP) -- Yao Ming admits he's feeling intense pressure to succeed for his homeland of China, and knows he hasn't played well in his first few NBA games.

"There is a lot of pressure on me," the 7-foot-6 inch rookie said before his Houston Rockets played the Phoenix Suns on Friday night. "This is the most pressure I've ever faced in my life, but it's something I have to deal with."

Yao, the NBA's No. 1 draft pick, has averaged 3.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in his first six outings.

He said that the professional game is far different than the international one, where he was far more successful against the U.S. team at the world championships.

"Before I was on the Chinese national team, and I was used to their strategy," Yao said through his interpreter. "The NBA is a different game, and I have to get used to it.

"I don't think I have been able to show the best of my abilities yet. I'm not quite used to the speed of the game, especially on offense."

Because of the international entanglements involving China, Yao was not able to join the Rockets until just before the regular season started.

"I've missed out on a lot of opportunities," he said. "I've missed out preseason games, preseason practices, so it's been tough. I don't think there are any other first-year players that have had to do that."

The Rockets will be in Los Angeles to face the Lakers on Sunday night, but Yao will not get his first matchup against Shaquille O'Neal, who is injured. The rough inside play of lesser NBA giants already has made an impression on Yao.

"I know if he plays, it will be more difficult for us against the Lakers, but I would also be able to gain more experience. I think everybody who is playing against me is being very physical."

Yao said he had nothing to offer his critics, many of whom already have labeled him an NBA bust.

"There's nothing I can really say," he said. "Basketball is not something that you can talk about, it's an action through which you can show people. I just think I need to show them on the court."

In a somewhat cryptic answer to a question about his NBA highs and lows so far, Yao indicated that his highly scrutinized pro debut has not been an enjoyable experience.

"The happiest moments are when I get to go home in the evening and the hardest are when I leave the house," he said.

But he showed his sense of humor on several questions, usually at the expense of interpreter Colin Pine.

"I try to eat a lot of Chinese food," he said. "Up until yesterday, I've been able to eat my mother's cooking almost every day. Obviously when I'm on the road, I can't eat my mother's cooking, because my interpreter can't cook."

Asked if he can speak English better than he lets on, Yao told Pine, "I still don't understand a lot of things. If I did you would have been fired a while ago."

And as for Charles Barkley's assertion that he would kiss Yao's posterior if he scored 19 points in a game, the Chinese center said he would pass on such an opportunity.

"When I heard him say that, I knew that the most I could score that night would be 18 points," Yao said.

 

PHOENIX -- This is what the Rockets said they would eventually become. Everybody shoots. Everybody scores. Everybody leaves happy.

They were better off when they had one can't-miss star carrying them.

Steve Francis couldn't shoot straight. After a fast start, Cuttino Mobley -- believe it or not -- barely shot at all.

But on a night when the Rockets had all the shooters they could want, they could not find anyone to put the ball in the basket in the final three minutes, a scoreless stretch that let the Suns take an 88-87 win Friday night at America West Arena.

With a one-point lead, the Rockets missed their last six shots, and two free throws in the final three minutes.

Given that smoothly paved opportunity, the Suns took their last lead on a Stephon Marbury runner with 6.3 seconds left.

The Rockets got the ball to Francis to set up a last shot, and he found Eddie Griffin for a trey at the buzzer. When it missed, the Rockets fell one double-figures scorer short.

Francis led the Rockets with 15, but made just five of 18 shots in scoring half his average. Maurice Taylor had a season-high 14 and Yao Ming had a career-high 10. Glen Rice also scored 10.

The most players the Rockets had in double figures this season was the four that scored at least 10 against Golden State and Seattle. On Friday, they had six.

Francis had topped 30 in four of the Rockets' six games. He and Mobley had combined for 56.1 percent of the Rockets' scoring, averaging a combined 51.1 points. On Friday, they combined for 29.

But they had all the chances they needed to take a road win.

Clinging to a one-point lead, the Rockets twice missed shots and twice ran down the rebound. After the second miss, Mobley made a move toward the hole and drew a foul. But Mobley, scoreless since early in the second quarter, missed both free throws. The Rockets got the rebound again, but again missed with Francis' runner going too hard off the rim.

The Rockets got another chance to clinch the win when Marbury missed from 18 feet. But they again could not find a shot, and when Francis had to heave a long trey to beat the shot clock, he missed everything, leaving the Suns a last chance with 13.8 seconds remaining.

Finally, the Suns broke through, reducing the Rockets' fate to one last shot.

The Rockets had taken small leads and lost them throughout the game. But they seemed especially vulnerable when they suddenly made a fourth-quarter move. Trailing by one after the 22nd tie or lead change, the Rockets put together an 8-1 run with Taylor knocking down a pair of jumpers and Francis following a Taylor miss with a rebound for a three-point play and a 79-73 lead.

But on the next possession, former Rockets forward Dan Langhi pump-faked Francis off his feet to draw Francis' fifth foul and cut the lead to five.

Stephon Marbury, who for most of the night struggled every bit as much as his separated-at-birth fellow point guard, drew the Suns back to within three, before a Taylor jumper ended that run.

But two more Marbury free throws sent the teams to the final four minutes separated only by a trey.

After a pair of Rockets turnovers, Shawn Marion pulled the Suns within a point with 3:16 left. But Francis, having made four of 14 shots, nailed a 20-footer for a three-point Rockets lead.

Marion followed a Hardaway miss for a layup to cut the lead to 87-86 with two minutes remaining.

The Rockets led by four at the half and knew that it could have been much more. They led most of the half and by as much as 10 and never trailed by more than a bucket. But with Francis struggling with his shot for the first time this season -- making one of seven attempts in the half and forcing his last few as if searching for a trigger to his offense -- even a four-point lead might have looked good.

After trying to take a charge in the second quarter, Francis had stiffness in his spine left over from his spill against the Trail Blazers on Tuesday, leaving his outside shots flat.

For the first time this season, the Rockets were forced to come at a team with a balanced attack.

Mobley came back from his off-night shooting on Tuesday to make five of seven first-half shots to score 13. But the more promising development might have been finding scorers they had not had most of the season.

Rice and Taylor combined to make five of seven shots in the first half, with Rice pumping in a pair of treys and Taylor finishing a drive with a tough slam in traffic.

But the most important development might have been the largest. Rather than an encouraging moment or two or an exciting move, Yao offered his most sustained stretch of solid play. Yao scored on a nice cut to the basket and his pet, oversized drop-step move. But he also took an offensive rebound to a hard slam. When he mixed in a strong block of a Marion drive and a few tough, traffic rebounds, he had his quickest, most confident stretch of his seven-game career.

Though that was just a seven-minute first-half cameo, it was enough to get him the start to open the second half.

That brought the familiar mixed results. Marbury crossed him over to the seat of his funny-striped pants. But Yao also hit a soft turnaround jumper and then cut to the hole for another slam to give him his first double-digit scoring game.

But then, for the first time this season, there was a lot of that going around for the Rockets.

 

Rockets summary


More zones coming

The Rockets have seen a steady diet of zone defenses, starting with their preseason game against the Suns. With the penetration ability of Cuttino Mobley and Steve Francis that has not changed, and Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said it won't any time soon.

"Everybody is seeing them," Tomjanovich said. "That's everybody. I'm going to do it, too. I think we're going to see some low scores. Our practices have been on average 45 minutes longer. We have to go over so much stuff.

"I think everybody is going to have it as a tactic. And they should."

For now, players are still accustomed to a different mind-set offensively. Tomjanovich said he has seen many teams thrown off their rhythm when opponents have switched into zone defenses.

"You get conditioned to (thinking) `It's a big part of the game, I'm an athlete, I'm going to run my play and get to the hole,' " Tomjanovich said."

Forward Maurice Taylor said the Rockets could shoot the zones away.

But the Rockets, other than Francis and Mobley, have made just 40 percent of their shots. With Taylor and Glen Rice working their way back to form, Taylor said the Rockets could end the zone strategy by January.

Tomjanovich wouldn't go that far. But he said it would help for his forwards to find their touch, and that they might even benefit from the perimeter shots the zones leave available.

"It helps to have shooters against zones," he said. "But it's a different rhythm, a completely different rhythm than other plays. But they can put the ball in the hole. They are shooters. If we execute and get open shots, they can get going."

Change for better

The Rockets' lineup has changed nightly, with five starting units in seven games; the Suns have made one change all season -- replacing Joe Johnson with Penny Hardaway in the starting lineup.

The Suns are 4-0 since Hardaway began starting. Hardaway is averaging 14.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 7.5 assists as a starter.

It takes time

Maurice Taylor said he found out with his first game in a 1 1/2 years that it would take time to get back to form. But he said he is also convinced the progress will be steady.

"I wasn't used to the speed," Taylor said of his first game back Tuesday. "I got out there and rushed a little bit, I was so excited. I don't think it's going to take too much time. It will be better Sunday, and better every day."

But there is another change.

"Coming off the bench is a big adjustment," he said. "Usually, it's easier to get warm and be out there with the starters. It's a big adjustment, but right now it's probably the best thing for me. But I plan on going out there, playing my game and getting better every game."

Taylor had 14 points in just 18 minutes of floor time on Friday, but got just two rebounds.

Collier starts

With Kelvin Cato unavailable for Friday's game to be with his family in Atlanta after the death of his grandmother (he is expected to miss Sunday's game as well), Jason Collier got his second consecutive start.

Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said he liked Collier's greater familiarity with the Rockets' schemes to start the game. But he said it might also help Yao Ming to be able to watch the start of the games.

"(Collier) is more comfortable with the plays," Tomjanovich said. "Yao, we have to limit things. It's going to take a while to catch up to where it becomes second nature. It helps to see a few minutes before he gets in."

-- JONATHAN FEIGEN