Am I excited or just relieved?

I still don't know what happened last night. The Rockets didn't play bad at all, they just didn't play very well. The Sonics just could not miss until the last 5 minutes of the game. The Rockets weathered the storm and came out victorious.

Yao kept the game from becoming a blow-out with another "Yao Game", also known as 25+ points and 8+ rebounds. He finished the game at 26 and 12 with 6 assists and 1 block. Just another all around solid game. It's amazing to me that there are still people out there that do not recognize Yao's greatness. He does this EVERY NIGHT, this season he has only not scored 20 on 9 occasions and on 3 of those he had 18,19,19, so his scoring is there pretty much every game. He's had 8+ Rebounds 34 times this season, he is nothing if not consistent.

Just for fun:

You look at those stats and say: Player A and B are pretty damn close, right? In fact, this season, Player A is having arguably a better one than Player B, right? Player A is obviously Yao, Player B is Tim Duncan. Don't get me wrong, the Big Fundamental is inarguably, fuck Karl Malone, the greatest PF of all time. Honestly, it's not close. That said, Yao is great too, people need to realize this. Just think, he's 27, he's just now STARTING his prime.

Edit: (Just saw something similar over at Clutchfans, I've been wanting to work it in since the SA game, but didn't want someone to not get credit for a good idea)

Okay, enough about Yao, let's talk about TMac. I'd like to say that more players should say they want to grow up to be Tracy like KD did. Then maybe he'd play like his old self every time. He was really spectacular at the end of the game. 13-23 for 28 points and seemingly every one in the 4th quarter. He also managed 4 rebounds including a huge offensive one and 5 assists. I missed you old Tracy McGrady from your first year with the Rockets, I missed you. Now, please, I beg of you, stick around for the rest of the season! I'm going to ignore the 2 missed free throws at the end that almost cost us the game.

I also have to say, Rafer played like he was when TMac was out, and that is a very good thing, he shot WAY too much, but some of that was out of necessity since no one else early in the game, except Yao,was moving at all. His 8 assists were all pretty decent and he has ZERO turnovers. Good game all around Rafer, good game.

Last but not least I have to talk about Carl Landry. He played his ass off last night and cemented the fact that the Chuck Waggon should not be playing any more. What once was a black hole on the team, power forward, is now a plethora of awesome. Luis and Carl, welcome to the big time. Landry was everywhere, his athleticism is exactly what this team needs to compliment Luis's all out hustle. In 15 minutes he was 4-4 for 8 points, and had 2 rebounds. He also got 2 absolutely incorrect foul calls in that time and fouled out. He was so pissed off that he almost cried on the sidelines. And unlike Adam Morrison the game was over for him when he almost cried. That's some bad ass passion, it actually made me more impressed with him.

So that's a third win in a row for the Rockets and 8-2 in their last 10. Next up: Friday at 9:00PM CST - The Portland Trailblazers, one of the hottest teams in the league. I'll have a preview up today or tomorrow.