You can't keep a good seven-foot Chinese guy with incredible footwork, length, and a solid supporting cast built of metric-positive role players down forever.
The Houston Rockets advanced to the second round for the first time in Yao Ming's seven-year career on Thursday night with a 92-76 win at home over the Portland Trailblazers. And while Yao was his usual productive self with 17 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks, it was Ron Artest shaking off his offensive doldrums to explode for 27 points that helped Houston to overcome their demons. And possibly give Tracy McGrady a few more.
The Trail Blazers can't win against the Rockets without big games from Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge -- and sometimes even that's not enough. So when you consider the fact that Roy entered Game 5 on Tuesday completely flu-stricken and Aldridge hadn't even attempted a shot in practice for two days because of a swollen elbow, it'd be understandable if you predicted the game wouldn't even be close.
As it turns out, it wasn't -- but instead of Houston closing the door, it was the Blazers who pulled away in the final quarter, winning 88-77. How did they do it? Roy and Aldridge, of course; the duo each scored 25 points, defying their respective ailments to help the Blazers stave off elimination for at least one more night.
The Blazers and the Rockets are both playoff teams that have their share of obvious flaws. In fact, neither one of them have any business getting out of the first round this season. But thanks to the way the seedings shook out, one of them will advance by default.
Unfortunately for Portland fans, that team is going to be the Rockets, and the reason is rather simple: This Blazers team is just not built for the playoffs.
The big question for the Houston Rockets as the playoffs began was if they would have a scorer that could take over a game the same way Portland has Brandon Roy.
It turns out you don't really need that if you hold the other team's pair of stars (Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge) to 12 of 33 shooting and your team takes advantages of the opportunities provided by a shady defense.
The result was an 86-83 victory for the Rockets that gave them a 2-1 advantage in their series. This one was kind of a chessmatch. Try and keep up.
Playoff basketball is many things, including one massive blame game. All heralding creates equal (and opposite) finger-pointing. The Bulls don't just lose because of the brilliance of Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo -- they also lose because of Brad Miller and Tyrus Thomas, as far as fans and analysts are concerned.
That is fine -- you cannot be an honest broker of credit without delivering equivalent blame. As such, Yao Ming's success gave way to LaMarcus Aldridge's failure. This is true: Aldridge played poorly, and that hurt his team. But such obvious failure masks the other failure around a player. It's easy to blame Aldridge, so he soaks up nearly all the lashings. This isn't quite fair to LMA, because ... well, Brandon Roy had a pretty bad Game 1 too.
Exposed is a nasty little word in basketball and no one likes to be it or get called it.
Exposed is an especially harsh word in the NBA because pro players have spent most of their lives doing the exposing. But once we get into the playoffs, everyone is fair game – even the stars.
That's always one of the best parts of the postseason: Finding out which players rise, which players fall and which players are what they are.
Sometimes in the playoffs you find out your favorite player isn't quite as good as you thought he was or that guy you really liked in mid-January can't quite it get it done when the games turn meaningful.
In front of a raucous crowd the Portland Trail Blazers took the court tonight for their first playoff game in six years, and the first of the modern incarnation. They were young, they were excited, and the entire city of Portland was behind them.
Ming scored 24 points, all in the first half, all in only 24 minutes, on 9-9 shooting to put the Blazers down for the count from the very beginning. After the rubble had cleared? Rockets 108, Blazers 81.
Stick any two teams in a playoff series this season and it will feel glorious. Stick two well-matched teams with star power, stunning talents, opposing strengths, and raucous arenas in a playoff series and the glory has no bounds. Such is the situation with the West's 4-5 battle between Portland and Houston.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
One of the factors leading to the lack of respect Chris Paul receives from some quarters is that his numbers often look muted. Sure, 22 points, 11 assists and three steals a game looks lovely. But it doesn't get mentioned with the gaudy numbers of Wade or Kobe. Paul's Q rating comes from his leadership and playmaking, not his stat line. That's criminal! His stat line is amazing.
New Orleans plays slow -- No. 28 in the league in possessions per game. This serves to dampen Paul's numbers. As such, when the Hornets (are forced to) play quicker, Paul puts up ridiculous numbers. Like 43 points, nine assists and three steals.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Dwyane Wade continues to rack up blocked shots at an unprecedented clip ... for a short guy. Wade, listed at 6'4, earned a block Thursday night in Chicago. That put him at 100 on the season. He's the first NBA player 6'5 or shorter to hit the century mark in blocks in a season; David Thompson swatted 102 shots for Denver in the ABA's final season (and followed up with 99 two seasons later for the NBA's Nuggets).
The Trail Blazers can't win against the Rockets without big games from Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge -- and sometimes even that's not enough. So when you consider the fact that Roy entered Game 5 on Tuesday completely flu-stricken and Aldridge hadn't even attempted a shot in practice for two days because of a swollen elbow, it'd be understandable if you predicted the game wouldn't even be close. 
Cherry Picking recaps yesterday's action.
The big question for the Houston Rockets as the playoffs began was if they would have a scorer that could take over a game the same way Portland has Brandon Roy. 
Playoff basketball is many things, including one massive blame game. All heralding creates equal (and opposite) finger-pointing. The Bulls don't just lose because of the brilliance of Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo -- they also lose because of Brad Miller and Tyrus Thomas, as far as fans and analysts are concerned.
Exposed is a nasty little word in basketball and no one likes to be it or get called it.
In front of a raucous crowd the Portland Trail Blazers took the court tonight for their first playoff game in six years, and the first of the modern incarnation. They were young, they were excited, and the entire city of Portland was behind them. 
FanHouse previews the first round of the NBA Playoffs. 
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
