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Yao, Rockets seek Game One win against Jazz

Apr 21, 2007 - 2:32 PM Utah at Houston 9:30 pm EDT Western Conference First Round Game One

HOUSTON (Ticker) -- It has been a decade since the Houston Rockets have escaped the first round of the playoffs. Yao Ming looks to change that.

Yao and the Rockets seek to get their Western Conference series off to a positive start when they host the Midwest Division champion Utah Jazz on Saturday night.

Since he's entered the NBA five years ago, Yao has been looked at as someone who could carry Houston to elite status in the league. However, injuries have derailed the 7-5 center.

This is only the third time the Rockets have reached the postseason in Yao's tenure and they failed to win a series.

Despite suffering a broken foot that kept him out of 32 games, Yao averaged a career-high 25.0 points as his team overtook Utah for home-court advantage by winning five of its last six games. Yao averaged 28.0 points in the five victories.

Helping the Rockets to they're most wins since 1996-97 was the outstanding play of seven-time All-Star Tracy McGrady, who led Houston to a 20-12 record while Yao was out from December 26 to March 3.

They both will have to be at their best when facing the Jazz, who took three of four from the Rockets during the regular season. Yao averaged 28.5 points in two of those games. McGrady played three games and averaged 29.7 points in three contests.

First-time All-Stars Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur led Utah to its first playoff appearance in four years and were part of a Jazz machine that was humming along for most of the season. However, Utah went just 8-12 in its last 20 games and was passed by Houston for the fourth seed.

During that period, the Jazz were just 1-10 on the road which does not bode well vs. the Rockets, who were 8-3 in their last 11 games here.

The one spot Utah may have an advantage is at point guard where second-year man Deron Williams came into his own, quarterbacking the Jazz out of the John Stockton era. He was second in the league in assists (9.3) and is clearly the better point guard than his counterpart Rafer Alston.

It may not matter because McGrady handed out a career-best 6.5 assists and will probably have the ball in his hands trying to create his own shot or feed Yao in the post.

Game Two is here on Monday night.