-I had the pleasure of meeting Washington Post columnist and ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption co-host Michael Wilbon both before and after the game.  Before the game, I introduced myself to him, told him I wrote for Hoops Addict, and that this was my first year covering the Washington Wizards.  He wished me luck and told me to enjoy the game.  Once the game was over, we were both standing in front of Yao Ming’s locker waiting for the Chinese media to finish their extensive interview.  I commented to Wilbon that I wish I were fluent in Chinese, since clearly Yao was more comfortable speaking his own language.  Wilbon laughed initially, and then he said in the future, it might not be a bad idea for journalists to learn different languages given how the NBA continues to become more and more global.  Wilbon was extremely gracious with not just me, but with fans, the Wizards PR staff, with other journalists and players, who treated him like a father figure.  There are many times when you meet your heroes and people you look up to, and you are severely disappointed.  In this case, my expectations were exceeded and then some.  Wilbon is a class act, and I hope to speak with him more in the future.

- Prior to the game, Eddie Jordan mentioned that JaVale McGee and Dee Brown would be in the starting lineup for the second consecutive game.  Jordan said McGee got winded quickly in his first ever starting role, but he had confidence that he would do just fine in his second start.  Coach Jordan said that the mental aspect of the game is what McGee needed to focus on conquering the most which includes, knowing when to box out, when to block a shot,  when to pass, when to get back on defense, etc.  He mentioned that all the great young players, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Jermaine O’Neal struggled with the mental aspect of the game early in their careers, and McGee is no different.  Tonight, McGee finished with eight points, four rebounds, two blocks and five fouls in 20 minutes of playing time.

- Juan Dixon is no longer starting at point guard because Coach Jordan feels like he’s much better coming off the bench and strictly looking for his shot.  As improved as Dixon is at running the offense and playing the role of a traditional point guard, the remainder of his game, specifically his jump shot, suffered as a result.  Dixon was able to hit some big shots for the Wizards in the fourth quarter to keep the game close, and he was clearly more comfortable in that off guard role.  The other two point guards, Dee Brown and Antonio Daniels, combined for four points and no assists in 34 minutes of play.  As much as Gilbert Arenas gets criticized for not being a traditional point guard and running the offense, he has still averaged five assists during his career to go with his 22 points a game.  This is yet another example of how much this team misses him.

- Coach Jordan said that during the last two practices prior to the Rockets game he focused a great deal on rebounding since that has been lacking during the last few games.  He instructed his players to find a body when a shot goes up, rather than looking for the ball or looking to run down court.  Coach Jordan quoted legendary Princeton and Sacramento coach Pete Carill when discussing rebounding.  Coach Carill told him that rebounders come to the gym with towels because they come prepared to work hard; shooters come to the gym with pretty bags.  The assumption being rebounds get down and dirty, shooters do no such thing.  Coach Jordan is looking for his players to bring towels.

- Judging by the overwhelming response Yao got when he was introduced prior to the game, you’d have thought he played for the Wizards.  There was definitely a larger Chinese presence in the Verizon Center, but everyone was fascinated by him.  He was cheered an hour before the game when he was doing shooting drills, he was cheered after every basket he made and he was also cheered for blocking shots.

-Speaking of Yao, the Wizards primarily used McGee and Andray Blatche on him with mixed results.  McGee was unable to keep Yao off the block and he picked up quick fouls trying to block all of Yao’s shot.  Being the smart player that he is, Yao kept McGee off balance with head fakes and spin moves.  Blatche did a much better job of fronting Yao and making him work a little harder, but even he could not really stop Yao and he picked up five fouls in just 20 minutes of play.  To me, Etan Thomas did the most effective job of making life difficult for Yao because of his strength and physicality.  Thomas only played five minutes and when I asked Coach Jordan about this after the game, he told me historically Thomas does not match up well with Yao.  Given how quickly Blatche and McGee were picking up fouls, I really thought Thomas deserved more time to shine. Yao finished with 18 points.

- Andray Blatche played his best game of the season by far, despite only playing 20 minutes.  As I mentioned before, he did an excellent job on Yao, but he also finally grasped the concept of helping out on defense.  There were many occasions when one of his teammates would get beat on defense, and Blatche would come over, put his hands up, move his body, and harass the Rockets’ players.  In the past, the player on the opposing team would get an easy basket due to Blatche’s negligence.  On the offensive side, he took smarter shots, and let the game come to him.  Most importantly, Blatche finished with no turnovers.  We’ll see if  Coach Jordan rewards him with more playing time against the New York Knicks this evening.

- Balance is a big part of why the Houston Rockets won this game.  In the first half, Yao had 11 points, but it was the play of bench players Carl Landry and Aaron Brooks that kept the Rockets close.  Landry had 14 points in the first half, while hitting four of his five shots from the field and going six-for-six from the free throw line.  For whatever reason, the Wizards kept leaving Brooks open and he made them pay by scoring nine points.  McGrady and Ron Artest had slow starts, but these players picked up the slack for them.  In the third quarter Brooks continued with his hot shooting as he scored another nine points. McGrady, whose nickname is the Big Sleep, woke up and scored 14 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, 12 of which came from behind the arc.  Unlike the Wizards who struggle to get three players in double figures on a nightly basis, the Rockets finished with five players in double figures.

- Despite McGrady’s big fourth quarter, he still looks extremely labored and he lacks the explosion he had early in his career.  I know that he is still struggling to recover from the knee surgery he had back in May and he constantly battles lower back issues, but you have to wonder whether he’ll ever go the basket the way he used to.  He has basically become a perimeter player who looks to pass first and shoot second, and that may hinder the Rockets later down the road.  Tonight, the formula worked perfectly because he got hot.  But in a five or seven games series in the playoffs, that strategy may come back to haunt him.  It will be interesting to see how Coach Rick Adelman handles McGrady’s minutes this season.

-After the game, Coach Jordan mentioned the reason they keep losing has to do with their inability to close games.  In the first quarter, the Wizards shot a blistering 67%, while holding the Rockets to just 33%, and they were up by 12 points.  In the fourth quarter, when the game was on the line, their shooting percentage plummeted to 30% and they allowed the Rockets to outscore them 33 to 14.  Coach Jordan said that he continually tells his team about closing the game, but they have yet to grasp it, and the result is plenty of blown leads.

-It is getting painful to watch Coach Jordan talk after these losses.  By the time he gets to the podium for the post game press conferences, his tie is undone, he rarely makes direct eye contact with the journalists and you can tell he’s running out of reasons for his team’s futility.  To his credit though, he never abruptly ends a post game press conference a la Bob Knight. And when he’s done, he kisses his wife and kids and heads out of the room.  This is a side of the NBA I had never seen before this year, and I must admit its tough to watch.  I can’t imagine having to talk to the media after every day at my job. I would go crazy.  While Coach Jordan seems to be handling it ok, you can definitely see the toll its taking.

-At the end of the third quarter, Gilbert Arenas unveiled a life size wax statue of himself that had been created by Madam Tussauds (a famous wax museum) in Washington D.C.  He became the third player, after Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal to receive such an honor.  When the statue was wheeled on the court, a fan behind me yelled out, “Finally, Arenas steps on the court,” which had myself and everyone around us laughing.  The real Gilbert said after the game that he’s looking to return the first of January.

-After the game, I tried as hard as I could to interview Ron Artest and ask him about how he was adjusting to his new team, what he feels he brings to the team and just get an overall vibe.  I was unable to get an interview, because TNT NBA insider, David Aldridge conducted a 15 minute interview.  Aldridge is another one of my heroes, and I’ve followed his career from the Washington Post to ESPN to the Philadelphia Inquirer, so I was half in awe, half mad that I couldn’t get the interview.  Once he finally finished, Artest signed shoes for the Wizards locker room staff and then jumped in the shower, so no interview for me.

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