The Rockets have talked about Yao Ming's perimeter shooting touch for years. He doesn't make many deep jumpers, much less three-pointers, but he always looked like he could.
On Friday, for the first time since his rookie year, he did hit a three-pointer, nailing his jumper to beat the shot clock buzzer from 25 feet with 2:12 left. "I've been telling him all year that I was going to set up a play for him to shoot a three," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "I guess I'll take credit for that one. He just looks at me. I always wanted to do it. He can shoot that if he's comfortable. Maybe we'll have to look at that a little bit."
The Rockets did not plan this one -- the second Yao has hit in 10 career attempts -- this way.
Aaron Brooks had been cornered even further from the rim, and passed to Yao with enough time only for Yao to beat the shot clock with his three-pointer.
"Yao can shoot that shot," Brooks said. "He just doesn't. He has a nice touch. And, I had no other option. It was either that or throw up a prayer. I was surprised that he made it, but I knew he could because I've seen him do it in practice."
Yao finishes his nightly warm-up with a corner three, and the Rockets did admit that he is better on those than the one he hit, from the top of the arc and just a few feet to the left of straight on.
He did not, however, plan to add three-pointers to his repertoire from either spot.
"When the shot clock was running down to one second, what do you do?" Yao said. "You try to hit the rim right there.
"I think I'm good in the post, in the paint. That's just a try. But when the ball released, I felt good."
ROCKETS 91, BOBCATS 86: The Rockets had struggled to put the Bobcats away all night, but Yao Ming hit a three-pointer with 2:12 left, his first three-pointer in six years, and with a six-point lead, the Rockets had seemed to have done enough. Even after Raja Bell scored, Yao hit another jumper to send the game to the last 88 seconds with the Rockets leading by six.
Instead of cruising to the finish, however, they needed to come from behind. They turned the ball over on consecutive possessions, giving up seven consecutive points. Finally, with 22.1 seconds left, Ron Artest hit a jumper from 17 feet. After Bell missed and Aaron Brooks put in two free throws for a three-point lead, Artest blocked Vladimir Radmanovic's three-point attempt that would have forced overtime, coming away with a breakaway dunk with 1.6 seconds left.
