McGrady wore special red, white and blue adidas shoes covered with stars and stripes to?"emphasize the importance of this historic election," according to an adidas statement.

McGrady had the shoes inscribed with "Change is Needed" and said he was happy that his message was so close to the Barack Obama campaign slogan, "Change We Need."

Asked if his message was an endorsement, McGrady said, "Absolutely. I'm Obama all day, every day," McGrady said. "I endorse him. I actually met him this summer, me and my wife. When he was down here, he wanted to me and I went to his hotel to meet him. A very nice gentleman. I believe in what he believes in."

--C Yao Ming could not guess when he last played so poorly, so he settled for "a long time." It had been a long time since he lost an NBA game, since Jan. 15 last season against the 76ers. The Rockets had won the last 19 games in which he played.

Then he got in early foul trouble and never got in a rhythm. He missed an uncontested dunk. He missed a wide-open tip. He had a jumper shoved back at him by Kendrick Perkins.

He played 28 minutes and made just 4 of his 14 shots, scoring just eight points with seven rebounds.

"The early fouls changed a little bit of my game but cannot be my excuse," Yao said. "I played a bad game, probably one of my worst games in a long time. I need to figure out what happened besides just thinking about those early fouls. I think I hesitated, worried about getting another foul. I think I moved not quick enough."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "It definitely wasn't our best. They also had two of their guys that didn't play exceptionally well. We have a 'Big Three.' They have a 'Big Three.' One of their 'Big Three' had a great game. I had a pretty good game to keep us in the ballgame, but it wasn't enough." -- Tracy McGrady