T-MAC makes a prediction

Tracy McGrady says the Rockets are going to advance to the second round.

Page C11

ODEN A WORK IN PROGRESS

Center Greg Oden is still trying to become the impact player the Blazers drafted No. 1. Page C11

GAME 3 Friday at Toyota Center 8:30 p.m. TV/radio: KTXH, ESPN; 610 AM, 850 AM (Span.)

The Portland Trail Blazers did just what the Rockets knew they would.

Yao Ming had made every shot he took in Game 1. In Tuesday's Game 2, the Rockets knew the Trail Blazers would surround him in a fronting double-team, daring the other Rockets to beat them or to find a way to get the ball to Yao.

They could do neither. The Rockets knew what was coming and what they wanted to do about it. They made half their shots and scored well most of the night. But as the Blazers pulled away late to take a 107-103 victory, it had become clear that the Rockets had been unable to walk the line stretched across their offense.

"It's a fine line," coach Rick Adelman said. "It's a combination of guys understanding we have to change sides, we have to move the ball so everybody has an opportunity, plus Yao has an opportunity to get it back. I just don't think we did that. I thought we gave up on him and never came back to him. But there's no doubt we have enough people to score to win games. Once you start scoring, it's going to open up for him."

Like tightrope walkers struggling to keep their balance, the Rockets face the challenge of avoiding a misstep too far to either side of that line.

The Rockets must get into their offense as rapidly as possible, then show the patience of a diamond cutter. They need to shoot with confidence but cannot let the Blazers' defense dictate the shots they take. Most of all, they have to attack away from Yao but still get him touches.

"It could be better," said guard Aaron Brooks, who has averaged 25 points in the first two games of the series. "Yao has to get more than six shots. That's the key."

In the regular-season finale at Dallas, the Rockets grew stagnant trying to get the ball to Yao while he was caught on the wrong side of the Mavericks' fronting defense.

In Game 2, they were just as trapped on the other side of the line, generating plenty of offense away from the Blazers' defensive obsession with Yao but failing to keep their best weapon involved.

A defender usually was positioned in front of Yao, with another coming from behind. But if the timing was not just right and the second defender got there early, Yao was surrounded by Portland big men as tight as leftovers wrapped in aluminum foil.

When Yao did seal off a defender, keeping him on his back, the Blazers had that second big man rushing to help in a more conventional, if unusually oversized, double team.

There were, however, times when Yao moved without the ball across the lane. Though he was open only briefly inside, there were chances to get it to him that the Rockets missed.

"We weren't looking," Adelman said. "We didn't have the patience to look inside. It's not going to work if you do that. When they want to front him and do all that, then it opens it up for everybody else."

There is a gamble to the Blazers' plan. By devoting 14 feet worth of big men to defending Yao, they did perform an effective Yao-ectomy, but they also left the other side of the defense vulnerable.

Only Brooks and Von Wafer consistently took advantage, combining for 44 points. Shane Battier had just two field goals. After the first quarter, Ron Artest made just two of 11 shots. Luis Scola was often left open and made half of his 10 shots, but that was nowhere near enough to change the Blazers' gamble.

"Obviously, in the last two days, we made some adjustments," Yao said. "We guessed what they were going to try to do: obviously front, double-team. They used both and tried to get the ball out of my hands. They did well. We have to try something (else) to try to find me on the post, not on the high post. I know we can do better than that."

As much as the Rockets will try to shore up their defense, they are not ready to accept going the rest of the series with Yao as nothing more than a defensive magnet.

"There's a balance there when they take away Yao to punish them," Battier said. "For the most part, we did that. But we tend to get away from him. We're at our best when Yao catches a lot and gets a lot of shots."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com