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Monday January 28, 2008 5:05 PM


Rockets hoping to solve Warriors' defense on Yao


Golden State at Houston, Tuesday, 7:30 p.m.


Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer


HOUSTON -- Less than 24 hours after missing a game with an upper respiratory infection, Rockets center Yao Ming was back on the practice court.

He was finally able to breathe easy again after having his nasal passages clogged up from his illness.

"I'm alive," Yao said after going through Monday's practice without incident. "What could be better that?"

Unfortunately, the Rockets' All-Star center might have trouble finding extra breathing room on Tuesday night.

Despite being known as one of the NBA's most prolific offensive teams and ranking among the bottom half of the league in points allowed, the Golden State Warriors have given Yao and the Rockets fits with their defensive pressure.

They'll likely be fronting and doubling the big man with the flat top again Tuesday night whey they visit the Rockets at Toyota Center.

With the Warriors playing with a fast and under-sized lineup, the Rockets would like to exploit Yao's obvious size advantage.

The challenge is finding a way to get the center touches against a defense bent on preventing him from even getting a finger nail on the ball.

"They're going to front him and they're going to leave somebody behind him," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "That means we need other people to attack."

The Rockets (24-20) have struggled to do that against Golden State's swarming defense.

During two setbacks to the Warriors earlier this season, Yao attempted a combined 20 shots -- a number well below what the Rockets would like. Houston had trouble getting the ball inside to the center with Al Harrington fronting him and another defender helping from the backside.

With the limited touches, the center is surprisingly averaging a mere 13 points against the Warriors this season, roughly nine fewer than his scoring average.

Unfortunately, the pressure on Yao didn't necessarily mean a big night for his teammates.

Houston instead settled for jumpers in those previous meetings, shooting a combined 43.7 percent and attempting 36 three-pointers.

Yao said the Rockets have to put more pressure on Golden State's defense for surrounding him. He wants his teammates to go to the rim.

"We need more penetrations," Yao said. "We need more paint scoring. Paint scoring is not just throw the ball to the big guy. It's penetrating and second shots."

Yao, though, knows he has to be more active as well.

If he's unable to get touches through the offense, the Rockets center said he has to get them for himself by grabbing offensive rebounds.

He had four total in the previous two games.

"I need to get more second shots," Yao said. "That's what I didn't do well in the past two games against them. If I can do that well, they have to put a big man in the game."

So far, the Warriors haven't had to do that. Instead, Golden State has been able to remain small and spread the floor even with Yao in the game. Unsurprisingly, the Warriors have piled up points in bunches with the fleet-footed lineup. They scored over 110 points in both wins.

"They're hard for us to guard," Adelman said. "They're a hard matchup for a lot teams in this league. Baron Davis is a real handful. Al Harrington can step out and shoot threes and their whole team can practically do that expect (Andris) Biedrins. So it's tough."

The trick, of course, is to punish Golden State for playing small. That means finding breathing room for their All-Star center.

That hasn't happened to date. But the Rockets haven't given up on solving Golden State's defense on their center.

"We have to find ways to be effective," Adelman said. "Yao has to keep working until he can get the ball or get to the offensive boards."