Rockets 103 - Clippers 96...and Steve Novak Returns!

Quick recap for tonight, mainly because it's the Clippers and nobody cares.

Three Up:
Yao Ming -- 24 points and 10 rebounds for Godzilla tonight, but most importantly, he shot 12-13 from the FT line. While the percentage isn't surprising, it is GREAT to see that Yao shot 13 free throws tonight. He needs to keep being this aggressive. Or the refs need to keep giving him fouls.

Carl Landry -- I don't even care about Carl's stats tonight; it's his plunge over Rusty Hardin into the stands that impressed me. But just to add to Carl's praise, he went 12/8 in 24 minutes of work.

Rafer...(sigh)...Alston -- It pains me to award Rafer with a Three Up, but he played well tonight. Two things concerning Rafer have caught my attention: 1. He sucks at running a fast break. 2. He is obsessed with making 6 shots out of 10+ in games. This is his fifth such occasion.

Honorary 4th Up:
Steve Novak -- Welcome back, Rocket Redeemer. Steve buried his only shot of the night, a long fade away two-pointer in Shane Battier's face. Even better, Steve got what must have been his first taste of First-Half basketball in the NBA.

Three Down:
Mike Dunleavy -- How can you not play DeAndre Jordan when he is back in his home town? Even Brian Skinner played 2 minutes!

Luis Scola -- Not a good night for My Friend From Argentina. He took a lot of contested shots and just didn't look in sync. Or should I say, "N'SYNC." Or not.

Clutch -- Clutch came up to our upper-deck seats to give away free hats, but he didn't throw me one. Asshole.

Stats of the Night:
Chuck Hayes's Statline: Minutes: 18:28. FT: 1-2! And the stat of all stats, 3pt: 0-1!!!!!! Chuck Hayes shot a three pointer!!

Almost-Injury of the Night: Shane Battier went down at the end of the game but was able to finish and should be fine.

Tracy McGrady Injury Update: McGrady missed the game in order to sit on his leather couch, eat cheetos, and watch "2Fast 2Furious."

Tracy McGrady=Ewing Theory?: It's starting to take form. Still too early to tell, though.

73-9 Update: 12-7. So we can only lose two more games this entire season. Fine by me.