The Houston Rockets Are Better Off Without Yao Ming

The Houston Rockets are a better basketball team without Yao Ming then they are with him in the lineup. Maybe in the regular season he's a benefit, but not in the playoffs.

Tonight was a perfect example of why the Rockets are better without Yao.

Unlike the previous games where the Rockets had to slow down the pace and try to feed the post to Yao, the Rockets were able to run and spread the floor. Why were they able to do this? One name comes to mind, and that is Aaron Brooks.

Brooks has always been a capable scorer even in college when he was running the Oregon Ducks, a team that also was up and down and shot the three whenever possible.

But the reason why the Ducks were so successful in getting wide open threes was the ability of Brooks to penetrate in the lane and finish at the rim.

The Lakers found out first hand why Brooks is thought so highly of, considering that the Rockets traded away Rafer Alston. What makes Brooks so effective for the Rockets is he has the range to hit the three, so the Lakers' defenders have to respect his ability from long range.

With his ability to hit the three, it leaves the Lakers susceptible to Brooks' excellent speed and his ability to drive to the rim. If he's not making a layup, and the Lakers get in front of him, he's passing out to a wide open Shane Battier, who in tonight's game made five out of the 10 attempts.

Brooks was the star, scoring 34 points on 12-20 shooting, including going 4-for-9 from three, and 6-for-6 from the line. At the end of the quarter, with the Rockets inbounding the ball from near midcourt, Ron Artest was able to throw an alley-oop pass to Brooks who nailed the layup with .7 seconds remaining in the quarter.  

The Rockets also did an excellent job of defending Kobe Bryant, so maybe he spoke too soon about Shane Battier and the rest of the Rockets not being able to guard him.

Bryant took 17 shots, made only seven, and went 1-for-4 from beyond the arc, and even better for the Rockets, Bryant did not attempt a single free throw and Bryant ended up with only 15 points.

This is due to the fact that their defense was more athletic than what it had been with Yao in the middle, which means it was easier for the big men in the Rockets lineup to help double team on Bryant, forcing other players on the Lakers to beat them.

Even with the effort the Rockets had in beating the Lakers and tying the series up, the Rockets still have to work on putting the game away. Even with a comfortable 29 point lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Lakers were able to come back and make somewhat of a game out of it, but by the time the Lakers had made their run, the game was well out of hand.

The final score: the Rockets 99 and the Lakers 87.

Expect more of the same from the Rockets without Yao in the lineup because without Yao they don't have to become stagnant in their offense and try to look for Yao every time down.

With the driving ability of Brooks who can attack the rim, the Rockets have a chance to upset the Lakers.