Just as the Houston Rockets began hitting their stride this season, they lost their footing.

The news that a stress fracture in Yao Ming's troublesome left foot will sideline him for the rest of the season and the postseason essentially closes the door on any championship hopes Houston may have harbored, and makes the team a long shot to even reach the playoffs.

Houston received the grim news hours before the team rattled off unlucky win number 13 in the NBA's longest current winning streak. The Rockets can win all they want, but even if they do happen to slide into the seventh or eighth playoff spot in the crowded Western Conference, their sudden lack of front-court size will leave them virtually helpless against a spate of teams with high-powered big men. One of the best stories of the season just turned into one of the most tragic.

It is especially discouraging for Yao, who had appeared to shake the injury bug that has plagued the last few years of his career. He had played in all of the Rockets' games this season but the one he missed with an upper respiratory infection in January. He was on pace for a season resembling his first three, during which he missed only two games in total. The following three years he missed 25, 34 and (now) 27 games, respectively.

What's even more troubling is that this is not a new injury. It derives from problems Yao has had with his feet for at least two years and seems to be aggravated by the fact that his enormous frame may be just too much for his lower extremities to handle. Tom Clanton, the Rockets' team physician, thinks the stress fracture stems from a hit Yao took two seasons ago that never fully healed, but there is a very real possibility that Yao's body is simply breaking down.

Yao's injury clearly complicates things in Houston, but the implications on his status for the Beijing Games are impossible to ignore. Some outlandish conspiracy theories that Yao is shutting it down now so he'll be fresh for the Games circulated on the Internet shortly after the news broke, a scenario that seems ludicrous given his commitment to the Rockets and their recent success. One misguided blogger at the Sporting News even had the audacity to suggest Yao is exaggerating his injury so he can sit out the Olympics as some sort of protest. That's about as likely as Beijing canceling the Games entirely.

No, if one thing is certain, it is that Yao will be at the Games. Nothing has been officially decided about his future at this point as China's doctors still say they have to weigh all the options. But it is highly unlikely Yao would sit out an event as monumental as his home Olympics. Even if he has to play on crutches, Yao will suit up for China this summer.

Doctors say Yao will need about four months to recover from this particular setback, which should be plenty of time for him to be ready by August. An extended rest will probably end up being just what Yao needs to get back on his feet and wrap up his career as the world's premier center.

(China Daily 02/28/2008 page23)