Yao Done, Hollinger is Crazy
February 26, 2008 by Kori Ellis
Filed under Sports Rumors
Now I feel a bit guilty. I fill in for Al with a post about Yao Ming getting dunked on and now I have to break the news that Yao is out for the season. My bad, Yao.
Yao suffered a stress fracture in his foot. I’m guessing feet aren’t really made to prop up 7-foot-6 human beings who run for a living. Hopefully Yao will bounce back.
Perhaps the craziest news regarding the Yao injury is the self-proclaimed stat guru that is John Hollinger over at ESPN saying that the Rockets will still make the playoffs.
Said Hollinger: “With a three-game lead and less than two months to play, Houston should be a playoff team, even without Yao.”
Uh, what. He thinks a three-game lead will hold up for the Rockets without Yao over the course of two months? What is he smoking? The Rockets are in the seventh seed and they have the Warriors and the Nuggets right on their heels.
The Warriors and Nuggets are quality teams who will likely get even better as the season goes on. The Rockets? Not so much.
May be Hollinger is an optimistic person. However, it is true that it would be very difficult Houston to make it to the playoff. It would be the biggest surprise of the season if they can play the playoffs. Yao Ming is an excellent player and even if he could come back action soon it would not be that much easy for Houston to secure a playoff place this season in NBA.