By InsideHoops.com

The Houston Rockets paid a visit to the Continental Airlines Arena to battle the New Jersey Nets. Cuttino Mobley, Lucious Harris and Kenyon Martin are not playing due to day-to-day injuries. This is not a game report. These are sequential notes, from the start of the game to the finish, raw and unedited - just the way you like it. Enjoy.

Moochie Norris' hair is out in full force. InsideHoops.com declares it the league's second best hair, behind Ben Wallace's full afro. Complimenting Moochie's hair is a red headband, two armbands and black socks up to the knees.

The first play of the game was a three from Jason Kidd.

Yao Ming caught a pass while fading away from the basket along the right baseline. Without even pausing to balance himself, he turned and hit the jumper. Great body control. Next Houston possession he posted up and hit a turnaround jumper.

Moochie Norris is playing point guard. Steve Francis is playing shooting guard. Cuttino Mobley's finger is hurt, he's day-to-day.

The next time Yao Ming caught the ball, with Jason Collins guarding him, he drew a double team, a foul was called, and he hit both free throws. Yao has the first 6 Rockets points.

And now, Yao has all 8 Rockets points. He drew a double-team, somehow managed to split it, then as a third defender came at him, he shot and hit it.

THe next Rockets basket? A dunk by Yao from the baseline.

It's Nets 16 Rockets 10 with 6 minutes left in the first quarter. Yao is carrying the Rockets, while Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson have 16 of the Nets points.

The Continental Airlines arena is playing hotter music now than earlier in the season. And louder, which is good.

Booties in Motion, the Nets dancers officially known as Power in Motion, came out during a 5:40 timeout, and danced to Missy Elliot - the song with guest rapper Ludicris, and the chorus sung by little girls, with the words you can't understand. A good song for the booties to shake to. And shake they did.

The game is back on. Yao again scores from down low, this time using his size, banging as he shot. Yao with 12 points, Rockets with 12.

Fortunately for the Nets, they're doing it as a team. They're up 10.

With 4 minutes left, Steve Francis became the first Rocket other than Yao to score. Francis then hit another.

Dikembe Mutombo is in. Yao Ming's first shot against him? An open baseline jumper, nothing but net.

Mutombo's second defensive play? A foul.

Kelvin Cato is in. Yao is out.

End of the first quarter. Nets 27 Rockets 20.

Glen Rice is in. If it was legal to shoot from out of bounds while inbounding the basketball, I bet he'd average .333 from that range.

Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson have developed great chemistry from the outside. The two players just worked together in 3-point range, driving one step in and dishing to the other, back and forth, resulting in a made shot.

Anthony Johnson caught the ball around the left elbow, with Houston's Juaquin Hawkins guarding him. Johnson drove left and pulled a crossover to the right, causing Hawkins to fall down. Like in the schoolyard.

Rodney Rogers is providing offense for the Nets. A good sign. His points will be needed in the playoffs.

Kerry Kittles' outside shooting is also essential for New Jersey in the playoffs, especially with Keith Van Horn gone.

Brian Scalabrene and Steve Francis exchanged heated words after a foul. Now there's an even level of talent. Both players got technicals.

Yao Ming was finally put back into the game, with a bit over 5 minutes left in the first half. It's unclear why he was out for such a long time. Yao's first play back was a post-up against Aaron Williams on the left elbow. Williams fouled, and was almost immediately replaced by Jason Collins.

With just over a minute left in the half, Dikembe Mutombo raised his elbow to box Yao Ming out, and wound up nailing Yao in the throat. The giant Rocket was stunned for a minute, recovered during the time-out, and stayed in the game. Welcome to Mutombo's house, where he doesn't guard you as well as he used to, but he can still elbow you in the head and neck.

Stevie Francis unleashed the sickness with about 9 minutes to go in the third quarter. An ultra quick drive, leap, about 800 ball-fakes while in the air, ending in a layup.

Moochie Norris' hair is bringing the ball up the court.

With 6 minutes to go in the third quarter it's Nets 69 Rockets 56.

Booties in Motion are performing again, now armed with towels, snapping them to a beat that sounds like a whip is being snapped. I approve, but won't share my thoughts on the matter. This is a basketball website. Heck, this is THE basketball website.

Yao Ming with the ball, spins baseline, goes underneath for a reverse, draws a foul, hits both free throws. With 5 minutes left in the third quarter, he has 20 points. The Nets still have a double-digit lead.

Yao with the ball, on the left baseline, about 15 feet out, back to the basket. Turnaround fadeaway jumper over Jason Collins - nothing but net.

Richard Jefferson is absolutely dominant tonight. I've focused on Yao Ming, because this is his first game in this building, and he's putting on quite a show, but let it be known that no one tonight can contain Jefferson.

Time out with 2:32 left in the third. Nets 75 Rockets 65.

Rodney Rogers may not be quick, but he's quicker than he looks. And when he finishes a fast break, something he does do once in a while, he knows how to use his body to shield defenders from the ball.

Jason Kidd is quick, and even quicker than he looks. But you knew that already.

The Nets have run away with this game. Literally and figuratively. Two minutes into the 4th quarter, it's Nets 91 Rockets 68.

Fast break: Jason Kidd long flip-spin-pass to Anthony Johnson who alley-ooped it to Richard Jefferson - who slammed it down fast with two hands.

No fans were dressed in air-inflated sumo outfits today. But the game is lots of fun. Fans got their money's worth, for sure.

As the game progressed, it's turned into a blowout. Yao Ming has barely scored in the second half. He's at 24 points with 4 minutes left in the game.

Jason Kidd, Richard Jeffeson, Steve Francis and Yao Ming were the best players on the court tonight. But the Nets stars got the help they needed. Houston's did not.

Kidd finished with 30 points and 12 assists.

Jefferson got his first career triple-double, finishing with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists, and only 1 turnover. "I knew guys were hitting shots early in the game and as the game progressed, you don't even notice it until the end. Then guys tell you that you need three more rebounds and two more assists. J-Kidd said 'don't worry about the assists. You will get the assists. Just make sure you get the rebounds.' No one knows better than him."

Steve Francis was pissed off after the game. He told InsideHoops.com and another reporter this: "If they playing at home every game, they can win. They're really good at home. They got open court players, and they like to get open, and if they get open, open court, it's going to be tough for teams to stick with them. But they're a pretty decent team... but all that little stupid shit they did at the end of the game, I'll remember that. So, next time we play them, I'm going to make sure we run the score up on their ass."

InsideHoops.com asked Francis if he felt the Nets ran up the score on purpose (following what Francis had already said), and Steve said: "I don't know why. We drilled them by 30, we took our starters out. We drilled them by 30 at home, we took our starters out like 8 minutes left... there's supposed to be respect for the game. Like I said, I won't forget that."


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