T-Mac's Ultimatum

The Houston Rockets won their 13th straight game last night, blowing past the Washington Wizards 94-69 to keep pace in the rugged Western Conference. However, the victory as well as the impressive win streak took the back page after news broke out that center Yao Ming would be missing the rest of the season with a stress fracture. Ming has been no stranger to injuries, missing 59 games combined in the last two seasons, suffering four injuries to his foot over that span. This season appeared to be different; he had only missed one game through the first 56, and had the look of a man who had finally grasped how best to play with his tall frame while being injury-free. But, this stress fracture has been nagging at Ming for a while, and team doctors elected that it was best to shut down the 7-6 center for the rest of the season, including the playoffs no matter how far Houston goes. The growing optimism under the belly of the Rockets that was building for weeks was crushed in a matter of moments following the announcement.