The rocket's needed a good start to this season to get that confidence and swagger back coming off last year's disappointment, and even though there are still many questions and problems i am very impressed overall with houston's performance so far. we currently stand at 8-4 with a ugly win over the washington wizards tonite, who are not looking like an elite team yet alone a playoff contender. two defining wins for us so far have been blowouts of dallas and miami, two teams that are the cream of the crop in their respective conferences and were considered title contenders coming into the season. dallas overcome a sloppy start to win seven straight and look like a great team again while the heat have been playing horrible and stand at 4-7 right now. they are not playing defense and lack any energy, dwayne wade is the only guy keeping them afloat cause noone else is stepping up. it is no coincidence that yao had 30+ in both these games, as it is proven time and time again that when yao gets his touches we win games. this has been our main problem down the stretch and closing games, as it seems that we can never get yao the ball enough in the 4th quarter and just turn the ball over and jack up bad shots (tmac...). the main disturbing things so far have been the simply average play of tracy, who is missing way too many shots, making too many bad passes, displaying horrible shot selection (especially down the stretch), and is just not the monster scorer he used to be. the one thing he is doin really well is attacking the defense with his playmaking, since his shot isn't falling he is getting teammates involved and making some great passes. the other thing is a big problem with turnovers and closing games, as we jump out to big leads but can never maintain them because of a combo of poor shooting, turning the ball over, and defensive breakdowns. the turnovers are usually a result of bad passes from rafer and are other guards and a failure to get the ball to yao, which leads to bad shots. yao has been extremly dominate so far, his free throw shooting has made him unstoppable cause opposing teams have no choice but to foul him. when yao scores, we win, and when tracy pitches along with his big threes and scoring it's always an added plus. i wish bonzi would get his act together and start playing with the team soon ,as i believe this story of bonzi not playing yet is a lot more serious than people are saying. experts had bonzi penciled in for 6th man of the year in preseason but when he finally does join the team from whatever he's been doing, he is gonna be out of shape and out of wack with the team and with chemistry. i'm actually really surprised he hasn't been more motivated to come back after that disappointing summer for him, when he expected to get major money from some team after his huge playoff performance but when noone offered what he wanted and it was already the preseason he panicked and signed a quick one-year deal with the rockets, who he considered a title contender. the recent broken hand of kirk snyder makes bonzi's comeback even more imperative, as kirk's excellent driving ability and athleticism provided some of our most consistent bench scoring. im glad chuck hayes came back soon from that hyper-extended knee too, it looked bad and he only missed two games, his hustle, defense, and rebounding is vital without much of an inside presence beside yao. but overall, we've played well and we should continue to improve as the new players start to coexist and get healthy and tracy continues to get back in playing shape and regain his confidence, even though it's apparent hes not gonna be the player he used to be. as long as we keep running the offense through yao, he should be dominate enough to carry us through the season, so his health is everything for our success.