How difficult is the Western Conference? Well, your hometown Houston Rockets just defeated the Portland Trailblazers tonight to notch their 11th victory in 12 games. With a 31-20 record to their name, the Rockets nevertheless continue to find themselves battling it out with the Golden State Warriors for the eighth and final playoff spot. Despite the grim outlook in the hyper-competitive conference, citizens of Houston can take solace in the fact that they are currently......

With All-Star center Yao Ming sidelined, the Houston Rockets found themselves on the wrong side of a 97-89 score against the Utah Jazz at the Toyota Center on Sunday night. The loss ended Houston’s four game winning streak and brought to light Houston’s season long free throw shooting woes. Yao, who sat out the game with an upper-respiratory infection, has been listed as “day-to-day” on the injury report. In his place, rookie Luis Scola scored......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • Two local developers are accused of bribing a former director of the city's Building Services Department. • A woman was shot in the face during a carjacking that occurred in Southwest Houston on Bellaire Blvd. near Larkwood around 8pm Friday. • An erratically driving man crashed his car into a home in south Houston and died after the car burst into flames......

As any good sports fan will tell you, the end of the season is just the beginning of the fun. Here's what's going on with the Houston teams that aren't playing games right now: Rockets -Plenty of Rockets news this week, starting with the announcement of their 2007-08 schedule. Their home opener pits them against the Portland Trail Blazers and 74 year old rookie Greg Oden. Full schedule at the Rockets' website. -Yao Ming is......

In less than one week after Jeff Van Gundy was fired, the Houston Rockets have tabbed Rick Adelman as the next head coach. Sources close to the situation have stated that the Rockets will fly in Adelman on Tuesday and the official press conference will be held Wednesday at the Toyota Center. Adelman was recently the head coach for the Sacramento Kings from 1998-2006 leading them to the playoffs every year including three trips......