Yahoo/AP: Yao Out for Season with Left Foot Injury. All-Star center Yao Ming is out for the season with a stress fracture in his left foot . . . .

Currently, the Houston Rockets are 3 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers, the Western Conference leader. However, the Rockets are only 3 1/2 games ahead of the ninth place Denver Nuggets. Yes, the NBA Western Conference is extremely competitive this year without a lot of breathing room between the top eight teams. As precarious as Houston’s fortunes appear right now, consider the fate of the Chinese basketball team during the Beijing Olympics without Yao Ming. A lot of Chinese sports fans are probably studying up on stress fractures right now.