Houston Rockets vs LA Lakers Playoffs 2009 Rockets Highlights 05.04.09 Round 2 Game 1 Western Conference Semi Finals As always huge thanks to R2K / Clutchfans.net for the vids/highlights! GO ROCKETS!! Yao’s toughness mirrors Rockets’ fight Can Houston win series against Los Angeles? Yao’s play will be the key. Wednesday, May 06, 2009 The sight of Yao Ming crumbling to the floor and grabbing his knee Monday night was the worst-case scenario. Not the visual Houston Rockets fans had hoped to see in Game 1 at Los Angeles. When he tearfully limped off the Staples Center court in the fourth quarter, Houston’s goose appeared cooked. Then he came back. The stumbling Lakers quickly found out there would be no goose served in the Western Conference semifinal opener. And certainly no Peking duck. If anything, Yao’s Rockets took the plate away and now it’s the Lakers simmering in their own juices as today’s Game 2 fast approaches. This is not to put Yao in the same category as Willis Reed, who limped onto the court with a severe leg injury in 1970 to inspire the New York Knicks to a Finals win over the Lakers. But since I just mentioned them in the same sentence, let’s be clear: Yao pushing past the training staff and returning to the court did provide the impetus the Rockets needed to knock off a team that Houston guard Brent Barry compared to Mount Everest last week. “It was like Rocky coming back out there,” Coach Rick Adelman said of Yao’s return. Indeed it was. And after he …