HOUSTON — No one's quite saying it around here, but in the words of Jerry Sloan, things look pretty bleak.
Houston Rockets center Yao Ming is out the rest of the playoffs because of a hairline fracture in his left foot, and Ron Artest can't stop getting tossed out of games, giving the Lakers one of the strongest 2-1 series leads the Western Conference semifinals has ever seen.
The good news for the Rockets, assuming there was any after Saturday's medical-exam revelation and Friday's 14-point home loss, was that Artest did not get suspended by the NBA and actually had his Game 3 shove of Pau Gasol knocked down a notch from a flagrant foul 2 to a flagrant foul 1.
The bad news for Houston today in Game 4 will be the absence of Yao, who is averaging 19.7 points and 11.3 rebounds in this series but looked slower and slower in Game 3, becoming Texas' version of Greg Oden, painful gait and all.
Yao does not need surgery but will miss eight to 12 weeks while recovering, Rockets spokesman Nelson Luis said.
"It's one of those things where they didn't want to take any chances," Luis said. "They're thinking long-term with Yao."
The Lakers, who were already beaten by overconfidence and the Rockets once this series, remained leery of Houston, Yao or no Yao.
"Without a doubt," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "This is a team that's really survived a lot of adversity, and that's what you have to admire about them, is that they've had difficult challenges all year and they've always come back.
"So we've got to be totally ready for how they're going to come."
Jackson spoke before Yao was officially declared out, but he appeared to already be warning a Lakers team that dropped to the level of several inferior teams throughout the season, the latest challenge now closing out this series with two more victories over the severely undermanned Rockets.
The Lakers expect to see a lot of Artest in the post, where he has been "killing us," Jackson said, testifying on behalf of Artest's 23.7-point, 4.3-assist average in the series.
The Rockets spoke bravely. They had no choice, saying they were prepared to play without Yao, who missed only five games this season, but sat out 27 last season and 34 games in 2006-07.
"We've played without him before and we've won without him before," Houston Coach Rick Adelman said. "We've played well in this series when he's been on the bench in foul trouble. Whoever's there, we've got to be prepared to go out and play the way we're capable of playing."
