Tue Feb 26 14:01:01 2008

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Yao to miss rest of season with stress fracture

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Houston, TX (Sports Network) - The Houston Rockets have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday afternoon, in which they are expected to announce that center Yao Ming will miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his left foot.

The Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday that Yao, who has missed only one game this season, will sit out the remainder of the campaign, as well as the playoffs, with the injury. Yao was examined after practice on Monday, and met with team physician Dr. Tom Clanton about test results on the foot.

Yao is averaging 22 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season. He sat out a Rockets loss to Utah on January 27 with an upper-respiratory infection, but returned two days later. Houston has not lost since, winning 12 in a row, the last a 110-97 victory over the Bulls on Sunday.

This will be the third consecutive season marred by injury for the All-Star center. After playing 82, 82, and 80 games in his first three seasons in the league, Yao was limited to 57 games in the 2005-06 campaign after undergoing surgery on an infection in his left big toe, and then breaking a toe in his left big foot late in the season. Yao played in only 48 games last season, during which he suffered a small fracture in his right leg.

Houston is 36-20 entering Tuesday's game against Washington, good enough for fourth place in the Southwest Division and seventh in the Western Conference playoff race.