Before the playoffs started, Tracy McGrady made a simple proclamation: "It's on me."

By saying that, McGrady was shouldering the burden of finally getting the Rockets past the first round of the playoffs, something they had failed to do since 1997.

But after the Rockets' 103-99 loss to Utah on Saturday in Game 7 of the Western Conference opening-round series, Yao Ming was more than willing to shoulder the burden for the team's latest failure.

Yao scored 29 points, including 15 in the fourth quarter that almost ? almost ? saved the day for the Rockets, but he again was stung by defeat ... even though the Rockets had built a 2-0 series lead and had Game 7 at Toyota Center.

"I feel like I want to cry," Yao said. "I know everyone says that tomorrow is a new day and that I'll have a long career, but in the last two weeks we've gone from up 2-0 all the way to 3-4, and it's all over for our season. That's very frustrating."

"I didn't do my job," Yao said. "I didn't do a very good job of rebounding. Rebound, rebound, rebound. Whatever, long rebound, short rebound ? it's my job to rebound. You can't say because it's a long rebound that I couldn't get it. I have to get it. I didn't do my job."