Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle is reporting that Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich will be taking a leave of absence from the team while he undergoes treatment for bladder cancer.

"After having about a week or so to process all the things that have happened, talking to the doctors, talking to Les (Alexander, the Rockets' owner), we're all in agreement that the best thing for me personally is to take a leave of absence," Tomjanovich said. "The way I feel about that too, I believe it's the best thing for the team.

"At this critical part of the season, this team, any team, needs a coach who has got to give 100 percent of his thoughts to helping the team win. As much as I love this team and as much as I would love to give 100 percent, I know that my thoughts would be on some other things. I'm not ashamed of that. I think that's a human thing. I think most of us would react the same way.

"I have high hopes of getting through this thing and really look forward to being a coach again."

While the team would love to have the face of it's franchise on the bench in their final stretch towards the playoffs, they understand his health is first.

"He just thought it would be a distraction to come back part-time," acting head coach Larry Smith said. "He decided it is in the best interests of the team to separate himself from us for a while, get this thing started, and stay focused on the job at hand. We know now every game is important to us. It's a playoff run.

"It's tough. Coach is my mentor. I love the guy. I'm just happy he's going to be OK. That's the most important thing."

Seeing Tomjanovich happy and laughing again was something the players needed to see.

"It was very emotional," forward Glen Rice said. "Any time you're dealing with a situation such as his ... it's hard to deal with. One of the things to try to do and make it easier is to talk about it and be there for one another. That's what we've got to do.

"To see him up and around and his gleeful self once again and understanding what he has to go through helps us a great deal as well."

Tim Brown of the Los Angeles Times reports: Tonight at 8:30pm U.S. eastern time when the Los Angeles Lakers square off against the Houston Rockets at the Compaq Center, it will make the second meeting between Lakers center Shaquille O"Neal and Rockets rookie sensation Yao Ming.

Still, it's just another game to Shaq.

"Just another game for me," he said.

Shaq compares the two in his own way.

"I'm the M.D.," O'Neal said during a pass through the visitors' locker room here. "I'll be the M.D. for 10 years."

"M.D." stands for most dominant.

As for Yao, Shaq calls him "G.C.".

"G.C." stands for good center.

While many will be anticipating the second matchup tonight between Shaquille O'Neal and Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets will have other things on their mind according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.

The Rockets, who are in a tight race with Phoenix for the 8th and final playoff spot in the West, are more concerned with their coach Rudy Tomjanovich. Today Tomjanovich is going to meet with the team for the first time since before their 5-game road trip and will hold a press conference.

"We haven't seen him in like nine days," guard Steve Francis said. "It will be good just to say, `What's up?' to the captain. We know he's watching all our games, watching our progress, watching what we're doing and how we're doing it. We want to be able to just see him and talk to him."

It is presumed that Tomjanovich will address his immediate future with the team at the press conference and at the team meeting. He is scheduled to start the topical treatment on the cancer that is lining his bladder next week, which coincides with a 6-game Rockets road trip.

"It will be good just to see him and hear what he has to say and take whatever (news) he has to give us," forward Maurice Taylor said. "This is the longest that we haven't seen him. If he needs to be out for the rest of the year, he will have to do whatever he can for his health, and we'll have to do what we can about these last games.

"We're definitely thinking about it. But we're not thinking about him as a coach. We're thinking about him as a person. Basketball is secondary. We want to make sure he's all right. Getting back to the team is secondary, as long as he is all right."

Tomjanovich seems alright and seems to have come to grips with the reality of what has happened.

"The next step is formalizing his treatment schedule," Rockets team physician Dr. Jim Muntz said. "He sounds relaxed and in a good mood. He sounds optimistic. He sounds really good. He sounds positive."

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle is reporting that Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich will miss the Rockets road trip because doctors feel he should continue to rest.

"He has to do what the doctors say," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. "He's not going to fight them on anything like that. This is about as serious as it gets, I guess. But he's doing pretty well. Yesterday (Wednesday), he had a real good day. That's when he really got the good news (about his treatment)."

"It's just precautionary," team physician Jim Muntz said about keeping Tomjanovich in Houston. "If he wasn't a basketball coach, I'd keep him in town. So we decided to treat him like he wasn't a basketball coach.

Tomjanovich is expected to start topical treatments for his bladder cancer in the next few weeks, but no exact time has been set.

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports: Houston Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who is recovering from a bladder biopsy, wants to rejoin the team on friday in Golden State but doctors have not cleared him to return yet.

Tomjanovich still hops to rejoin the team during its five-game road trip. But doctors, concerned with the stress of travel and coaching, have not yet cleared him to return to work, Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said.

"He really wants to get back to the team," Dawson said. "Right now, he has to listen to the doctors. They're concerned with the stress, being this is a very stressful profession. Whether you're there or not, watching the game is tough.

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports: Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich was diagnosed Tuesday with superficial bladder cancer.

Tomjanovich's doctors, including team physician Jim Muntz and urologist Richard Goldfarb, said the prognosis was good for a full recovery. Goldfarb and Muntz have discovered that the abnormal cells have not penetrated into the muscle in Tomjanovich's bladder, a very encouraging sign.

Even more encouraging is the fact that his treatment will not require surgery, but rather the use of a topical agent to treat the cancer.

"These are superficial growths," said Muntz. "Treating it with this generally works very well."

Tomjanovich is expected to take two weeks off and then begin treatments. The treatments, called "BCG" treatments, will be done once a week for six weeks. After the treatments, doctors will conduct further testing on Tomjanovich in the summer.

Players were notified of Tomjanovich's condition before Tuesday night's game against Seattle.

"There were a lot of long faces," Rockets assistant coach Larry Smith said.

"I did not want to hear that word," said Steve Francis, who lost his mother to cancer. "But finding this and taking care of it now will help him. They can treat him."

Tuesday night's game against Seattle marked the first time in 12 seasons that Tomjanovich has missed a game. He will likely miss tonight's game against Portland, but he hopes to rejoin the team for their road trip in time for their third game against the Golden State Warriors, which takes place on Friday.

Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovic underwent a 30-minute procedure to test some abnormalities found on his bladder reports Jonathan Feigen, of the Houston Chronicle.

Tomjanovic underwent tests last month when he had a bladder infection. It wasn't until Friday that he learned of the abnormalities the test results showed.

After the Rockets win over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, Tomjanovic gathered his team and told them of his condition.

Tomjanovic will miss tonight's game against the Seattle Sonics, but is expected to return to the team as early as Wednesday, when the the team will begin it's five-game road trip in Portland.

In an unofficial poll Houston's Yao Ming appeared to be the runaway winner of the 2002-03 Rookie of the Year award, Jonathan Feigan of the Houston Chronicle reports.

In an informal poll of 28 voters for NBA postseason awards, Yao was named as the choice for Rookie of the Year by 20 voters, with Phoenix rookie Amare Stoudemire getting the other eight.

"That shows how much of an impact he has on our team and on the NBA," Rockets forward Glen Rice said. "You've got guys constantly talking about how they want to dunk on him, how they want to try everything to stop him. That there alone pretty much says it all."

"Yao's the best rookie in the league," Rockets forward Maurice Taylor said. "Of course they would say it's Amare, but that's because they're biased. I'm not biased. That's an educated vote. But I just think Yao's the best rookie in the league. You can talk about records, what our record was last year (28-54) as opposed to this year.

"There's just his sheer presence. He has more of a presence on the court. Stoudemire is going to be a great player. But I think now, Yao has more of a presence, more of a feel for the game. Stats-wise, it's close. But statistics don't always say who's the best player."