Houston's man-mountain Yao Ming missed the last three quarters of the Rocket's win over the Denver Nuggets last night after spraining his right kneee, Janny Hu of the Houston Chronicle writes.  Ming's knee is not considered to be serious and the Rockets felt there was no need to take X-rays.

'Yao was hurt after going up for a rebound against Nuggets center Nene Hilario with just under eight minutes left in the first quarter. Yao fouled Hilario after Hilario missed a three-foot layup, then tangled with him again on another rebound attempt, which Hilario gathered and put back in for a basket,' writes Hu.

"He said somebody hit his knee on the outside and it was hurting on the inside. He said it's not that painful, it just feels like it stuck at one point," Rockets trainer Keith Jones said of Yao. "I looked at him on the bench, I didn't think it was a big deal, but I brought him in and had Dr. (Walter Lowe) look at him."

"It's a very slight sprained knee. He was doing exercises before he left, squatting down. He wanted to go back in the game. But we held him out -- it was a precautionary thing."