Yao out for six weeks with knee injury

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Yao Ming could be lost to the Houston Rockets for six weeks after sustaining a serious knee injury during their 98-93 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.

The towering center suffered a non-displaced fracture of his right tibia but will probably not require surgery, the team said on their Web site.

"It's a non-displaced fracture, so nothing is way out of the way or out of whack," Rockets athletic trainer Keith Jones told the Houston Chronicle. "It's just a fracture line in there. We think he'll do well with just rest.

"An option would be to do something surgical, but we're hoping that won't need to be done."

During a scramble for the ball in the first quarter, Yao fell to the floor and appeared to injure the knee in a pile up with Clippers forward Tim Thomas and Rockets forward Chuck Hayes.

Yao immediately grabbed his knee and shouted in pain as Rockets' trainers rushed onto the court. He was helped off and taken to a local hospital for tests.

"Six weeks minimum. Six weeks minimum," guard Rafer Alston told the Chronicle. "That means it could be more.

"That's our guy. You're talking about a guy on a MVP pace, that's been carrying this team the past two seasons. To hear that, it hurts.

"He was yelling and screaming and I was hoping that it wasn't the worst."

The loss of Yao is another devastating blow to the Rockets, who are already missing All-Star Tracy McGrady with a sore back.

Enjoying the best start to a season in his NBA career, Yao had put up MVP caliber numbers averaging 26.8 points and 9.7 rebounds a game.

One of the NBA's most popular players, Yao was poised for his fifth All Star start as the leading vote getter.

"I feel badly for Yao," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy. "If ever there was an athlete who didn't deserve all the bad breaks he's gotten over the last two years with injuries (it's Yao).

"He works hard and is in great shape, so I feel badly for him."

(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto)