Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, of China, speaks at a press conference after it was announced he would not play for the rest of the NBA basketball season due to a stress fracture in his left foot Tuesday, February 26, 2008 in Houston.  

Yao was examined after Monday's practice at Memorial Hermann Hospital and met Tom Clanton to go over the test results.

The Rockets (36-20) have won 12 consecutive games since losing the one game Yao has missed this season.

"We've been playing exceptional ball and Yao's been a huge part of that," Daryl Morey said. "We feel very confident about our playoff push. We've managed to step up and play well without Yao in the past and coaches and players feel confident that we're going to continue to play well and make the playoffs this year."

Yao is scheduled to hold a press conference later Tuesday to discuss the injury.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2008)