The Rockets shot lights out Monday night. They shot so lights out -- 54 percent from the field, 100 percent from the foul line -- that the lights actually did go out for almost the last three minutes of the game. A storm-induced power surge caused the problem, we were told later.

This would not prove a good thing, though, for the Houston kids. In a resultant gloaming, the game's definitive power forward for the ages let loose with some thunder and lightning of his own. But, looking for a bright spot in the Compaq Center's semi-darkness, we'll conclude it was good for Yao Ming to see a vintage Karl Malone, to see him go off, scoring 31 points, for old time's sake. It's important for Yao's historical perspective, for his understanding of who's who and what's what in NBA lore.

The 20-year-old Eddie Griffin, a born-in-the-USA, city-ball graduate, has grown up watching Malone live up to the "Mailman" nickname he brought to the pros 18 years ago, delivering 35,200 points since he left backwoods Louisiana for Salt Lake City. But Yao, 22, needed to see it for himself, just so he would have a frame of reference.