Yao out a week with mild ankle sprain

HOUSTON About six minutes into Wednesday night's game, Yao went down and then limped to the locker room never to return to the game. Immediately the concern grows because Yao is coming off foot surgery this past offseason and because Yao is Yao and too often that means lost playing time.

Yao had an MRI conducted Thursday and it showed a mild sprain of the left ankle. He will be out a minimum of a week and is coming back to Houston for rehab.

That would seem to be good news, but with limited playing time anyway, any lost games further muddies how Rick Adelman handles his roster. And it has to stop all thought of increasing the limit of 24 minutes per game.