Record: 45-25.

Today: Minnesota at Toyota Center, 7:30 p.m.

TV/radio: FSH; 610 AM and 850 AM (Spanish).

Shane Batter knew the answers, but he asked Yao Ming the questions anyway,

"I've talked to him and said, ?What set do you like, your favorite set? Where do you like the ball? If you could have any play in the world, what would it be?'?" Battier said. "Even getting him to answer that was like trying to get him to pull teeth. He doesn't want to make any waves. He wants to be a good team player.

"It's a continual project to try to get him to tell us where he wants the ball and where he can do the most damage. It is so out of Yao's demeanor and character to do that."

There are times Yao does not have the option to get whatever he wants offensively. Teams will usually send double- and triple-teams, many positioning defenders in front and behind him. But late in Wednesday's 106-101 victory, Yao had become unstoppable, and then did not get the ball. The offense broke down. The Rockets needed two overtimes to finish off the Detroit Pistons.

"He's got to demand the ball," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "That one possession there at the end of the game - he's just got to go to the post and you tell them to bring it to me. He's slipping around, playing pick-and-roll. We just scored like six times in a row. He's just got to demand the ball.

"If they front him and they take it away, and then we go to something else. But until they stop him, we have got to run it through him every time. He's got that mentality that he's trying to fit in and sometimes he's just got to take control. I just think it's something he's got to continue to work on. If they're going to let us run one-on-ones, then he's got a huge advantage."

Few teams will allow Yao to go one-on-one. The Pistons did. Though the Minnesota Timberwolves likely will not tonight, the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz, the Rockets' following two opponents, do go through stretches playing behind Yao with relatively little help.

Message received

"I understand what he said that I'm shooting very, very consistently," Yao said. "I need to be more aggressive, I guess, not looking for other opportunities.

"I've been in this situation before. You ask for the ball and ask for the ball and ask for the ball. I think he's right. In the fourth quarter, I scored seven points in a row. I stopped asking for the ball. I scored in the first overtime the first two possessions and then disappeared. I think I need to do more for the team."

The Rockets do go to Yao down the stretch. He averages more shots per minute (combined field goals and free throws) in the fourth quarter than in any other part of the game, hitting 56.4 percent of his fourth-quarter shots and 81.8 percent of his free throws. But when teams are going to let him go one-on-one, Adelman wants him to be relentless, and for his teammates to be driven to get him the ball.

"So many times I will bang and bang, take five or six dribbles into a shot," Yao said. "Those shots actually are not the shot I want. I want some movement. I want some screen setters, some cutters and then post position."

Trying to help shooters

Yao, however, said he has had to adjust to defenses that have changed while still trying to trigger the Rockets' offense. He had been working to hold the ball longer, letting the double-team get to him. That brought defenders too far to also get back to the Rockets' shooters to prevent the open 3-pointers that helped fuel the Rockets' surge. Lately, however, he said teams have been hesitant to leave shooters open.

"In the last couple games, they let me dribble the ball," Yao said. "They don't want to let us shoot 3s. They know I'm looking, particularly (for) the 2-guard (Ron Artest or Von Wafer), on top. That's more the way I want to play, pass out and then re-duck in.

"I made two or three shots, everybody is stationary. That is not good ball movement right there. I cannot get everybody open. That is bothering me, right now. ... I know what I can do in the post."

What he does best is post up on the left side, with a foot in the paint and a defender on his back. Yao moving from there and into the lane is by far the Rockets' best offensive option.

"For us to have a lot of success ,Yao has to demand the ball with a foot in the paint," Battier said. "That's where he is most effective for us. That's our best offense. When Yao has a foot in the paint when he catches the ball, he's pretty much unstoppable. That's the key to our success."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com