HOUSTON - Yao Ming will have to make the best of a thinned backcourt after guard Kirk Snyder underwent surgery to repair a broken right hand, an operation that will sideline him eight to 10 weeks.

Yao Ming will have to make the best of a thinned backcourt after guard Kirk Snyder, seen here in march 2006, underwent surgery to repair a broken right hand, an operation that will sideline him eight to 10 weeks. [AFP]

Snyder suffered the injury in the second quarter of the Rockets' 97-90 National Basketball Association triumph over New York on Monday. An exam showed Snyder sustained a spiral fracture of the second metacarpal bone in his hand.

With Chinese big man Yao leading the way, the Rockets are off to a 7-4 start, two games behind pace-setting San Antonio in the Southwest division.

Snyder, obtained from New Orleans last July, averaged 5.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in Houston's first 11 games.

After starting his career with Utah as the 16th player taken in the 2004 NBA Draft, Snyder was traded to the Hornets in a landmark five-team, 13-player swap in August of 2005. He had 8.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 68 games with New Orleans.