Chron:Yao Gets Guide 4 Mount Shaq

Oct. 10, 2004, 12:45AM

Yao gets guide for Mount Shaq
Mutombo to help harass O'Neal while No. 11 sits for the Rockets
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

For awhile, Yao Ming had to deal with the disappointment.


Sure he would see Shaquille O'Neal every now and then. O'Neal would stop by once every season. But it just would not be the same.

Other Western Conference centers might have dropped to their knees to give thanks at having their Shaq time cut in half when the Lakers sent O'Neal to Miami. But to Yao, each game against "the mountain in my way," as he called O'Neal before arriving in the NBA, was a special occasion to be appreciated and savored — or at least survived without dread.

So rather than starting the preseason against the center he faced in the playoffs last season, Yao looked at going up against O'Neal tonight at Toyota Center in his first game with the Heat as an unexpected bonus edition of perhaps the most anticipated individual matchup in the NBA.


Measuring stick
"I do look forward to it, especially now that he has gone to the East where I won't have as many opportunities to go against him," Yao said. "I've also heard that he's lost a lot of weight. Last year, he had weight problems. I'm sure his situation will be better this year. I'll get a sense of what it was like back in the day.

"I like to use him as a ruler to measure myself against, although he's a much larger ruler than me."

Yao always liked the idea of testing himself with matchups with dominant centers. As much as anything, the lure of such challenges brought him to the NBA. But the Rockets now can throw a pair of fearless giants at O'Neal with the addition of Dikembe Mutombo.

"It's like when you play against ... anybody of greatness," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Even in the preseason it will get your antennae up. I don't know how many minutes they will play against each other. I think it's always special for Yao. Over the last decade, O'Neal has been the most dominant player in the NBA.

"Only the non-competitors, only those guys (dread such challenges). Yao, being a competitor, is looking forward to that and will always look forward to a chance to play against the absolute best."

O'Neal might be able to render most strategies irrelevant, but any defense against him begins with a willingness to take him on. Yao has shown that in his two seasons.

He had his moments against O'Neal in the regular season, though O'Neal clearly won the matchup in last season's Western Conference first round. O'Neal averaged 16.2 points and 11.2 rebounds, and Yao averaged 15 points and 7.4 rebounds as the Lakers won in five games.

The new season and the help Mutombo could bring offer a chance to close the gap.

The addition of Mutombo could make the challenge easier, if far from easy. Mutombo, 38, who is working his way into shape, might not be the defender that became the only four-time Defensive Player of the Year. But Yao has seen enough of him in practices to believe he can at least make things difficult for O'Neal when Yao is on the bench.

Van Gundy said it was too soon to know how much of a difference Mutombo might make. But Saturday, Van Gundy saw signs of the old Mutombo, rather than an old Mutombo.


In good shape
"He's blessed with a great body," Van Gundy said. "He can still run. He spent so much (offseason) time in Africa, the reaction time and the basketball conditioning, he didn't spend a lot of time with so he's working through that.

"I'm sure at 38 going through practices is a bit of drudgery for him. But I thought he looked better today. I thought two days ago, he was not as good as he could have been. Today, he looked a lot better."

After a week going against Mutombo in practice — "There's always arms waving in front of my shots," Yao said — Yao is convinced.

"I think Dikembe can help a lot in this respect," Yao said. "In his time, he probably defended Shaq better than anybody else. Dikembe, his success in the NBA is already proven. To have a great center as a backup, it's a little bit of a waste. But it is a great help."

As much as Yao might welcome the challenge, he will not object to getting the help — even if he is the one Western Conference center to lament O'Neal's move east.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com


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ROCKETS SUMMARY
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Booth move
The Rockets made the expected change in their broadcast team official Saturday, announcing that Comets coach and general manager Van Chancellor would take over as television analyst this season while Calvin Murphy is on a leave of absence to attend to his legal issues.

Chancellor has broadcast women's college basketball games on ESPN.


Foley out
Radio analyst Jim Foley, who is going into his 18th season as Rockets radio analyst and 33rd with the Rockets, will undergo an arterial bypass in his right leg Tuesday and will recuperate through the preseason.

Former Rockets forward Matt Bullard will fill in for Foley in the preseason.

Foley said he expects to be cleared to rejoin the team in time for the regular season.

The rest of the broadcast teams remain, with Bill Worrell doing television play-by-play, Gene Peterson radio play-by-play and Adrian Chavarria and Alex Parra Spanish-language radio broadcasts.


Scrimmage scorecard
The Rockets offered a few highlight moments in a 20-minute public scrimmage Saturday at Toyota Center.

Tracy McGrady threw down a hard slam off an alley-oop. Dikembe Mutombo blocked a pair of shots, including one of a lefthanded Yao Ming drive after which he obliged fans with a finger wave.

And Charlie Ward nailed a 3-pointer with nine-tenths of a second left to give the gray team a one-point win.

"There was a lot of love," McGrady said. "A lot of people (about 5,000) showed up. We definitely don't want to disappoint our fans.

"I just want them to know we're working hard every day to try to be a championship-caliber team."

The Rockets will open their preseason against the Heat tonight at Toyota Center. Coach Jeff Van Gundy could not say if the Rockets had progressed to the point he wants.

"They're a bunch of good guys," Van Gundy said. "They work hard. They're team-oriented. It all starts from your best players."

JONATHAN FEIGEN


http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2839860

 

Don't know about that. But here is a Heat/ Rockets article from the Miami Newspaper to hold you over until then.
_____________________________________

Preseason opener will provide a minimal preview
Posted on Sun, Oct. 10, 2004
HEAT NOTEBOOK
BY PETE PELEGRIN



When the Heat tips off against the Houston Rockets tonight in Miami's preseason opener, expect to see little of what Miami might display in the regular season.

Coach Stan Van Gundy will not make any lineup decisions or any judgments on personnel.

Van Gundy just wants to see the Heat play some defense.

''I want to see us play hard and come with a defensive disposition,'' said Van Gundy after Saturday's practice. ``I want to try and get virtually everybody in the game. Let them play and sort of let them get used to playing together within our system. I'm not coming out of that game with any evaluations on our lineups or rotations based on what happens.''

Van Gundy is not going into the game announcing his lineups either -- the Heat players don't even know.

''I have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do,'' Van Gundy said. ``You'll figure it out [tonight] when you watch us play.''

After five days of training camp, the Heat is echoing the sentiments of Van Gundy and is not concerned about lineups or rotations. The players are pleased to finally play someone else other than teammates.

''It will be good to get out there and play a Western Conference power like Houston,'' said center Shaquille O'Neal. ``We just want to play real good aggressive defense, be real sharp on offense and play unselfish. . . . We're not going to come out and play like it's the seventh game of the Finals. We just want to go out and have some fun.''

Van Gundy said it would probably take him until the end of training camp and seven preseason games to decide on lineups and rotations.

NERVE-RACKING

You would think playing an exhibition game against your brother would make for a more relaxed atmosphere, but that's not the case for Van Gundy.

''Have a little fun with a basketball game?'' said Van Gundy, rhetorically. ``That's an interesting concept. I don't know if I've ever looked at a game as fun until it was over, and we won. It doesn't matter who's on the other side.''

Stan and his brother, Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, split two meetings last season. Houston defeated Miami in Texas during the Heat's early-season slumber, but the Heat topped the Rockets in Miami in late January.

Besides the game, the Heat coach is looking forward to seeing family.

''[Jeff's] baby is six months, and I haven't seen him and it's his older daughter's birthday [today], so it's a good trip from a family sense,'' Stan said.

WRIGHT'S HOMECOMING

Another member of the Heat expecting to visit with family in Houston is first-round pick Dorell Wright. The forward expects seven to eight relatives to witness his first NBA game.

A game Wright is eager to get under his belt.

''I don't know what to expect,'' Wright said. ``I'm just going to be too excited. I'm not nervous yet. I think everything will start hitting me though when I get there. I might be nervous. Yeah, I'm going to be nervous to tell you the truth.''

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/9881691.htm?1c

 

Van Gundy isn't rushing to judgment

By Michael Cunningham
Staff Writer
Posted October 10 2004

Heat coach Stan Van Gundy wouldn't reveal the lineup for tonight's exhibition opener at Houston and said it's not that important anyway.

"I am not trying to evaluate our team [tonight]," he said. "You guys will do that, but I am not doing that. We have worked hard for five days here, we want to get everybody in the game.

"I am anxious to see how we play and how hard we play, what we do defensively. I am anxious to see it all, but I am not coming out of that game with any evaluation on our lineup or our rotation."

Van Gundy has not committed to a lineup beyond Eddie Jones, Shaquille O'Neal and Dwyane Wade. He said right now he's focused on integrating nine new players into his system, and that he expects his evaluation of players to continue up until the season opener Nov. 3.

Van Gundy did allow that he has a "fairly good idea" of which players will make up his rotation.

"It is just a matter of what order, who starts and who comes off the bench," he said. "It is going to take a long time to figure that out. Right now we are just trying to get in shape and figure out what we are doing."

NO SHAQ VS. YAO?

Shaquille O' Neal doesn't expect to see too much of 7-foot-6 Rockets center Yao Ming.

"He is a real good player, but he doesn't play me," O'Neal said.

Last season, the Rockets often put Kelvin Cato on O'Neal in order to keep Yao out of foul trouble. But Cato is with Orlando now and the Rockets may not care about foul trouble for Yao in an exhibition game, so some Yao-O'Neal moments are possible.

Wade said Yao stymied his drives to the basket last season but figures he'll have an advantage this time.

"This year I have a big fella, so I can dish it to him," Wade said. "It made me alter my shot a lot last year, but this year it is different because I have somebody they have got to keep a body on."

ROOKIE DEBUT

First-round pick Dorell Wright expects eight family members from California at the game.

"I am not nervous yet," he said. "It will probably hit me when I get out there. I might be nervous. Yeah, I am going to be nervous."

Wright, 18, is the first high school player drafted by the Heat.

Michael Cunningham can be reached at mcunningham@sun-sentinel.com.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...10oct10,0,3077071.story?coll=sfla-sports-heat