Yao/NY Post

February 25, 2003 -- BOSTON - He is The Dynasty. The Next Big Thing. The NBA's Savior.

And tonight he'll play the league's biggest stage.

For the first time, Yao Ming will be on the fabled Madison Square Garden floor.

Houston's rookie sensation flew in to a salivating New York City after last night's Rocket game vs. the Celtics. While Yao was tight-lipped about his Big Apple debut, his Rocket teammates will tell you flat-out how excited he is to finally play in the Mecca of Basketball.

"It's going to be amazing. Everything's been great for him, but I think [tonight] will probably be, by far, the best for Yao, playing in New York and the Garden," Rockets guard Moochie Norris said. "I know he can't wait to get there."

New York can't wait for him to get here. Tonight's Knicks game is one of the most highly anticipated in recent memory, perhaps topped only by Michael Jordan's return last season.

Actually, much like Jordan, Yao's appeal extends far beyond the court. Indeed, Yao is a global phenomenon - a force in the paint, an emerging star in the marketplace and a celebrity nearly everywhere else. Everybody wants to see him, talk to him, just be around him.

"I'm pretty used to it," Yao said of his new-found status. "I hope people who are interested in basketball will come see me and I hope more people will be interested in basketball.

"The cost of enjoying the season has been very tiring. Every game there's a new challenge and facing up against every different player presents new problems."

But it's the way Yao has handled those challenges that has landed him squarely in America's heart. On the court, he's exhibited stunning improvement. Off of it, he's endeared himself to a nation.

"He's like the big brother I always wish I had," Norris said.

"There's something about him that's so warm. We love him," Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "And he's so easy to smile, it just warms you up. You get a good feeling being around the guy."

"He was a really nice kid," said Yogi Berra, who shot the popular VISA commercial with Yao. "I asked him, ‘Did you ever play baseball before?' He said he went to the batting cages and couldn't hit. He thought it was too hard, so he stuck to basketball."

Smart move. Already, the 22-year-old is one of the league's favorite sons. He supplanted Shaquille O'Neal in the All-Star starting lineup and has already inspired a cult song, a bobblehead doll and a celebrity duck.

He's on your TV, too. There he is, pitching Apple computers. And VISA cards. And soon enough, Gatorade. Add in countless interviews in Mandarin and English, the 100 media members who cover his every move and you see what we're dealing with here.

"He's an ambassador between the U.S. and China," Hu Bing, manager for The China Press, said. "He can do more than anyone."

How's that for pressure?

"Nobody's had to go through what this guy's had to go through," Tomjanovich said.

"It's been a whirlwind," Colin Pine, Yao's translator, added.

So how does Yao do it? With his presence. His easy smile. His charming wit. When a reporter asks why he's so tall, Yao grins, doesn't miss a beat and says: "Can you tell me why you're so small?"

"He's just being himself," said Steve Francis, his All-Star teammate.

 

From NY Daily News:

Yao visit heightens Knicks plight



By FRANK ISOLA
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER


Yao Ming was wined and dined by the Knicks last spring in Chicago, a two-day clandestine visit that cost nearly $30,000. Tips not included.
Yao, who makes his Madison Square Garden debut tonight, was treated like the president of China during that initial meeting with the Knicks hierarchy and not some 7-5 savior that Scott Layden had a 4.4% chance of winning in the NBA draft lottery.

"All of our scouts thought highly of him," said Layden, the Knicks president.

Layden spared no expense in his recruitment of the Chinese center. He traveled to the Far East twice over seven months to scout Yao.

For the rendezvous in Chicago in late April, the Knicks' 12-member entourage included Layden, Garden president of sports team operations Steve Mills as well as Allan Houston, who flew in from Atlanta just to watch Yao's private 30-minute workout.

"I saw the whole time that he had skills," Houston recalled late Sunday. "I told everybody when I got back that he was going to be OK. He's 7-5, he's got skills. Who wouldn't want him?"

The Knicks ended up with the seventh pick and believed they had the next best thing when they traded the selection to Denver for Antonio McDyess. But as it turns out, nothing has gone right for the Knicks since that day in Secaucus when the Ping-Pong balls bounced the wrong way and the Houston Rockets were awarded the chance to draft Yao.

The Knicks have fallen on hard times while Yao continues to take the NBA by storm. McDyess broke his kneecap in October and is done for the season. The Knicks appear to be headed back to the lottery, where the odds of them landing LeBron James or any of the top three picks are remote.

And then there is Yao, who has emerged as the player Layden envisioned and has turned the Rockets into one of the league's top young teams. Off the court, Yao has become the marketing enterprise the Knicks dreamed about.

"I will say this, he is good for the league," Layden said. "And you have to feel happy for him. But you can't play a game of what-if."

But when Yao plays his first game at the World's Most Famous Arena tonight it will be difficult for Knicks fans not to imagine having Yao in New York for 41 home games each season and dominating the low post for the next 15 years.

"I try not to think that way," Houston said. "When I look back and think about when I watched him play in Chicago, my assessment was right. I thought he could play and I ended up being right."

Yao is averaging 13.5 points and 8.3 rebounds, and seems to make a new and funnier television commercial every other week. His popularity is bigger than he is.Yao could have been the shot in the arm the Knicks so desperately needed.

"What I like about him is his maturity and he brings that to the court," Layden said. "If you're the Houston Rockets you're thinking, 'We have a young, talented and mature center who is going to be with us for the next 15 years.'"

The Knicks, losers of four straight, have already conquered the Great Wall once this season. On Dec. 27 in Houston, Kurt Thomas, Michael Doleac and Clarence Weatherspoon pushed Yao away from the basket and essentially made his life miserable in a 99-83 Knick win.

Yao scored 17 points but his last eight came after the Knicks had built a 19-point lead.

"We have to have the same game plan," Thomas said. "Hopefully we can be physical with him and push him out of his comfort zone."

 

NY Times:

Knicks Hoping to Ruin Yao's First Visit

By CHRIS BROUSSARD


He has snuffed the shot of Shaquille O'Neal, started in the All-Star Game and starred in several entertaining commercials. Yet the Knicks have not seen the Yao Ming who has garnered superstar accolades and worldwide attention after just four months in the N.B.A.

The Yao the Knicks saw in December, in Houston, was outplayed by Michael Doleac, dunked on by Clarence Weatherspoon and seemed like just another ineffective big man who makes fans wonder where all the great centers have gone.

Tonight, the Knicks will attempt to keep Yao, the Rockets' 7-foot-6 rookie, in that barren place they left him when they upset the Rockets two months ago. But in his first game at Madison Square Garden, the chances are reasonable that Yao will redeem himself — at the expense of the Knicks but perhaps to the delight of the fans who, while rooting for the home team, want to see the league's next great thing.

By now, most observers know what Yao brings to the game — a soft shooting touch, deft passing skills, graceful footwork and keen court awareness. But what they may not know is how the Knicks, one of the smallest teams in the league, shut him down.

In the Knicks' 99-83 victory in Houston, Yao finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds and shot 5 of 12. But 8 of his points and 2 of his rebounds came over the last seven minutes, after the Knicks had built a 20-point lead.

For the first three-and-a-half quarters, Kurt Thomas and Doleac met Yao on the perimeter and used their strength to keep him away from setting up on the low block. The Knicks will need the same type of effort tonight if they are to break their four-game losing streak.

"He's a big guy, and if you let him get in the lane, he's hard to stop," Coach Don Chaney said of Yao. "But I thought Kurt and Michael Doleac did a very good job of putting their body on him early and not allowing him to get into his comfort zone, where he's in the lane or has a foot in the lane. And then when he caught the ball outside, we crowded him. We have to continue to do that. If we let him set up in the paint area where he can pass or score, we'll be in trouble because we're giving up too many inches."

After going 2-4 on their West Coast trip, the Knicks need a victory. While tonight's game is far from a golden opportunity, it is one of the best chances the Knicks will have for a while. Tomorrow they visit the Nets, who cannot wait to avenge their early-season loss at the Garden, and on Friday, the Knicks play host to the Orlando Magic. Patrick Ewing's No. 33 will be retired that night, but Orlando's Tracy McGrady could be the star of the show.

Then, on Sunday, the Knicks go to Minnesota, where the Timberwolves have won 14 straight games.

"It doesn't get better," Chaney said of the schedule. "We might be saying, `Well, we're going back to our safe haven in the Garden after this trip.' But there's no safe haven for us right now because the teams we're playing are very good teams. We're going to have tired bodies and we're going up against good teams, so we have to have the ability to mentally stay focused and play our game."

In the Eastern Conference, where a .500 record is not necessary to make the playoffs, the Knicks will not be mathematically eliminated for some time. Even at 23-32, they are only four games behind eighth-place Orlando, current holder of the final playoff spot.

"That's what's encouraging about the N.B.A. right now," Allan Houston said. "We're nine games under and we're still in the hunt. The bottom line is we're still in the hunt no matter what our record is. I don't even look at our record anymore. I look at where we are in the standings."

Perhaps the most encouraging thing about this season has been the Knicks' ability to upset superior opponents. They were given little chance to beat Houston before routing the Rockets after Christmas, and they have also defeated Sacramento, Detroit, the Nets, San Antonio, Indiana, Philadelphia, Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Victories like those are what make their losses to Seattle, Golden State and other lottery-bound foes so exasperating.

"It's like a double-edged sword," Houston said. "What's frustrating about us is that we do certain things so well when we win games and then when we don't do those things, we don't have a lot of room for error. That's frustrating and encouraging at the same time. I know I'm pulling my hair out and I know the fans and everybody else are pulling their hair out because we know we can do it. It's hard to do that every night, but we know we can."

To Houston, it is all in the Knicks' minds — their ability to rebound, to defend, to take care of the ball, even to push Yao out of the paint.

"This game is so mental and we have so little room for error that it's almost like we have to be that team that's kind of similar to the old guy at the park, who beat you with his mind and that's how he gets his edge," Houston said. "We're not going to beat you with a lot of athleticism, but we have to beat you with playing smart and playing together and just playing hard. Once we lose that, playing really hard and playing with our minds, we don't have any edge, and that's what we have to get back."

One wonders if the mind is enough when your starting center, the 6-9 Thomas, gives up nine inches to his opponent, the 7-6 Yao.