Yao Ming: It's time for me to lead the team

The following is my translation of a Chinese article which was written after the Denver game. Titan is the English name of the newspaper. I put both Chinese and English here, not sure it's the right way. Anyway, enjoy!
Link to the Chinese article

TITAN：终于赢了，这场胜利会成为球队一个新的开端吗？
TITAN: (Rockets) finally won, will this become a new beginning for the team?

姚明：希望是吧，能赢下这场比赛证明了一些事情，只要我们努力，是可以赢下比赛的，我们得坚持这么做下去。
Yao: (I) hope so, the victory of this game shows that if we put in the effort, we can win. I hope we continue to do that.

TITAN：之前的6连败对你们来说，无论从心态上，从信心上，究竟有多大的影响？
TITAN: As to the previous six loss, how much does it affect your confidence and and state of mind.

姚明：有很大影响，让我有些急躁，比赛前我坐在更衣室里，就觉得时间过得特别特别慢，老想着比赛赶紧快点开始，我们好怎么怎么来打好这场比赛，着急了，着急地想赢球。原来比赛前总是很悠闲的，慢慢调整自己，现在不成，心里急，火烧火燎的急。
Yao: Very much. It made me anxious. When I was in the changing room before the game, I felt the time passed so slow, and I wished the game started sooner, and (I thought about) how to have a good game. (I was) anxious, anxious to win the game. Usually I am relaxed before the game, take it easy to adjust myself. Now I couldn't, I was anxious, like there is a fire.

TITAN：所以你才会想到和麦迪谈一谈，用这种方式来带领球队？
TITAN: That's why you wanted to talk to TMAc, about leading the team?


姚明：是的。球队不能再这么下去了……如果再这么下去，这支球队就完了。我在飞机上坐到麦迪身边，把他摇醒，告诉他我的意见，他也告诉我他的意见，我们俩达成了一些共识。我们得带领球队走出困境，把我们俩达成的共识再告诉队友们。我们想好了怎么和队友们谈，也想好了如果比赛继续恶化，我们也会和教练谈谈。实话实说，这是我第6个赛季了，这该是我率领球队的时候了。
Yao: Yes. The team cannot go on like this...Otherwise, the team is finished. On the plane I went to wake Tmac up, told him my thought, and he told me his thoughts. We agreed on some thought we had. We had to lead the team out of the bad situation, we must tell our teammates our thoughts. We have figured out what to talk to our teammates, and also decided that if the team's performance continue to deteriorate, we will talk to the coach. Frankly, this is my 6th season, it's time for me to lead the team.


TITAN：在对迈阿密的比赛里，你看上去有些打不起精神，这是为什么？
TITAN: During the game with Miami, you looked uninspired, why?

姚明：我们对付他们和奥尼尔的方式有问题，这让我很困惑。奥尼尔岁数大了，但他还是奥尼尔。哪支球队会只让自己的中锋1对1防守他？过去几年，我之所以在对奥尼尔的时候能有出色发挥，是因为防守的时候有人帮我，而我在进攻一端不断消耗他。他老了，但我们还处在他防不住我、我也防不住他的状态。你不能只让他没完没了地打我，但在进攻的时候却不给我球，我没有办法消耗他，只能眼看他把所有精力都用在进攻上。
Yao: There is something wrong with the way we play them and the way we play O'neal, which confused me. O'Neal is old, but he is still O'Neal. Which team will ONLY let its center defend him one-on-one? In the last few years, the reason I played well against O'Neal is that on the defensive end, I always got help, while I could consume his energy on the offensive end. He is old now, but he and I are still in the stage that neither of us could shut the other down. On the defensive end, you cannot let him just play me one-on-one, while on the offensive end don't give me the ball. I couldn't consume his energy (without the ball), so I could do nothing but watch him use ALL his energy on offense.


TITAN：对迈阿密，范甘迪又是现场解说，你们赛前聊了很久，他怎么对你说？
TITAN: JVG was the commentator for the Miami game. You and he talked a lot before the game. What did he say?

姚明：他告诉我，阿德尔曼是一位非常出色的教练，他能带我们走得更远。他只是没有使用像我这样中锋的经验，他没有遇到过一场球能得25分的中锋。范甘迪让我尽量多和阿德尔曼交流，把我的想法和我习惯的打法告诉他，他说：阿德尔曼会考虑你的意见的。
Yao: He told me that, RA is an excellent coach, he can bring us further (in the playoff). He just doesn't have experience coaching a center like me. He never coached a center who can average 25 pts a game. JVG told me to communicate more to RA, let him know my thoughts and the way I would like to play, and RA will consider my thoughts.

TITAN：现在你有没有想清楚，在之前的六连败里，火箭究竟犯了哪些错误？
TITAN: Do you know now what mistakes Rockets made in previous six losses?

姚明：问题是多方面的，再加上最近一直在打比赛，不停地背靠背，回到家打完一场比赛，第二天就背着包去客场了，就算看到问题，也没有什么时间去调整。而且，还有很多，我不知道究竟是不是问题，现在我们没时间沟通，如果我们能改正，就说明不是问题。如果在沟通调整之后，问题还不能解决，我们才能清楚究竟是谁，是哪一点在伤害我们。
YAO: There are many problems, plus we kept playing recently, back to back after back to back, even if we saw the problems, we wouldn't have time to adjust. Plus, there are a lot of things, I don't know if they are problems, we don't have time now to communicate. If we can correct the mistakes, then they are not (real) problem. If after we communicate and adjust, we still couldn't solve the problems, only then will we know who, at what perspective is hurting the team.

TITAN：可没有人会等着你们，联盟也不会给你们安排调整的时间，怎么办？
TITAN: But nobody will wait for you guys, the league won't arrange time for you to adjust. What should you do?


姚明：在这时候，我们需要依靠最熟悉最擅长的本事来赢下比赛。什么是我们最熟悉的？是过去四年里我们一直在坚持的防守，即便在现在以进攻为主的体系里，我们也能把防守做得更好一点，教练安排了大的框架，还是要由我们执行，就像这场比赛，如果执行好了，在细节上沟通更好，就能有改观。
Yao: Then, we need to rely on the things we are most familiar with to win. What do we know most? It's the defense we have been emphasized on in the last four years. Even in the current system which focus more on offense, we can still do better on defense. Coach designed the framework, it's still up to us to execute. Like this game, (it shows) if we execute well, communicate better on details, we can improve.

TITAN：你的意思是，捡回范甘迪的那一套战术？
TITAN: You mean, use the same strategy from JVG?

姚明：这和战术没关系，要改变的是我们的拼劲，我们的沟通。到了危急时刻，人的本能就是使出最熟悉的本事，过去四年我们花了很多精力在防守上，现在为什么要放弃呢？我们现在进攻和防守都有问题，核心是没有相互协调和缺乏良好准备，尤其是防守。
Yao: It has nothing to do with strategy. What need to be changed is our efforts, our communication. In emergency situation, one's instinct will lead him to use the skills he is most familiar with. In the last four years we have spent a lot of effort on defense, why throw it away now? We have problems on both offensive and defensive end, the core issue is lack of coherence and lack of preparation, especially on defense.


TITAN：所有这些是不是都因为火箭依旧处于磨合期？
TITAN: Are all these due to the fact that Rockets are still adjusting (to the new system and new personnel)?

姚明：现在我不知道。如果我们能把势头拧过来，能继续赢球，能在季后赛走得更远，就说明所有问题是因为没磨合好。如果不是，说明有其他问题。
Yao: I don't know yet. If we can change the losing streak and continue to win; and go further in the playoff, then when we look back we can say it's due to we are still adjusting. If not, there are other problems.

 

I don't think so. He doesn't complain about playing at elbow.

Don't kill my thread by saying the above bold statement.

 

He said he needed the ball, didn't say where. Maybe he is implying low post, or not. But he didn't say so.

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I couldn't sleep, might as well do something useful.

The thread title might be a bit misleading. That's the title of the Chinese article, but I don't think that's the focus of the article.

 

In another article, it says that Yao and Tmac planned to talk on the plane about the team. Yao thought Tmac will come to him since his seat is usually the quiet area. But Tmac fell asleep soon after he boarded on the plane. So Yao had to go wake him up.

I heard Tmac slept a lot when he was younger. Guess nothing changes. Or maybe Tmac thinks he is the No. 1 and Yao should have gone to him first?

 

There is another article from the same author about how and what Yao did before the Denver game in terms of defense, that he talked to Hayes and Scola about how to rotate on defense; about Yao's leadership. I have to go to sleep now, so someone else will have to do the translation.