Agreed. It must suck for Yao since he wanted to go further than in Athens but at least he will get some rest now. On another note, the Chinese team has no one to blame but themselves. When you keep turning the ball over and letting the other team shoot open jumpers you ain't gonna win.
Did Yao aggravate his injury? Hope not. BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Yao Ming was limping slightly and clearly flustered after enduring a game full of Lithuanian double and triple teams. The Houston Rockets' centre said he was nevertheless pleased that China has established itself as one of the world's top basketball teams over the last four years -- an astonishing advance that mirrors the country's growing economic might. "We were only able to get a spot in the top eight with the level we're at now but at least we have closed the gap to the top," Yao said. "That's thanks to all the matches we've played against European teams and to our own progress in recent years." Yao, who scored 19 points in the 94-68 loss that knocked China out of the tournament, said he had a great time at the Olympics even though his face often seemed to register pain and frustration. China won two of their six games, beating Angola and Germany. "We have finished our journey for the Olympics," he told a news conference. "The result is regrettable. Lithuania put a lot of pressure on us to make bad shots. We didn't perform as well as we can. Lithuania played extremely well." China were a surprise eighth at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Ostensibly their position was no higher on their home soil but Yao said China was now a much stronger team. "Four years ago we made it to the top eight but the process was really difficult and full of pain," the six-times NBA All-Star said. "When we got eighth it felt like a cake had fallen from the heavens. "This time the result is a bit disappointing. The process was full of passion. We improved our training and raised our basketball competence. My Olympic journey has been full of joy." He said China had stood up well against the world's best. "We had so many formidable opponents in our group," he said. "We've gained a lot of experience. We had persistence, motivation and a lot of passion. It's rare in my 10 years on the team that we played so many successive high-level matches." Yao, 27, sidestepped a question on whether he would be back in 2012. "The next Olympics is quite far away," he said. "Four years ago I thought 2008 would not be far away, but I had three major operations over that time. I hope that won't happen again." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/20/AR2008082001098.html
Wow man I hipe not.He needs to rest and rehab.Good thing he got kick out so early, but i wished they never even made to the tournament.
Yao must be happy he doesn't have to play with people who can't throw the ball to him in the post or he's happy he doesn't have to play with Yi
Yao needs to retier and concentrate on our team. he gave it all for he's country, now it's time to reward the rockets patience over the period they've been more then good cabout he's continnues national duties.
Corrected the spelling... and admitting that you don't know where the country is doesn't make you cute. Go look it up. Education is a good thing.
This really worries me...hearing that yao is clearly limping You can play on a stress fracture and you can easily re-injure a stress fracture by pulling a stupid stunt like this But eventually during the middle of the Rox season it will catch up with him.
This is nothing new. Fronting Yao is the best way to stop him. This is similar to the PHX/GSW defense used on him. Hes had trouble with fronting defense since day one. It wasn't the double/triple teams that stopped him, the fronting is what limited Yao. I always thought Yao could do a better job at gaining position and not let his defender gain the position and front him. Yes he is injured and not fully conditioned but lets not act like he could do that much better against fronting defense when hes 100%. We've seen guys a foot shorter than him stop him with fronting defense. Now, its not going to be as bad in the NBA because our guys can make shots, but if teams wanted to stop Yao, fronting works the majority of the time. Fronting is Yao's kryptonite.
stress fractures aren't injuries that you can feel right away (it worsens as you play on). hopefully the limping is just well, i don't know, not another injury.
Well he had 17 points after three quarters. I wouldn't classify that as stopping him. In the fourth, he bypassed taking a couple of shots to kick them out for 3s as they were down by a considerable amount. The fronting, all it did was make him work extra hard for his shots. Playing on a team that had no real game plan to free him, a power forward to make them pay or guards to make outside shots made getting his points much harder. I think he handled the fronting well considering the obstacles.
There should not be to much worry about the play of Yao in this last olympic game. His lack of touches was not because he was being fronted but his teammates lacking the ability to swing the ball from side to side like China's counterparts. I thought Yao did well when it came to pinning his man down, but his teammates didnt get him the ball on time. Not to make excuses for Yao, but if this game is played in the nba, the lithuanain bigs' foul out before the first quarter ends. The injury problem is a concern and im sure Yao would have stopped playing if he knew he was reaggravating his injury.
