I'd say to someone expecting Ming to play well and China to be competitive, 'disappointing' is a little negative but fair. However, saying that "China (was) victimized by a poor performance from Yao Ming..." is pretty harsh for a recap.
Ming's the #1 pick; everything he does will be under a microscope. Just deal with it. I can't say ESPN is out of line in this case. Yao's game certainly wasn't stellar. Blame it on the coaches and what not, but Ming getting into foul trouble against a team of Dirk Nowitzki and scrubs is not pleasing. China may be a poorly coached team, and probably lacks talent comparable to some others, but that can't force Ming into foul trouble. The 16 pts in 18 mins is pleasing, and his rebound numbers in proportion look fine (~8 in 30 mins.) Foul trouble and inconsistency plague virtually all unexperienced big men, and even a lot of experienced ones. Ming is not immune to that right now. Nothing wrong with admitting that. He had an off game. It happens. Maybe he had his eye on the big game vs. the USA. He'll have another chance on the 31st.
Now why couldn't ESPN just have used those articulate words as the title of the article about Yao's performance tonight against Germany? That line would have said it perfectly!
People, come on! When you're a rookie, disappointing is a compliment. It means the commentators think too highly of you to accept the way you played tonight as the limit of your talent. When you're a rookie, the limit of your talent is what they're primarily assessing. You can worry about Yao Ming when people start patting him on the back every time he doesn't fumble away an easy pass right under the basket -- like they do for Kelvin Cato. If Cato ever got to the point where people were disappointed when he put up the kind of numbers Yao put up tonight, we'd all be ecstatic.
IMO, his performance wasn't terrible. You can't fault the guy for having a coach who wants to play "HACK-A-Dirk". Thats just plain ludicrous. I think he scored more than most of team USA with less minutes minus one Paul Pierce.
If this doesn't prove to you that the media is against Yao Ming, I'm not sure what will. I don't care if it's ESPN, the AP, or whoever. People do not want to see Ming succeed. Who really wants to see a guy taller than everyone else that isn't even American succeed, besides the fans of his own team? Americans root for David, not Goliath. Writers are out to sell papers. 90% of the people out there in the reading audience, including some Houston fans unfortunately (Queso) want to see the guy fail. Without even seeing the guy, people and writers think Shawn Bradley. Would it be a different story if he played in New York? Probably. But, seeing that he's on an unpopular team and the subject of many terrible comparisons, people don't want him to succeed. Yao, the No. 1 choice in the NBA draft by the Houston Rockets, was whistled for two fouls in the first two minutes and was immediately benched. The 7-foot-5 Yao returned with 5:30 left in the second period, but was never a factor. Yao scored 16 points, 10 in the second half when the game was already out of reach. You know, it's funny, I don't think I've ever seen someone score 16 points without being a factor. I don't care how he got the points... 16 points on a terrible team against good competition has to have some positives. Yet, the writer makes no note of the kind of stroke Yao showed to get 16 points, or the kind of moves he had to do down low to score that much. It's all negative. When it comes to Ming, believe the Chronicle and nothing else... it's about the only source of objectivity.
Will's right. If the disappointing bar is set at this level for Ming...I'll be happy...because that means he shouldn't be this "bad" all the time.
btw; the referring was terrible...Yao got called for some ridiculous ticky tacky calls...then he get and Bateer get barreled by Dirk and no calls. the calls that were made on Yao were bs, non calls in the NBA with all the banging that goes on....he got called for a push in the back on time on a play not even near the rebound and when everyone was establishing position....
If Yao got two fouls whistled early, then the refs had a hard-on for him and/or the CNT coach has his head up his culo and doesn't know jack/squat about his job. When Yao has so-so games in the NBA, he'll have Cato, EG, and Mo to take some of the minutes at center. Notice I didn't mention Collier until now. To me, it isn't that Yao's gonna suck from time to time, it's that some of these sportswriters, as Jeff pointed out, will jump to hyperbole on such occasions to back up their own original claims that Yao will be a "bust, a horrible mistake, go-back-to-China," etc etc.
Not an excellent game, but not as bad as EPSN is making it out to be. His production per min is not bad at all. I'm just glad to see the guy has size and skills, I'm not real worried about his stats on a game by game basis at this point.
I agree with Will, but this is a slippery slope. Soon, the jargon gets ramped up with "bust" not far behind. And while this shouldn't matter to Yao and to Rockets fans, unfortunately with enough reps, it will. What I disliked about the AP Recap was the intro line: "China (was) victimized by a poor performance by Yao Ming...". Dunno, maybe they accidentally hit the "Anti-American Spin" button. While I nod my head and mouth "uh-huh, uh-huh" as I read Chronicle articles, I figure if I'm agreeing with Blinebury, there is some inherent bias involved. In the end, I really enjoyed the Indy Star article Clutch has up front: http://www.indystar.com/article.php?kravming30.html I think it's a fair and accurate take from a somewhat impartial observer.
