Dec. 24, 2003, 9:19PM Another chance to measure up Yao, Rockets try Christmas in LA By JONATHAN FEIGEN LOS ANGELES -- The commercial played on the television behind Yao Ming in the Toyota Center hallway. With the sound off, he didn't notice, but he had seen it before. Twerpy guy dressed up as an official rips the wrapping off enormous packages, revealing cutouts of Yao and Shaquille O'Neal. Twerpy guy then takes the Yao and Shaq cutouts and crashes them into one another, comically (at least in theory), preferring the confrontation of celebrated centers to the exchange of Christmas gifts. Asked if he had seen the commercial for ABC's NBA coverage, Yao offered his familiar bemused grin, the one that seems to hint at thoughts better left unsaid about the silliness he inspires. He then stiffly batted his head into an imaginary Shaq to his left. Yao stopped, replaced the grin with a mock look of pain and sent an exaggerated roll of his eyes to suggest how ludicrous the continued promotion of Yao vs. O'Neal has become. He understood last season, when the media rushed to Houston for a week of buildup for the first great collision, bringing with them everything from protesters outside Compaq Center to the largest audience to watch an NBA game on cable since Magic Johnson's comeback. Pumped with adrenaline, Yao was spectacular for a time, blocking O'Neal's first four shots. Even after O'Neal reclaimed his dominance, the Rockets won 108-104 in overtime. Steve Francis culminated the finest game of his career with a pass to Yao for the dunk that sealed it. With O'Neal back to his brutish best, the Lakers won a rematch in March. And the Rockets have issues far more pressing now than offering O'Neal a chance to pick on someone roughly his own size to appease heavyweights and home run hitters. Yao will still play along a bit. "If you are talking about special significance, you're probably talking about Christmas," he said. "In China, that's not as significant." Yao knows why ABC made the Rockets' game the climax of the network's first day of NBA broadcasting this season. But if there is any significance for the Rockets, besides the need to win and the pride at stake on national television, it is in the reminder of what Yao is, is not and still could become. "I looked at the first time (Yao played Shaq) last year; people (were) making a big deal about -- I don't even remember, maybe he blocked the first couple shots or whatever," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Everybody wants to read into things. Shaq is ... just, there's a lot of separation between him and the next guy. "It's not about Yao. Yao's doing fine. That guy (O'Neal) is in a totally different physical world. O'Neal is the one guy that distorts every single game he plays. He just distorts your defense. "You got guys in foul trouble. Guys want to play less minutes, more minutes. There could be a foul played on either side on every play, there's so much contact." Yao, at 7-6 with agility and athleticism never seen in the few men who could look him in the eye, would seem to have the potential to cause similar problems. Asked if Yao will become that sort of force, Van Gundy said, "I don't know. "A lot of that will be determined by how Yao sees it himself, just what he wants out of his career. To get to where O'Neal has gotten, you have to be a special talent, but you have to have an unbelievable determination to get to there." Yao's very presence in the NBA, half a planet removed from home, would seem to indicate at least an interest in getting somewhere. He considers it immodest, and therefore improper, to articulate his ambition. "To get that kind of success, you have to have the desire to get there in the first place," Yao said. "I can only say that I don't want to lose. Every time I play, every time I go out, I don't want to lose. This is basketball. It's not soccer. There are no draws. "I don't know what that feels like (to change the game the way O'Neal does). I don't think I will until the day that actually is." As Tuesday's loss to the Pacers -- when Yao took only four shots -- showed, he only rarely dominates at anywhere near O'Neal's level. He does change defenses, demanding double-teams and other swarms of defenders. But that has become common against forces less imposing than O'Neal, especially when facing teams like the Rockets that do not pose the perimeter threats. Yao also has not developed the stamina to dominate a game. He is almost always the first Rockets player replaced, usually because he needs the rest. After last season's first confrontation with O'Neal, Yao rarely showed the energy of his finest moments. When his energy level dips, his rebounding, helping defense and even decision-making have suffered. There have been other times, such as against the Clippers last week or in Phoenix the next night, when he has seemed to regain his bounce, and that sense of his unique gifts and potential becomes obvious again. "I have to find the optimal amount of minutes to maximize his talents," Van Gundy said. "At times, shorter minutes have produced better results and at times, bigger minutes have produced better results. Over time, just getting a feel for his level of energy, stamina and endurance. We want, over time, to build that up. If we are so fortunate to ever make the playoffs, you want your best players on the floor as much as they can. "That's where we struggle. To be in the game, we have to play him a lot. Maybe that leads to where he is not as productive as he wants to be or we want him to be." There are other issues. As with the Lakers and O'Neal in recent seasons, the Rockets need Yao to move faster defensively, especially when forced to defend pick-and-rolls. They need him to pass with more confidence when trapped in double-teams. They need him to be more decisive. The significance today might not be about the meeting of perhaps the league's greatest giants but rather on how far Yao and the Rockets have come in closing the gap and how much further they still must go. "Anybody can get up to play against the best team in basketball," Van Gundy said. "The individual matchup is hard to excel at. You're going against one of the best players of all time. I'm much more concerned with how (Yao) does day in, day out, practice-game, practice-game, practice-game. If he does the right thing in all of those, eventually over time, we're going to see improvement. And like most improvement, it's not going to be stark. "It's going to be a little bit at a time, so hopefully at the end of the year we'll say, `Man, he's come a long way,' without making people realize it. "Yao's got greatness in him. It's up to myself and it's up to him to bring it out consistently." If another clash with O'Neal and another night of excessive scrutiny helps, they Rockets will take it. Always motivated The Rockets scoffed at the suggestion that today's televised game with the Lakers would offer help in the form of extra motivation. The motivation is there, guard Steve Francis said. "Either you win or you lose. That's pretty much all the motivation you need," he said. "We have to reflect on (Tuesday's loss), see the things we've done wrong that we could have helped ourselves with. Everybody and their mother is going to be at this game. If you can't be motivated to play in this game regardless of what goes on before, the game itself should have you motivated. Hopefully, we'll see a change. "We just have to make sure we're prepared to go in to LA and battle against arguably the best team in the West." Forward Maurice Taylor said today's is a big game, if only as a chance to end a two-game losing streak. "It's easy to get motivated," he said. "It's another basketball game, really; it's just that it falls on Christmas. It's a big game, regardless of who we're playing because we need a win." ******************* Has this been posted already? If so, I apologize. I found the bit about Yao needing the desire to be able to dominate like Shaq very relevant. Reading about Yao before he was drafted, I got the impression that he had the same burning desire to win, improve and dominate as some of the greats. I don't get that impression now, and I wonder if it's partly due to playing away from home for the first time and just not having the same sense of ownership over the game and the team as back at home. You remember that game in the Asian Championship this summer where Yao just got mad and started dunking. Maybe it's hard for Yao to be as motivated when he's not playing for the National team and in front of his countrymen. I mean, this isn't home for Yao. He doesn't identify with us in the U.S. Proving yourself to foreigners isn't the same as proving yourself to your countrymen.
That's kind of long. Here are the sections that caught my eye: Yao, at 7-6 with agility and athleticism never seen in the few men who could look him in the eye, would seem to have the potential to cause similar problems. Asked if Yao will become that sort of force, Van Gundy said, "I don't know. "A lot of that will be determined by how Yao sees it himself, just what he wants out of his career. To get to where O'Neal has gotten, you have to be a special talent, but you have to have an unbelievable determination to get to there." "To get that kind of success, you have to have the desire to get there in the first place," Yao said. "I can only say that I don't want to lose. Every time I play, every time I go out, I don't want to lose. This is basketball. It's not soccer. There are no draws. "I don't know what that feels like (to change the game the way O'Neal does). I don't think I will until the day that actually is."
