Favorite Yao Ming moment?

when they got him and he first flew to USA. Like preseason. They had this weird intro where cuttino announced him. All he said was 'yao ming' then he emerged and I got super hyped.

Then in what I think must have been his first game or near it, he did this kind of fade away back jumper off the blocks.I was like oh shi**t!! we got us a bad ass over here. I was really sorry for his foot problems. He never really got to be all the way to what I thought he could. We were going to win that lakers series. For some reason I put ming right up there on the rockets mt rushmore. Im not asian either.

 

Yao Ming.... A man with amazing abilities cut down... definitely the 2009 Lakers Playoff game where he came out of the tunnel. That moment defined him.

 

His rarely referenced slap pass cross-court to an open Steve Francis near the corner...

For some reason, no one seems to remember this incredible moment by Yao Ming in his rookie year... It's nowhere to be found in ANY of his rookie mix videos, or any other of his "best of Yao" montage videos...

I forget if it was Moochie, or Cat, who made a poor low pass to Yao who was not-so-near the top of the key, backing his man into the paint... Yao, with one arm sealing his man, bent down, stretched out his right hand at the ball, hardly palming it, and having no grip on the ball... he managed to deliberately "slap it" across the court, with a perfect bounce to an open Steve Francis in motion at the corner, who went up for the open three point shot... as if it had been a perfectly executed drawn play...

When I saw that, along with every other amazing play of his rookie season... I thought he was going to be an amazing player... He was so natural, so instinctive his rookie year...

Then JVG came in and turned him into an overthinking, mechanical low-post robot who was his own worst enemy... but, that's another story for another time...

 

Over-the-head give and go pass to a cutting Moochie at the baseline.

 

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My favorite Yao moment was when he left and made room for uptempo game. I respect Yao, but the truth of the matter is the "Yao" offense was quite boring and repetitive due it being slow...

 

Cause being boring and fundamental doesn't win championships.

~ Signed,

The Spurs

 

I really miss Yao. He would have helped Rockets win championship if he stayed healthy. I hope Rockets retire his jersey at Toyota Center soon.

 

I was going to say this same thing (about the pass).

Watching videos of first year or so Yao really felt like a totally different player.

 

My favorite Yao moment was when Pieman tried to break this thread with that huge ass picture.

 

Yao vs. Shaq

It was then that I knew he not only had the ability to be a top player in the league, but also the heart to be an all-time Rockets great

The playoff injury comeback comes pretty close too

Miss ya, big guy

 

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Spoiler that ****ing huge ass pic

 

This is my favorite Yao Ming picture:

Spoiler

 

That one time he faked Shaq so bad, Shaq had to smack him in the head from behind, and Yao still made the basket i believe.

 

Thanks for posting images that ruin the pages, folks.

And why no love for the first Shaq vs Yao game? That was awesome. Yao came up HUGE and Francis went for 44, IIRC.

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And here are the Francis highlights:

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When he wasn't pounding the ball into the ground as the shot clock expired or sailing a pass into the 4th row, he was awesome. And Cuttino. Always loved Cuttino's game.

 

Hard to pin point but I loved his coming out party against the lakers that first year.

I loved the first two playoff games in 2004-2005. Tmac's first year as a Rocket. Those two played in sync for those two games and my God it was a sight to see! That screen he set for tmac to pop a three was just killer.

The last of course was that L.A game. Coming out to finish the Lakers off. Man showed more heart than could ever be expected.

The man bled Rockets red. Championship or not, he deserves nothing but gratitude and devotion from this organization and fans of this organization.

 

When he came out of the tunnel after the injury against the Lakers in 09 before his season ended.

 

I almost forgot how big Yao was/is. Definetly a great moment. made me think that Aldridge was seeking revenge against the Rockets after his performance during games one and two this past playoffs.

 

Let me find my 100% accurate life size Yao image to post.