Here is a phone interview(china.yaoming.net) after the game translated by Pryuen. First of all, I want to say that I'm a very big fan of Yao and have supported and defended him many times in this BBS as well as others. From reading this interview and paying close attention to his attitude, it seems that Yao cares very little about his game and doesn't take it seriously. Its almost like an attitude of a little kid that don't care. This just makes me question his work ethic and how he carries his game. Maybe its just me, but when a player of his calibre and size only scores 6pts and grab only 2 rb, you'd have to be pissed or at least be concern. But, I don't see none of that in the interview and he basically just shrug and say "oh well, no big deal...I will try to play better next time". C'mon Yao, grow up and be a man! You are the number one pick so act like one and make yourself worthy of one. Speak out and tell us whats wrong be it your teammates or choaches, not about an elbow brace that we alredy know. I want to see the fire and anger in him after a bad performance like when hes in the olympics. Whatever happen to that attitude of Yao? Yaoming.net: Your defender tonight is Alonzo Mourning. Compared with the past, what do you think about his game now? Yao Ming: Of all NBA players, Mourning was the first player that I played against; that was in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, certainly not this year in Athens. At that time, my impression for him was: he was strong, extremely strong. Although he was not too tall (2.08M), he was very strong but certainly not to the extent that he could bump me aside. At that time I felt he was extremely strong and fierce. But today, I felt that his condition is good; much stronger when compared with last year (Mourning only played 12 games due to kidney problems in last season), but much inferior as compared to when we met in Sydney. Today, I can't say I was specially successful playing against him; and I don't want to comment on the referees; not much meaning to talk about them (Yao Ming played on New Jersey home court for merely 22 minutes but 5 fouls) but I felt I can now contain/guard him. His game is mainly a low post one, and I have no fear about guarding low post players. Yaoming.net: T-Mac returned to play. You guys had not played together for 2 matches. Do you feel unfamiliar co-ordinating with T-Mac in the match? Yao Ming: Well, (you could say) we didn't co-ordinate well; but originally we have not yet gel to play well together. Moreover, he had yet to recover fully from his injury and he is not yet at his top competing condition (T-Mac played 27 minutes, 14 points/4 assists) Yaoming.net: What about you? Are you feeling alright with your arm? Yao Ming: I already did not think about it any longer. But the doctor demands me to (wear the brace supporter) or else he would not let me play. Last week he said I had to wear it for a week. But this week, he said I have to wear it for another 2 weeks. I have no choice (but to comply with his request). I'm not too accustomed to playing with the brace supporter and did not play well in my first 2 matches with them on. I surely hope I don't need time to readjust by the time I have to take them off. Yaoming.net: You scored 25 and 32 points in your previous 2 games. Is it relatively easy now for you to score high points ? Yao Ming: It is easier now than before. This kind of thing will become more and more easy. Hehe...but tonight, I felt a bit embarrassed to say so. I only scored 6 points. Yaoming.net: You have to play 4 matches this week. 3 away and 1 at home. Do you feel tough? Yao Ming: Now I have learnt how to look at my play schedule, and that is, I pay no attention to future matches other than the one that is scheduled tomorrow. Because there are just too many competitions in a week. You will get a big headache if you take a full look of the week-long play schedule.
Calm down. It's a long season. You want him to stay relaxed and optimistic, otherwise he would burn down like JVG.
yao always knows what to say. he must make the all interview team this year since his interviews are in english most of the time.
He said, point blank, that he was embarrassed. What more do you want? Do you want him to pull a Kelly Winslow and stomp his feet, curse at the reporter? Come on, he knows he can do better and he even said that it will get easier for him. Personally, it looks like to me, that Yao is just thinking too much instead of just using his skill and instincts and reacting to what is going on. Once he gets to the point where is is just playing basketball, watch out.
Yao Ming think he is a team player, but at the same time, he is building a kind of role player mentality. He is average only 1 ast per game for god's sake. Stop passing out the ball, take your responsibility.
I just read the interview, and I don't understand your negative outlook, noize. I think Yao is simply a sorta laid back / easy going fellow. And at least what I gather from the interview, he's got a confident ego and he's not worried about his game at all.
I think the interview was fine. Yao shouldn't panic after scoring 6 pts. That is the job of us message boarders, sort of. He had a bad game and has played inconsistently but I believe he will turn it around and be much improved by year end. The refs are out to get him though but he'll have to work around that.
Geez, a bad game by Yao, and the shiit hits the fan. Come on, Rocks got the win. Give the guy a break. You bastards don't know how lucky you are to have a guy like that in TX. Trade him to the Golden State, please. So that I don't have to follow the game on Yahoo. BTW, what's wrong with the interview anyway?
I do not get it ... I would be fine with Yao's 22 minutes if the Rox win. OK, he did not play as well as you guys expected. So what? Did not the Rox win? Oh, they did. Then it was a good thing that your center only played 22 minutes knowing that you have naother game the next day. Yao would be fresh tonight whne you guys play the Hawks. With both of your stars basically rest last night, I would be suprised if the Rox do not win this one. By the way, would it be a nice thing that the Rox win every game in which Yao scores only 6 points for the next 90 games? You may ask why 90, well the nest 74 regular season games plus 16 playoff games would lead the Rox to a .... you know what
I think the point was that he kept passing the ball out of the paint and did not get many assists, which, in turn, meant that his teammates did not make the shots out of Yao's passes. So why passing it all the time? Forcing some shots would be nice.
Maybe this will make Noize feel better (props to mogrod) Interviewer: So Yao, how come you di so bad tonight? Yao: It's those damn refs. They keep calling stupid fouls on me, but it is ok. Its because they don't realize Interviewer: Don't realize what? Yao: that I'm a soldier Interviwer: say what? Yao: you didn't hear me? I'm a soldier! I'm a soldier! Interviewer: Ok forget the refs, how was your game overall tonight? Yao: I'm a soldier! I'm a soldier
Thanks for your explaination. That is exactly my point. Stop passing the ball out, unless that leads to an easy basket for your teammate.
