http://sports.tom.com/Archive/1019/1042/2003/1/18-79883.html He talked with his friend Yang Yi after the game. He said he experienced a very special day in his life. From the morning of yesterday, everybody who met him asked "what is your feeling now?" He felt like he was a person who was facing the death excution. Before the game, the trainer, the agent and his mom tried every effort to persuade him to watch the tapes of Shaq, including a tape of Divic defending Shaq. He did not take a look to those tapes at all. He met the Dream and Mose. Mose was a quiet person. Dream asked whether he learned that "Dream shake" from him. Some other interesting stuffs.
He said Shaq's actually elbowed him in OT but nobody saw it. And he still felt the pain right now. He also said when he met Malone, Malone didn't seem like to talk and only stared at him and he felt very strange. LOL.
And the reason why he did so many fadeaways. Reporter: In the 1st 3 mins, you were 3/4 and then 0/7 on fadeaways. Why didn't you try other methods? Yao Ming: Try other methods? When I got the positon, I also wanted to try. I wanted to do jump hook but he used one hand to push me I couldn't jump into another way. Aside from jumping upward and behind, you couldn't move anywhere. Those jump shots I wanted to shoot upward, but he pushed me that I jumped behind and that became fadeaway.
Yao sounds like a spoiled Kid, He said the manager asked him if he want to watch Shaq's tape, he doesn't want to, then the manager asked again and again, then he said he only have DVD at home, don't have VCR. Then the manager made a DVD for him, he took it home and just left it on the table. Many people called from the team asking if he had watched the tape, just just wanted to sleep, then his Mom come in and try to pursuade him to watch the tape, "it is just 7-8 minutes, it is better watch it... OK?" he replied :" Do you want me to sleep or Not !" He didn't watch the tape at all. He said Shaq is very strong in defending him, he is like a monster, He is like from another Planet, made him feel couldn't survive. He also said Shaq may be just being nice at the start, The real Shaq came at the OT. Next time he meet Shaq he will not be so lucky any more. He also said he is very very.. tired.
He also said everybody was asking him "how do you feel" on Friday, He felt he is going to the death execution. (being executed). He said Moose doesn't like to talk, just staring at him, made me feel strange. Dream talked a little more, he asked Yao "I heard you used my Dream Shake ?" Yao said "Yeah, yeah,"
Hmmm.... I am wondering if this article is reliable or not. How come his friend can know the story about Yao being persuaded by the team manager and his parents to watch Shaq's video, but yet he does not want to? Would Yao tell such thing? I dunno. If the article is reliable, then it must be that deep down inside Yao feels the pressure of facing Shaq. Especially after all the hype about him, he has such a tremendous pressure to perform against Shaq. He knows he won't be able to outperform Shaq, but he is afraid if he performs very poorly. What people seem to overlook is the fact that Yao is only 22-year old kid. He should have some mental disadvantages. Granted, some rare rookies like man-child Amare might be a fearless warrior, but Yao certainly does not belong to that category yet, and that's very understandable given the fact he's just a Rookie, coming from different cultures and environment, etc.
Well Grace88, I'll assume you're on the level here. But I think your judgement about Yao being a spoiled child needs reassessment. I understand why Yao wouldn't want to watch the tape of Shaq: This was a first time experience for Yao that he wanted to savor. He knew he was going to get pounded by a force otherwise unknown on a basketball court. And he believed he had a shot of playing against the best and playing well. Anyone who's watched Shaq at all knows his game, and I'm sure Yao has watched and seen more closely than I. In not watching the tape he signaled that he needed to approach this game his way. This was one game out of a usually fairly meaningless 82 game season, and not a do or die situation either. So one young man last night got to realize step 1 of his personal ultimate personal dream and he did extremely well and in an historic sense. Having your mother living with you, questioning your judgement when you're about to be "bowed" (Shaq quote) or "broken in half" (Phil Jackson quote) or all the trash spoken all over the world about Yao being weak had to show you something about this guy's fortitude. I'm all for the "collective good" and "do the right thing" mentality, but it's only good dreams by individuals that have ever improved the world. Yao had good dreams.
Lots of interesting comments from Yao Ming. Here is my rough translation. YAO: I FELT LIKE A DEATH SQUAD (SUICIDE BOMBER) It's 3am at Houston. Yao Ming was still awake, checking recaps of the game on the net. Yang Yi: Was it a good game today? Yao Ming: I survived. When I started, I felt as if I was not coming back. YY: Now you know what is Shaq like? YM: Wow. No words to describe him. I don't know how he developed into a body like this. Looks like he is from another planet. YY: Bug you did well, the 4 blocks on Shaq. YM: Let me tell you, next time it will be different. He will the be real Shaq next game. He will be a beast. YY: You hit 3 of 4 in the first few minutes, then 0 for 7, all fadeaway jumpers. Why didn't you try other moves? YM: Other moves? Of course I tried other post moves. I tried to hook, but he hold me with one hand and I cannot move. You cannot move besides up or fadeaway. I tried a few straight up jumpers, but he pushed me with his hands and my balance is off. YY: What's the difference between Mengke Barteer and Shaq? YM: Shaq is like a bulldozer, leaving no room. YY: Shaq gave you compliments before and after the game. And he didn't give you the elbow. YM: Of course he did. I got one from him in OT. It was crowded under the basket so no one saw. And it still hurts. YY: Besides strength, what else is Shaq different? YM: He is smart. Good passer too. He doesn't b**** during the game. We never talked on the court. YY: Why still not sleeping, so late? YM: Too excited. Everybody asked me "How are you feeling?" today. Felt like deadman walking (deathrow inmates). YY: Everybody is nervous. YM: After the shoot out this morning, the trainer asked me if I need some Shaq tapes. I said no. We don't have VCR at home. Then he gave me the DVD version. But I didn't watch it. He also gave me a tape about Divac defending Shaq. But I didn't watch it also. YY: But you defended him well in 38 minutes, and a double double too. YM: I am exhausted. Good thing we rest tomorrow. But if one can defend Shaq, one can defend anyone (Center). Next time, I will adjust my offensive moves. YY: This game must felt like a NBA final. With Hakeem and Moses on the court. YM: Before the game, Hakeem and Moses and I took picture together. Just like the tradition in LA, with Wilt, Jabar, and Shaq. I like this tradition. YY: What did they say to you? YM: Moses doesn't talk much. He just stared at me. I felt strange. YY: Moses is known not to talk too much. How about Hakeem? YM: Hakeem talked for a while. He said: " I heard you were using my Dream Steps?" I just said "Yeah". YY: They said you will be MVPs. YM: THat's a bit too early. But it is certainly a goal for me.
Well, here is a word for word translation (or as close as I can get to word for word ) Enjoy, and if anything doesn't make sense just ask and I can try to clarify. It is 3:00Am, and Yang is talking with Yao on the phone while looking at some media reaction to this game. Yao is constantly telling Yang he is tired. Yang: Did this game satisfy you? Yao: I¡¦m lucky. In the first half, I felt like I was putting my life on the line. I¡¦m glad I¡¦m still alive. Yang: Now you know what it feels like to play Shaw? Yao: He¡K.I am speechless. Don¡¦t know how he trained to be like this, I have never faced any human this scary, that¡¦s if he still is a human. Yang: But you did pretty well, 4 blocks¡K.. Yao: Trust me, next time we play he will not let me block him again. The true Shaq didn¡¦t show up until overtime, and by that time, he was a beast. In the beginning, he was probably just taking it easy one me, letting me save face (means not get humiliated). Yang: You went 3-4 in first 3 min. then 0-7, and it was all fade away, why didn¡¦t you try anything else? Yao: Try something else? After I got the ball in the post, of course I wanted to something different like spin around him, but he only puts one hand on my and I can¡¦t move. I had no where to go but up and back. I wanted to shoot the jumpers straight up, but once I jump, his hand forced me to go backwards and thus¡K the fade away. Yang: In the past, Bateer also pushes you a lot, what was different about O¡¦Neal pushing you. Yao: When bateer pushed me, he would push at a downward angle, so that still left room for me to maneuver. Shaq on the other hand, pushed horizontally like a brick wall, leaving me nowhere to go. Yang: Shaq was very polite and respectful both before and after the game. He didn¡¦t really give you any ¡§dirty¡¨ shots. Yao: Did he? In overtime on one of Shaq¡¦s dunk, he nailed me right on the chin. Most likely nobody saw it since there was so many bodies under the basket. Man it hurt, and look, I have a scratch on my left again, although it might not be from Shaq. Yang: Besides his incredible strength, did you notice anything that you weren¡¦t expecting. Yao: Yeah, he is not a dumb oaf, he is actually quite smart. Although his passes aren¡¦t as crafty as (some name that I can¡¦t figure out yet), it is more then enough for a center. Another thing, he does not have a big mouth, in fact, he didn¡¦t really say anything through the entire game. Yang: Its very late, how come your not sleeping. Yao: How can I sleep? This day has been weird from the moment I woke up. Everybody I met asked me questions like ¡§how are you feeling today¡¨, ¡§are you tired¡¨, ¡§you ready for the big match-up¡¨. So right now I am too excited. Yang: Everyone was nervous. Yao: After practice, the assistant coach ask me if I wanted to watch some Shaq¡¦s tapes. I said no but asked me another 3 times, later I said I have no tape player, only DVD. So they burned onto a DVD and gave it to me. I didn¡¦t really care to watch it. Later, (one of the coaches) called me, saying he asked somebody to bring over another video of how Divac guarded Shaq, and told me to watch it. After dinner, I went to sleep in my room. Later, my mom came in asking me to at least take a look at the tapes. I said they are too long. 2 minutes later, she comes back in saying ¡§they told me it is only 7-8 min. long, just take a look¡¨. I said ¡§ are they going to let me take my nap or not?¡¨ Yang: So you watched nothing and still guarded him for a full 38 min. while getting a double-double. Yao: Well, I made up my mind before the game, I was going to give my all regardless. Right now I can¡¦t even move my legs, luckily I have tomorrow to rest. In two days, we will face the Spurs, but after defending Shaq, it doesn¡¦t matter who else I guard now. Next time I go up against him, I will have to change my tactic, hopefully get little more out of offense. Yang: Winning this game is like winning the Finals for this rockets team, especially with legendary players like Malone and Hakeem spectating the game. Yao: Before the game, Malone, Hakeem, and I took a picture. Malone stood in the front, and he was shortest, I was in back and tallest. This represented the 3 generation of centers for the Rockets. I heard across the staple center they have 3 structures, each with a big picture on it. From the front to back were pictures of Chamberlan, Jabber, and O¡¦Neal, that is the Lakers¡¦ centers for the past 3 generations. I like that custom. Yang: So did Malone and Hakeem say anything to you. Yao: I don¡¦t think Malone likes to talk. When I met him, he just kept on staring at me without saying anything; that made me feel weird. Normally, the expected conversation would be the veteran saying something like ¡§You are doing pretty good young kid¡¨ and I would reply with some of my own praises like ¡§I learned it from you¡¨. Wouldn¡¦t that be enough? Yang: It isn¡¦t weird. Malone never even graduated from high school (or middle school, not sure), so it is education is not that good. Most American reporter learned to not interview him because he usually doesn¡¦t have much to say. But Hakeem should have said a big more? Yao: Yeah, he asked me with his Nigerian accent whether I learned to dream-shake from him, so I said yes of course. Yang: When these two were interviewed, they said that one day you could be MVP. Yao: It is too early right now to talk about that. I am always like this however, even if it was my goal, I would not say it, but I would keep it in my viewing distance. (think he means he will always keep his goals high and firm)
Thanks a lot for the translations. Does anybody else think they did that interview on instant messenger?
I like this quote: YM: I am exhausted. Good thing we rest tomorrow. But if one can defend Shaq, one can defend anyone (Center). Next time, I will adjust my offensive moves.
I agree with Declan. Yao wasn't being arrogant, he wanted to do it his own way, and the best way to prepare was some rest, heh. Let the body breathe and relax. Cleanse his mind of everything and take it as it comes. And pretty much that's what he tried to do. If it was a playoff game, it might have been different, though, Then you need to learn some X and O's to play Shaq.
SaFe, Awesome interview, very very interesting. It is exactly this type of Inside Stuff that draws people to this bbs.
Although his passes aren¡¦t as crafty as (some name that I can¡¦t figure out yet), Yao was referring to Sabas.
Yang Yi (the reporter) is Yao's close friend. He is from Beijing Youth Daily and chat with Yao Ming often. The contact must be initiated from Yao. I dont' think any reporters are allowed to Yao at home 3am...
