Washington Times: "Yao shows O'Neal he's getting closer"

This is the best point, the next game we play against L.A. will be the real deal. O'neal will be ready as will Yao. Its gonna get real interesting from here on out! No one has ever challenged Shaq in his prime. Hakeem beat up on him (and everyone else) when the diesel was young and learning. Similar to how Shaq did Yao last year. I wont miss the next game against L.A. for anything in the world...

 

Will a Rockets vs. Lakers game ever NOT be televised???

The national ratings for ESPN went up 23% over its normal NBA game ratings friday night.

This is going to continue to be the most hyped matchup in the NBA for some time.

Just imagine if the Rockets and Lakers play each other in the playoffs. Wow.

 

but everyone said the same thing after the last game at LA!

 

Great point. Yao had an awesome game against Shaq on Christmas day.

 

This is on ESPN Page 2 written by Ralph Wiley

The Big Man is coming. Who is the Big Man? Hard to tell. No longer a lock. No longer does the citizenry mutter "Shaq," and move off to one side and shade their collective eyes once His Blingness strides onto the court.


Yao cleaned up on Shaq in the recent Rockets-Lakers battle with 29 points and 11 boards.

Tonight's Rookie Challenge boasts two of the new wave of Biggies, 'Melo and LeBron. They will face the second-year men, led by Yao Ming. Even soft-spoken Carlos Boozer brags that the rooks have no chance. But that's a perfect sitchie for LeBron and 'Melo. They get to play together for once, and can dominate the rock between themselves. The game is at 6 p.m. so it can show starting at nine back East. The crowd will be late-arriving, but it'll be a sellout and no doubt rocking. Now this is what the man paid to see!

Meanwhile, the hometown Lakers limped back in after an ignominious end to their recent seven-game road trip, grousing to the pinheads who follow them out on the road, who in turn dutifully wrote this up in the local sheets. Phil Jackson had his contract extension taken off the table, Kobe said he didn't care (is he outta there after this season or what? Or what's the smart money).


And Chairman Yao just did Shaq.

Oh yeah he did. Rockets 102, Lakers 87.

"I don't like the fans having the vote. Yao shouldn't be the starter in the All-Star Game," Chuckster said on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." "Although Yao just did whup Shaq's butt last night." Pregnant, ominous, even hopeful pause from Jay Leno and everybody else on the set. "Oh yeah, he did," Chuckster repeated. "He whupped Shaq's butt."

I wondered why eberybody else, including the play-by-play guy who actually did the game, acted like it hadn't happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Lakers were at the end of a seven-game roadie and you don't have any legs left at that point, but still, in case you missed it, Chairman Yao served notice on us all, quietly, during that 102-87 thrashing of the Lakers in Houston. Yao Ming did things in that game no one has ever done to Shaq. Basically, he busted that ass, straight up, one-on-one, within the context of a team game, and he did it by flatly out-skilling O'Neal.

Let that sink in.


Let's put it this way: You don't want to meet Yao and the Rockets in the playoffs.

It wasn't such much that 29 points and 11 rebounds compared to the 24 points and 10 rebounds. It was the way Yao got them. Yao can shoot his J right over the top of Shaquille, something no other player can do, with the possible exception of KG, and he was doing that, but that wasn't unusual. What was different was when Yao rolled into sweeping Sky Crane hooks, or pulled a Shaq and flipped a rebound away from behind Big Fella, a patented Shaq more, recovered it, and went to finish. Shaq, tired, feeling threatened, then clonked Yao on the head. Hard. It was a back-down hit, calculated to take a toll on Yao, not on that play, but for the rest of the game. Yao dunked it anyway, and hit the free throw, and if anything, became even more stoic, and effective.

Afterward, Jim Gray asked him if that hurt. Of course it hurt, but Yao's reaction was telling. First off, it was in English. That interpreter guy will soon be obsolete. I'm not saying Shaq will be too, but something is changing ... Yao said, "What? Oh. I don't remember it." Did it hurt? "No."

Yao went about his business, gliding out to see super-high screens and then diving back into the hole. The Lakers had Shaq on him one-on-one in the fourth quarter, as they tried to mount a patented, superior NBA team "Y'all ready to play now?" comeback. Yao was having none of it. From the left block, moving left with a right-hand dribble, he moved Shaq into the lane, then drop-stepped him, whirled right and finished with the left hand. Shaq blasted him and no foul was called, but Yao finished and ran back on D.

Yao dropped 15 points in the fourth quarter -- the equivalent of a 60-point game -- on Shaq' massive dome and the Rockets won going away. Yeah, I'm sure Shaq will get some get-back when they meet again, but the die is cast.

It's just a matter of time. Shaq is 31. Yao is 23. People have been saying that Yao's cultural differences will keep him from dominating, and that physical play from the Bad Shaq and all of the brutal Dogmen will keep him at bay, and that he doesn't want it bad enough, which is just a way of saying he is too weak and weak-minded, and isn't physical enough. All I keep thinking to myself is that Bruce Lee came from that same culture. And all I know is, I would not want to draw the Houston Rockets in the first round.

 

Chuster always puts his foot in his mouth with Yao. Last time, he said he'd never score 30 points in a game, and Yao burned that next game. Then had to kiss Kenny's A$$... that was hilarious!

 

actually the bet was Yao could not score more than 19 points in an NBA game.

 

ughhh. yep... shaq's gonna be po'ed. march 3rd is already circled. i still have a feeling that yao's gonna outscore and rebound him again w/ another rox victory.

 

this quote is from the chicago sun times. shaq is really funny.

 

Thank for your link,forenzi.

An exact&visual picture of Yao,I think.

Yeah. the date of two meeting this season:

March 3 (Wed) 8:00 PM

@ April 1 (Thu) 9:30 PM

I'm look forward to the duels.

 

That pic is pretty fun Faos.

 

When it comes to putting things in your mouth that you really shouldn't, that was Chuck's all-time best. Kenny brought in a donkey so Chuck could kiss the "ass" on its head instead of having to literally kiss an ass. And Chuck, not realizing that he could have kissed the "ass" anywhere, kissed the ass on its ass.

 

For what I remember, he bet Yao would never score 20pts, and that night on TNT Yao had scored 20pts by HALF TIME! Sir Charles sure did have to eat his foot that night. Man that was funny.