Has Yao vs. Shaq become the marquee match up in the league?

side note.. Yao holding his own lately has definately added to the hype..

If Yao was still getting squashed like in the beginning it wouldnt be that fun to watch.

J

 

I agree with you. I think maybe the three times Yao scored over Shaq in the 4th really burnt a memory into people's minds, but Shaq played a good game and it took 2 or 3 guys to guard him.

I don't think Yao outplayed him except for maybe in the 4th when he frustrated Shaq and forced him to foul out.

 

It ABSOLUTELY has in terms of one-on-one matchups!!!

Can't name one that's bigger???

 

Last night:

Shaq
24 points, 41 percent shooting and 9 rebounds as well as fouling out trying to stop Yao Ming.

Yao Ming
29 pts, 48 percent shooting, 11 rebounds and total control of the fourth quarter when the game counted the most.

Stats are close but Yao wins hands down especially in the 4th. How can anyone say that Yao Ming did not out play Shaq last night? To say other wise is just plane ludicrous.

 

But there're some dents to the "outplaying" of Shaq by Yao.

Shaq blocked Yao 4 times. Not to mention that Shaq had 4 assists and 1 steal.
Yao didn't get a single block on Shaq last night.

 

The final frustration foul was Shaq admitting that Yao outplayed him. He had gotten completely owned 2 plays in a row and couldn't take it anymore. So he makes a cheap aggressive foul to display that he is still "tough", while getting sent to the bench and escaping further embarrassment.

 

Shaq during the championship years would have owned Yao of today. But Shaq's just not the player he used to be. He used to have flashes of quickness and also that brute strength...now some of that strength has turned into a lot of lipids.

As for being a marquee matchup I think so. I think it's healthy for Yao, for us the Houston Rockets fans, and for the NBA in general.

Shaq keeps on proclaiming he's the best he's Superman blah blah..only to get beaten by Yao...how sweet.

 

yao still has 20 healthy toes

 

that's why it's called "outplay".
if Yao led Shaq in every statistical category, it would've been domination! No one has dominated Shaq in his entire career, not even Dream in 95, imo.

 

How can you say Dream didn't dominate him? Even Shaq himself has stated that he was dominated by Olajawon.

 

i was watching Jay leno today and Charles barkley was on it. He was talking about the all star game and yao and shaqs name came up. He said Yao kicked Shaq but last night. And that coming from barkely gots to tell u something.

 

Shaq was just being modest since he was the young guy goin up against a legend. There was not a huge difference in their points, so it was not a domination. Hakeem did outplay him.

 

WOW

 

What, you think we can beat Minny in the playoffs?

 

Couple Points..

If you guys agree with Barkloudly now thats crazy.. this is the same guy who said Yao would never score 19pts and become another Shawn Bradley (I actually feel sorry for SBradley since people keep making fun of him).

I agree Shaq was humble back in the days when he said Hakeem dominated him.. Hakeem beat him but domination is a string word I think he was being modest. hmmmm... sounds like Yao doesnt it?

But what makes this matchup fun is that you actually see Yao and Shaq fighting each other for position. Scoring on each other and taking it at each other. You dont see as many matchup's like this anymore.. People get switched off onto other players so much you dont much of this one on one stuff. People can say what they want but I saw Yao guard Shaq plenty of times one on one that night without much help for the first 3 periods (until Yao started getting into foul trouble).

Shaq is the standard centers are measured against and that Yao had a great game against him shows how far he has come. This will be a fun matchup to watch for years to come and will become a very interesting rivalry if they get matched up in the playoffs.

J

 

Hakeem vs. David Robinson in 94 = domination.

Hakeem vs. Shaq in 94 = outplayed.

Yao vs. Shaq 04 = slightly outplayed.

 

WHA! Dont compare yao to dream EVER!! Let yao win two championships in a row then we talk. All Dream did was sweep shaq's team... in the NBA FINALS!!!!

Even Shaq admitted that dream dominates him. Dream is one of the top 10 players in the history of the nba.

 

I will again say it.. dream SWEPT shaq. I still remember those brooms!!!

 

Last Season, Eddie (baby Shaq) of Chicargo Bulls did just that (outplaying Shaq) on one game at Chicargo. Why didn't anyone remember it?