[Chron] Rockets win, road show a smash in China

NBA road show is a smash in China
Enthusiastic crowd of 11,333 cheers Yao's every move, all 14 of his points
Rockets 88, Kings 86
By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2848614

SHANGHAI, CHINA - Everything was familiar, the sights, the sounds, the game. But it was different, too, as each moment had become special, something to be celebrated and cherished.

Shanghai had sent its most prized athletic jewel to Houston, and the NBA returned the favor, bringing Yao Ming back — at least for a few manic days — and making an ordinary preseason game extraordinary.

A meaningless game never meant so much.

"It was amazing," Rockets guard Tracy McGrady said. "I had to sit back and take it all in. I couldn't believe how people react to him, the true support he gets, the love they have for him. He's international. He's an icon. He's huge."

The Rockets defeated the Sacramento Kings 88-86 on Thursday as David Hawkins, Reece Gaines and Tyronn Lue led a late surge and Juwan Howard blocked a final Kings shot. But while the team's second preseason game was as predictably ragged as if it had been played at Toyota Center, the scene ranged from Cameron Indoor to Woodstock.

When the Rockets arrived and later departed Shanghai Stadium, people surrounded the bus and many threw themselves at the windows. Security was too awestruck to do more than watch and take pictures. When the first Rockets players reached their showers, fans were in the stalls waiting for them.

"People here look at us like a rock band," McGrady said. "I love the international atmosphere. It's much different than in the States. They're constantly up, rowdy, cheering. It's fun. It's a great feeling playing in an atmosphere like this."

From start to finish, the packed-house crowd of 11,333 roared, gasped or groaned with every trip down the court. In the second half, they broke into a cheer of "Yao Ming, Jia Yo, Yao Ming, Jia Yo," or "Yao Ming, add fuel."

With less than five minutes remaining, a brief chant of "Yao Ming, Yao Ming" spread through the arena, with the calls growing stronger in the final minutes for Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy to allow them one more glimpse of Yao. But by then, his work was done.

"I did not give a good performance," said Yao, who scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds in 26 minutes. "I was so nervous. It was like the first time I played in the NBA (in a stumbling, scoreless debut in Indianapolis)."

So great was the pressure and attention placed on Yao that he said, not entirely facetiously, "I was looking for the exit. I was suffocating."

He did take a few passes to dunks and even converted on an alley-oop from McGrady, but he made only four of 10 shots and had five turnovers. He was far from alone in his struggles. McGrady, who started at point guard, made only three of 11 shots. The Rockets hit only 28 of 74 shots and one of 13 3-pointers.

But such details hardly seemed to matter.

"I'm so excited," said 18-year-old fan Luna Zhuof Shanghai. "Tomorrow, I can tell my friends, 'If (the NBA) comes back here, you have to come.' I hope (NBA games) come to Shanghai every year. It's great, very, very great."

Said Lu Xinjie, who made the trip from Macao for the game: "It's the atmosphere we see on TV, but it's here. Here, we can feel the excitement."

Preseason games in the United States do not come close to generating this kind of electricity.

"The fans are loud and crazy," said Kings forward Chris Webber, who scored 14 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. "It makes a great experience. It still amazes me that fans living so far away know you and love you."

The NBA brought over every bit of its game production, filling every moment with dunkers, dancers, cheerleaders and all the usual songs. But for one night — and maybe two, if Sunday's in Beijing goes the same way — it seemed new.

The game was broadcast in 176 countries and available in more homes in China than there are people in the United States. NBA commissioner David Stern said the games would generate about $25 million in revenue.

"I think it's fair to say Yao Ming is the most important thing in the world for the development of the NBA in China that has ever occurred," Stern said. "With Yao Ming, this is even more extraordinary. But it would be historic with any NBA team. These games represent to us, the NBA, a historic occasion."

More than even that, however, it electrified a country.

"This is like a playoff game to the people here," Rockets forward Maurice Taylor said. "To us, it might be a preseason game, but to the people in China, this was for the championship."

They won.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

 

Howard lucky to play with all three Chinese in top-flight league
By FRAN BLINEBURY
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/2848604

SHANGHAI, CHINA - Juwan Howard played as part of the Fab Five in his college days at Michigan.

Now he is the only player in the NBA to have teamed with every brick in the so-called "Great Wall of China," the only three players from the Chinese national team to have competed at basketball's highest level.

"I guess you can call me a pioneer, an ambassador or something," said the veteran forward who joined the Rockets this season. "I'll tell you, I was talking with my wife about it recently and I consider it an honor."

Howard was in Dallas in April 2001 to welcome Wang Zhi Zhi, the first Chinese player in the NBA. Howard was traded to Denver for the 2001-02 season and teamed there with Mengke Bateer.

Now he gets an up-close look at Yao Ming.

"This is an exciting time to be in the NBA, with the influx of all the players from so many different countries," Howard said. "We've seen what the European players have been able to bring to the game, contribute to the NBA for a number of years. Now we have China opening up with these three guys, and I'm sure it's only a start."

Of course, the 31-year-old Howard added another notch of Chinese history to his belt Thursday by playing with Yao and the Rockets in their 88-86 victory over the Sacramento Kings before an appreciative and knowledgeable crowd of 11,333 fans crammed into Shanghai Stadium.

The game had a regular-season NBA atmosphere, with cheerleaders, rock 'n' roll music and mascots, and was televised in 176 countries,

Yet it was a time for curiosity as the Chinese fans marveled at the size and athleticism of the players and got a kick out of being invited to the loud, colorful party.

The venue was a 30-year-old arena with a stage on one side of the court that had hosted Elton John in concert just three weeks earlier and had been reconfigured for basketball.

"The fate of Eastern civilization hangs in the balance," said Hall of Famer and ESPN analyst Bill Walton, with tongue in cheek.

It's all part of the rapidly changing NBA face Howard has seen closer than most. He has shared locker rooms, layup lines and laughs with Wang, Bateer and Yao and says he is most impressed by the way they have made the transition to American culture as much as to the NBA style of play.

"It simply amazes me," Howard said. "I've watched all that they've had to go through. It's not just learning basketball. It's living thousands of miles from all of the friends and family that you have at home. It's taking everything that you knew and were comfortable with growing up and leaving it behind to start over.

"I've sat down and thought about what it would have been like for me to leave school at Michigan and try to make a life in China. There's the language difference, the food, just everything.

"I think to a lot of people out there watching these three guys, they just try to judge them strictly as basketball players the way you judge American players. I don't know if that's fair.

"It really goes unnoticed all that these guys have to go through just to try to learn to function in America. That's a shame, because it's all part of the process and all part of their learning curve.

"I've seen Wang and Mengke and Yao adjusting to the American way of life and doing it smoothly. I commend them for that."

On the court, Howard has seen three different players having varied degrees of success. Wang and Bateer have bounced from team to team over the past couple of years; Yao has moved right in to become an All-Star with the Rockets.

When Wang joined the Mavericks and played five games at the end of the 2000-01 season, few American fans were familiar with him and fewer had high expectations.

Now Wang is trying to find a place in Miami alongside Shaquille O'Neal.

"I was impressed with Wang as a person first of all," Howard said. "He is kind, respectful. That's a common trait that runs through all of the three Chinese players.

"From a basketball standpoint, I think Wang is very, very talented, skill-wise. He's a very good shooter, and he can score at almost any time from a lot of different places on the court.

"I know some people in the game thought he'd be doing more. But he's just had trouble finding the right place."

Bateer has been in San Antonio and Denver and was just signed by the New York Knicks.

"I told some friends of mine in Chicago over the summer that Mengke is a sleeper," Howard said. "He's got a real strong body. He can score and rebound. He's another one who's just got to find the right place."

Yao, of course, has found his place.

"This is an opportunity for me to play with a guy like Yao Ming," Howard said. "As we all know, he's on his way to being a superstar in the NBA. By that I mean he has the potential to be mentioned with names like Patrick Ewing, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dr. J and so on.

"Skill-wise, it's amazing some of the things I've seen him do for somebody who is 7-6. I thought I had appreciation for him. Then I got to Houston and it only went up."

Howard paused and smiled at some of the memories, at the notion of being such a singular figure, the only NBA player to have traveled the entire "Great Wall," so to speak.

"Yeah," Howard said, "and this one, Yao, is the guy who can really take me places."

fran.blinebury@chron.com

 

You're welcome. I spent quite a bit of time in copying and pasting, so I'm glad that my hard work is being appreciated.