For those to lazy to click. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- No one of such height has ever displayed so much skill as Yao Ming. It just so happens that he is the least impressed of all of us. When I tried to ask the other night about his skills as a passer, he interrupted. "You're talking about the five turnovers?'' he said, referring self-deprecatingly to the mistakes he'd made in his return Monday after missing 32 games with a broken leg. While the Rockets were going 20-12 in their 10 weeks without Yao, coach Jeff Van Gundy could feel the pressure rising in his 26-year-old center like mercury within a feverishly tall thermometer. As the Rockets remained in contention during his absence, Yao felt the need to come back and prove that they could do even better with him. "He is hypersensitive to the supposed 'how well we did without him,' '' says Van Gundy. "He has thought far too much about that, instead of being a more arrogant, self-centered player where you only think about yourself -- so the results wouldn't have mattered to you. "And in this brief instance, that would serve him best. Because we would have done better with him. On those rare occasions when [Shaquille] O'Neal is out and his teams win, I don't see any self-doubt by him. So Yao would be better served to not overthink right now. We clearly have a better chance at being good when he's here, and part of that is his great attitude of caring about the team, caring about his teammates and, heaven forbid, even caring about his coaches.'' For a player to care for Van Gundy, as hard as he is on his team, that is the very definition of a saintly fiber here on earth. What is obvious today is that the Rockets of March are not the same team as the Rockets of December. They were forced to move on without Yao, and now he must catch up. When Yao first arrived from China as a 7-5 rookie in 2002, the cultural issues were boiled down to whether or not he would ever learn to dunk on smaller players. Could he become an aggressive NBA star? This season he had clearly turned the corner on that issue while averaging 25.9 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in his first 27 starts upon suffering the small fracture of his right leg Dec. 23. Despite those dominant numbers, it is now clear that Yao is still not your typical NBA star. He draws strength from worrying. "If anything happens I always think, 'What about tomorrow? What about the day after tomorrow?' Things like that,'' Yao says. "I think, 'That's a bad future ahead,' so I can keep myself ready to prepare for that. That's the way I think. Maybe it's too many pressures, but I need some pressures.'' In one way, the difference between Yao and the best American players is not so great as Van Gundy makes it appear. Both cultures share a fear of failure. Jerry West has often talked of how he has always been driven, as player and team executive, by his fear of performing badly. Larry Bird and Michael Jordan never wanted to be embarrassed on the court. Just last week O'Neal was telling me how much he thrives on proving his critics wrong: He's inspired when others predict he will fail. What is different between Yao and his NBA forefathers is the humility that he projects. The American stars tend toward a confident swagger (even if deep-down they are scared to death of looking bad), and they encourage praise not only as their due reward but also to encourage a psychological advantage over their opponents. Stars like Bird, Jordan and O'Neal want their enemies to feel intimidated. Yao, coming as he does from the other side of the world, has a far different approach. Praise him and he'll respond by knocking himself down. Criticize him and he might agree. A journalist from abroad made an attempt at a joke the other night. He said, "If you don't want to make turnovers, maybe you should be like Ben Wallace and just get rebounds.'' Yao smiled, his head lowered deferentially as he sat at his locker. "There was one turnover I had last game: After the rebound, I pass to the wrong people,'' he said, referring to a turnover he committed against Cleveland. "Nothing is safe. You need to be careful every second.'' All of this is to emphasize the unique experiment ongoing in Houston. With six weeks remaining Van Gundy must not only galvanize Yao, who showed in his return this week that he'll need time to regain his rhythm and conditioning, but he must also keep pushing Tracy McGrady, who is driven by his own insecurity to prove that he can at the very least win a playoff series. In fairness to McGrady, he has always been the underdog in the playoffs, and that trend is likely to continue this spring as the No. 5 Rockets have fallen five games behind No. 4 Utah in the Western Conference standings. (What is important now is that Utah doesn't overtake No. 3 San Antonio: The Rockets need to avoid an opening-round matchup with the Spurs, who have won 11 straight and look like championship contenders again.) The Rockets are wary of adding to the pressures that Yao is putting on himself. In his return Monday at Cleveland, the Rockets went early and often to Yao, and he wasn't up to it. He had no "game feel,'' as he put it, going 5-for-15 (for 16 points) with the aforementioned five turnovers in the 91-85 loss, which was Houston's fourth in five games. Two nights later in a 111-80 win at Boston, Yao was a more complementary 4-for-9 (11 points) with four assists and one turnover. It served as a promising example of how the Rockets may reintegrate Yao into their attack. Early in the season Van Gundy not only emphasized that Yao was the No. 1 option, but he also applauded McGrady for serving as playmaker to Yao. Now the coach is no longer interested in that kind of talk. "We'd rather play offensively as we were,'' says Van Gundy, referring to the style that developed in Yao's absence. "The ball will find [Yao], that won't be the problem. Where we think he can help us is defensively. He's not obviously quick or fast, but he can help us protect the basket. We need him to defend and rebound and try to keep his turnovers down.'' While McGrady took pride in deferring to Yao in November and December, he is now averaging 24.5 points and a team-best 6.1 assists in all-out attack mode. "You've got to be aggressive,'' McGrady says. "You can't tone your game down just because he's coming back. I would be stupid for doing that. Then I would be deferring to him and you know we're not going to win that way. Now granted, if he has it rolling some games, then yeah, I'll take a back seat. But for the most part, I will continue to stay aggressive and we'll search Yao out.'' Before his undermanned Celtics were bludgeoned by Houston, coach Doc Rivers praised the Rockets as a team capable of upsetting the Western Big Three of Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio. "They're as good as anybody when they're healthy,'' he said. While the Rockets appreciate their potential, they realize that time is running short to turn it into achievement. "We know the reality,'' says Shane Battier. "We haven't played a great basketball game consistently against the top teams in this league. We're building toward that. Not to say that we can't get there, but we need to play the Dallases, the Phoenixes and the San Antonios and give them a better showing. We have to translate our top-rated field-goal defense and our top-rated points-per-game defense against the best teams. That's when you really have it down. We're not at that point yet, but we can work on those things.'' -----------------------------------------------------------
Wow, he's been back 2 games and we have writers trying to figure out what's eating at Yao and worrying about how he will reintegrate. Let's let the guy play a weeks worth of games before we even begin to worry about getting worried. BTW, I predict a dominate game tonight against the Nets.
oh oh, bring out the lurkers I do want to tell TMac that they were looking pretty damn good when he and Yao were together earlier this year. I love TMac and all, but there are some games where he just hangs around the perimeter taking jumpers all day. We don't need him to be the man, nor do we need Yao to be the man, I'll settle for a balance.
Interesting McGrady quote. He should know that the rockets were 14-6 with tmac and yao playing this year, while yao was the number option. Tmac makes some weird comments sometimes. He talks about being unselfish and not caring about being the man, but he does make some very arrogant comments sometimes. However, he is always careful to make it seem subtle.
He also said earlier this year that he was washed up... now how often do you hear athletes admit that they have lost a step? Usually they play until their team drags them off the court when they're 45. I think winning cures all ills, and if they continue to win, both Yao and McGrady will get plenty of touches and both will stay happy.
He said he was washed up as an excuse for his poor play. Then once he started playing well again, he said it was all mental. If you hear McGrady talk a lot, you'll notice he'll have excuses for everything.
The media's reaction isn't so surprising though. His comeback is the biggest story in the NBA right now, so they have to analyze it six ways to Sunday.
The two highest paid guys on the Rockets bench should be the team trainer and the team pyschologist. Very important necessities for our stars.
I'm glad Yao is like this. It simply means his game is going to get even better. Can't wait to see that. He's still 3 years away from his peak. And with his style of play, he can stay peaked for a long time, provided injuries don't break him down.
TMac played poorly at the start of season. Shotting at low pct and seemed rather depressed, maybe he was reserving to play in Spring. He must really mean it. TMac has superior mobility, yet Yao has his relatively static game, not compatible. If you truly want both roll, hire Nash cause both guy don't have that kind of talent to mix.
i personally have no problem with yao and tmac approach to thinking about things. i know, people want that killer mentality and blah blah blah, but ultimately these are people. Personally, i think its refreshing to have 2 guys that are not so caught up in the game and themselves. tmac has had off the court issues and he has always been hard on himself, but i think its nice that he evaluates himself as more than just a basketball player. Sure, what he says may not be what you want to hear, but its what he thinks and that honesty is pleasant. He seems to have some perspective on life in general...not just basketball. Yao is the same way. He knows that he has the tools to be as dominant as any center the game has seen, but its the small things that hold him back. you have to know the problem before you can fix it.
I'll probably get flamed for saying this (especially considering I rarely post), but T-Mac is an idiot. He often makes not-so-subtle comments like that. He's also a wuss... one of the most fragile (physically and mentally) stars in the league. Not saying he's not an outstanding player though... I just wish he'd shut up, stop complaining (always has some kind of an ailment) and play basketball. Enough with limping around the court until you get hot... enough with jogging up and down the court. Show some heart!
who knows? as a rocket fan i wanna strike while the iron is hot ... while still hoping for longevity and stronger success for the big man.
