http://blogs.chron.com/franblinebury/2009/01/light_my_fire_rockets_115_nugg.html The time to hesitate is through No time to wallow in the mire Try now we can only lose And our love become a funeral pyre Come on baby, light my fire --- The Doors All through the afternoon, the Nuggets pushed him and pulled him and hooked him and grabbed him and hammered on him. If it wasn't Nene giving him a body slam, it was Kenyon Martin delivering an elbow to the back or Birdman Andersen sticking a beak into his neck or Chauncey Billups chopping down on his forearms. The intent was to wear Yao Ming down. Instead it fired him up. At the end of a long game that had the look and feel of a holiday matinee - kids out of school, running free on the playground with little defense - Yao simply got angry. He was bubbling like the lava inside Vesuvius after another puzzling game of having his own play shackled by referee Violet Palmer. "I got mad the whole game. I sit on the bench and not help the team," Yao said. "Obviously, that's my opinion. I think I get some bad calls. "I just tried to draw the foul on them. They have three bigs rotate on me. I'm more effective trying to get them out of the game. Score in the paint, shoot free throws." Yao was jostled every time he tried to set up to catch the ball in the post. He was knocked to the floor on several occasions and he was frustrated at the calls going against him at the other end. That was Denver's plan. Once he got the ball, there was nobody who could stop Yao. So the idea was to beat him up first. Finally, he erupted. The way everybody sitting up in the cheap seats would like to see him blow sky-high 82 times during the regular season. The explosion came in the final six minutes, just after Yao was called for traveling along the baseline as he tried to put up a shot with the Nuggets leading 107-103 and Andersen clearly hooking his arm. Referee Pat Fraher made the call while standing behind both players and never had a view of what Andersen did. Yao flipped his lid, blew his top, hit the roof, got hit with a technical foul. "I was a little bit out of (my) mind right there," he said. "I think, 'How can I don't get a call on that? My teammates really helped me. They talked to me and said, 'Hey calm down. We still have the game to go and we need you on the court.' "When we had a timeout on the bench, Chuck (Hayes) is coming to me and saying, 'Don't get the second technical. Calm down.' I really appreciate that help." But it was the Rockets who were helped most by that sequence of events. Because for most of the final six minutes, Yao was like a boulder rolling down the side of a mountain and the Nuggets who stood in his way were mostly flattened. Barely 30 seconds later, Yao took a feed from Brent Barry and slammed the ball. He kept calling for the ball and delivering - an 8-foot turnaround fadeaway, a 6-foot jump hook when he leaned hard into Andersen, an 11-foot turnaround. There were back-to-back turnovers at around the one-minute mark, but for the most part, Yao owned the stretch run like Secretariat at the Belmont. He was a fire-breathing dragon, scoring 10 of his game-high 31 points to carry the Rockets home. There was Rafer Alston (18 points, 11 assists) with his first double-double of the season, the legend of Von Wafer with 18 points, Luis Scola with 16 and 8 rebounds and Brent Barry with a trio of 3-pointers. But in what was mostly a volleyball game of hitting leads back and forth across the net, it was Yao's brewing, fuming determination that made the difference. And can he keep it up every night, even when Tracy McGrady and Ron Artest return to the lineup? "After that call I think I don't want to be changed...not the way I play," he said. "I still need to attack the rim. I still need to defend the way I am going to defend. I think I'm doing the right way and everybody makes a mistake. But if you believe you're doing the right thing, you continue to do." Mostly he smolders, usually he keeps it all locked up inside himself. So was this change you can believe in? Yao grinned. "It looked good today," he said.
Every once in awhile, Fran uncorks a good column. This was one of them. It didn't hurt that he opened with a quote of one of Jim Morrison's lyrics, that I was lucky enough to see him sing live in Houston, back in the day. Kudos, Fran. You nailed this one.
couldn't agree more with blind-ber..i mean Fran. I hate his writing sometimes because he goes too far with the lit. major analogies but today it was ok.
some times, the ref just have bad position from them to make the calls, and this is not a bad things since almost everytime yao get bad call, he always turn his game up.
Good read. Good game yao. HEY YAO: Please don't slap your hands together and shake your head when something goes wrong--it looks weak and you Sir are NOT.
I saw it briefly in the first 20 games or so but these last 20 games the light seems to have brightened for Yao. He is making agressive moves around the basket more, going harder for rebounds and hop stepping to get separation for shots. He is starting to really turn it up, and it is exciting to hope he takes this to the playoffs.
I like angry Yao Honestly, Yao is back to his pre-injury form...perhaps even better. With this Yao, and t-mac and artest returning in a few weeks, i can smell some really nice long winning streaks. Team is playing great Offense (D was pathetic today).
Break on Through, The End, Not to Touch the Earth, Touch Me, Roadhouse Blues, L.A. Woman, Texas Radio and the Big Beat, Take It As It Comes, Peace Frog- please, the Doors are not overrated. The general consensus is that they are one of the great and influential American bands, and that is an absolutely correct assessment. "The End" is one of the first progressive rock songs, they pioneered the use of keyboards as a primary instrument in rock, they've influenced bands and artists as wide-ranging as The Pixies, X, Billy Idol, The Cult, Pearl Jam, Echo and the Bunnymen, Genesis, etc., and they've created a handful of songs that will always be considered among rock's best: Light My Fire Love Me Two Times Riders on the Storm Hello I Love You People Are Strange Touch Me Love Her Madly Roadhouse Blues Break On Through Sorry for the rant. I kinda like the doors.
