Yao Ming on pressure et al.

I saw this piece from sina.com (http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2002-12-29/1736372140.shtml). Guess the interview happened after the loss against Knicks. There is really nothing new, but some thoughts are refreshing and kind of philosophical (not sure about this word). So did a quick literal translation. Enjoy.


On pressure, Yao Ming admitted he faced pressure. "The intensity of NBA games is at least twice as much as that of CBA. Think about how many cameras were on me in CBA and how many on me in NBA. Media also play a role. If every now and then someone should come to remind you 'a billion people are watching you', what would you feel?"

On how to deal with pressure, "I don't know how to handle actually. I feel (dealing with pressure) needs two aspects: how to deal with myself and how to deal with others. For myself, it is easy: sleeping, playing video games, trying not to think about the pressure, (this way) time flies fast. practice when it is practice time, do your best in each second, that's all you need. How to deal with (pressure from) other people, give you an example. The other day in Phoenix, one guy came up and asked me what I wanted to say given that I had been playing like this (bad) compared to the high expection, I said 'basketball is not played by mouth'. Then I played well in the next two games, all critics became silent."

On media, "There are only two evaluations from the media: success or flop, nothing in between. Especially for a player like me. even though some players may become average working-bee kind of player, I am not allowed to be like them. Even if I become an average player, fans back in China won't be happy."

On the quick success in NBA, "I didn't expect it came so early, I always remind myself to be careful, who knows when a flop will come. Just like last night's game (against Knicks). I like to take it slow, it is fine even if I am not appreciated at the beginning. I thought it would take me at least a seaon to play like this."

On the reason of quick adaption to NBA, "My understanding of NBA hasn't changed much, but I understand basketball more now. I said before you don't treat NBA games as NBA games, instead treat them as basketball games. When I just came here, I thought there would be a lot of difference in NBA, but now I feel I made it more complicated (than it is). Sometimes it is better if you make it simpler, I guess this can be regarded as a summary of my current mindset. I didn't come up with this mindset, it came to me through the games.