NBA is like a big fraternity. Most guys are friends with each other. Look at Wade and Lebron for example.
Man...... I think you're far exaggerating that friendly act of Nowitzki at the start of the game. As I've said, Jonas Kazlauskas just did not take this game too serious; he was trying every of his players, giving them all chances to try out all his formation (Yao + Yi; Yao + Mo Ke; Zhang Songtao + Yi; Zhang Songtao + Mo Ke; the young guards of Chen, Xie and Zhang; Du Feng on the 3.). No players have played more than 20 minutes, except Wang Shipeng and Zhu Fangyu, and Yi Jianlian. Yao Ming played for 21 minutes, his very first competitive game for 4 months, obviously still very rusty, and needed to play cautiously so as not to reinjure himself. But if you see this game, he is still the head wolf of this national team; he played his heart out, fought for position, fouled out the German centre, Femerling, raved and supported his team mates on the bench when he was rested, and under him, every of his team mates stepped up a notch and played much better than what they showed in previous matches in Europe. That is the direct impact of Yao Ming on this national team. The head wolf and not a dog. On the other hand, a completely in form and shape Nowitzki was subdued in 1H by Yi Jianlian, and could not find his rhythm and shooting touch; he even had 3 airballs on his 3-pointers. But as Jonas Kazlauskas kept rotating and testing his players, particularly the power forwards, Nowitzki managed to find his rhythm and shooting touch in 3Q. He became unstoppable in 4Q.
Pryuen, I followed your earlier report that doctors from Rockets suggested Yao not to play the WC games. Actually that worried me more. Didn't get any updates from Sina so far. Do you have any other findings? Cheers.
yi jian lian played dirk straight up in the 1st half and dirk only got a few points from free throws, on the othe hand yi grabbed 7 rebs just in 1st quarter.
I watched the game, Yao seemed to be moving slowly as if he was very concerned about his foot. That's not a good sign. Shouldn't he be resting in this game against Germany? What's the big rush to be back?
Chen could get in the lane at will and finish decently, but his mid range shots are at suspect. If he develops the mid range shot he can be a dangerous player. Yao couldn't get the ball much due to fronting defense(what's new), poor positioning, and poor post entry passing. I don't expect Yao to explode on the CNT if those issues aren't solved. He's definitely rusty.
I think the coach was only gonna play him 10 minutes initially, however, he figured it was safer for Yao to play more minutes instead of expending all that energy cheering and jumping up and down.
There was nothing in his post indicating a joke and Pryuen's response was right on. So maybe you should calm down.
Did anyone notice that Lebron got 11 points in that game against Brazil? He's a joke and a bust. Cavs are stupid for giving him that contract! What is he coming off an injury or something?
This is Rockets' forum, so the standard sets is higher for Yao whether he just came out from injury or not. Forget about 'Yao is rusty excuse', he is an All-star so he is not allowed to have a off game. Lebron? He is not even a Rockets' player. Who cares? Until the day, he become Rockets, we will only then criticize him for getting 11pts in a game. But now, he played great. He can have 11pts per game for Cavaliers next season, I will cheer for that.
Thanks for getting it. Such serious and refined basketball minds we have around here. geez. it's ok to get up out of your seat and off your hands every now and then.
Nothing so far.....as every fans and people in the basketball circles in China was happy about Yao Ming's return to court, even though a bit rusty. As a matter of fact, given sina.com's bad reputation, maybe that is another fabricated story.
Well, it is a matter of now or never. The World Championship starts August 19. These matches with Germany and Brazil in the 2nd FIBA Stankovic Continental Champion Cup represents the last 2 to 3 games that Yao Ming could gel with his team mates in real actions. He has just started his team practice for 5 days with the national team. But team practices are team practices, and never will be adequate to try out how well he has recovered, and the actual effect of set plays/game strategies. That is why Yao Ming returns to play even if he is only 85 or 90% ready, as he said it before, without real actions on court, he will never be able to return to 95% or 100% for the World Championship. And if he can't be 95% to 100%, he said he'd rather skip the World Championship.
Chen is super quick, he probably impressed the most in those last two games. I dont know who he reminds me of, but he sure held his ground against the competition.
HEY CHAMP06 it was a joke....as for Yao being an all star, I can remember Dream not being hurt and scoring like 3 pts. in a PLAYOFF GAME. It happens especially when you are hurt. As for Lebron jump on his bandwagon for all I care. I hope Lebron destroys Chinas chance to win anything and hopefully China doesn't qualify for much in the future. Yao can get rest and Lebron can get tired and the rockets can win it all. This is the Rockets forum you are right, its not the China and World Championship forum. That was a joke too.
