Interesting article. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/rox/1710068 Dec. 20, 2002, 12:04AM Yao's easy street due to get mean By MICHAEL MURPHY Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle UPDATE • Wednesday: Rockets 95, Pacers 83. • Record: 14-10. • Tonight: Atlanta at Compaq Center, 7:30 p.m. • TV/radio: Ch. 51; KILT (610 AM) and in Spanish on KYST (920 AM). Colin Pine, Yao Ming's interpreter, kept trying, but was having no success. After several frustrating misses, Pine attempted yet another over-the-shoulder, back-to-the basket shot from halfcourt, but couldn't quite get the hang of it. Yao, still sweating from his conditioning work, took a break and wandered to midcourt, where he watched the proceedings with interest. Before long, a slight smile creased his face and he motioned for the ball. Minicams started humming as Yao carefully lined up his feet along the halfcourt stripe. He gently cradled the ball in both hands, looked over his shoulder once to gauge the distance, turned around and let if fly. Swish. It was only a moment, but it also was a perfect illustration of how Yao's season has gone thus far. Indeed, everything looks easy to Yao. It seems that Yao is to the NBA what Roy Hobbs was to baseball in Bernard Malamud's The Natural. Yao began the season as the occidental tourist, flying over from China and getting eased into the league. But after a period of adjustment, he has been dominating, as evidenced by Wednesday's 29-point, 10-rebound, six-block effort in the Rockets' 95-83 victory over Indiana. For the season Yao is averaging 12.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocks, but over his last eight games those numbers are up to 19.5 points, 13 rebounds and 3.1 blocks. He has shot 54.3 percent from the floor -- below his league-leading 59.9 percent overall -- and 87.5 percent from the line in that span. Numbers like those are why Yao trails only Shaquille O'Neal among Western Conference centers according to the All-Star voting totals that were released Thursday. It all seems so easy. But it's about to get a lot harder. The history of the NBA is littered with players who made a big splash on their first trip around the league. But it's that second time through, after teams have had a chance to break down tapes and put together a scouting report, that a player truly establishes himself. Yao is already starting to see that, having played the Clippers and the Pacers twice this season. "I think it will be tougher the second time around," Yao said. "I'm finding that it's getting more and more physical." And it's going to get even more physical as teams try to knock Yao out of his offensive rhythm. "Definitely," said forward Maurice Taylor. "They (opponents) push up on you and want you to drive more. They're trying to get you to the line more. Anything to get you out of your comfort zone. "When you're a shooter, the thing that you want when you have the ball is that you just want to get comfortable. You want to be comfortable shooting the ball. But when they harass you and try to make you drive, it takes away from that comfort zone. "The first time through the league, they've never seen you before, but the second time it gets a little tougher. You can expect that. It's going to happen." It happened to Steve Francis three years ago. "It was tough because during my rookie year I was basically more of a driver," said Francis, who averaged 18 points that season and was named co-rookie of the year. "I was always driving to the bucket, so it really was kind of easy for a team to put together a tape of what I did. "That second time (through the league) they get physical and they set their defenses against you." That's just the way of the world in the NBA. For the first few weeks, Yao was an unknown -- even to the Rockets. Opponents had no idea of his offensive repertoire and his tendencies on the court, so defenses were reacting to what Yao did. But the second time through, defenses will be anticipating what Yao is attempting to do and be geared to stop it. By any means necessary. "The better you are, the tougher it is," said Hall of Famer Bill Walton. "No. 1, when they find out you're really good, they start knocking you around. They start knocking you down and coming after you. "You have to learn how to protect yourself because this isn't about milk and cookies. This is men playing nasty basketball at the highest level for the biggest prize." Rockets' coach Rudy Tomjanovich thinks Yao has the package -- both physically and mentally -- to handle anything that's going to be thrown at him over the next few weeks and months. "We'll probably be seeing some different defenses, but the good thing about Yao is that he's versatile and if they double team, he's a great passer," Tomjanovich said. "We've gone through some real tough defenses in Miami and Indiana. And in (today's) game there's a really great shot-blocker in (Atlanta's Theo) Ratliff, which will be another great test. "What I'm seeing in Yao is that he's versatile, and it's all about the team. If they (opposing defenses) do something to shift some people over, he's going to hit a teammate (with a pass) for an open shot." Return to
