http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/1740083 By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle This is why Yao Ming is here. This is the lure he could not resist, the reward for moving his life halfway around the planet, for accepting the responsibilities and pressures, the suffocating attention and enormous expectations. This is what he wanted. Shaquille O'Neal, Yao said the day he was drafted, was the mountain he had to climb. "Every problem has to be faced," Yao said. Finally, Thursday, suddenly speaking almost in a whisper as if to help him to be honest without sounding boastful, he had to admit, "This is a very important reason that factored into my decision to come to the NBA." Yao will be knocked to the floor hard tonight, his teammates, true believers in Yao's talents, said. But the Rockets, having been won over in Yao's first practice and convinced repeatedly since, said the pain of tonight's first-ever meeting with O'Neal and the Lakers also will showcase why Yao has so consistently exceeded expectations. Yao is so driven and so competitive, they said, he is not succeeding despite the level of competition far beyond anything he had ever seen. He is succeeding because of it. "You cannot break this guy's spirit," said Rockets forward Glen Rice, the only player to have played with Yao and O'Neal. "Shaq will do what he always does. But this guy always gets back up. And he learns from it. I saw this in the very beginning. Mentally, he just gets stronger and stronger. You cannot break him." Tonight, the most dominant force in the NBA might try. But Yao and the Rockets expect that. O'Neal will be far from the first to measure the mettle of the first player taken in the draft. But the Rockets have seen Yao take the punishment with determination and without complaint. "I'm pretty sure he's going to test him early," Rockets guard Steve Francis said of O'Neal. "He's going to get to him early, see if Yao backs down. But I doubt he'll do that. "When people try to get overly aggressive, he just gives them the nice little smile, step out, maybe hit a little jump shot, go back down, maybe hit a little jump hook. It makes you excited. "I noticed he doesn't back down from a challenge, whether it's (Heat forward) Brian Grant double-teaming him and fouling him, scratching his back where he looks like a tiger scratched him, to playing against this guy tomorrow." Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said he saw that almost immediately last summer when the Chinese team prepared for the World Championships. Pistons center Ben Wallace, whom Yao will likely start against in the All-Star game, vowed to punish Yao in their exhibition in Oakland to demonstrate what awaited him in the NBA. Yao showed such an enormous taste for competition and challenges that after the game Tomjanovich all but giggled about qualities that had nothing to do with height or shooting touch. "I saw a passion for the game," Tomjanovich said. "He has heart. He competes, he really does compete. When he played the United States, he was up for the game and he came out and got some things going. It isn't like he had a whole bunch of great players with him. You could easily get lost in that shuffle. "And then when he did things on the floor, I saw the passion for succeeding. It didn't have to be scoring. It could be passing or rebounding. He's a great team guy. He played with a passion to win the game. And he doesn't say anything. He just goes out to play the game." O'Neal often spoke about the same quality in Hakeem Olajuwon, Yao's predecessor as a star Rockets center. O'Neal did not, however, spare the rod. The Rockets were certain O'Neal would be at least as physical with Yao. The combination of Yao's acclaim, his place ahead of O'Neal in the All-Star voting and his status as a 7-5 potential successor to O'Neal's status as the game's top center should become a stew that the Rockets said O'Neal feeds off. With three championships already won, the Lakers and especially O'Neal seem to need such motivations. But even without so many extra incentives and his usual sense of the occasion, O'Neal probably would do pretty much what he always does. "We know that's going to happen," Rockets forward Maurice Taylor said. "The first time Shaq gets the ball, he's going to try to dunk the ball. He's going to try to do that to see what Yao is. The thing about Yao is, mentally he's very mature. "If Shaq was to dunk on him, I don't think that would do anything to excite him. He's a guy who loves the game of basketball and takes what guys give him. If guys are beating him up, he goes to the line and takes his free throws. If guys are double-teaming him, he's a great passer. I don't think he's going to get caught up in every time Shaq scores, he has to come down and score or every time Shaq dunks, he has to come down and dunk. "Shaq's never seen anyone like Yao. Yao's never seen anyone like Shaq. There's finally a guy who is a legit center, probably not the same type of player Shaq is, but a legit center." "(Shaq) loves it. He's a character. You hear the stuff he says, he thinks he's a super hero. He loves this type of stuff. He loves the subplots of the game. Every time he played in the Finals there was always something he himself brought out to motivate himself. He loves the spotlight. He loves everything about it." Yao already has grown tired of his spotlight. But in his own very different, very quiet way, he has shown a love for the demands of the occasion and the competition. Such moments brought him to the Rockets, and no moment could be any more demanding than tonight's. "The higher the level of competition, the better he plays," Rockets assistant coach Larry Smith said. "The tougher assignments, I think he comes out really more competitive. It's going to be an experience for him. This is the first time he's seen someone so much bigger than he is. It should be a good experience for him. Right now, everyone knows there's no one that can really stop Shaq. We all know. But I think it's a good experience for Yao. All it can do is make him better. "When Shaq is no longer around, (Yao) is going to be the most dominant guy around. I'm looking forward to that."
