Yao beats the hell out of Bradley by Chad Ford One minute Charles Barkley is literally kissing Kenny Smith's rented ass. The next minute, Yao Ming is kicking Shawn Bradley's. Yao may not be 7-foot-6. But standing next to Bradley Thursday night, he looked 10-feet tall. After all the hype and trash talking the verdict is in. Yao 30, Bradley 0. How one-sided was the Yao-Bradley matchup? Think the '92 Dream Team vs. Angola. Clubber Lang (Mr. T) vs. Rocky (the first fight). Shawn Kemp vs. an all-you-can-eat buffet. Anyone vs. Anna Kournikova. Yao unleashed such a devastating flurry against Bradley on Thursday night that even Barkley was backtracking by the time the game was over. "Kenny said that I said Yao Ming couldn't play, and that's inaccurate," he said. "You don't want the Chinese mad at you. They can fight." Damn straight. Yao took it to the Mavs' defense in the first half, scoring a career-high 21 points on 7 of 9 shooting. By the start of the second half, Yao had been so effective that the team switched to a soft zone that collapsed on him every time he touched the ball. By the end of the game, Yao had a Mavs defender in his lap on every possession. Yao got just three shots in the third quarter and none in the fourth. Still, he ended the night with a career-high 30 points and 16 boards ... and a converted congregation. When the smoke cleared, Yao was on the verge of the unthinkable — surpassing a Wilt Chamberlain record. In his past five games, Yao has made 30 of 34 shots, the second-best five-game stretch of shooting (in the same season) ever in the NBA. His .882 shooting percentage barely fell short of Chamberlain's .885 (54-of-61) accuracy in five straight games during the 1966-67 season. After the game, Dirk Nowitzki sized up the damage. "Yao is the real thing. He can be a scary player." He can also be an aggressive one. Despite all you've read about Yao's passive nature, he appears to be able to rise to the occasion. Thursday night, with more than one writer suggesting that Yao can't even measure up to Bradley, Yao looked like a stone cold killer. He was hustling for loose balls, grabbing boards that, a week ago, he would have let sail by and dunking with a new-found, rim-rattling authority. Every time he touched the ball in the post, it was clear he was going to take it to Bradley. Every time he did, Bradley folded like a lawn chair. "You have to understand, I play the game in two parts," Yao told the Houston Chronicle after the game. "One part is the enjoyment of playing. The other part is, of course, winning. Today, I achieved half of that." His trash talking game is also improving, as evidenced by his parting shot to Bradley. "Now I know I'm not the skinniest player in the NBA." That's cold. And it wasn't the only abuse Bradley had to take Thursday night. "What's the matter with you, Shawn!" one fan screamed as Bradley walked off the court at the end of the first half. "Hey, Bradley, get in his face! He's killing you!" screamed another. Bradley looked downright dejected in the second half. Bradley ended the game with zero points and two rebounds in 20 ineffective minutes. The Mavs were quick to start the damage control the minute the game ended. Bradley has the frailest of psyches. After such a great start to the season, coach Don Nelson didn't want this drubbing to drag the Great White Nope down. "He played hard and he played well," Nelson told the Dallas Morning News. "We just ran into a buzz saw in Yao. Nobody we put on him could stop him." His teammates also rushed to his defense. "Shawn's a smart guy," said Michael Finley. "He knows this is just one game. He knows he has to come back the next game, put this one behind him and rebound from it. A couple of blocks the next game, a couple of shots and he'll be fine." "That stuff happens," added Eduardo Najera, who did a credible job late against Yao. "He's just got to be mentally tough to bounce back. I'm sure he's going to come out against Seattle [on Saturday] and play well." Eduardo, we've been saying that for years. Unfortunately, Bradley always comes up with new ways to prove us wrong.
