[Houston Press] Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

I certainly understand and appreciate the sentiment, but there are a couple problems with the "heart to heart" interview you proposed. First of all, T-Mac and Yao do respect each other and enjoy playing together. The conflict is not between the two of them, it's between some of their fans. Rest assured that even if they were to profess their undying love and affection for each other, the next Rockets loss would immediately spark the same old tired debate. That's just the nature of the beast.

Finally, it should be noted that T-Mac and Yao are both savvy enough to know how the media game is played. Even if they loathed each other (which they don't, just to be clear), they're smart enough to know that publicly airing their grievances would be disastrous for themselves, the team, and management.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, a heart to heart interview sounds like a great idea on the surface (and it would be a ton of fun), but in the end its inherently artificial and short-lived nature would never allow for the kind of closure you seek. Sorry to be such a buzzkill.

Thanks for the great question, though, and thank you so much for reading.

JCF