Man yall dont know....Yao can be mean. But he will be nice because he knows if he gets pissed off he can break a neck or two with some Jet Li moves.
I didn't know Nigerians had a reputation for meanness? I didn't see the game but this is an old argument. I like the fact that Yao is a nice guy and don't want to see him become a thug and don't think its good for him or the Rox. There's a difference between being tough and focussed and being tough and wanting to fight. Yao needs to be the former. If he gets hit he needs to understand that means he plays harder.
On one hand we all know that yao did the right thing instead of punching Mason square in the face and risk getting himself suspended while T-mac is already out. On the other hand we're not happy that our 7'6 300+ gaint was being disrespected like that; Our team does not have an enforcer type of player besides Sura-on-a-crutch. Worse yet, seemingly after the incidient the momentum shifted, be it incidental or not; worse, the other coach is laughing about it thinking that his team punked ours out and that has something to do with their crappy team winning, and is not afraid to share his opinion on National and international media, setting a bad example. Yao has established an image of being a soft person, which he is, and that's not helping. Like someone said I bet Mason wouldn't have done it if it was Shaq, and whenever this happens again it seems like a no-win situation for us. I think the right thing to do right now is to whine like a Mark Cuban and get Mason at least suspended for a few games instead of fining him an inaffordable amount of five thousand dollars so everyone around the league knows not to mess w/ us or else... we'll tell!
When is comes to centers this city is spoiled. We had Hakeem carry us to the championship for two years, Yao will never live up to that. Hardly any center ever will. Yao is doing fine for what he is, a solid center that compliments Tmac. His numbers have been solid so far after two games. If you guys want to start talking about championships and who will take us there, then the conversation should revolve around Tmac, not Yao.
but without Yao playing atleast solid like he did the past couple games we WONT win a championship. Not saying that Tmac isnt talented enough. i just think we NEED yao in order to get the trophy. im pretty sure that with yao and tmac both putting up anywhere from 23-27 ppg and doing their thing in the other categories, we are will be unstoppable.
exactly! stern should forget about the dress code. if he fail to deal with the behavior like mason and the coach's he has way more worries about the image of nba.
Nah, that's the image of NBA already. Look at the comments here and around the league, all people talked about was "mean" and "punching". The game was lost, Yao got tired and TMac was out was just part of the reason. The fight itself? don't be ridiculous. It's the frigging Hornets, and we are talking about championships? The guys really need to wake up, all the talk about how great our team is before the season started. Remember last year's playoff? It's ok for fans to get excited, but the players? Just keep the mouth shut and work harder on the floor. No matter how people see it, 20/14/7, I would take that weakness every single minute over any pretentious wrestling toughness. Mental toughness is much much more important than showmanship toughness. Whether players can rebound from tough loss, that's what mental toughness is about, and we'll see that from Yao and other players in the next few games.
This was a chance for Yao to rid his "soft" image and he totally did the opposite. He will get less respect now than he already gets. The unfortunate part is he will get less respect from his teammates also. He did not stand up for himself and that incident is why the Rockets lost that game. You can say all you want but Yao has hurt his image more than you can imagine by not taking a stand. In the long run he would have been much better off getting suspended for a period of time than doing nothing. He looked afraid out there and that will make him more of a target now. He will never be a team leader and will always be a supporting player. With TMac out YAO had to buck up and do way more than he did. He needed to step up and score 35 or more points and he did not. He provided 20 points in that game but did not provide the leadership and agressiveness that the team needed. Houston is not a championship team and will not be a factor in the playoffs.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this. It's amazing how a thread can create an entire work of fiction that completely alters everyone's perception of a person. Crazy. It was like a 30-second mild altercation in the second game of the season and already we have every team in the league disrespecting him because he's weak. WTF?
It's good to know your unreasonable expectations on Yao, so that when the Rockets are factors in the playoffs we'll make sure not to let you on the wagon. Go Rockets!
I have a feeling that Yao knows that if he wished, he could put Desmond in the upper deck. Go Andre the Giant on him. I would love to see him do it. It would only take one time and no one would bother him again.
I don't get this at all...why do most of you thinks Yao has ruin his image or is soft b/c he didn't show his toughness in the fight/altercation with Mason? The kid just rejected/blocked Mason's dunk attempt hard that he fell on top of Mason and he got pissed off. Yao don't need to prove anything more after that.
some of you guys are really crazy. w/o YAO, HOU got blow out easily. YAO had to put his major effort in D and after 34 mins, he got exhausted! if he can consistently deliver those numbers, he is elite player in the NBA. TMAC is no doubt top 5 players, but whehn YAO gets in to top 10, we are champs. TMAC-YAO, united they stand.
You know, I gotta say it but, some people on this board are REALLY REALLY stupid. I mean, with TMac already out for x weeks, some people want Yao to punch out Desmond Mason. Freakin' Desmond Mason!!! Even if TMac WASN'T out, if I'm the Hornets I'd take that trade every goddam day of the week and twice on Sundays, while the rest of the league would laugh at our utter stupidity. And what's more, Desmond Mason???!!! If you're gonna get suspended for at least couple of games, if not the entire season (see Artest, although he did punch couple of fans) at least mess up a key player on a contender/future rival. But hey, why do that when you can punch out some guy no a team that won't even taste playoff contention in the forseeable future? Further, nothing boosts one's tough guy image than punching out some guy feet and inch shorter and 124 lbs lighter. So to summarize, while our other all - star is out for x weeks and the rest of the team playing like crap, Yao just punched out a guy feet and inch shorter, 124 lbs ligher, playing on a crap of a team that we don't expect to challenge us in Yao's career, from a city that just got hit by one of the worst disasters the US has ever seen (boy, picture the backlash). That's just great.
Screw all this talk about Yao being the better man. Yao should have sent a message by using Mason as an example. The least he could have done is at least charge Mason; that way he didn't look like he was backing down to Mason. I say screw the civility, this is the NBA where the timid gets eaten alive.
Edit: Yao "Emotion" wallpaper http://d-studios.org/main/walls/ming_1685.jpg http://d-studios.org/main/walls/yao_life_2030.jpg Other cool Yao wallpaper http://d-studios.org/main/index.php...ategory=2&team_id=10&player_id=&player_id=176 TMac wallpaper http://d-studios.org/main/index.php...gory=2&team_id=10&player_id=176&player_id=121
When I initiated this thread, I did not put throwing a punch as the only option. Imagine this: Yao played with fire after the fight and scored 15 more points and blocked 4 more shots after the fight and Rockets won. Who's going to complain then? That way Yao really displayed his sportsmanship and Mason really looked stupid. Unfortunately. After the fight, Yao did not play as aggressively as before the fight on both ends of the court. That's why I had the original post. I only hope Yao learned a lesson from it. Next time I want to see a Yao get motivated instead of distracted by a fight. By the way, I do not buy the lack of gas excuse. I saw Yao played triple overtime and won for the Rockets, WHEN HE WAS MOTIVATED!!!
