Yao's getting lots of hype again lately and am I the only one who thinks this is a bit too much? I mean he had one decent game against Shaq and played him about even. What's the big deal? KG and Duncan routinely out scored and out rebounded Shaq as well. Anyways here is part of another article that adds to Yao's hype. ---------- In search of the Sixth Element By Ralph Wiley Page 2 columnist The Big Man is coming. Who is the Big Man? Hard to tell. No longer a lock. No longer does the citizenry mutter "Shaq," and move off to one side and shade their collective eyes once His Blingness strides onto the court. Yao cleaned up on Shaq in the recent Rockets-Lakers battle with 29 points and 11 boards. Tonight's Rookie Challenge boasts two of the new wave of Biggies, 'Melo and LeBron. They will face the second-year men, led by Yao Ming. Even soft-spoken Carlos Boozer brags that the rooks have no chance. But that's a perfect sitchie for LeBron and 'Melo. They get to play together for once, and can dominate the rock between themselves. The game is at 6 p.m. so it can show starting at nine back East. The crowd will be late-arriving, but it'll be a sellout and no doubt rocking. Now this is what the man paid to see! Meanwhile, the hometown Lakers limped back in after an ignominious end to their recent seven-game road trip, grousing to the pinheads who follow them out on the road, who in turn dutifully wrote this up in the local sheets. Phil Jackson had his contract extension taken off the table, Kobe said he didn't care (is he outta there after this season or what? Or what's the smart money). And Chairman Yao just did Shaq. Oh yeah he did. Rockets 102, Lakers 87. "I don't like the fans having the vote. Yao shouldn't be the starter in the All-Star Game," Chuckster said on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." "Although Yao just did whup Shaq's butt last night." Pregnant, ominous, even hopeful pause from Jay Leno and everybody else on the set. "Oh yeah, he did," Chuckster repeated. "He whupped Shaq's butt." I wondered why eberybody else, including the play-by-play guy who actually did the game, acted like it hadn't happened. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Lakers were at the end of a seven-game roadie and you don't have any legs left at that point, but still, in case you missed it, Chairman Yao served notice on us all, quietly, during that 102-87 thrashing of the Lakers in Houston. Yao Ming did things in that game no one has ever done to Shaq. Basically, he busted that ass, straight up, one-on-one, within the context of a team game, and he did it by flatly out-skilling O'Neal. Let that sink in. Let's put it this way: You don't want to meet Yao and the Rockets in the playoffs. It wasn't such much that 29 points and 11 rebounds compared to the 24 points and 10 rebounds. It was the way Yao got them. Yao can shoot his J right over the top of Shaquille, something no other player can do, with the possible exception of KG, and he was doing that, but that wasn't unusual. What was different was when Yao rolled into sweeping Sky Crane hooks, or pulled a Shaq and flipped a rebound away from behind Big Fella, a patented Shaq more, recovered it, and went to finish. Shaq, tired, feeling threatened, then clonked Yao on the head. Hard. It was a back-down hit, calculated to take a toll on Yao, not on that play, but for the rest of the game. Yao dunked it anyway, and hit the free throw, and if anything, became even more stoic, and effective. Afterward, Jim Gray asked him if that hurt. Of course it hurt, but Yao's reaction was telling. First off, it was in English. That interpreter guy will soon be obsolete. I'm not saying Shaq will be too, but something is changing ... Yao said, "What? Oh. I don't remember it." Did it hurt? "No." Yao went about his business, gliding out to see super-high screens and then diving back into the hole. The Lakers had Shaq on him one-on-one in the fourth quarter, as they tried to mount a patented, superior NBA team "Y'all ready to play now?" comeback. Yao was having none of it. From the left block, moving left with a right-hand dribble, he moved Shaq into the lane, then drop-stepped him, whirled right and finished with the left hand. Shaq blasted him and no foul was called, but Yao finished and ran back on D. Yao dropped 15 points in the fourth quarter -- the equivalent of a 60-point game -- on Shaq' massive dome and the Rockets won going away. Yeah, I'm sure Shaq will get some get-back when they meet again, but the die is cast. It's just a matter of time. Shaq is 31. Yao is 23. People have been saying that Yao's cultural differences will keep him from dominating, and that physical play from the Bad Shaq and all of the brutal Dogmen will keep him at bay, and that he doesn't want it bad enough, which is just a way of saying he is too weak and weak-minded, and isn't physical enough. All I keep thinking to myself is that Bruce Lee came from that same culture. And all I know is, I would not want to draw the Houston Rockets in the first round. But for All-Star Weekend, we have the Five Pillars of Hercules to admire -- LeBron and 'Melo, and Shaq and Yao, and KG the MVP. Hopefully, they will lead us to identify, possess and control the Sixth Element. And what is the Sixth Element? Pain. But first, before we explain all that in Part II on Monday, Sunday's All-Star Game will provide us with at the very least a golden opportunity for the game to take another quantum leap forward. Can you envision Shaq moving to power forward? That's his best position -- if Yao is his teammate. So will we see Yao at 5, Shaq at 4, Tim B. Dunkin at 3, KG at 2, and Kobe at point? Will we see that team of Supermen on the court, together, at the same time? If we don't, Flip Saunders, then in the immortal words of one anonymous coach when told Sir Charles would not make Bobby Knight's 1984 Olympic team: " ...then I'm rootin' for the Russians." Oh yeah. They're here too. You're free to slap your head now. The game is changing, even if Floston Paradise isn't. Link
some more Yao related chat with RDub... ------ Luke (Oak): Any chance of Yao ever leaving htown after his rookie contract? specifically any chance of him being a warrior? Ralph Wiley: (2:25 PM ET ) Luke, this is one of my pet peeves. The Warriors should have tried EVERYTHING to get Chairman Yao in draft two years ago. They had the 3rd pick. Could've made a pick-players combo offer the Rockets could not have refused. Yao would 've been a perfect fit in the Bay. Don't get me started, man. Please don't. ------ tangina: if u cud assemble ur own team, who wud they be? Ralph Wiley: (2:36 PM ET ) My Six -- Yao @ 5, Shaq @ 4, Ducan @ 3, KG @ 2, Alley I. @ 1, Kobe off the bench, 6th man, Hondo-style. Ball game.
