I'm not so sure about that. Size and brute strength does not equate to ability to fight. Shaq, as big as he is, throws pretty weak punches. I remember watching him trying to fight a few years back, and it was actually pretty sad, because he just kept swinging aimlessly.
screw starting a fight, Yao should come out on the court in a middle of a game and stomp on a bunch of kittens and puppies. Then he should take the blood and give himself tribal tatoos. He should also molest an opposing team's cheerleader. Lastly, I think he should plant drugs on some referees. I think that if he manages to do all of these, he will be considered an elite player.
I think Yao would gety his ass kicked by just about any player in the NBA, I'm glad tmac had his back though. I remember when tmac beat the **** out of bobby jackson.
Yao has a big heart and courage , but a good sized guy in the NBA with really quick hands and speed would clobber Yao, unless Yao managed to grab him and get on top of him. Remember when Charles Barkely charged Shaq, picked him up and dumped him? Good thing that was all the fight involved.. I don't know who would have won that fight.
And what would you say after he gets suspended for 15 games? Seriousely, why don't you go watching NHL? On the ice, the refs won't even bother to stop the fight until one player gets beaten down or blood is seen. I like Yao's reaction very much: You take me down, I take your team down.
Maybe you're not paying attention to what I said; just what you want to read. I said Yao needs to permanently snap so he can once and for all unleash the player he can be. I didn't say he had to fight last night, maybe sometime early in the regular season or even just pushing guys like Collison aside with a shove. Something. Anything. If he plays like he did in the third quarter last night, he'd be the best player in the league. He's damn exciting when he's pissed.
Yao keeps getting hacked by thugs like Collison *because* he lets them do it. I can even argue that theoretically, sooner or later, Yao's going to get hurt by one of these types of fouls. Just because a guy stands up for himself doesn't make him uncivilized and he can't wait for refs to protect him. And Yao's ultimate weakness is that he doesn't go into a killer instinct as often as he should. You used the word " contained ". Yao contains everything and sometimes even refuses to use it. What I saw from Yao briefly in the third quarter yesterday is something that could be permanent if he just allowed himself to think it's okay to stand up for himself and shove people like Collison out of the way just to let them know it's not okay to flagrant foul him like that. Let's say, hypothetically, this happens in a early regular season game. If it means Yao misses 10 games and comes back *permanently* as that badass third quarter Yao we saw last night wouldn't that fight be worth it? People need to stop thinking it's okay to pick fights with Yao. Guys like Nate Robinson should be pissing in their pants next to Yao. I'm tired of everyone in the league thinking it's okay to punk him.
Perhaps Collison is still pissed that Yao swatted his shot bigtime in an exhibition game prior to the 2002 World Championships.
If it happened early in the regular season? I'm all for it. Just once. This isn't Carmelo. This is Yao, the guy being hacked and pushed on a daily basis by scrubs. And I don't understand responses like this that exaggerates what I was saying and makes it sound like I want Yao to kill someone. A shove. All I want is a shove back from Yao. He gets shoved and Juwan Howard protects him. That's weak.
I agree fights in the NBA are, for the most part, the lamest of all major sports. Paraphrasing Steve Nash, after seeing the "fight" (okay, suckerpunch and quick retreat) involving Carmelo Anthony, "If that had happened during a hockey game, his (Melo's) own team would have beaten him (Melo) up".
No doubt. Yao can seriously put him out if he wanted to. I want to see Collison try that shiet with Shaq.
Really? The title of this thread is "Just once I would like to see Yao fight.". The first sentence of your post is "I think the one thing that will permanently send Yao to the elite level is a fight." BTW, a shove can permanently raise Yao's play to the elite level?!
