[Miami Herald] Yao Ming is too much for Shaq, Heat

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Yao Ming is too much for Shaq, Heat
Yao Ming outscored Shaquille O'Neal 34-15, and the Houston Rockets went on a second-half surge to trounce the Heat.

BY ISRAEL GUTIERREZ
igutierrez@MiamiHerald.com

DAVID SANTIAGO / EL NUEVO HERALD
ROADBLOCK: Rockets center Yao Ming held Shaquille O'Neal to 15 points and 10 rebounds Sunday.
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After scoring the first basket of the game Sunday night, a 10-foot hook shot over 7-5 Yao Ming, Shaquille O'Neal ran back to the defensive end of the court and told his teammates, ``Let's go.''

It was an unusually early show of emotion from O'Neal -- for a game and the season.

It was probably no coincidence that it came in a game against Yao, who Tracy McGrady recently called the best center in the league.

O'Neal did his part to prove he still dominated the NBA's paint, but his surge only lasted a few minutes. After a strong Heat start, led by O'Neal, the Rockets and Yao took control and pulled away for a 94-72 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Yao backed up his teammate's words by getting 34 points, making 11 of 19 shots and 12 of 13 free throws, and 14 rebounds. With that effort, the Rockets didn't need much from McGrady, who had just 12 points and seemed intent on finding Yao inside.

''Tonight, Yao was great,'' Heat coach Pat Riley said. ``There's nothing much to say other than the numbers prove it.''

SHAQ SOLID EARLY

O'Neal had six points and blocked a Yao shot in the game's first four minutes, jump-starting the Heat to a 21-12 lead with 4:23 left in the first quarter.

But Yao was just beginning to get his legs. After a 1 of 5 shooting start, the Rockets center missed just four the rest of the game.

Most of Yao's offense came in the paint with hook shots and turnaround jumpers over and around O'Neal and Alonzo Mourning. He added a few mid-range jumpers to complete his second straight 30-plus-point game.

O'Neal didn't offer much praise for Yao, who has improved in each of his four seasons in the league.

''He's still pretty much the same, he just hit a lot of tough shots tonight,'' O'Neal said. ``When you're playing a guy like that who's 7-6, you're not really going to block his shot. You've just got to try to push him out of his place.

``He's really just doing what he's supposed to do.''

O'Neal, meanwhile, was missing a handful of the short shots he usually makes with consistency.

O'Neal, who missed a number of those same shots against the Nets on Friday, said the misses had nothing to do with the imposing presence of Yao.

''No, it had nothing to do with it,'' O'Neal said. ``I usually hit those shots. I just have to make them. They really weren't doubling, and they were right there, just in and out. I just have to make them, and I will.''

By the end of the third quarter, the Rockets' style of play had brought the scoring to a halt, and they led 60-56.

`YAO WAS A LOAD'

And unlike Friday night against the Nets, when the Heat picked up its defense and rode a hot Dwyane Wade and Udonis Haslem to a comeback victory, Miami only dug itself a deeper hole against the Rockets as the game progressed.

A pair of Luther Head three-pointers followed by a Yao layup, all of which came on McGrady passes, stretched the Rockets' lead to 76-66 with 5:21 remaining. And the Heat had nothing left after that.

''Tracy was great in the fourth quarter, and Yao was a load,'' Riley said. ``We got our heads pretty much handed to us in the second half.

``In the fourth quarter, we just overreacted to Tracy's pick-and-roll plays instead of just playing them like we normally play. He got into the paint three times in a row during that one stretch and Luther Head hit two threes and they took it to 10, and we couldn't recover.''

O'Neal finished with 15 points, making 6 of 14 shots, despite the hot start. And while it might have seemed he was particularly motivated to perform against Yao, he said the McGrady comments meant nothing to him.

''That really doesn't motivate me,'' O'Neal said.

Wade, however, said there was an extra fire to O'Neal on Sunday, and the matchup with Yao might have taken the Heat out of its usual offensive flow.

Wade, though, added that regardless of the statistical disparity, it's his teammate who still owns the middle of the floor.

''We know who the best center in the league is,'' Wade said