Was just watching FOX Sports and saw footage of Shaq's first practice with the Lakers since coming back from his so-called injury...they've got a giant picture of Yao's head taped to the padding on the base of the basket. I guess the MDE needs some extra motivation...
I saw this on sportscenter.....I guess shaq does need this motivation, you know....since Yao did whatever he wanted to do the Shaq on the offensive end in the first half of the Christmas game.
I agree that this is a sign of respect in some weird sort of way...Yao is really good and will only get better...No one really matches up with Shaq, and not even Yao, although Yao has had the best of Shaq in most of their meetings...
It's like the the scrawny kid wo worked out in the basement with a picture of the bully pinned to the wall. A single focus of all his emotions to give him the motivation to work out harder and harder. Moral of this story, Yao is just a big bully to Shaq!
not funny? i think it's great. the league needs more wwf-like side stories to keep up the interest. also adds more to the fake show and hou games. do the rox even have a rivalry with anybody? grizz matchup is one-sided, suns don't count anymore, and the jazz... well... who cares. foxsports agreed the shaq/yao matchup was the top matchup not to be missed, steve versus schit talker, split last season's matchups, yao starting over shaq in the allstar game, cat versus bryant, and when the two teams meet they're always on nat'l tv. we need a rival. now that shaq has done this, yao needs to put a "kazaam" poster on the goal and somehow get espn to air it.
I think its the other way around. Yao has played Shaq head to head 3 times and except for the Christmas game Shaq has outplayed Yao. But I agree that it probably is more a sign of respect.
yao needs to quit respecting shaq and step up to him once yao decides he can be as dominant as shaq then he will really start to be scary, but he hasn't taken that big step yet. he is on his way, but he isn't even close to being there yet. he needs to treat shaq like how he treated the other teams at the asia games. beat the crap out of them and fight like the game means something....quit taking all the crap yao and show some people that you do have fight in you