Sighting of Shane Battier at a fans' gathering in Houston

pryuen · Apr 6, 2007

Shane Battier was a busy man today......

First he had a live telecast on-line chat with fans from China through sina.com, and guided a tour of Toyota Centre for the Chinese fans.

Then, he appeared in a shopping mall in Houston and meet with alot of the fans......

Here are photos of the 2 events, and if I have time, I see if I can finish the translation of a very very long Sina.com interview.

http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2007-04-06/15062852372.shtml

Or if someone is interested in the translation, please go ahead without me.......

pryuen · Apr 6, 2007

First, the photos of the sina.com live telecast/on-line chat.

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS

pryuen · Apr 6, 2007

Then the photos at the fans'gathering at the shopping mall.....

Dave2000 · Apr 6, 2007

what the hell? Are those my locker pics? They look almost the exact same...

richter911 · Apr 6, 2007

video
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richter911 · Apr 6, 2007

the interview
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pryuen · Apr 6, 2007

Oaky, as promised, here is the very long interview of Shane Battier by Sina Sports..........

http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2007-04-06/15062852372.shtml

Sina Sports: First, let us welcome Shane Battier to accept our interview. Ever since you launched your personal blog on sina.com, you have had almost 2 million viewership. Today, we have brought with us questions from your Chinese net fans and fans.

Battier: I'm also delighted to be able to chat with you all here today.

Sina Sports: Okay, (let's fire off with) the first question. Now that the Rockets had succeeded to make the playoff, what is your goal in the playoff?

Battier: The whole team from top to bottom is excited about making the playoff. We have won the games we should have won. When we have Yao Ming back, I mean a healthy Yao Ming, we have been performing well. Our fans all hope we can continue that good performance in the playoff. I also firmly believe that under the leadership of both Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady, we will be playing more diligently and I myself also have high anticipation of good performance from the Rockets.

Sina Sports: As far as you're concerned, this is your very first season with the Rockets. Now in China everyone thought that you've fast become the third core player beside Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady. So do you think you can obtain a bigger breakthrough in the new season?

Battier: I'm glad to be playing well as a Rockets, and now that we have made it to the playoff. But my focus (had been, is and) will be how to contribute to this team more. As to my personal gains is irrelevant and not important. If our team can improve further to the next and higher level, then I will be very satisfied.

Sina Sports: Now the Rockets have very strong players in almost every position: centre, forwards and shoting guards. If you have your say to pick a point guard for the Rockets in the new season, who will be your choice?

Battier (Laugh): First of all I have to say I genuinely like this team very much, and I felt so very happy to be able to play alongside with them. So if you touch on such issue of picking new players, I think the question suits the general manager or the head coach better.

Sina Sports: Now that a season has passed, most Chinese fans already witnessed your intrepid defense. They particularly want to know how you learnt to play such spendid defense?

Battier: To be an oustanding player in defense, some congenital conditions, such as your height and body weight, are not the most important. The most essential element boils down to one thing only. You must have a brave heart and intense defensive consciousness. Me and my team mates are doing that day in and day out in every game.

Sina Sports: Some NBA experts believe that your good performance was all due to your Duke University background. So do you think your Duke University years and experience have paved a solid foundation for your NBA career?

Battier: Well, on this issue, I always thought that I'm really extremely lucky, because ever since I started to learn and play basketball, I have had great coaches to teach me how to play basketball. Starting from the coach when I was 16 to 17 years old to now, Mr. Jeff Van Gundy, they all led by examples and teach me how to defend.

Sina Sports: A lot of players extremely care about personal statistics. So, as a player, you spent most of your time and energy focusing on defense, do you really care about those more indicative statistics about your dominance on court, say point scored, rebounds and assists?

Battier: I only care about one statistics, and i.e. how many games the team has won. Of course, I do care about other statistics, such as number of turnovers or assists. I thought if we can cut down our turnovers and mistakes we made, then the team can win more.

Sina Sports: Coach K was the head coach for the Dream Team last year. If he invites you once again for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will you gleefully accept his invitation and play in the Olympics?

Battier: To become a member of the US national team is definitely an extremely lofty honor. I think (if I get selected once again) I sure will be happy to go to China, go to Beijing to compete in the Olympics.

Sina Sports: So the playoff opponent for the Rockets for Round 1 is now basically locked to be Utah Jazz. This season, the Rockets had lost to the Jazz away, and just 2 days ago, the Rockets lost again by 3 points on your home court. So in the forthcoming playoff, do you foresee a clean sweep in 4 games for the revenge, or it will extend to the full 7-game series?

Battier: I think it will be definitely an extremely difficult playoff series, because the Utah Jazz is a hell of a very diligent team, great physical strength and they have an outstanding coach in Jerry Sloan. But I think our team will play to our best capabilities and give our all to strive for the last laugh.

Sina Sports: But now the Rockets has fallen behind to the Utah Jazz. In case the Rockets could not obtain home court advantage, does it mean that the Rockets can find some solutions from those games that you lost?

Battier: Well, we lost our first encounter to the Utah Jazz, but then the season had just started. The Rockets that you see now is completely different from the team that you saw then. We evened our series to 1 ~ 1 later on. Through those past competition (with Utah Jazz), we came to realize that we need to control the rebounds and reduce our turnovers as far as possible, obtain more second chance scoring opportunities and to improve on our efficiency. Every of our player in every position has to play more diligently and with more intensity. That will be our best means to counter the Utah Jazz.

Sina Sports: Now the Rockets is 1.5 game behind the Utah Jazz. Do you think the Rockets can still catch and frog-leap the Utah Jazz to grab Seed 4 in the Western Conference. Failing this, the Rockets will lose the home court advantage. Have you guys ever thought about this?

Battier: Regarding the few remaining games (of the regular season), our head coach Jeff Van Gundy has reiterated that we just need to focus on how to play our next game better. It is because we are already a very good team. All we need to do is to focus on our next game, and not to focus on other disadvantageous factors. We just need to be as positive as we can, then we can play to our standards to strive for the best results we can get.
Click to expand...

magnetik · Apr 6, 2007

them are some sweet looking shoes!

FFz · Apr 6, 2007

i love how he commented on every player on that wall and said something besides Juwan and Wells...

Mutombo.. great shot blocker...
Bonzi Wells ...
Chuck hayes... great rebounder

YugoRocketsFan · Apr 6, 2007

Shane Battier reminds me of Carlton from Fresh Prince.

LFE171 · Apr 6, 2007

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Yeah..he does remind me of carlton too. Would be hilarious to have shane and robert horry dancing like this.

AstroRocket · Apr 6, 2007

shane is so corny.

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Sighting of Shane Battier at a fans' gathering in Houston

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