I refer you back to my earlier post, which you failed to read. In it, I delineated the difference between people who were intentionally malicious towards Yao and those whose actions were incidental. Amare tries to punk everyone (Yao understands this) and Haywood's foul wasn't the same as Mason flipping Yao over. Yao behaves differently to people who punk him on purpose. He gets rattled and behaves like a complete wimp. Unfortunately, many Yao supporters are constantly thinking of new ways to excuse Yao's wussiness. The newest being to cry to David Stern.
It's not just about the game anymore. So what if he has a good game after a hard foul once last year. He has no respect. No one cares that he's the bigger man for not retaliating. He has p***y written all over him. Man up, keep the milk money and stop acting like a nancy boy.
Especially since Yao was given the Max. I don't by the "I don't want to offend my American hosts" excuse anymore either. Clearly, Houston wants Yao around so Yao can afford to push back once in a while when push comes to shove. Or should that be, Yao can afford to push back *for once.*
maybe he's someone who can actually think and not just react like an animal. maybe he doesn't want to get kicked out of a game or suspended. what the hell would fighting accomplish anyway. write him a letter. maybe he'll try to appease you next time it goes down.
Can yall try to imagine just how hard it is to be an NBA referee. Everything is happening at 1000 mph and you have to make a split second call. We have video footage of what happened, we can replay it, we have different angles, and we still can't agree on what happened. Did Mason throw a punch? Did he not throw a punch? We are all looking at the same evidence but everyone has a different point of view as to what happened. Just an interesting point.
for the responses above: the point about yao needing the respect is true.. and maybe some players believe they can throw a cheap shot and not get retaliated.. however if it came down to it.... whether yao was mad or happy as hell... or even in his sleep... he could whoop on nearly anybody in the NBA... aside from the other freaks such as shaq artest etc etc..
and desmond mason without a question... i guarantee u he wasnt scared he was gonna get his ass whooped by him... thats just funny... it probably affected his game a bit by distracting him but him being scared i dont buy that... sorry for the double post... something about my ISP won't let me submit long posts.. i dont know why
I haven't seen the video yet, but if Rox fans themselves could not agree on whether it was a deliberate punch, then I doubt the NBA will come donw too hard on this.
For those who think fighting in retaliation is what it means to be a man, go look at Kermit Washington's story. Shaq lost restraint once and was that close to ending two men's (Miller's and his own) careers.
Some of these posters are probably too young to remember the RudyT - Kermit Washington incident. There is no place for fighting on the court, these guys are huge and they can hurt or kill people with a punch. Those of you who throw around the word wuss ... Have you ever been in a fight? A real fight, where you square off and throw and take real punches? A real fight where blood spills? Forget about the pushing, shoving and mouthing off , and hiding behind your friends hoping they will come in between and break up the fight. Share with us your story and then you can boast about being a man ...
Not saying Yao needs to punch someone or anything like that but maybe slam/push someone down hard or just once return some physical punishment on someone trying to punk him. Not every time but if he does it a few times people will think twice about messing with him. He needs to do it himself too, Howard and Francis sticking up for him wont do it. Think about it, how many times have people tested Shaq after he threw that haymaker at Miller? I am betting not many.
As far as suspensions/fines forget about the Yao/Howard incident: the thing that trips me out is Mason flinging the ref around who's trying to separate people: like Ben Wallace, who should have shared the exact suspension that Artest got, the ref is trying to restore order while the player is yanking, grabbing & shoving at the ref so he can get back to the "action." The Yao incident was unfortunate (and I do think he was trying to throw a punch at either Yao or Howard: I don't think he cared which), but things happen during the game. When refs are trying to do thier job and certain players are acting like children on a playground by not "letting it go," they should be suspended. This is basketball, not hockey or boxing.
I am amused by the immature gangsta mentality that many of the posters in this thread displayed. This is not a battlefield. It's one thing to be assertive but asking Yao to ignore the presence of three refs and punch Mason is just plain idiotic. If Yao did behave like some of the he-man type around here and nailed Mason on Saturday, we'd be in serious sh*t without both of our star players. It is easy for Yao to act irresponsibly and take a swing. It takes much more to show constraint and walk away.
Agree. It is just that people worry it might send the wrong message: Yao is soft like Bradley, mess with him and only good things happen to your team (fire your teammates up, like Hornets).
So much r****dedness on this thread, yeah I said it, r****dedness. Mason is a punk for flipping Yao, at the same time, I'm sure he thought Yao was just laying on him to embarrass him or something. He failed to realize, it takes a lot for Yao to get up when he's fallen. Hell, look at when he tried to buck up to Howard last year. Yao is not a punk, he clearly will buck up if he needs to. This is a more recent attitude, he used to shy away from it. Examples being the olympic stuff some have mentioned. That being said, he was raised in a totally different way and in a totally different culture. All this talk about being a man and whatnot, just shut up. He'll crush you with his money filled man wallet. You all speak as if he's supposed to throw the first punch, that's just stupid. So let's see, Mason is a man, b/c he got his b****ass shot blocked so bad, he was embarrassed. So he throws someone off of him...riiiight. And Yao gets up staring him down, Yao's a wuss...riiiight. Now I'm not saying Yao can fight, no one knows that, but he hasn't shown he'll just shrivel up and hide behind anyone. So UNTIL he does back down like that, get off the wuss stuff mister tough guys. Mason lost his cool, understandable. he should be pushed for his flipping of yao...that and ONLY that. I can't believe the mentality that b/c Yao hasn't been thuggish as all the previously mentioned examples of "not being a punk" he's gettin dogged for it. Ridiculous.
Geez, what kind of message are we talking about here? That people can dunk on Yao Ming? Well, then they should all try, and Yao's 7 blocks record will be easily topped, and every failed dunk will be another successful Rocket's defense, and a little bit more frustration to the opponents. People might think that they can foul Yao hard or even punch him without punishment? Well, they will be ejected, and Yao will punish them in the FT line. People might not take Yao seriously, and ignore his presense in defensive and offensive ends? Well, that's even better, Yao can easily be a 25-10-5 guy. Those people around the league will disrespect him, why the heck do we care? As long as Yao can help Rockets win the cup, those people disrespect him and the team will be the ones who look dumm and dummer. What exact wrong message are we talking about? What exactly are we really worrying about? I just don't get the huge fuss about nothing. Wins will fix everything. Persception of some stupid players and so-called "experts"? Why do we care?
