http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-spheat13nov13,0,1592440.story?coll=sfla-sports-front Yao makes O'Neal look rather small By Ira Winderman South Florida Sun-Sentinel Posted November 13 2006 MIAMI · The game's most dominant big man flexed his muscles Sunday. And Shaquille O'Neal could do little about it. As if there was any doubt through this season's early schedule about the NBA's power transition, Houston's Yao Ming took on the self-proclaimed Most Dominant Ever and raised the ante Sunday, leading the Rockets to a 94-72 victory over the Heat at AmericanAirlines Arena. Already on a tear, Yao proved to be a terror even when picking on someone close to his own size, as he closed with 34 points on 11-of-19 shooting and 14 rebounds "Tonight Yao was great, there's nothing else you can say," Heat coach Pat Riley said. By contrast, O'Neal came off as a mere mortal, closing with 15 points on 6-of-14 shooting and 10 rebounds. "I thought Shaq had some easy shots inside, he just didn't knock 'em down," Riley said. "He was getting good shots." Not even 24 points from Heat guard Dwyane Wade or the 6-of-18 shooting of Rockets guard Tracy McGrady could impact the lopsidedness of Yao-O'Neal. Yao was coming off a 35-point, 17-rebound, seven-block performance in Friday's 103-94 home victory over the Knicks, while O'Neal, who had missed the prior two games with a bruised left knee, was coming off an uneven 13-point performance in Friday's 113-106 victory in New Jersey. Yao entered averaging 26.2 points and 9.3 rebounds, while O'Neal entered averaging 13.7 points and 6.7 rebounds. Against the 7-foot-6 Yao, O'Neal, at 7-1, actually looked rather diminutive. Nowhere did the matchup come off as lopsided as at the foul line, where Yao shot 12 of 13 to O'Neal's 3 of 9. "Yao was a load," Riley said. He also was gracious. "He's great," the Rockets center said after the game of O'Neal. "It's really hard to score on him." It was the first meeting between the centers in two seasons, with injuries keeping the two apart during last season's two meetings, both won by the Heat. With O'Neal unable to bolster the offense, the Heat was left with little beyond Wade. In his search for more, Riley turned to Jason Kapono off the bench in the second half, after Dorell Wright was scoreless in seven first-half minutes. The Heat had no answers over the final two periods, as it was outscored 55-30 in the second half, including 34-16 in the fourth quarter. "We got our heads pretty much handed to us in the second half," Riley said. The Heat shot .333 in the second half, compared to the Rockets' .568. "Houston was very, very good in the second half," Riley said. "They're hard to score on anyhow." Houston took control with a 7-0 run to end the third quarter, which produced a 60-56 lead, and never looked back. The Heat had 17 turnovers through three quarters, after committing only nine in Friday's victory in New Jersey. Coming off a career-high 28 points in that victory against the Nets, Heat power forward Udonis Haslem this time could not get untracked. He shot 3 of 9, but did have 10 rebounds. The Heat had pushed to a nine-point lead in the first quarter, which ended with a 25-22 advantage. The Heat took a 42-39 edge into the intermission. Houston now has won four in a row after a 1-2 start, while the Heat fell back to .500 at 3-3. Guard Bonzi Wells, who spurned a Heat free-agent offer last month in favor of a similar deal from the Rockets, was inactive. Ira Winderman can be reached at iwinderman@sun-sentinel.com.
two games in a row, opposing team's coaches have said yao's awesome. he's for real!! well, i believe he can keep this up for the whole season.
That's a big quote. Our team has arrived at a point where they can be absolutely dominant defensively, and we've got cold blooded shooters who know how to ice a game down the stretch (Luther, T-Mac, Shane and Novak). Pat Riley knows this is a championship-winning formula, and he gave us his props right there. Just look at Miami's scoring in this game. They opened the first quarter with 25 points. JVG makes some defensive adjustments, and the result was: 17 points in the 2nd, 14 points in the 3rd, 16 points in the 4th for Miami. Rafer with the big three, and later Luther Head with two ice cold three pointers to seal the deal and turn a close game into a blowout.
Agreed, but do you think they meant this particular game or the game of basketball? Anyone? Because until they're calling him the best big man in basketball, they're behind.
Defense is gonna carry us for a while until the offense gets on track. If we can puddle along with a decent record for a while, our chemistry on offense will come together and we can go on an extended run of games.
I think they were more like Master and Apprentice (Van Gundy learned from Riley) but I remember that Van Gundy's Knicks met up with Riley's.......errr....Lakers? Can't remember which team Riley coached
yeah i know gundy was with riley's bench. and riley coached the heat when gundy took over the knicks. as far as i can remember, gundy's knicks won every series against riley's heat.
that's music to my ears...could this be the beginning of shaq's aging?...i reckon it's gonna be all down hill from here for shaq...the man's getting old after 14 seasons...
Great article and Yao was on the national stage for a change and got to flex his muscles which was nice to see! Shaq has clearly peaked and is in decline right now and it was time for someone to take his title...it happens to all great players. The smart move would be for Shaq to start planning his exit from the game while he's on top rather than wait until he's averaging 6 points and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes per game (i.e. over stays his welcome like so many other superstars past).
Miami Heral write-up http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15998790.htm ROCKETS 94, HEAT 72 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 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.
Dwyane, I luv ya guy. But if you don't know Yao is the best center in the NBA then you don't know anything. We barely double-teamed Shaq the entire game while you double-teamed Yao constantly. Even so, the domination in the paint was clear.
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.[/QUOTE] Wade made a very smart political statement here. Notice that he never said Shaq was the best center. He just implied it saying that we know who it is. D-Wade knows. Nice smart move on his part.
