Yet another Yao article. WindandSea, are you posting all of these on the Chinese bbs?? Yao earns fans with up-and-down-night Chinese center puts up a double-double in loss to American team By Jeff Faraudo - STAFF WRITER OAKLAND -- When the hype subsided and the USA basketball team had completed an entirely predictable 84-54 exhibition rout of China Thursday night at the Arena, Yao Ming had a few thousand new fans. Counted among that contingent, much to their surprise, were some previously skeptical NBA veterans. "He's a whole lot better than I thought he was," said Ben Wallace, the NBA's reigning Defensive Player of the Year. The next big thing in the NBA -- and he is very big -- was served up to a new basketball demographic but with a familiar helping of American marketing. The game was far more than USA's first exhibition warmup to the World Championships after a week of training camp in the Bay Area. The night belong to Yao, as evidenced by fans waving China flags and signs, and Arena scoreboard ads pumping the Warriors' "Great Wall" ticket plan -- in English and Chinese. The NBA's top draft pick helped lure a capacity crowd of 19,873 -- including a sizable representation by the Bay Area's Asian community -- and acquitted himself nicely in his first game against American pros. The 7-foot-5 Houston Rockets rookie had 13 points, 11 rebounds and and six blocked shots, and stood up to aggressive USA big men anxious to give him a sample of basketball American style. Asked if he was nervous, Yao cracked a joke through an interpreter, saying, "My face just looks like that. It doesn't mean I'm nervous." Wallace, the Detroit Pistons strongman, had promised beforehand to do everything short of beheading Yao. And while play never became dirty, the two wound up in a heap on the floor with just under 5 minutes to play when Wallace went for a head fake and crashed down on top of Yao. If the pounding bothered him, Yao was smart enough not to give the Americans the satisfication. "I didn't feel that much," he said. "But I hope when (Wallace) fell down on me, it didn't hurt him, either." Yao, who banged his right hand on the backboard early in the third quarter but said he was fine, hardly gave a polished performance. He missed a wide-open dunk and shot 5-for-12 from the field a week after shooting 6-for-6 vs. Canada. But he forced USA players to alter their shots, and when he made a couple deep baseline jump shots early in the game he prompted them to alter their mindset. "I think our big guys all shook their heads," USA coach George Karl said. Certainly forward Antonio Davis was impressed. "After he turns and scores in my mug a few times I've got to try something else," said Davis, making a return to his hometown. "My thing was to try to push him out a little farther." Karl said Yao had his club's attention from the start. "At halftime, we said the kid's pretty good," said Karl, whose post-game press conference was dedicated almost entirely to answering questions about the big man from China. "He's interesting. His size . . . he's big. He has good hands. And he's not a bad athlete. He's more of a basketball player than an uncoordinated big guy. Guard Michael Finley, who led all scorers with 19 points, called the introduction to Yao "an eye-opening experience. He's a lot better than I thought." And more poised than anyone expected. "That's a sign of maturity," Davis said. "It would have been very easy for him to go out there and go crazy, just do things for himself and not try to help his team. He didn't do that." Instead, Yao's teammates couldn't do enough to help him. The USA defense forced 24 turnovers and limited China to 34-percent shooting. Karl was generally pleased with his team's first showing on the way to the World Championships, which begin next Thursday in Indianapolis. "Our defensive intensity is on a good page," he said. "Twenty turnovers was disappointing, but otherwise that was a Class A performance. I saw a lot of good stuff out there." RETURN TO TOP
