http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...--?slug=ap-china-nbaarrives&prov=ap&type=lgns Yao Ming and Rockets arrive in Shanghai for NBA's first games in China By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer October 12, 2004 SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Declaring himself ``here on business,'' hometown favorite Yao Ming joined Tracy McGrady and the rest of the Houston Rockets on Tuesday as they prepared for a pair of exhibition games against the Sacramento Kings -- the first NBA games played in China. Yao and the Rockets settled into their hotel after the long flight from the United States, but canceled a scheduled practice session after a baggage mix-up. The 7-foot-6 Yao told reporters at a packed press conference that he was happy to be home, but didn't consider his visit a social call. ADVERTISEMENT ``I'm here on business and I want to play well,'' said Yao, who was selected for Shanghai's youth team at age 14 and later played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese professional league. Houston will play the Kings in Shanghai on Thursday and in Beijing on Sunday. Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said he would likely play Yao between 22 and 28 minutes in Thursday's game to give the fans the thrill of seeing the hugely popular center on the court. ``Obviously I want to play him because he's in his hometown, but I don't want to overplay him given that it's only the second exhibition game and we have a long season ahead of us,'' Van Gundy said. ``I know he wants to play very, very well here and I want to give his fans the opportunity to see him play,'' he added. Van Gundy said the team would work out in its hotel health club Tuesday, then hit the court Wednesday. ``We don't want to make any excuses. We just want to play well and keep improving so I don't think that the long flight will have anything to do with how we play,'' Van Gundy said. Shanghai has heavily refurbished the city gym that was built in the days of Mao Zedong's 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, adding an NBA regulation floor, giant television screens and additional dressing room and office space. The gymnasium seats about 10,000, but only about 3,000 tickets were available for fans -- those were snapped up in one afternoon. Chris Webber, Mike Bibby and the rest of the Kings were scheduled to practice later Tuesday afternoon. Liu Wei, Yao's teammate on the national team and the Sharks' current star, was invited join the Kings for training in July and is expected to appear on the court in Shanghai and Beijing. Yao said he wouldn't try to make things easy for Liu, but added: ``I'm more afraid of accidentally passing the ball to him just out of habit.'' The games are the NBA's latest attempts to harness basketball's surging popularity in China, 25 years after Wes Unseld and the Washington Bullets visited Shanghai to play the Chinese national team. Wang Zhizhi became the first Chinese player in the NBA in 2001, and four others have either played or trained with NBA teams, including Liu and Yao. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Im glad Yao will get to play a nice amount of min and give the Chinese fans what they came to see.
lol. that was funny. it reminds me someone should warn the kings players, don't anyone dare to be smart with yao on his home turf or he'll be hated by over a billion people. j/k.
I just noticed that theres allready a poll on this in the forum so if one of the moderaters could move this to it that would be great. thanks
