Yao has one more big fan - but it is Moochie this time

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/sports/bk/bkn/1689775

By MICHAEL MURPHY
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
More wows for Yao

Count Rockets point guard Moochie Norris among the growing legion of Yao Ming fans.

After watching Yao rip Tim Duncan and David Robinson for 27 points and 18 rebounds Tuesday to lead the Rockets to an 89-75 victory over the Spurs, Norris was bubbling over with praise for the 7-5 center.

"He has guard arsenal, if you ask me," Norris said. "He can turn around and shoot; he can square up and hit you (with a pass) or still shoot the ball; he can give you the quick spin on the baseline; he can go to the middle and stop (to shoot) a hook. Whatever.

"He's showing so much. He's doing reverses like he's small. It's phenomenal to me. I'm impressed. Every time I get on the floor, I'm impressed. I'm a fan of Yao Ming. A big fan."

Fan enough to help make sure Yao got 18 shots against the Spurs, which matched his total from the three previous games (eight shots against Golden State, seven vs. Seattle and only three at Sacramento).

For a player leading the league in shooting percentage, hitting 64.8 percent of his field-goal attempts, that's not a good number of attempts.

Even though he is among 10 players who are hitting over half their shots and is the only player in the league shooting above 60 percent, entering Tuesday's game against the Spurs, Yao had only six more field-goal attempts (87) than did rookie swingman Juaquin Hawkins (81), who was shooting 38 percent from the floor.

"We feel like we have that definite inside threat all the time, a big guy who can post inside," Norris said. "Our forwards post up all the time, but we haven't had a center since Hakeem (Olajuwon) left where you could normally come down and (throw the ball inside).

"Now that our power forwards and our center are posting up, my hat is off to them, because our big men are working so well down there. Yao Ming's running right to the box, which opens everything up, so you have to give it to him down there.

"He's starting to get a feel for that kind of thing that you see Shaq (Shaquille O'Neal) do -- just take a step back in the lane and (dunk the ball). I try to tell him to do it all the time.

"I don't care if you break the play, if you can run in there and get down low, just run in there, and I'll throw it up there. You just catch it and make a play.

"If he's that close, it's difficult to stop him from right there."

School days

The Rockets got a nice two-day break to work on all aspects of the game, something coach Rudy Tomjanovich relished, especially in the afterglow of Tuesday's victory over the Spurs.

The Rockets are off until Friday's game at New Orleans, the first of a back-to-back that concludes with Philadelphia at Compaq Center on Saturday.

"It's really big," said Tomjanovich of the two-day break. "We got some work done today. It was very spirited. Sometimes wins are worth more than one game. The timing of having a big win like that with two days off here, with that positive attitude, is great.

"Sometimes you have to take your lumps, and sometimes you have to be shaken and all that, but we've already been through that adversity. To come back and have a great defensive game like we did (Tuesday) is great.

"I was happy about the win, but I was happy about the two positive days that we were going to have at home."