Well said........ That's WHY Big Z (Zydrunas Ilgauskas) said this will be the biggest regrets of his life that he can't participate in this year's Olympic for his country Lithuania as Cleveland Cavaliers refused to release him, due to he is one of the few NBA players on a not-fully-protected contract. And that's WHY when Yao Ming found out that he got this fracture on his ligament/ankle, his first reaction was he hoped his injury and the resultant surgery and rehabilitation would not hinder him from playing the Olympics, or else it would be the biggest disappointment/regret to his life. And that's WHY players like Dirk Nowitzki and Manu Ginobili are giving their all either to fight for the qualification slot for the Olympics or working hard on his rehabilitation to be able to represent their countries.
I can't believe we made it to page 5 of an Angolan basketball thread without mentioning (unless I missed it) Barkley and "How did I know he didn't have a spear?" It's still probably the most memorable moment in Angolan basketball history.
People need to lighten up here. Olympics is supposed to be a big party and cease-fire time. Anyway, here is a Chinese article that interviewed Yao after the game. I am too lazy to translate. The important point is Yao was pleasantly surprised of how fast he is recovering. He thinks he is 70% now. Yao is as humorous as ever. There is one question that the reporter asked him to comment on Angola's performance. Yao at first said they are so so, then the reporter was surprised and pointed out that one of their guards scored a lot of one-on-one points. Yao said: "So so...sorry, I watched too much T-mac play, OK?"
Yao and Tmac have played together for 4 years, and never passed the 1st round. But, they still really like each other. That's really touching!
yao is out of shape totally, which makes him even slower. but the good thing is, as a center, weight contributes much to points. yao is much stronger than he played in chna, shanghai. i still remember when he (with china national team) played against the usa like 8 or more years ago, he gave david robison a block, but meanwhile being knocked meters away by robison. he was so bony then.
Let me further quantify what is that 70%. In a separate article, Anthony Falsone, Yao Ming's personal trainer, who had been accompanying Yao Ming all these while, said medically speaking, Yao Ming is 100% healed on his foot. And all these while what they are talking about is his body conditioning and the feeling and touch in competition, and those could only be retrieved and accumulated through actual competition. Anthony Falsone felt that Yao had maintained a good ratio of weight vs fat contents, and is 70% back in his form and condition. What he needs now is to continue on his rehabilitation, and try to retrieve back his form and condition through competition in the future 2 weeks, prior to the Olympics. http://national.basketball.titan24.com/08-07-21/89923.html
I don't think you saw him play in the FIBA Stankovic Continental Cup tournament, or else you would not say he is totally out of shape. Even though he is rusty, and sort of hesitant in some of his movement, he is getting better and better as time goes by. As for the issue of being slow, you should read the interview that barryxzz linked in his post. There was a question by Yang Yi challenging on his defense in the first game against Serbia. Yao Ming said he had not played basketball for 5 months now, and so he was excited to be able to play again, and wanted to jump and block every shots come his way, and therefore mis-timed on some of those. But later on in Game 2 against Angola and Game 3 against Russia, he already improved on his judgement and timing. He averaged 3.3 block shots (a total of 10 block shots) in 3 games played. And he thought he was doing fine in some of the transition plays from defense to offense. In alot of instances, his team mates were surprised and not accustomed to the fact that it was Yao Ming that was the first in running up from the back court to the front court in those fast breaks.
Sorry, but I couldn't help laughing out loud that you finally give up. But what took you so long? I do have one problem with you keep mentioning "outside US and China". Although NBA has made tremendous success in China because of Yao Ming, NBA in China is nowhere close to it in the US. And for the vast majority of Chinese bball fans, Yao ming playing Beijing Olympic games are far more important than any NBA game Yao has played/will play.
Yeah...... let me enlighten you guys with the translation of the last question Yang Yi addressed to Yao Ming. Yang Yi asked him about his assessment of China's chance of getting out of the preliminary round now that Greece and Croatia got qualified, and Germany and Puerto Rico had to fight for the remaining slot (Note: Germany had beaten Puerto Rico to qualify, and Greece and Germany will be grouped into the same preliminary group with USA, Spain, Angola and China). Yao Ming said all these 4 teams (Greece, Croatia, Germany and Puerto Rico) are not easy to deal with. He thought Greece is the strongest amongst the 4. And personally he preferred Puerto Rico, cos team strength wise, China is closer with Puerto Rico. The last time they met in 2006 World Championship, China lost, but Yao Ming thought if not for a lost rebound at the end that Puerto Rico forced an over time, China could have won. He thought Puerto Rico is strong in their exterior/perimeter shots but weak in interior, and their centres do not know how to shoot; therefore, if China is to meet Puerto Rico, Yao Ming thought it will be much more easier for him. Yao Ming also said China is not afraid if they have to meet and beat Germany. He said: "Let Ah Lian (Yi Jianlian) take care of Nowitzki.....and I'll handle that guy Chris Kaman, who you can't tell his beard from his hair." This made me recall that famous and hilarious thrash talk Yao Ming once yelled to Kaman: "Just try to F***ing stop me." !!
every time we get the Yao's info..there would be argue between his nation effort and Rox cencern..couldn't we stop all these..let things go..all we need is see the things happen and hope Yao go well ...
Anybody have a report about Yao's game vs. Russia. China blew 'em out (blurb in the Chron.) and I think I just heard on 610 that Yao scored 6 pts. in 33 minutes? A friend was talking so if I totally misheard that I apologize, but I can't find an article or a boxscore on the net.
Thanks. Er, well perhaps Russia sent 3 guys at him and got shredded by the rest of the CNT team. I'm glad he didn't play 33 mins. though...
TOs will always be a problem for yao. but as long as he's getting back his conditioning and feeling zero pain, it's all good. hopefully he'll just play 25-30 mins even in the real games.
I watched the Angola game. I didn't like Yao had to play those goons so soon after the injury. China needs to know to preserve Yao a little. So I don't give a damn how many he scored against a Russia YMCA team.
Well, he played 2 complete quarters, 1Q and 3Q. So it was 20 minutes only. Also he had 3 block shots and 1 assist. In the Yang Yi interview, he explained about the exceptionally high turnovers. He wanted his team mates to play more fast breaks. So when he grabbed his defensive rebounds, he tended to pass it out very quick, but his team mates were not fast enough to react to recieve his passes, causing the turnovers.
Thanks pryuen (he's got me out in both a literal and firgurative sense). Does anyone know how many shots he took?