The Friday Night Fight

By Stan Eng

The much-hyped first meeting between Shaq and Yao has come and gone, and it was, not surprisingly, a decisive victory (of sorts) by Shaq. Yao's Houston team rode the shoulders of do-everything guard Steve Francis to a scintillating overtime victory, but Shaq's strength and stamina enabled him to shake off an inauspicious start and beat back the individual challenge of the league's widely-regarded second-best center.

But what a start to this much anticipated matchup of giants. As if to back up his tough words (*see below), Shaq attempted to strike the first blow with a power drive from outside the paint, but his layup attempt close to the rim was rebuffed by a Yao block. Several plays later Shaq went to the old reliable -- the power back-in facing away from the basket. But it was smothered by a bunch of Houston players, including Yao. On the other end, Yao scored with a hook in the lane, a transition lay-in ahead of Shaq, and a nice baseline turnaround. Yao's length and excellent help defense from his teammates led to three blocked shots in the opening minutes of the game. Combine that with three field goals to 0 points for Shaq, and the home crowd was certainly enjoying this battle of the titans in the early going.

However, the highlight reel for Yao would not spin much more after that, as Shaq asserted his dominance throughout the remainder of the game. Aside from an occasional block, a handful of rebounds and a game-clinching dunk off a Francis draw-and-feed, Yao was overpowered by Shaq's relentlessness and positioning. Twice in the second half he was pinned behind Shaq right under the basket. Despite a 4 in. high advantage, the result both times were predictable: rim-rattling power dunks in close quarters. On the offensive end, Yao was uneffective on his post-ups, which were mainly fadeaways that did not fall. Poor shot selection facilitated by fatigue, perhaps.

In the end, Yao got the win, but he has a way to go before he challenges Shaq as the premier big man in the game. But not to fear;
expected improvement in his game along with more upper body strength will certainly lead to greater things for Yao Ming.

* "I look forward to breaking down that mother-------'s body" Shaq said of Yao Ming. "He said my name three times, two in Chinese and one in American. You don't ever call me out. I'm from LSU."

* Editor's Note: Shaq still hasn't learn to shut up. Not to mention his uncouth speech, he said Yao spoke of him in "American." I didn't know "American" was a language. Go figure.