|
Commentator : Eric and Christy, you know
season openers are big for
the Indiana Pacers but this is, ahem, extra big with
Yao Ming, 7'5'' Sports lllustrated's
cover boy making
his NBA debut
tonight.
Rudy : Listen, right now, he's done so good through
the practices with all the things that we've given
him so much information uh, but as time goes by
everything will become natural.
Yao’s teammate : Hey, yo, new
center, baby.
Everybody get funky. Understand something, man. We
can beat they ass, tonight, every night. Think about
how we felt last year when we wasn't in the
playoffs. Everybody here
got to cruise.
It's all good, baby. It's all good. Rockets, on
three. One, two, three Rockets!
Colin : I think everybody was pretty excited to see
what he was all about, you know? Nobody had really
watched him play.
Yao’s teammate : Let's go. Let's go, rookie.
Commentator : It is the grand unveiling of Yao Ming.
At 7'5'', 280...
Yao’s teammate : Let's go. Let's go.
Commentator : Yao Ming,
watching the first quarter from the bench
and stepping on the
floor. Things speeding around right
now and ahead of Yao Ming and, and there is Bender.
Goes up against Ming and beats him.
Man: Boy, tough play.
Commemtator : Ming is having his difficulty
getting on track
offensively.
Colin : I guess people might've been concerned that
he was, you know, just a big, clumsy oaf because he,
uh, didn't look too graceful that first game.
Commentator : Here is Yao
Ming with the quick spin and again stripped.
And Yao's gonna see a lot of that. Yao Ming we have
not seen him since the second quarter. A lot of
disappointed, tired 300 million watching on in
China, they're not seeing much from their hero,
their treasure.
Colin : He didn't score, and
he was universally hailed as a
bust. I think Americans and American
media want instant gratification.
Commentator : …Yao Ming, in just 11 minutes, did not
score.
Yao’s teammate : One of the things that he had to get
used to right away is the speed of the game and also
the, uh, aggressiveness that is played. The guys in
the NBA go right at
you and they're strong, they're quick.
Commentator : Loose ball
picked up by Jackson, takes it in and
slams it down!
Stephen Jackson gives
the Spurs a one point lead!
Commentator : Hilario from behind, sends it away. He's
gotta get under the basket. He's
7'5''. This isn't
lnternational League.
You gotta dunk that.
Frank Deford : Now he's
already
behind the eight ball. People are
saying he's a bust, he's not really as good. The
Rockets have made a mistake.
Commentator : Let him go by him. Clear out and let…
They don't have that kind of
crossover in
Shanghai. I think Marion was in shock as
the entire Suns bench went sideways!
Kenny : Hey, he might be a good player one day, but
he ain't ready. Are we gonna make the bet?
Charles : Yao Ming?
Kenny : He said Yao Ming gonna get 19 points.
Charles : On Saturday night?
Kenny : If he get 19 points in a game, I'll kiss his
ass right here.
Charles : I'm telling you, he had 12 points and 18 rebounds.
No, that was Shawn Bradley.
Kenny : Yao Ming makes Shawn Bradley look like Bill
Russell.
Yao : The biggest pressure is the expectations put on
by different people as everyone is watching and
hoping that I play well. Colin would say, ''Hey,
don't worry. You're new. You're still adjusting.
Everybody goes through this.'' |
