I'll quote my favourite bits...
Yao Ming.
Yao zing!
Yao scored 20 points Sunday night. He shot a perfect 9-for-9 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line.
What's more, he was determined, driven, a real force in the game. A difference-maker even, scoring the winning points in the Rockets' 93-89 victory at Staples Center over the struggling Lakers.
This was nothing at all like his previous seven games with the Rockets, in which Yao showed flashes of potential, glimpses of what it is hoped he can be.
He accepted the ball confidently down on the blocks, wheeled inside for layups and tossed in a gorgeous fourth-quarter jump hook from the right baseline over Samaki Walker.
Yao still had his share of difficulties defensively, continuing his habit of not raising his long arms over his head to contest shots. But he put his long body into the crowds in the lane. He jostled in the scrums under the hoop and got his hands on six rebounds.
You want the most vivid difference between Yao now and Yao three weeks ago? He threw down three dunks.
"We're riding him on that all the time in practice," said Steve Francis, who led the way with 27 points and nine rebounds. "He has these nice moves that he wants to finish off with finesse. We tell him, `Slam it.' "
So Yao did.
"I feel sorry for the kid," he said. "I was worried that it would be Shaq's first game. He'd break him in two."
It was more than just his shooting. It was the way Yao consistently hustled to get up and down the floor. He made a defensive play at one end, got the ball out to start the fast break and was filling the lane on a three-on-two situation when Glen Rice pulled up and took an ill-thought 22-footer.
Until now, it had been nothing but potential. On this night, Yao made a significant difference in a win.
