Houston Rockets all-star center Yao Ming, fresh off a sterling
performance in a victory over San Antonio on Tuesday, will play
against 7-foot Bucks rookie and countryman Yi Jianlian on Friday
night in Houston.
According to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, more than 100 million
Chinese fans are expected to watch the game via a national telecast
on CCTV or regional telecasts on networks in Shanghai and Guangdong
Province, to be aired live on Saturday morning in China.
Yao is from Shanghai, and Yi played the past five seasons for
the Guangdong Tigers in the Chinese Basketball Association.
The report said by quoting Bucks guard Charlie Bell: "Yi and
Yao. I'm sure there's going to be more Chinese media there than
American media. Just to see how he (Yi) is handling it. Sometimes
you look at him, you don't know he's that young, just the way he
plays out there on the court."
Yi scored 12 points and added four rebounds, three assists and
three blocked shots in the Bucks' 112-85 victory over Toronto on
Tuesday. That followed his 16-point, eight rebound performance on
Saturday in a victory over the Chicago Bulls.
The newspaper also quoted Bucks guard Michael Redd as saying
"we've just got to keep him focused, though. You've got to play
basketball; it's Houston vs. Milwaukee. It's not Yi vs. Yao, even
though it will be built up like that."
Yao scored 28 points and also had 13 rebounds and six assists in
the Rockets' 89-81 victory over defending champion Spurs on
Tuesday. "Yao definitely is a force now. You've got to double-team
him now," said Redd.
Houston is off to an impressive 4-1 start under new coach Rick
Adelman, with its only loss coming at Dallas on Monday night.
"Houston is one of those teams, when they're healthy, they're
tough to beat," Bell said.
(Xinhua News Agency November 9, 2007)