The Rockets' Emeka Okafor?
Imperfectly perfect start: Yao Ming provides presence, not points,determination, not dazzle
Yao Ming brought more presence than points against the Lakers.
As long as Yao Ming isn't in street clothes, the Rockets are happy.
Yao Ming can't dunk. He can't shoot so straight. He can't keep up with an athletic big man. He can't stop fouling.
And none of it matters ... because of what he can do for the Houston Rockets.
Yao made his long-awaited return to the NBA Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his first action in a game that counts in almost 17 months, and long before the contest bleed into Wednesday morning heart wrench for those watching in Houston, one thing became clear. Yao Ming's presence is unmistakable.
That's what he dazzled with in Game 1. His presence.
Yao finished with the stats (nine points, 11 rebounds) of a slightly above average NBA center, a Brendan Haywood or a Emeka Okafor. But he sure didn't have just a slightly above average presence.
Other teams notice Yao. Other teams are affected by Yao. Even a team as good, as tall and as talented as the two-time defending champion LA Lakers.
Sure, Yao couldn't get the ball above the rim on a rebound dunk attempt in the second half. Sure, he missed seven of his 11 shots from the field. Sure, he looked flat footed as the Lakers roared back from a big deficit, eventually winning 112-110 with Yao long since done for the night, watching Aaron Brooks' last-second, no-chance, awkward layup attempt from the bench. (Lakers All-Star big man Pau Gasol scored easily over Yao and grabbed a critical rebound that easily should have been Yao's in one critical early fourth quarter sequence.)
Sure, Yao still can't stop fouling. Check that, the refs still can't stop calling Yao for every foul imaginable. (It was easy to imagine Jeff Van Gundy somewhere screaming at his TV screen during this one. Some things certainly have not changed during Yao's absence.) Yao's 24-minute playing time limit clearly isn't going to hinder the ability of NBA referees to foul him out.
Sure, the Yao-less Rockets rallied late with Kevin Martin (26 points), Brooks (24 points) and Luis Scola (18 points, 16 rebounds) — especially Scola — doing the heavy lifting.
None of all that matters all that much in the big picture, the only picture the Rockets can afford to take with their fragile franchise player.
Night one of the great Yao Ming Experiment — otherwise known as the Rockets' 2010-11 season — couldn't have gone much more promising for the Chinese superstar turned (at least temporality) role player or his employer. Yao was better than anyone had any right to reasonably expect on opening night. If he doesn't get hurt again — always the ultimate IF with this 7-foot-6 mold shatterer — he'll regain his touch, his second-half wind and maybe even some hops.
He's already brought the Rockets back their hope.
Editor's note: What do you expect from Yao Ming this season? All-Star or average? Or injured soon? Vote in CultureMap's latest CulturePoll.
