<div align="left"><font size="3">China beats Japan 86-53 to celebrate Yao's birthday</font></div> <div align="left">DOHA, Qatar, Sept. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Yao Ming scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to help China beat Japan 86-53, celebrating his 25-year-old birthday at the Asian Men's Basketball Championships here on Monday. </div> Yao, born on Sep. 12, 1980, was pitched for a brief time in the first and third quarters, but was enough to claim the fourth consecutive win for China in the tournament. The tournament organizers gave presents to Yao and Mo Ke, whose birthday was on Sept. 8, after China's victory. Jonas Kaslauskas, China's head coach, said he was satisfied with the Chinese performance for the first time in the event. "We played great defence in the game at least for 30 minutes out of 40s. I'm very happy with today's win," the Lithuanian coach said. "We came into today's game with different attitude. That's thereas on we got a beautiful win," said forward Zhu Fangyu, who had 11 points. After a 6-6 start, Yao scored six points to initiate a 10-0 run for China to lead the game for good. The three-time champion built up a 37-15 lead in the first half and the gap was extended to 30 points at the end of the third quarter. <div align="left">"China is a better defensive team and is more experienced than us," said Japan's head coach Zeljko Pavlicevic.</div> <div align="center"><font size="7"></font></div> <div align="center"><font size="6"><font color="red">HAPPY BIRTHDAY YAO MING !!!</font></font></div>
Happy birthday. Yao entered the league as a 22 year-old and in the blink of an eye, he's 25. Let's hope that in another three years, we'll have a NBA championship already.
Happy birthday Yao!! ...what could be a better present than to enter your 26th year with a championship ring??
Found these pictures of Yao in the game, he looks considerably thicker than last season. Picture from last year.
Wow, Yao looks like he's locked himself up in the weight room this off-season. I love it. The gains he's made in the weight room, from what I can see, should pay off this season. Hopefully he has a breakout year, and like "Houston" said, what could be better than a championship ring as a birthday gift this year.
Good to see he has dedicated himself this offseason getting bigger, the pics shape posted prove Yao is getting some more muscle on him. Happy Birthday to Yao!!
Anybody know a good place to buy one of Yao's national team or Shanghai Sharks jerseys. I've been wanting to grab one of those for a while.
Happy Birthday Ming!! Wishing you more muscles, talent and not to mention bling!(ring) Not to be a pesimist but I don't think Yao gained THAT MUCH muscles in his arms as some claim..its just that in the pic where his arms seem so big with the Iranian center guarding him is because when you're arms are kind of pressed towards something they tend to get big right? His arms are kinda pressed towards the side of his body or the Iranian seems to be pressing it trying to guard Yao. He definitely gained some muscle, but not as much as some people think
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Eduardo:</div><div class="quote_post">Happy Birthday Ming!! Wishing you more muscles, talent and not to mention bling!(ring) Not to be a pesimist but I don't think Yao gained THAT MUCH muscles in his arms as some claim..its just that in the pic where his arms seem so big with the Iranian center guarding him is because when you're arms are kind of pressed towards something they tend to get big right? His arms are kinda pressed towards the side of his body or the Iranian seems to be pressing it trying to guard Yao. He definitely gained some muscle, but not as much as some people think </div> I agree his arms are not a lot bigger, but they look one or two inches thicker, which is significant growth. However, take a look at his shoulders, they look much bigger in the before and after pics.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting moeinhouston:</div><div class="quote_post">Anybody know a good place to buy one of Yao's national team or Shanghai Sharks jerseys. I've been wanting to grab one of those for a while.</div> I really doubt you could get an authentic one everywhere. I visited China in July and there weren't even any official China jerseys there. I didn't even see a fake one...
I like how Yao has focused on sharpening his upper-body strength...he already has a solid base...however, strength has not been his biggest problem...his biggest problem is that he's only giving us 32 minutes or so a night due to foul trouble...we need him on the court for 36-40 minutes per night...
<font size="4">Yao cuts jaw in China's 87-73 win over Lebanon</font> Pivot Yao Ming had his jaw cut and had four stitches in China's 87-73 victory over <font color="#0000ff">Lebanon</font> on Tuesday at the Asian Basketball Championships for men. Ali Fakhreddine crashed down Yao and cut Yao's jaw with his flying elbow 5:10 minutes into the second half when China led by 34-23. The angry Yao palmed down his blood onto the table of the technical officials for non-call of the play before he left for the locker-room. The Houston Rockets center returned to the court-side with 1:32 left in the first half and came back to the game in the second half to help China secure a semi-final berth. China led by 50-27 when Yao was absent in the first half and led as many as 24 points in the fourth quarter to keep the unbeaten record. In the 2001 version of the tournament in <font color="#0000ff">Shanghai</font>, China had a brawl with Lebanon with both teams were punished by FIBA. Yao and other two players of the current Chinese squad, <font color="#0000ff">Li Na</font>n and Zhang Jinsong, competed in 2001. "I don't think we should make fuss (of the affair). It's a basketball game, not a fight game," said forward Du Feng, who had 17 points for China. Opening the game with a 5-0 start, China held Lebanon by only 11-out-of-42 in the field before leading all the way towards the victory.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> The angry Yao palmed down his blood onto the table of the technical officials for non-call of the play before he left for the locker-room. </div> I'm loving the attitude shown by Yao here. It's worth any amount of stitches IMO.
yeah, i was gonna say, I think we're watching Yao progress in terms of aggression and adapting to physical play...its unfortunate he had to get stitches, but its all apart of the learning process...
Daag.. Yao DID bulk up. It's gonna be interesting to see how his style of play changes with his new body frame and what not. I still wish he could be as big and buff or close to as Shaq though, that would make things quite interesting.
He went to the officials table and slammed it asking for a call. Not only has the Kenny Smithh game pumped me up but this has also.
