Yao Ming Mania! ~ View topic - Dedicated Thread on Yao Ming's Rehabilitation (2008)

Quote:

http://national.basketball.titan24.com/08-06-16/78335.html

Reporter Wang Meng of Titan Sports reports

It was another Sunday (June 15). Yao Ming finally could call it for the day and take a day’s rest. After setting June 24 to be the date for his return to China, he increased his training from 5 days to 6 days a week, as well as increased his practice time from 3 hours to 4 hours a day. And on this Sunday, while stretching his sore calf/legs in his garden at home, he is still pondering how he could make best use of his final 10 days in Houston for his rehabilitation.

On Saturday (June 14), when his assistant coach and the players who accompanied him in training were taking the day off to rest at home, Yao Ming still persisted and drove his car back to Toyota Centre. Moreover, he had arrived Toyota Centre much earlier than usual. It was because on this day, the Houston Rockets had organized a friendly basketball match between the Rockets working staff with the media/press reporters. Therefore Yao Ming had to go earlier to finish his shoot-around practice so as to evacuate the basketball court for the use of this friendly game.

After finishing his shoot-around practice with the Molten basketball (Note: Molten basketball is the standard for international games and Spalding basketball is the standard for NBA, and the shooting touch and feel for the 2 brands of basketballs is different), Yao Ming sneaked into the gymnasium, and started huffing and puffing on his strength and conditioning exercises for one and a half hour; he was fully exhausted and was with sore muscles before he called it for the day to return home. Yao Ming said: “The day for my return to China is getting nearer and nearer. I just want to best utilize the time left for my rehabilitaton.” Keith Jones, the physical trainer of Houston Rockets, who supervised and monitored Yao Ming’s progress in his rehabilitation said: “He always wanted to return home to rejoin the national team. Coupled with the outbreak of the Sichuan earthquake recently, he had become impatient and had bragged me day in and day out to allow/approve for his early return. I did not comply with his wish, and he just ranted out his anguish and agony on the dumbbells in the gymnasium.”

Yao Ming yearns to return to China, and he wants to be able to do so desperately. He kept surfing the Internet to understand the latest development and status of the national team’s preparation for the Olympics, and kept pondering over the roster and strategies of the national team. 5 wins out of 5 so far for the national team in the exhibition games; both Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi had fully rehabilitated from their injuries and rejoined the national team. And before and after each exhibition game, Yao Ming would surf the Internet to look for post-match summaries and statistics to analyze the performance of his team mates. Yao Ming yearns to rejoin his national team teammates impatiently.

The national team has been working hard and making progress methodically, and so is Yao Ming's form and condition. He had started playing contact basketball, and migrating from playing one-on-one to three versus three. Loren Woods, who stayed behind in Houston to train in this summer, had become his chosen partner on those one-on-one practices. Loren Woods seems to be the most appropriate candidate as he has got similar height, and a pretty good mid-range shooting range, but with lighter weight and insufficient body strength. He serves the right candidate for Yao Ming playing one-on-one, considering Yao Ming has just recuperated from his injury.

This is not the first time that Yao Ming rehabilitated from his injury; and he knew from his past experience the hardship, setback and frustration that he would have to go through when he resumed playing contact basketball. Yao Ming said: “There are some strengths that you could not retrieve just by training and working out in the gymnasium. What you use in the gymnasium pushing the barbells or lifting the dumbbells is sheer brute force. I already do not have problems doing those. Now all I lack is the “real” strengths for live game, and those could only be accumulated bit by bit through playing physical contact basketball. This is particularly true for the speed required for making lateral moves when you have to throw elbows against elbows, and this could only be retrieved by playing physical contact basketball game after game.”

So what Yao Ming anticipated did happen. As soon as the one-on-one training started, Yao Ming was solidly owned and taught lessons by Loren Woods. Loren Woods is lighter and moves much faster and quicker. And relying on his quicker footwork, he just went all out to attack and score over Yao Ming relentlessly during their one-on-one. Yao Ming is much taller and heavier, and he needed to block out his positioning under the post in order to have superiority over Loren Woods. But such one-on-one training lasted for over an hour, and shortly after the one-on-one practice started, Yao Ming found the calf muscles on his legs becoming sore, stiff and lead-laden that he could barely lift them. He said: “Once the one-on-one training was over, I just felt those legs were false legs that do not belong to me.”

So after one week of one-on-one training with Loren Woods, feeling that his conditions had improved slightly, Yao Ming requested for playing three versus three. Yao Ming was paired with Mike Harris and Kenny, an assistant physical trainer. His opponents were Loren Woods, Aaron Brooks, and a Rice University alumnus of Mike Harris. It was not an exactly strong combination, but just hastily put together to accompany Yao Ming to practice and to try to help him to regain his form and conditions as soon as possible.

Yao Ming was without dispute the key offensive player of his group, and all his opponents had to do was to try to stubbornly defend and stop him. When his team was on offense, every time when Yao Ming tried to fight for his position at the low post, using his height and weight to create space, as soon as he received the ball and was about to shoot, he would find Aaron Brooks, as quick and nimble as a rabbit, standing in front of him, throwing up his two arms and guarding him. So Yao Ming had no other choice but to pass the ball out to the perimeter to Kenny, the assistant physical trainer, who just laid bricks time after time missing his long range shots. So this team of an out-of-form Yao Ming coupled with Kenny who could not make any of his long range shots was no match with the other team (comprised of Loren Woods, Aaron Brooks and Mike Harris’ Rice University alumnus) and was easily and thoroughly beaten over and over again.

And when it came to defense, it was also a tough challenge for Yao Ming. When the opponents played the pick and roll, Yao Ming had to chase and try to guard Aaron Brooks. But Aaron Brooks was just too lightning quick for him and it was almost impossible for the out-of-form Yao Ming to be able to catch up with him. So as Yao Ming was already heaving heavily to catch his breath, Aaron Brooks just let him bite the dust and flashed past him like a ghost time and time again.

So it was the last game of this three-versus-three, and the score was 6 vs 6. Yao Ming was already fully exhausted. For several rounds, both teams were unsuccessful and unable to score. So when it came to his team’s turn for offense, Yao Ming exerted his last ounce of energy, managed to push aside Loren Woods and got his position under the low post. The ball was also passed into his hands, and so was Aaron Brooks who had already arrived out of nowhere, stood in front of him guarding him. He took a look and saw Kenny on the perimeter without anyone guarding him. Yao Ming hesitated and pondered awhile and decided that he would take it on his own, tried to finish off with the game so as to take a rest. So Yao Ming just blocked out Loren Woods with his shoulder, rode over the body of Aaron Brooks, and with great hazard laid up to put the basketball into the net. His team finally managed to win this last game. And after finishing off, Yao Ming was so exhausted that he felt his whole body was paralyzed and he had to held on to the basketball frame to gasp for his breath.

So as far as Yao Ming (in his current form and condition) is concerned, after every such round of physical contact basketball (whether it was one-on-one or three-versus-three), he felt he had his skin all peeled off from him. The team trainer/physician Keith Jones said: “I had agreed and approved his return to China, but he must persist to rehabilitate more for a while before he officially resumes playing contact basketball.”

So after his strength and conditioning workout in the gymnasium on this Saturday, Yao Ming purposely went to the training ground to take a look at the Houston Rockets working staff (led by its General Manager, Daryl Morey) playing against a bunch of resident media/press reporters at Houston who used to interview him with their recorder-pen and camera. Mark Bergmen (?), who is slightly below 1.7M, a producer/reporter from Fox Sports TV, was also there on the court competing. Mark was always around in the media right after each game to throw questions at Yao Ming in those post-game press conferences. So this time round, it was Yao Ming’s turn to ask him questions. He shouted out to Mark Bergman from the court side: “Hey, Mark. Can you tell me, besides the centre position, which other position you can play? Why have you become transparent and disappeared from the game right after playing for the first minute?” Without waiting for his answer, Yao Ming just chuckled and laughed and left the court, leaving an embarrassed and red-faced Mark Bergman stranded without knowing how to respond to his nasty question.

Mark Bergman said afterwards: “I have not seen Yao Ming laughed for a very long time. Now that he is permitted to return home to China and to rejoin his national team, he must be overjoyed to be able to do so.”

< Yao on the court, and his most recent game ~ Dedicated Thread on Yao Ming's Rehabilitation (2008)