NBA: Yao Ming at his peak returns to his rookie season

Following the kissing-donkey-butt incident and the short film of him walking with Barkley.

Barkley and TNT have both had a great year.

The ratings skyrocketed, and Barkley secured his position as host with an annual salary of $300 million!

This salary is terrifying for a retired player.

Old Pig is completely won.

"Yao Ming's low-post skills are reminiscent of mine. Don't underestimate his hip size; few centers can defend him, whether it's strength or angle!"

Barkley now appears very proud.

Especially after Yao Ming displayed his very skillful low-post technique, after all, low-post technique and Barkley's signature backside attack are both his trademarks.

Kenny was obviously on McGrady's side: "Tracy is also very good. He's very fast, like a storm sweeping the court. It's a pity that the Magic's rebounding support can't unleash Tracy's full offensive potential."

"That's all thanks to Stephen Jackson of the Rockets. He's got a much better eye on men than Big Dog!" Barkley said seriously, picking his nose. "Stephen's defense is fantastic. He doesn't give Tracy any chance to get to the basket. As for shooting, Tracy only gets a maximum of 3 points, but Yao Ming gets the rebound and scores 4 points!"

Very well, Kenny Smith doesn't know how to respond now.

Barkley essentially made it so that the Magic had absolutely no interior players.

Although the actual situation may be similar.

But since everyone here is a professional, and there are cameras and lenses around, they should at least exercise some restraint.

Back to the game.

Francis attempted an attack, but Armstrong defended him, and his shot missed. Aaron Gordon of the Magic tried to grab the rebound.

However, Yao Ming's timing judgment is much better than his.

An easy jump and flick of the ball.

The basketball goes into the net.

Francis excitedly gave Yao Ming a high five.

Francis's playing style is too reckless, which makes him very dangerous, but he also makes a lot of mistakes and often shoots at will.

Yao Ming's rebounding and putback abilities provided him with a lot of support.

At least the previous Rockets didn't have that.

The Magic launched a fast break, and Big Dog, who had just entered the game, went up against McGrady.

The big dog still acted like a superstar: "Come on, Tracy, let me see your soft shot!"

Big Dog's troll tendencies are actually proving somewhat useful these days.

Because McGrady will get a headache.

The last time McGrady led his team to the playoffs for the first time, Big Dog gave him a very enthusiastic welcome!

McGrady's usual playstyle would be to shake off Big Dog and then pull up for a jump shot. Whether it goes in or not doesn't matter, as long as it looks cool.

But this time McGrady didn't rush to shake off Big Dog; instead, he did an Iverson-style Killer crossover!

Tracy McGrady, who is 206 cm tall, uses this kind of footwork.

The big dog was almost immediately wiped clean, and he didn't hold back when facing Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady either, just violently forcing his way in!

Yao Ming naturally accepted the performance bonuses that came to him.

But just as he was about to touch the basketball, McGrady forced a layup, switched hands, and threw the ball up without looking at the rim.

Yao Ming was fouled upon landing.

I turned to look at the basket, and the ball had gone in!

What is this thing?!

Yao Ming, who has always played a stable and efficient style of basketball, still experienced the kind of unstoppable bombardment from McGrady's pure talent.

Even if Yao Ming scores a shot like that, all he can do is twitch his lips.

McGrady ran past Glenn Robinson and yelled, "You're outdated!"

McGrady was playing too excitedly.

No wonder he's a young, peak-form player who's gotten into two fights this season.

Coach Doc Rivers was helpless. Every coach likes a stable and efficient team core, but the frustrating thing is that McGrady was efficient, but he was completely unreliable.

Hill and McGrady would complement each other quite well.

However, Hill failed to perform in five games, and the team subsequently traded Mike Brown away. Now Doc Rivers is also very worried.

McGrady's individual ability is beyond doubt.

However, the game wasn't something he could control alone. McGrady scored a phenomenal 51 points in the first three quarters, but the Magic only managed 72 points as a team.

And at this point, McGrady was exhausted.

The Rockets' tactics in this game were extremely unethical.

That's a clear and meticulous arrangement of the opponent.

McGrady's job was to keep shooting, follow Glenn Robinson's shot, follow Stephen Jackson's shot, prevent drives, and give McGrady the shot.

Playing with the big dog is actually okay, but the Martial Saint's defense is tougher than McGrady expected!

Furthermore, the Rockets also have Yao Ming as a reliable scoring option.

McGrady didn't even dare to rest.

With their energy completely depleted by the end of the third quarter, the Magic ultimately chose to concede the game. The Rockets led the Magic 93-72, and the outcome was no longer in doubt at the end of the third quarter.

McGrady did not play in the fourth quarter.

Yao Ming achieved his first career superstar stat line of 32 points, 20 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks.

At the same time, Yao Ming also broke the record for the most 30+ point rookies.

Houston fans were cheering wildly for Yao Ming's victory, a feat achieved by Yao Ming in just 3 minutes of play in the fourth quarter with only one rebound and 2 points.

McGrady played all three quarters, while Yao Ming played a total of 27 minutes.

The efficiency value is ridiculously high.

Yao Ming scored a phenomenal 32 points and grabbed 8 offensive rebounds on 11-of-13 shooting.

That was truly unstoppable in the Magic's paint.

Strictly speaking, if Yao Ming had continued to score, he could have easily scored 40 points today, given how weak the Magic's interior defense is, and how much stamina Yao Ming still seems to have.

Fans haven't forgotten the last time Yao Ming played all three quarters and still put up a powerful back-to-the-basket move in the crucial fourth quarter!

After the game, McGrady, who didn't get along with Yao Ming, didn't have any further interaction with him because of their mutual dislike.

It's probably better not to communicate after such a crushing defeat, otherwise Yao Ming wouldn't know how to comfort poor McGrady.

In fact, this is a good thing.

After all, McGrady's personality is such that he'd rather take action than talk.

Yao Ming is genuinely afraid that he might get involved with Big Dog.

With the All-Star Game just around the corner, let's not cause any trouble like this.

The Rockets' second nationally televised broadcast in the United States concluded successfully, with viewership remaining incredibly high. Moreover, following Kobe, McGrady also gained attention from domestic fans due to Yao Ming.

He's really cool when he plays basketball.

On the 16th, the Rockets lost to the Spurs without any suspense.

It's like a ragtag army losing to a regular army.

Then came a tragic four-game losing streak, and their ranking in the Western Conference dropped back to 9th. However, Yao Ming's scoring rose to 18.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks!

These are already the stats of a top-tier center in the league.

During the draft, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Jay Williams would be the number one pick, and Stoudemire was willing to fight for him.

They've been playing for two months now.

Fans no longer compare Yao Ming to players like Jay Williams, Amar'e Stoudemire, or Drew Gooden.

The gap is too big.

Let alone these newcomers, even players like Yao Ming, Rudy Randolph, and others can't compare to him.

Yao Ming has already taken his seat at the table with the top stars, ahead of them.

Yao Ming's gentle demeanor and quiet strength gradually stirred up a storm in Houston, giving Rockets fans great confidence.

Although the Rockets' ranking dropped after four consecutive losses.

However, in the third round of All-Star voting, Yao Ming received 20 more votes than Shaquille O'Neal and 3 more votes than Kobe Bryant, making him the top vote-getter in the Western Conference!

After the game against the Mavericks.

In the post-game interview, Yao Ming was asked by a reporter: "The Rockets have been having a bad run of performance recently, but you surpassed Shaquille O'Neal in the third round of voting, and you might even be an All-Star starter. What are your thoughts on this?"

"Thank you to my fans." Yao Ming remained very composed: "Shaq has always been my idol. If I get more votes than Shaq, I'm willing to give up my starting position."

"Is this charity?" The reporter was clearly not going to let Yao Ming off the hook.

Yao Ming, however, was used to such open and covert attacks: "No, it's respect. Shaq dominated the paint for 12 years in the NBA. This is my tribute, and also my challenge! Shaq won't sit on the invincible throne forever!"