The Yao Ming that showed up for Rockets/Cavs last night was the Yao Ming the Rockets envisioned they were getting back in 2002. On his way to scoring 28 points (13-15 FG), Yao really didn’t have to do much more than be very tall. That’s not a knock on Yao’s skill, but more a knock on the awful defense being played by Zydrunas Ilgauskas and the rest of the Cavs. After Yao inadvertently kicked Ben Wallace (who started out the game guarding him) and broke his leg, Big Z switched over and allowed Yao to pretty much just stand near the rim and get easy dunks. And when Anderson Varejao took his turns, Yao was able to work the baseline and easily shoot over him. Ilgauskas was like a 7-3 version of Wally Szczerbiak; whoever he was on, Rick Adelman had that guy go right at him … On the other end, Yao was only credited with one block, but it was a definite statement. With Houston already up big in the fourth quarter, LeBron spun off Ron Artest along the baseline, but Yao was there and sent his layup packing … Read More »