http://content.usatoday.com/communi...1/yao-ming-john-wall-injury-rockets-wizards/1
Nov 11, 2010
Halftime: Poor Yao Ming can't keep from hobbling
With
John Wall becoming
one of the youngest NBA players to get a triple-double last night it almost went unnoticed that
Yao Ming limped off the court after playing only
six minutes.
Yao had a rebound and a blocked shot before departing early for the umpteenth time in his ever-shortening career.
The good news, maybe, was that the injury didn't involve the stress fractures that have plagued China's other Great Wall. The bad news, maybe, is that Yao's latest snap-crackle-pop occurred in a left ankle tendon, so that's one more worry for the man who's a beast from the thighs up but a mess from the knees down.
What really hurts is that just last week the Rockets were saying Yao was making such good progress that they were considering junking
the medical advice to limit him to 6-minute spurts and no more than 24 minutes in a game.
I got to
spend some time with Yao when he first came to the Rockets in 2002, and the enduring memory is that of seeing him comically duck chandeliers and even have a struggle to fit inside the vast interior of a Hummer.
That he has been able to keep that smile while battling injuries -- and also carrying the hopes of a billion-plus people on his shoulders -- has been remarkable.
But last night's injury is one more reminder that we're probably getting the last of our looks at
the Big Panda.
Here's what else is on my lunchtime plate:
. . . Speaking of Yao, there's a 14-year-old who's already a 7-footer, and is being billed as
India's Yao Ming. Let's hope he has better feet.