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Yao Ming to start season in Shanghai exhibition

New Houston recruit Tracy McGrady, the NBA's leading scorer, says he's looking forward to pairing with Yao Ming, even though he expects his totals to go down as a result.

"I'm really not concerned about that," the guard said yesterday. "My main goal is to make Yao better, to make my team better. Obviously, my scoring will go down because we're going to try to have Yao go on offense a lot."

McGrady, league scoring champ for the last two seasons, was acquired in the offseason from the Orlando Magic as part of a seven-player deal. He said was satisfied with his scoring accomplishments, adding: "I have higher goals now I want to achieve."

Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said McGrady, Yao and Jim Jackson will be among the starting five in today's exhibition game against the Sacramento Kings in Shanghai -- the first NBA game ever in China. A second game will be held in Beijing on Sunday.

Appearing at a news conference Wednesday with McGrady, Yao said he had no problem communicating with his teammates on and off the court.

McGrady praised 2.26m center as an "incredible talent, an incredible individual as a person and a player."

"I'm just excited about being his teammate," he said.

"I hope that he enjoys his moment because he has worked very hard to come home [to Shanghai] with the NBA," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said.

Kings coach Rick Adelman said he had anticipated most of the attention would be on Yao and the Rockets.

"He's a great player in our league, he's kind of bridged the gap between NBA basketball and Chinese basketball. He's had a huge impact on our game," Adelman said.

"But they picked our team to come here too," he said. "I think that's a compliment to our players and how they've played."
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