China’s star basketball player Yao Ming says he is banking on his baby daughter to motivate him to overcome injury and return to the court to hopefully win an NBA championship.
The injury-prone 30-year-old Houston Rockets center is recovering from a broken foot that kept him out of most of the 2010-2011 NBA season and is awaiting word from doctors on whether he will be able to play again.
“She is definitely a big motivation for me to continue my role as a player, although my foot still needs lots of treatment to meet the game’s demands,” the China Daily on Tuesday quoted Yao as telling state television. “I wish she could watch me play and even win a championship as she grows up and not only see through video highlights how her dad played before.”
Late last month, Yao brought his one-year-old daughter Amy to China for the first time and bought a new home in Shanghai, signaling a possible end to his NBA career.
On Friday last week, new Houston new coach Kevin McHale said he hopes the 2.26m center is able to return from injury and extend his playing days.
“We would all be really happy if Yao comes back to play and I hope he can,” McHale said. “He will give it his best shot. His body is going to dictate if he can come back and play. That’s all going to be laid out in the future.”
Yao played only five games last season and underwent surgery in January for a stress fracture in his left ankle, the latest in a series of injury setbacks that have dogged him in recent seasons.
With perennial All-Star Yao only playing a limited role, the Rockets have missed the playoffs the past two seasons.
Yao’s contract expires on June 30 but Rockets owner Leslie Alexander has said he would like to have Yao back if he is able to continue his NBA career.
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
REUTERS, DALLAS
New Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson said on Tuesday he would “not tolerate excuses” when he takes the reins of the struggling franchise.
Jackson, 46, was hired on -Monday to replace Keith Smart, who went 36-46 in his only season as the Warriors’ coach.
The former NBA guard conceded he would “love to have size” on his team, but added that they could still win without a dominating presence in the paint.
Jackson, who will join the team at the conclusion of the NBA Finals where he is serving as a television analyst, said most teams do not have the height of Dallas’s seven-footers, Tyson Chandler and Brendan Haywood and would need to find other ways to win games.
“I would be sitting here lying to you if I said that size does not matter,” he told reporters before Game 4 of the NBA finals between Dallas and the Miami Heat. “It certainly matters, but I’ll play lawyer, exhibit A, Tyson Chandler, Brendan Haywood. Everybody else is minimum size. So no more excuses.”
“Find a way to go out there and get it done by any means necessary. We will not tolerate excuses,” Jackson said.
Jackson said the Warriors, who have made the playoffs just once since 1994, already have some pieces in place that can reverse the fortunes of the struggling franchise.
“We have a great rebounder in David Lee, one of the best in the business,” he said. “We have guards with tremendous athletic ability on the offensive end, which tells me you can go get some rebounds. Collectively we will find a way to get it done.”
MOTHER KNOWS BEST: Warriors’ coach Kerr said his 91-year-old mother criticized him for his attitude toward officials that led to his ejection from Monday’s game Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Wednesday rescued the Oklahoma City Thunder with a game-tying buzzer-beater before finishing with 46 points in a 129-125 overtime victory against the Utah Jazz. The reigning NBA champions looked to be heading for a third straight loss after the Jazz inched into a 114-112 lead following Lauri Markkanen’s layup with just three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. However, NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander drained a superb 13-foot jump shot to tie it up at 114-114 as the buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime. Gilgeous-Alexander then took over in the extra period with nine points as the Western
Mohamed Salah’s Egypt knocked reigning champions Ivory Coast out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a 3-2 win in the quarter-finals on Saturday, while Victor Osimhen starred as Nigeria beat Algeria 2-0 to set up a clash with hosts Morocco. In Agadir, Morocco, a thrilling last-eight tie saw Omar Marmoush and Ramy Rabia net in the first half for the Pharaohs before an own goal by Ahmed Aboul-Fetouh brought the Ivorians back into it. Salah then got Egypt’s third early in the second half and they held on after Guela Doue again reduced the deficit. Egypt is to face Senegal
AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE: Sabalenka aims to follow up with a third Australian Open win, while Taiwanese Joanna Garland claimed a WTA 125 title in Canberra Aryna Sabalenka beat Karolina Muchova in straight sets to reach her third Brisbane International final in a row yesterday, a week ahead of the Australian Open. Sabalenka looked in great touch against the tricky Czech, who had won their last three meetings and went into the match as one of the few players with a winning record over the world No. 1. However, Sabalenka showed her class and power as she broke Muchova once in each set to take the semi-final 6-3, 6-4 in 89 minutes to face Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the final. “I struggled against her a couple of times [in
His team were knocked out of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in agonizing fashion on Tuesday, but the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s (DR Congo) human statue Michel Kuka Mboladinga would be remembered as the tournament’s most remarkable supporter. The colorfully dressed Kuka has earned fame as the fan who stands completely immobile throughout his team’s games, looking toward the sky with his right arm raised and palm open. He has become a media star and on Tuesday was accompanied by a delegation of several hundred Congolese supporters whose trip to Morocco was paid for by the country’s government. They took their
RSS