Yao Ming vs Wang Zhizhi.	Wang Zhizhi vs Bateer.	Yao Ming vs Yi Jianlian.

IF the sheer number of deals the American National Basketball Association (NBA) has with Chinese television stations around the country is anything to go by, basketball is big business in China these days. In addition to arrangements with 51 local and regional broadcasters in China, the NBA has concluded marketing contracts with 20 major Chinese companies. Millions of Chinese watch NBA games, and 30 percent of the traffic to NBA.com originates in China.

The notion of a “Chinese Derby” in the NBA first emerged thanks largely to the ascendance of China’s two “Great Walls,” Wang Zhizhi of the Dallas Mavericks, and Mengke Bateer of the Denver Nuggets, who have become superstars in the United States. Adding to the excitement, Wang Zhizhi and Yao Ming, the first international player without U.S. college experience to be a first-draft pick – and who is a television star to boot from his popular television commercial appearances – have squared off on the court no less than five times between 2002 and 2004.

This season, the rivalry fans have focused on has involved Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, the top pick (sixth overall) rookie forward for the Milwaukee Bucks.

The First Clash of the “Great Walls”

Talk of a “Chinese Derby” in the NBA can actually be traced back six years, when the Mavericks’ Wang Zhizhi went up against the Nuggets’ Mengke Bateer on March 4, 2002, a game that saw the Mavericks triumph 116 to 110 in overtime.

With a little more than eight minutes left in the third quarter, the seven-foot one-inch Wang Zhizhi and the equally imposing six-foot eleven-inch Bateer, were sent in simultaneously, setting the stage for the first-ever Chinese face-off in NBA history.

During the game, Dazhi, as Wang is known to fans and teammates, scored five points and two rebounds in the first nine minutes, while Bateer, who would go on to become the first Chinese player to win the NBA championship playing for the San Antonio Spurs, managed one rebound in three minutes of court time.

Although the two Chinese giants achieved statistical results for the match that were relatively modest by Shaquille O’Neal standards, they did joust energetically on the court to everyone’s delight, and had their team uniforms been different, the scene would have been entirely reminiscent of a Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) match.

“To meet with Dazhi on an NBA court could be regarded as a historic moment in China’s basketball history,” said Bateer following the game. “I believe many home fans will be excited for a while. Actually, it’s not really that extraordinary. Chinese basketball has become a significant presence in international basketball circles, and this sort of NBA first will be repeated many times in the future.”

Battles Between “Wise Men”

As the first Chinese player to join the NBA, Wang Zhizhi, who transferred to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2002, has a year up on Yao Ming, the first pick in the 2002 NBA draft by the Huston Rockets. Rivalry between the two was, therefore, inevitable.

To Chinese fans, the match-up even has a name. Put Yao’s and Wang’s given names together, and you get “Ming Zhi,” which means wise in Chinese. So naturally, their NBA games against one another have become known as battles between “Wise Men,” the first such set-piece being the November 25, 2002 nail-biter, when the Rockets were defeated by the Clippers 89-90.

In the CBA, Dazhi used to dominate the inside court, while the rising “Junior Giant,” as Yao is known at home, could only mount a limited challenge. Still inexperienced in those days, Yao could only claim an absolute predominance in height, but couldn’t compare well with Dazhi physically or in terms of skill.

But Yao improved by leaps and bounds, and the contest between the two soon became the most exciting thing to watch in Chinese basketball. In the end, Yao’s steady progress earned his team, the Shanghai Sharks, the CBA championship, but regrettably that distinction was achieved only after Dazhi had joined the NBA, so that Yao Ming never actually defeated him in their national league.

From CBA to NBA

Even though Wang Zhizhi had only just completed his first year with the NBA, and Yao Ming was still a first-pick rookie, that first game involving the two giants drew an audience of millions.

Following a Chinese-style greeting before the match, Yao Ming appeared in the starting lineup, while Dazhi entered soon after as a substitute player to wage a man-on-man defense against Yao. The friendly camaraderie they shared off court was quickly replaced by a real spirit of competition. Yao was positively aggressive trying to block Wang’s shots, while Dazhi responded in kind against Yao’s inside attacks.

Perhaps it was their mutual familiarity, but Yao managed to score only four points and seven rebounds, while Dazhi could only muster a single rebound and one steal.

Since the two were not the team’s key players at the time, the NBA’s first battle between the “Wise Men” was not as impressive as it had been in the CBA. Regardless, the game was significant for the two Chinese centers in that Yao Ming demonstrated that his rise in the NBA would probably be far more spectacular than his rival’s had been.

Yao vs Yi – Tradition vs Innovation

Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian smiled and greeted one another on the Houston Rockets’ home court, the Toyota Center. It was 9:30 a.m. Beijing time on November 10, 2007 (7:30 p.m. on November 9 in Texas). The game was considered important enough by global sports fans, and especially by the Chinese audience, to be aired on 16 television stations in China, including the state-owned CCTV, as well as two Webcasts on NBA.com and Sohu.com. It was estimated that over 200 million people watched the game, a viewing record for American professional sports.

The showdown was actually the third installment of the “Chinese Derby” in the NBA, but it was the first ever in which both players were in the starting lineup. And so, even though Yi and Yao will be teammates on the Chinese national team at the Beijing Olympics this summer (assuming a stress fracture Yao received in his left foot in February, which sidelined him from the remainder of the NBA season, has sufficiently healed), the Houston game generated far more excitement because of the central role both players had on their respective teams.

At 7 feet 5 inches, Yao Ming has throughout his career enjoyed an incomparable physical advantage. The all-star center has been included on the starting list no less than six times in succession, and has established himself firmly in the NBA. His stats this season include 22.1 points scored, 10.7 rebounds executed and 2.3 blocks delivered per game, making him one of only two players in the league to average more than 20 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks.

Yi’s NBA career is just beginning, but the personable forward has already impressed his teammates, coaches and opposing players. At 9.9 points per game, Yi ranks as the team’s fourth-leading scorer, averaging 27.2 minutes and 5.7 rebounds in his starting role.

So, amid all the excitement the game was, as fans have christened it, a clash of Chinese cultures – tradition versus innovation, modesty pitted against flamboyance. Because while the two have their share of similarities on the court, off court they are a study in temperamental contrast.

Yao was born to one of Shanghai’s most traditional sports families. His basketball training over the years was strict and no-nonsense, and he was not even allowed to watch an NBA game on television or to wear brand-name basketball sneakers, like so many his age do, whether basketball players or not.

Standing opposite, Yi was born into the post-1985 generation in Shenzhen, China’s vanguard city for its policies of reform and opening-up. As an adolescent, he idolized Michael Jordan and spent most of his childhood playing street basketball, until one day he was noticed by a pro coach in a three-on-three streetball national tournament.

“They are the two best basketball players in the country, and they have come to play in the best basketball league in the world,” said Wang Meng, a sportswriter who covers the Rockets for Titan Sports, a Beijing-based newspaper. “It doesn’t matter who wins. It’s the best thing that could have happened for China, because people will be cheering either way.”

In the end, Yao’s Houston Rockets defeated Yi’s Milwaukee Bucks 104 to 88 in a gruelling match. As a win-win game for the two titans, Yao won with a “double-double” – 28 points and 10 rebounds, plus three assists and three blocks, while Yi excelled personally with 19 points, nine rebounds, two steals and one block.

“This one is a little more built-up,” said Bucks assistant coach Jarinn Akana, who was with the Nuggets during the first Chinese NBA derby game. “Six years ago, people saw Dazhi and Bateer, and now they get to see these next two guys. Who knows what is going to happen in the future?”