That pressure left behind, Yao came to play. He played to win.
From early on, when he kept up with a streaking Steve Blake and batted the Portland point guard’s layup off the glass, you knew this was going to be the night. Yao kept making play after play, scratching that itch.
Once, he stepped outside the 3-point line to set a pick for Aaron Brooks, casually drifted back inside — what you might call a slow roll — caught the pass, spun in the lane and threw down a jam.
He helped set the tone defensively with the block on Blake, and he scared the living daylights out of Travis Outlaw, who dared to drive into the big man’s territory.
