Should be fun to watch Yi and Kevin Durant battle it out for ROY as we head into 2008. Despite the fact that the Bucks went down the dumper in December, Eazy-Yi had his best game of the season Dec. 22 vs. the Hornets (a team the NBA ought exterminate), hitting 14-of-17 from the floor, good for 29 points. Yi also added 10 rebs, 3 dimes, 3 steals and a block.

Durant for his part kept his scoring close to 20 a night (19.7). He’s still shooting around 40%, but actually rebounds a little better than people give him credit for (4.2). As the season heads into the second half look for Durant to wear down and throw up even more shots than he already does. If he shoots 40% for the year I say he wins ROY.

I’m noticing that while Durant gets a lot of coverage for being Durant, Yi’s coverage is pretty much limited to his being A) Chinese B) What he does/did as compared to Yao. Yi gets very little coverage in the basketball blog world. I don’t think he’s sexy in their eyes. Whether this would have any bearing on ROY I don’t know. I tend to think at the end of the day the voters look at “points,” check their box and move on. That’ probably not entirely the case.

Here’s a basketball Year in Review piece from the China Daily.

So this is a pretty wild two minute extravaganza of romance, broken-heartedness, a near seven foot  Chinese basketball star, two girlies, and of course —  that fruit  of our  mother’s mammaries —  milk.

Our own Jackson Broder  does the translation and it’s pretty damn good considering he’s lived in  Taiwan less than two years. Better than my Korean was at the same point. Applaud him copiously. (Mr. Native Speaker Chef, if you have anything to add please feel free)  

Header/Topic: “I want my taste”

Coach:Where is a-lian? (referring to Yi) The game is going to start!

Girl #1:   (mutters something incomprehensible after being hit by bike)

Yi:   Here, take one? (referring to drink, gives girl beverage) Yi and Girl #1 arrive at gym

Girl #2 (Fei) to Girl #1: Oh, it’s you when did you come?(Yi kicks some ass in basketball, then goes to see girl #1 afterwards)

Yi: Take this. (gives girl #1 violin)

Girl #2 (upon entering room and seeing Yi will other woman):  Do youwant to come see my show (to Yi)? You   can come too! (to girl #1)

Girl #2: If I lose this time, there’s still next time?

Yi:   (giving girl #2 drink)  Are you ok?Yi’s gets text message, reads:   “All three of us are good friends forever”

Girl #1: (giving both of them drinks) I’m going to leave now.   (Walks away, leaving Yi and girl #2 alone on bridge)  

Special thanks to  a man called E. for passing this along.

If the first month of the season is any indication it’s going to be a lot of fun to follow Yi Jianlian and the Milwaukee Bucks this year. Prior todays loss to Philadelphia the team was riding a 5-game win streak and was tied with Detroit for first place in the Central Division.�

Yi has been even better than most would have thought possible, averaging close to 10 points and six rebounds a game. He comes across as an affable, normal guy and  apparently speaks English as well as or better than Yao does now.

I think the potential holdout talk prior to the draft, and the subsuqent chatter of Yi contemplating staying in China once the Bucks had drafted him, did him few favors in the states. Thank you Chinese officals and agent Dan Fagen. I remember when Yi first got here there were a smattering of very pensive articles, as if Yi had arrived from Mars.

Surely this can be partially atributed to his being Chinese. China, and Asia in general, can seem like Mars to people who’ve never been or learned much about it. The reverse is true as well.

Which makes it all the sweeter that the Bucks are winning and everyone is happy. This is from an ESPN the Magazine article sidebar entitled Yi to the City.

If you’re rolling along North Milwaukee Street and you see a black man and a Chinese man strolling side by side, please don’t panic: No one is shooting Rush Hour 4. It’s just new ‘mates Michael Redd and Yi Jianlian. Other teammates and the local Chinese community have reached out to Yi to make him feel more at home.

The main article is about Michael Redd (Bucking the Weight) and in it Redd says Yi can be, not the next Yao Ming, but the next…get ready for this…Dirk Nowitzki.

Indeed the Bucks beat the Mavs on Nov. 23 in a game that saw Yi matched up with Dirk. While Dirk outscored Yi 20-9 and added one more assist (3-2), but Yi outrebounded Dirk 9-3. Each had a blocked shot.

The Bucks also beat the Cavaliers and Lakers last week and are 7-4 despite having played the 3rd toughest schedule in the NBA. Yi would seem likely to win rookie-of-the-month. In this evening’s loss to Philly Yi scored 13 on 5-of-9 shooting and grabbed five rebs.

He’s also revealed he prefers Chinese pop to hip-hop music.

Saturday evening’s contest between the Bucks and Bulls was the first nationally televised game featuring Yi in China and it brought in very slick 100 million viewers. (story via The Bratwurst)

The Rockets game featuring Yao was relegated to regional markets and after their respective games Yao went on record saying he thinks Yi has the potential to be better than he is.

If  you’re wondering how 100 million viewers compares to  a typical Bucks telecast you can go ahead and stop–100 million is roughly 1/3 the population of the entire United States.

Yao and Yi will go head-to-head for the first time on Nov. 9.

I wonder if many NBA fans know that ground deer antler is a very common medicinal in China and Korea  and has been used as such for nearly 3,000 years. Yi may even drink it before games.