Rookie’s triple-double, Yi’s play are difference
Yi Jianlian may have been billed as the lesser half of the Chinese duo that headlined the Wizards’ clash against Houston on Wednesday, having never beaten Yao Ming in their first four NBA meetings.
But while Yao lasted only six minutes before leaving with a strained leg tendon, Yi had his best performance of the year, and John Wall introduced himself to the potential hundreds of millions watching in China with his first NBA triple-double in a 98-91 victory.
Wall finished with 19 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds, six steals and — perhaps most remarkable — a single turnover. He became just the sixth player in NBA history to have a triple-double within the first six games of his career and joined Magic Johnson — who was in attendance — as the only ones in that group with at least six steals.
Yi added 13 points, seven rebounds and four blocks off the bench.
After the Rockets (1-6) took an 85-84 lead courtesy of turnovers on consecutive possessions, the Wizards (2-4) ran off 10 straight points. The stretch displayed Wall’s supreme confidence in transition with unselfish feeds to both Al Thornton (20 points, six rebounds) and Andray Blatche (20 points, 11 rebounds) on the break.
With the Houston defense sagging off him, Wall found his midrange touch early, closing out a 9-2 run late in the first quarter with a pair of jump shots that gave Washington a 22-13 lead. Looking fresh and rested after three days off following his first set of back-to-back games, the rookie point guard played under control throughout the contest. Wall hit six field goals in a row at one point, and when he raced downcourt at the end of the first half, he found Nick Young for a 3-pointer in the corner instead of forcing the play.
To the delight of the Asian Heritage Night crowd, Yi also was a beneficiary, with all three of his first-half jumpers coming off feeds from Wall.
The Wizards looked as comfortable on offense as they have all season even though Gilbert Arenas (five points) struggled, missing six out of seven shots. But he helped set up the highlight of the night when he held off Courtney Lee on the fast break and scooped the ball to Wall for an alley-oop and a 36-25 lead.
After the Wizards took a seven-point lead into half, Yi was largely responsible for making sure things didn’t completely unravel in the third quarter. He hit a jumper and then rejected Kevin Martin (31 points) on the ensuing defensive possession to help Washington to a 73-72 advantage after three quarters.
