February 27, 2008

It was a very sad day for the Houston Rockets when Daryl Morey told the team that Yao would miss the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his foot. The announcement came as a shock to everyone. Just the day before, Yao was running up and down the floor in practice. Everybody knew that Yao's foot had been hurting, but to be fair, at this point in the season EVERYBODY has at least one body part that hurts and is sore. Yao, to his credit, tried to continue to play and practice on a bad foot.

The team was in silence when we heard the bad news. At this point, we have won 12 straight games and we battled our way back into playoff contention. We have the best record in the NBA since January 1, in other words, we were playing great! Our team had developed a quiet confidence in our system and each other. We were really playing some beautiful basketball.

First and foremost, everyone felt very bad for Yao. Yao is the ultimate team player and he was more disappointed than anyone that he could not be on the floor to help us win games anymore. He is the ultimate competitor and you could tell that this bad news weighed heavily on his mind. If there was any way that Yao could have played on his bad foot, he would have. A stress fracture is simply an injury that you cannot test and push. As Yao's teammates, we know how badly that he wants to have playoff success and ultimately bring back the championship trophy to China. Yao will fight back and come back healthy and he will have the success that he covets, because he is a tireless worker and has the determination of a lion.

There has been much speculation about the cause of the injury. Let me assure you that it was purely coincidence. Injuries like this are difficult to prevent especially when you are as big as Yao. I read that someone blamed the injury on the lack of a quality backup, this is surely not the case. All NBA players take a beating on their bodies and sometimes the body cannot handle it. Yao will heal and come back stronger next year.

As for the rest of our team, we must refocus our attention and go forward with the goals we have set for ourselves. We still feel that we have a very good team. Everyone must step up their level of play and we must continue to work together as a team. When you play as a team, ANYTHING is possible.

There are few who believe that we can still accomplish great things this season. Without a doubt, our task has become tougher with the absence of Yao, however, we still have the belief and the drive to succeed despite the public skepticism. I joked with my teammates that it will be easier to play now, because the bandwagon is now clear and we do not have any distractions.

Do not lose hope Rocket fans. We will continue to fight and make you proud.

Your friend,

Shane

ps. Here are some pictures of our last road trip flight. Enjoy.

译文如下：

当达雷尔-莫雷告诉我们，姚明由于脚伤这个赛季不能再打球的时候，那一天可真称得上是痛苦的一天。他的发言对于在场的每个人来说都是一个打击。就在这天之前，姚明还在训练中不停地奔跑。大家都知道姚明的脚有伤，但是公平地讲，赛季打到这会儿了，大家的身上都或多或少地有些伤。姚明也是同样，他一直带伤参加训练和比赛。

当听到这个坏消息时，大家都沉默无声。要知道，我们现在已经连续赢了12场球，我们重新成为了季后赛席位的有力争夺者，1月1日之后，联盟里还没有哪支球队干得比我们更漂亮，换句话说，我们打得棒极了。我们对于自己的战术系统，以及彼此之间都有了更多的信心，我们真的已经开始打出流畅漂亮的篮球了。

首先，每个人都对姚明感到很心痛，他是一个优秀的团队型球员，现在他一定比任何人都感到失望。他是一个竞争者，你应该可以想见这个消息给他心理造成的影响。如果这里有什么方法，可以让姚明带伤打球，我想他一定会继续打下去的。但是，姚明的骨折恰恰是让你无法移动或者继续压迫它。作为姚明的队友，我知道他是多么希望打进季后赛，然后把总冠军奖杯带回中国。我相信姚明一定会健康地回到赛场，因为他是个非常刻苦的球员，而且有着狮子一般刚毅的决心。

现在，对于姚明受伤的说法有很多种猜测，但是我想告诉你，这就是一个意外。当你像姚明一样高大的时候，这样的伤病往往是不好预防的。每个NBA球员都需要靠自己的身体打球，但是有时候你的身体就是会出状况。我相信，明年姚明一定会健康地回来，他也会变得更加出色。

至于我们这些剩下的人，能做的就是继续按照我们已经制定的目标前进。我们依然相信，火箭还会是一支很好的球队。当然，我们每个人都需要更上一层楼，然后继续在一起合作无间。当你们可以打得像一个整体的时候，没有什么是不可能的。

现在，几乎没什么人相信我们还能做得像之前那么好。的确是这样，在姚明不能上场的情况下，我们的任务会变得更加艰难。但是，尽管外界对我们是如此地怀疑，我们还是相信我们会取得成功。我甚至和我的队友开玩笑说，现在我们身边再也不会有花车游行（大批的记者）了，这样很好，我们就不会因此而分神了。

火箭的球迷们，不要放弃希望，我们会继续努力拼搏，我们一定会让你们感到自豪的。

你们的朋友

肖恩

对了，这里是有一些我们上次打客场时的照片，希望你们喜欢！

姚明和迪肯贝-穆托姆博

我和路易斯-斯科拉

风头正劲的卡尔-兰德里