Yao Ming and LeBron James were named the National Basketball
Association's top players in the Western and Eastern Conference
respectively for the month of January, the league announced
Friday.
Chinese 2.16m superstar center Yao sparked the Houston Rockets
to a 10-4 record in the first month of 2008, averaging 22.4 points,
10.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists for the season to carry the load
after an injury slowed Tracy McGrady.
Yao matched his season highs in scoring and rebounds with 36
points and 19 boards in a 111-107 victory over Golden State last
Tuesday, a triumph that saw him sink a season-best 14 free
throws.
Asia's first NBA star pounded New York for 36 points in a 101-92
triumph on January 9 and scored 30 points in victories over both
New York and Seattle as well as contributing 21 points and 14
rebounds in an 83-81 victory over reigning NBA champion San
Antonio.
James, the NBA scoring leader with 32.8 points a game, also has
7.8 rebounds and 7.2 assists a game for the Cleveland Cavaliers as
they went 11-3 in January as they try to make a return trip to the
NBA Finals.
"King James" had 31 points, a career-high 19 rebounds, eight
assists, four blocked shots and three steals January 11 in a
113-106 double overtime victory over Charlotte and struck for a
season-high 51 points four days later in a 132-124 victory over
Memphis.
James also poured in 41 points with nine rebounds and four
assists in a 98-95 victory over the host Los Angeles Lakers last
Sunday.
Yao defeated Lakers' guard Kobe Bryant, Denver's Allen Iverson,
Utah's Deron Williams and Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire for the
Western honors while James beat out Charlotte's Gerald Wallace,
Toronto's Chris Bosh and Washington's Caron Butler in the East.
(Agencies via China Daily February 2, 2008)