Kevin Pelton, SUPERSONICS.COM | Mar. 7, 2005
Last night, Seattle SuperSonics center
Jerome James defended Phoenix's
Amaré Stoudemire, a 6-10 freak of nature with enough athletic ability to finish second in the Sprite Rising Stars Slam Dunk at All-Star Weekend in Denver and nearly win the whole thing. Tomorrow
(7:00 p.m., FSN, 
), James will face
Yao Ming, at 7-6 tied for the honor of the tallest player in the NBA and possessing silky touch that has allowed him to make 55.0% of his shots, third in the NBA (Stoudemire, at 56.6%, ranks second).
It's all in a week's work for James. While the Sonics starting center has been in the spotlight lately because he's picked up his offense, averaging 11.3 points per game last week, James' defense has been a positive for the Sonics all season long. Typically, James has taken the higher-scoring opposing big man, so long as frontcourt-mate 
Reggie Evans is not left with an impossible matchup. That's meant James defending Stoudemire one night and Yao the next, or going from Tim Duncan to Chris Webber.
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"Amaré Stoudemire, what can I say about that kid? No matter how many times I block his shot, he's young enough and fearless enough to keep coming."
Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty
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James welcomes the challenge.
"I love that," James said after the Sonics practiced Monday. "It speaks volumes, because if you can go up against the best in the world and hold them defensively, that has to say something about your game. Give me anybody - Shaq (O'Neal), Yao, Amaré, Tim Duncan, (Kevin) Garnett, all of them. I'd love to see them every night."
Well, maybe not Stoudemire and the Suns, who forced even this season's lighter James - he says he's cut his body fat to 12% - to suck wind as he raced to get downcourt before Phoenix could score in transition.
"If I had my choice, I'd play Yao Ming every night," James said. "I'm tired. I think the whole team is tired from that track meet last night. Amaré Stoudemire, what can I say about that kid? He's fast; he is the fastest five man in the league by far. No matter how many times I block his shot, he's young enough - you know what they say, youth has no fear - he's young enough and fearless enough to keep coming."
Stoudemire was held relatively in check by James and his teammates after a quick start. He finished the night with 22 points, four below his 26-point average, and shot well under 50% from the field (7-for-17).
Now, Yao - the runner-up behind Stoudemire for the 2002-03 Rookie of the Year award - presents an entirely different challenge. The Sonics contained him last year, holding Yao to 45.2% shooting and averages of 17.0 points and 6.3 rebounds, but he want off for 30 points on 11-for-16 shooting in Houston in the only matchup between the two teams this year.
"Yao Ming stepped his game up over the summertime," said James. "He's stepping out, hitting 10-15-foot jumpers. Last season, he wasn't making them; you could afford to play off of him. Now he makes you play him more honestly. You've got to go out and defend him out there. His jumpshot is such a threat now that he can pump fake in the paint and hit a jump hook over you. If you go for his block, you've got to get off the ground because he shoots it so high. We've had success going straight at him, so I expect us to do that tomorrow night. Go straight at him and try to get him in foul trouble."
Indeed, as potent as Yao was, the Sonics came from behind for an 87-85 victory. Yao wasn't on the court for the final minute, fouling out after he hooked James in the post down the stretch. It was an example of James using his NBA experience to frustrate Yao.
"I can't stop Yao, but he doesn't know it," James said. "As long as he doesn't know it, I'm going to use it to my advantage, use my experience to my advantage. … What I know defensively with six years in the league, he can't combat it with his three years in the league offensively."
Yao is improving rapidly. While James points to the development in Yao's shooting range, Sonics Coach Nate McMillan believes the All-Star starter is getting better in the post.
"Yao is better than he was last year; he understands position better, he understands how to get position, whereas last year you could get him off the block," said McMillan. "This year, they're doing more to get him deeper in the paint and he seems to have better feel for posting up."
As Yao continues to develop both aspects of his offensive game, he stands the possibility of becoming impossible to defend.
"I look at him and think, 'I'm glad I got in (the league) what I got in,'" James said. "I'd hate to get drafted the same year he got drafted, because then I'd have 15 years of playing against him. I only have five or six of them (left)."
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