However, now that Duncan admitted he was a center, there was no problem anymore. O'Neal was old, and Yao Ming had moved to the Eastern Conference where they might only face off twice a year, and the Western Conference lacked other centers to challenge him.
Moreover, when Duncan faced Yao Ming, each had their advantages.
Last month, before the Spurs played against the Chicago Bulls, Zhang Yang watched the predictive analysis that mentioned the two players had faced off 14 times before this season.
In those 14 games, Duncan averaged 20.5 points per game, with a shooting percentage of 43%, which was fairly dismal. He could hardly make any move under the basket, also being outscored by Yao Ming who averaged over 50% shooting per game.
But he did a very good job in limiting Yao Ming's shooting.
