With all the recent controversy surrounding the much anticipated matchup between ?The Future? Yao Ming and ?The Present? Shaquille O?Neal, could the excitement already have peaked before the two even face off on Friday?

If you listen to Houston Chronicle write Dale Robertson Yao Ming has hit the wall.

?Yao couldn't shoot. Yao couldn't rebound. Too often, Yao couldn't even stay vertical. He had no touch, no rhythm, no mojo. His right foot had turned into a second left one. Could he have been suffering from an early case of the Shaq shakes? Nah. He just stunk. It happens,? writes Robertson.

His coach Rudy Tomjanovich defended Ming, saying that this is just a bump in the road that every NBA player experiences at one point or another in their careers, especially when they are on the side of youth.

"This is the NBA," said Tomjanovich. "It's tough. You're going to have your ups and downs. You expect it from any young player. Yao has to experience these games."
"Sometimes you're a zero. Sometimes it's just not going to be there. The challenge is to not have it emotionally turn into a negative 10. You find a way to make something good happen. You set a pick; you get a rebound."
Yao?s bad night which these guys are referring to included 11 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists ? a career night for half of the centers in the league.

But Houstonians have seen the future, and it was raised out East.  It is hard to make a case against Ming already being a dominant force in the NBA, and the scary thing is he is only going to get better.  Ming might not have been the best rookie on the floor last night ? that honor went to super diaper Amare Stoudamire ? and it certainly appears that he is not ready for someone with the mite of O?Neal.

"It seems to me that, physically, I may still be needing a little bit," Yao replied through his interpreter when asked to reflect on his pending joust with O'Neal. "I think I may need a suit of armor for Friday night."