The most memorable moments of Yao Ming's Hall of Fame career
With only 514 NBA games under his belt between the regular season and playoffs, it's too easy to overlook the Hall of Fame career Yao Ming enjoyed in Houston.
Related: Yao reportedly selected to Hall of Fame
Yao was an international phenomenon the likes of which the Association had never seen before, and though he may lack a plethora of iconic moments, there are still a handful that stick out.
On that note, here are the most memorable moments of a career that will reportedly soon be enshrined in Springfield.
Yao arrives
To no one's surprise, the Rockets selected 7-foot-6 Yao Ming No. 1 overall in the 2002 draft. As the Miami crowd booed, Yao's family exchanged the most awkward high-fives the basketball world has ever seen, leaving hoops heads with an indelible "where were you when?" moment.
The rookie big man would average 13.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks to go with a 20.6 PER, finishing second to Amar'e Stoudemire in Rookie of the Year voting, though it's still unclear why.
Career night vs. Hawks
Any conversation about Yao's greatest individual performance has to start with a February 2004 game against Atlanta. In a 123-121 triple-overtime marathon win, Yao poured in 41 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, and two blocks in 50 minutes of action, knocking down the game-winner with 23.4 seconds left.
27 and 22 to beat Suns
The most memorable of Yao's three career 20-20 games saw him drop 27 points, collect 22 rebounds, and block five shots to help the Rockets demolish the league-leading Suns.
33 on 13-of-14
Postseason success was always fleeting for Yao's Rockets - he was a part of only one playoff series victory - but that doesn't mean he didn't leave his mark on spring basketball.
In one of the most efficient offensive performances you'll ever see, Yao scored 33 points on 13-of-14 shooting, while knocking down all seven of his free-throw attempts, to help Houston take an unlikely 2-0 series lead on the Dallas Mavericks. In 31 years worth of Basketball Reference game logs, David Robinson is the only other player to score 30-plus points on at least 90 percent shooting in a playoff game.
A 4th quarter to remember
Yao scored 23 points in the fourth quarter alone - on 6-of-6 shooting from the field and 11-of-12 from the free-throw line - to put the Wizards away.
Yao and Brandon Roy put on a show in Portland
This is technically a Brandon Roy moment, but sandwiched between two incredibly clutch shots from the former Trail Blazer was a flawless fadeaway from Yao that was far too graceful for a 7-foot-6 human to pull off, and should have counted as the game-winner.
You'll notice the game clock stopped at 0.8 seconds when Yao released the ball, meaning that, had the clock been operated properly, this almost surely would have been a buzzer-beater, leaving no time for Roy's eventual heroics.
The Yao Ming Song
The lyrics were simple and placed over the infamous tune of soccer's "Ole, Ole, Ole" chant, and an instant classic was born.
All-Star shoe-in
With the world's biggest market behind him, Yao often dominated All-Star voting, being named a Western Conference starter in all eight seasons he appeared in. He was also the league's leading vote-getter twice, and for a brief period (2005-2009) held the record for most votes accumulated in one season.
But the most memorable of those All-Star selections came in 2011, when Yao, who had suited up for only five games over the last two seasons, was once again named a starter. He didn't play in that All-Star game, and in fact wouldn't grace an NBA court again, retiring five months later.