Tonight will be a night that seemed impossible a few years ago when a game between the Rockets and the Milwaukee Bucks represented anything but what tonight’s game will be, a must-have ticket and an international sporting event.

Tonight will bring the first NBA meeting of Yao and the player expected to be the next Chinese NBA star, Yi Jianlian, an occasion that could draw the largest global audience to see an NBA game.

It’s not the first time Yao will meet a chinnese player because he played against Wang Zhizhi some time ago but Yi is the most significant chinnese player that joined the league since Yao was drafted in 2000.