VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- In a sneak preview starring the 7-foot-5 center the NBA is waiting for, Yao Ming didn't miss a shot. Then again, he didn't take enough of them.

	Yao Ming hit all of his shots, but at times looked outmatched physically by the smaller Canadians.

Yao shot 6-for-6 from the field and 5-for-5 from the foul line for 17 points, to go with five blocked shots and five rebounds. But he also couldn't keep himself from being pushed around at times by much smaller players as China was trounced by Canada 94-66 in an exhibition game Friday night.

"I need more weight training,'' said Yao, who was especially impressed by the strength of one of the players who defended him -- a 6-foot-6 center named Richard Anderson who played professionally last season in Austria.

It was the first game in North America for Yao, who had an inauspicious first half aside from one poster-worthy dunk. He was more aggressive on both ends of the court in the second half, showed a soft touch around the basket and had a one-handed rejection of a layup despite barely leaving his feet.

Yao also came up with two steals, but he had trouble holding his ground when defenders pushed him. China's guards had difficulty delivering Yao the ball, helping account for such a low point total from a player who averaged 32.4 points and 19 rebounds for the Shanghai Sharks last season.

"His upper body is what he needs to work on,'' said Anderson, who used his low center of gravity to move Yao outside. "The first time he grimaces when you give him a little shove, you know you can play with him.''

Yao scored seven points in the first half, three on foul shots, two on a turnaround and two on a crowd-pleasing dunk over Anderson the only time he managed to get himself open deep in the low post. He blocked one shot and altered a few others, but he also had two turnovers -- one of which came the first time he touched the ball.

Yao muscled away a defender and freed himself for a 10-foot bank shot midway through the third quarter, and he converted his other three shots of the second half from in close.

In was only a first peek at one of the tallest players ever to enter the NBA, a 21-year-old with enough potential to entice the Rockets to select him No. 1 the NBA draft last June.

"I think he's pretty far along as far as skills,'' Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "There's nothing that has changed about how I feel about the guy.''

Because of a poor toss by the referee, Yao lost the opening tip to 6-foot-10 center Kevin Jobity, who played Division I college ball at Niagara. On Canada's first possession, Yao was standing about 5 feet away and barely moved as former St. John's player Rowan Barrett drove in for a dunk.

Yao was double-teamed immediately the first time he touched the ball, and Canada easily poked it away and into the hands of Steve Nash.

Nash led Canada with 25 points. It was his final game of the summer for Canada after he announced Thursday that he will not play in the World Championships later this month.

Yao's biggest contribution in the first six minutes was a nifty touch pass for an assist against Canada's full-court press. His dunk was a highlight-reel effort that left the photographers sitting under the basket smiling.

Tomjanovich spent more than an hour Thursday night meeting with Yao and China coach Wang Fei at Yao's hotel room.

"It had an unbelievable bed. You've never seen a bed like this. The extenuation stretched clear across the room,'' Tomjanovich said of Yao's accommodations.

Tomjanovich had met with Yao in person only once before, earlier this summer when he flew to Beijing to meet the No. 1 pick in the draft. As a gift, Tomjanovich brought Yao a Rockets I-shirt. It did not, however, have the uniform No. 11, which Yao has already chosen.

"I looked at how much information my assistant coaches sent him, and it was too much. I told him our best play might not be invented yet. I'll change the offense to fit what the team does best,'' Tomjanovich said.

That might have come as somewhat of a surprise to Yao, who is no doubt unfamiliar with the way NBA teams change their styles to fit their particular personnel. Tomjanovich built a team in the 1990s that surrounded Hakeem Olajuwon with 3-point shooters to take advantage of the double-teams that opponents would invariably use.

These days, his next challenge will be to fit Yao into a system currently built around the scoring abilities of guards Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley.

"I'm not going to critique him every time he plays. That's not my job. I'm just happy to get a look at him and get my mind churning with ideas,'' Tomjanovich said.