I just happened to catch this documentary on TV Saturday. It was basically a look at Yao's first year in the NBA. A lot of it covered the translator that was hired to go everywhere with Yao. The translator mentioned at one point that he was exhausted, effectively surprised at how exhuasted he was due to the travel schedule. He mentioned how he didn't even play in the games so the players must really get exhausted by the schedule.

I bring this up to illustrate how you never know in the NBA what these guys go through and which nights it catches up to them. The visiting team appears at game time as if by magic from the fans perspective and then disappears again. Probably the only guys who can know what it is like are the ones who live it. The Nuggets have shown signs of exhaustion all season. The trip to China didn't do them any favors. Hopefully the lighter schedule coming up will give them a chance to get better.