Come on lets not kid ourselves, we know T-mac can blow by his defender for a short spurt of time just so he can score and people will stop fronting Yao. Its just when he gets tired and lazy he starts to shoot those jumpstarts(or if he feels hot). With proper spacing that PF should be completely out of the picture, and even if he does bite hard and go help on defense, that will leave a wide open chuck cutting to the basket or a wide open Scola for the Jumpshot. Another thing we could do is Yao should try sealing his defender off when T mac penetrates leaving tmac and his defender alone 1v1. This might put some hesitation in teams when trying to front. I am now out for the night but I will respond to your posts later tommorow.
Re: Lob pass 1. Yao is not athletic enough to jump with the defender to catch the lob pass. 2. On the few occasions where he catches the lob pass, he has a high turnover rate due to bringing the ball down near his waist where the little guys can swipe at it before going back up for the shot/lay-up/dunk. 3. The pass itself is risky because most teams wont front him one on one. There is a guy playing off of Scola/Hayes that is close enough to be another defender jumping up for the lob pass increasing odds that the pass gets tipped away. 4. Our guards not named Tracy McGrady are usually at a height disadvantage making the angles they use to get the pass up harder than someone 3-4 inches taller. Edit: 5. When the other team fronts with the help defense, they are already at a disadvantage somewhere on the floor. When a team over commits(or cheats - legally) you burn them by going elsewhere. Scola on the other side for an easy 15 footer is a good start. Hayes cutting to the basket when the help defender loses eye contact is another.
Good points. What is frustrating to me though is when the opponent is not really committed to putting the second man behind Yao on a consistent basis or they do it half-heartedly, and we are never really able to burn them on it. As you said, Yao is pretty much terrible at catching the pass, and the guards are terrible at throwing it. As soon as a team 'shows' the front, we pretty much give up on the whole idea of a lob pass, even when it should still be possible to pull off in some situations.
I think if there is no backside help the lob pass needs to be thrown. Yao is not so nonathletic and immobile that he cannot catch a reasonable lob pass. Sure he can't catch them all like Shaq or Dwight Howard, but the guards aren't even trying to throw the lob and when they do it's obvious they and Yao are not on the same page. I watch old R2K game highlights on youtube from time to time and I see many instances where there was no backside help, the lob was thrown, and Yao got a layup/dunk. I see other things that was done to compensate for the fronting (i.e. have Yao move from one block to the other, flash the PF to the top of the key, run a pick and roll on Yao's side which will free up an open shooter, etc.) This year all they seem to do is reverse the ball and forget about Yao or bring Yao up to the elbow, both of which bails the defense out.
Wake up from your blind Yao worship, or, if you are 13, try not posting on grown-ups' bbs. If you are Yao's wife/son, please let us know. Given how slow/unathletic Yao is and how weak his hands are, throwing lob pass to him will not be much different than Rafer shooting. It might work once in a blue moon, and probably only Steve Nash can do it.
Fixed it for you. Maybe you should beg your parents to let you watch some games so you'll actually know what's going on.
To make up things I didn't say and quote them further shows your intelligence or lack thereof. Until you learn what objectivity means, you will never be taken seriously. If you are Chinese, then I say your patriotism has made you a joke.
Disagree on Rafer, he's got good touch but when he sets for an entry pass, his man actually backs off and further limit the amount of space Yao can use to receive a ball.
To beat the fronting defense, 1. Don't throw the lob pass to Yao if teams usually double team him, with his man in front and other behind. It'll likely be a turnover if trying to force the ball in. 2. Have Scola or Tmac cutting to the free throw line and pass the ball to either guy. He then can shoot, drive, or lob to Yao. Yao can catch those passes since the other defenders are focusing on the guy with the ball. He can also get the rebound and put ball in the basket. 3. If Yao doesn't get the ball in 3 seconds, he should come out and run the pick-n-roll.
Beating fronting of Yao: If they are playing behind with the 4...flash our 4 to the free throw line OR If they are playing behind with anybody else...put the open guy either in the opposite corner or at the opposite elbow (3-point area) for the skip pass OR Quickly swing the ball around to the top of the key before Yao's man can get around him, and get the entry pass from the top of the key
AND... as soon as T-mac drives to the basket ALL the players on the perimeter drive with him so everyone is close to the basket for the rebound.
Yao is a terrible catcher. Half the times we lob it into him he loses the ball. There's no secret why we don't pass to Yao when they front.
How is this for a solution? What if Yao stop’s letting his initial defender front him so often? What is he does a better job of getting his initial position and sealing off his defender? Everyone keeps mentioning the second defender (in the back of Yao) but half of being fronted is Yao allowing that initial defender to get position in front of him….something I see done quite too often (by defenders of all sizes). I don’t see Shaq get fronted nearly as much. He knows how to use his size and is very good at sealing off that initial defender. Does no one work on this with Yao?
If you are having trouble getting in front of Yao, just push against him and then flop like Yao just elbowed you. Chances are there will be some pushing and shoving going on, and the ref will blow the whistle on Yao.
They lean so hard on Yoa when fronting him. I say Yoa just needs to Ole them a few times and watch them fall on their A$$. If they stop leaning so hard, then Yao may be able to actually leap for a pass or two.
Refs will blow the whistle on Yao, similar to burglars sueing the homeowner they are trying to rob for leaving a skateboard in a bad spot causing them to trip and hurt themselves.
We've gone through this before. Fronting defense has been bothering Yao for years. If he still hasn't learned how to beat fronting, I'm not sure he ever will. It's really sad cuz opponents can easily take him out of the game.
Yao could come up and screen for Tmac and Steve who are the best finishers on the team. Which puts the defense in a bad position. Also, the Rockets need to reverse the ball quickly with Yao switching post blocks with a quick entry pass deep into the paint for easy jump hooks or dunks.
