Dribble to the rim!?!?! It's obviously a lot easier to take the ball out under the basket every time and pass it in to yao
They are not simply fronting him, they sandwitch him. Yao is blocked out by 2 guys when it comes to offensive rebounds. That's why make outside shots can free up Yao a lot because the 2nd guy will have to guard further. Too bad our guards can't do that in this series.
1 Stephen Jackson , GSW 2 Dwyane Wade , MIA 3 Deron Williams , UTA 4 Steve Nash , PHX 5 * Russell Westbrook , OKC 6 Caron Butler , WAS 7 Devin Harris , NJN 8 Kevin Durant , OKC 9 Ming Yao , HOU 10 Dwight Howard , ORL 11 LeBron James , CLE 12 Chris Paul , NOH 13 Paul Pierce , BOS He is not in bad company. Counting all the double teams he face and all the offensives fouls/flops he got a game is not bad
FRONTING is not the problem. It is the SECOND GUY STANDING BEHIND HIM. If we throw the lob. Even a perfect Lob can be disrupted by the second guy on the back either: 1. SANDWICH - which is not allow Yao to move backwards or forward. So he cannot get any seperation for the 'perfect pass' 2. WAITER - The second guy waits behind Yao. Yao uses his off arm to create space and uses his other hand to call for the ball. When the 'Perfect Pass' comes in. He is using ONE HAND but the other player is jumping for it with TWO HANDS. This is the main ISSUE IMO with getting the ball to Yao. The solution. CRASHer! - Which I think Landry could do well [This is VERY REF DEPENDENT] IMO this is where the SECOND DEFENDER's man. . Swings the rim and Rams the ball down his MFin throat. I think this would me yao on the block . . . PG in the corner . . IMO BATTIER at the 3 pt top right or left. So the CRASHER can flash the lane going toward the hoop and the passer has a good angle. and GO HARD either DUNK IT or get a Foul. The keys is get to the hoop before the Second guy and rotate back and establish him self outside the ring of 'charges' The Jumpshot - SCOLA TIME! That mid Range jumper.. . . Just kill them. These use Yao as a decoy. but at the same token. as the second guy recovers . . .Yao SHOULD have inside position on his FRONTER. The Crasher or the Jumpershot should be able as an Alternative SET YAO UP FOR THE ALLEY OOP! just some of my thoughts. I think I have seen Adelman doing some of this. Rocket River
I was thinking more of "Zone Read" play where the point guard gets the ball in the shotgun and can either run the ball himself, or hand it off to Yao. Think Vince Young or Tim Tebow running the spread.
This IMO is why I think we should move Yao to the high Post 1. I trust him to make that shot 2. I trust him to make a great pass Rocket River
When Yao is fronted, Lowry needs to drive to the basket. If anything with the intent of simply putting the ball on the glass--Yao is already in rebounding position. A lot of times, however, Yao mistimes the rebound or the ball simply bounces the opposite direction, but if Lowry and Yao were to practice this ad-hoc pass, it would just be a matter of time before they get it down to a science. It's definitely not eloquent, but neither is a Ron Artest fade-away-three with 2 on the shot clock...unless that happens to go in! Also, usually towards the end of the game, a defender will "pull out the chair" of the offensive player and we all know what happens next. But, as in our case with the defender fronting, I wonder what would happen if Yao were to pull out the defenders chair? Usually the defender is slightly bent-over to gain leverage on Yao; therefore, for a brief moment the defender is disoriented enough were he can't react to either a direct entry pass or a simple lob. These ideas are most likely superficial, but we need something...IMO game 4 was a lucky win for us.
Several times Wafer, Brooks and Lowry penetrated the Blazers defense and they went for the lay up and the Center or power foward blocked their shot or made them alter their shot. These guards did not realize that Scola or Yao ended up free under the basket. I hope to see more penetration, drawing the Blazers center or PF and then a neat pass to our Center or PF under the basket.
It looks like, for the rockets, it's easier to make a shot than pass Yao the ball. At least that's what the stats show. I mean, what's the percentage of plays that involve Yao touches? And Yao is a 7'6 huge guy. What a pathetic excuse... I noticed that to pass to Yao effetively, you need to stand straight up, hold the ball with both hands, pause and make observation of Yao's positioning (he gets it for only split seconds), and launch the ball with the right timing. That's how Battier and Tmac do it. If you are dribling like AB and RA, first you are lowering your center of gravity, secondly it's hard to get the dribling rythm to coincide with Yao's positioning timing. That's why AB and RA can never do it with consistency. Then they are afraid of TOs and basically give up.
Have you see the Live??? They are double-team YAO even Yao do not have the ball and do illegal defense sometimes, not just fronting.
