It's obvious that Yao has PROVEN over and over again he can not, absolutely CAN NOT carry us the final 2-3 minutes when the game is close. I do not understand the Rockets staff for always going directly into the straight entry pass. Granted that works sometimes throughout the game, but during the 4th quarter, pressure builds and it's either the other team figures Yao out and plays intense defense on him leading to a turnover, or Yao gets overzealous on his shots and misses. He doesn't get in his particular flow. So what's the answer to our unclutch situation? T-mac of course. But i propose once T-mac comes back, he should strictly be a 4th quarter player. That way, the 1st 3 quarters, every other player can still get their touches, and we can look more like the Princeton offense promised to us when Rick came here. Scola can get his 20 points, Bonzi can look more like the 3rd option he was suppose to be, and Brooks can continue to develop. Once the 4th quarter comes along, T-mac comes in to save the day. He can never complain about being tired or fatigue. Yes sir!
Agreed, not to mention the lack of rebounding in the 4th from Yao that we see constantly. His size is as much of a liability as strength nowadays. Teams actually try and exploit him.
What killed us were turnovers by the guards and Battier, not Yao's play. Also, we did not defend the fast break well. This loss is not really on Yao's shoulders.
yao is the only player on the team beside t-mac that can make something happen for him or when gets doubled for a wide threeeee
Stagnant offense killed us, not Yao's performance. Sure, he missed like two shots during the last few minutes, but he had to fight so hard for position that its understandable when he overshoots/undershoots out of fatigue/excess zeal. Key to success: Rafer has to penetrate more. He did ok in the beginning, but seemed to slack off and the entire team ended up just passing the ball around the perimeter in hopes of finding Yao open. Losing to the 76 hurts. Embarrasing.
I bet Rafer lost his confidence when he started missing some close shots so he was reluctant to try and score, only shooting when he had to. Most of the time I saw him unable to pass to Yao and instead of doing anything he passed it to the walking turnover aka Luther Head.
He is what we thought he was. Soft. Seriously, between Yao not being able to finish games without turning over the ball or our guards trying to force feed him the ball only to turn it over is frustrating to watch.
Yao was 8/8 FG prior to checking in in the 4th quarter. He didn't get the ball until there was about 4-3 minutes left in the game. Prior to that, he was just uselessly fighting for position and exhausting himself due to our guards inability to do: a) a lob pass, b) or penetrate and dish in the post. Believe me, when you dont take a shot for that long in a game, you're gonna get cold. Thats what happened to Yao. No creativity at all by our players to get the ball to Yao, we just had a useless hole in the paint in the 4th quarter.
I have to respectfully disagree and call you an idiot for thinking that more than 1% of the reason the Rox were so bad in the 4th had any thing to do with YAO. We had 10 TO's in the 4th. Start with Head and Alston and the freaking genius that kept them on the floor as THEY threw the game away. Kirk Snyder, couldn't have done worse....Brooks was in the game and scored in the forth, why not play them. Hell even James or Francis would have been better options, they would have at least run the clock down to 3-5 sec, before jacking up a sh!ty shot. However this loss should not be blamed on YAO.
T-mac would like to be play for half court! We dont need a clutch player! we just need cotrol our turnovers!
Yao has been clutch previously. This is just one game where he didn't save the day. I will say re-iterate what I have said previously though. The defensive impact that makes other great big men dominant is something missing in Yao. He can't dominate defensively.
I know this thread seems to based on Yao. Lets not forget that 76rs scored 37 points in the fourth quarter. Thats embarrasing for any good defensive team to allow that many points in a quarter especially in the 4th. We lost the game due to our inability to shut 76rs down.
we can't tell if he is clutch or unclutch. it's not fair for you to critisize yao, for taking his first shot in quite a while and miss. he was 8 for 8, and i am sure, if rafer, luther, brooks could have given him more looks, he would have made it.
