Clips from yesterday's game. Not exclusively low post plays for Yao (as you know, there weren't too many of them). Basically just all the offensive plays that directly or indirectly involved Yao. Hopefully gives an idea of missed opportunities for getting Yao the ball, and the various ways in which the Rockets attempted to get him the ball. Included would be Yao post ups, high post catches, high screens, side screens, battling for post up position, offensive rebounding, as well as situations where Yao could have been an option to get the ball but the Rockets did something else. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ERqm40s6uLc&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ERqm40s6uLc&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> Here are my comments/description on each clip as well, for what its worth. There were 49 in total: Clip Descriptions/Comments 1. Yao fronted, Aaron turnover 2. Yao misses turnaround on right block 3. Yao high post pass to Scola, score 4. Brooks and Yao tentative, Scola gets it ... shot clock violation 5. Battier elects to go one-on-one, instead of pass to Ron/Yao ... bad idea 6. Brooks to Yao on left block, pass out and repost, jump hook and score 7. Yao comes up to set screen instead of staying in the post, Artest uses it to get a layup 8. double high post set, Scola to Artest off screen from Yao ... Artest down to Yao who posts in the lane, score 9. Artest uses Yao in high post as a screen and misses shots, Scola rebound to Artest, finds Yao cutting to basket ... that's different 10. post up for Artest on right block, Yao flashes underneath the basket but Artest can't find him, gets it to Scola on the opposite side who isses on drive, Yao unable to get the rebound despite inside position 11. Yao got post up position in paint, but Scola didn't see it. Scola drives and turns it over instead. 12. Yao misses turnaround on left block 13. Artest drives after defender flops; gets the and-1 finish with Yao and Lowry open in the lane as another option 14. Artest to Yao on left block, Artest cuts into the lane and seals his man; Yao turns it over trying to pass it to him 15. Wafer receives the ball from Yao down screen and curls into the lane (alternative would be for him to pass to Yao from 3-poitn line), missing. Rockets get the rebound with Yao open in the post, but he falls down and the defender knocks it away 16. Lowry trapped, can't get the ball to Yao who gets open at the free throw line ... turnover 17. Artest to Yao on left block, his turnaround jumper 18. Artest misses jumper, but Yao gets the offensive rebound and is fouled on putback attempt (dunk that!) 19. Yao comes up to set screen for Barry instead of staying in the post (why?), the ball eventually gets into Chuck's hands who misses his hook ... terrible possession 20. high screen for Lowry by Yao, who then gets into lane and seals; Lowry takes and misses jumper instead of feeding Yao 21. Artest gets screen from Yao in the post, and curls around receiving the ball from Battier ... scores on layup 22. Artest again gets screen from Yao in the post and goes to corner, receiving the ball from Battier ... takes a bad 3-point shot instead of feeding Yao ... then takes another quick 3-pointer after offensive rebound; Ronnie being Ronnie 23. Yao gets deep post catch, from Battier, on right block ... misses a weak layup attempt. 24. Yao unable to post against gasol, who pushes him out with his back. That needs to be a ball reversal to Scola and high low past to Yao going to the basket. Instead the ball goes to Lowry , rockets run pick and pop with Yao who hits long 21 footer at the top 25. last possession, high s/r with Brooks and Yao .. Brooks passes left to Artest instead of to Yao, and Ron hits 3-pointer before the buzzer 26. Yao gets it in right block, goes to the lane but instead of reverse pivot into his righty jump hook, throws an over the head pass to Brooks around the basket ... Brooks to Battier in the corner who misses 3-pointer. Yao needs to shoot that 27. Battier misses 3-pointer, but Yao got good position underneath and drew loose ball foul 28. Yao gets in left block from Aaron, pass out and repost ... hits turnaround. 29. Yao gets it on right block, drives right and finds Battier in the opposite corner who hits three ... nice find by Yao 30. again side screen for Artest by Yao who takes pull jumper that's blocked 31. in bound to Yao who takes a 20-foot jumper. Miss. 32. Yao fronted on left block, sets screen for Aaron and ball swings to the other side and back again with Yao momentarily open flashing in the paint ... Brooks misses floater ... Yao gets a hand on the loose ball but can't grab it 33. Artest finds Yao at the basket on drive ... some contact and Yao can't finish. Again, Yao needs to be stRonger. 34. Yao posting up about 10+ feet from the basket, Artest drives in and the ball gets back out to Aaron up top .. He's eventually bailed out by the refs 35. double high post set with Ron and Yao, Yao sets screen for Ron who misses the jumper at the top. Yao dives in and is able to get a hold of the ball but then has it taken away from him in the scrum. 36. Wafer drives in and Yao is able to seal gasol in the lane ... Wafer passes it out to Battier in the corner who hits the 3 37. early offense and Yao gets down the floor ... Lowry to Wafer who can't finish on the drive ... Yao isn't able to tip it in. 38. play continues with Lowry driving in ... tries to get it to Yao at the basket but the ball is knocked away 39. same set as before with Ron and Yao up top. Yao sets screen for Artest, and this time he hits the shot. 40. Artest takes a quick 3-pointer as Yao is diving into the lane ... a miss, and it results in a breakaway dunk going the other way. As doug collins would say, "that's a 5-point swing!" 41. Wafer gets screen from Yao in the post and curls around ... Barry turns it over trying to pass to Wafer going across the lane. That needs to be Wafer getting the ball in the corner and dumping it down to Yao, damn it. 42. Yao gets it in the left block, finally, from Artest. He's fouled and gets free throws. 43. Yao battling for position on the left block, and mbenga fouls him. 44. again, Yao gets it in the left block, but he travels going into the lane. 45. again looking for Yao in the low post, and mgenga gets another foul 46. Yao on left block, Artest doesn't have the passing angle and no one in the corner to get the ball to ... Yao comes up to set a screen, ball reverses opposite side to Brooks, shot clock violation ... rockets had no idea only 14 seconds on the clock. 47. Artest drives in and gives it to Yao, who finds Battier in the opposite corner, and who gets it to Scola at the top of the key ... score 48. Yao gets it in left block and is doubled ... ball goes to Scola and then Battier who hits a tough 3-pointer. 49. Brooks drives in and kicks it out to Artest who misses the 3 going to his left. Yao on the left block would be the alternative there.
hmmm, seems to be more Artest off balanced 3s than Yao entry passes despite the video being a compilation of plays "involving" Yao on the offense. Interesting, this idea of Adelman's to give Ron free reign while limiting Yao's shot attempts....
I labeled all the clips, so if there's particular play(s) you want to talk about, point it out. Like I said in the OP, any plays that directly or indirectly involved Yao made it in the compilation. A lot of the talk yesterday was about all the times Yao did not get the ball when he should have. I wanted to capture that.
Actually, in the first clip, Yao wasn't fronted and was about to establish position against Gasol but Brooks decided to take a tour of the baseline, ignoring everyone else, and then pass it to the invisible Rockets 6th man hanging out around mid court.
BTW, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the time and effort you put into dissecting the game and breaking everything down into individual clips.
Gasol is on Yao's left arm trying to deny any pass. That's a front, or (if you like) a partial-front. Brooks perhaps should have been more patient though. I don't mind his penetration when a defender is one Yao's arm like that, though. His big mistake was not keeping his dribble alive and getting out of there when the Lakers sent over help.
Can you highlight all the plays where they tried to go to Yao but waited 20 seconds and it never happened?
great work man...but watching this is frustrating, the only one thats been making right plays like giving yao the ball and make logical passes is Shane, thats it. O n def yao
Yao has really regressed as far as playing in traffic. He has got to do a better job at offensive rebounding and catching and finishing in the paint. Most of his points now come from fadeaways and 10 foot hook shots. He used to catch the ball deeper and he used to get to the line more.
If there was such a play, it's in the compilation. The Rockets start a lot of plays with Yao in the high post, he sets a screen and then tries to dive down for post position. Sometimes, its easier to get him a deep paint catch when he's on the move. But that also requires the screen to be solid, it requires Yao to get in position and be able to turn and seal, and the the ball-handler needs to dribble off the screen correctly and be looking for Yao instead of doing his own thing (Artest has a tendency to do this, in particular). Getting Yao the ball isn't as simple as just dribbling the ball down the court and passing it to him at the basket. Sometimes, the play needs to develop so that he can get the ball where he's effective with it. The problem is that the longer the play needs to develop, the more chances there are for someone to screw up and break the play. There were definitely instances, though, where Yao was in position and the Rockets were just negligent in getting the ball to him. Again, if it happened, I was careful to put it in the compilation. The only stuff that's not in there are the defensive possessions, plays where Yao was on the other side of the ball and he wasn't really an option, or the possessions where Yao was on the bench. There may have been a few possessions that I skipped over where all he did was reverse the ball to the other side from the top of the key and wasn't otherwise involved.
good work, durvasa. i didn't really watch the clips, since i had already re-watched the game tape (well, for the most part anyway). but i noticed that your video is only 9 minutes and 20 seconds long. if that was all the plays involved yao, then clearly he was being under-used. he played nearly 40 minutes, safe to say his time in the offense was about half of that which was ~20 minutes? only about 50% of our plays involved him, it seems like.