Yao Ming: I Am Not Afraid Of Double-Teaming Anymore

pryuen · Feb 28, 2006

Yao Ming said he had thought it through, and will no longer be afraid of double-teaming !!

http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2006-02-28/17302076011.shtml

Right after missing 21 games (due to his toe surgery), Yao Ming seemed to become more mature, and play better and better. Using his own words: "I've been inspired, and have finally thought it through."

After he returned from injury, Yao Ming suddenly became more dominant under the post. A local Houston reporter asked him: "Now that you play better and better under the post, so do you think your team should try to pass you the ball to the interior more?"

Yao Ming grinned and said: "Why not ? It seems the effect of such (inside-out) game plan is not bad. After all, I'm a player who used to attack the basket with my back to it, and right now, I'm just doing my part (as a centre)."

But Yao Ming had yet to explain why all of a sudden, after his return from injury, he had become more aggressive (and dominant) under the low post.

Prior to the match with the Golden States Warriors, a reporter asked Yao Ming: "Now Tracy McGrady will not be playing in this match; obviously you need to contribute more to this team. How are you going to contribute more ?"

Yao Ming pondered for a while and then said: "I think today I would recieve a lot of attention and double-teaming. But I can't just give up and pass the ball immediately right upon double-teaming. In China (when I was young), I was trained that way: when you're double-teamed, you just pass the ball out. But the purpose of double-teaming is just not to let you receive the ball, aimed to reduce your offense efficiency. The more they try to stop you from receiving the ball, the more you should try to demand for the ball, and attack the rim, and that would break their double-teaming trap."

Obviously Yao Ming was doing great in that game against the Golden States Warriors. Without TMAC, the Warriors tried to shutdown Yao Ming by double-teaming him. But Yao Ming scored 22 points (8 out of 19), and grabbed 21 rebounds (17 of them defensive). The Warriors were just hapless against a very dominant Yao Ming in the interior. Right after the match, Jeff Van Gundy praised Yao Ming: "He is improving on his lateral movement as well as in defense."

During Yao Ming's recuperation, the reporter had once interviewed Tom Thibodeau, Rockets' assistant coach. When asked how Yao Ming could break the doube-teaming trap, one of the suggestions that Thibodeau gave Yao Ming was: Take initiative and be bold to attack the rim. But that was just the coach's instructions, and it would not have any effect, until the player himself had finally realized and got it.

Actually, this was not the first time the coaches had told Yao Ming so. But finally Yao Ming had thought it through and now got over it.

The reporter asked: "What had made you now finally thought this through ?"

Yao Ming: "You can say it was because I was inspired in this season. I finally thought it through."

"How ?"

"It was all due to the match I had with the Phoenix Suns a couple days back. In that match, I was completely shut down by their double-teaming. Once I received the ball, the Sun players were immediately all over me, and I just habitually passed the ball out to my team mates. Put it in the coach's words, they had successfully taken me out of that match. I just evaporated and disappeared from that match; the team had to play without me, even though I was still physically on the court."

But that was not the first time Yao Ming was double-teamed in the game. Yao Ming said: "It was different. With the other tam, I could still handle and dribble a bit upon receiving the ball. But with the Phoenix Suns, once I received the ball, they were already converging on me. Maybe that match had left a deep impression in me. Anyway, I've just thought it through."

So the inspired Yao Ming suddenly becomes dominant under the rim. This is not only good news to the Rockets. It will also be good news to the Chinese national team. Yao Ming has to be fully dominant under the rim in the forthcoming World Championship in Japan in the summer if the national team is to get good results.

Yao Ming said: "I think I would get the same double-teaming treatment from our opponents in the World Championship. I just can't give up and pass the ball once upon double-teaming. Even though I may not be in the best of position, but once I receive the ball, it would not matter if they double team on me. The effect will still be there if I just keep going (to attack the rim)."

Yao Ming now felt he had made improvement. There will be 27 more matches to go in the regular season, and Yao Ming will still learn and make improvement in his game, one step at a time.
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room4rentsf · Feb 28, 2006

Prue you rock man! thanks for the great read and if you translated this yourself awesome job.

J

texanskan · Feb 28, 2006

room4rentsf said:

Prue you rock man! thanks for the great read and if you translated this yourself awesome job.

J
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Second that!

tikwanleap · Feb 28, 2006

texanskan said:

Second that!
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Third that!

verse · Feb 28, 2006

pryuen said:

Yao Ming said he had thought it through, and will no longer be afraid of double-teaming !!
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the evolution of a dominant big man's game is a beautiful thing to watch. yao's starting to believe in the theories of dominance. double team? turn away or split. watch what happens when he understands that he can apply those theories over and over again, against any opponent.

what we've seen from yao lately is not an aberration. it is a philosophical, physical, and strategical change. it is permanent. i won't speculate on numbers/averages, but i will say now that from this point forward, yao will dominate consistenly over all big men guarding him. bar none.

pryuen · Feb 28, 2006

room4rentsf said:

Prue you rock man! thanks for the great read and if you translated this yourself awesome job.

J
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Well, it took me 30 minutes for the translation, as I want to share this with all the Yao Ming/Rockets fans over here in Clutchfan site. But it p@ssed me when I found I had a typo in the title: It is Afraid and not Afriad.....but I can't re-edit it.

room4rentsf · Feb 28, 2006

you need to contribute! hehe remember me from the YMM forums? yaoming11?

J

wnes · Feb 28, 2006

room4rentsf said:

you need to contribute! hehe remember me from the YMM forums? yaoming11?

J
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Just out of curiosity, are you really almost 82 years young?

krnxsnoopy · Feb 28, 2006

tikwanleap said:

Third that!
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word to that

thadeus · Feb 28, 2006

You translate Chinese into English much better than Shaq does!

mogrod · Feb 28, 2006

Despite all the naysayers and people complaining he is a flop, I always felt like he would become a dominant force once everything finally clicks in his head. Big men take longer to adjust than any other position and he MANY other noted reasons why it was going to take him longer.

I think IT has finally clicked and everything is coming together for him now. I just love how he seems to want to put his team on his back now.

pasox2 · Feb 28, 2006

That's awesome to hear. Yao can split the double, or just go over smaller guys.
I've been hoping for this for a while. It's beautiful to see.

Take it to them, big man!

Williamson · Feb 28, 2006

That's exciting news. I've been loving Yao's play lately, but I've been worried he'll go back to being inconsistent because this isn't the first time we've seen a stretch of brilliant games from Yao only to see him disappear later. This article gives me a lot of hope that this is a permanent change. I'm excited.

Dr of Dunk · Feb 28, 2006

Somebody translate that into what Yao would say if a Chronicle reporter interviewed him. He's like Rocky in a Chinese interview and like Bullwinkle in a US paper. What's up with that?

davidwu · Feb 28, 2006

Well there is still language barrier so Yao normally uses the limited words/phrases he knows in English for interviews here.

Dr of Dunk said:

Somebody translate that into what Yao would say if a Chronicle reporter interviewed him. He's like Rocky in a Chinese interview and like Bullwinkle in a US paper. What's up with that?
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The Ming Dynasty · Feb 28, 2006

pryuen said:

Yao Ming said he had thought it through, and will no longer be afraid of double-teaming !!
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Excellent post! 5 stars - thanks for the effort in the translation.

pryuen · Feb 28, 2006

The Ming Dynasty said:

Excellent post! 5 stars - thanks for the effort in the translation.
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Thanks for the compliment and encouragement.

I will continue to contribute to Clutchfan site, and share with you guys latest information/news from the Chinese website.

I hope I can have 5-star ratings in all my future threads.

oschadha · Feb 28, 2006

pryuen said:

Yao Ming said he had thought it through, and will no longer be afraid of double-teaming !!
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Sura faints

ccjj · Feb 28, 2006

pryuen said:

Well, it took me 30 minutes for the translation, as I want to share this with all the Yao Ming/Rockets fans over here in Clutchfan site. But it p@ssed me when I found I had a typo in the title: It is Afraid and not Afriad.....but I can't re-edit it.
Click to expand...

Dear Mr. Clutch,

I think you should award Mr. Yuen a contribution member status. He had been contributing more than just money.

Regrads,

user · Feb 28, 2006

Not so fast. Yao was taken out of the game by the Suns double team the 2nd half in the last game.

He was a beast the first half. In the 2nd half, Yao kept passing the rock out of double/triple team and Bogan, Head, and whoever kept dribbling and shooting 3s aiming at the rim.

Yao need more games against the Suns to walk the talk. Unless it's JVG's coaching scheme.

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