Foul or no foul, it is awesome to see that Yao was adamantly taking a stance on what he believed was not a foul. This is the most pissed off I've seen Yao towards the refs in recent memory. This season may be over, but I think we're seeing more than just Yao's physical maturity. He's starting to speak up more publicly and not concede to the refs so quickly. <i>That</i> is encouraging. http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3749766.html <b>Yao Ming was never more clear, never sounded more certain. He raised his voice just a touch and made sure to pronounce each word so there would be no questions.</b> With the Cleveland Cavaliers down to their last chance in regulation and the ball and game in LeBron James' hands, James took off toward the rim. The Rockets held a three-point lead. Twenty-two seconds remained. And Yao came at him, arms raised to the length of a 7-6 center's reach for the meeting of two of the game's most celebrated figures. James slipped in his shot. Yao was called for a foul. And after James' free throw sent the game to overtime, the Cavaliers beat the Rockets 104-102 on Sunday before 16,839 at Toyota Center. Yao and the Rockets were convinced he did not foul James. <b>"Hey look," Yao said. "I'm not in my first day playing basketball. I knew we were up three. I knew he was shooting a two. There was no need to foul him. And believe me, the contact I get on the inside is much more difficult than he gets. And I do not get calls the whole year. I'm very clear about it. I know my hand was straight, maybe back. "Whatever they (officials) say, the game has passed already."</b> It passed, but like a kidney stone. Bogans hassles No. 23 The Rockets had done what they seemingly had to do to beat the Cavaliers on Sunday. James had 36 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Keith Bogans made him work for those numbers. James made just 14 of 34 shots, missing nine straight at one point while the Rockets built a 13-point lead. Yao struggled to his 27 points, making nine of 21 shots against the usual swarms of double and triple teams. But the Rockets had their second consecutive strong shooting game, making 48.6 percent of their shots including half their 14 3-pointers. Luther Head hit a runner on the baseline over Zydrunas Ilgauskas to put the Rockets ahead 89-88 with 34.7 seconds left. Juwan Howard sank two free throws with 25.4 seconds remaining to push the lead to three. The Rockets, with a foul to give before they would be over the limit, needed to foul James early or not at all. They did neither. "I thought about it," Bogans said of fouling James when he got a step on him. "But if he went down and makes a tough shot, we're still up one. I didn't think they'd call that foul. I just saw him make a tough shot." The Rockets had time to shoot for the win in regulation, but with less than a second left, James stripped Yao from behind. In overtime, the Cavaliers took a four-point lead before Rafer Alston — who had 22 points, eight assists and seven rebounds — scored on a drive with 29.7 seconds left. The Cavaliers went back to James, and with a foul to give, the Rockets did not foul the All-Star when he made his move to the lane. Yao came over early, but James dished a pass to Ilgauskas for a dunk and a 103-99 lead with 9.9 seconds left. Van Gundy's review "If you're beat, we'd like to take (the foul)," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "We'd like to have Yao over there earlier in help if Keith decided not to take it. We had a play like that earlier in the fourth (quarter) when Yao was really early and James had to take a fadeaway off one foot. It was the same type of action when they got the dunk in overtime, so we didn't handle those situations like we would have liked." Yao sank a quick jumper to cut the lead to two, and Cleveland guard Damon Jones — who had 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting — left the Rockets a chance by missing one of his two free throws with 5.4 seconds remaining. But Alston could not get off a 3. He was fouled with six-tenths of a second left, and after he made his first free throw, Donyell Marshall slapped away Alston's intentionally missed second attempt to seal the win. "That was a tough one to lose," Alston said. "That's a game that should have been won in regulation. ... We're left pondering what could have been." More than pondering, the Rockets lamented what they should have done, could have done and in Yao's case, what he believed he did not do. jonathan.feigen@chron.com Rockets Summary Tigers pride Forward Stromile Swift is the last Rockets player with a team in the NCAA Tournament, a fact he has made loud and clear in the locker room since Saturday, when LSU advanced to the Final Four. "I lost my voice yesterday," Swift said Sunday. "I've been talking a little bit. Pat ( Ewing) and Deke ( Mutombo) made it to the Sweet 16 (with Georgetown) so we went back and forth a little bit. "I've been real proud of them. I haven't called because I don't want to jinx them. I said I'd call when they win the championship or when they lose to congratulate them on the season." Swift said there have been many comparisons between himself and LSU forward Tyrus Thomas, and that was before LSU eliminated Texas from the Tournament. "In Baton Rouge, he hears that all the time," Swift said. "They run some of the same plays I ran when I was there. The same plays they ran for me, I see him open on the same lob plays and screens against zones." Praise for James Much has been made about LeBron James' play in the final minute of games. He hit a game-winner at the buzzer Wednesday, had a three-point play in the final minute of regulation to tie the game Sunday, and then passed to Zydrunas Ilgauskas for a dunk with 9.9 seconds left in overtime. But Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said recent doubts about James never made sense. "As far as he should pass up an open shot by a good player and a good player to take a contested shot because that's quote, 'what Michael Jordan would do,' the thing for you to do in that situation is to make the right play and live with the result," Van Gundy said. "To his credit, he didn't get sucked into trying to do things differently. "He hits Damon Jones in the corner against Toronto to win it. He hits Ronald Murray in the corner against Chicago to win it. (The critics) then go back the other way and say, 'We didn't say he has to shoot it, we said he has to be the guy to make the play.' " James is on pace to be only the fourth player to average 30 points, six rebounds and six assists in a season. He would join Oscar Robertson, Jordan and Jerry West. Last word "I would say probably that this is the toughest loss since I've been here. We were right there and we felt like we should have won. We let the game slip away." — Keith Bogans Inside the numbers • 5 — Length in games of Rockets' winning streak against Cavaliers before Sunday. • 5 — Length in games of Rockets' home losing streak. • 5 — Wins in five overtime games for the Cavaliers this season. • 5 — 20-point games this season for Rafer Alston, including 22 on Sunday. • 5 — Rebounds by Keith Bogans while matching his season high in scoring with the Rockets (18 points). JONATHAN FEIGEN
It wasn't a foul. Anyone who watched it knows it was clearly a BS call. Yao was just standing there with his arms raised. He wasn't even moving. If he had been Dirk he could have easily flopped and that would have been a straight up charge. And the refs weren't kind to Yao at all in this game...that wasn't the only BS call of the afternoon on Yao.
Did you watch Stro play in college? I didn't, but everyone who claims they did says he looks just like Tyrus is looking now. He was at the top of the draft so it wouldn't suprise me if that is true.
It wasn't a foul, but it would get called probably 75% of the time. Lebron jumped into his chest - initiated contact - and layed it up. Happens all the time. What was different about that particular call is it's almost never made late in a game where that foul is a "difference maker". I understand what JVG was saying about Yao needing to get out further on James, but I do not understand why Bogans "thought about fouling him" and didn't. He was in position to just grab him. I'm glad Yao spoke up though. I don't know if it will do any good, but it can't hurt.
That was pretty good diplomacy by Yao. I wonder if he will get a fine for those comments. I don't think he should. But he sure made his point clear that he wasn't getting that same call. That's okay big fella, take it to them in the International game. The biggest thing I hate about the NBA is the way the game has gotten out of hand physically the last 20 years. They just let the interior players beat each other to a pulp, while they call the touch fouls on the perimeter. And then when an incident occurs like happened between Allen and Bowen the other night, nothing is done about it. Bowen should be suspended for 15 games for those kinds of antics. I guarantee you he'd stop all that stuff, kicking players in the head and back. Yao takes so much abuse it's unreal. I would be willing to bet that per touch he gets more contact, more wrist hacks, more bumps, bangs, and 2 hands on in his back than even Shaq, that is not called anything. Yao is a technically superior player. Replay shows it over and over again. Every game, he is called for at least 2 phantom fouls and he gets an average of 6 fouls against him that are never called, and they're obvious. When you can hear the wrist slap at home in front of the TV monitor, how can they not call that stuff? I'm sorry but that play on Lebron came down to American Superstar vs. Foreign Superstar. The NBA wants Yao to be a Superstar but they want their American Superstars to win the individual battle against the foreign guy every time. If that would have been Dirk driving the lane, it is a 50/50 call. But if it is Lebron, Kobe or any other American Superstar, it is going to go against Yao every time.
I think Yao was inside the circle where you can't take a charge, but all he did was jump straight up and attempted to block the shot. As far as I understand it that's a different situation. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about this.
I didn't see him jump. And he didn't even need to anyway. He barely moved...all he did was stand there and raise his arms.
If it was Dirk driving the lane, it would be a foul EVERYTIME. I have no idea why he gets so many calls as a foreign superstar <b><i>shooter</i></b> while Yao gets NOTHING! I still get pissed when I think about last year's playoffs and those ridiculous calls he got. Nevertheless, I think you're right on the money about American superstars getting the calls over foreign ones majority of the time.
He should've just use that as motivation to grab more rebound which he has been slacking off on for the last 3 games.
Yao's mistake was he kept his feet planted while in the circle. The refs will call that foul on him 80% of the time. He's been doing a better job of staying out of foul trouble of late, because he's jumping and looking to contest the shot instead of looking to take a charge or just clog the lane. Whenever he jumps straight up and there's contact, you'll notice that the refs don't call the foul on him nearly as often. Whether you agree with the call or not, Yao should have known that it was a risky play to just stand in the lane like that with a superstar running into him and not contest the shot.
From what I know, the defender is allowed to jump straight up and it shouldn't be called a foul, unfortunately, I've never seen it get called that way. Good to see Yao letting out some frustration. Yao undoubtedly gets the butt of the calls out of the superstars in the league.
I don't agree. You don't get a cheap and 1 on your last chance, in a losing game, especially on the road, and the home team was hit hard by the injuries. Of course, everything is different, when whatever team is playing Houston, against Yao Ming.
I think the real lesson Yao should take from this is: given the fact that he's had so many calls go against him, he should foul hard and make sure the shot doesn't go down. If he does that, the Rockets likely win the game in regulation. Even if James makes both free throws, the Rockets have a 1 point lead. As long as they make their free throws on the expected ensuing foul, you have to like their chances on defense -- especially with only 4 or 5 seconds left in regulation.
Nah, it's Yao Ming you are talking about. If he fouls hard, hits James' arm, or whoever's arm, that player James or Dirk or super tough Ben Wallace, would just hold his face or between the legs, rolling on the floor and screaming. The refs will call for a flagrant foul, send Yao out. So that player will stand up smiling, sinking two freethrows, and keep the possession. They are going to drive into the lane again, lie down and hold something of their body parts. That's what NBA is about now.
