Chronic: Bill Laimbeer tried just about everyone else with a shoe size larger than hi

tracymingreedy · Nov 11, 2006

Yao lifts Rockets to victory with another huge game
Knicks buried under center's 35 points and 17 rebounds

By JONATHAN FEIGEN

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4327331.html

Another few minutes and Isiah Thomas would have tried Bill Laimbeer wielding a folding chair.

He tried just about everyone else with a shoe size larger than his. No one came close to slowing Yao Ming, who demoralized Eddy Curry, dominated Kelvin Cato and frustrated every option Thomas tried until the Rockets turned back a late New York Knicks run for a 103-94 win before 18,109 on Friday at Toyota Center.

"I knew he was good," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "I didn't know he was that good. He was everywhere, it seemed, tonight. He's a force."

At least six Knicks players have a pretty good idea how good Yao can be, but none as clearly as Curry, the Knicks' starter, the No. 2 pick of the 2001 NBA draft.

"In the first quarter ... after he hit the first couple of shots, Eddy Curry backed off and didn't want any more," Tracy McGrady said. "From then on, he had confidence. When you give him confidence, I don't care who you put on him and what kind of defense you play. It didn't matter what they did.

"I've said it before, he's the best center in the league. I don't care who you try to match up against him. I don't care who you say is the most dominant. My guy, No. 11 on my team, hands down is the best center in the league."

Yao had 35 points, making 15 of his 21 shots, with 17 rebounds. He matched his career high with seven blocked shots, four on Curry attempts in the first half.

Highlight victim
"If I was Eddy Curry, I would not have kept challenging Yao," Rockets backup center Dikembe Mutombo said. "I would have been embarrassed. It was like he wanted to be on SportsCenter."

The Knicks started the night with Curry on Yao until Yao played him off the court. Curry made two of 11 shots for seven points. The Knicks went with Malik Rose, then tried Cato, starting the second half with the former Rocket.

With the Rockets ahead 16 going to the fourth quarter, Thomas switched to 6-8 rookie forward Renaldo Balkman.

The relatively desperate move in the hope Balkman's quickness and energy could keep Yao from getting the ball, and that a guard coming over to double-team could help enough when he did, workrf for a while as the Knicks cut the lead to nine 4 1/2 minutes into the fourth quarter.

Yao had three turnovers before his first fourth-quarter shot. When he finally got the ball inside, he scored easily. And with all the attention Yao commanded, there were enough open looks around for Luther Head, who had 11 points off the bench, to nail a 3-pointer and score on a drive to finally give the offense a needed jolt.

After Jamal Crawford put in a drive to cut the Rockets' lead to 92-84 with 3:53 left, Rafer Alston nailed a 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer to push the lead back to double figures. When Thomas tried Curry again, Yao hit another jumper to beat the clock. Moments later, he drove past David Lee, the sixth defender Thomas tried, to give the Rockets a 99-86 lead with two minutes left.

"That makes me feel success when they keep changing and new guy comes on me," Yao said. "(Assistant coach) Tom Thibodeau and I watch a lot of tape before the game. I almost know everybody. Like Eddy Curry, he's body-up, body-up. Kelvin Cato, I know everything about him. Malik Rose, he does pull-the-chair. I know everybody at the five, four positions.

Running Curry
"On the offensive side, I feel with Curry, I need to run him. I feel with his size, my size is the same level. Who can get the deep catch? I thought I'd run down the court and see who the first guy to fall."

Yao's only blemishes were the eight turnovers he committed, nearly as many as the Knicks' nine as a team, in his and the Rockets' continued struggles with quickness.

But even when the Knicks cut the Rockets' lead, which had been 19, to as slim as six, there still seemed nothing the Knicks could do about Yao, still there when the Rockets needed him.

jcee15 · Nov 11, 2006

MVP dude MVP.

durvasa · Nov 11, 2006

Yao's turnovers have been really high so far this season, continuing the trend from the preseason and the last weeks of last season. He really shouldn't be turning it over more than 3 times a game.

It might be worthwhile to start tracking how exactly he gets those turnovers. He seems to get stripped a lot, he'll get called for a travel once or twice a game, and he'll usually get at least one offensive foul as well.

thesaint · Nov 11, 2006

durvasa said:

Yao's turnovers have been really high so far this season, continuing the trend from the preseason and the last weeks of last season. He really shouldn't be turning it over more than 3 times a game.

It might be worthwhile to start tracking how exactly he gets those turnovers. He seems to get stripped a lot, he'll get called for a travel once or twice a game, and he'll usually get at least one offensive foul as well.
Click to expand...

OMG give the guy a break. He just had the most dominant and effective game and the only reason the Rox won tonite, and u talkin about his turnovers???? Wade n James commit more turnovers than Yao, but no one seem to notice that. Bottom like is we won and Yao was simply unstopable, turnovers is least of Rox worries if they keep playin the way they did tonite.

Kindger · Nov 11, 2006

durvasa said:

Yao's turnovers have been really high so far this season, continuing the trend from the preseason and the last weeks of last season. He really shouldn't be turning it over more than 3 times a game.

It might be worthwhile to start tracking how exactly he gets those turnovers. He seems to get stripped a lot, he'll get called for a travel once or twice a game, and he'll usually get at least one offensive foul as well.
Click to expand...

In this game:

1 offense 3-second
2 offensive fouls
1 travelling
2 stolen balls
2 unable-to-catch passes

That's what I can recall, not 100% sure.

hotblooded · Nov 11, 2006

tracymingreedy said:

Yao lifts Rockets to victory with another huge game
Knicks buried under center's 35 points and 17 rebounds

By JONATHAN FEIGEN

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4327331.html

Another few minutes and Isiah Thomas would have tried Bill Laimbeer wielding a folding chair.

He tried just about everyone else with a shoe size larger than his. No one came close to slowing Yao Ming, who demoralized Eddy Curry, dominated Kelvin Cato and frustrated every option Thomas tried until the Rockets turned back a late New York Knicks run for a 103-94 win before 18,109 on Friday at Toyota Center.

"I knew he was good," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "I didn't know he was that good. He was everywhere, it seemed, tonight. He's a force."

At least six Knicks players have a pretty good idea how good Yao can be, but none as clearly as Curry, the Knicks' starter, the No. 2 pick of the 2001 NBA draft.

"In the first quarter ... after he hit the first couple of shots, Eddy Curry backed off and didn't want any more," Tracy McGrady said. "From then on, he had confidence. When you give him confidence, I don't care who you put on him and what kind of defense you play. It didn't matter what they did.

"I've said it before, he's the best center in the league. I don't care who you try to match up against him. I don't care who you say is the most dominant. My guy, No. 11 on my team, hands down is the best center in the league."

Yao had 35 points, making 15 of his 21 shots, with 17 rebounds. He matched his career high with seven blocked shots, four on Curry attempts in the first half.

Highlight victim
"If I was Eddy Curry, I would not have kept challenging Yao," Rockets backup center Dikembe Mutombo said. "I would have been embarrassed. It was like he wanted to be on SportsCenter."

The Knicks started the night with Curry on Yao until Yao played him off the court. Curry made two of 11 shots for seven points. The Knicks went with Malik Rose, then tried Cato, starting the second half with the former Rocket.

With the Rockets ahead 16 going to the fourth quarter, Thomas switched to 6-8 rookie forward Renaldo Balkman.

The relatively desperate move in the hope Balkman's quickness and energy could keep Yao from getting the ball, and that a guard coming over to double-team could help enough when he did, workrf for a while as the Knicks cut the lead to nine 4 1/2 minutes into the fourth quarter.

Yao had three turnovers before his first fourth-quarter shot. When he finally got the ball inside, he scored easily. And with all the attention Yao commanded, there were enough open looks around for Luther Head, who had 11 points off the bench, to nail a 3-pointer and score on a drive to finally give the offense a needed jolt.

After Jamal Crawford put in a drive to cut the Rockets' lead to 92-84 with 3:53 left, Rafer Alston nailed a 3-pointer at the shot-clock buzzer to push the lead back to double figures. When Thomas tried Curry again, Yao hit another jumper to beat the clock. Moments later, he drove past David Lee, the sixth defender Thomas tried, to give the Rockets a 99-86 lead with two minutes left.

"That makes me feel success when they keep changing and new guy comes on me," Yao said. "(Assistant coach) Tom Thibodeau and I watch a lot of tape before the game. I almost know everybody. Like Eddy Curry, he's body-up, body-up. Kelvin Cato, I know everything about him. Malik Rose, he does pull-the-chair. I know everybody at the five, four positions.

Running Curry
"On the offensive side, I feel with Curry, I need to run him. I feel with his size, my size is the same level. Who can get the deep catch? I thought I'd run down the court and see who the first guy to fall."

Yao's only blemishes were the eight turnovers he committed, nearly as many as the Knicks' nine as a team, in his and the Rockets' continued struggles with quickness.

But even when the Knicks cut the Rockets' lead, which had been 19, to as slim as six, there still seemed nothing the Knicks could do about Yao, still there when the Rockets needed him.
Click to expand...

compucomp · Nov 11, 2006

Kindger said:

In this game:

1 offense 3-second
2 offensive fouls
1 travelling
2 stolen balls
2 unable-to-catch passes

That's what I can recall, not 100% sure.
Click to expand...

I think there was only 1 offensive foul.

I don't like how they assign turnovers to the unable-to-catch passes. It seems like if Yao gets a hand on the ball and it goes out of bounds, Yao get the turnover, even if the pass was off and all Yao could do was lunge at the ball.

BigM · Nov 11, 2006

i am loving yao's quotes. he is really getting into this dominant mindset and now you can hear it in his responses.

OGKashMoney · Nov 11, 2006

Nice to see a columnist actually focus on the stats and the game and not on the irrelevant sh*t like how Yao is a nice guy and all that other bs!

People need to recognize that Yao is here to stay and dominate...

A_3PO · Nov 11, 2006

Kindger said:

In this game:

1 offense 3-second
2 offensive fouls
1 travelling
2 stolen balls
2 unable-to-catch passes

That's what I can recall, not 100% sure.
Click to expand...

Thanks guy. I'm not concerned about Yao's TOs at this point because it's more important for him to establish dominance. But eventually this season, the TOs must go down. What bothers me the most are the strips. Yao must learn to protect the ball and react better to double/triple teams. I can live with the offensive fouls because all great, aggressive post players get them. The new traveling rules are affecting everyone, not just Yao.

realafire · Nov 11, 2006

thesaint said:

OMG give the guy a break. He just had the most dominant and effective game and the only reason the Rox won tonite, and u talkin about his turnovers???? Wade n James commit more turnovers than Yao, but no one seem to notice that. Bottom like is we won and Yao was simply unstopable, turnovers is least of Rox worries if they keep playin the way they did tonite.
Click to expand...

very good point!!!!

as for the issue of yao's "terrible" turnovers,let's see who are on the top of the list:

PLAYER NAME, TEAM NAME GP MPG TO TOPG TOP48 AST/TO STL/TO
1 Allen Iverson , PHI 6 43.6 31 5.2 5.7 1.64 .16
2 Dwight Howard , ORL 6 33.5 30 5.0 7.2 .37 .17
3 Mike Bibby , SAC 5 37.0 24 4.8 6.2 1.29 .33
4 Kobe Bryant , LAL 5 37.5 23 4.6 5.9 1.04 .39
5 Paul Pierce , BOS 5 40.7 22 4.4 5.2 1.04 .27
6 Tim Duncan , SAS 5 35.7 21 4.2 5.7 1.05 .10
7 Steve Nash , PHX 6 36.1 25 4.2 5.5 2.68 .20
7 Ming Yao , HOU 6 33.9 25 4.2 5.9 .44 .12
9 Jameer Nelson , ORL 6 29.0 24 4.0 6.6 .83 .29
9 Lamar Odom , LAL 7 40.1 28 4.0 4.8 1.39 .14
11 Dwyane Wade , MIA 5 38.1 19 3.8 4.8 1.84 .42
12 Carmelo Anthony , DEN

http://www.nba.com/statistics/playe...AME&qualified=N&yearsExp=-1&splitDD=All Teams

do you guys who keep complaining about yao's tos see that???

please,don't talk over and over again about his turnovers

xomox · Nov 11, 2006

yao's in good company with the to's.

realafire · Nov 11, 2006

i'v never seen fans of 76ers,suns,lakers,spurs.....talk over and over again about ai,nash,kobe,tim's tos

kjames44 · Nov 11, 2006

Let's face it...guys that handle the rock a lot are going to lead the league in TO's and our entire offense runs thru his huge hands each night...he's going to have 3-5 most nights and I think the team can live with that because of the positives that he brings....

Great article by Feigen and great quotes by Yao...

startover · Nov 11, 2006

kjames44 said:

Let's face it...guys that handle the rock a lot are going to lead the league in TO's and our entire offense runs thru his huge hands each night...he's going to have 3-5 most nights and I think the team can live with that because of the positives that he brings....

Great article by Feigen and great quotes by Yao...
Click to expand...

And unlike a guard's, his TOs are less likely to lead to the opponent's fast break points.

pearlon · Nov 11, 2006

startover said:

And unlike a guard's, his TOs are less likely to lead to the opponent's fast break points.
Click to expand...

very good point

BTW, he's not going to have 8 TOs every night. That's probably fact. So if he could have converted 3 or 4 of those possessions into points for the team, we'd win by 12 to 15 points. It's all good!

brantonli24 · Nov 11, 2006

thesaint said:

OMG give the guy a break. He just had the most dominant and effective game and the only reason the Rox won tonite, and u talkin about his turnovers???? Wade n James commit more turnovers than Yao, but no one seem to notice that. Bottom like is we won and Yao was simply unstopable, turnovers is least of Rox worries if they keep playin the way they did tonite.
Click to expand...

Even though we won, we still have to improve. There's always room for improvement, and Yao's trouble now is turnovers. If he improves those, then I'll call him an MVP.

verse · Nov 11, 2006

dikembe is becoming a quote machine! especially when you read it with the cookie monster voiceover.

gucci888 · Nov 11, 2006

Is Bill Laimbeer even mentioned in the article?

verse · Nov 11, 2006

gucci888 said:

Is Bill Laimbeer even mentioned in the article?
Click to expand...

only if you include the first sentence.

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Chronic: Bill Laimbeer tried just about everyone else with a shoe size larger than hi

tracymingreedy Contributing Member

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