i think it's arguable. i'm not talking about a tough guy who will knock you down and beat you up like anthony mason or charles oakley, i'm talking about a guy who takes a beating but refuses to back down. that's a strong part of yao's character that certain other people (stromile swift) could take a page from. i was watching the game tonight and after that one stretch where he got elbowed in the ribs then elbowed in the face, i was thinking, dude is tough. that's just a small portion of the pounding he gets night after night. the media and certain fans see yao's occasional timidness and label him as soft but i think that's wrong. he rarely if ever complains of injury and other than a freak toe infection he never misses games. yao is clearly turning into a phenomenal player and his aggressiveness seems to go up every game since he's come back from that long layoff. i think that injury woke something up in him and he looks like he's got an extra spring in his step. i think pretty soon it's going to look silly calling him soft in every aspect of the word.
I absolutely loved the play in the post where he waved everybody off then dribbles in and does the left fake and turns and knocks down the jumper. Just the fact that he was telling everybody to clear out and give him space to operate. It's exciting to watch that maturity and leadership.
yup...that's something he would never have done a couple years back. it's interesting to see how he's responding with tracy in an extended shooting slump. he's definitely carrying the team right now and has been the best player on the team in this 6 out of 7 winning streak. yao's growing up...
Oddly, he seems to have made strides during his time off, he is staying out of the foul trouble that has plaqued him his whole career. Almost as if he watched all the DVDs of his games while he was out and said "So thats what I've been doing.
It is good to see that he is moving a lot better after clearing up his foot injury. It shows just how tough and how painful that toe really was. Good movement = less fouls and better offense.
even though tracy is shooting 2% from the floor, he is still a threat on the floor. so you have to double him, which gives yao more room to work with compared to tracy being out and all the double teams were on him.
Time to give the bigman some props. Yao has been looking really good after his return. He was already looking good before that. The past 4 years of being mauled in the paint are starting to show. Instead of faltering because of the beating he receives he's become more noticeably stronger and dominant in the post. I daresay that he's becoming somewhat relentless in being able to take a pounding but coming right back at you.
And it was so nice to see the big man slam the ball on the knicks - and he did it more than once in the same game!! I dare say he he.... he did a nice flop on Mo Taylor that one play! Mo was incredulous that Yao could draw the foul like that! The Knicks btw seemed to be throwing an awful lot of cheap elbows and body slams. Trying to play like Laimbeer and the old Pistons a bit. Isiah's influence?
Absoulety, i thought I was the only one who saw that. It was a play with 7 min left in the third qtr. He got an offensive reb, and waved everybody off. It was great.
Exactly, that's what is allowing him to put up better numbers right now. I'm proud of the big guy. I hope he can keep it up.
Sometimes all a player needs is some time off to think about his game. Not moves, but rather his approach and attitude towards his game. Maybe Yao got a chance to do that finally. Maybe it just hit him. He came out of the gates well this season, and even better after his injury. Amazing that showing some patience sometimes leads to good things. Rafer's play, Yao being more dominant, Wesley is hitting shots...time for T-Mac to get out of his slump, Stro' to come around, Howard needs to hit his midrange jumper, etc... This can happen. As fans, all we can do is cheer our team and hope for the best!
Do you guys think that maybe Rafer's presence has helped cure the fronting problem? Or have we just played against a series of teams that don't believe in the fronting philosophy? Or is it not Rafer, but a better job by the whole team of throwing decent lob passes when he's fronted?
JVG figured out a way to get Yao the ball.. a very effective way.. and under alston's lead, everyone is executing it, unselfishly.. i dont think we'll see Yao have fronting problems as long as JVG and alston are here.
Alston and his own assertiveness/confidence has done wonders for his game.... Seriously, the Alston trade makes so much sense now, it's not just replacing Mike James' scoring or passing abilities, it's almost like this trade was made solely to enable Yao to be all he can be, and of course it takes some load off McGrady so he doesn't have to bring the ball up all the time. As for his toughness, Yao is the strong, silent, resilient type, he's not going to scream in your face or whatever because he's respectful of others, but he has a lot of fire and competitive spirit inside of him that motivates him to work hard and become great...he's well on his way.
In the first game against the Knicks, they tried fronting to start the game, but after a couple of perfect lobs from Rafer, and easy buckets for Yao the front was never seen again. For that alone, Rafer is worth his weight in gold.
When Curry dunked on Yao, I knew that within the next couple of possessions Curry was going to be screwed. Sure enough, Yao put a spin-move on Curry and blew past him for a two-handed dunk. I feel a little bad about being down on Yao after the 0-8 stretch, knowing now that he had a bone infection in his foot. He's come back better than ever. I think we're seeing the Yao that we saw in the Olympics. Watching him mature is going to be a treat for us Houston fans.
i think this point really needs to be stressed. yao hasn't been good when he is fronted however the rox have been equally terrible at getting him the ball when he is fronted. if the rox can consistently stop teams from fronting yao then he will basically be unstoppable in the post when he is playing hard. we have needed a passer like alston get the ball to yao where he needs it. i hope this continues to develop like it has.
