Which means they're 12-18 when he doesn't. I'm curious what the strength of the opponent is when he scores 20 versus when he doesn't. That will help us figure out whether our record is due to the other team not being able to handle Yao, or due to us focusing more intently on getting him the ball.
Bull made a nice post game comment, that going to Yao late was like using the running game in football in the 4th qt. Then Bull said that Yao just wears down an opponent, and dividens are paid in the 4th qt. I saw a few entry passes to Yao in the 4th qt, coming from players who may have shot instead-in games from the recent past.
Yep. There's no better feeling than having a dependable 55% shooter, 90% FT shooter to go to who is quite adept at passing out of doubles for open shots. No team in the league has an answer for this now that we've seemed to figure out how to beat fronting defense.
Here's a more interesting stats, IMO: The Rockets are 12-16 (.429) when they score less than 100. They are 8-10 (.444) when the opposing team score 100 or more. Does it mean bad defense isn't hurting them as much as bad offense? Or fast pace games favor the Rockets?
Lots of people think if Yao gets more shots or score more we have a better chance of winning. I think it's not that simple. Yao should get more shots, but I think playing with what the defense gives you is better than forcing up shots. The fact is, a lot of times, when Yao gets the ball on the post, he always attracts the help defense, so at that time Yao will pass the ball out to the open guy, then that person will take the shot or make more passes to find the open guy. Yao is not getting enough shots because the defense is not allowing him to get like 20 shots a game, our opponents are not stupid, they know he shots a high %. I like the way Yao is playing now, do not force shots and playing in the flow.
Great find !! Conclusion: keep going to Yao in the 4th, he's clutch although he misses an occasional shot at the end or makes a crucial turnover. Let's just hope T-mac doesn't demand more shots in the future and accepts the role as just another part of the offense like every other players besides Yao. There can be games where he's hot and scores more than Yao but it should be exception, rather than rule. It should be similar to the 93-94 team where Yao is #1 like Olajuwon was and the rest just feeds off that. There were times when Kenny, Maxwell, Horry or even Elie / Thorpe scored around 25-30 points and that's okay, but Olajuwon was 90% of the times the high scorer with 30-40 points. Now we now Yao is not Olajuwon in terms of stamina and ability but he should average 20+ with his height advantage and the mismatches he creates. Artest and T-mac are of course going to dominate some guys by going 1-on-1 or shooting a lot instead of passing it to Yao. But again, it should be exceptional and not rule. I think Artest accepts this, certainly the other players do, but I'm not sure T-mac is. This is understandable because of how JVG ran the team and the talent he was in Orlando, but it's about the team and I believe T-mac is trying to accept it but it's hard on him. Yao chose #11, because he is the number 1 player and the number 1 scorer on the team
We all kinow its been Yao's team for the last 2-3 years without question and even Tmac knows that. The problem is that he hasn't been as consistent as he is usually is. Of course, injuries can kill your rhythm a lot. Yao is so versatile though that he doesn't necessarily have to score because he can be such a good passer. Still, I'd rather see him take more shots (even he has had some uncommon shooting slumps this year), especially in clutch time because he usually gets the job done (being 7'5 does help).
i thought he ought to take more shots...even at the expense of lowering his fg% a bit. a franchise center like him should take 20 shots a game at least. He can go with his jumper (not long jumper, right next to the busket) a little more like duncan is doing this year
When Yao scores a lot, he usually fouls out other centers. A team without a true center under the post allows Wafer/Brooks to drive more and allows Landry to dunk more.
This is pretty much Yao's team. If T-Mac can play efficiently within that structure the Rockets are going to do well.
