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[USA Today] Tim Duncan, "He made some big shots and was tough to stop."

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by Rob English, Nov 7, 2007.

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ilovemeimei Member

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punk dee said:

Two great players? Yao aint a rookie, he is a superstar! He don't need their praises.
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Agree.

#21 ilovemeimei, Nov 7, 2007

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http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/sports/view_article.php?article_id=99426

Yao Ming carries Rockets over Spurs

HOUSTON, Texas -- Yao Ming carried Houston on his back once again, scoring 28 points and 13 rebounds as the Rockets defeated the previously unbeaten San Antonio Spurs 89-81 Tuesday at the Toyota Center arena.

While US media, like ESPN, continue to highlight every mistake by Yao, the giant Chinese center showed why he is the dominant player in his position outscoring and playing solid defense against Spurs superstar Tim Duncan.

Former playoff MVP Duncan shot just five of 15 from the field and four of eight from the free throw line for a total of 14 points.

Bonzi Wells registered 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who lost Monday at Dallas. The Spurs had not played since beating Sacramento at home Friday.

"I hope [Monday] night's situation does not happen again, when we had a couple of turnovers in a row [in the closing minutes]," said Yao, who continues to silence his North American critics by improving each season. "I knew we were going to post me up to make a play. I kept repeating everything I do in practice in my mind."

"Yao was great down the stretch," said Houston coach Rick Adelman. "We were going to keep going to him. They were going to have to either double him or he was going to score. He's going to get better at passing out of that double-team."

Yao, who had to overcome Jackie Robinson-style criticism early in his National Basketball Association career, also dished for six assists despite being double teamed much of the game.

"Bonzi was terrific," Adelman said. "He was on the boards all night long. You shoot 40 percent and you get 25 offensive rebounds, it's pretty good. He's just a handful and it's hard to keep him off the boards."

Wells played some of his best basketball when he played for Adelman in Sacramento in 2005-06. He averaged 23.0 points and 12.0 rebounds in a six-game playoff series against San Antonio that season.

Duncan made his opening shot, but finished the first half shooting one of nine. Yao, on the other hand, kept scoring for the Rockets.

"Every year Yao is getting better," Duncan said. "The Rockets showed their confidence in him when they go through him at the end of the game like they did tonight. He made some big shots and was tough to stop."

Said Spurs backup center Francisco Elson: "[Yao] is a big load and has improved a lot. He is stronger and has a great touch around the basket. He made life [tough] for us. We were all so focused on trying to stop Yao, a lot of their other players had an advantage on the boards."

Yao's sidekick Tracy McGrady, who entered the game averaging 33.0 points, scored just 12 on four of 14 shooting. But he contributed six assists and nine rebounds.

#22 Rob English, Nov 7, 2007
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Rob English said:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/sports/view_article.php?article_id=99426

Yao Ming carries Rockets over Spurs

HOUSTON, Texas -- Yao Ming carried Houston on his back once again, scoring 28 points and 13 rebounds as the Rockets defeated the previously unbeaten San Antonio Spurs 89-81 Tuesday at the Toyota Center arena.

While US media, like ESPN, continue to highlight every mistake by Yao, the giant Chinese center showed why he is the dominant player in his position outscoring and playing solid defense against Spurs superstar Tim Duncan.

Former playoff MVP Duncan shot just five of 15 from the field and four of eight from the free throw line for a total of 14 points.

Bonzi Wells registered 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who lost Monday at Dallas. The Spurs had not played since beating Sacramento at home Friday.

"I hope [Monday] night's situation does not happen again, when we had a couple of turnovers in a row [in the closing minutes]," said Yao, who continues to silence his North American critics by improving each season. "I knew we were going to post me up to make a play. I kept repeating everything I do in practice in my mind."

"Yao was great down the stretch," said Houston coach Rick Adelman. "We were going to keep going to him. They were going to have to either double him or he was going to score. He's going to get better at passing out of that double-team."

Yao, who had to overcome Jackie Robinson-style criticism early in his National Basketball Association career, also dished for six assists despite being double teamed much of the game.

"Bonzi was terrific," Adelman said. "He was on the boards all night long. You shoot 40 percent and you get 25 offensive rebounds, it's pretty good. He's just a handful and it's hard to keep him off the boards."

Wells played some of his best basketball when he played for Adelman in Sacramento in 2005-06. He averaged 23.0 points and 12.0 rebounds in a six-game playoff series against San Antonio that season.

Duncan made his opening shot, but finished the first half shooting one of nine. Yao, on the other hand, kept scoring for the Rockets.

"Every year Yao is getting better," Duncan said. "The Rockets showed their confidence in him when they go through him at the end of the game like they did tonight. He made some big shots and was tough to stop."

Said Spurs backup center Francisco Elson: "[Yao] is a big load and has improved a lot. He is stronger and has a great touch around the basket. He made life [tough] for us. We were all so focused on trying to stop Yao, a lot of their other players had an advantage on the boards."

Yao's sidekick Tracy McGrady, who entered the game averaging 33.0 points, scored just 12 on four of 14 shooting. But he contributed six assists and nine rebounds.
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#23 doublehh03, Nov 7, 2007
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onethreeeleven said:

Tim Duncan > Yao

uh oh I think I just got banned...
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Clutchfans bbs is an impartial organization.

Ban him!

#24 pli777, Nov 7, 2007
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doublehh03 said:

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And you're calling YOF's sensitive and overprotective of Yao? McGrady was Yao's sidekick today. If this were a summary about yesterday's game it would say McGrady's sidekick Yao. Hell we even won the game, imagine that.

#25 SmitingPurpleEm, Nov 7, 2007
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SmitingPurpleEm said:

And you're calling YOF's sensitive and overprotective of Yao? McGrady was Yao's sidekick today. If this were a summary about yesterday's game it would say McGrady's sidekick Yao. Hell we even won the game, imagine that.
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no, i'm wondering why do we have to refer to yao or tracy as sidekicks. can't we say partners in crime?

you're the one overprotective.

#26 doublehh03, Nov 7, 2007
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SmitingPurpleEm said:

And you're calling YOF's sensitive and overprotective of Yao? McGrady was Yao's sidekick today. If this were a summary about yesterday's game it would say McGrady's sidekick Yao. Hell we even won the game, imagine that.
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and if u read the game posts, i praised yao more than you my brother. he and bonzi won the game for us.

oh yea, i'm a fair and unbiased fan. i praise players when they do well and don't say it's pure luck.

#27 doublehh03, Nov 7, 2007

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I always thought Duncan can't do much with Yao guarding him. The problem is coaches are afraid of putting Yao on Duncan fearing of drawing fouls and have him sit ect...so they use the our OWN PF on Duncan instead.

#28 Yao4REAL, Nov 7, 2007
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Well we don't have to read the article to know Tim Duncan wasn't talking about Rafer Alston.

#29 Kwame, Nov 7, 2007
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ClutchCityReturns said:

You're basically saying that injuries/ailments have less effect on the performance of an amateur athlete than on a professional athlete.

That makes absolutely no sense.
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keep in mind that mcgrady didn't blame the blister for anything and it probably had no effect on his game. but if he did it's hard to say that because you're blister doesn't hurt, that his shouldn't either.

#30 BigM, Nov 7, 2007
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Rob English said:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/sports/view_article.php?article_id=99426

Yao Ming carries Rockets over Spurs

...
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Hard to believe Yao has so much love from Philippines.

#31 freemaniam, Nov 7, 2007
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We all know how good Yao is. His unselfishness works to his disadvantage at times, but he completely took the game over tonight. If he can play like this in the playoffs, then he goes from being perennial all-star good to HOF good. Duncan is a first ballot HOF and he looks helpless when defending Yao. The turnovers continue to plague him but he did have 6 ast tonight. What made the loss to tha mavs so frustrating is that Yao didn't get a chance to do what he did tonight. Tracy is our best player, but if we want to take that next step, Yao has to be the anchor in the 4th quarter and his teammates have to feed him when he is shooting well. Unless you have MJ23, I think it's proven how valuable a post presence is on the offensive end of the floor. That is why I feel the Mavs and Suns won't win a title.

#32 TheSummit, Nov 7, 2007
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up until last year... I would have put.... only Tim Duncan ahead of Yao when it comes to the center position...

Yao has just shown me he is better than TD this year....

the match up I want to see is Dwight Howard... he really has improved his game this year...

#33 Astockmarketgod, Nov 7, 2007

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^ and yes I know TD plays as a Forward....

#34 Astockmarketgod, Nov 7, 2007
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Astockmarketgod said:

up until last year... I would have put.... only Tim Duncan ahead of Yao when it comes to the center position...

Yao has just shown me he is better than TD this year....

the match up I want to see is Dwight Howard... he really has improved his game this year...
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure Yao is better than Duncan, and I'm a huge Yao fan. We'll see; they have 3 more matchups remaining.

It is however very clear that Yao is better than Dwight Howard. I remember Dwight Howard said in an interview last year that he'd like to be as good as Yao. Yao has owned Howard badly in their head to head matchups.

#35 SmitingPurpleEm, Nov 7, 2007
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Astockmarketgod said:

up until last year... I would have put.... only Tim Duncan ahead of Yao when it comes to the center position...

Yao has just shown me he is better than TD this year....

the match up I want to see is Dwight Howard... he really has improved his game this year...
Click to expand...

I want to agree with you, but it's only four games into the season and we've only played the Spurs once. I don't think it's very wise to say that Yao is better than Duncan based on one early regular season game.

#36 ParaSolid, Nov 7, 2007
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SmitingPurpleEm said:

I'm not so sure Yao is better than Duncan, and I'm a huge Yao fan. We'll see; they have 3 more matchups remaining.

It is however very clear that Yao is better than Dwight Howard. I remember Dwight Howard said in an interview last year that he'd like to be as good as Yao. Yao has owned Howard badly in their head to head matchups.
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Trust me, it will be more than that.

Dwight Howard upgrades his game very much. He looked unstoppable in his Asian tour this summer.

#37 freemaniam, Nov 7, 2007
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SmitingPurpleEm said:

I'm not so sure Yao is better than Duncan, and I'm a huge Yao fan. We'll see; they have 3 more matchups remaining.

It is however very clear that Yao is better than Dwight Howard. I remember Dwight Howard said in an interview last year that he'd like to be as good as Yao. Yao has owned Howard badly in their head to head matchups.
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So, Adelman is not "destroying" Yao's game anymore?

#38 StanleyHartwell, Nov 7, 2007

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Jury is out. Adelman tonight used Yao correctly. Maybe it's not Yao that has to learn Adelman's system, but Adelman who has to learn how to use and play TWO SUPERSTARS correctly?

#39 yao_fan_2007, Nov 7, 2007
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Remember we lost last night's game vs Mav, we were talking about Yao's shooting times. Glad to see it changed today! Sweet!~~~~~~~~

#40 Jerry_East, Nov 7, 2007

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