Hey all, I don't get to see many Rockets games and I haven't see any since the game against Indiana on 8th March so I've been wondering about Yao's generally excellent play. I started to notice in the Minnesota game in early March that a number of centres have had better than usual offensive nights against Yao, including Blount, David harrison, Cliff Robinson, Big Z and Brad Miller. All of these big men except Harrison are good mid range jump shooters. I was wondering if their good nights are a result of: - low defensive intensity on the part of Yao due to over exertion on offense or - jump shooting centres taking Yao places he can't/won't go or - lack of overall team effort or - flukey nights for Yao's opponents? And with turnovers, what's the story with Yao's 42 in the last 9 games? I usually only see the box scores and read the game summaries so I'd be interested to know if Yao's slipping into bad habits again. Peace out.
Bison, I think there is a coast guard out there thats been looking for you. Yao's increased turnovers are a result of him realising how badly we need a good shot in the lottery
I wonder know why many people still said that Yao has no stamina, they always thought he is soft and unendurable, I am tired of it, now let's see the stats below MIN 1 Brad Miller , SAC 75 2,816 37.5 2 Ben Wallace , DET 77 2,766 35.9 3 Mehmet Okur , UTA 76 2,719 35.8 4 Ming Yao , HOU 56 1,952 34.9 5 Chris Kaman , LAC 74 2,434 32.9 6 P.J. Brown , NOK 69 2,218 32.1 7 Zaza Pachulia , ATL 73 2,316 31.7 8 Nenad Krstic , NJN 75 2,314 30.9 9 Jamaal Magloire , MIL 77 2,344 30.4 10 Zydrunas Ilgauskas , CLE 73 2,175 29.8 Yao is the No.4 in the entire NBA C. NO.4!!! OK? And most of time others will double or triple him, did Brad Miller or Ben Wallace or whoever always has the same treatment? May be sometimes Yao became a monster only in half time, he may score 25 points and 10 rebounds in first half and made a 8,2 in another. But is that what they blame for? A 22,10 unendurable player? He has already score the most point in his position. The No.1 C in the NBA. If he is "endurable", he will be a 40, 16 player? Come on, who will do that in the NBA after 1980s. May be other plays are "endurable", but they stats less, that's what they really want? I want to say that for a long time but unfortunately I am a rookie who can not post new thread.so just reply here
To answer your question, it's mainly Yao is not willing to guard the perimeter. The big nights from the guys you listed are basically just examples showing that many scrub big men can hit wide open shots when not pressured. Many around here like to praise Juwan for being able to hit it, but in reality, he's not doing anything that many veteran bigs can't. Cliff Robinson would be awesome playing next to Yao, even at his ripe old age. He has range out to the 3 point line, and is one of the best post defenders in the league (he actually guarded Yao a lot in that game, and Yao couldn't really abuse him). Of course there are a lot of bigs from the previous generation who would be great next to Yao, including dale davis, antonio davis, Oakley, PJ Brown, cliff robinson, Otis Thorpe. Unfortunately, they don't make em like that anymore.
Yao does not move well because of his size, so he has trouble covering guys on the perimeter. Also because of his lack of mobility, he can't move from the paint to the top of the key quickly, so he usually hangs out closer to the paint to clog up the middle (which is his primary strength on defense). Another problem is the rest of our guys aren't great one-on-one defenders, which causes Yao to have to sag off his man and help a lot. Finally, Yao's court awareness isn't the best. Sometimes, he'll just lose sight of his man while he's following the ball. I think it's a combination of mental lapses and fatigue. He's played more minutes over the last month than he ever has in his career. It looks to be catching up to him.
