For a out-of-towner I can't watch games and get my play-by-play via the chat room. It seems everyone, even DOD, was saying Yao's huffing and puffing even in the first quarter... WTF? Can someone clarify this...or is it just exaggeration?
Yao's fatigue had absolutely nothing to do with last nights loss. Yao was awesome and unstopable. Last nights loss was strictly due to stupid guard play. Nothing else.
One big problem was Yao couldn't hold his position. Many times teammates wanted to pass inside to Yao, but the Grizz's front defence killed Yao, he just could not hold the damnn position.
BS. The guards have to make quicker and better decisions. Cuttino Mobley is a terrible terrible passer. Why? Because he's never had to pass his entire life. He has 0 passing skills. Yao would beat him in any type of passing drill. Unfortunately, he can't pass it to himself.
Riet, It is far from BS. The guards have their problems, and last night was no different. But Yao's struggle with his positioning made it much harder for the guards to get him the ball. In addition to the guards making quicker and better decisions, Yao needs to get better position, quicker. Two way street.
Once again that is total BS. Yao Ming did not get pushed around even once. Don't confuse Yao's man fronting him with Yao Ming not holding his position. The Rockets should learn to make defenses pay for fronting Yoa. But lets just get one thing clear...Yao Ming did not get pushed around in this game. Stupid Guard play is 100% responsible for this loss.
Codell please that is just BS. Yao was overlooked plenty of times when he was not fronted. Our guards should be called the Keystone Cops from now on. BTW what would Dream do when he was fronted? He would hold up his hand and call for the pass over his defender and then make them pay. The lob pass over the defense is not something made up by posters on this board, it is something that has been used successfully for decades by teams to make the defenders pay for that style of defense. Why our guards can't seem to get the ball to a 7'6" center is beyond me.
Why did a question about Yao's fatigue level lead to bagging our guards? Honestly though I think the guards, at least Francis, have taken the system so well to heart that they don't know what to do when they can't get the ball to Yao. That's why they went back to their old ways tonight. Nothing wrong with shooting when ur big man draws the defence, but make the damn shot!
The problem is that Yao Ming's so called fatigue had nothing to due with not getting him the ball. There were plenty of times that he was ignored with good position and not being fronted.
That is BS. You cant expect a Center to continually hold his position for long stretches of time and if he did, a double team would come fast. This is what happens when you do not have a pure PG. Think about this. Our 2 top scorers on this team were the 2 starting guards. When you suddenly expect them to defer to a 3rd party, they don't have the necessary tools to do that. Why? Because they have been the top scorers on their teams every since college. They have never been distributers. Cuttino Mobley is a worse passer than many big men in the NBA. Chris Webber and all the 7 foot Euros are far superior. He consistently holds the ball over his head and then make awkward wayward passes. He provides terrible angles and terrible touch. This is what happens when you don't have the requisite skills to do anything other than score. You can say what you want about establishing position but if that was true, fronting a big man would be the solution to everything. It's too bad we don't have a Robert Horry to make the opposing team pay for their style of defense. Instead we have 2 scoring guards who couldn't hit the side of the barn, or one of the tallest human beings on earth.
Yao had problems keep his man sealed off far more than he was overlooked. And you can say its BS all you want. JVG specifically said that Yao being fronted/semi fronted was a problem in this game as well as last year. Come on Crash. The friggin coach of the team said its not BS. Does JVG not know what he is talking about?? Crash, Dream didnt have to deal with a zone defense. And when he did (against Seattle's pseudo illegal zone), he had problems getting touches! Is this a coincidence?? It is very hard to make a lob pass when the other team is zoning a weakside defender down on Yao. This is why Nejara and Dallas were able to shut down Yao in the 2nd half of his breakout game last year. Surely you can admit that Yao shares the responsibility of making sure he gets the ball. Do you not agree with this statement??? If not, then are you saying that Yao did everything he could last night to get open???
No RIET. Its BS to overlook the rest of the teams problems and only point your finger at the guards. It was only taking Yao's man a couple of seconds to come around the side to deny the pass. Yao had trouble all night long preventing this. This is what happens when a center can't seal off his man. I am glad that both JVG and Ewing recognize this problem. Making an entry pass can be taught. Its a basic fundamental and should not be complicated. Also, sealing off your man, holding position is a basic fundamental and should not be complicated. Its a two way street RIET. Do me a favor RIET. Go back to the tape and count how many times Mobley was the entry passer last night and compare it to the # of times Yao had problem with position. Mobley is not exempt from criticism, but neither is Yao. Lets be fair about things. 1) Fronting a big man is not the solution to everything because some big men dont have the problems with positioning that Yao does and 2) There are only a handful of big men in the league that teams want to front anyway. And its too bad that Yao is not Tim Duncan or Shaq.
Yao didnt get pushed around, but the guy couldnt get position within 15 feet of the basket. He needs to do a better job of positioning if he wants to get the ball.
Codell, That is coach speak. part of a coach's job is to manipulate the media and manage the egos of his players. He also praises Moochie. Does he actually think Moochie is a good player. He has to do this because we don't have a backup PG. He can't come out and say our guards are terrible passers. The media has already etched that thought into our minds. Even Charles Barkley is now harping at every moment about our guards inability to make passes. If our coach was to do the same, he should be fired because he needs to keep the players' confidence and maintain team unity. The myth is the Rockets guards ignore Yao. That is untrue. The truth is they are just terrible passers. They have very little skills other than driving into the lane and scoring. When you have someone fronting your center, you need to make a quick entry pass before you get weakside help. You cant stand there telegraphing everything or holding the ball. Bounce passes bouncing off Yao's knees, lobs over his head and bad angles out of bounds are not good passes. Fact or fiction, Yao is a better passer than either of our guards. When youre the coach you have to make excuses for your players to protect them. As fans, we can be more objective in our analysis.
I agree with RIET that it was, mainly, the lack of passing skills from the guards prevent them from getting Yao the ball. Codell, There is really no way you can stop someone from fronting you unless you grab the defender. So tell me what technique do you use to seal off the defender? I can't imagine any way other than to grab him or to move OUT of postion WITH him. They need to learn how to take advantage of someone fronting Yao. That's the best scenario for a lob pass for easy points. Yes there is a zone with weak side help, but judging by how far the second defender is, Yao can catch the ball before he gets to him. So it takes a couple of seconds for the defending man to front Yao? That means the guards have 2 seconds to pass him the ball but it only takes 1 second for the ball to leave the passer's hands to reach Yao's. Do you agree that they need to make faster decisions in passing the ball to Yao? I've seen several times when Yao was battling for position and when he did get position, the ball-handler dribbled away to the opposite side. They'd have to be more patient.
Yao was solid last nite, he could have tore the game apart and he was not tired... did you see the lob passes to him by mobley, the one that was thrown out of bounds, twice... mooch not making quicker decisions... having to hold his position in the paint while waiting for those muthas would give reason to make anyone tired, but last nite he wasn't
Facts are Facts and Yao Ming did his part last night. He was over looked plenty of times when he was not fronted and even when hw was fronted he is still 7'6" tall. Even when Dream played the Sonics he still got his touches. Maybe the Rockets had to work harder but Dream still got the ball. The loss of this game falls directly on the shoulders of some of the worst guard play I have ever seen.
