Yup, like I said in the other post, passing it to Yao would have just resulted in a turn over. He needs to learn to get into position and hold his ground.
but i saw many times he shaked out defenders with obvious space, but our guards could not catch that timing and pass the ball.
I think Heat's B Grant did nothing in this game but fought against Yao Ming. Though he was almost fouled out, he still did a pretty good job of boxing Yao out. You can argue that the guards did not do a good enough job to pass Yao the ball, but I have agree that they did try to pass to Yao, almost all game long.
agreed. i only got to see the 2nd half, but miami was doing a damn good job of fronting and doubling covering yao. there just wasn't many solid opportunities to get him the ball. he still needs to work on his positioning.
like the others said, yao was covered pretty well with the heat's zone. but when they faded off their man, they paid for it (ex. mobley and padgett drilling 3's and stevie driving to the basket). IMO, the rockets is a hard team to defend against right now. it's either man up and have yao dominate and put your big men in foul trouble or zone up and double yao and get killed by the other players. hmm....this all sounds too familiar....
There were times when Yao got open, but the ball handler had a defender all over him, and Yao either wasn't seen, or the passer couldn't get rid of the ball. Yao was doubled all night long.
Yeah that Brian Grant is tough. All the time, I was screaming on the screen, Come on Yao, hold your position, demand the ball, and slam it into that m*therf**kers face!
I think JVG told GUARDS before game: "No TOs, otherwise xxxx". That's why they dare not try since the ball will go to a dangerous area. Even it's Shaq, they have the same problem to pass (Mem-Laker game). While Shaq can board and dunk, that's the difference.
Yao's gotta get tough! He had almost a foot on the D and he wasnt pinning back his man. Dont let them push you around, big man!!
The problem isn't Yao not holding position, the problem is that the team is not very good at taking advantage at the fronting. People could front Shaq all day to, but the Lakers have 5+ years of being taught good, solid skills and understand how to swing the ball quickly to the top and get it in down low for an easy dunk, which Padgett finally did towards the end of the game. Occasionally, this isn't possible as Yao is still being doubled down low, with one defender in the front and one in the back. When this happens though, swinging the ball is still the best option as someone is option. You can be guaranteed that the improved guard play so far this year has come as a result of 3 or 4 straight games on the front/double defense on Yao. The guards are doing a much better job swinging the ball. Last year they would either not do it at all or dribble about 5 times and then do it. This year, the swing is much quicker, although could still use some work. And, besides all that, Yao is changing the game in the most important way - defense. He's getting a wee-bit too many 3 second calls, but you can see it is a result of JVG defensive teachings. He's having Yao rotate in and out of the lane whenever possible to stop the dribble penetration before it even gets close to the basket. When they do go all the way, more blocks for Yao. The Rockets are absolutely annihilating the rest of the league defensively right now, allowing on 76.8 ppg. Next best is Toronto at 78.7, but they are only scoring 75.7 versus the Rockets 90.5 - the Rockets good defense is leading to good offense. You can see a more consistent and efficient fast break effort slowly developing.
I think we should keep the way we are doing now - burning the opponent with either Yao's inside game or guards' wide open jump shots. Why fix it if we are 5-1.
I would have agreed with you last season, but look at what Steve and Cat have done this season, hit open shots, take care of the call better, find open teamates. They need to get better, but I really don't have anything to complain about so far.
from what I heard on the readio sounded like they played solid D on him. They mentioned a few times about how francis our one of our players tried to feed it to him but Yao was locked up
He could be a little bit Yao-fan only. Actually it depends on Yao's positioning and guard's passing. Both of them are not so good now, but they will achieve to a higher level since they are willing to learn.
The bottom line is that we got the win. That is what matters here. If Yao taking only 7 shots equates a win, then I'm all for Yao taking 7 shots a game. I would much rather be the Florida Marlins of basketball where no one's stats are impressive than be the Texas Rangers who somehow manage to lose every game 15-14,
Zone is the problem, someone is in front of Yao, and in the back of him...no where to throw it in to him....on the plus side, the team won by 20 points and we were getting wide open jumpers because Yao was being double teamed. It is a team game, and Yao is one of 5 on the court.... Good game Rockets. DD
Here are Yao's weaknesses after 6 games: Rebounding: seriously, he could have had like 16 board tonight if he learns how to GO UP AND GRAB THE BALL. He kept tipping the ball to himself and it doesn't work most of the time. He's not playing against 5'10" players so he needs to be aggressive on the boards. Pick and Roll: He rolls to fast. Before the defender he's picking off actually gets picked off, he's already rolling out. This is more with timing and can be fixed. Like JVG said: Aggressiveness. Yao DID demand the ball tonight but the Heat played pretty good D on him. It's that he gotta position himself better. There's no way that a 6'9" Brian Grant (no matter how strong he is) can overpower a 7'5" 300lb center.
