Exactly. Teams make elaborate plans specifically aimed at containing Yao. If that happens, it will come at a price, because our shooters are improving by the game--and some of our best specialty shooters (A. Griffen, Piatkowski) have yet to step on the court. As our offense gets better and better and quickly adapting and smoothly transitioning--depending on what the opposing team decides to do--one aspect of our offense being denied will only lead to a wide open opportunity for another aspect of our attack. When other teams start to recognize the Rockets has a legitimate perimeter team, there will be more hesitancy in double-teaming Yao, and if Yao is left one-on-one, he'll get his points. If he doesn't get his points, because he's being double or triple teamed, then someone else will score. It's the beauty of having five talented guys play together. The only person who should legitimately obsess over Yao's stats is his agent, but even so, his current stats are nothing to lament about. If Cat and Francis make their thirty points, as long as they come with a high shooting percentage, as well as a win, I'm happy. Yao will start getting his points in, I'm pretty sure. Besides, Yao fans should be really grateful that Yao is on a team with two other really really talented players. he won't have to carry the team alone, and he doesn' thave to worry about performing extraordinarily on a nightly basis for wins. I can name a number of lone all-stars on other teams who would kill for one or two other talented players to share the load. Just take a look at Tracy McGrady. If Yao was on a team like the Magic, where he would be the ONLY offensive option, despite in a spike in his stats, you would see a very tired, a very cynical, and a very bitter Yao defeatedly tossing around the idea of early retirement. So don't look a gift horse in the mouth. If we start losing, then I would start worrying.
Game plan for the Heat: Double and tripple team Yao. Any player gets "froze out" if they are double and trippled. The key is to find the open players. He did. Rox win. Team ball!
If I were a coach, I would, at most, have players double team Yao. Even then, you're going to leave your defense vulnerable to the guards. Tripling teaming Yao is just inviting the perimeter shooters to play horse at the 3 point line. Wait till Piatkowski gets in the game. regardless of whether he starts or not, he's going to have an impact. When Mobley is resting, Pike will get in and do his thing. There will always be a strong outside scorer on the court. I'm sure as the season progresses, the double teams will start turning into an erratic game of defense pickle. I have faith that Boki will get better. Cat is going strong, though the streak will have to sputter at some point. Pike should be as good as the papers say he is. A Griffen: hooyah! Guys, you know how cool this is? We actually have a bench with some depth. I'd say more than the improved play of Yao, or even Francis and Cat, the added depth to our bench is what will make the big difference this season. Now if only we can convince Moochie to start taking steriods and get bionic implants . . .
I'm not a Yao-only fan, but I saw several instances tonight where Yao was wide open on the pick and roll. I mean WIDE OPEN. I'm sure they will look at tape and start working on getting him the ball in those situations. Other than that, there's not much you can do when he is double and triple teamed.
This is easier said than done. How do you propose him just "go up and grab the ball"? How is he gonna become more agressive? Yao is a big man, he is also naturally slow. Do u not agree that almost all centers in the league are quicker than him. How can u go around and get inside a quicker player? The only thing he can possibly improve on is to keep his hands up when he fights for position. Sometimes he does not react fast enough when ball bounces over his head or whizes by him quickly. Other than that, he just have to keep going for the rebound. I think you missed the plays. The pick(s) on the wing(s) are real picks to free the shooter. Yao held those long enough. The picks(s) from the top of the key are fake picks so Yao can roll into post position, he was not supposed to hold it long. Yao did try to position pretty well most of the game. Trouble was Grant had help on denying him the ball.
This topic has been fairly well covered, but I'll add my two cents. 1. It is very hard to feed the post when teams are double and triple teaming Yao off the ball. The Rox need to take advantage of the open jumpers and weak side cutters. 2. Yao needs to improve his strenght and conditioning. He is getting denied deep position by much smaller players. 3. There were probably about dozen possessions last night when the guards could have fed the post but didn't. Still a work in progress. 4. (Point least often made in these discusssions). Why not get Yao the ball facing the basket about 16 - 18 feet out? He got it once that way last night and drained the jumper. He can do that all night, why not use it as a change of pace?
UNACCEPTABLE????? WE WON BY 20!!! If that is UNACCEPTABLE . . .then well .. Let me be UNACCEPTED Rocket River
The Lob Pass Watch Shaq in the post When he is front. . . .his forearm is in the back of the defender creating space. his other Arm is in the air on the other side he uses his lower body to maintain the seperation. Yao needs to copy that form. The distance from his forearm [the defender] to his hand on the other side is over 5 ~ 6 feet making the area to pass to a bit more easily hit Rocket River
Hey RR.. Did you intend for this one to go in the fronting strategies thread? btw..I agree with your post before that...if winning by 20 is unacceptable...
Why risk a turnover? When was he ever wide open? I know what you are talking about and they guards would have thrown pin-point passes to get it to a 7'5 center that's not getting good position. The Heat were determine not to let yao beat them, so the other Rockets did. 20 point blowout and Yao needs to get lower to get better position when he repositions around the front....that sums it up.
I hear you man. I'm so tired of our bull**** guards putting up numbers like these. Francis 19.5 PPG 5.3 APG 6.33 RPG 1.67 SPG 47%FG 27% 3PFG Cat 19.2 PPG 2.5 APG 3.83 RPG 1.83 SPG 53%FG 65% 3PFG Obviously they are putting thier stats ahead of winning. What? We are 5-1? Well.....uhhhh.....who cares, why are they freezing Yao out? Yao only fans can go straight to hell!
what are Patrick doing over there? Does he suppose to furnish Yao's positioning and rebounding skill?
What a good question... 'Why is the team freezing Yao out?' The answer is they AREN'T! The Rockets are playing what is called team ball. Cat was shooting better than anyone on the team, and unlike Yao he was open. It's as simple as that. open + hot hand = you get the most shots. Cat would not have been open if it wasn't for Yao so Yao deserves a huge chunk of the credit for the win. If our guards keep knocking down the open shots when teams double and tripple Yao then teams will stop doing that. When they stop doubling Yao, then Yao will score more. If teams never stop swarming all over Ming, then it will be up to the rest of the team to do most of the scoring. That's smart basketball and I hope it continues.
This is a golden post FB. Yao doesn't always have to touch the ball to be effective for us. His mere presence on the court creates openings for our other players because of the attention that teams are paying to him when he doesn't have the ball. So far, we are exploiting that. If over time, we prove we can more often than not, exploit this attention that Yao receives, then teams might just loosen up on Yao, which will free him to have a bigger offensive role. Thats when we will become an even better team because opponents will then have to pick their poison (as Calvin and Bill say "If the left hand don't get ya, the right hand will").
Didn't the Rockets win by 20 points? Isn't this the same team that beat the Rockets last year? I can't believe people worry about who shots. It's just stupid or maybe you just want to pad your number of posts. The Heat's game plan was to take Yao out the game and let the other guys beat them. Which is exactly what happen. This won't be the first game where he doesn't shoot alot. JVG doesn't feel like Yao is being frize out so no one on this board should feel that way. Trust me, if JVG thinks the team isn't getting the ball to Yao he will make the proper adjustments. How about the topic for your next tread "when will Yao dominate on the boards?" or "when will Yao take it strong to the board despite double teams?"
I didn't see any freezing out of Yao. He was fronted by smaller, quicker guys, and people from the weakside were helping also. Miami was playing a zone. And Yao still is unsure of how to get good position.
Keeping Yao around as a decoy wont work for long. Teams WILL catch up. And a decoy is all Yao has been this season. You REALLY think Cat being LAZY this off-season is the reason he's shooting better? C'mon! He's getting open looks BECAUSE of the respect Yao is getting down low and taking advantage of it, to his credit. But that wont last very long. If Yao doesnt start having some 25pt/15rb/4blk nights and prove he can muscle around in the post, they'll stop doubling him. THEN you'll see the Mobley of old (and the Rockets for that matter). They're next test, the Mavericks (which have their own version of an inept 7-6er), will put my proclamation to the test....then you too will say "ah..."
