This season most teams had found out that most efficient way to shut Yao down is to fronting the post: One defender fronting yao to denies the entry pass, another defender stands at other side of low post ready to double team Yao once he gets the ball. And so far this season, guards tried to directing the wing to swing the ball to the top of the key or the other side, and let Yao roll with the defender and creating space for a pass down the middle. We have seen Laker use this to get Shaq open, and it's quite efficient for them, but somehow the Rockets have not executed this play well. I think one thing is that Shaq is strong and quick enough to use his large arse to push off the defender and get himself open, which Yao have trouble of doing it because he is too tall and too slow. So in your opinion, what's the best solution(s) against fronting?
As each game goes by, there are more and more passes per possession and less and less dribbles. A great sign for us. There are many times though when Yao is wide open and we didn't give it to him but JVG will address that issue when he watches the tapes. You can beat that defense easily by having good shooters and crisp passers with no dribbles. The passes just needs to be quicker with no hesitation or staredowns and we should be ok.
Frankly, I love it when I see one of our players (Yao) being guarded by two defenders when he doesn't even have the ball. It's the same drill as the old 'pick your poison' offense designed by Rudy around Hakeem. You double one guy, you leave another one open. It's that simple. As long as we have guys riding hot streaks with their shooting (Mobley, Steve, Boki, now even Padgett), I say LET the other teams try to stifle Yao all they want. He'll still be a defensive presence (7 blocks), and will still get some decent points in the end if he can avoid foul trouble. Meanwhile, we just keep racking up the W's. And of course, as soon as the defenses figure out that they can't keep double-teaming a guy who does not even have the ball yet, and they start going out to contest some shots from the perimeter, then we'll go through a phase of the season where Yao goes off for 30+ for a few games in a row.. thus scaring the crap out of opposing coaches yet again, thus opening up the outside for our shooters.. It's a vicious cycle, and we should be glad that it's us with the teeth .. it's been awhile. So don't lament the tough defenses being played against Yao. It only makes the rest of the team better. What we don't want to see is some team figuring out how to defend Yao one-on-one. That's when we will see some struggles. Hopefully that won't happen any time soon though.
While watching the game last night at the Toyota Center, I noticed that throughout the game, including the first 10 minutes of the game, Yao couldn't get the ball. I told my wife: "You see what they're doing to Yao? They're standing in front and beside him so that Francis and Cuttino don't give him the ball. That's good D". She agreed. She pinpointed how Yao wasn't scoring so much this game. I agree with Nero. The only solution against fronting is having a shooter like Padgett or Boki to not be scared to chuck the three.
The best way to beat a front is to just go ahead and toss it to the big man because he will get fouled nearly every time.
That is when your big man does GET the ball, but if you just gonna toss it without any concert, 8 out of 10 times it will be result in turn overs.
The classic answer to the question is the lob pass. Toss it over the defender to your center, who should then have an open lane to the basket. Hakeem burned plenty of defenses like that. Should be even easier when your C is 7'5".
fronting the post only works if you have a weakside defender cheating over. that said, the best way to beat a good front in the post, is by swinging the ball across the perimeter QUICKLY. my coaches always said that the pass is faster than the feet or the dribble. swing the ball around the perimeter quickly.
Exactly. Ball reversal is how the Lakers get the ball into Shaq against a good front. Once the ball hits the top of the key, the fronting defender is now on Yao's hip and a firing the ball right into Yao will beat the help defender.
I think we also need to have Cato in the low post on the opposite side as Yao is on. Cato is taller than most PF's and even though he doesn't score much he should go for the dunk. This might force defenders to move away from Yao on a few occasions.
absolutely not. cato's defender, in your sitation, would just position himself between cato and yao - effectively defending 2 players! the lob to yao would be far too risky, and cato would be sealed off from the bucket, at the same time. the power forward must vacate the opposite low block.
When Dream was still playing, zone defense was illegal. In this regard, Dream had it easier than Yao, who has to deal with the double teams before he even gets the ball.
I'll grant you that. Dream had lots of trouble with the zone defense when it was illegally played against him (Seattle). But, in theory it should be no tougher to lob over 2 defenders instead of 1. It's only where Yao is sandwiched between 2 defenders (1 fronting, one playing traditional defense behind) that the lob would be rendered useless.
I agree, however, Cato cant shoot that well,and when teams "double team yao leaving 1 player open" that player is always cato and teams dare him to shoot. I just dont think Cato is a good fit anymore with zones. I had a revelation watching a dallas game and padgett recently that athletism no longer matters or even strength. What matters is pure shooters. I even would try starting Padgett at pf just to spread the floor. CAn you imagine that? NO team would EVER double team Ming because they would have to guard padgett,mobley,steve,pike. I loooooove this lineup and hope JVG uses it alot> steve mobley pike padgett ming It would be like the mavs + ming added.
