The 2nd game I think Yao did well in boxing out. That's why he and Shaq's rebounding dropped so much. Shaq only had 2 offensive rebounds, one against Yao I believe, and no 2nd chance points.
Shaq's ass was on the bench because of Yao's aggressive play in the first half last night. Deal with it. Your last post was nothing more than you altering reality to help your argument. Can Yao play better? Yes. Has he played bad this series? No. What the hell is your problem with Yao Ming. All you ever do is try and paint the most negative picture of him that you possibly can. Are you Steve Francis' agent? Boy friend? You must be something because you post as if your mouth is surgically attached................I think you get the picture.
Those Yao bashing posts are equally annoying as those Steve bashing posts. Professional sport is a very brutal business based on talent and hardwork. To be rational, Rox fans should not expect this team to beat Lakers at this point. Winning one game will be a victory. The claim that Yao or Steve is not good as *** or *** is just bu*sh*t. If you want a guy like Duncan or Kobe, show the money or lure them using whatever you have. If you can not, please pay respect to the players who are working hard to entertain you. Moreover, if you can not draft a guy better than Yao, blame your stupid luck, not Yao.
I don't think th reason Yao doesn't want Steve traded is because Yao is not willing to be the man, he simply likes Steve like a friend or brother. I think Yao definitely have heart, if he doesn't have heart, how do we won the portland game a while back, and the maverick game on TV. Yao definitely shows he has the determination and heart to win games in many occassions this season. You don't want to put too much weight on one or two games, because as fans, you never know what really goes on behind close doors. From my observation, The Rox has some internal power struggle going on, mainly between Steve and JVG. Or maybe like Francis said, guys are afraid of making mistakes. I know, we are all frustrated because it looks like our chances are bleak and the lakers are probably going to win the series. As long as we put up a good fight, I don't really care about we win or lose the series, as long as we see some hope. I think Rox definitely shown they can hang with the Fakers.
Last i checked Carmelo also got a whole summer off to relax. Yao doesn't get that luxury. unfortunatly he has to play the whole summer. Everyone in the NBA doesn't play the whole year while yao does. There shouldn't be these expectations out of the blue for a second year guy like that. All the arguments we are making on this board is why Yao didn't dominate Shaq.... I remember a Shaq that came to league took his team to the finals and got schooled by Hakeem. But now he is dominating the league. Time and experience make a big difference in where you will go. If you can't see that then nothing anyone can say changes that.
I just wish he was hitting the inside shots that he's getting. Too many of his shots inside that were automatic earlier in the season have been missed far too often. And it sure didn't start in the playoffs, as we all saw. I think the guy has been exhausted... playing largely on fumes, since that string of overtime games. He might have been pooped by now anyway, but they sure didn't help. I wish he could have some serious down time this summer. May as well whistle for the wind.
Nobody is mentioning that Steve Francis had a perfect game in the first half and was playing the game as JVG wanted. Nobody is mentioning that Steve Francis took over the game in the second half and went back to playing his game the way HE wants to play! When Steve does this the Rockets went from leading at the Half to going down the tube and a loss. Yao Ming seemed lost in the secopnd half almost like he was at times not involved in the action. I wonder why?
Conceivable. I believe Yao has indeed turned the corner on Shaq. Shaq can NEVER "dorminate" him anymore (IMHO). Shaq has met his match. Now only if Yao can bring more fire. But his biggest bane now is his stamina not his agressiveness. The slightest improvement in that department will translate into BIGger things for the Rox. Consequently, Steve should be done on this team after this season. He should not be part of the future plans regardless of what happens from here on out because after 5 season his basketball IQ will not improve. This is Yao's team and we accept it. He is not that much of a quick student but he will surely come around. We need more smart players on the team.
I don't know if I should laugh or cry about all you folks pissin and moanin'. I see a bunch of YOF's arguing with a Yao Haters, and SOF arguing with Francis Haters. What a pathetic group of losers we have arguing here.
I agree with Tango for the most part. i wouldnt say pathetic but just uhhappy. im very proud of Yao he did his best and i dont think it was all that bad. he is playing against one of the top 5 centers of ALL TIME. and one of the best 3 or 4 PF of all time. they both have a TON of playoff time under there belt. and at least somewhat have the refs giving them the benifit of the doubt with there calls. yao playing against them is in his 2nd year, from another country, one also with not much of a basketball past in the least. also in his first playoff series. he at least for the most part held his own. with what i think is our weakest position helping him out our PF position. did you want him to come out and outscore malone and shaq all by himself. well thats what you might have wanted but... i also wanna win the lottery tommorow.
Give yao a break guys phuullllzzzzzzzzzzz. I mean he did his best. Shaq scoring only seven points was not a coincidence or becoz he was in foul trouble. Heck, if its the mavs or the kings, he would stil gonna score at least twenty points. Thats the testament of how yao affect shaq and made him work in offense and defense. I mean he had already outscored shaq in the series. Just wait for games 3 and 4. If yao doesnt pick up his game, then im going to join the trade yao ming becoz hes no good bandwagon.
Even basketball is the team game, the star players get their shares of the blame when they lost, it happen to all the great ones. Great players just need to go through this whole media/fan bashing to reach elite status. It is part of mental growing process. Yao need to realize we need him play well to help his team win, outplay Shaq or not. Since last month he is having some really bad habit: when he cannot find his shot, his overall aggressiveness and play are way down. He need to realize if he is not playing well in the offense end, he can still help his team to play more aggressive defense, doing little things. Great ones finds way to contribute. I am very disppointed of his play in the second half of game 2. He disappeared when we really need him to step up most. But it just 2 games, so I can wait and see how he responds in game 3 and 4. If he continue to show his lifeless play on the court in the whole series, then we are in trouble. Remeber, this is a player that we are going to build around, a couple of good quarters is not going to get it done. I hope it starts Friday.
Yao did get the ball in the second half at crunch time. There were some errors made, so the plays aren't so memorable, but he did have the ball. These are just a few examples. 1. Mo Taylor threw the ball to Ming who was wide open. Ming bobbled it, and the shot clock went off. Immediately after that Yao dunked it, but it was too late. Had the catch been made it would have been two points. 2. Yao Ming gets the ball in the middle under the basket. He brings the ball down in preparation to go up for the shot, and Karl Malone swats it out of his hand. 3. Yao Ming gets the ball and misses a jumper. I'm not trying to blame Ming. You will see in my earlier post in this thread that I'm defending him. I only bring these examples out to counter the lunacy you posted.
I think that he has been playing great D on Shaq in the last two games. He D on Shaq in game 2 was phenomenal and was the major reason that Shaq only got 7 points in the game.
You are talking like an idiot! If you want to bash Yao for his performance, that's ok. But you just can't dismiss all his contribution! Just can't imagine players will be loyal to fans like you.
I want seem more Yao bashing from media. Yao needs to be like a man to prove them wrong, he put too little pressure on himself.
This is starting to get silly. If you think Yao held Shaq to 7 points you're off your rocker. Team defense holds Shaq to that. Fouls held Shaq to that. Yao doesn't even defend Shaq full-time. Do you honestly think Yao by himself can hold Shaq? You're out of your mind. No one in this league can do that - even a Shaq that is probably 75% the player he used to be. Also, the 2nd year Shaq was putting up close to 30 pts per game on Hakeem from what I can recall. Neither of them could really stop the other. Shaq rarely disappeared in games. Shaq was FAR more dominant a force back then than he is now. This Shaq is on the downside of his career. Check your facts before you blindly make defensive assumptions. The fact of the matter remains that Yao does disappear. He is not yet the force he can be. He is no 2nd year Duncan. He is no 2nd year Shaq. He is no 2nd year Hakeem. Those guys were forces in their 2nd year.
Yao disappears only for the most obvious reason. He DOESN'T have a second chance. Current rocket team offence has got too many so called weapons. SF, Cat, JJ or MT are just awaiting to play their style of basketball. JVG can only force the team to feed inside the ball for so long. It changes completely once Yao does a couple of misshut/ turnovers. If the team continued playing a inside-out offence, Yao would have been coming out strong in the second half. A good example was the beginning of the game when Yao was blocked twice, but contined to receive passes inside, ended up with a strong first half. Yao did not disappear. It is the Rox's pounding the inside game plan changed after Shaq got his 4th faul.
