Amare scored exactly ONE point while guarded by Yao!

because i cant believe that 2 coaches and multiple teammates in 3 years dont get him the ball. i believe it has to be more than just not wanting him to shoot. there is a reason that he doesnt get the ball. if duncan, garnett and shaq had problems thoughout their career of impacting the game because they werent given a chance, then i would raise an eyebrow. but what i see is a yao who plays like he has no confidence and doesnt have the passion to play the way he was built. he doesnt lead because he wants to, he expects everyone to shove him out in front. there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path, and that is why he doenst get tons of shots.

 

exactly. if he isnt getting the ball, then he should demand it. and if they still ignore him, then i dont know what he is waiting for to lay some knuckles down on a few teammates.

remember when yao CALLED for the ball against shaq a year ago?? why dont we see that every game?? that is the reason we see yao being a contributer instead of a leader. i just dont understand it.

 

LOL. Yao did not make an impact by taking the opposing team's best scorer totally out of the game by guarding him straight up, who was regarded by some as a much better player than Yao.

 

So you are asking Yao to KO TMac, Sura, and Wesley after tonight's game after these 3 refused to give yao the ball when he was demanding it ferociously?

 

and how do u suggest we try and resolve this situation?

granted, yao needs to do his part and play with more assertiveness and consistency. however the greater problem i see is that our guards are discourage and often not keen to feed him the ball. due to their confidence (there lack of) in yao handling the ball, and perhaps, to a greater extent, their inability to make a good, simple pass.

 

The point is that he WASN'T demanding it furiously. I'm not sure Yao is completely over the flu and this was a BAD game for a guy who was lacking wind.

Yao does poorly against agressive, athletic teams because he lacks agressiveness and athleticism. He is not particularly quick and not strong enough to hold the ball when it gets slapped. That makes him vulnerable to very quick double teams with players that are smaller but athletic.

 

Actually, it has more to do with Yao's inability to seal off his defender and make it a clear entry pass into the post. The league's great centers - Shaq, Hakeem, Jabbar, etc. - all had the ability to seal off defenders and keep them off long enough to get the ball. Once they did, the other team was forced to either double or not.

With the defensive rule changes, Yao gets fronted by one guy and has another defender directly behind him. It is impossible to get a clear path to pass him the ball, particularly with his unsure handling of the ball. You have to punish teams for playing that kind of defense by reversing the ball and hitting outside shots, which this team does only inconsistently.

The whole "it's the guard's fault" excuse or "it's the system" is just covering for the fact that Yao struggles in the post against quick, athletic players AND the fact that defensive rules have changed in favor of smaller, quicker players.

 

Yao came to play in the 2nd half. He was outplayed and outhustled by a 90 year old man in the first half.

I wish people would stop comparing Yao with Amare - Amare is a genetic freak of a power forward who can guard many C's.

Maybe Yao is still suffering from the after-effects of the flu, but he needs to have the killer instinct throughout a game - not just after he's been dunked on or after JVG jumps on his case.

 

depends on how literal you take words like "never" and "none". did he impact the game any more than


thats the difference. you rarely take a guy like amare out of the game. you may limit his numbers, but you dont take him out of the game. "you cant stop him, but you hope to contain him". that is where you have to look past the numbers. did amares mere presence help the suns?? i would say that the amout of open 3s speaks for that. according to others on this board, amare went 0-4 against yao. thats good n all, but i would say yaos impact was told by where he was in crunch time before it was over. it may not be the popular answer, but it was the answer.

 

to that extent, not really. it was a figure of speech.

should yao demand the ball... what do you think??

 

its all up to yao. you dont think jeff van gundy would give the rest of his hair to have yao exchange personalities with shaq?? i think the rest of houston would give their left nut to have yao play like that every night. and this isnt something that is so much to ask. its not impossible. it is just all up to yao. and his legacy is dependant on it. will he become a decent nba player, or will he become a legend??

 

yao is a genetic freak of nature too?? 7'6 with skill?? his problem is not physical and athletical. his WHOLE problem lies between his ears.

 

i agree. that fu manchu stache has GOT to go

 

Dude- how many open 3's did our guys get due to the Suns double teaming Yao all night (Phoenix had 34 attempts vs our 28 but they hit almost half)? T-Mac, Barry, Wesley, Barrett and Sura were all getting good looks but just weren't hitting as many as the Sun's. You can't fault Yao for that.

Where you can look past the numbers is how much of a mismatch Yao caused Phoenix... to the point that they had to bench Amare halfway through the first quarter and bring in Hunter to play. And for everyone who says that Deke was outplaying Yao, how many double teams was he drawing? Not too many.

 

When they're talking about outplaying, they aren't just talking about scoring.

When Yao hit the floor after that loose ball, wrestled it away and made a nice quick pass to keep play going...that's the kind of focus and determination that, if he had it consistently, would make Yao a monster in this league.

But he has not shown that. And in the limited minutes he was there, you coudl see that Mutombo still has that fire. The hustle, toughness, determination...that is how he was outplaying Yao in the first half.

Throw down the ball...look for the rebound.....pursue, be aggressive....it's all mental. If Yao had that mindset, he would be absolutely unstoppable.

And that's why it's so frustrating.

 

i would rather he did not.
a 7"6 frame constantly crashing to the floor won't result in much career longevity.

 

Please tell me that 'crashing to the floor' isn't the main point you got from what I was trying to relate.

Because yes, constantly hitting the floor wouldn't help Yao. I would imagine that goes without saying...

 

You are ALL missing the point. Yao is a great force that demands double teams and is a problem for opponents in the paint.

It's unfortunate that our outside guys were not hitting open shots. The Suns made 50% from the 3. GAME OVER.

Yao crashed the offensive board multiple times and was making it hard for Amare while he was in the game.

Houston will need still better shooter because, And here's the secret to the Suns success. This is now a shooter's league. speed and accurate over size and height. What good is height and size if they can shoot at 50% rate from 3 point range. That translate to 75% shooting if it was a 2 point shot. That, and the speed the Suns have, is what makes them the hottest thing in the league right now.

Didn't help our other superstar was stuggling to make his shots. What was TMac's numbers???

 

Gee. I am not sure whether you were watching the game last night. Yao was guarding Amare straight up (which means no double team) and limited him to 4 points in 27 min of play. If that was not taking Amare totally out of the game, I don't know what is, especially if 1-8 from the floor and 5TO does not make it.

It's not Yao's fault when JVG or the clueless guards decide to double down on someone else leaving a Suns shooter open.

Amare was able to kill Mo/Deke while Yao was in JVG's doghouse. But that was another issue.

 

He should and he did to a certain degree. It is not Yao's fault that they refused to give him the ball after he demanded it strongly.

Someone ought to make a high reel film showing how the players ignored Yao when he was demaning the ball in the Suns game. Please make sure to at least include two sequences:

1) In the second quarter, Yao sealed his man under the basket on the strong side and waved his hands. Wesley looked at Yao, hesitated, launched a 3 that got blocked by Hunter.
2) In the middle of the 4th, Yao sealed Amare 3 feet from the basket and waved both hands to TMac for like 2 seconds. TMac looked at Yao, launching a contested 3 that bricked.