Lately Yao finishes plays. His jumper is back. He goes for the rebound better. He does not turnover much. All of these are tied to the fact that he has more energy than before, I believe. Take the Chicago game for example, Yao did not get a huge amount of touches and that might be best for him. I think if he gets the ball all the time, he would not have the strength to finish everytime. Quality over quantity, you might say. He posts only every other time down the court and if you are paying attention, he is doing something very smart to save himself. He walks to the post facing the defender and not turn his back real early so the defender can have something to push against. Only if he can get real low and it's favorable to post, then he turns around and looks for the ball. Other times, he simply faces up the opponent, waiting for the right moment to do something. Once he gets the ball in the low post, he looks for the double team better so he does not get blind sided and stripped of the ball as before. It also helps that his teammate are spreading the floor better now and not allow the double team to come so easily. Yao still sets picks but JH is sharing that job too so Yao is fresher. All those little things point to an improved Yao and an improved team overall.
Yao's playing better for sure, but don't jinx him! I'd hate for Yao to go into another slump and don't forget, Yao has a history of playing worse at the end of the season.
I hope he keeps it up....every year it seems he has to find his way. Let's hope he has finally found it for good this time. DD
He was never a bad player to being with, didn't need to turn this corner all he needed was to be comfortable with this new team. Took him some time and a couple of adjustments by Van Gundy but it was all worth it. Now we see the Yao that he wants to be, not the punisher of the paint he was trying to be, but the smooth operator we saw last night. Like you said the spacing is improved, also the passers on his team are better than any team he's been on, all leading to, IMO, the best basketball of his career. Another thing, I think his minutes being low in some games and McGrady taking most of the load is a blessing, right now the Rockets are good enough to win consistently without much from him. Come playoff time that won't be the case but this year he won't be nearly as worn out as he was last season.
I think Ming feels comfortable in a "team" game, where the focus is not on him or any "superstar." The excellent ball movement and player motion really seems to suit him. The open outside shots are falling, and the whole burden of the offense is not on him. He likes being a cog in a machine. Instead of forcing the game inside, the Rockets are hitting "targets of opportunity." The Rockets are playing excellent team basketball at present and Ming is prospering.
My thinking leans to the ball movement with this new surrounding cast the last 15-20 games. I think the ideal situation has Yao playing his best when the team is playing team ball, where half his points come on ball movement and half on post-ups. As Yao convinces other players to believe in his ability (which is up to Yao), I think only then will we see the statistics (24pts, 11rebs, 2blks) that we have come to expect from him. The more this team plays together, the better they (and Yao) will get. Stuart
I haven't been paying attention to all the threads (I know - I'm a loser moderator), but has anyone mentioned the fact at how quickly Yao has been taking shots? He just gets the ball and goes up with it before double teams can hit him and before the defender can jump up and attempt to block his 2 inch vertical. His baseline turnarounds are almost one motion now. Not much in the way of needless pumpfakes and needless dribbles. He just goes up with it for the most part.
Yes he seems much more decisive when he gets the ball now. Hope he keeps it up, because he is so tall no one can block his shot.
I'll tell you when we'll know Yao has turned the corner. It will be when he starts a game 1 for 9 from the field and finishes with 25 points. Last night he was hot, but you can't expect him to stay that hot over a a longer stretch of games. No player is able to do that. What makes a player truly great is to get his points when he's cold. With Dream, MJ, KG, Duncan you just knew that they'll get their 20 regardless of how they start the game. I am getting the same feel for T-Mac. Yao is not there yet...
What's really helped out Yao's game is the ball movement and the ability of our role players to knock down the open 3 ptr's. This is giving Yao the spacing he needs to be effective in the low post. I don't know if Yao turned the corner, but this team definatly has.
If Yao goes 1-9 with this squad, he will never get any touches. Yao knows it, JVG knows it, and his teammates know it. Last year, in a couple of games against Shaq, he began the game ice cold from the field, and it did not prevent SF3 and JJ giving him the ball in the second half. The results? Outplaying Shaq on a consistent basis. I am not saying it right or wrong. It's just my observation that he won't get the touches if he starts the game feeling cold.
I disagree. Last year, that's not true. Or, I believe he'll get the same touches this year during a slow game as he did last year. Unless TMac is going off and can handle it. Which is the same as if SF3 was going off.
In the second game against the LAL last year, he began with sth like 3-12 from the field in the first half. SF3, JJ, and Mo kept feeding him and he went like 8-8 from the field during a stretch and evetually fouled out Shaq. This year I've yet to see one game that his teammates have enough confidence in him by going to him like that in the second half.
He has done this before, if he can still play like this in April and May - that's when we'll know if he's turned the corner.
I'm not sure about the statistical difference, but it does seem as if his rebounding has improved, maybe I'm wrong on this. I like the way he uses his height and tips the ball in the air.
Yes, I remember that game. I thought at the time that he had turned the corner, but it was obviously a head--fake. We need a few more games like this to gain confidence that he's ARRIVED.
You're going to name one example in the 2 years that SF played with Yao and use it? And then take Yao's sub-par (due to elbow, I believe) shooting 1st half of this year until the last month, and say this team doesn't pass it to him? Doesn't account for the 1/4 of the season without Wesley/Sura/Barry, doesn't account for the rest of the team realizing that Yao's injury had lowered his FG%, doesn't account for the rest of the team realizing that TMac was going off for a pretty long stretch there...and that TMac is just a ridiculous scorer, so he can pick up Yao's slack sometimes.
This is just one extreme example and there is no way or no need to list all the examples in the thread. Even bothered with a bad elbow, Yao was still shooting a very respectable 51+% from the field. If you can that supbar, what do 41-42% shooting mean to you? LOL. Nobody wants to take any shots from TMac. He can take his 25 shots/game even if he is 33% from the field. He earned it. However, what I am saying is that even if you are TMac, let alone you are role players, you need to realize that a simple concept of the game is to milk a hot hand until the opponents prove that they can stop it. To not go to someone who is shooting 60-90% from the floor and stick to your 30 to lower 40s percentage wise from the floor is not smart play even if it's a win. Maybe the team should permit Yao to pick up some slack for TMac when he is obviously far from hot on the floor.
There are scorers and there are good shooters. Scorers win championships. T-Mac wins more games shooting 33% than Ray Allen can win shooting 60%. Don't ask me to explain it. But is seems to hold true.
