i hope they get yao involved early and often. keep feeding him the ball in the first quarter so he can get into some kind of rhythm before he gets into foul trouble (you know its going to happen again).
this is as stupid as it gets, i am not sure who is officiating the game tonight but i am pretty sure officials watch game footage of the previous game to see where their colleagues made mistakes and review their colleagues notes on the game (officials do this for playoff games saw it on abc last year) and they'll realize the large discrepancy in fouls and free throw shooting and then hearing the mavericks coach say they were swallowing the whistle? i mean refs have egos, and they stand up for their own kind I am going to bet tonights game there will be more balanced calls and not a 10+ let alone 20+ ft difference between the teams. as for the topic yao needs to play big tonight at least 18 points, he needs to get to the line for at least 8 ft attempts, if he can get a combination of like 10 fga and 10 fta it will help the rockets tremendously in winning tonights game
How exaclty is Yao suppossed to respond? He coudl have shot a little better, but 11 and 8 is pretty decent in 20 minutes of play, with no rythm whatsoever. Yes, he had some stupid fouls, but he also gets called for the most ticky-tack crap. Yao had about 3-4 minutes each time in the game to be aggressive and try to do something positive before he would be called for another foul...it was a given...50% chance he was actually going to foul, 50% chance they call something stupid. Given that, I think he played decent. WIth some rythm, and even a small 30 minutes in Game 1, Yao would have had a more than decent 16+ points, 12+ rebounds type performance. Which is what makes the foul problem all the more troublesome. He was having a very good rebounding game, a decent offensive game, and was a presence in the middle defensively.
That was really frustrating to watch. I'm not trying to bash anyone, but Sura really needs to start passing to Yao earlier in the post. TMac, Wesley, Barry, and James all do a great job in getting the ball to Yao early in the play. I was yelling at the TV for Sura to pass to Yao, but he waited too long and just ended up passing back out. Like I said, I'm not trying to bash Sura, but we need to get Yao the ball no matter what. Even if he is 8ft away from the basket, the entire defense has to react when he gets the ball.
After watching game 1 and read some comments about Yao's play, I realize what makes the difference between a poor game or satisfactory performance (i.e. 18 pts) from Yao is SHEER. Just to avoid two silly fouls! Calm down, man. Rockets need you to play smart. KH
if we go up 2-0, I htnk the Mavs will tie the series on our home court. Why? Cuz thats the kind of team we been all season long
Right on. It's not like that Yao didnt' play hard and didnt' make efforts. He did. Now, the question is Yao gotta be more focused and he has to play smarter to stay out of foul trouble in game 2. Of course, he needs all the help he can get from refs. But, I truly think this series is all about T-Mac. If he's rolling, nothing else matters.
You would think... but I wouldn't put money on it. We've seen years of HORRIBLE play calling whenever the Lakers are involved. I can't explain it, but the NBA has the poorest and most inconsistent officiating of any major sports league. It is hard to believe that there is much "quality control" going on in the upper ranks.
Yao seemed pretty incensed and definitely animated during game one. Hopefully that will light a fire on him, we need him to be aggressive and put the ball in the hole. Someone needs to tell him not to be discoutraged if he misses three shots in a row, that he needs to keep shooting. Go Yao, Go rockets! Stuart
Is it just me or sometimes it seemed that Yao is most unfairly refereed player in the whole NBA? If I were Yao, I would choke the life out of the officials at some of the most horrendous calls against him over the season.
I sure am glad that I am of the opinion that we can win this series without Yao. It saves me alot of frustration and keeps my blood pressure down. What else is new? The Chronicle will run some quotes from him about how he feels he needs to be agressive. He'll get 20 and 10. Go out the night after and absolutely get his lunch money stolen from the likes of Zaza freaking Pecculia. Be humiliated by Nenad Kristic. More quotes. Rinse and repeat. At this point, I can't trust Yao to contribute and I'm not going to lose hair over it. I'm willing to accept that whatever he gives us is a bonus.
What i like to see is the Yao carried Chinese Team on his back in Olympic games last year. I think he will be back with more fire and energy. He is very smart player and will adjust his game to be effective. He will at least step up to help Rockets win two games of this best of seven series. And one more from TMac, we are in round 2.
That is kind of sad, but likely the sentiment of many Rocket's fans. You can't really count on Ming. He may show up, he may take vacation leave. His "need to" comments are wearing very thin, since they are usually about the same thing. What you are saying is, if you don't expect anything, you won't be disappointed. Well, I may be setting myself up, but, I expect Ming to come out tonight and "play like a man!" And if he doesn't, I will loose hair. And I don't have many to spare! Come on Yao, show us some heart!
That 11 and 8 in 20 minutes looked good when the Rockets won, but I bet it wouldn't look good if they had lost. Your post above would be written in a different tone.
