Yes, I think Yao is much better this season. At least when he is fresh and when guards want to pass him the ball in first 3 quarter, he could get good shots. Bad shooting nights happen, but his improvement is obvious.
I understand the team concept. However, I expect more from Yao than just putting up big numbers. If Yao's team can't beat Hornets and Magic, what exactly does he do better than SAR with the Hawks and Elton Brand with the Clippers? They averaged big numbers too. I know we need TMac, but that's what saddens me. Yao's #1 pick with extraordinary skills, he needs to reach for Duncan/Shaq's domination and ability to carry a team to victory. He's a very good player, but he needs to become great. We shouldn't need TMac to beat the Hornets and Magic. We shouldn't need TMac to manufacture the only win of the season. We shouldn't need TMac to reach the playoffs. TMac should be what puts us over the top and becomes a championship contender, not a key to become a playoff contender.
I certainly agree that we shouldn't need T-Mac to beat the Hornets and Magic. But did you notice that Yao got 20 points in the first half, and only 4 points in the rest of the game? at halftime, the Heat learned the same thing that the Hornets did: clog the lane, front Yao, and double-team Yao, leaving the perimeter open. That's exactly what they did, and it worked. Right now (with T-Mac out) other teams have learned that if you shut down Yao, you'll beat the Rockets. And until our guards get their shots to fall (and they will) this will continue to be the case. But, ya wanna know what's really exciting.... ... ... and this really is fantastic... ... imagine what Yao could be doing right now if our guards were sinking their shots and forcing the defense to spread!
OKOK, I will try to get excited... Nah, after 3 losses against Hornet/Magic/Shaqless Heat, it's hard to get excited about anything. The rest of the team seriously needs to step up. If Anderson can't shoot, he needs to go. If Wesley can't shoot, he needs to retire. If Head can't shoot, he needs to learn. If Barry can't shoot, he needs to color-commentate. If Alston can't shoot, he needs to And1...
LOL! Well, at least you tried! It'll get better, man. I promise. I know it's so damn aggravating because we've all been chomping at the bit all summer long for the season to start. We're sputtering out of the gate, but this is a marathon not a sprint. Hang in in there.
I seriously doubt TD with Anderson, Wesley and Alston can beat Hornets/Magic, esp. when the other three plays like this.
You never relie your team on one player or even two, I even doubt our first win without barry's 24. TD and Sharq can do nothing except big number if all the rest suck. there's nothing wrong with SAR and Brand, same as Tmac when his Magic won only 21 whole season in 2003-2004.
Last night Yao scored 14 points and grabbed 8 baords in the first half. In the second half, he scored 10 points, grabbed 6 boards and dished out 3 assists. Your data is just plain wrong. It was true that the Heat clogged the lane and dared the Rockets guards to shoot straight in the 4th, and we lost.
Stan did a great job last night, he let Yao score pretty much at will in the first half, then told him team that if they stop Yao they win, no one else on the rockets was able to step up and hit the shots to keep the rockets ahead. Yao did his job 24/14/3 is a great night for him, but if the rest of the team was hitting their shots he would prolly have looked more like 20/10/8 and we would have gotten the win. I think a little better defense on JWill would have helped when he got hot, or a timeout to try to cool him down but that didnt happen.
How many points did yao score in the 4th quarter? He only hit one fieldgoal. It may be our gaurds fault, and yao had a great game through 3 quarters, but he disapeared in the 4th, and that isnt anything new. This isnt a one time thing, this happens even with tmac around and the rest of the team doing well. 3.9 points in 4th quarters in losses. With his importance, its unacceptable to lack that much clutch.
Sorry for my ignorance but how did Yao disappear in the clutch? He averaged 18.3 points last year which was 4.575 per quarter. So 4.7 pt per 4th qtr was actually a little better than his average. And 3.9 in losses, do u have Yao's average pt per game in losses? I guess it's probably lower than 18.3? So how did he disappear in the clutch? And u forgot JVG stressed last year Yao shot the best FG% in the 4th qtr and asked the team to look for him more in clutch time? If u want to blame Yao I think u better blame him disappearing in the GAME or SEASON instead of the clutch time, at least that's the case in last season.
Actually, Shaq has won several important games down the stretch, particularly during the 3 championships in LALALand. And asking how many games Hakeem won going down the stretch shows me that you are a very new fan. Hakeem was a MONSTER down the stretch (tip-in in Finals game 1, 1995 comes to mind) throughout his career, and especially from 1993-95.
I agree the guards seemed unable to find Yao in the 4th, I don't lay any of blame on Yao. He did everything we've always been asking of him last nite, at least IMHO
We improved our team immensely in the offseason pretty much everywhere but our backup 3. When your allstar starting 3 goes down and you replace him with a defensive specialist who is a #12 guy on any team in the NBA, then your production plummets. And vs last year's winning team, Sura is healing, Wesley has disappeared and James is gone. Their replacements are all at various levels of learning the system. Tmac comes back, add 10 points to our offense, and improve our defense. W's start coming. Then wait for Christmas, for Stro, Rafer, DA and Head to start playing like a team. And hope Sura comes back and can start giving us 10 minutes a game.
Don't forget also that this team was built around T-mac not Yao. Even Shaq can't win when alston, DA, and wesley can't fill up the basket.
Yao has been great so far this season. He HAS stepped up!!!!!!!! Neither T-Mac nor Yao can do it alone!!!!!!!!! Our guards suck. The only thing I blame Yao for is he doesn't yell at guards for not giving him the ball.
Actually, this just proves my point. I was at Game 6 & 7 of the Knicks Finals so I've been following for a while. How did Hakeem get the tip-in? Off a Clyde drive where he beat his man and attracted 2 other defenders, including Hakeem's, leaving the lane free for a tip-in. How did Shaq win games down the stretch? By playing with Kobe, who was constantly handling the ball, usually drawing a lot of attention, and then throwing to Shaq for an alley-oop or easy positioned shot. The fact remains, big man by default don't have the ball in their hands a majority of the time, but especially in the final 2 minutes of a game. Not that Yao can't be more clutch this year, but I think others have properly identified the problem(s), and it doesn't seem to be Yao...imo.
Dog Yao all you want, he did his job. It was a team loss. If you wanna lay blame somewhere, it really should be on the ineffective shooting outside. They hit those shots you get: - more assists - more respect for perimeter game - more spacing down low - more domination from Yao down low later in the game - more wins - less finger pointing at those that produce It's like Yao gets bashed for actually playing better than ever, but we lose...if T-Mac gets his, and the team loses, it's everyone else's fault b/c T-Mac can only do so much. Yao Hating at it's finest.
exactly, the point being to be dominating, you do need that other threat to take SOME heat off of you. Ask T-Mac about his last season in Orlando.
