ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 11/22/2005

I love how people around here are finally coming around to realizing Yao's limitations and are surprised and getting angry about it

It's simple physics. He's 7'6" and SLOW. He has a VERY high center of gravity, meaning he'll never have great balance or effectively box his man out. As a result, he's never going to get that many rebounds. Stop expecting him to do so. Frankly, I never expect him to grab more than 7-8 rebounds a game.

He's also just in the middle of a shooting slump at the moment. With defenses concentrating solely on him, he crumples very easily.

Yao is what he is. Stop expecting another Hakeem or another Shaq. He'll most likely will never be anything more than a below-average rebounding, above-average offensive center with decent defensive presence due to his sheer size. If he becomes more than that...then that's great, but I never understood the whole "he still has plenty of potential" argument. His game has only shown incremental improvements the past three years. I believe that if he were truly meant to be great, there would be a clear indication of that by now.

Some of y'all definitely had absolutely ridiculous expectations.

 

Do what I did...I got home watched the end and then went straight to my DVR and erased it without watching it. Unless you want to watch the rokkie of the year (HEAD ) go off...ERASE IT NOW...While your bllod pressure is okay...

 

Yep and you gotta love his fearless drives to the whole and finishing with a Layup...................THAT GOES IN!!!!

 

Oh, man. I like that. That made me laugh way more than it should have.

 

can't get into a rhythm when you're dead tired.... yao freaking sucks, but JVG at the same time is not utilizing him or the team well....
yao sucks , but by the end of the year with tmac and head stepping it up, he will be a good complementary player..... i'm still soo freaking pissed...

 

Pops would quit if Duncan was traded for Yao, and the fans would riot.

I think at least in the case of Minny, they're not used to lots of press coverage and hype, and they could certainly use the type of cash Yao would bring to the team.

 

He's afraid of hurting his opponent, I believe.

 

Well I guess the fact that he has skills like a small forward spawned all the "potential talks" and that is not farfetched. His limitations are his stamina PERIOD and that is and will be his Downfall.


I hate to admit it but a player with the coordination and skills at that size will never EVER come again. This is why he is special.

However, it's equally disappointing that that "magical potential" will never be met because of his stamina which hurts his play late in the game exponentially.

 

No, I am not talking about minutes. Yao has to cover a lot on the defensive end.
Chasing the guard on the parimeter and usually opposing team will set p&t to waste his stamina. This team's defense is based on Yao which can be seen from the past several games (the time yao rest is the time opposing team outscored us most). I do not think he is able to be hero both defensive and offensive so he sucks on both and lose sevral really important rebounds. If you played basketball, you could easily tell that the last sevral key possesions
(losing rebouds and missed layup) is mainly because he lost his stamina. Just like Tracy said before the season starts, Yao can only be great on one end, either defensive or offensive. But fortunately, when Tracy is back, he will carry us on the offensive end and this will cover most of Yao's problem.

 

Yep and you're PISSED because deep down, like he rest of us, you just still have some faith in YAO and expect to see that mold into reality one of these games.

Otherwise you wouldn't give a Dang'ol. I'm pissed as well.

 

As great as Luther played, when he is your leading scorer and rebounder you are never going to win. Someone else simply has to step up, especially on the boards, and nobody did. Luther did have a few issues on the defensive end tonight...but let's spare him for his great performance otherwise.

I'll skip the knee-jerk "Yao is not a star and should be traded" bull****. The fact of the matter is Yao is inconsistent. But when he is on, he is at least the 2nd most dominating player in the game (soon to be first). He's also got to somehow get a little respect from the refs, and make sure to not commit silly fouls...a combination of both of those will keep him in games when it counts and hopefully keep him in rythm.

I really hope for Stromile's sake that he starts catching on mentally...otherwise he's going to be traded or riding the bench by the end of the season. I just shook my head when he took that 3-pointer from the corner...the same when he did a series of head fakes before taking a fall away 20 footer, and before that taking an uncontested but out of range 22 footer. The only thing that can explain it is stupidity. Sure, he's going to give you a few highlights...but fundamentals come first. He's got to come up with more than 2 rebounds...and stop committing stupid fouls by jumping into players and wiping them out every time he tries to block a shot (which doesn't do any good anyway because he usually swats it out of bounds). I was pretty pleased for the price we signed him to...but right now he's playing like a 2nd round project.

Mcgrady getting back is going to solve a lot of problems...but it looks like we are still going to have a weakness at PF for a while.

 

but come on... if yao would just use his ****** to boxout better, he could/should have 10 rebouds a game, but the guy can't boxout, which is a fundamental big man skill... and yao is supposed to be a "skilled" big man ....

 

Yao played poorly in the 4th quater. I watched the game on CCTV5. I agreed with the commentator: Yao was very tired toward the end of the game. That's why he couldn't get the rebounds. Stamina is still his weakness. When he's tired his efficiency dropped dramatically. The last few missed shots were largely due to fatigue (his move looked rigid), those were the high percentage shots when he has energy.

I think we have to accept that the way Yao is used on the court, he cannot play 10 minute straight, every 7 minute or so he need rest. And the commentator kept saying go to Yao when he is not tired, not when he is exhausted. I know a max player is supposed to contribute more than other players. But I think we just have to deal with Yao's limit.

On the positive side: Luther Head played extremly well. Rockets' shooting is much better and I heard (didn't watch from the beginning) they played very well in the 1st quater. I think the trend is good.

I think I will only watch the last few minutes of Rockets' game. Watching them leading at the beginning and collapsing in the end is too painful. Got to take care of my own business first.

 

Anyone would take Yao because he draws regardless if he sucks...He will still get the most votes for the all-star game. I am not trying to be racist but he does pull the Asian fans reall well.. Are there Asians in Minn..?

 

why does Yao's stamina suck so bad? Does he eat too much chinese buffet?

 

First off, provided anderson, wes, and alston come to form later this season, we'll have a nice looking team night in and night out.


Now, why can't Yao just stay home on defense? Would that really deviate that much from JVG's "scheme" that it would render it ineffective?

 

Let you carry 100lbs more and run the court for 40mins, you will get your answer.

 

knock it off

 

YAO Ming, I have one more game for you, if you can not carry the team to get a win tomorrow, I will give my all-star vote to CAMBY,

 

LOL Dang'ol Passionate man.......using words like "fat-a$$"

Yao needs to stop setting all those picks and stop chasing guards on D so that he can save his energy.