The game is virtually over. Trailing by 18 and Yao is too tired to score and rebound now. The engine has stopped.
I just stopped to watched it. What is the point...?! From the very 1st game, its really clear to see and what I expected. CNT is supported by ''ONE MAN'', thats Yao, if Yao's out, CNT's out. Simple as that!!!
Yep, only Yao, Yi, and that dude who rained like three consecutive threes showed a heart (still horrible D by him though). Wang disappearred in the 2nd half. And I really do not understand the coach's decision sometimes. He could have switched to man to man when Italy started hitting their 3s, instead, he waited until China trailed by about 10 points. And at that point of game, China have lost too much confidence, energy, and momentum to catch up. And he should have played Yi more, period. The kid was super effective, grabbing rebounds, getting put-backs, and not taking crap from anybody. He played Yao more than he should have, and Yao was dead tired no-effective in the 4th Q. China had a really good shot of winning this game. The coach ruined it. What a friggin idiot.
There is no way a half recovered Yao can beat a team on his own. Maybe he can when he is fully recovered though
Yao doesn't seem to able to play more tham 25 minutes at the moment. He get exhausted fast. A half filled tank, running on diesel can never beat another team without support. Damn, I don't even know what I am talking about.
The reporter said the US team did come to watch the game but left at beginning of 4Q... I think it means sth...
China lost a winnable game today. Yao looked like Shaq for a while there when he was dunking everything, but he wore down. 30 points 9 rebounds for him. I think a lot of their problems stemmed from poor perimeter defense (damn, those threes were so open I could have hit them) and some weird coaching moves: 1.) Why did Jonas leave Yao in the game at the beginning of 2Q and 4Q? During both of these quarters Yao played horribly and clearly showed fatigue, then he got taken out, which is not a good thing. You want your players to play at peak effectiveness. Yao is still not fully recovered, he can't handle playing 40 minutes a game. Jonas should have done what the Rockets do (either take Yao out late in 1Q or sit Yao at start of 2Q). 2.) Why did the Chinese persist with zone when the Italians started getting open looks and hitting them? 3.) Why did Yi Jianlian get such uneven minutes when he was effective, and Wang Zhizhi wasn't? 4.) Why dd it take so long for Du Feng to get into the game when it was obvious from the first 5 minutes that his perimeter shooting was desperately needed? He was the guy that hit 3 3's in an attempt to keep China in the game. I'm leaving out even more obvious things (poor execution out of timeouts, inability to beat the zone, etc.) If this stuff persists, I think the CNT will need a new coach.
couldn't have said better myself. onus purposely lost this game. even yao said to the chinese coach(the one with the cap) duing the last timeout that yi jian lian should have stay on the court more due to his superb defence!
Thanks for the recap! Sounds like Yao played well but still hasnt gotten his legs underneath him as of yet. Not surprising. It will come eventually. The coaching moves you mentioned below do sound dubious. Maybe they need Del Harris to come back.
