What are the chances the Rox will ever trust Yao to get the inbounds pass when we know teams need to foul. It usually ends up in Tmac or Rafer's hands and neither one is real steady from the line. I am not just talking about last nights game versus the Pistons. There have been several games where they go either 0-2 or 1-2 from the line in late game pressure spots. Obviously Yao is our top free throw shooter, but never gets the ball in these situations. Of course that is cuz he is more prone to turnovers and it would be more risky to have it in his hands. You would think there should be a way to get him the ball and have him fouled instead. Anyone think come playoff time, and we are up by a couple points late in the game, Yao will be the one who the play is designed to get the inbounds pass, and if so anyone have ideas on how to make it happen?
Wouldn't you be concerned that Yao would lose the ball? A turnover is MUCH worse than a missed free throw IMO.
I don't trust Yao on the in-bounds but your point of getting him the ball in obvious foul situations is very relevant considering late game missed free throws
If in the front court and game time is less than 10 seconds, yes. But in the back court, you will have to a pass the ball to the guard, who can advance to the front court in 10 seconds if there is no full.
why does the 1st person that touches the ball have to be a guard? if anything, having yao is a great option when we're having trouble getting the ball to a guard. especially given how this team can struggle at times inbounding the ball, it would be easy to throw it to yao first, see if he gets fouled; if not, just have someone rub off on him and take the handoff. its not like he has to dribble and set up the offense from the perimeter. i'm pretty sure this would result in a lot less turnovers than our current trend of 'use up 4.9 seconds and throw the ball in, praying it gets to a rocket so we don't get a 5 second violation'.
if a team is trying to foul and we get the ball to Yao, the refs will call a foul..and hopeflly he will not have a turnover...usually a ref blows the whistle befoer a foul even occurs becausae they know the defensive teams intentions so I think getting Yao the ball is a good idea...
McGrady usually doesn't choke on free throws late in a close game. That was an aberration for him, and clearly he wasn't happy about it. I'm more comfortable with him at the line late in games than Rafer or Luther.
Sorry but giving Yao the ball deep in the backcourt would be a huge mistake. Teams know he won't put the ball on the floor so they won't guard him. What we can do is bring him up near the midcourt line as a release valve. When throwing it in from our end or from midcourt, there is no reason for Yao not to get the inbounds pass when we are protecting a lead and team want to foul.
I was wondering exactly the same thing. A lot of times it looks like Yao could just turn around and easily receive the in-bound pass but it is the set play that Yao is always busy setting picks without even considering receiving the pass. I am not saying to go to him every time, but why not put in that flexible element as a possibility? We know he is the best ft shooter on the team!
I am not that is only time i trust him at the line is in clutch situations. TMac is exact opposite of Dirk, through the game he just kinda coasts but in crunch time his shots are going in more times than not. Dirk on the other hand, plays well through 3, but come crunch time, you can bet on alot of key missed shots.
yeah if it's a situation where the team might trap for a few seconds before fouling, yao can't get it. but if it's like 6 or 7 seconds left where the other team is just going to foul as fast as possible and not worry about the steal, then yao is the best option, but we never seem to consider him.
In this situation, Yao will likely not be able to get free enough to cleanly receive the pass. It takes quick guys, coming off of picks to get an opening for the pass. If an opposing team is really trying to prevent an inbounds to ANYBODY, Yao is usually not going to be open. Many times, nobody is open, and they have to call a time out again, or risk getting called for 5 seconds and losing the ball. Check out the video of Tmac in the Spurs game, when he had 13 in 35 seconds....there was an inbound play where Tmac had to simply out-jump his defender to get the ball in time. It's tough.
Suppose we do inbound it to Yao, he'd have to dribble to midcourt to beat the backcourt timer or pass it off to someone else. Both are very risky especially since Yao is a HIGH turnover guy. You need your guards with the ball at the end of the game since they can handle the ball and pass well that should be obvious.
I would say pass to Yao when it is rather safe. When Yao stood still and hold the ball towars the sky, I really don't see how anyone can get the ball without a hard foul, and I pretty sure Yao have no problem with free throw, even with his fingers tied up. The rest of team, specially our guards, should at least throw in at 70%. Mavs is the best team at free throw line, 81%. Rockets might be below the average, 75%? That is added up 2 pts difference each game.
Tmac is pretty clutch, so is Yao.. Rafer has shown clutchness sometimes, at least we know Rafer is not choke. Things like this shouldn't matter, all of our main players should be able to exhibit clutch FT shooting, otherwise, we shouldn't even call ourselves contenders.
i think they'll be worried about yao turning the ball over when he has to bring it past the mid court line in 8 seconds.
I am not saying give the ball to Yao and let him dribble up court. I think he should at least be an option to make a catch. He can always look to make the next pass to someone else if he is not fouled right away, but more times then not, in late game situations teams foul the first person they can.
