Alright so I've always been concerned about Yao's inability to stay on the floor due to foul trouble. It's not really just Yao, most centers in the league are prone to racking up fouls early and often. There is a particular type of foul that Yao tends to pick up which i do not understand what he is doing that is illegal. Can someone explain to me how Yao is supposed to defend a player driving to the rim?I mean there are times where he is in position standing completly still with his arms straight up and the offensive player drives right in to him, initiates the contact and they whistle a foul on Yao. I don't understand what the refs expect him to do in that particular situation. I mean do they expect him to move out of the way and let the guy go straight to the basket. I understand its a foul if you're caught out of position and you're a little late coming over. It's also a foul if the defender comes down on the offensive player with his arms....But Yao clearly makes an effort to just stand there with his arms straight up and the foul is still whistled...What does he need to do differently? I'm not complaining about the officiating last night. We obviously got our fair share of calls, but this is just a general question. Does anyone know the proper way for a center to defend a player driving in for a layup?
Hmm...if you have a specific example, and if you're 100% sure Yao is not moving and his arms are straight up in the air, check to see if he is out of the restricted area, like, look at the back of his heel or something. That's my guess. EDIT: That doesn't mean they won't call it, but it might have to do with his positioning. To the aggressor goes the spoils, so if the refs are going to call the game like that, there's nothing he really can do.
He rarely, if ever, jumps and the foul is still whistled...There are atleast 2 or 3 times per game that Yao walks up to the official after a foul and holds his arms straight up showing them what he was doing, and it doesn't seem to sink in....I guess we're just going to have hope that our perimeter defenders can keep guys from getting in to the paint.
ive seen him sometimes just stand there with his hands up and no foul is called, then also seen him jump and a foul is called...but who knows, hes so damn big
It seems Yao has gotten better at it then other seasons. Most of the times he is caught out of position, but refs usually blow the whistle in anticipation so it is better for him to learn to block or change the shot then go straight up. I think B.Wallace and Duncan do a good job, but again the aggressor usually gets the whistle blown.
Yeah, I agree. He's gotten better at avoiding calls, but he could definantly stand to improve on the defensive end. Since his leg injury , teams have been exposing his lack of quickness night in and night out...He seems to be slower to react to plays and he is gettin less blocked shots. Yao is a prescense inside and he really affects the game down low, but he can't allow his man to hit 19 field goals in a game.
from what i understand as long as he goes straight up and down in his space he shouldn't get a foul called on him even if he jumps. bottomline, he's just officiated very poorly, sometimes because he's big, sometimes because the ref is an idiot.
I've asked this question to some refs i know, of course not NBA refs. I can't recall the exact explaination but here is what i think they said: 1. When contact is made, ref should blow the whistle, and determine who initiate the contact, whether the offense run in to defense, or the other way around. 2. ristricted area is a b****. Even if the defense just stand there doing nothing, the ref can not call a charge because the rule doesn't allow him, but since contact is made, he has to call sth, so it's a foul on the defense. because his feet is not physically in the restrctic area, and the offence charged into his legal air space I got confused by the answer, but accepted it as an answer. than i asked what should the defense do to avoid being called a foul, he said if the two party jump together, but the defense just jump straight up, a foul should not be called, i think that's what the NBA refs are trying to tell Yao, and what Yao was trying to explain: "I JUMPED", although his heel might be still touching the ground, but Yao believes that he jumped, but the ref thought he didn't. I heard some broadcaster discussing this as well. please let me know if this is the case
The way I see it is this: According to the rulebook, the restricted area line is for determining block/charge calls. It is not supposed to have bearing on say a player going across the lane for a hook shot or other post up moves or any of that stuff. When I was a kid learning the game they had videos running around about playing defense on a shooter. The idea they portrayed was you could jump, but it had to be straight up, and even have your arms straight up. If the offensive player invaded your "space" there was to be no foul call, or if he invaded it too much, a call made on the offense. If your arm left your space and went into the offensive player's space, this was a foul on you. Your space is what you occupy standing there and going all the way up as high as you can jump(to allow you to jump). What the OP is asking is when Yao is in his space and the offense comes into him why does Yao get called for the foul and how is he supposed to properly defend it. There was a great example last night when Milsap went into Yao on a post maneuver in teh first quarter. Yao was standing in his space, went straight up, and his hands/arms never left the vertical plane of his space. This happened a couple of times in Game 1, and was correctly a no call. The first half in Game 2 it happened on both ends. Yao was called for the foul on defense, while the Jazz player got the no-call when the Rockets were on offense. If I had a nickel for everytime Yao was in his space and jumped straight up with his arms also straight up and got the foul called on him, I'd never have to work again. This call(league-wide) is why JVG and other coaches insist big men are treated and officiated differently and a little unfairly...
You're right. Sometimes I feel like the call is made on Yao simply because he is big. That is very unfair. Another thing I don't understand is how perimeter players will get calls if a player bumps him, but a post player can get pushed up and down the court and not get a whistle. Refs need to learn how to officiate post players better.
Funny thing is, hack a post player, get a foul called 40% of the time. Put two hands on his back while he is just beginning to get set up and get a foul called 90% of the time.
LOL Yep. I rewind certain plays that Yao makes inside and it is just so unbelievable how the refs miss some of the calls when he goes up to the basket. I know its boring to watch a guy shoot 15-20 FTs a game, but the rules are the rules.
there's been instances of yao blatantly hacked directly in front of a ref where there is no possible way he didn't see it. it's not always a case of just missing calls, though i'd love to know their explanation.
His grip has gotten better, but Yao used to get swatted at on the hands by all the little players as they ran thru following their man. Never a hacking call even though Yao would have marks all over the back of his hands. Now the thing is he still gets hacked, he just holds onto the ball better. He has adapted and learned how to prevent it despite the fact that the Refs let the little guys do this whenever.
I agree with BucMan55's interpretation of the rule. Also if the defensive player gets position, his feet are set and outside the restricted zone that is a charge if the offensive player runs into him. What might be happening to Yao is that he is both so long that the refs presume that he is reaching outside his cylinder or they don't believe his feet are set when contact happens.
