Playoff Yao <<<<< regular season Yao? I don't think so. I'm sick of ppl bashing Yao's playoff performance, especially on scoring, and when someone comes out and say Yao was scoring just as many pts in the regular season than in the playoffs then someone else would say "Oh but look at his FG%, he's hurting the team, blah blah blah "!!! Yao's regular season stats vs Yao's playoff 07 stats: 17.1 FGA 8.8 FGM 51.7% vs 17.8 FGA 7.4 FGM 41.6% Yao only attempted 0.7 more shots per game in the playoffs. Yes he made less shots, big drop off in %. But Yao was averaging 25ppg in the regular season, and 24.4ppg in the playoffs so far. So his FG% dropped but his PPG hasn't dropped substantially, and Yao doesn't shoot 3pters, that leaves FT: 7.4 FTM 8.6 FTA 86.2% vs 9.6 FTM 10.6FTA 90.6% See, Yao's been getting to the line more AND making more FTs. Hey it's the playoffs! Utah's been playing tough D on our stars. Tell me haters, how is Yao a "liability" (I swear someone typed that on this very forum) of the team? Is he really getting his "mere 25 pts" at the expense of the team? If he was, then he was in the regular season too, because he averaged ~ the same amount of shots and getting ~ the same amount of points. Oh yeah, while we're at it, let's look at his rebounding too: 2.1 OFF 7.3 DEF 9.4 TOT vs 3.8 OFF 8.2 DEF 12.0 TOT Is it just me or Yao's rebounding more than made up for that 0.6 pts and 0.7 FGA per game? Yao does average more minutes, TOs, less blks and less asts than in his regular season. I'm not saying that Yao stepped up big time in the playoffs, so don't get me wrong.
I think we just expect more out of Yao. He's been pretty consistently "good" this series. We just want him to be great. Plus, this is a VERY physical 80s-90s style basketball so I am sure he'll learn from this. I bet once we get past Utah, we'll see a productive surge in Yao.
He hasn't been as efficient... he's turning the ball over much more than he did down the stretch... and its simply a much bigger GRIND/STRUGGLE for him to get in a rhythm than ever before. That being said, if this series was played 2 years ago, Yao would be scoring about 10 ppg, and be riddled with foul trouble. His increased strength has helped him play more minutes, and he's been able to bulldog himself to drawing fouls. But still... Utah has a great book on Yao... push him out as far as possible, and if he does get position, try like hell to strip the ball from him (even if you make contact... bank on the refs not bailing him out/calling low-post fouls). Last night, once Yao got rolling, the defense had to adjust and send the double right away... and it opened things up tremendously for the shooters. If Yao can get on that type of a roll earlier on, and our shooters are hitting at least half of their WIDE OPEN shots, these games won't be close anymore.
i concur. Retah's defense is just way too physical and the refs have been swallowing their whistles. Though his FTs are up, there should have been more
There's no way Yao is going to chase Okur out to the three point line, Boozer is the one that is under the basket so that's who Yao is going to play. You can argue that offensively over the last three games, Boozer has the upper hand, but domination? No way, he got out rebounded 15 to 8. Its actually been a really good matchup, lets go take care of business in SLC.
Boozer pretty much scored at will over Yao Ming. Yao Ming can't stop him. But Utah doesn't really have anyone who could stop Yao either. It isn't like Yao was shut out. He is far more than a role player and a key to success for our team. Mutumbo was defensive player of the year many times, but even at his peak, if he tried to guard someone smaller and faster, he would be abused. Someone who is quicker and has a good midrange shot as well as finsish at the basket, isn't going to be a good match-up for Yao. It doesn't mean that person is better overall or a better fit for the team.
Well, Boozer is more athletic, shorter and quicker, so this makes sense...If he was playing against a true center, there wouldn't be a thread... Boozer is playing great D and shooting great and is taking advantage of the match-up...Yao could do better, but I'd rather have Yao...
You didn't watch the game if you claimed half of the plays were post up 1 on 1. Read R2K's list for the play by play. Most of the plays were faced up J or drive. I don't know if your stat is accurate, you said Yao failed to stop Boozer 10 straight times? Boozer was 12-23 for the whole game. Do the math, the rest of the times, Boozer was 2-13? That wasn't bad then , was it? You based on this one game to claim Boozer dominated Yao, yet you ignore what Juwan did this game because he played terribly the other 4 games? Hey, where were you when Boozer went 4-17 FG for 11 pts the 1st game? Did you start a thread saying Yao dominated Boozer then? This is why people say you are biased and a hater. If the shoes fit.
No Yao don't need to guard Boozer, if our PF or guard can stop Jazz to penetrate and take control of the paint... JVG wants Yao to defend the Paint, and it would still be that, it's coach's choice, not Yao's If yao is on OKUR, Okur will cry...
No guard or PF is going to be able to stop penetration of the Jazz guards on their own. We need Yao to protect the paint.
I'm sorry you know nothing about basketball or sports if you look back at the stats and are going to tell me that yao is playing as efficient as he was in the regular season..and a 10% drop off in field goal percentage is alarming so dont try to downgrade it like its not a big deal..yea hes getting to the free throw line but when yao makes his shots it does more for the team then shooting free throws at the line because others will get involved... dont get me wrong i'm not bashing yao but his play has been well below average and yao is an above average player..honestly the way yao is playing to me is just scared utah has yao shook..hes playing like a rookie sometimes everything he got so good at he went back to..everytime he catches the ball he brings it down so that utah can swipe at it..hes thinking about every move hes going to do instead just going in the flow of the game on his post up he turns around and puts the ball right in front of the defender..how many times did yao get block this year??i bet it wasnt as much as he has in this series..when a player goes back to his old habits hes either playing scared or the team has him uncomfortable..and i believe hes shook because he can have his was with utah easily!!!
So Yao is doing what is in the best interest of the team by staying in the paint and guarding the lane and getting the rebounds and taking on someone who is 6-8 and much smaller and quicker instead of going to guard the easier Okur and we have all this b!itching and moaning of the people on this board.
Thank you for pointing it out! This is playoff, everyone just expects Yao to produce more. But they just forget how physical the playoff is. Compare to Okur, I think Yao did step up, he just need some time to make the adjustments. I have faith on him.
Blame JVG.... If JVG let Yao on Okur, Yao could ease a bit, since Okur is a pure Jump shooter, and his energy is wear down by Yao that much, don't think that will make Yao's day easy? But is that will win us a game?
I don't worry much about Yao, I really think he's doing a good job based on how long he's been playing since his injury. He's got to get a 15 ft automatic jumper into his arsenal like Hakeem, it's a must for a big guy. He can't keep fighting for position EVERY SINGLE damn time he goes down the court. That's the problem with JVG, he does not realize how much energy it takes out of Yao and how it makes him less effective in later stages of the game.
It's the PLAYOFFS. Look at how tight their D is. I mean if you want a comparison look at OKUR. Look at the huge % he dropped off. Compare that with yao, i'd say yao's decline is nothing more than a mere annoyance.
