Yao got off to a rough start because of the matchups. The refs didn't help either. To his credit, he got no fouls in the 2nd half. In the 3rd quarter, he just needed to relax and hit some of the shots he normally makes. He was fresh in the 4th quarter because he didn't play much in the 1st half. We get another look at the Jazz in late January.
He didn't play like a super star tonight, that is much worse than having a bad game. He was tentative and keeps making same mistakes.
i'm glad Yao redeemed himself a bit in the 4th qtr but let's face it, Yao will always struggle against the Jazz for the duration of his career as long as the core Jazz players stay intact. It's just a bad matchup for Yao. Let's talk about the intangibles of Yao, what does he have? Intimidation? Hell, players look to dunk on Yao because it's a highlight. Yao doesn't exactly strike fear into alot players going into the lane. Sure he had a nice block on Boozer late in the game, but more often then not slashing guards find it easy coming into lane on him. Plays with a chip on shoulder? Nope, when someone shows him up, he doesn't take it as a challenge to his manhood and makes the guy pay. Sure the tangibles are nice, getting 20 and 10 and maybe a couple of blocks. but those are numbers, there are players in the league called stat players who get their numbers but really don't effect the W/L. Not saying Yao is a stat player, cause I know we win with him (sometimes in spite of him haha). But we also won with Deke starting for alot games last year, and he didn't average 20 and 10. Yao even admitted himself that the team seemed to played better with Deke starting when he was injured. So Yao gets 20 point and 10 rebounds. He's been in the league for awhile now, what intangibles can we say he has other then the stats he brings. Cause IMO that's what a franchise player brings to the table, intangibles. THis isn't a Yao hate post but an honest assessment.
Jazz's frontline is just a nightmare matchup for Yao. He can't guard Okur because that means he need go all the way to 3pts line. He can't guard Boozer either because Boozer have that mid-ranger jumper and he can drive too. And Jazz figure out Yao's offense move pretty well.
When Rockets coaches run Yao out there on Okur and keep him off Boozer, he will light up a shot chart against Utah like a Christmas tree. Yao will always looke terrible against Boozer when he has to defend him one on one and gets in foul trouble.
there's nothing yao can do about his bad defense because of the matchup. on the offensive end, however, he should dominate. i don't undertand why he kept missing those shots tonight and let okur push him out of his comfort zone. he was posting up okur near the 3pt line on one occasion. then he proceeded to dribble the ball off his feet. that's just ridiculous.
blah, blah, blah. It's one freaking game. Get over it. And, please tell which teams that do not have trouble stopping Deron and Boozer, especially on their pick-n-roll. How about we chalk it up to one of those deals where a team just has a player's mojo. "Dream" had Seattle where they played him a certain way, had the particular players to play the scheme and got away with extra from the refs to slow him down. I think we can just count on the Jazz as that team for Yao. But, you can just about count Yao will not have as bad a game as this the rest of the season. The thread starter mentioned not seeing Yao come up big in the 4th before this season, but Yao played HUGE in the 4th quarter right before he got hurt last season. TMac was out for a few weeks and Yao carried the team in the 4th during the stretch.
I can see your points, especially after a night like tonight. But I think he was bringing the intimidation last year before he got the knee injury. This year the offense has changed, and Yao is not exactly comfortable with his role. I think that once the scheme has sorted itself out, Yao will end up back in the low post (like tonight, except he was completely out of rhythm and couldn't hit his shots), and he'll start dominating again. For all his crappy play at least he got 5 blocks, shut down the middle, and had 7 boards in the second half, and it was clear when Yao was out we had trouble getting rebounds. I'd like to see it start with the Portland game on Saturday.
The big fella was just doing a little check and balance himself! he'll be alright! he'll put up a big show against the Jailblazers this saturday!
actually yao's moves are pretty predictable nowadays. on the left block, usually turn to the middle for the jump hook like 80% of time or baseline jumper/spin. on the right block, baseline jumphook/jumper. he used to have some power moves to the basket and dunk it home, not anymore.
Disagree, Scola and Hayes held their own on the rebounds. It's just that alot of the rebounds were long and the Jazz came up with them.
Fans are always easy to get paranoid when they dont see their star play well. Generally , Yao didnt play well tonight, like getting early fouls and too many turnovers. But he had a solid 4th quarter, shooting 50%, 3 bs and 0 pf. I dont think we need to worry about him much.
he used to do an up and under move, ala Mchale/Dream. what happened to that? when yao is 2-5 feet away from the basket and his man pinned behind him, that's gotta be an automatic 2. Need every gimmie points he can get.
it's not Yao's first off night against Utah. look at the playoff series or his regular season career average vs. Utah. for whatever reasons, he just struggles offensively when defended by Okur. He'll start dominating again, but not against Utah, at least not consistently.
