One thing I realized that most NBA champs, if not all, do some dirty tricks on the court. San Antonio's Bowen is so rough with his defense. Kobe's elbowing Bibby to clear his way to the basket during the game 7 in the western conference finals. Michael Jordan pushing Russell with his wrist to give him enough space for the winning jumpshot. No need to mention Detroit Pistons. Yao is the most abused player on the court because he's just too scared to hurt someone even by accident. That's the reason why he is called 'soft'. Same with TMac. He likes to avoid contact, while Tony Parker, Devon Harris and other small guards are like kamikaze when going to the basket. Scola is the exemption here but he needs the same authority Manu is enjoying with Spurs in order to dictate the intensity of our games. C'mon Rox, no more Mr nice guys. Any other thoughts on this? Thanks.
i would replace Devin Harris with Dwayne Wade in your post... Devin Harris flops, he never gets touched as badly as he reacts.
And they need to flop more, PHX, SA, DALLAS, UTAH all got good and multiples player that flop. Scola need to teach them how. T-Mac need to do like kobe when he gets block or lose the ball just throw his arm around and get some contact and go to the line.
I think Yao is careful about getting into foul trouble which hinders his aggressiveness at times. I doubt that he's scared of actually hurting anyone. I do get your point though, I really thought someone was going to retatilate against Harris on Yao's behalf during their last game against the Mavs for that flagrant foul.
Yeah I would have to agree with this. My buddy and I were talking about this during the game agains GSW. We have a bunch of good guys (which is a good thing) but somebody needs to tell them that is ok to be dick on the court...LOL You can be a good guy after you step off the hardwood, but when you are on the court......IT's ON LIKE DONKEY KONG!
I remember Jordan sayin once that he gets away with dirty plays because he makes sure he does it from where the ref cant tell the difference. also recently read a post of Hakeem being nice and when he decided to play rough he would get away with it. the logic is if ur big ur expected to take take of urself and not dependent on calls. i geuss they do what they got to do to win! i mean, it also just sets a intimidation factor, that becomes part of defense, which the rockets have NILL. i would not be afraid to take drive it in against Yao compared to some other players in the league.
Well in that case he would be sacrificing his buddy, not himself. That Devin Harris is something else.
i think so. I miss J-Ho in that aspect. I couldnt even recall Yao gives a hard foul (except some hard screen). The next intentional hard foul by Yao will be his first one.
I remember hearing an interview with Clyde a few years ago when the All Star game was in Houston and he was saying that he can’t believe the way the players of today carry on with players on the opposite team. Laughing, joking, helping each other up, etc. He said in his day, while the game was going on, every player on the other team was his sworn enemy. And he played like it. Even Hakeem was when he played with Portland. He talked about Magic and Isiah kissing before the game, then getting in a fight while it was going on. He said he’d like to see more of that. I would have to agree with him. Especially when it comes to my soft Rockets. I was hoping Mike James, Bonzi Wells and Steve Francis would change that attitude, but so far…. I don’t see it.
Get tougher. Those fouls that Devin Harris commited on Yao and TMac should have been met with some type of response. Foul our main guys like that, foul Dirk, Terry, or Howard hard. Stackhouse dunking at the end of the game when it was clearly won, shows how much they respect us as a team. If we come out soft again against them in a couple of weeks, then that says all you need to know.
A good point, we do not play hard either. Only players who play hard maybe be Yao, SF3, Scola, Chuck. It is hard to say for others.
its not like we have to play dirty.. we just have to play smart on offense, our players just have to be not afraid of physical contact.. our players drive and avoid physical contact.. they should learn how to drive and initiate contact st the same time hide the ball so it won't be stripped or blocked cleanly (also make sure the defender is out of the small arc and moving so as not to get a charge).. on defense, either foul hard and let the opponent earn from the ft line or don't foul at all..
