No the standard of softness is decided by the player. The more aggressive player will almost always get the calls on the offense. Who the hell is going to give calls to a 7'6 guy that loves to shoot fadeaways against shorter players?
The difference here is refs would allow Shaq to bully, but not Yao. Yao gets called foul on most of the flops, not to say real offensive fouls. That's why I say Shaq was treated badly, but not to Yao's degree.
That game was way closer than it needed to be especially considering there were maybe 5,000 people in the Target Center. The Rockets need to figure out a way to stop a strong inside presence like Al Jefferson and a way to score without Yao Ming. That said a win is a win. One other observation from the game. The T-wolves dancers are way less attractive than the RPD.
Yao is an exemption to that. Look at all the offensive foul calls he gets. Nobdy else gets called like that in NBA.
yao gets his calls. when he was attacking double teams v. warriors and nuggets, he got to the line at will. today he took a lot of fallaways and didn't get deep enough position. big men are hard to officiate. if fouls are called for big man the way they are for everyone else, shaq would foul out his opponent in the first 6 possessions. it is what it is. the point is, yao just has to play more aggressive. stop taking fadeaways. establish deep position. when he does those things, he is dominant.
Yao is not a great rebounder, period. It has nothing to do with heart or attention to fundamentals. Yao does box out and help teams to get rebounds. It requires less quickness and flexibility for Yao. It does reserve some energy for him, and it also helps his team to get rebounds. But it won't show in the box score for him. AB alongside Howard will never get 10 boards, because Howard collects all. AB alongside Tariaf will never get 10 boards, because no matter how hard Tariaf tries to help, AB won't get it before the opposing team. End result, it looks bad on Yao, result is the same for Rockets as a team though. Why are we complaining so much about his rebounding? He will get 15 at some nights, and 6 at some nights, averages about 10 for the season, NOT 13. He's limited by his size, yes, his 7'6 size and short arms, and slow reaction. As for playing aggressive or faded facing aggressiveness, it sounds all nice on paper and bbs. In reality, when your whole frontline is in foul trouble, when your 7'6 good center (let's not call him very good or great, so I won't offend anyone here), who usually gives opposing front lines trouble, including the BEST BIG MAN - Shaq, Amare, and Howard during different time, was NEVER fouled once in shooting during that game, everyone with half brain knows the REFs have made their mind up already. What "statement" do some "real" fans want Yao to make? Fouling himself out at the first half? Will Refs do that? Absolutely! Will Yao sacrifice the team for a "statement"? Absolutely NOT! Shaq is shaq, his press conference comment was fined heavily. His bulliness on court was rewarded. But for Yao, a foreigner, a slow non-flashy player, to try similar things as Shaq did? Whether he's able to do it or not aside, what will he receive? Just think about how Americans perceive opinions from foreigners, and how they offer opinions about foreign countries, you should be able to get a pretty clear idea. Just my 2 cents.
You sure? Cuz i dont think that we would have run our offence that well with Camby. He doesnt draw double teams. Also, the refs really killed Yao in that game, it s surely one of the worse officiating game of the year.
As I said, Yao is offciated better than some of his previous years. But this game is just a total exemption. I agree he has to play aggressive, and he did by sinking two critical jumpers in 4th quarter, but I also tend to believe nobody would be dominant if he gets treated by refs like Yao in this game. I'm happy with the win, just don't like people calling out Yao on such a poorly officiated game. Call him out on real bad performance like the Memphis game, I'm fine with that.
For those of you complaining about Yao's rebounds he was actually responsible for more rebounds than he got scored for. There were several times that he tipped the ball and Brooks was able to grab it. Individually Yao didn't have a great rebounding night but he was responsible for many Rockets rebounds.
Keep in mind tha it took Jefferson 31 shots to score in the low 30s. If Yao took 30 shots every game he'd be a 30+ point scorer almost every night. A very good player on a very bad team's stats always look outrageous until you peel them back a little. Jefferson's very good, but let's not lose sight of things. Remember how Yao became the only viable threat on the Rox a few seasons back when T-Mac went out? The Rox were terrible, but Yao was an absolute beast because he took 20-25 shots per game. Great for a guys stats, bad for winning though.
Let's look at a scene like this: Al just punked Yao, so Yao decides to get even on the offensive end and be more agressive, but the defender flops and Yao is called for a foul, then on the next defensive action Yao's frustration and agressiveness lead to another foul. And this repeats for another round and quickly gets Yao 4 fouls. What should Yao do under this kind of situation? As to the rebounding issue, it's obvious Yao doesn't care too much about his stats this regular season and has been saving energy and letting his teammates get the rebounds as long as they are sure to get them. Remember, Yao is still playing on a injured foot yet fully recovered and we have got a long season to go.
If Yao got more aggressive, it is an offensive foul. I am just happy Yao selected to pass the ball to save this game. At least we win.
this sure wasn't a strong game by yao. but to say he backed down from jefferson is simply not true. he made a couple of clutch shots in the 4th, despite of the fouls not called. and while people say brooks was the player of the game and came up big in the 4th, notice the 3pt shot % difference with and without yao on the court. ultimately it is yao who makes the game a lot easier for the rockets. as far as yao's rebounding, he's got his limitations. slow reflex and sometimes butter fingers. also slow to leave his feet. although his rebounding #'s and rate are very decent. we have to live with that. (if 7'6 yao is as quick as akeem, we'd be looking at a wilt version 2 here. but he's not.) let's be conservative and say yao will only average 9 rebounds this season. that means for every 4-reb game, he'd have anther 14-reb game to balance it. consistency doesn't necessarily mean 9, 10 rebounds every single night. for most players, it comes in more likely in a fashion of 4, 13, 12, 7, 11, 11, etc. refs have always been a problem for yao, unfortunately. it has little to do with aggressiveness (though i agree yao needs to be more agressive, that is another issue). i suspect it has to do with the same reason why we see bias in the media and sometimes amongst fans as well. al jefferson is good, all-star good. not to mention mchale might have taught him a thing or 2. but like kg, he often travels when he makes a move and gets away with it. tonight he outplayed yao just like last year. but the other side of the equation cannot be ignored - just for the sake of fairness - had yao been allowed to put his shoulder into his defender before he dunks the ball, or allowed to mug or hack his defensive assignment with no foul called, yao might as well have had a 30+ pts night. had yao been treated by the refs fairly, he'd at least get 10-12 ft's on a nightly basis. but it ain't happening any time soon. and leebigez, i know you know a lot about the game and have often agreed to what you had to say. but you are not saying yao doesn't know fundamentals about bball, are you? unless you have the credentials of being patrick ewing, or rudy t himself, i'd tend to believe that a yearly allstar center, having been mentored by ewing and deke, knows more bball than you or any of us. so pls no more preach of bball basics.
I think all teams think their superstar/star is treated unfairly by the referees. Sure sometimes that's true but overall the refs do a pretty job.
Very true, but you gotta admit that Yao gets screwed over a few times each game typically. No other Rocket, not Tracy or Ron, just Yao. Refs must not like asians... or someone who is 7'6!
