Not all the time. Adelman and the Rockets NEED to solve the fronting problem. It is a NEED, and if we don't solve it, we will be one and done again.
this punishment angle is really stupid real game situation cannot be replicated in practice. It was the perfect situation to see how Yao and the Rockets deal with the fronting defense in a real game situation. I think the reason Yao was upset was because he still couldn't do anything against the fronting defense. Even when they managed to get the ball into Yao, the double/triples came immediately and Yao was forced to thow it back out. You can't have your most efficient scorer rendered a mere decoy when a simple fronting defence is employed. Yao is not a good rebounder, if he isn't scoring, he's useless on the offensive end. Yao showing his frustration at the end had nothing to do with this made up "punishment"
Stan Van Gundy of the Orlando Magic doesn't rest his players even if they are up by 30 in the 4th. He takes them out with like 2 minutes remaining. Dwight Howard can play it, so why can't Yao?
Rockets don't have enough practice players to simulate fronting, we all know that, we better use some garbage players from the Wolves for free.
Yep, don't let the Win fool you guys. The fronting was still a problem tonight. We need to solve this before the playoffs so we will see Yao in more 4th qtr blowouts hopefully until it is solved and the team gets it.
^ why do I get the feeling you would be one of the first to type up a thread calling the Big Stiff injury prone...
Yao has a body of 7'6" and 310 lbs. He is the only center who needs to run up and down the court playing Coach Adelman's motion offense. He is the only center who are fighting for positions in the paint against two 250 lb. 7-footers. Can he be healthy playing 40 minutes in the regular season? Do we need a fresh Yao in the playoff playing for Rox? Coach Adelman must manage the playing time of all his players in a smart manner (particularly Yao for the above reasons) to maximize the Rox chance of winning playoff games. If he continues to play Yao unnecessary you can guess what is the next thing to happen (touching wood).
Was at the game. Glad to see the Rockets could beat a crappy t-wolves team on the road without their 2 best players. A lot of those "fronts" in the 4th quarter were just the timberwolves playing WAY off Lowry. THAT needs to be addressed.
I think the team was trying to solve the fronting problem at the end of the game, not because "Adelman is trying to punish Yao Ming" garbage. And no, "Yao Ming will not leave Houston because of this game." That's ridiculous. Yao is a superstar and the go-to guy on offense. He needs to get used to it and figure out a way to conuter that. The only way he's going to do that is against other competition. I don't really like it that he had to play extended minutes in a blowout win, but it's only going to get worse if the Rockets don't try something now.
Everyone runs up and down the court. Every center fights for position. Yao is not the only guy that has to do this.
He should do it when needed. He should even play 50 min when needed. But when your team was up by 15 min and there was only 3 min on the clock and the other team already benched their starters, should you still put your 310 pounds center in? For what? to make sure he is tired enough for next game? And, should you play that for more than 16 min without a break in the whole first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter as in yesterday's game? Make sure he was tired enough to the rest of the game? Show me how many center's with his size ever played 16 min at the start of the game?
That fits right into our game plan. The problem is not when Yao is swarmed ,because that only means that Scola is free or someone will have a open three, but if the actual ball is in his hands near the paint.
1:51 left in the game, up 16. After a timeout, there he was, Yao was still in the game. I guess RA was afraid to lose the game or he wants to practice the fronting
Practice or not, I do believe Yao should be taken out after the last timeout. (is that less than 2 minutes left with 17 pts lead?) So what if you are successful in beating some half-ass fronting in that situation? Show some respect - Rick Adelman:" Deke is a veteran player, you don't use him to play garbage minutes out of respect."
Also guys Shaq plays about the same amount of minutes...he has to run up and down the court and fight for position too. Yao is better staying in shape and the only way to increase stamina is to play more. Yeah he risk injury every minute he's out there...but so does EVERYONE else.
