I would give it to Shane Batter. As always, his stats are not outstanding but his defense and 3-pointer in game 3 & 4 kept us in the game and got the final win. Yao is always good. He drew the opponents' attention, which gave the others the look and space to make shots. but he is teamed and fronted too much and the stats are a little poor for a star like him. Scola is consistent the whole series and all of this came from that Trailblazers had to give more attention to Yao.
I feel that this poll should include one more option; "Everyone." In this series, no one played particularly well, and no one played particularly bad. Charles Barkley hit it on the head when he said that the scoring load was evenly distributed amongst the rotation for the Rockets. I mean, if you see Yao Ming and Ron Artest average 15 and 13 respectively, yet still winning the series 4-2, you know the scoring is balanced. If we talk about consistent play, I'd say everyone. If we talk about biggest firepower, I'd say Von Wafer. If we talk about who set the tone for the entire series, I'd say Yao Ming. But I do believe that everyone on the Rockets deserve a part of the MVP.
Everybody noticed the importance of Yao on offense even if he doesn't have the ball. And everybody acknowledged what Scola did to make Blazers pay. But nobody seems to mention Rockets won this series because of their defense. Nobody mentioned how much Yao impacted on defense that Blazers couldn't score around basket except Roy. Defense is always underrated by fans.
scola is an outstanding role player...NOT the foundation, yao is the foundation of the team... pretty much every rocket played hard and contributed...great job getting out of the 1st round...now bring on the fakers...
luis scola easily. yes he capitalized on yao's fronting, but he proved he can score when yao was on the bench. he did 2 of the most beautiful post moves we've ever seen from a big man. and he had to guard aldridge on the other end and did a decent job.
Yao Ming, if it wasn't for him most guys like Luis Scola wouldn't be averaging that many points because of the front. To add to that, he also did a great job playing defensively too, altering the paint, rebounding the ball and blocking shots. Yao was consistent on defense just as much as Luis was offensively. Gotta go with Yao.
It leaves me in aw that Battier only has 18 votes. My vote goes to Shane and than Luis. Yao had a excellent game 1 and an ok game 4, average game 6. Rest were below average.
Scola. This is why YOFs are so annoying. When Hakeem was here taking up double and triple teams he still GOT HIS... which is why he got the MVP votes... Yao shouldn't get votes simply for drawing attention, you have to impose your will anyway.
Aaaahhhh... ...Refreshing. Yao's presence can't be measured in stats. No, friend. It can't. And then again, maybe it can. A lot of people would look at the stats for the Blazers series and say that Yao didn't dominate. But that's exactly what he did. Portland wasn't worried about anybody else beating them except Yao. And finally, some OTHER Rockets were able to CONSISTENTLY step up to the plate and make Portland pay for that. Some people would probably say that an individual player's efficiency says alot about how much he helps you win games. Makes sense. Until that's the only player you're relying on to score or create offense for your team. Then that guy has to do more individually, and volume will bring down a guy's "efficiency" quicker than anything. The Rockets learned that team efficiency is what counts. Not solely what one guy does or doesn't do. That's why you need guys like Yao, who keep it simple for their teammates by drawing two or three defenders from them and making it easier for them to score, if they're aggressive and capable. And the beautiful part about it is that Yao would always say his teammates did their parts. And THAT'S what counts.
I agree that Yao was very important since the defense on him opened up so much for the other players plus he had some great rebounding performances even if he wasn't scoring. That said I think MVP should go to the player who's individual performance most elevated the team. Under that while Yao was important it wasn't his individual performance but really just his presence. I think its a close call between Scola and Battier but I'm going to give the edge to Battier. Scola was the most consistent but Battier's critical 3's really saved the Rockets when it looked like the offense was stalling. Besides just shooting 3's he also drove to the hoop more and elevated his own personal play on the offensive end while continuing his defensive effort and hustle that we expect from him. For all of that he's my MVP for the first round. I agree wth the Aznoob this was a team effort and we won because we played team ball. I think honorable mentions then go out to Wafer for being the spark off of the bench. Aaron Brooks for almost single handedly keeping us in game 2. Lowry for his toughness and fire off of the bench. Landry for continuing the same energy as Scola. Artest for dropping the hammer on the Blazers in game 6. And of course Chuck Hayes for his defensive timing and court vision.
yao ming is winning this poll? thats ridiculous!!! yao is the best player on this team, but he did not play like the best player on this team in the last series. this isnt a popularity contest. he got better as the series wore on but was still inconsistant. he'll do better against the lakers but scola was the anchor and the mvp of the series.
Do not even forget that we lost two games just due to a changing momentum that Yao was fouled out (2nd game) or left the court (4th game) for a rest. Definately go to Yao for MVP.
Personally, I really thought this was a total team effort, from Scola making the mid ranger jumpers, to Battier's threes, Yao's interior defense, Hayes' charge, Artest's defense. etc. I voted Battier though, just because I thought his back to back games of dagger threes helped us go up 3 -1.
without Yao, probaly we will lose as 0:4 without Louis, probably we will win 4:3 or lose 3:4. Hugh difference.
Some of you guys value offense way too much. Yao may not have been our best offensive player in the series, but his attention and the way the Blazers defense played, treated like Yao was the best offensive player on this team. Also, defensively Yao Ming did a heck of job altering the paint, blocking shots and rebounding especially with Brandon Roy. Without Yao Ming, our tallest player would be Luis Scola, that would be a problem. Without Luis, we would have Landry start and Hayes backing him up. As the person said, without Yao we would have lost the series, but without Scola the series would just be longer but we would still have a chance at winning the series. Yao Ming has my vote, he did a heck of job playing on both ends, I don't mind people voting for Scola or Battier though.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba?voted=1 Yao won Yahoo's vote 'Which player had the biggest impact on the Portland-Houston series?' I guess most of other teams' fans think Yao is the MVP of that series.
Scola. Yao drew double teams, but if no one could capitalize on them the season would be done. Simply drawing double teams is not enough for an MVP. It's close though, Yao did a lot on defense and rebounding too. It's almost unfair to pick one though. Everyone had their moments, and this was as collective an effort as could be.
The correct answer is Ron Artest. How many times did we win a playoff series without him since the 90's ???? ZERO.
Well using that logic, how many series have we win with Brian Cook sitting on our bench? Zero. I actually think Battier is being a bit under-appreciated here. He was our voice, motivated our team with his speeches, played great defense and he made big time shots.
