Yao Ming Grade: B For a guy that touched the ball all of 5 times in the 1st quarter, he did not do too bad on offence. 12/10 with 3 assists is very respectable for the amount of touches he got, especially for a rookie. My main dig against him last night was his D. He did not play the way we expected him to. Maybe my expectations are too high and half of it was EG's fault (see below), never the less, you simply don't let Rasho Nesterovic score 19 on you. Eddie Griffin Grade F After a pretty good game, EG really sucked it up in this one, on both ends of the floor. 3-14 is pretty self explanatory and 1-6 behind the arc???!!! The last thing I want to see is a PF jacking up 3's, especially considering we have half a team that does that and EG is not a good shooter by any stretch of the imagination. Not to mention he got Yao in foul trouble, for example, that 3 he jacked up and Yao was called for over the back trying to get the offensive board (Yao has a tendency to do that but when you shoot like Griffin does...). KG is a very good player but there SHOULD BE NO WAY that anyone in this league should be allowed to dunk the ball with authority on every possession, as KG did on EG in the 3rd quarter. This force Yao to have to come and double which left Rasho wide open. Considering Yao already had 3 fouls and cannot play as aggressive, EG really suck it up for us. James Posey Grade: B- With the way Posey played prior to the Kings game, I think the Rox fans would be a little disappointed with his play. Never the less, Posey is a roll player and should not be expected to play as good as he had been. 3-7 is fairly solid on a team that jacked it up all night. Cuttino Mobley Grade: D Guess who's back to jacking up shots again. I thought there's still hope for Cat after the last 2 games but now I see it's just wishful thinking. Steve Francis Grade: B+ We all know about Wink's defensive deficiencies by now so I'm not gonna go in how Troy F*cking Hudson burnt him. Credit for where credit is due, Steve played pretty well most of the game. Shot the ball well, pass it around well and did not have as many dumb TO's (can't believe I'm saying 5 TO's is not too much). However, he did not get the ball to Yao in the 1st quarter and did ISO after ISO in the 4th which killed any chance of a comeback for us.
So it's EG's fault that Rado f*cking Nesterovic provided the same f*cking damage as Troy f*cking Hudson but that was all Steve's fault?? Give me a f*cking break!
That was such a gramarically incorrect and confusing post I don't know what to say. But if you are saying what I think you are saying, then yes half of Nesterovic's baskets were wide open. I'll let you figure out why.
From the first half of the game (the part I saw), Nesterovic's points mostly came off picks. Even when Yao was still the one to end up guarding him, Yao was coming through a pick, would get on him less balanced, and go for a quick fake or be a little slow. The Rockets were not aggressive at all in bumping the cutter, or defense in general for that matter.
As far as EG is concerned, the worst thing that could have happened is that guy hitting those 3s against Sacramento. It gave him a false since of confidence.
I dont think it is fair to entirely fair to blame Eddie for Nesterovics offensive explosion but his failure to defend Garnett did put Yao in a difficult situation. But Yao still should have done a better job than he did. But again, the fundamental problem is that we DO NOT have a experienced/good defensive PF. Eddie is a SF in my book (that shoots 3s like crazy) and I consider Mo Tay only a good backup. Playing an inexperienced/thin PF alongside a rookie center is a foolish mistake (assuming we want to win games now). We need Yao to learn how to guard his own guy but the additional pressure of having him help out Eddie on a daily basis is too much to ask for in my humble opinion. Lastly, I think Eddie WILL be a good player later but as I said numerous times, he is not capable of excelling against the tough PFs in the West. I dont blame Eddie for this (afterall, he is improving and working hard). If there is anyone to blame, we should blame the management. Before Yao even joined the Rox, this problem was apparent. Many BBsers and sports analysts alike said the same thing. Notably, Bill Walton. But management failed to do anything about it. I guess it will take not making the playoffs for them to realize that we need help up front.
You are joking right? Francis with a B+? Francis is still a ball hog and will only pass if he really has to.
i have to agree with this. Yao was a bit timid on Nesterobitch. I think sometimes Yao doesn't want to foul. I remember this was everyone's concern at the begining that he was gonna foulf out every game. Now, I think he needs to risk getting fouled and put some body on people. That's gonna send a message. As soon as they sensed that he was not going to contest shots, it was free for all.
if EG is a SF, he should be starting at PF. is he going to become a good player later on? i don't know, he hasn't shown me anything yet. the rox should trade him if they can get a veteran pf for him because they need to win now. yao is doing a fine job of defending his man. y'all don't want him to foul out right?
I totally agreed. The same could be said about Steve Francis. You know those difficult circus shots he made in the 1st half off iso plays were the worst thing to happen to us. Suddenly he thought he could make those shots all night long.
