I want to know if people will agree with me here, but I have a suggestion that I think just might work. I have also tried my best to shorten a post of mine (incredibly hard for me). My suggestion to the following: Run the defense around, explained below. Problem #1: Yao Ming has trouble getting the ball in games like yesterday's. Problem #2: Even when he gets the ball, he is too far out of the post area to be effective and seems to be doubled immediately. Problem #3: Smarter teams (or better coached) like yesterday will then play the passing lane knowing that Ming will usually go for the crosscourt pass to the open man. End result: Even if the gameplan is executed, we end up getting a lower % open outside shot, usually from a player who can't knock it down consistently. So now my suggestion: Bring the ball down the floor QUICKLY. When Ming gets doubled, pass the ball out as usual, and go to the open man as usual. But if the open man is not a great spot up shooter, swing the ball around again to Ming but run it with the intention of shooting. This would tire out the opponents defense considerably if executed in time, because the defense would have to run around chasing the open man.
Learning how to pass out of the double team is the most difficult thing for a big man to learn. It took Hakeem YEARS to figure it out. He used to just bull his way over or around double AND triple teams. Every kind of double team is different so it is hard to address exactly how to get out of it. Yao's passing skills are light years ahead of Olajuwon, so he should learn quickly, but having a guy like Garnett up in your face while trying to pass is not easy. When teams send really big guys to double team Yao, it takes away the court vision that he has, but, fortunately, there aren't many teams that will be able to do that. Olajuwon never had trouble with the big man double, but he used to get killed by the defense Seattle played because they would bring weak-side doubles, double teams with tremendous defensive guards like Payton and McMillan and they would show the double but then go back and send someone else instead. It was really complex and very difficult to read. Yao will have to get used to it because teams will adjust and try all those defensive schemes against him. On his position in the post, this has not nearly as much to do with the offensive scheme or the guards as it does with the fact that Yao is just not used to getting position in the NBA. In China, he was one of the strongest guys on the floor. Here, he cannot use his strength to get position (not yet anyway) so he has to use technique and he hasn't really learned that yet. When he sets up 2 or 3 feet away from where he wants to be, it effects everything on the floor. It effects the spacing, his offensive moves, passing, you name it. On several occassions in Minnesota, you could see that the guards were unable or unwilling to throw the pass into Yao because Nesterovic was all over him making the pass either very difficult or impossible. Being able to fight off an opposing player as he tries to reach over and around you is hard enough, but it is damn near impossible if he already has pushed you out 3 feet from the spot you want. This IS NOT the fault of the offense. In many instance, they are running the same offensive schemes they ran with Hakeem and he was able to get position and the ball. Zone defenses have effected those concepts to some degree but Yao has even struggled against man--to-man defense. Until he learns the techniques that will free him up down there and/or gain the strength to force his way down there, he will continue to struggle against tough defensive teams like Minnesota. I personally think he will pick up the double team concepts fairly quickly. He's so tall, has such good instinctive court vision and such a ridiculous passing touch that he is eventually going to kill teams that double team...so long as the guy he passes to can actually hit the open shot.
re: yao, the double teams and solutions... there were two things that beat the rockets last night. 1) slow cuts after the entry pass into the post; and 2) poor outside shooting from the power forward spot (not coincidentally, kg's man). nothing more. nothing less.
Agreed. Good points.. I also want to point out that it takes both 1. Being a good passer 2. And team mates moving To effectively pass out of the double team. There were instances where Mobley would stand at the 3 point line and not cut which caused Yao to get a turnover. Not to say it was entirely Cats fault but that it takes both Yaos team mates and Yao to beat a double team. One without the other is useless.
I didnt understand when Ming was double teamed by Garnet and Nesterovic , why E.G was standing outside the 3 point line. Should he be wandering around the basket taking out anoter opposing player, let the guards take the premiter and be open. Not only does Ming have to learn, so does E.G .
Exactly! Our players needs to learn how to penalize opponents for doubling Ming. Everytime Garnett doubles Ming, Eddie should go straight to the hoop to try to get a layup. After Yao dumps it to him a couple times, they will not double again. Right now, the penalty for doubling Yao is giving up a wide opened 3 pointer to Griffin. We will lost a ton of games if this continues...
basic rule of basketball.... when your man leaves to double-team, dive to the rim. that's so basic that i have to believe that rudy left eddie/mo tay there for some other reason.
Eddie Griffin should not have the green light to shoot even when he's opened. There is no reason for him to shoot as much as Steve, that's playing into the opponent's hands. He's not a consistent shooter and so the majority of the shots should go to Francis, Mobley and Yao ONLY!
So Nester and KG stripping the balls out of Yao's hands. . . really wasn't Yao's fault? . . it was the other players Rocket River just trying to keep up
I guess it's for good spacing. If Eddie stay too close to bascket, it will make KG easy to switch between Yao and Eddie. Dr Q
i don't recall the neterovic strip (although i may have been in the kitchen grabbin some grub when it happened), so i speak to that one. however, on the late kg strip, yao had two teammates (w/defenders) strong side and kg on his back. neither teammate cut, though it was apparent (at least to me) that yao was looking for a cutter. did yao protect the ball well? no. did his teammates cut when they probably should have? no. is kg a good defender? yes. all this tells me that a) strong side should have cut faster to the basket, so the center (yao) isn't worried about 3 people in his immediate viscinity; b) yao should have had two hands on the ball; c) defacation happens....
If the cutter/helper had arrived sooner, Ming shouldnt have lowered the ball and tried to muscle his way in... Yeah, you bet ... This is none-sense for E.G. to stand behind 3pt line when his teammates is double-teamed, I mean his teammates. This has been called by many teams announcers. Rudy.t needs to tell his elite rebounder to stay in the paint. I cant think of one reason why Eddie stands behind 3pt line shooting 3's. I said many times Eddie shooting 3 is Rox nightmare.
Dr Q, you're partially right. the rockets pf is set up weak side, 18ft or further out, so that their defender cannot double team as easily on yao. however, once their man does commit, i'm not understanding why they don't dive to the basket. like i said, i hope it's part of some offensive strategy and i'm just missing it...
Weren't we discussing the same thing after Yao's last visit in Minnesota (only 9 shots). Maybe Yao, like many of us, just doesn't like being in Minnesota and can't wait to get the heck out....donchaknow! Last night, I saw some gorgeous passes by Yao...to the cutters. But that didn't deter the Wolves from consistently bringing the double team...they were not going to let Yao beat them. Why should the Wolves stop double team-ing Yao at that point anyways, especially when the Rockets shooters were ice cold. To beat the double team, you need both cutters and shooters.
<blockquote><hr>Originally posted by verse (not coincidentally, kg's man).<hr></blockquote> Totally off subject, but I was wondering if you watched the last seconds of this game, verse? Did you see Francis grab a defensive rebound and go off on a fastbreak while everyone was heading off the court. Guess who didn't stop playing just to make sure Francis could not pull off that punk ass ****. And guess what the result of the last second "fastbreak" was?
What we really need is a couple of designated shooters who can consistently hit open jumpers. We just don't have the right personnel on the roster now.
