Also, Yao is a licensed driver now! Watch out! Yao is Curry's next challenge March 14, 2003 BY ROMAN MODROWSKI STAFF REPORTER HOUSTON--Rockets rookie Yao Ming acquired his driver's license this week, marking yet another level of assimilation for the native of China. Yet somehow, Yao, 22, still doesn't blend into the crowd. It has something to do with the fact he's 7-6, weighs 296 pounds and is one of the most popular and successful players in the NBA. Bulls center Eddy Curry, 20, has owned his license for years, but he's not old enough to drink. Yet somehow, Curry has been perceived as more of an adult in recent weeks. It has something to do with the fact Curry's game is growing as large as his 6-11, 285-pound frame. Yao will be looking to drive the Rockets (33-30) further into the playoff picture tonight against the visiting Bulls (23-43), while Curry will try to draw from his experience of outplaying Lakers giant Shaquille O'Neal on Tuesday. "I think he'll make me very tired,'' Yao said, taking notice of Curry's improved play of late. "There will be a lot more pressure on the inside. He'll be under the basket the whole game.'' Curry has his own concerns. "With Shaq, you can push him away from the basket as far as possible and hope he misses the turnaround jump shot,'' Curry said. "But with Yao, he's a little more comfortable out there. He wants to shoot anyway, so you're not taking anything from him. And he's 7-6, so you can't contest his shot.'' Contesting shots, rotating on defense and being aware of where the ball is are things Curry is trying to work on in the late stages of the season. Despite an awful team performance Wednesday in Memphis, coach Bill Cartwright didn't punish his team with a tough practice Thursday, but defense was emphasized. Curry wasn't playing much when the Rockets visited the Bulls on Jan. 26. He logged just 12 minutes and contributed nine points and one rebound in the Bulls' 100-98 victory, while Yao scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Yao has improved his season averages to 13.8 points and 8.3 rebounds, but Curry is a completely different player. He has scored at least 20 points in his last four games. "It looks like his confidence level is up,'' Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. "He looks like he has a heck of a future from what I've seen. And he is a center.'' To some, Yao and Curry represent the top two young centers in the league because of their size and skill. Curry is in his second season, but Yao is older and more experienced from international competition. "I have a lot of respect for [Yao],'' Curry said. "He's a great player, and he should be a huge challenge for me. I'm definitely looking forward to it.'' Curry said he will try to be physical with Yao, a tactic some opponents have used effectively. "[Yao and O'Neal] are both very similar in the fact they're both huge people, and your tendency is not to attack them,'' Cartwright said. "But that's exactly what you have to do, be as aggressive as possible. "That's what I was concerned about with Eddy before Shaq, and Eddy wasn't hesitant. You have to put a body on [Yao] and get him as far away from the basket as possible. When he gets close, he's formidable. And you have to bring a lot of help from other players. The only thing with Houston is, they have a lot of very good shooters.'' It's easy to get a sense that the fan in Cartwright, once a formidable center at 7-1, is looking forward to the matchup. "It's an exciting game,'' Cartwright said. "It's going to be a great experience for Eddy.''
Should be a good matchup at center, maybe for a long time. But I'm more looking forward to the other frontcourt matchup. Eddie's been taking a pounding from Western 4's. Now he has a chance to go against Chandler, his mirror image in body and experience. Come on Eddie, show your stuff. Assert yourself down low.
I think the edge that the Bulls have is Chandler. He will abuse our Eddie. Chandler is very effective coming over for teh double team (given his heighth and long arms) and is quick enough to get back to the shooter. So essentially, it will be 2 7 footers on Yao and Eddie will be camping out at the 3 point line. Chandler 6/11, 14 pts, 8 rebs, 2 blks, 1 steal Eddie 2/7, 5 pts, 4 rebs, 1 blks
Eddy Curry can't guard either Yao or EG. Yao is too tall for him and Griffin is too quick for him. Chandler can guard both of them, but they don't have two Chandlers. I think that they'll put Chandler on Yao and take their chances with EG.
Yao vs Curry and Griffin vs Chandler These two front courts will meet each other in 2006 NBA finals, my speculation.
lalala, chandler is an absolute toothpick. if you put him on a 300# yao ming, he'll get destroyed. absolutely obliterated... you do realize that chandler plays much more like a 3 than a 4, both offensively and defensively, don't you?
Curry could have a big game, because the one thing he can do offensively, is score off the pick n roll. At least against LA he did. We all know that Yao isn't the best at defending the P&R, thus far.
Chandler in fact is more of a center than a forward and he's definitely not a SF. He had his good games this year when he played center. Chandler is much better a defensive player than an offensive one and probably will always be. He is definitely thin but he is not as physcially weak as you might think.
That might be the overstatement of the year. Chandler doesn't play much defense at all. In fact, the entire Bulls roster does not play defense except for maybe Hassell.
I have actually watched quite a few bulls games this year and I can tell you Chandler is their best interior defender and that's why he gets more playing time than Curry who is a horrible defender.
That is not saying much of anything. I have seen a lot of Bulls games this year, and they are probably the worst defensive team in the league that I ahve seen, as far as giving up easy shots inside and outside. That is like saying Francis is a good defender, because he's better than Moochie defensively. Chandler and Curry both suck defensively, it's just that Chandler's level of suckiness is not as high as Curry.
No no, I utterly disagree Kidrock8. Chandler's defense is pretty damn good. He really uses his length well, and doesn't let his man drive around him. Granted, he's currently a bad help/team defender, but his individual defense is further along than expected. Once he beefs up, and has more time under coach Cartwright, I think his defense will be exceptional.
I haven't watched many Bulls games, but I watched the Bulls vs. Lakers. Curry did a great job of keeping Shaq off of his comfort spots, and pushing him just outside of his range. Of course, Shaq's range is the lane or closer, so I think he'll have a more difficult time with Yao. In the beginning of the season, I'd say Chandler was a better all-around player than Curry, but Curry's been on a tear lately. Curry's hot, and I expect him to stay hot today vs. the Rockets. But I sure hope I'm wrong!
Chandler is a very good defender, no question about it. He has passions at the defensive end. If you look at his face when he plays D, you can see the kind of desire like KG has. He's much better than EG right now, except for his mid-range shot. Curry's problem is his slow response. When he anticipates the ball movement, he could play exceptional offense. But most of the time he's not able the catch the pace of his teammate. This problem also causes his bad defense. He can not react quickly enough to catch his man. I think Bulls would put Tyson on Yao tonight and let Eddy take EG. At that case, I'd prefer ISO EG at low post or play MoT earlier. However, Mashall plays good defense. If he gets started, we probably don't wanna ISO our PF.
I think it's the other way around. As in, I think he does a good job with help defense. Of course his man-to-man defense would look good in the East. After Jemaine O'Neal, what other tough interior players are there to defend?
Big challenge eh...... Anyways. Yao and Eddy had a nice little duel goin on....I actually liked it. Neither guy got pissed off. Yao was having fun with it too...and he was very friendly with Curry. Curry was very "nice" to Yao too compared to other players....like Brian Grant and Kurt Thomas. It was pretty cool. Yao had 16...Curry had 14. Curry will be a good player.
