5 Words the Rockets need to learn: GET THE BALL TO YAO!

We badly need an defensive PF who can share the dirty works of Yao and take some of the charges from the penetrations. Cato did a very good job of it last season.

 

Well clearly that will be the biggest off season priority for CD. Weather we are able to get a decent defensive PF with only the MLE remains to be seen.

 

Yup with Cato last year Yao was actually playing with 8 fouls to give.

Cato would often absord 1 or 2 fouls for Ming when turkeys drove to the basket thus Yao never really learned how to avoid contact in those situations (God how i miss cato for those reasons), but this year Ming is one prime target to get a flop call. Anybody want to go to the FT line just drive real hard and fast and don't even try to hit the basket with your shot, just run into Ming you'll get freebies 9/10 times.


The 1 or 2 fouls cato took makes a huge impact on Ming's demenear on the court. That is why Howard is missed as well not as much I think as cato, since Howard never defended the paint as well.

 

Yao Ming has played poorly in three out of four games in this series, and it's all on him. If he's satisfied of playing like an oversized role player who's obviously a bit slow in the head, he'll be treated like one, by the refs and by his teammates.

TMac has done his part in this series. It's time for our other "star" to show up.

 

lala, if you mean what you just wrote, you obviously missed 3 out of the 4 games we've played. Please check your local TV listings for game times in the future.

 

No one can play their game whilst getting mugged and getting bogus fouls by the ref. It isn't "all on him" when Dirk randomly snaps his head back while Yao is no where near him and Yao gets a call. If heart can overcome flops and random people barreling into you as well as biased refs, then you should have a chat with JVG cuz even he sure as hell hasn't figured out a way for Yao to get around things like that.

 

Really...is that a fact?

Yao was 6-7 from the field tonite, 8-10 from the line. 20 points and 5 blocks in 25 minutes. He did have 5 turnovers, but then again 3 of those came from the offensive fouls he was called for

 

Now, now, you mustn't let facts get in the way of lala's Yao-only hatin'. Facts are annoying and are best ignored when they get in the way.

 

This kind of argument is totally sh*t. However, I heard it again and again.

 

Mike James should not play in crucial moment. He seems easily be caught in the heat of combat and lost control.

But Yao needs to stop his weak sissy sh*t. Be a man, like an angry man. How about telling your teammates "give me the 8&^^%$ ball!! or I will kick you out of this team!!!!" Damn!!!! Can you at least pretend to be a man?!

 

Wow, what a spark I've provided.

To the poster who suggested that I didn't watch the games, unfortunately I've watched every single minute of this series, including the painful ones in the fourth quarters of the last two games. What I've seen from Yao Ming is a confused young man who is reacting to everything around him. He reacts to what his opponents do, react to what his teammates do, reacts to what the refs do, and reacts to what his coach yells at him. In other words he's playing with a role player's mentality. This is the reason why he's picking up silly fouls on defense, why he's not getting enough touches on offense, why he's chasing guards all over the perimeter and leaves his man wide open under the basket, why he's allowing passes go right through his hands, and why he spends half of the games sitting on the bench showcasing for the worst grimace award.

A star player plays inspired basketball in the playoffs. A star player forces his opponents, his teammates, the refs, and his coach to react to him, not the other way around. For a glorious 12 minutes in game 2, Yao has done that. He took charge of the game and got everyone on the Mavs that resembled a center into foul trouble. Too bad he isn't smart enough to learn from that.

 

What I like about this game is that the teammates are really looking into the mirror and looking into the situation. Deke is the man to tell what he sees, so is DW and TMac. Everybody knows the problem, and everyone here talks about it. But that's the first time those teammates really mean it and admit it openly.

Earlier in the season, after a loss when yao is not involved, a couple of guys would say, we should have gone to Yao more, but sometimes it's not easy. Those comments weren't sincere. But tonight, when Deke pointed out directly, why didn't we go to him, and more specifically about the last 3 mins or so. DW stood up by saying that they have to seek out Yao more, and admitted that the penertration they let, caused Yao's foul trouble as well. I really like that. It's a tough loss to swollow. But hey, if the whole team is on the same page, they will seek Yao more, argue with Refs more about BS calls, and protect the paint more. If that truly happens, 2 out of 3? I say we take them in 2. As simple as that. If TMac and Yao both are able to bring their A-Game. Dallas? They are just toast, no matter whether Dirk is a Weisswurst or Bratwurst.

 

Yao should befriend Keyshawn Johnson. He can teach Yao to write a book: "GIVE ME THE DAMN BALL YOU #&@&#*##".

 

This is completely bull***t! Tmac lost the game for us tonight. I was watching the game with about dozen guys in a bar, evevyone was saying the Rockets had the game in the bag when Yao sent Dampier to the bench with his 5th foul with a few minutes left. What happened the next few possesions were inexcusable. TMac took the matter into his own hands with several bad shots, the sad part was he didn't even look for Yao at all. How could it be more stupid than that? We forced them to play small, and it was working, then you went away from that? Unbelievable.

 

Okay, so it's not enough that TMac "took charge" during the last few minutes, practically lost the game for us, NOW you want another one doing that? The guy is a center, he cannot shot the ball unless someone pass it to him. He had three offensive rb, 5 blocks, with 25 minutes. Yes, he did react!

 

I completely agree. We have the hungrier team here. Mutombo, barry, wesley, sura, are all looking at their best chance for post season success. They know that they were to blame, it wasnt because of one player or crappy calls, it was because as a team they failed to execute. In the postgame mcgrady said that they had prepared for what dallas would throw at them, and they were more than ready, however in the game it seemed like they forgot all of the preparation. This is the turning point. This team can stare adversity straight into the eye and excel. The first stage is in dallas, where it is them against the world. I think this next game we might be able to showcase how good of a team we really are, and play the way we usually play. Smothering defense, and a great inside outside game, played the right way.

 

Yao and McGrady are not the problems.

Mike James is the real culprit. He kept jacking up bad shots without trying to involve Yao (guarded by a much smaller player) or T-Mac (the leading scorer in the playoffs).

That is simply inexcusable.

 

to lala12432343487534,

If I'm not mistaken, a lot of basketball, nay sports, is about reaction is it not? Your opponent does one thing, and you react to it in order to counter correct? Now, granted a couple of Yao's blocking fouls were stupid, but if Yao gets repeatedly called for phantom offensive fouls while trying to get position or if he, all of a sudden, gets called for moving picks at Mark Cuban's behest, which haven't been called on anyone else all year, what would you have him do? Those of us who don't believe Yao has been given a fair shake have offered evidence of what went wrong. Similarly, had you read the chron article, Yao's teammates agreed that Yao should have gotten the ball more. They didn't offer the usual platittudes about finding their big man but seemed to genuinely realize that truly playing inside out is very important.. Yao has done all that he can and if he gets whistled for bogus flops or doesn't actually have a teammate who's able to pass to him, what can he do? Maybe, in order to prove that he isn't a big dumb 'reactor' who can only 'react' to post passes and 'react' to rebounds, Yao can play the 1 and bring the ball up all day long. That way, everyone else will be 'reacting' to what Yao does. Seems like a good idea. Wonder why it hasn't been thought of before.

All you've offered is the same old tripe that we've heard from YOHs all year. "All Yao does is react to this that and the other...blah blah blah." Instead of just spewing uninsightful generalizations perhaps you could offer specific evidence of what you mean or maybe, offer a solution hmmm?

Until then, I eagerly await for further banalities. Maybe next time you can proffer some gems along the lines of "All I see is that our players don't run as fast as theirs do." Or, "If the Rockets want to win, they need a higher score than their opponents."

 

You cannot blame James on this loss. Mike James is who he is, a shooting guard coming off the bench, who can provide some offensive spark when he is in the game. The only problem I have with James is that he shouldn't be in the game when either Yao, or TMac is on the court, because that's the time we don't need his offense.

 

... try to put the Only in my moniker ...