sure yao would be fronted in the rest of games. but does that mean yao has to be set up as a passive, useless and expensive decoy? yao always went to the post on offense where two blazers were waiting for him and our guards ran to the other side of court, even not having a try to post him. is yao called one of the best centers in NBA? does blazers have two best centers in NBA? look at what roy did. everyone knows yao will be fronted=everyone is scared of this, underwritten by ra.
Hell most of the 4th qt we didn't even post up Yao to see if they would front him. He was in the high post most of the 4th. I mean they were calling ticky tack calls on Portland so we should have tried to post him up. 3 Blazer big men with 5 fouls and we failed to make them pay. Pathetic.
To beat being fronted is to have the ball in the corner at first, then have Yao come from the opposite side with his teammates setting picks and then pass the ball to him as he runs into position which will be before he gets fronted. Or clear out on the side Yao is on and deliver a lob pass.
kobe is a wing player. It's nearly impossible to double a wing player. Also, Yao is very slow and unathletic.
Considering Yao's size he doesn't do alot to make himself a bigger target. He should not disappear like he did tonight. It is not all on the guards. Yao has to do a better job of sealing off his defender or defenders. Since he is not quick, he needs to use his strengh and his giant butt to create space. IMO he was rather passive tonight, especially late in the game. I didn't see the whole game, but I didn't see him screaming and waving his arms demanding the ball. I don't care how many fouls he gets, he must continue to be aggressive. Standing around is like being on the bench anyway.
My offensive game plan is simple: Shoot 3's for three qtrs.(artest brooks barry wafer battier, they can do it.) Let Yao finish the 4th qtr.
Yoa was fighting in the posts for postion but once he is fronted the guards immediately swing the ball to the other side. The do this all the time, so I believe its a deliberate game plan, but its not working. Its sad cause the Rockets had all season to figure this out as teams have been doing this all season.
Good point. The Rockets need to just give Yao the ball at the 3-point line, and get out his way. Yao can then pull out his killer cross over moves on Pryzbilla and own him with his pullup midrange J.
blazer is not good on both defensive and offensive end compared with utah. should play wafer and landry more minutes, put yao on high post as screen.
The guards should at least make an effort to give him the ball instead of just giving up on posting him up.
we've seen what happens when guards are stubborn in trying to get Yao the ball when he's fronted during JVG era. It either results in a last second heave or a turnover.
That's the best way to beat fronting, quick swing to the middle, then to other side, the key is that Yao has to seal the defender behind him, so he can create opening for himself, or his teammates if he is doubled. I didn't get to watch this game, but from previous games, Yao tend to be passive if the ball swings to the other side, let his defender get around him too easily. Fronting is not the best choice of defenses, it requires a lot of energy of the defenders, and it's not hard to beat it, that's why teams don't employ it very often. The key is patience, and quick & accurate ball movement, unfortunately, those are not something the Rockets are good at.
Someone needs to control ron artest...how many time we see ron passes the ball to yao? none! I didn't see any. He took over 20 shots with 8 3pointers and only made 1. Ron doesn't take RA seriously because he thinks the guy is his friend and not his coach. jvg would go crazy he Ron took so many shots.
yeah, "continue to be aggressive", and when he fouled out with another 2 cheap calls on him, some other guy will jump out and say, "he got emotional and gave up the game". Screaming what, "give me the damn ball"? Our gurads don't understand chinese english i guess.
yeah, when all their big had 5 fouls, there were still ~5 minutes left and it was still a tight game. i thought maybe we could make an adjustment there and force feed yao. it never happened.
LOL, he did pull out pullup midrange J after dribble once though. But seriously people, Lowry out, Brooks in happened after their bigs got the 5th.
