Wow... this thread is disturbing in so many ways. The thread starter was accurate in that Yao did not play good defense on Boozer. Yao also was just 6-18 from the field. Yet everybody here is defending Yao? Am I the only one that's mystified by this? This reaction to Yao's mediocre game tells me one thing about what fans think about Yao... Yao Ming is a role player. Nothing more. Nothing less. How else can you explain this phenomenon? Do people just like Yao so much that they really don't care how terrible he plays? Is it because Yao is a nice guy? Is it because Yao is Asian? If T-Mac shoots poorly and gets torched on the defensive end, he would get absolutely pounded on this forum. Yet we all forgive Yao like it was nothing? I don't care if we won the game. I don't care that Yao did other good things like rebounding and making FT's. That still shouldn't excuse Yao for his shooting and defense. I know JVG can't too happy with his performance. The reaction here tells me that we don't think he's a superstar. If we really felt Yao was a superstar, WE WOULD ACT LIKE IT. We would hold him up to a much higher standard. 6-18 is absolutely inexcusable. "But... but... he was fouled a lot!" Oh, so he doesn't get fouled like this in the regular season? He's had to deal with BS calls ALL YEAR, and he's been able to put up some monster games. This is my 2 cents on Yao's defense tonight. He's the best defender in the league when he's in the paint. He can block and change so many shots just by putting his hands up. If he's such a great paint defender, WHY ARE WE BRINGING HIM OUTSIDE OF THE PAINT!? We have to let Boozer take jumpshots. He can make them, but would you rather have that, or Boozer getting layups/dunks? Plus, Yao will get more rebounds since he's already closer to the basket.
I think the bottom line is Yao struggled in his game offensively and defensively and yet he still found ways to contribute and helped his team win the game. Two or three years ago, he couldn't do it. Playoffs expose a lot of things. Everyone knows right now that there are still a lot of weakness in Yao's game. He still has a long long way to go before being mentioned as all-timers. He might not even be the best big man in today's game. But, two or three years ago, if he played this poorly on both sides of the floor and got embarrassed, he would have completely disappeared on the court. Ppl wouldn't even feel he was playing. Right now, he still impact the game big, make key plays and helped his team get the W. I think it is enough. You have to accept what he is. He is an all-star, not superstar. And what is wrong with that?
it's a matchup thing..boozer is playing more like a PF..boozer can go outside and shoot but yao can't leave his position on the defensive side.
I'm just surprised I didn't go off on him even more. I really don't understand the fixation with hating or giving all the credit to a particular player. Everyone should know, it takes five baby
yao guarding boozer is basically a mismatch. boozer is quicker and more athletic and the only disadvantage for him is he's shorter. but it really doesn't affect him as much as it should to any other player yao has been guarding. the key is boozer's jump shot. it is, natually, HIGH arch j. if you have a shorter player on him he's still going to shoot those high ones over. i think the solution is to switch yao and hayes from time to time. so to confuse both boozer and okur. hayes is shorter, but quicker and stronger. he can guard boozer up close and affect his shooting. he had a nice block on boozer last night.
Let me get this. Yao went 6-18 from the field but is 9-10 from the free throw line getting 21 pts on 18 shots plus 15 rebounds and he is struggling big time. Boozer is 12-23 and 2-3 for 26 points and 8 reb and he is dominating. So we are saying Boozer get 5 more shots to score 5 more points is so much better than Yao? Yao had several easy shots converted to free throws because they fouled him hard rather than allow him to score. Boozer shot well but did not get fouled much on any of his attempts because he was hitting some very tough fade away shots. Give Yao five more shots at his 33% and he would covert 3-4 more points which would bring his points to 24 or 25. Plus Yao has a big edge on the boards almost doubling Boozer's number. You can say Boozer played better but dominating? I really do not see that.
What is the point of worrying though. This is the playoffs and some matchups just cant be avoided. We cant let Yao guard Okur and spend all his time out on the three point line. Jazz get too many offensive rebounds as is. If you is out on the perimeter trying to guard Okur, then Millsap, AK, and Boozer will go crazy on the boards. Yes, Yao is struggling to guard Boozer but he is averaging about 12 rebounds a game. What other options do we have. Leave Chuck on Okur, and Juwan on Boozer? Yao needs to be on the floor, and if he is, he has to guard Boozer unless Collins is in the game. As for complaining about people who were overly excited when we were up 2 games to 0, how about the people who were overly depressed when we lost two in utah and had written this team off.
You know, I could understand this kind of thing if Yao was playing against... Eric "2nd best center in the NBA" Dampier and he was getting the kind of stats Boozer is. But... come on. Boozer is an all-star caliber player, not some chump. He is going to have good games, especially since it's a positional mismatch. Plus he doesn't have to work on the defensive side as hard since he has to shut down the offense of ... oh, Chuck Hayes and Juwan Howard.
This is such a stupid reply. You can not judge a player on five games. Are you saying Dirk is not a superstar. He must be a role player since he has struggled in the four playoff games and his team is down 3-1. Kobe Bryant has looked slow and tired against Phoenix in three of his four games so he is a role player at best. Kevin Garnett is a scrub cuz he cant lead his teams to the playoffs. And of course, it is sad cuz after last season's performance, the biggest superstar of all, Bonzi Wells, isnt getting to play this year. Give credit to the Jazz, they are physical and disrupting Yao on offense. That being said he is averaging over 20 and 12 and his team is up 3-2. If anything, it shows how good a defender Okur can be if he wants to. Yao is 7'6. He is always going to struggle against big guys who are athletic and can hit the jumper. Your strategy of leaving Boozer alone to shoot from the perimeter while Yao stays near the basket is flat out dumb. Boozer is going to hit 80 percent of the 15 ft. jumpers you want to give him uncontested. The key is to get through this series and see what happens in the second round.
I want to throw the question right back at you. Did you watch the game or just the score board? Boozer dominated Yao? While it is true that Boozer played a good game and Yao played a so-so game per his own standard, I would hardly call that domination. 1) Boozer had a good offensive game, he made some tough shots but he was open a lot too because Yao dropped off from him to cover a cutter thru the middle. When Boozer put the ball on the floor, the Rockets hardly ever helped. If you allow a big man to dribble 3, 4 times thru the middle freely, it is impossible to guard one on one. Because Yao helped on others, Boozer had a good game but we slowed down others, especially Deron. 2) On the contrary, the Jazz swarmed Yao everytime he got the ball. Yao shot 6-18 FG but Boozer had almost nothing to do with that. It was Okur who guarded Yao and the Jazz doubled or trippled team him. Kirilinko blocked him 3 times, Harpring once, Fisher once. It was the Jazz team that made Yao looked bad on offense, not Boozer. If you took away those 5 shot attempts, it wasn't too bad. Because the Jazz doubled Yao, other Rockets got open looks. Who helped his team more? Btw, Boozer saved a lot of energy by guarding Chuck. Sometimes he guarded Juwan Howard who went 6-6 FG. Maybe we should say Juwan dominated Boozer? 3) Despite all of that, Yao's efficiency rating was +22 compared to +27 for Boozer. That is not domination to me. http://www.nba.com/statistics/efficiency.html
I have never known of a role player that can put up 25/9 during regular season, and then 20-12 during the playoffs. Yao did suck today, but at least I saw some encouraging things, such as trying to take it closer to the basket, despite being blocked or stripped - which is a lot better than shooting those fadeaway jumpers. You can see he is still far from being 100%, but as long as he keeps trying those things, he will get calls coming his way, because he will be less predictable. He was also decently active on the offensive glass. He could of easily had two putbacks if he didn't get it stripped by bringing the ball down.
This sequence below is where the fans in my section were screaming Yao should come out. It's probably more on JVG than Yao, but the season felt like it was slipping away if this continued. He finally put Chuck on Boozer. 5) right high post hook - hit, CB takes three steps towards basket puts shot up off glass with Yao right in front of him, just a good make 6) dives left from top of key, receives pass from Harpring, puts up hook off glass - hit, yao unable to stay with speed of the dive, but still contested it. 7) right side baseline - airball, uncontested as Yao was on the block stopping deron drive 8) right top of key, drive left for the slam, Yao unable to stay with him, Battier unable to help in time 9) right post, fade jumper from the middle of paint - hit, Yao unable to stay with him, no help D
Took the words right out of my mouth.. This is Boozers' breakout party...when healthy Boozer is one of the best PF's in the NBA. It's just a bad matchup for Yao, and while he is struggling on the offensive end, no matter what his stats are..his presence is needed. Yao had a sub-par game, Boozer had a very good game and we STILL WON. JVG will fix this on the defensive end.. Keep the faith
You can't have Yao guard Okur because he plays out on the 3 point line so you have to have Yao guard Boozer, even though Boozer is quicker than Yao because at least stays near the paint which is where you want Yao to be on D. Hey Rockets won and I can't talk today because my voice is gone. GO ROCKETS!!!!
Yao couldn't stop Boozer for 10 consecutive plays (20 pts), mostly one on one. The box score won't show that, and that's the argument I am trying to make. At least unlike you guys Yao realized his mistakes, one time after Boozer scored on him, he caught the ball, bounced it hard on the floor and was really pissed at himself. 1) More than half of the plays that Boozer scored on Yao were just post up 1 on 1. 2) I have no problem with Yao's offense, he scored enough points and made clutch free throws. I am talking about his lack of D on Boozer. He should at least stop him on 3/10 procession, but it was 0/10. No excuses please, that was just bad D. 3) Juwan had a really good game, I wouldn't call him dominated Boozer because he played terrible the first 4 games.
Yao is not a complete player - or rather - he's not that versitle. Shaq wasn't either, but he didn't have to be. Hakeem was perhaps the most versitle center to ever play the game. Yao isn't a power player - and that's going to hurt his game at times. He has a lack of quickness and tends to turn the ball over a lot - which negates his high FT to some degree. But I think the critique of Yao is overly harsh to call him a "role-player".
If people actually think that Yao himself should hold Boozer to 2 pts, then this thread should just end. It is a biggest 1 on 1 mismatch this entire series. Boozer causes more problems than Duncan or Amare since he can consistently do everything.
Nothing is MORE disturbing than what you conclude.....You lost all your creditability as a Rockets fan when you bashed the franchise player of your team as a role player....... You're a YOH, nothing more, nothing less.
