China won 90-58 Yao Ming: 18 minutes, 14 points, 5/7 FG, 4/4 FT; 3 Rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 2 steals. game report: Algeria's Abdelhalim Sayah was finally in the starting line-up at the fourth day of the tournement. Both teams found baskets from outside zone, but score was very low in first six minutes and China took the lead: 8-10. China scored from field goals, and Li Nan's last second 3-point shot gave his team a 13-24 edge at the end of the first period. In the second quarter, China started to take the advantage of their physical dominance. They reached 18 rebounds while Algeria had only 7 when 03:43 to go. With inzone points, China increased the difference to 19 when 02:35 remaining. Both teams insisted on 3-point attempts although they had a poor percentage. The period ended with 30-48 China lead. In the first 5 minutes of the third quarter, the gap increased to 21 points: 59-38. With the help of offensive rebound superiority, and Yao Ming's good performance (10 points - 2 rebounds - 2 steals - 1 assist), China fully controlled the game: 45-70. In the last period both coaches gave chance to their bench players. Algeria could not stand against China especially in in zone, and the deficit increased minute by minute. The game ended with 58-90 China victory.
Yao Ming's rebound numbers seem to really fluctuate. Some games he pulls down 18-20 boards, then the very next game he gets 3. Is there a reason for that difference, w&s?
I think the reason is that most teams which played Ming lately tried to win the games by shooting from outside. If I remember it correctly, Austrailia won the game by dumping like 15 3-pointers a month ago and Turkey did that by sinking 13 3-pointers a few days ago. With that many long-range shots, there were not really a lot of rebounds to be collected under the basket where Ming played. That might be the reason why Ming's rebound numbers fluctuate. My 2 cents.
You guys ever think Rudy watches these games in a state of utter disbelief that the Chinese team doesn't feed the ball to Yao Ming on a constant basis? If Rudy was coaching the Chinese team, Yao would get 25-30 shots a game.
Just a quick question. Do these guys play every night? I'm glad Yao's only getting 14 min. in some of these games. I couldn't care less about his stats. He's going to be exhausted by the time he gets here.
If Ming gets the ball in the low post, nobody can stop him. No doubt about it. But how can you get the ball to him? He is not quick or strong enough to get into position against physical players. His jumping ability is no good, so you cant throw the ball to him like throwing it to shaq. Can he get the ball in the high post and dribble it to the low post with a spin move? Sorry, his spin move is too slow. His offense is middle range jumpers and tip-ins. If you constantly feed him the ball, he will just pass the ball. Otherwise, he will just shoot the jumpers with an average accuracy.
Ming didn't get many rebounds the last three games. He only played less than 20 minutes (18, 14 and 18). I think this is the main reason. (at the first game, he played 30 minutes and grabed 15 rebounds). Another reason I think is that the coach and Ming want to avoid the injury. According to a Chinese report from Turkey, Ming caught the cold a few days ago. Maybe his physical strength is not very good. Maybe as somebody said, all these are the excuses that I found for Ming, and he is just not a good rebounder simply.
Thanks, W&S. Those sound like pretty good reasons. I wouldn't necessarily call them excuses. Ming may not be an AWESOME rebounder like say Fortson or Ben Wallace, but he is certainly a tall player who has an above average basketball IQ, which I think means he will learn how to use his height to his advantage. I think based on that alone he can average at least 8 boards a game, which I would be fine with.
thanks for the update wind and sea. Yao Ming: 18 minutes, 14 points, 5/7 FG, 4/4 FT; 3 Rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 2 steals. 14 points in 18 minutes aint dat bad. at lease he is doing better than kelvin cato or kevin willis. Rockets needed a scorer. Yao will be a good fit in.
Techlabor: You've made some good points about feeding the ball to Yao in the low post. However, it's not enough to predict Yao's ability to catch entry passes based on the CBA games or the NT games. As you probably know, the Chinese guards are slow and lethargic, they are often not as tall as the NBA guards as well. Sometimes they don't bother to move around or jump higher, find a seam to pass the ball in, instead they launch a 3 right away without giving Yao the damn ball. With Stevie handling the ball, I believe it will be a lot easier for Yao to get the ball in the low post in the NBA.
It seems to me that one of the most important things to watch in these tourneys is Ming's FG%. Due to the Chinese basketball environment, he is not going to take a great deal of shots, and he probably won't be playing 40+ minutes a game, so trying to figure out what his stats mean is difficult. But everytime W&S posts Ming's stats, it seems like he shoots at least 70% from the floor. That is outstanding for a "jump shooter." I so look forward to what this guy will do for our team.
is anyone else worried about that rebound stat for yao? considering that he will only play about 24 minutes per game here, thats only 4 rebounds a game for us. if he gets starter minutes of 36 per game, thats only 6 rebs. dont forget that those 6 rebs are a padded stat against non-nba players. i know yao can do better than that! maybe he didnt try since they were winning by so much.
This is probably worthy of its own thread but I am not sure if this has been posted yet: http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/wbc_tnt_020715.html TNT Will Cover Four U.S. Matchups Turner Network Television (TNT) will air live four games from the Aug. 29-Sept. 8 FIBA World Basketball Championship for Men, featuring a star-studded USA Basketball squad from the RCA Dome and Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. This is the first time the prestigious 16 team international tournament has taken place in the United States in its 50-year history. TNT tips off its coverage on Thursday, August 29 at 8 p.m. (all times Central) when the USA takes on Algeria in first round action at the RCA Dome. TNT will also carry USA versus China, featuring 2002 NBA No. 1 overall draft pick Yao Ming (Houston Rockets) and Wang Zhizhi of the Dallas Mavericks, Saturday, August 31 at 8 p.m. at the RCA Dome. Marv Albert will call the action courtside, with Craig Sager reporting. A color analyst will be announced shortly. The network also will carry the U.S. team's next two games, against opponents to be determined, on Sept. 2 and Sept. 5, both at 8 p.m. Milwaukee Bucks head coach George Karl will lead the American team, which finished 7?2 with the bronze medal in the 1998 World Championship in Greece after fielding a team comprised of collegians and professional players who were either competing overseas or in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA). The United States in 1994, featuring a squad of NBA stars, won the gold in Toronto, Canada, finishing a perfect 8?0. The strong U.S. roster includes 2002 NBA All-Stars Jermaine O'Neal (Indiana Pacers), Ray Allen (Milwaukee Bucks), Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets), Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics) and Elton Brand (LA Clippers). Also on the team are veteran NBA All-Stars Reggie Miller (Indiana Pacers), Antonio Davis (Toronto Raptors) and Michael Finley (Dallas Mavericks), as well as rising stars Shawn Marion (Phoenix Suns), Andre Miller (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Raef LaFrentz (Dallas Mavericks), and 2002 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace (Detroit Pistons). Listed below is TNT’s planned coverage. http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/wbc_draft_020711.html NBA Draft Validates Rise in World Talent By Conrad Brunner Indianapolis, July 11 - The rising talent level in international basketball was validated in the recent NBA Draft, when nearly a quarter of all players drafted came from teams beyond the borders of the United States. In all, 14 foreign players were among the 58 draft picks. That included six in the first round and three of the top seven picks overall. When the World Basketball Championship begins in Indianapolis on Aug. 29, six of those foreign draft picks will be competing, including No. 1 pick Yao Ming (China) and No. 7 pick Nene Hilario (Brazil). Other NBA picks coming to the World Championship are Yugoslavians Milos Vujanic, a 6-3 guard drafted by New York at No. 36 overall, and Mladen Sekularac, a 6-8 swingman taken No. 55 by Dallas; and Spaniards Juan Carlos Navarro, a 6-4 guard taken No. 40 by Washington, and Luis Scola, a 6-9 power forward taken No. 56 by San Antonio. They'll join proven foreign talents like Peja Stojakovic (Yugoslavia), Dirk Nowitzki (Germany), Steve Nash (Canada), Hedo Turkoglu (Turkey), Pau Gasol (Spain) and Andrei Kirilenko (Russia) in attempting to unseat Team USA from its position of dominance in international competition. The most curiosity no doubt will focus on Yao, a 7-5, 296-pounder who has become the instant centerpiece of Houston's rebuilding project. His skills have been much-discussed but rarely seen in the United States, giving the World Championship added significance as his springboard to the NBA. The Chinese national team holds the tournament in such importance it required Houston to allow Yao to spend his summer training for the WBC, rather than attending summer camp with the Rockets. A player whose offensive skills have been favorably compared to former Pacers center Rik Smits, Yao will need time to adjust to the pace of the NBA as well as the American lifestyle. "Even when a college player comes into the league, they don't know what to expect," said Ryan Blake, who specializes in international prospects for Marty Blake and Associates, the NBA's official scouting bureau. "They don't know what their confidence is going to be like, or how their physical and mental skills are going to match up, so everybody tends to come in a little tentative. "He's 7-5 and breathing, and that's a plus, but he also has all these other skills. If he learns to take advantage of those skills, motivates himself and feels the confidence of the realm he's in, he has the ability to do it. I don't know if he's going to do it. When we've looked at international guys, you just don't know how the transition is going to be. It's really a wait-and-see, but he does have the tools and the upside." A deft outside shooter who runs well and has surprising athleticism for his size, Yao needs work on his low-post game, as well as defensive fundamentals, Blake said. "Obviously, he's going to be working hard to prove himself," said Blake. "One of the things I think you'll see, hopefully, is an improvement, defensively. When he matched up against players with more experience, especially our guys, he fouled too much because he just didn't have the knowledge. Now with a few years under his belt, we'll take a look at that and hopefully it's one of the things he'll focus on. "And we're going to have to see if he can play with his back to the basket. He didn't even want to dunk a few years ago. You had to tell him to go dunk it. The NBA is seen on TV in China quite a bit, the Chinese people don't like the flashiness. It used to be, if you scored more than anybody else, it was considered brash and was frowned upon. He's going to have to learn to be more aggressive. They didn't even keep (individual) stats until a few years ago." Yao becomes the first Chinese player ever drafted and the second currently in the NBA, joining 7-foot forward Wang Zhi Zhi, who was with Dallas last season. "This is now a new start in my basketball life," Yao said through an interpreter. "This is a new league in front of me for me to play, so it will be a new challenge for me. I know there will be a lot of difficulties in front of me, but I’m confident that I will learn from the NBA and improve myself and improve Chinese basketball in the future. " Yao said he knows one of his new teammates, Steve Francis, because "he has a lot of commercials in China." He isn't sure what the team will ask of him right away, but is preparing to play a prominent role. Yao "I am excited for the new NBA season to start. I will try my best to learn about the team and learn about all my new teammates, so I will do my best for the Houston Rockets," he said. "First of all, I will rebound for the Rockets. Then, basically, I will play defense for the team. I will also show in the offense all the skills I can now do. " Yao's first exposure to the NBA was watching the Rockets win the NBA title eight years ago, so he's particularly pleased to be playing for coach Rudy Tomjanovich. "Rudy was the one who first made me feel that the NBA is so excellent, so I will be very happy to go the Rockets to play the game with him," he said. "I want to go the NBA to play a better game because the NBA has the best players in the world. So my purpose in going to the NBA is to play against the best. I think to play in the NBA my target is to win." And he seems up to the challenge. Asked which team he was most looking forward to facing, Yao named Shaquille O'Neal's Lakers. "I just want to play the best center," he said.
http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/wbc_china.html Led by Yao Ming, China a Tall Challenge By Conrad Brunner Al Menendez couldn't resist the temptation. One afternoon, while the veteran scout was reviewing tape of an intriguing prospect, a secretary ventured into his office. Hoping to prove a point, he asked for her opinion of one of the players in particular. ''I was pointing out things I like about (the player), like his athleticism, his good hands, his mobility, his running the floor,'' Menendez said. ''So I turned to her and said, 'That's pretty good for a 6-6 guy, isn't it?' And she said, 'Yeah, he looks very good.' ''So I said, 'My mistake: he's 7-6.''' Therein lies the promise of Yao Ming. The tallest player in every game he plays, Yao is not just that. There have been players similarly tall before, but not who carried with them as complete a package of physical skills. He would've been the No. 1 pick in NBA Draft last June, had his club team in China allowed. No matter. He could very well be the No. 1 pick in this NBA Draft on June 26. ''Without a doubt, I would say so,'' said Menendez, one of the most respected scouts in the NBA. ''I don't see any Shaquille O'Neal on the American horizon. Unless somebody's hiding out there somewhere in the woods, whenever he decides to come over, he'll probably be the first pick.'' There is much more than Yao to Chinese hopes in the 2002 World Basketball Championship (Aug. 29 through Sept. 8) in Indianapolis. Indeed, he was not even the best player in China in the 2001 season. That honor belonged to Wang Zhi Zhi, a 7-1 forward who became the first Chinese player ever to appear in a regular-season NBA game with Dallas last season. Not far behind is Menk Bateer, another 7-footer. The three of them form what has come to be known as China's ''Great Wall,'' and they combined to score 43 points and pull 26 rebounds to claim the top spot in the Asian Championship for Men on July 28, 2001, with a 93-67 victory over Lebanon. Though China has been dominant in the Asian Games, winning the title 12 times in 14 years, it has yet to win a medal in the World Championships. The country's prospects have never been better, however. ''They're just breaking through now,'' Menendez said. ''They're starting to pay much more attention to the sport. Without a doubt, this is just the beginning for the Chinese players.'' While Wang, 23, is clearly the most complete player and Menk, 25, is a 300-pound force inside, Yao is the player NBA scouts have their eyes on because at 20, he is still developing. Though he weighs 265 pounds, he has much more room to fill out and gain necessary strength. Offensively, because of the width of the trapezoidal lane used in international competition, he has not developed an American-style low-post game, but does have high-post and face-up skills. Defensively, he is a skilled shot-blocker. The intrigue lies not so much in what he is now, however, as what he could become. ''What I like about Yao is he is such a great athlete for his size that you don't even know that he's 7-6,'' Menendez said. ''Now, he doesn't have a quote-unquote low-post game. Most foreign players learn the game differently because of the wider trapezoidal lane. Since they're moved away from the basket more than our guys, they learn how to face the basket more, more than just backing into somebody and hooking or something like that. So he doesn't have a typical center's game. He has more of a power forward's game. ''I just like everything about him.'' Wang, a second-round pick of the Mavericks in 1999, averaged 4.8 points in five regular-season games. A seasoned international performer, he averaged 11.1 points in the '96 Olympics in Atlanta, and 13.5 points in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. He also led his Rockets past Yao's Shanghai Sharks for their sixth consecutive Chinese Basketball Association championship in March before joining the Mavericks - and making history - in April. ''He's a good player, too,'' Menendez said. ''I don't think he has the future that Yao has but Wang is a bigger Toni Kukoc. He's a very good shooter, he handles well, he runs well. He's more of a power forward than anything but he is 7-1, so he's a good NBA player. ''In the game that I was watching on tape that day, Wang basically outplayed Yao and Wang's team beat them so right now, at this minute, he's a better player. But if you're looking down the road, Yao has more potential and you would have to say a better future.'' The same could be said for Chinese basketball in general, as the ''Great Wall'' could be just the first wave of talent from a country building a true global basketball power.
