i didn't watch the game ... but did yao really played 38 min? on his 3rd game come back from surgery? how was he holding up, especially in the 4th q? i was also wondering what the coach was thinking playing him 38 min? could that mean yao has really improved his stamina?
What are you? High? I watched the game and Yao had none of the problems you mentioned so I'm wondering if you watched the game at all. Sure, Yao has problems holding on to the ball in the NBA, but not against Iran. Iran was double/triple teaming him everytime the ball gets on the same side of the court as him. When the CNT guards tried to force feed him, the ball usually ends up being knocked out/taken away before it even gets to Yao. So what is this crap about "he's having problems holding on to the ball." He had 3 turnovers, one was an offensive foul, the other 2 was stripped. 1) One, the Iranians had 2 guys with arms around his arms and finally got the ball loose after when one of them had swung his arm into Yao's face when Yao tried to pass (ironically no foul). 2) Two, he was going up for a shot and was fouled hard with no call. Secondly, the Iranians were fouling Yao hard on every possession. Think the NBA's arms in the back was bad? Iran was doing it all game long, with two people, aside from the usual hacking and fouling. That tall Iranian guy (Jabar Rouzbahani) was basically turning to his side ande shouldering Yao. Their 3rd stringer, Mohammed Shasavand got 3 fouls in 44 seconds. He was quadruple teamed for part of the 4th quarter. If they actually call it like they should, the entire Iranian team would have fouled out in about 2 minutes. You said that Yao scored all his points because Iran was in the penalty about 3 minutes into each quarter, well, there's a reason for that. They either force Yao to score from the line or under the basket. Thirdly, Yao wasn't NEARLY as tired as you said, he was pushing and shoving against the Iranian 5's all game long. Even in the 4th when he slowed down (in large part because he's at about 70% according to himself when he played 34 minutes) he was shoving and pushing. If you call that tired, I don't know what the hell it means to not be tired. Fourthly, What is this crap about the opposing 5's scored couple of nice baskets on him? Their starting 5 (Rouzbahani) had no points, the backup (Hamed Hadadi) scored all of 3 baskets. One was a fadeaway 15 footers, another was a wide open 3, the final one was an 18 footer where Yao didn't challenge. He tried to mock Yao after the shot only to have Yao come back and do an "and 1" that fouled him out. The guy shot like 30% Finally, how are you supposed to dominate with 1 and 2 above? You can't get the ball and you get hammered without getting called. Yao had all of 1 (yeah, big fat 2) shot, one under the basket and one was an 18 footer, in the first quarter. He got the ball twice more in which he was fouled. Other Notes: 1. I don't know how the hell Sina kept stats, so many of them were wrong. But then again, I warned y'all that it's no more than a tabloid site. 1a). There is NO WAY IN HELL that Yao took 15 shots in that game. I think they counted shots and fouls. He took 2 shots in the first, 3 in the second, 3 in the third, 3 in the fourth, add on the end of 1st buzzer beater, that's 12. He missed 3 dunks. Two were uncalled fouls, the other he just screwed up. His official final stats according to the stat keeper was: Points 29 2PT 6/11 3PT 0/1 FT 17/23 Rebounds 17 Blocks 4 Steals 3 Assists 1 Turnovers 6 (here they put many of the CNT guards' turnovers from force pass on him even though the ball never actually reached him) 1b). Yao DID NOT play 38 minutes. 40 minute game, he rested from 7:12 mark of 2nd quarter to about the 4:30 mark and the last 4 mins of the 4th quarter. That means he played about 34 minutes. The difference between this game and JVG's gameplan is that he's not 100% and that he played most of the 34 minutes straight. 1c). I counted that Yi Jianlian had at least 3 blocks, not 1 as Sina recorded. 2. The CNT guards had about 10 turnovers in the first quarter, 5 in the second, 1 in the third and 4 in the fourth
Good, let the season prove me wrong. He wasnt dominating against Iran, that's all I was saying. Trust me, I want to be wrong on this one. Peace out.
What does dominating mean? If the other team let Yao attempt 23 foul shots, how much more can you ask someone? That was the first time I heard 29 pts and 17 reb was not a dominating performance.
Exactly. How can someone diminish his game because the other team's big guys were in foul trouble? They were in foul trouble because they could not stop him.
I am a little bewildered here. What's the purpose of asking Yao Ming to play on and against these n-tiered (where n >> 1) teams? Can't he play in the summer league in U.S.?
wnes, I thought you were Chinese right? Don't you know this is the Asian Championship? Not that it matters that much in the US, but as the undisputed leader of the Chinese team, Yao WANTS to lead his team to championships. Hopefully he will do the same for Houston soon.
If you mean the summer league as in "Rocky Mountain Revue" or other league run summer leagues, then no. Those are for 1st or 2nd year guys. And besides, I don't see a whole lot of difference in playing an G-tiered league like that and what Yao is doing right now.
Asian Championship, really? I thought they were just some friendly "invitational games". I must have been out of touch with what's going on in Asia/China. What the heck with all these empty seats in the stand?
It is being played in 卡塔尔? Where ever that is, is that Qatar? I doubt they have too many basketball fans, but I bet the seats are cheap!
I agree, and thats the part that Yallmean don't understand. Just b/c Yao was taking advantage of the penalty by going to the foul line shouldn't dinimish his game. After all, when someone double/triple team you and send you to the foul line every time...doesn't that show a respect for him as a dominant player? You get your 29pts in anyway you can, thats how a great player should think like. Lets not forget that he's still working himself into game shape and his timing might be off.
Great recap! I watched the game too and agree most of your points. Though Yao was nowhere near his 100% (in my view 60%-70%), but he simply single-handed fouled out the whole front line of Iran, which is arguably the second best in Asia. Most of the TOs were due to the guards' horrible pass timing and angle, that's true. Yao's still kinda slow and couldn't jump high thus screwed a few dunks. I believe this possibly because his injury. His stamina is not bad but he definitely needs improve it if Rox want to go further this season. The stats posted in sina site is horrible by the way. Your breakdown is surely much more precise.
