Hey, you are tredging on sacred ground here. If Yao says it's foul, then it's a foul. -Passage: Yao Fan 3:16
It was a mistake on Yao's part because he didn't hammer Lebron, but I still disagree it's a foul. Just because refs usually call something doesn't mean their vantage point and eyes are quick enough to discern the intent in the rulebook. I'd love to Stern to say "you can jump into a guy who's in the circle and it's an automatic foul". That Yao left his feet seems to exonerate him from that idiotic "no charge" in the circle rule - he went straight up to make a play and still didn't impede James' shot. Watching the NCAA tourney really has made me realize how much I revile the current rules in the NBA.
Why are we talking about this foul or no foul thing at all??? I say this was definately an intentional foul. Didn't you guys realise that the play was the best clutch play by Yao, scored well to create exitment, then foul LBJ for a 3 point play and a TO to extend the playing time to please the fans, then eventually lose the game, as planned What a great clutch performance!
I think Yao didn't try to block Lebron or hammer Lebron as some other posters suggested Yao should have done, because he was trying to AVOID a foul. That should have been a no-call. I have seen players in end of games getting much much more contacts and no foul was called.
You can't try to avoid a foul in the paint up by 3 with less less than 30 seconds to go. As I said before we had a foul to give and Bogans letting James go was ridiculous. But Yao should have either knocked LeBron down or gotten out of the way. His 5th foul was irrelevant at that point. I do wonder if Yao is thinking too much or he's not yet willing to filter out some of what his coaches are telling him.
I blame this tough loss on Clyde Drexler. The sooner Leslie Alexander realizes that Clyde is our problem the better. Entrench Matt as the full time guy or bring back Calvin or Coach Van. Another great choice will be Barry Jon Jon. Clyde is bad news, bad luck, bad omen and bad Karma all roled into one. Disbelieve at your [our] peril.
The whole league should call out refs. They send lbj and AI to FT whenever you breath on them. It is getting ridiculous.
What's funny about this thread is that half the people are saying Yao jumped, and the other half are saying that he just stood there with arms up. Those that say he jumped say he should have just stood there, those that say he stood there say he should have jumped. Yao obviously jumped, straight up. Now, I've heard commentators say many times that a guy has the right to the space above him, so that shouldn't be a foul. Then, other people say that it's a foul because of body contact. I just have a problem with the timing. It was a crunch time situation, when people always say you have to earn the win, the refs aren't going to give you anything. Just watch the playoffs: what Yao did is simply not a foul in those types of games. It's clearly just a bogus star call. Lebron's star power overrides who the defender was, whose homecourt it is, and what time of the game it is. Regardless of whether Yao jumped or stood there, he would have gotten the call anyway.
You people? Check the replay and you'll see that Yao jumped straight up, and James bumped into him. They bumped each other. Clear as day. Foul? Shouldn't have been.
