ClutchCity.net Game Thread: Rockets @ Lakers 11/17/2002

I posted in a thread the other day that I thought Ming would be a valuable contributor by January. Looks like he'll be contributing sooner then that!

 

All my roomates cept for myself are hardcore laker fan, imagine their feelings when after the game I started to blare the Yao Ming song constantly. Needless to say it was still a great feeling to do that after hearing all their crap about Ming being a bust.

 

I don't know why he kept saying bad shot by Mobley, Mobley played well tonight deferred pretty well. He has been deferring a lot the last few games, he had something like 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 or 4 assist, Mobley is doing fine.

 

Francis had a great game leading the Rockets in points, assist, and 2nd in rebounds. Yao had his best game of the season, but I don't consider this his true break out game. It will be his true break out game when he gets 10 rebunds to go with his 20pts. I'm sure he would of got his ten rebounds if he was in the game a good 30mins; and those minutes should be coming soon after the way he played tonight.

 

http://www.insidevc.com/vcs/sports_columnists/article/0,1375,VCS_225_1553093,00.html

Big guy can make anyone feel small

By David Lassen
November 18, 2002

pictureLOS ANGELES -- Before he does anything else -- and it's pretty clear he's going to do plenty -- what Yao Ming does is alter the perspective of the game.

When Chairman Yao steps onto the court, the Houston Rockets rookie and legendary tall person has the same effect that the average NBA player does by walking among an average group of fans, which is to say he makes everyone else look small.

The Lakers' Slava Medvedenko, who had the initial task of guarding Houston's elongated bundle of potential when Yao first entered Sunday's game at Staples Center, suddenly looked like a freshman playing on the varsity, like a Mini parked next to a motor home.

You may want to tell yourself it's some kind of optical illusion, that the 6-foot-10 Medvedenko really couldn't be that much smaller than another human being. It's a natural reaction, since few of us have ever had to wrap our minds around the idea of a human being who is either 7-foot-5 or 7-6, depending on your source.

But there's nothing illusory about his ability to change a game, or his potential to take it over.

In his eighth NBA game, the first foreign player to be picked No. 1 in the NBA draft gave a pretty good example of why the Rockets decided it was time to cast their fortunes Yao Now, And How. With Shaquille O'Neal still idled, making the Lakers like most of the rest of the league -- without a true center -- Yao was 9 for 9 from the field and had 20 points in 23 minutes to help the Rockets add to the Lakers' woes, 93-89.

"The big kid was really good," said Phil Jackson, who had said beforehand that he wasn't all that intrigued by the prospect of a Yao vs. Shaq matchup, but certainly had to be wishing for it afterward. "He was the difference in the ballgame."

"I was just lucky," said Yao, speaking through an interpreter. He was speaking of his 9-for-9 night, although he might well have been referring to the genetic good graces that makes it possible for him to tilt a game even before he has a full grasp of it.

Because that is clearly the state of Yao right now. He occasionally gets lost on the court, and the Rockets aren't exactly rushing to run the offense through The Very Big Guy. Playing 11 minutes in the fourth quarter, he had exactly three touches on offense. He scored on all of them, including a three-point play with a minute left that put the Rockets up by four.

But even in the long march between shots, Yao is a factor. In the first half, there were two occasions when Kobe Bryant drove past his man and to the basket, only to find his path blocked by The Great Wall of China. The first time, he drew a foul; the second, he passed off.

Bryant was later asked what it looked like, driving in on a 7-6 guy. The question stopped him for a moment.

"I don't know," he said. "I just go to the body, get the contact, try to put the ball in the hole." (With all that Yao in front of him, there was no chance of that, at least not in the three-point-play sense.) "Obviously, he's a big dude. But coming up in high school, I used to play against Shawn Bradley. It's really no different."

Which is to say that it's just like playing against all those other 7-6 guys out there: not easy. That was illustrated when Bryant had to change a shot from the top of the key to get it over Yao, when the drive to the hoop pretty much vanished from the Lakers arsenal when The Big Guy From Shanghai was down low.

"His presence in the middle was a little overwhelming," said Rick Fox.

"It's not going to be that way when No. 34 gets back," said Brian Shaw. "I was impressed tonight, though. He did what he had to with his size and took up a lot of space out there."

With his mobility and agility, it's clear that Yao has the potential to do much more than that, much more than Bradley has in his NBA career.

On Sunday, though, Yao showed a lot more than just potential.

"It seems like he likes playing the game," said Bryant. "It seems like he's really enjoying it, and that's the most important thing right now, because everybody's pulling him in different directions."

And while it's true that Yao wowed against Medevedenko and Samaki Walker, not Shaq, it's also true that there's only one Shaq, and 28 other teams without a Yao. This may be why even O'Neal believes the guy from Shanghai has the potential to be "the man" in the future.

"For a rookie, he's doing A-plus work," said Shaq. "He has all the tools -- shoot, dribble, he can play. He's no slouch ... He has all the tools of a new-era big man."

And more height than just about any of them. "If you've got a 7-footer, he's still got him by half a foot," noted Jackson.

That makes it possible for him to change a game even now. And as he gets more comfortable in the NBA, it seems likely that the concept of Yao Ming as a major force in the NBA will be much more than just a tall tale.

-- It's no big deal, but you can reach Star columnist David Lassen at 496-8158 or lassen@insidevc.com.

 

It's funny I was over on the Golden State board and they were calling Francis and Mobley ball-hogs and cancers. I thought they did a great job passing the ball around and getting Ming the ball. And they said that Ming would score 20 ppg with a real PG. I'm guessing Ming learning the system and earning his minutes had something to do with him not scoring 20 ppg. Now Ming is confident and having fun, and a team with Mobley, Francis, Ming, Mo and Griffin is going to be awesome. This team doesn't need to make any trades or anything, they are set!

 

The author of this article may not agree Ming is a defensive liability on the team.

 

Nice article. People are really starting to see what Yao can do vs the negativity shown on espn.

 

I agree. Mobley played quite well. He wasn't shooting very good. But he did all those "little things", rebounding, defense, passing , etc. I think he is a better contributor by not jacking up shots.

 

I used to be a Lakers fan. Sure, I'm always gonna root for the Rockets over them, but I don't begrudge the boys in Yellow their trophies. No more. I now hate the Lakers with a passion. And it's about an important issue - parking. I understand that you want to reserve some choice lots for your season ticket holders. For the Clippers games I've been to, I just parked in a different Staples lot - no problem. But last night all Staples lots required pre-paid parking. When I asked an attendant where I could park if I hadn't pre-paid, he directed me to a charming discount lot with no lights and a thriving pharmaceutical commerce. Meanwhile I had spent about 20 minutes just waiting to turn into the $%$#@!! lot.

By the time I bribed my way into a well-lit lot and waited my turn to pass through the metal detectors, the Rockets were already out of fouls for the first quarter. While walking the 3 1/2 miles from the entrance to my seat, I looked up at a monitor to see Fisher on Francis. Before I could finish saying "Fisher can't stay with Stevie" (which I actually said out loud, even though no one was around me at the time), Francis had blown by him with little effort. Sure, the LA Times can say Fisher did a good job on defense, but anyone who was actually there knows that is a joke.

Like when I saw the Clippers and the Rockets match up for the second time in LA last year, these tickets came to me in a back alley parking lot deal. The only difference is that last time it was behind a Cocos, this time behind a Starbucks (much more likely, given the world's Starbucks-Cocos ratio). Thankfully, this time I didn't have to pull out my Glock. The bottom line is I managed to pay top dollar for top seats. When I say "top" I don't mean "top quality." I mean "top of the seating chart." Imagine center court, where the Lakers logo loving lies and the Laker Girls give it full jiggle to Jack Nicholson. Now imagine the farthest possible distance away from that point while still being indoors. Let's just say I stubbed my head on the #$%@!! roof.

Yet I could still basically see Yao Ming eye-to-eye. I don't know if you've noticed, but that dude is tall. As in, he's not short. I saw Shaq at the Four Seasons Hotel last week and that guy is so big I peed myself. (I saw Pierce Brosnan there, too, which has nothing to do with this story but is still pretty cool.) Yao may not have anywhere near the poundage, but he could surely do Shaq's hair with Shaq standing up, if he knew how to do hair and if Shaq had any.

Yao should enjoy himself now while he's still unmarried. Here's my impression of Yao's future wife, 24/7: "Um, Yao, could you be a dear and reach down that vase for me? Would you mind dusting up there in the corner? Thanks, Honey." Etc., etc.

So just as I was settling into my seat Yao started puttin on his show. Some clever Lakers fans were yelling things like "Chow Ming," which I guess counts as some sort of anti-Chinese insult if your IQ is equal to your row number (12, for reference). But then I heard something along the lines of "I'm impressed" and "Wow Ming," which, again, rhymes with "Yao Ming."

By the way, how long until he sheepishly admits that his name is really spelled "Yaoh"?

Another by the way - you know that old Mel Brooks movie, High Anxiety, where the suspenseful music plays, and then it turns out a busload of musicians is passing by, playing the music? Well, a few minutes into my wife says, "Look - it's the band." Sure enough, what I thought was a guy at a sound board in some back room somewhere was an actual brass band, sitting two sections to the right. The funniest part was that ther ewasn't enough room for all of them so one trumpeter was actually sitting in front of the band section, amongst ticket holders. Can you imagine sitting literally right next to a guy blowing a trumpet the whole game? Surreal.

Okay, back to Yao. As impressive as he was, the whole time I couldn't help thinking that there's no way he's doing this if Mark Madsen isn't on the DL.

Okay, okay, of course everyone has already talked about Shaq's absence. But Yao was the only Rocket playing like Shaq wasn't there. It was really strange - no one was going to the hole. Guys - Shaq didn't even leave the locker room. I think you can dunk one over Rick Fox. Pretty disappointing, really.

Why was Hawkins covering Kobe most of the night? I guess no one can really hold him, but Mobley did a pretty good job when necessary. On that note, I can't really fault Kobe for hogging the ball. No one else on that team seems to be able to hit the open shot. Must be frustrating.

And the reports of Kobe bulking up have not been exaggerated. He moved a pick-attempting KT out of the way like he was a paper doll. And with one pinky, I think.

I was surprised to notice in the 4th that Yao had more points than Mobley - I think it was 12 and 11, respectively. That's when I started getting excited about reaching the Barkeley butt-kissing total of 19. I was worried when Yao picked up his 4th foul, but Rudy left him in, to his credit.

The Lakers JumboTron must have replayed the Samaki Walker block of Francis' dunk about 100 times. It was nasty, though.

Seeing Yao finish on that 4th quarter break (and one!) was really awesome, I must say. NBA - Love it Live!

Poor Moochie - he needs to either a.) go back to the full Fro, b.) go back to Drunken Master style ball or c.) both. He just didn't have it last night.

Things you didn't see on TV or read in the paper:

1.) How's this for pathetic - the Lakers announcer was actually asking fans to vote for Fisher, Fox and Horry for the all-star game. Sad when you have to have a campaign to get players in. And fat chance - I'm happy these guys have their rings but let's face it - they're not all-stars.

2.) During one Lakers Girls routine (Clippers Spirit puts them to shame), my wife asked what was written on their shirts. I whipped out the binoculars (okay I was already looking) and told her that "Reign of Fire" was emblazoned across their bosoms. And, yes, the backs of their shirts read "Coming soon to video and DVD." Now, that is sad.

3.) Mobley had a bit of friendly jabbering going on with a certain Mr. Spielberg on the sideline. It wasn't exactly Spike Lee-Reggie Miller but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. Also, I'm pretty sure that Cat didn't say "Hey, Spielberg, watch us commit a shot clock violation!" when he inbounded right in front of the director but that's what happened.

Sorry this is so disorganized. More next week after the Rockets return to town for a date with the Clippers. Hope they match up better against them this year. Yao-Kandi will be interesting, anyway.

 

C'mon, Kobe, show some class.

 

thanks.

 

Yao's game... purely phenominal.
100% shooting, and I can dog on laker fans. Good job kets! Hope Yao can keep up the awesome work.

 

Wag, that's a very entertaining read. Thanks.

 

amusing post wag. :d

 

Is it true that Yao got EXACTLY THREE(3) touches offensively in the 4th qtr, and he scored on each of them. I don't think anyone would call that MORE INVOLVED, recieved more passes. Plus, the guy was perfect, why did he only have three touches in the 4th qtr.

 

There has been a lot of criticism directed at Rudy lately. Other threads are for arguing about past games. But I will point out something great that Rudy did last night.

He rested Ming the whole third quarter so that Ming would be ready for the home stretch drive.

I know in the chat room, people were thinking Rudy had lost his mind, but our coach outfoxed a lot of people with that move.

We didn't win because of his coaching, but he did outcoach Phil last night. He had Ming and Mo both in their at the right times.

 

How many scouts do you think the Lakers sent to China last night

 

First, thanks wag for the great post. I love those "at the game" reports.

I only want to mention one word "AGGRESSIVE". Yao Ming showed that in bunches during the Laker game. I posted about a week ago that Yao needed to be more aggressive around the basket. That alone would make an improvement in his game. I could not believe what I was seeing when he started slamming the ball down. You can see he is a little more comfortable and confident out there in the court. Keep that aggression going Yao and don't worry about the damn fouls at least for now. What a game!!!

By the way, there was an article quoting Stevie saying that they had been on Yao's case since day one about him dunking the ball when he was around the basket. I guess he finally had the confidence to do it consistently during a game. A Laker's game no less!!

 

Hey WAG. I thought I wrote long posts!

I printed out your post, cut them into small pages, stapled them together,
created a little book and sold it on Ebay!