ClutchFans Game Thread: Mavericks @ Rockets 3/7/2004

They did try and resulted in turn over... again because of the bad positioning of Yao... at least that's the case the second half today.

 

About the TOs:

Well, we turned the ball over 7-9 possesions after Yao came out of the game in the 1st quarter. I don't see that those TOs were because our guards were trying to pass the ball inside.

We just got sloppy. Dallas did a great job of preventing Yao from getting the ball since the 2rd quarter. Yao was responsible for some of these TOs, but there are several occasions that SF3 just threw the ball to the defenders.

And what about that behind the back pass to Yao that hit Dirk? All he needed to do is a short lob and it would have been a jam for Yao.

Bottomline, the guards need to improve on their passing skills. They made an effort to try to pass the ball inside, but had too many mistakes. This is two way street and I put the blame to both the guards and Yao.

 

That's exactly what I was think. In the 3rd quarter, what didn't JVG let Yao set some picks and shoot some outside jumpers to mix it up when we had trouble to get Yao inside? We all know he can hit those shots at pretty good percentage.

 

Rox need more players like JJ and Weatherspoon. The fundamental type of players to surround Yao, they're just killing themselves for no reason. They committed unforce errors and turnover the ball time after time. Francis is a big culprit of that. There is no need for behind the back pass and showboat in the game when u ain't even good at passing. There is no incentive for Francis to do what he did today. I mean i can see if he's really good at passing the ball, then he can do some showboating, but MAN...that behind the back pass he did today was embarrassing.

Rox's offense isn't smooth running out there and it's just too mechanical and not dynamic. Everything doesn't seem to flood smoothly. I hate that dude Najera, he's a scrub, i wish Yao would be a little tougher and dunk the hell of him....cuz i think he sucks.

Yao's only weakness is his stamina..i wonder how he can get more energy. Does lifting weight or eating right give you more energy?? i don't know...but he need stamina.

Rox commit 30 TOs and still win the game, that's how horrible Dallas are today.

Rox should not be happy with this win, they should be MADDDD for turning over the ball that much. THey almost killed themselves out there today.

 

what game did you watch? Yao was, for the vast majority of the second half, SINGLE covered by Eduardo Najera; this was obvious to the most casual observer, and pointed out several times by the announcers.

You know, it's funny, whenver Yao doesn't get the ball because he actually is double covered, a contingent always argues "Oh, why do they freeze yao out, throw it to Yao!", and today, when he's single covered and unable to keep his man from swiping the entry pass, the refrain is that "he's double and triple teamed"

Reality, get into it.

 

Williams had no chance at all.

 

WOW, it's about time the Rockets aren't the team to lose the Texas 2 step. Mavs lost against the Spurs the other night, and now the Rockets. Feels so good to finally beat them.

Great win, I can't believe we had 30TO's, but I don't care. We won. We over came out sloppy play and beat a good team. Huge win by the Rox.

I have been waiting for a year for us to beat the Mavs with our new big man, Yao! Time to talk some smack....

 

Yao really needs to elbow the Najeras of the league across the nose. A T/game is worth it. Relying on the refs all the time is way too passive.

 

I thought the Mavs actually mixed up the coverage pretty well in the 2nd half. At times, it was Najera. At times it was a double team. I think that both in combination were more effective than either would have beel alone. Najera played 15 minutes in the entire game.

In trying to correct perceived unfairness on the board, I think you've started becoming unfair to Yao, lately. Do the YOF's really annoy you so much that you prefer to be anti-Yao, rather than merely objective?

 

Hopefully, with more experience, Yao will know how to deal with the like of Najera. and guards will learn what the most comfortable way for Yao to get the entry pass...

 

"He should have grabbed or hit the ball harder than this... "

this is not from me, but from my grandma when I told her that this guy is German.

 

I was actually going to edit to make it read "4th period" and not 2nd half.

But again, it was overwhelmingly clear to even the most casual observer that Yao, as was true earlier this season, as was true all of last year, gets absolutely run by Najera, and it was painfully clear that in Yao's worst moments, the sequence in the 4th where he couldn't handle 2-3 entry passes and turned them over, were a direct result of his inability to combat Najera -- in single coverage.

If you couldn't see that, then you weren't watching the same game. And if you thnk I'm "anti-Yao" for saying that, when Sean Elliott and Dan Majerle were saying the same thing, then I guess you are coming from a different place


and if you think you're trying to correct perceived unfairness with more pro-Yao posts, uhh, maybe you should correct income inequality by making cash donations to Bill Gates.

 

Great win today and I think it is good for the Rox to come up on top in a tight game (good preparation for playoffs). Some observations:
1. the Rox need to practice feeding the post --- it seems esp. in Q3 Mark Jackson is the only one who would attempt an entry pass. Yao needs to practice playing against quick (and [over-]physical) players. SF needs to either improve the lob pass a lot better or start trying other types of entry passes (no I'm not saying SF played bad. He actually played very well. But there is still room for improvement).
2. about 1/3 of the TOs are in the entry passes. Many others are just careless plays, partly thanx to Mavs' playing the passing lane tactic.
3. the more I watch Najera play, the more I hate this guy. I mean, hustling is good, but you can't play by cheating. In their game against SA, he knocked out Parker with his forearm then flopped --- the refs didn't buy it. today (in Q3?) he ran into Mobley (it's not a dead-on hit, they were kind of running in parallel toward the same direction actually). Mobley didn't seem to feel anything, but Najera flopped. WTF? again, the refs didn't buy it. I was so happy that Yao knocked down Najera with his shoulder (looked like a charge to me) --- he deserved it!
4. Spoon is fantastic. But he might need to practice passing in the lane a little bit. There were several occasions where he was double teamed and Yao was open (like when he was blocked twice in a row by the stickman). Were there a pass, it would be a easy layup or dunk.
5. Yao needs to get used to dunking whenever he can. Granted jumping less will reduce chances of getting hurt and it's easier for his knees --- but man, who doesn't love the powerful facial on Dirk? (well, maybe the mavs fan don't).

overall, good effort by Yao, JJ, SF, Spoon and co.

 

Can we discuss how Yao CAN beat Najera? Rockets will play Mav one more time this season...

 

My friend, could you point out any one player on this team who get harassed more throughout the game than Yao gets?

To blame Yao for half the TOs as a result of passing attempts is not fair. This guy is playing unblieveably efficient. 22 pts/22 minutes? The guy has multi-talents/skills to be great at this level. He needs to be acompanied by a cast of smart players knowing how to pass and having good fundamentals. If Yao were not wasting his energy to get open then get unnotced, our offense could have been much more lethal.

Obviously, Dallas's strategy was rotating different dependers on Yao just to get him exhausted and confused. They knew they could not stop Yao for the first 3 quarters. So, they tried everything to prepare for 4th quarter. In the 4th, how many times, Yao was fighting to stay in the front, did guards pass the ball right way? no, they wait too long and passed after that windows of opportunities were closed.

 

By the way, I think Mavs' defense tactic against Yao in the 2nd half is something Rox need to find a solution for --- they first used Williams to wrestle (literally) Yao to wear him out, then used Najera to out-pace him.

 

Yeah, he had trouble with Najera. But wasn't it also true that Yao was getting fouled on nearly every play but Najera? Najera didn't have a single foul. Do you believe that was good officiating? Why not point it out? Oh yeah. Because you'd seemingly rather it be Yao's fault.

And don't give me any crap about how "that's not the guards fault." Of course it's not. But you went beyond defending them, into attacking Yao.

It was perfectly obvious that Dallas was mixing their coverage of Yao. It was perfectly obvious that Najera was getting away with fouls. It was perfectly obvious that some of the entry passes were terrible. Yet you mention none of that.

Incidentally, Sean Elliot is somewhat anti-Yao as well as you. I actually like him and Walton together, because they mesh so well on the subject. They're both irrational each way. Walton will say one over-the-top thing about Yao revolutionizing the NBA, and then Elliott will make some nonsensical comment about how Yao was being weak after hitting an 8 foot jump shot instead of taking it to the rack.

I'm not trying to correct an imbalance. I think you've strayed from trying to do it, to being anti-Yao. You hardly ever say a damned thing positive about the guy these days, unless it's accompanied by praise of Francis, despite the fact that Yao has clearly played better lately.

You're generally one of my favorite posters here, but you've recently strayed towards FOF ground.

 

Haven, since Yao clearly is the focal point of the team. He is to be held to a even higher standard. The TO is the fault of both guards and Yao. I look it as a growing pain of the team. While other teams has been in the league for 4-5 years. The team is put together only for 1 1/2 years, with a new coach for just 1/2 year. It does take time for the team to play like a well-oiled machine. So blame guards or blame Yao, or both (which is my view ) are all ok during this process...

 

We knew how wacky Don Nelson was. He knew they could not stop Yao. So, give him different looks. They don't rarely care if Yao shoot every single time in the first half. If that is all the offense the Rock can produce, then Yao will be exhausted for the 4th.

Dallas rotated three different players to exhaust Yao, certainly they had success in this game. If it were not Yao's clutch play, the outcome of this game could be quite different.

I like SF's pass on the last play. The pass was dished on the move and Yao caught it on the move. There is nothing the defense could do.

 

If you've read my posts today, you'd see that I'm blaming both.

My complaint is that SamFisher, a normally objective poster, seems to take every opportunity to make sure he points out all of Yao's flaws, ignores mitigating circumstances and other's poor play, attacks the YOF's for their lack of objectivity, while he's lost his own.