ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Sonics 12/15/2005

Breathlessly awaiting both the Warriors & Sonics highlights clips.

 

That's usually true, but he definately did not handle the double teams too well tonight. I think it's because he just hasn't faced conventional doubles that often in his career. Guys never seem to be in a place for him to find them. Maybe theirs a coaching element to the problem.

 

I think a lot of it has to do with his passing. Everyone here assumes Yao is a great passer because he flipped it over his head to Moochie 3 years ago. The truth is he's an average passer, maybe a little below due to his strength. Yao doesn't have the vision or strength Dream had when passing out the double team.

 

the game is already out for D/L...

http://www.mininova.org/get/178411

torrent...woohoo..have fun with that

 

This team is playing "I will help you" basketball. The block on Tracy and the follow up, hustle steal by Wesley was the highlight of the game for me.

Wesley, JVG and others have earned their grilling. They now earn our applaud.

And someone give Yao and Standing O for the angriest dribble (the technical he got) hes ever done. We need more.

.500...here we come.

 

I see the problem is movement on offense. We have none. When Yao has the ball in the pivot, no one is breaking from their man, or cutting to the basket. When we started sending cutters down the lane, we started getting easy baskets. Those two Bowen layups stand out in my mind. Tonight, we saw the same thing when Stromile was handling the ball in the highpost and hit Moochie with a couple passes as he was cutting. Vitaly tonight pushed Yao out a little further off the block, and when he turned, another defender was there, but instead of hitting a cutter, he was forcing passes to guys who were just standing there waiting. We need to continue this trend of adding more motion to our offense.

 

One area that we can still improve is our movement off the ball. cutting to the basket without the ball is non-exsistent. primeter defense is still another.

 

I think Yao is a good passer. In the previous game, he hit Bowen again and again with laser sharp passes. In this game, he hit Mooch with good passes. And look at those passes to Tmac he made from above the key. Those are the best passes Tmac have received with this team. In his rookie year, he made that slap pass which I will never forget. He was spontaneous and creative. I remeber watching his clips from his first year, and saw his creative passes caught teammats off guard during trainings. Unfortunately some of his creativeness vanished, partially due to the structured offense we run. The bottomline is for a guy his size and weight, he is a very good passer. Don't compare him with guards who make passes for a living.

 

Nice win... Let's tack on three more to this streak and we will have turned the corner.

 

Yao is a descent passer for his mamoth size. but he is nowhere near the passer the dream was. hakeem had the uncanny ability to hit our spotup shooters even if he was triple teamed. yao could'nt hold hakeems jock straps even if he tried.

 

Did you guys catch the travel call on Yao in the fouth quarter? Tmac made a perfect pass, Yao made a step and dropped it in and was called travel.

Is that a travel, or is it just the refrees simply don't think he is agile enough to make that move? Pissed me off! And that was the call down the stretch, could have cost our game.

 

Great win, and a lot of bad calls...a win is a win...

 

He shuffled his feet just slightly. Kobe, T-Mac, Shaq may or may not have gotten away with it, but certainly Yao wouldn't. It was a travel, though- but a great play, nonetheless.

 

TNT showed the replay and both Reggie and Doug said that they did not see where the travelling was coming from.

In an era where Lebron can take 5 steps to the hoop without worrying about travelling call, it does seem a little bit too harsh that Yao is not even allowed for 2 steps.

I was very glad that he showed his emotion by getting the T. It must surprised the refs a bit since they began to give him calls late in the game.

 

Now that's just ridiculous. Couldn't hold his jock strap? Where do you get off making inane comments like that? Hakeem didn't become a great passer until the early 1990's, and it wasn't like he was the second coming of Magic Johnson. Very good passer? Yes, certainly. Miles ahead of Yao? No. That's based on watching Hakeem every other day literally from 1986 through 1998 during the season. And it wasn't just Hakeem- if you watch those games, it was often Hakeem who passed to someone- who then hit the open man- that was a play they ran frequently.

Hyperbole is effective in some respects, but let's have some perspective here.

 

Yes, but when they showed the replay, they didn't show his footwork. Trust me, the first second I saw that play I thought, "Damn, they're going to call him for traveling" and they did. They'll continue to get better at that play.

 

The Rockets' scores in the fourth quarter of the 4 games on this road trip:
33-16 in Sacramento.
32-29 in Portland.
27-21 in Golden State.
31-27 in Seattle.

The team isn't yet overwhelming opponents with talent like I had hoped, but they are making the plays they need to at the end of each game.
The difference, as everyone knows, is McGrady, who has brought the term "closer" to basketball.
Had McGrady just played the last 6 minutes of the games with New Orleans, Orlando, Miami, Chicago and the first Memphis game, I think all of those would have been wins.
14-7 is a much more realistic indication of how good this team is than 9-12.

 

canoner = "Yao's a good passer"

blazer_ben's reply in response = "he can't hold Hakeem's jockstrap!"

me = wth?

or for analogy

canoner = "that cheeseburger's good"

blazer_ben's reply in response = "it's not even in the same league as filet mignon!"

me = wth?

 

What about to Dream? or Brad Miller? Or Shaq? I'll give you that Yao is a creative passer. But he doesn't have the strength to send a laser out of a double team to the opposite side of the court. Did you see how weak he bounce passed back out to the open man on the same side as him? I discredit his passing due to his strength. Maybe I was spoiled growing up watching Dream. Maybe this is a better way to put it.. Yao knows when to pass.. he just doesn't always have the strength to make a good pass.

I wasn't trying to compare him to Steve Nash or Tmac. People want Yao to be more centered in the offense and passing like Brad Miller does for Sac. I'm just saying that that's not a realistic option - Yao's not that good of a passer. Hopefully as he gets stronger, he'll be able to make sharper passes. And the reason the man who delivers the entry pass doesn't move is to give Yao an out pass. He has trouble passing across the court, so they keep a man on his side to bail him out and swing it.

 

yes.
... yes!
... YES!
... YES!
... YES!

Fantastic win for the Rockets! We really showed our mettle last night!!!