Did Shaq figure out how to play Yao in the last game?

Shaq played alittle harder last time and didn't take Yao lightly but I don't think he can stop Yao. Yao missed a lot of easy shots that he was making earlier in the season. Shaq also shot the ball horribly that game but was given ridiculous credit for dominating Yao. Basically it will come down to officiating and how the 2 giants are officiated.

 

I think Yao played Shaqs game and his shot was off, and has been off lately. I hope he finds his shooting touch soon.

I think Yao made some mistakes while playing Shaq too.. like stupid reach in fouls and bumping people along the baseline with his hips. YAO DONT PICK UP STUPID FOULS!

other than that.. If Shaq plays too aggresive Yao should try driving in and taking it to the rim. I bet Shaq would end up fouling him almost every attempt. I love when Yao takes it to the rim..

Maybe he can try pump fake then move into Shaq to initiate contact (Kobe does that all the time) to try and pick up fouls on the big guy!

J

 

Is this the game he shot like 3-15? That was one ugly game by him.

If I recall correctly, SF struggled too, and JJ. Cat was our hero that night, although we came up short.

SF: 5-12
JJ: 5-15

YAO: 3-15

Cat: 12-23, 26pts.

 

Yao just had a horrible game. In fact the entire team just didn't have the same intensity they had shown in the 2 wins.

I can promise you though that won't be the case come Saturday. Can't wait!!!

 

Shaq really crowded Yao and Yao played very, very passively in that game. Settled for too many fadeaways instead of going with the hook and taking it to the rack.

 

And yet, they still had a chance to win the game on the road against a team with a long winning streak at the time.

 

I just don't like how Yao is limited to post play only. If Yao can't get into position, he is frozen out of the play.

I think the Rockets need to do a lot of different plays, make Shaq respond to the plays. Shaq will always be able to push Yao out and defend him one on one, its the truth. But if we can get the pick and roll going, and Yao flashing through the paint, it makes Shaq's defensive job a whole lot harder.

 

Yao got the shots he wanted, he just was missing shots he made against Shaq previsouly.

 

Yao had an off game. Shaq didn't play particularly well that game either. It was Malone who killed us. In fact, the one player that worries me most is Malone. Yao usually plays well against Shaq. Mobley plays well against Kobe. Francis plays well against Lakers. It's Malone that will give us problems.

 

As bad as Yao played last time against Shaq, Shaq also had a terrible game. He did not shoot much better from the floor than Yao, he pulled down the same amount of boards, and committed 6 TOs against Yao's 0 TO.

It was a bad game for both guys, with Yao's game a little worse.

 

Shaq will "tire" Yao out ...

Yao usually doesn't do well after his games with Shaq. Wait until he has to play him 4-7 in a row.

I think JVG is beating Yao to the punch with his "I don't want to hear about Yao getting tired" speech.

But, this will be fun to watch, and Yao can learn a lot from Shaq, just as Shaq did from Dream. Its the beginning of handing the torch, and I'm sure Shaq will want to school Shaq as much as Dream schooled him. He'll consider it his god-given responsibility. But, he'll respect him. I like how Shaq has brought Yao along, and I think Yao will learn there's still a whole next level to go to now. There would not be any big competition, if Shaq hadn't handled it like he has. Shaq knows good marketing, and the competition between Shaq and Yao is good marketing of the MBA, I mean NBA.

Its fun to have the "next Big thing" on your team. Great to have this excitement as a Rocket again.

 

One main reason: No Kelvin Cato.

Shaq just wore Yao out because he's just simply too big and strong for Yao to always try to hold Shaq 1 on 1 throughout the game. We really need Cato to hold Shaq and Yao helping him out from the weakside. Another big reason is how Shaq played Yao by being aggressive and in his face constantly no matter how far away Yao is from the basket. It definitely distrupted his timing.

Yao might hold up for 3-4 games against Shaq head to head. But I don't know about 7...