I'd like to hear from those of you that studied tape or watch Game 4 closely, to see if you saw what I did. I was there and noticed a marked improvement in Yao's tenacity. It was not reflected in his stats. In games 1-3, Yao settled for a lot of fadeaway's and hooks. He would catch and immediately pull up for 10-15 foot shot, or dribble once and fade or hook. In game 4, there was a tremendous difference. Yao caught the ball in the same areas, but he took several "power dribbles", ala Barkley. He successfully backed his way closer to the rim and made his move or passed. Yao repeated some prior mistakes, such as not shooting when his teammates got him the ball deep in the post. However, in games 1-3, I do not recall him taking multiple dribbles and initiating contact. In his brief career, Yao has demonstrated an ability to study, adjust and improve. In game 4, he took an important step in adjusting to the physical play required in the playoffs, at least in his offensive game. The stats did not bear that out, but the adjustment was there. I look for him to get some tangible results from that adjustment in game 5. Each game we can milk out of this series presents another opportunity for Francis, Yao (yes, in that order based on their play this series) and Co to learn, adjust and grow. He also needs to adjust his play to respond to the types of fouls for which he is getting whistled, like the Malone play. This will probably occur next year because this is a very difficult issue to address.
i watch every game closely. i don't know if he made a quantum leap like you said in game four, but there's been steady improvements throughout the season and into the playoffs. he is being much more agressive on offense for sure, and will continue to put it up even after missing 3 or 4 in a row because he realizes he needs to get going for the offense to flow. hence it never makes sense to me to read those comments about how yao is reaching his potential and will be what he is now for the rest of his career. if you look at his history, even when he first entered the CBA he had lack of aggressiveness issues, and eventually he learned to take over. the thing about potential is that it's limited to your level of competition, there's no doubt in my mind that Yao will learn to be dominant in the big boy's world of the NBA.
