Do Rockets practice dumping the ball into Yao ALL OUT??

Yao wasn't involved in the offense because he couldn't get position on Jason Collins. Mark Jackson couldn't get Yao the ball.

 

Even when they were winning early, I knew they would lose this game if they keep failing to get Yao the ball in good position. When it's so difficult and frustrating just to get the ball in your hands, it's not surprising that he missed about 3 shots that he'd normally make.

Some of those pass "attempts" into the post were utterly pathetic. Those passes weren't even close. They went right into the hands of the defender, and the defender didn't even have to move. The ball just went right into their hands. It's almost like they were trying to turn the ball over.

What happened to the lob pass to take advantage of Yao's height? And what the heck happened to Yao's high post game? It's obvious that he was much more effective mixing it up between the high and low posts, and I don't understand why Van Gundy went away from that.

What a disgusting game to watch. Steve had a good game shooting, but I still don't see this team going anywhere if they are so utterly imcompetent passing the ball. Just plain ugly.

 

Nobody can hold position in the post for over 2 or 3 seconds at a time. Nobody. If you don't seize the right moment to pass the ball, the opportunity is lost. You can't expect Yao to spend the whole game fighting for position in the low post if the ball doesn't come when he has position. First of all, fatigue sets in. Everybody agrees that he's not the fittest player out there, but I don't care who it is. You can't spend the whole game pushing and shoving without getting tired. They can make his game more effective if they occasionally pull him out to the high post to shoot mid-range jumpers, which you know he will nail given enough attempts.

 

I wish you guys would figure out that you cannot lob a pass to a guy when he cannot hold his position against his man AND when a second defender is cheating over from the weakside. You think we have turnovers now, try heaving lobs over the top to Yao.

Yao will improve at this part of his game eventually. He just isn't strong enough or physical enough to justify the risk of lobs and forced passes into the post.

What I found frustrating about today's game was the inability to adjust by JVG and the team in general. They came out after the half and continued to try and force the ball inside. No running Yao across the lane or freeing him on back picks. They ran almost no screen and rolls preferring straight-up post-up's that have rarely been effective all year.

What was most frustrating was the lack of speed with which guys like Cato, Mobley and Taylor got into the offense. I heard JVG yelling on at least 4 or 5 occassions at one of them to hurry up and get into position because Francis was standing at the top of the key looking like a dumbass waiting for the screener to get position or a back-pick to be made.

I've never seen a team so damn slow to get into an offensive set. I know that JVG likes the team to run the ENTIRE PLAY EVERY TIME and he prefers to slow things down immensely, but, in a game like today when CLEARLY the lane was not exactly being shut down by NJ, you can't just come down, set and wait.

This one was frustrating for me because it felt like basketball's equivalent to the wishbone offense in football - three yards and a cloud of dust. Maybe like the Oilers were in the late 70's and early 80's: give it to Earl, give it to Earl, give it to Earl, punt. Ugh.

 

The Rockets in second half was pathetic, three players knew the play and the other two didn't. Everyone was standing around and Yao couldn't establish position from the start of the game.

 

Yao still is making it so difficult for anyone to pass the ball to him. And the Nets really didn’t even need to double Yao today. Jason Collins did a great job of fronting him. At this point every team in the NBA knows Yao is lost when the defense fronts him. You could go get the best lob passer in the world and they still wouldn’t be able to get Yao the ball when the other team fronts. Even Mark Jackson couldn’t get him the ball.

Something I’ve noticed a lot of players doing when they’re being fronted is they’ll stick their forearm on the defenders back and really push them down to the point where the guy fronting is in a squatting position. This makes is so much easier for the passer to pass them the ball. I’ve seen Maurice Taylor do this a lot.

For some reason, Yao never does this. He’ll put his arm on their back and shove them forward instead of downward. This really makes it difficult to throw a lob pass to him. You CANNOT let the fronter stand almost completely upright. The only choice the passer will have is to throw the ball 3 feet in the air where it’s almost like a jump ball. And you know how badly Yao is at winning jump balls.