Yao needs to give up his friendly, peaceful, Chinese morals and start getting fired up and aggressive against the Twin Floppers. Can't stand this soft crap. He needs to get these bastards behind him, grab the ball, back it down, and power dunk on these bums. He's freaking 7'6!
In Brooks case, he was too busy jacking up shots. I like the guy, but that was probably the worst game I've seen from him in a long time. To be fair, almost everyone not named Luis Scola was out of sync. Battier, usually pretty good at entry passes, was hesitating. Artest was playing like he never woke up that morning. Lowry, normally steady, flipped out on us. Wafer exhibited few redeeming qualities. Landry didn't have much of an impact. Just a perfect storm of brute stupidity... except for Scola. They should have ridden Scola until he passed out from exhaustion. At least they're running plays for him now and the results speak for themselves. They should run more of them.
Before game 4, Adelman told him not to fight so much for position, and just keep moving. I think that's what Yao tried to do in game 5 as well, but we lost and now he's not assertive enough.
A couple ideas... 1) A pick & post. I really don't see much of it and it could work if designed correctly. 2) Isolation play for Yao facing the basket 18-20 feet on the base line like Hakeem used to do. Pryz, Oden, Bynam aren't quick enough to challenge his dribbling. He could back them down and get closer for a post up or shoot a jumper if they are giving him space. The playoffs have shown that his jumper is on. He is in the mental zone.
And they should stick to it imo. The results of it (more openings for Yao) in game 4 and 5 are better than game 2 and 3.
It is really this simple. I don't see why they don't do it more. Yao sees it and is constantly pointing for the ball to move to that corner. The announcers see it and have noted it, but the Rockets don't do it enough. They did it a lot more in Game 4. They did it a couple of times in Game 5, almost all successfully - the Yao dunk on Aldridge, Yao got fouled once, I think his And-1 in the 2nd may have been off this play. To make it even easier, they should run a double screen for Battier and Artest. Have Yao be in his typical fronted position, Aaron in the middle of the court with the ball at the top of the key, and Shane, Artest and Scola on the other side of the court. First run Artest from his side of the court behind Yao so Yao can screen Artest's defender, then up to the wing position. Then after Artest clears, run Battier behind him, also behind Yao with Yao setting a screen, but Shane runs to the corner. There are so many options off this play. Option A = Ron open for three. Option B = Shane open for three. Option C = Yao either has post position to get a pass from Ron or is holding of his "fronting" defender to get a pass from Shane. If those don't work, then move on to some combination of pick and rolls, getting the ball back to Aaron up top to work the other side of the floor with Scola, etc.
i've been saying this for a while, they need to bulk up his upper body. The worst mistake they ever did was having him lose weight unevenly, mainly from his upper body. Now he's planted on the ground, which is great when trying to back down a defender, but not so great when you're trying to play musical chairs with a fronting defense or a double team. I can't remember any center, even at Yao's height, who had thicker/wider legs, i dont think it's necessary for his lower body to have so much bulk, but it is necessary for him to gain upper body strength. A big mistake yao commits is just pushing and pushing with his butt. He gets fronted and he's just leaning on Oden for like 3 or 4 seconds, FACING THE RIM, even if u had a good entry passer, they aren't gonna get him the ball when he and oden are leaning on each other's back and yao is facing the rim. He need to stop that and just un-anchor himself from that spot and WALK around oden and seal him off, get the ball and then just back him down or face up on him.
We have no answer the front, there is no combination of coaching or game planning that will solve the problem. Ultimately it is always going to come back to Yao's lack of quickness and athleticism which limits any sets Yao can successfully run. Other coaches, with other centers could incorporate a pick and roll with the center and pg but with Yao that is never going to be an option because Yao would pick up offensive fouls in bunches running over the opposing pg or turn the ball over tripping over his own feet. Trade Yao while he has value, before the giant ultimately breaks down or you will never win a championship.
yao needs to start taking some of those midrange jumpers. he made 2 last night and slowly got the ball easier.
faint That's what Rick told him to do, it's called picking his spot, not fighting for position all the time. Yao is obliged to play 40+ minutes any given game. You know.
That's what I said, and what JVG said during, is that game 3? I was commenting how passer wasnt deep enough and seemingly like an half-effort by the looks. Of course some sensitive people went berserk over the choice of word.
Yes Yao loves being fronted and shutout of a game. But to be real... he just isn't gonna fight them for position cause he's tooooooo..................... aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh **** it.
So what exactly is Portland doing against Yao that is so effective that the other teams have not been doing? I mean how is he so effective against other teams and makes so many points? If our games/plays are centered around Yao and he continues to be shut down somehow by Portland - I almost wonder if is worth it to have him in for so many minutes. Granted he can block and rebound but they won't let him shoot. And when he is on the court the other players concentrate on getting the ball to him which has proved to be fruitless. With him off the court the )our)other players concentrate on making other plays. This is when I surely miss Deke. More intimidation factor there against P&O. Using Yao as bait is a good idea but only goes so far.
Yao is BIG and tall, but he has a weak up-body by NBA standard, that's why he cannot get good post position, and/or hold off the defenders. The Rockets tried to add the muscle to his body, but the weight caused his mobility, which is already slow, and added the stress to his knee & foot. For Yao to get good post position & receive the ball there, it requires solid screens by his teammates, and good & purposeful ball movement. The Rockets has been trying to do both of those, had some success, but not very consistent.
Yeah, but it's not just that - he was putting up 25-30 ppg and 10 rebs for a couple of months a couple of years ago. He was as unstoppable as I've seen a player since Shaq entered the league. The defenders were pretty much the same people then. I can't imagine it's just fronting that's doing it, either because he's been fronted in past and we got around it.
When Tracy McGrady was on this team, teams did not put all 10 eyes on Yao Ming like they are currently. That being said, When or If Yao was fronted when we saw Tracy play. We would beat it because Tracy could drive inside and was a willing passer. Really that simple, nobody on our team aside from maybe Kyle Lowry is willing to pass when they drive. Von Wafer sometimes, but usually he tries to score. Tracy McGrady did a lot more than close out games for us, It's sad to see how under appreciated he currently is. He had bad luck during his prime and now that his prime is over He's just getting bad fans.
The main problem for Yao with fronting compared to other top level centers like Olajuwon, Shaq, Howard, ect, is that those centers could reliably catch and finish a lob pass over the fronting defense. Yao just doesn't have the jumping, mobility and agility to reliably catch a lob pass that isn't right on the money in his hands, where as Shaq or Howard would just take a high lob to the rim for a dunk for example.
another problem is yao doesnt keep his eye on the ball, he fights for position and he's like lost in that battle, so if there's a split second where he could get the ball, it's missed because he's not looking, when he does look then it's too obvious and the defense is ready.
