Where's cadet65? Out partying too hard? Can't breathe with excitement? Buying a new keyboard... Just kidding.
Howard pads his stats by not blocking out of playing defense, either he grabs a board, or his team lose an offensive rebound, Yao is heads and shoulders better than howard at this point, he plays much better defense, he box out and allow his teammates to grab the boards, that is why magic are nowhere near the top echolon of rebounding team last season while the rockets are first, why? boxing out, Howard is a rebounding stats padder, that is not saying he's not good, he can score against scrubs, but his offensive game is limited and he got box the **** out by yao, end of story, yao always outrebound howard in their matchups for a reason, end of homerism.
Not sure how to embed the ESPN highlights: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=281122019 Notice how Yao is a total after thought in those highlights. No mention of him putting Howard in foul trouble, or his 16 first half points.
You can throw all the season stats out the window...Head to head...Yao owns Howard. It's been proven time and time again.
Can't say I'm surprised. I guarantee if Dwight had a monster dunk we would have seen it over and over in the highlights. The wat the use "Off night" to describe a Howards play is pretty disrespectful to Yao and Hayes. I could see if he missed open layups or easy buckets but to totally omit Yao/Hayes as a factors is ignorant.
Interesting from you Durvasa since you're a known stats guy. Now you're saying that black and white stat book you keep has got some gray areas. They both have different games and strengths, Howard strictly relies on athleticism, he doesn't have the skill of Yao yet. No jump hook, no back to the basket game, no mid-range game whereas Yao is diametrically opposite so I don't think you can make a case that DH is better than Yao without looking at the head to head records and the team records. I just think that what the record shows over 4 years of games between the two teams is that who is better is debatable. Shame on Bull for saying DH is better than our big guy.
it was yao's fault. he should not have taken 2 or 3 jumpers against foyle, because folye got away at least twice when in fact he hit yao on the wrist and the refs closed their eyes. yao should've just backed him down and got within 2 feet of the rim to either make the shots or force the zebras to make a call.
Yao always plays very well against star centers, such as Howard, O'neal, TD, etc because they normally defend Yao one-on-one. It's those scrubs who give Yao more trouble since they will try every way of harassing and double-teaming Yao.
I don't think I've ever said otherwise. I think head-to-head stats can be interesting, but in the grand scheme of things they are overrated. How they matchup against eachother has little bearing on which player would give us a better shot of advancing in the playoffs. I think that's the key question we should be asking ourselves.
Yao>Dwight The only thing Dwight has over yao is durabilty--which Yao had his first 3 seasons. Matt Bullard should be fired for his comments dh best center --big goof. Bring back calvin murphy.
the only real advantage dh has over yao is shot-blocking. anything else, offensive moves, rebounding (yes rebounding), ft's, defense, etc., yao has a clear edge. so who's the best center? in my mind it's really a no-brainer. rebounding - dh has a pretty number yet his team has not been a great rebounding team. someone here has already explained why. to be the best, you have to beat the best. simple as that. keep in mind howard works in the east. the vast majority of the games are up against the east teams which generally have a much weaker interior. even though the east is catching up a little, most great bigs are still in the west.
Who's the best big man? It's not Yao it's Shaq. It's not Yao it's Omari. It's not Yao it's Tim. It's not Yao it's Dwight. It's not Yao it's, well we don't really know, but we know it's not Yao because he doesn't look like he's dominating the way the others do. Oh, I know, It'll be Ogden. Seriously, Yao has several challenges in the hype department. First, he doesn't have a ring so he'll generally lose the hype battle to the big men who have won championships, Second, Yao's game produces more negative hi-lights then positive ones. Finese doesn't translate well to the hi-light reel and a 7'6"guy is supposed to slam and block shots so nothing eye-popping for the hi-lights there. However, when a little guy slams on him, or blocks him that's different. That's news. That gets cover and so that's what most out of market media and fans see. Finally, Yao often looks clumsy and slow, especially when compared to a fast athletic big man. Fast athletic 18 and 10 looks more dominating then slow and deliberate 22 and 12. So, even though I don't think its fair, Yao is probly never going to be considered the hands down top big man regardless of his stats. Of course this all changes if he wins two or three championships and out plays Dwight, or Garnette in the finals.
