From what I remember in the old time basketball rule book, a foul would be any contact that gives one player an unfair advantage over another. However, the defensive player is entitled to the space he occupies and that extends from teh floor to the ceiling. Stay in that cylinder and any contact involving you is not a foul. Or, if you are hit hard enough, is an offensive foul. I love seeing Yao standing still in the paint and a little guy comes flailing into him trying to get the foul. Especially on the road. And no call is made. The boo of the fans expecting what used to be an erroneously called foul to be called is priceless.
The double standard displayed by the refs yesterday was unbelievable. Milicic kept wrestling with Yao, grabbing him with both hands, trying everything to wrestle him out of the paint - no foul called in several instances. On the other hand, Yao did not even touch Gasol on that one play - foul called against Yao. It's painfully evident that the refs are not making the calls regarding Yao in a fair way.
usually when the moaning switches to a negative tone....then you know you've made too much contact and it's time to back off a bit.
correct! the restricted area is doing it's job, allowing some muscle down low... calling a charge right underneath the basket is just pansy @ss.
It's not just that Yao gets hacked/pushed/manhandled/shoved/wrestled in the post without a call. (BTW, opponents' stragey isn't "fronting" per se, but "holding." They just know they can get away with it coz the refs won't ever call it.) My problem with the refs is that they always call BS offensive fouls on him when he's the one getting murdered in the low block each play. For instance, in the Orlando game, D-HO threw Yao to the ground and Yao got the offensive foul. In the game against GS, the ref called a foul on Yao WHILE HE WAS SHOOTING because Baron Davis ran into him. From my perspective, Yao gets at least one or two of these ridiculous offensive fouls each game. Which put him into foul trouble and inflate his TO stat. I'd like to see the Rockets put in a formal protest to the league about this. It's more absurd and aggravating than the ticky tack fouls Yao commits on the defensive side or the hacking that opponents get away with.
Here's a YT vid of the Dwight Howard takedown which was called on Yao: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZYF_emoL3Yw
Yao is still a 20/10 player even though they make bull**** calls on him. A dominant Yao is too much for the league to take. The reasons? maybe God knows.
Shaq also got away with many offensive fouls, so you could say things kind of even out. Wish Yao would have been treated the same way.
I agree that Shaq got hacked more than Yao, but at the same time, Shaq also got away a lot of offensive fouls when he just knock people down with his shoulder and run over them. Today Yao (and other centers as well, I think) will receive a lot of offensive fouls for this kind of movement. Shaq wouldn't be as dominant if he were not allowed to do those.
This is why US basketball team won't be able to beat European teams in FIBA games. A lot of NBA babies receives a lot of favor from refs -- look at LB's travel, DW's travel, they almost never get called ... even the big fundmental TD was frustrated when he won't be able to receive any favor from refs in FIBA games. Love to see the NBA babies got beaten in FIBA games. NBA is not a sport, because it has lost one of the basic spirit s(which is fair competition) for sports for a long time. It is just a show for business, for money.
Shaq got the calls in his prime years... bottom line is Yao will never get the star calls.. so we need to live with it... unless Yao decides to hurt a few players... which will never happen... he is what he is... a nice big stiff...
Another reason is US no longer have quality big mans. DH and Bosh are shorter than the old time peers. NBA intentionally change the rules to accomodate the shorter&qicker US players, while sacrifice real big players like yao&shaq. Just imagine if Europe/China has the best economy and attracts best players worldwide to establish a XBA. XBA will use the FIBA rules and allow International players to showoff their fundmental skills and shooting ability instead of allow foreign(US) players to outmuscle/outjump with lots of contact. People overseas will enjoy this and celebrate their own basketball heros.
i truly can't understand why the league makes such a huge difference in calls on the perimeter and inside; unless like someone said it's due to america currently lacks truly good bigs. but still, even if they enforce the hand-checking rule and such on the perimeter, all the pushes and mauling inside should've been called more strictly only for the spirit of fair play. and this is not just about yao. right now, yao probably is the most poorly officiated player in the league history. they say it's extra hard to officiate bigs. i don't buy that bs. even wilt, dream and shaq etc. didn't receive the ridiculously unfair calls that yao does. shaq got hammered a lot w/o a call, but he also got away with a lot of shoulders he gave to his defenders. why the officiating on yao has not improved much as it should in 5+ years yao has been in the league is a mystry to me. and i'm concerned because this has been a huge disadvantage to the rockets as a team, night-in and night-out.
im so numb to the horrible and biased way yao gets reffed, i barely even notice anymore. But its always amuzing to see the guy clearly pushing and shoving yao and there is no call and as soon as yao makes a strong move or bodies someone up in the paint, its a foul.
The Refs are fine, Yao needs to grow a pair of nuts and overcome them. With a little more tenacity, Yao would take this league by force. He is so very close, but he is mentally not there yet.....
So Yao being tougher would have prevented a foul called on him when Baron Davis ran into him as he shot the ball? Being tougher would have overcome being thrown to the ground by Dwight Howard and being called for a foul? Remember, you only get 6 of them in a game, so 1 ludicrous foul call in a game can completely change the way it ends up... an extra foul early in a quarter or half can take Yao (or any player) out of the game for a significant amount of time. I'm not saying it's all about the refs, but to say that there is no issue with the refs is just as unrealistic as to only blame things on the refs...
wrong calls change the way yao or many others play the game. it's just natural. when you've got 3 fouls early, you kinda don't want the 4th fast and tend to slack off in both offense and defense. this is so clear in the memphis and gsw games. some suggest yao to be more aggressive. i agree. but you also have to consider the fact bogus calls sometimes prevent him from doing so even if he wants to.
It seems to be going both ways. Yao isn't getting as many whistles for him, but he doesn't get as many whistles against him either. It appears the the NBA is allowing more contact around the basket. It's helped make Yao a better interior defender, in my opinion, but it's hurt his offense.
That should have been a no call. Howard moved out of the way, causing Yao to lose his balance and fall. I didn't see any illegal contact there from either player.
