It is time we start making some noise. JVG say something!

Actually the hacking is good for him in the longrun. It toughens him up. Trust me, once he gets a little better, he'll get so many calls.

Shaq doesn't really get the calls as much as you think. So many times he gets murdered down low with no calls. It looks like he wasn't hacked just because he's so strong. Karl Malone and David Robinson on the other hand, are different stories.

 

JVG calling out the refs for their treatment/mistreatment of Yao might do more harm than good. NBA refs hold grudges.

Over time, Yao will end the right to have calls made in his favor. Yao is not one of the elite players in this league yet.

Go back and watch your tapes of Hakeem during his younger days. He used to get hammered, probably more than Yao does, and it took him a long time to get the respect of the officials. In fact, Hakeem did not shy away from berating the officials over non-calls and that might have hurt him for a good part of his career. So thats the last thing I want JVG and Yao doing, is calling out the officials.

 

jvg doesn't need to call out the refs.

the refs help those that help themselves (except when yao shot a hook shot airball from two feet away from the basket in the fourth... clearly a foul). vg wants the players focused on the game instead of the refs... like it should be.

you know what happens when players and refs get involved... you get clyde drexler with his right arm cocked back getting ready to clock o'donnell.

the refs are usually good at evening things out in the end. no need to argue with 'em.

 

Fact is he's still a 2nd year player and not going to get the calls....simple as that.

 

Last year it seemed the NBA wanted Yao to succeed so they gave him the benefit of the doubt on foul calls. But this year they seem to be reverting back to how a ref normally calls fouls on a typical 1st year or 2nd year player. Clearly Yao is not getting the calls he got last year. Lots of ticky tack stuff on one end and on the other end he gets bumped and no calls. Frustrating for sure.

I found it interesting that Shaq gets 4 fouls (in the first half) in the Detroit game the other night and it causes them to lose and then the very next night the Lakers go to the foul line against the Knicks 47-6!?!? Unbelieveable! Talk about getting calls your way!

Hopefully Yao will continue to play well and start to get some calls going his way. The best way to get calls going your way is to continue to be agressive and take it to the opponent. And it doesn't hurt to whine like Phil Jackson about foul calls either.

 

Once Yao becomes more aggresive and starts to take over games like the other greats, he'll get the calls. Right or wrong, that's just the way it is.

Actually, I thought that spin move that got him to the line late in the game was an offensive foul.

 

Something that never hurts is when all the boo-birds come out at the home games.

Remember after Yao got hacked on the arm on the hook shot and the refs totally miffed it? Enter the boo-birds. Golden State got an offensive foul called on them immediately on the other side of the court, and then I believe the next time down, the refs called another GS foul the first time Yao touched the ball. They made up for that god-awful hack, but fans hafta let 'em know when we see something that ain't right ... well, for the home team anyway

 

Jeff should have at least said something about that hook shot that he was hacked on in the last game, GoldenState. Some scrub obviously hacks Yao above the elbow, and his shot falls short. How can that obvious a foul not get called?

 

The funny part about the refs not "noticing" the fouls on Yao is that sometimes the slap sound is so loud you can even hear it on television.

Kind of hard to deny at that point.

 

This game got ridiculous. Everytime Yao got the ball in the paint it was an automatic hack with no call.

 

I disagree with some poster's opinion that JVG should call out the refs. I think Jeff is doing the right thing. First of all, there's what codell said, that refs do hold grudges. Secondly, I have basically accepted as facts that the Rockets will NEVER get as many favorable calls as say... the Lakers. So they get to practise right now how to play when the calls don't go your way and get mentally prepared when we don't get those calls in the playoffs.

 

Deuce nailed it. Last year, it seemed as though the refs got their instructions from the front office to make sure Yao did well.

This year, the refs seem to be making up for lost time. Who knows, maybe they resent that they had to coddle Yao last year.

That's a consipiracy theory I can buy into.

 

Yao needs to create a rapport with the refs. He obviously never tries to show the ref up, the worst thing he has done is occasionally stare in desbelief after the worst calls. He just needs to talk to the refs civilly, and they will probably listen.

 

players have to earn calls in the nba. develop a consistent style and the refs seem to let the guys play their game. i think yao is still establishing his style and reputation in the league. once our offense is running smoothly and yao is playing at a consistently high level, the calls will start to go his way. right now he just hasn't quite earned it.

 

in the end it all balances out. if a call is not made the ref saw it but could not react fast enough...so he'll go to the other end and call a make-up. it happens. sometimes i wish the refs would just let them play. Rox fans in here know about how much the no calls benefitted our championship years. do we need to mention Olajuwon hitching a ride in game 1 of the '95 finals to seal the victory for the rox. Point is it happens...refs do not have the ability to stop play and rewind...it's all done at a fast pace. In the end it will even out.

 

DearRock, I hope I don't come off as a grammar Nazi, but the word is "mauled," not "mulled."

Oh, come on, guys -- SOMEbody had to say it.

Sincerely,
Adolf

 

I'd agree, except for the fact that I'm not sure his body can take the rough treatment. Not only this season, but for the future. I don't want Yao to wear out now... and I don't want him to retire at 33.

Yao is one of the very few players who got better treatment from the refs in his 1st year. I'd make sense if he wasn't playing well... but he is.