Going into the bag of tricks Karl sizes things up, then watches Kukoc slow down Yao Ming By TOM ENLUND tenlund@journalsentinel.com Last Updated: April 3, 2003 Just when you think you've seen it all from the Milwaukee Bucks, coach George Karl unleashes a secret weapon. Toni Kukoc on Yao Ming. With the Bucks' centers in foul trouble and Karl having some success with a smaller lineup in the fourth quarter, the 6-foot-11, 235-pound Kukoc ended up on the 7-5, 296-pound Yao for the greater portion of the final period. Kukoc's defensive effort played a big role in the Bucks' 106-99 victory Wednesday night in a game that matched two teams vying for the final playoff spots in their respective conferences. Yao was a load for the Bucks early, scoring 12 of his 15 points in the first quarter, but he went scoreless in the final period when the Bucks pulled away to score a huge victory where the playoff race is concerned. "I guess we surprised everybody, even Yao," said Kukoc when asked about his fourth-quarter defensive assignment. "I didn't know what I was doing. But he didn't know what I was doing either. I just tried to anticipate and beat him to a spot. "I'm not having any illusions, or delusions, that I can stay with Yao. He's used to having people put a body on him, but since I don't have a body to put on him, I tried to move from side to side and make it hard for him to get a pass." Said Houston interim coach Larry Smith, "We've seen just about everything on him. They tried to get mismatches, but so were we, so we weren't surprised. We knew they were going to front him because Yao is such a big target. So we've got to swing the ball to get it into him low. They did a good job on that.'' The Bucks' victory, paired with Washington's home loss to Sacramento, placed the Bucks squarely in the driver's seat in the race for the final playoff berth in the East. The Bucks are 37-39, while Washington fell to 34-40. The loss was costly for Houston (38-37), which is trying to catch Phoenix (39-35) in the battle for the No. 8 spot in the West. It was a close game until the Bucks delivered a fourth-quarter knockout punch. The game was tied at halftime, 52-52, and Milwaukee led, 76-73, going into the final period. With Ervin Johnson fouled out and Joel Przybilla on the bench with four fouls, Karl went with mostly smaller players in the fourth quarter and Desmond Mason sparked a quick 9-0 burst that put the Bucks ahead, 93-80, with 5 minutes 52 seconds left. Milwaukee held off a flurry of Houston three-pointers in the final minutes for the victory. Karl was asked about going small in the fourth quarter. "I really believe we have advantages on one end, and disadvantages on the other end," he said. "For us, the disadvantages make us play better. On the other (defensive) end we had to get lucky and we did." Sam Cassell scored 13 of his 20 points in the third quarter as the Bucks began to pull away. In the fourth quarter, Payton scored nine of his 20 points - he also handed out 10 assists - and Mason scored seven of his 13, including a three-point play on an emphatic dunk that capped the 9-0 spurt. Kukoc scored 18 points and on one Houston possession came up with a steal by "pulling the chair out" from under Yao, making the big Houston center lose his balance. "Toni did a good job on him," said Bucks guard Michael Redd. "Toni is a veteran. One time, Yao wanted the ball down low, but he almost tripped on himself because Toni wasn't behind him to defend him and he got the steal. We concentrated a little more on Yao in the second half." Yao called it a night with 2:11 left and the Bucks leading, 97-86. "They went to him a couple more times with no results, so they took him out," said Kukoc.
ummmm... yeah... okay? this article is a joke. since when has kukoc become ben wallace? he's crafty, but he's not a defensive presence. go to hell, karl.
so contrary to what all the poster think here, it's Toni who slowed down Yao, not LS or other Rockets?
So he's saying that when Yao came in with 6 minutes left in the fourth and with the Rockets down 10+ that Toni shut Yao down? How funny. There were maybe two or three plays for Yao plus the Rockets needed points fast. Besides, why would they even go to Yao when after the first quarter of abusing the bucks, Yao hardly was apart of the offense(touches for Yao??). The fact is that posters are smarter than newpaper homers. Yao put in with 2 minutes left in second quarter, put in with 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Yao is one of our goto guys, in the clutch he is.....clutch. So in the clutch, we wait and wait and leave him out for almost all of the deciding minutes.
The funny part about that is that Toni thinks he shut down Yao and as a result yao went out of the game .but the Rockets themselves took yao out of the game because they weren't passing to him, and james posey job is to cut,pass and shoot when he's open but from what I saw is that he's playing like point forward that's not his game. Steve should be very aggressive and we still haev a chance of making it. They just got to beleive it. Period.
George Karl did the same thing he used to do to Olajuwon. He basically triple team the guy before he got the ball, remember when Karl coached the Sonics and the Rockets and Olajuwon could never beat them. Same old song and dance, except its easier to do with the new zone rules.
That article is unbelievable! On monday, they said that Yao was shut down too when it was cleared that he was benched and did not get the ball! One more reason that Yao should be ROY. No other rookie was used to give the opponent team credit.
Kukoc is very intelligent and can speak English. He can still play basketball. And he is a great mentor. He would be great on the Rockets.
From the game, I think Toni Kukoc did a pretty good job in preventing Yao getting the pass from his teammate. However, it's failure on the coach's part and the inability for Yao's teammate to pass correctly leads to the so called "shut down of Yao". At the end, Yao's teammate just gave up in passing him the ball. Larry Smith throws in the towel at about 2 minutes left.
How about leading USA basketball team to a historical 6th place in 2002 World Basketball Championship Games in Indianapolis? When you were losing to Spain, Argintina, and Yugo, where was ur bag of tricks, Karl?
This is such bull****. Once again, its not the players who worked hard, or the other teams mistakes that won the game for the Bucks. It was George Karl's perfect coaching...
