Don't mean to be a smartass, A_3PO, but same could be said of JVG and his insistence on single-covering Kobe even late in the game. I disagreed with his approach last night, and the Lakers almost made us pay for it.
It's tougher to double a talented swingman like Tmac and Kobe since they are mobile, Yao is easier to doubleteam. Snyder was ineffective, but Shane made Ko be work for his points. I think Big Chief wasn't doubling on purpose as to train his big men how to guard Yao in the future with no help. Otherwise it was stupid, the perfect way to defend Yao is how the Suns do it. I'm not even talking about their running style that negates Yao, they double him even before he gets the ball.
I partly agree with you. Problem is, Kobe shot a poor percentage and we would have won going away if he hadn't dropped 17 in the last 4 minutes of reg. And some of those late shots were totally unstoppable and aren't anyone's fault except Kobe's sheer greatness. PJ's blunder was much greater since from start to finish, Yao was drawing fouls at a ridiculous rate and PJ didn't adjust. Perhaps he saw the film from the last few games and thought Yao would miss. I also noticed a couple of times Yao tried to initiate contact, which made me really happy, even though a couple of times the no-call made him look foolish. He needs to keep that up! Bottom line though, PJ gets an F for coaching last night. No good team in the NBA with a decent coach will let Yao do what he did last night.
You are obviously wrong. I think it is a good strategy by NOT doubling Yao. If you pay more attention to Rox's offense, you will find their biggest weapon is actually their perimeter shooting. Throughout the season, they prove again and again that if they get those wild open shots and their 3pt shots are falling, they usually win easliy. On the other hand, You can offer to let Yao get his. At most it is 2pts per possession (he can't get And 1 every time). But if you double him througout and they shoots inside and out, game is over. As I said above, Kwame Brown actually did a decent job defending Yao last night. Normally it would have been a 30pt game night for Yao, which is acceptable for Lakers. But he did more damages because, well, he actually got the calls from Refs. He usually won't get half of it.
You're giving up a lot when you do what Phoenix does(double Yao before he gets it), but they figure that they can outscore our perimeter players, and they're right. They do so every time. The only teams that can play the kind of defense Phoenix does are extremely quick and active teams. Phoenix can and New Orleans can because they chase down the long rebounds on misses from the perimeter and they run right down the court. This is an extremely effective was to take Yao Ming ou of a game. Yao could counter this defensive style by being quicker to the rebounds for easy put backs.
Hate to say this, but Yao can't chase rebounds. He gets rebounds that is in his vicinity but as far as chasing rebounds, even if he knew where the ball would carom off the rim and know where the ball would go, he won't get to it first. This is why Chuck Hayes is very valuable and underrated at, chasing the loose balls and stray rebounds that Yao can't get to.
I've noticed that too, Yao doesn't go for rebounds. I gave him a break for a while now, but I've noticed that on the offensive side of things, he almost gives up when the ball goes up and runs back down the court without even boxing out. Tsak is the perfect example of what I think Yao should do. He doesn't expend much energy, but does the basics; boxes out, gets good position or jumps for the rebound. I'm not going to compare Deke and Yao since the two are pretty damn different, but I can't see why Yao can't do what Tsak does, just some basic hustle, and I mean Yao is even taller and stronger then Tsak. What Tsak has done rebounding-wise has impressed me, 7 rbds against Mil in 10 minutes, including 3 off...I mean, I know Tsak's primary focus is much different then that of Yao and that thier priorites are way different, but still, what Tsak does is just the basic fundamentals. He just wants the rebound. Yao needs to do this too.
WTF are you talking about. Yao got calls because he got good positions in this game. Not becasue the refs changed.
When Chuck is not out there, Yao's weaknesses are exposed. Plain and simple. Yao needs the Chuckster. Resign him now.
Well, when Yao isin't there, the Chuckster... Still, I'm all for resigning the Chuck Train, he's the perfect compliment for Yao. Well, if he got a mid-range jump shot going, he'd be the VERY perfect compliment, but I love what we have in him anyways.
Rebounding does take up alot of energy, whether you're boxing out someone or chasing a loose ball, it takes alot of energy. I'm willing to bet Yao has been told by the coaching staff that if the ball isn't in his vicinity then don't waste energy in trying to get the ball, that's energy that could be used for posting up someone or defending the post.
-Sigh- If Hayes had a jumper he would average a double double, easily.....It's a shame his form is beyond repair.
That's a valid point, but I still think that Yao could get a few more rebounds by just wanting the ball. He has a tendancy to just give up and run back down the court instead. Maybe that's JVG's plan to set the defense, but against a team like the Lakers, who score most of thier points outside of the paint, I think Yao could expend more energy. I mean, he's getting posted up by Kwane and maybe Bynum, not exactly premier post players. I guess what I'm saying is that this should be more of a game-to-game basis thing. Against the Bucks, I think Yao should've spent a lot more energy on rebounding, since he was covering someone like Brian Skinner :/. Against the Lakers, he had a good rebounding number, but I watched part of the game and I just knew he could get more if he wanted them. He needs to want them more. But no, I don't want to see Yao hustle for rebounds against say, the Spurs, then spend a big amount of energy defending Duncan. So, yeah, game-to-game, team-to-team. Its crunch time, we have to start thinking about that. K, got my Yao ranting out. Gotta rant about V-span now to balence it out.
I think Phil Jackson used the tag-team tactic on Yao instead of doubling him all game long (they did double him sometimes). A few other teams has proved that the strategy could work in the past by wearing Yao down with an array of big men. But last night it was Yao who wore their tag team of big men down. I think it's a sign that Yao is still improving against certain defensive schemes.
Yao could've gotten more rebound had he not let it slip out of his butter finger hand! I see this like 2 or 3 times a game where a ball would bounce his way only to slip out of his hand...this pisses me off so much, more so then his turn over.His coaching staff needs to help him on this problem.
Sorry, but the Rockets biggest two weapons are Yao and Tracy. Perimeter shooting is a distant 3rd. When our perimeter shooting is on our offense is impossible to stop. Why? Because Yao cannot be stopped by one defender and neither can Tracy. So you are correct we should win easily when the 3 point shots are falling. Last night, Yao was destroying them in the 1st half, not only with efficiency but also drawing fouls. At some point in time PJ should have made the adjustment to double Yao and take the ball away from him, at least for a few minutes to see if the perimeter shooters were up to the task. Rafer, despite having wide open looks, did not shoot the long ball well at all (but he hit the big one that counted). Luther missed the game. The opportunity was there for the Lakers to force things outside and they didn't. On the many occassions Tracy was single covered, he went to hole and usually finished or drew the foul. Dumb dumb dumb strategy by the Lakers. If Tracy's outside shot had been falling the game wouldn't have been close at the end. To each his own opinion. As an opposing coach, if Yao is shredding my defense to the tune 20 1st half points, I take away that option from the Rockets and dare other players to beat me. Thankfully, PJ didn't see it that way. I hope we see this kind of defense in the playoffs but we won't. P.S: Kwame had two great stops on Yao very late, I'll give you that. But he got roasted and toasted like everyone else. Yao had 39 points on 18 FGAs, which is just sicko.
You are really RIDICULOUS. Perimeter shots are low-percentage ONES. Even they shoot at 40% for 3s. The primary offense strategy is still go-to-the-big-guy. Have you ever watched this games? Frequently I saw Rox lost the big lead because of those guards who started shooting perimeter shots by neglecting Yao inside. yao, as well as the guards, did a great job yesterday with double team and fronting. kwame brown was OWNEd.
In radio pre-game interview with laker assistant coach, he said Kwame could guard Yao well compared with other centers in the leaguage. Although Kwame picked fouls quickly as any other centers, the score was pretty within reach. Jackson definitely didn't want to see players except Yao and Tracy putting treys. Any in 4th quarter, Kwame did very good job to block/steal balls from Yao. So single coverage is not so horrible for lakers.
Shooting 40% from 3 is the same as shooting 60% from 2 because of simple mathematics. There are associated costs with taking 3's that basic math doesn't consider - but if you let another team shoot 40% from 3, you'd better be prepared to lose more often than not.
Yao had 39 points on 18 FGAs. That isn't horrible for the Lakers? I think it was. Kwame had two very quality stops late in the game though. Props to him for that and he is definitely better than most centers at guarding Yao by himself. One thing people don't realize about Kwame is his brute strength. (In that regard he reminds me of Kevin Willis, who was one baaaad dude). Still, Yao roasted them on offense the entire game and single coverage was the wrong strategy.
