Artest should never be allowed to pass it to Yao, cus if he gets it back he will jack it up. I would like to see Wafer, and Battier do that so they can cut or maybe shoot it , anybody but Artest
Rox did have a play in the 1st half where they made a pick for Yao in the post and Hollins didnt have enough time to front Yao, result yao scored, I want to see more of that than Yao trying to wrestle every play of the game, his shot from 10 feet in the 4th quarter was real short, a sign of fatigue
I still think they can attempt to lob the fronting defense, just to throw the opponents off. I have seen a few lob passes work for the Rockets , there was one in the Mavericks game. Most likely Yao will be doubled immediately upon catching the ball so the open Rockets player must cut to the basket immediately. If the other Rockets players don't move and Yao is holding the ball too long it may lead to a turnover. Scola and Carl Landry are very good at cutting to the basket when Yao is doubled teamed. Other players need to learn from them and do the same when they are open. Adelman has had all season long to deal with the fronting problem so its a shame the Rockets players still look clueless when Yao is fronted.
Another play that works well is holding the ball on the perimeter and then set a pick for Yao and have Yao run to side where the ball is and then pass the ball immediately to him before his defender can recover from the pick and front him. Whats been happening is Yao is trying to establish position and then the ball is swung over to his side and he is fighting for position, if the ballhandler can't lob pass they swing the ball away from Yao and the team seems like they don't have any planned strategy when Yao is taken out of the offense.
How about shooting the damn ball if Yao is being fronted it means he has inside position for a rebound or somebody in open on the floor.
no. lob passes wont work with Yao. he is not a good catcher and would turn the ball over too many times.. that apart throwing a lob pass is not an easy task.. esp in clutch time.. Lob passes might work once in a while.. not always.. maybe 2-3 times a game should be ok..
The one instance where we lobbed it was a defensive error by the Mavs--the player who was supposed to help on the pass/guard behind Yao (from the weakside) never came, so Yao had a little more room to operate. That wasn't the deus ex machina solution to the fronting problem; that was a defensive miscommunication. The way to beat the front is to have bodies moving on the weak side and swing the ball. Landry and Scola will get foul line jumpers all day, they just have to make them.
If you can't get Yao the ball, get him off the court, he's slow, not as active defensively as others, and can't contribute nearly enough IF he can't be a scorer. Once again, if you can't get him the ball, get him off the court. Sounds crazy, right? I don't think so. The other alternative is get him the d@#$ ball! There's no reason to get through half the 4th Q and then realize he hasn't had the ball and panic, you have to force the issue, and get him the ball. Punish the other team a couple times and they will back off of the fronting defense. Also, there's no reason that you can't exploit the fact that they're FRONTING Yao, AND there's help on the weak side, you have to EXPLOIT that. Not as easy as it sounds, I guess.
