I'll give you hypothetical situation...what if stevie crosses over on shawn bradley and broke his ankles? Will we all be cracking up and making fun of him? Of course we all will... You should be able to laugh at yourself...That was pretty damn funny...I'm sure this will be the last time that this will happen...they get to laugh at this now, but who cares? Sometimes we get caught up on flashy type plays that gets shown on Sportscenter (like Dunking over tall centers and breaking people's ankles) and we forget about the game itself...I felt horrible for Yao but I know these kinds of things will only make him a better player, hopefully something like this piss him off and prove everybody wrong...Yao is getting better and better each game! He's going to be pretty damn good guys...just wait and see next year...
Timm, interesting observation (I was thinking the same thing). One of the reasons that you "get crossed-over and fall" is because you will do whatever it takes to prevent losing your man. Yao really wants to make a good impression to Houston fans and his fans in China. And because of this desire to please he'll do anything to guard (or try) his man. A self-centered person would have let his man go by, because it would be more important for him to "save face" rather than subject himself to embarrassment. One mind-set is selfish. The other is not. I respected Yao for just getting up and going back on defense. He didn't blink an eye. He just did his duty. Yao is an honorable man!
While this play looked bad, I don't think it was a result of Marbury getting the better of Ming. I just think Ming fell down and would have fallen even if Marbury continued to this left instead of crossing over.
I know Ming is just itching to get back at these Suns. Especially with that play... He had his best game of the season and it was ruined by those punks. You know he's going to be having his A game when playing these idiots again...
Wrong, watch the tape.... All his weight was leaning right (SM left), and as SM went right (YM's left), Yao released all his weight and fell. Since he was leaning one way, he could not stop him self from falling because he was trying to go the other way... It's called "being crossed over." It feels like someone pulled a chair from under you (With the exception: you are the one that pulled it). It happens.
Correct me if I was wrong. Wasnt there a question about some previous injury to his ankle or foot that was brought up in a physical during ROX visit to China last summer. I thought I read somewhere that Yao has a sore ankle during the past 2 games. This might have something to do with the fall.
I was surprised nobody posted this earlier too. That move had me and my sister rolling. I didnt expect Ming to fall like that. I felt bad for him but I couldnt stop laughing. It was good to see Yao get back up and finish playing. I would've been too embarassed.
Whats with you people, Yao didnt get crossed, he didnt even get faked out . Ming tried to move backwards too fast and lost his footing , wasnt like he got crossed, when someone gets crossed they get faked to one direction, Ming was moving backward.
Seriously, he would have fell no matter which way he went, its just too hard for someone 7'6 to move backward that quickly thats all
Yeah, that's the part that has me worried... No amount of training will make Yao as mobile as Marbury. But, he can learn other methods; letting the guy go by, but knocking the ball out from behind. Or by going over the top (you can do that if you are tall and get *all* ball). There's less chance of getting a lot of body (foul over the top) when you are 7'5". That's what what other centers do/did (Hakeem).
Omar23, if you analyze like it like a Clutch BBS user, then it isn't a crossover-made fall. But to the average basketball viewer and the PHX fans in the stands, it just all came into play. Marbury crossed over Ming and Ming fell down. That's it. To us, we would analyze the way he was standing, where his feet was, why wasn't Francis or Mobley taking him, etc, etc. I'm pretty sure Ming was embarrassed and it was all over the news. But all he can do is move on and focus on to play the Lakers.... Message from Ming to Marbury - And RUN HIS A$$ OVER!!
I don't think it will happen again. Yao was probably never in a situation like that before because the guards he faced in China are not as quick with crazy crossovers. It's a learning process....He learned. Next lesson ( the Shaq Facial).
Did anyone mention that may be he was so surprised he was all alone guarding a quick 6' 2" guard, so surprised that there was no help from his teammates. As a matter of fact, I was so surprised that there must have been at least 5 seconds that everybody froze to watch how Yao gonna stop Mar, including his own teammates. Seriously, it wasnt quite a clean-cut crossed over. It was a combination of surprise, nervousness, and loss of balance. It could happen to anyone. It was kind of funny. I felt embarrassed for him but also proud of him taking it like a man.
I have the game on tape. Yao was backing up to the right as Marbury began to drive left. Marbury then crosses over to the right. At this point, Yao had all his weight going right, and was trying to slide to the left to get in front of Marbury. It's not easy trying to go two directions at once, and it's even worse when you're 7'6". Because his body was going right and his mind was telling it to go back left, he lost his footing and fell backwards. Another play that stuck out in the game was Yao's huge dunk in traffic off the rebound. That was nasty, and if I'm not mistaken, I think I heard Yao let out a little grunt while he posterized Amare Stoudemire.
Agreed. But replace "surprise, nervousness, and loss of balance" with... "Surprise, nervousness, and losing your balance because you got crossed-over!"
It was funny; just not as funny as the Phoenix bench presumed it was. The over all better play was when MoT dunked on Amare though.
