Aldridge is career 15.4-6.8, and 18.2-7.5 this season. His playoff stats is 18.1-7.5. Are you saying he was never a fact for the Blazers? Otherwise, how come the exact same number facing Scola all of the sudden can be "interpreted" as non factor? I see, if LA was playing against Yao, of course it would be "interpreted" as "abused Yao". LA scored more than 25 points 3 games in the series, 2 of them resulted in Portland wins. I would love to have one or two such non factors in the Rockets team. Never let facts stand in your way. How typical.
i chose shane for those clutch shots he made in games 3 and 4 as well as having to share duties guarding brandon roy.. although roy still had a great series! i don't even want to imagine what could've been if we had lost one of those games.. easily could have also been luis scola for his consistency and yao for his dominance in game 1.. if ony they fronted yao in game 1.. who knows what would've happened
Picking MVP is a tough choice you could go many different places on this one, but in the end it comes down to Yao or Scola. I think both of them should be MVPlayers of the 1st round. Yao made the right decisions to get Scola and open shot and of course more often than not Scola scored. You cant just give it to Scola, because without Yao's presence Scola doesnt get the open shot. So in my opinion Yao and Scola are MVPs in the 1st round.
Shane played great. so did scola. Even brooks and artest played great at times. Yao set the tone and deflated Blazers. That lingering doubt was enough to convince them and the league, there was no going further for them this year. The whole series became "about Yao". They tried every way possible to stop Yao and when they did, rockets lost. The sheer amount of intangibles he brings with him is unbelievable. To say anyone other than Yao is more valuable to this team is simply not having a clue. I dont know anybody else on this team that other team has to study and try to stop as a number one priority. Nobody else gets double and tripled team. So no debate. Yao is the MVP.
what a bizarre discussion. i love scola but why the blazers did not ever double team him if he was mvp?
Like many said, it was a team effort. Nobody really deserves this so called "MVP" award alone. But I gave my vote for Scola, based on following reasons: 1. Yao is the best player in this team, he is getting the max money and he is supposed to dominate Portland but in reality he didn't. In the entire series, he only drew occasional double teams and was mostly fronted, and yet his offense number dropped pretty bad, compared to his regular season's. 16/10 is NOT a MVP type number for a No. 1 guy by any means. Yao did his job, but it was Scola who stepped up and carried the offense load. He exceeded the expectation. He is getting 3M per year and Yao gets 15M and yet they post similar offense number, who is more valuable? 2. On defense end, Scola has to guard Aldridge, their No. 2 offense weapons and most consistent one in the series (except the first game). It was a tough assignment. Scola did a decent job guarding Aldridge and still got his on offense end. Whom Yao has to guard? Przybilla and Oden. That is right, two jokes on offense. Yao didn't even have to guard them. They were so bad that they missed point blank dunks for god’s sake. Portland has no threat in the post so it is not accurate to say Yao shut down the paint, either. Yao is still the best player, but Scola is the most valuable in the series, that is my opinion.
You are absolutely right. Yao is a non-factor in Rockets' defense because he only guards Przybilla and Oden.
You must be watching different games or you have a different definition of "occasional". Without those double or triple teams on Yao, Scola wouldn't have had that many open looks at the elbow or near the free throw line.
Yeah, based on your view and many others, league should have given the MVP award to Yao instead of Lebron James or Kobe, every single year. Also, it may be true I actually watched a different series than you did. I saw mostly fronting defense on Yao by Oden and Przybilla. I just didn't see he got double, triple, quadruple, or quintuple teamed all the time.
According to your logic, Wafer should be the MVP, since he is taking min money. BTW, James shouldn't be the MVP of this season, Roy should be, since James is taking max money but Roy is still taking rookie salary. How did Scola defend Aldridge? Aldridge was playing like an all-star in this series. Did you see Yao's contribution to the Rockets' defense system?! Because they fronted him, they gave up many rbs. Because Yao's post presence, they are unable to drive to the rim consistently except Roy. Because... p.s. I like Scola, and think he did a good job. But, some fans' logic is just too rediculous!
What's your logic here? Are you implying Scola is on par with LeBron or Kobe? That's very entertaining.
It is a close race between Yao and Scola, you can not be wrong for either players, but I have to agree with our MG Morey who said that Scola was MVP after Yao.
Like we lost game 3 right?? Also saying that the guy that get´s doubled is the automatic MVP fails. In the Spurs-Cavs Finals Parker was the MVP but it was Duncan who was doubled all the time. In the Heat-Mavs Finals, O´neal was doubled but Wade won it. You got to look on other things. If countering the other team´s secondary scorer means nothing for you then you are the one with no clue. At least you can say it´s a close one between the two, because Yao was not far better than Scola.
Now, you dumb, Aldrige was a non factor because Scola countered him in offense as well as in defense. We could concentrate on Roy because of that. Whatever Aldrige did on Scola, he countered.
I would like to say Yao because the teams whole plan of attack revolves around him whether he gets a double double or not. But I had to vote Scola because he played his heart out, was the most consistent and if he wouldn't have had made his shots and did his part the Blazers might had pulled it out.
You can't win an argument on tangible stats, points/rebounds/blocks/mins/opponents outputs. You can't even start an argument on intangibles, like opponents game plan etc etc. Now you resort to insulting? Aldridge performed exactly the same as he did in regular season, even 1.3 points better, 19.5/7 as a perfect 2nd option, while Scola upped his points for 3.3, dropped his rebounds for 2.2 to his season average of 12.7/8.8. How the heck can this be interpreted as countered, and made Aldridge a non factor? Aldridge outperformed Scola even raised the average points from season average. You call him a non factor, but Scola MVP? Logic is really not your forte. I am glad you didn't call me a genius, because I would be really worried then. What was that then? Didn't you say about Scola winning in landslide, only because of some players only fans keep the voting close? Now back paddling from your own nonsense?
I vote for Scola because he is the most consistent player in this series. Everyone that is saying Yao deserves the MVP because without him, we would lose...Without Scola we would lost also. Yao was only good for the first game and last game. Games 2, 3, 4, and 5 he was horrendous. Couldn't score, can't get positioned and rebounds, and made horrible decisions. All the people that voted for Yao are just riding his bandwagon. They don't care how horrible he is and how he make us very vulnerable and makes horrible decisions when being pressured. Just hop off his freaking dick.
