It was Bill Hanzlik vs Ralph Sampson out there last night. Yao is an intelligent player with a wide array of skills, he'll figure out how to handle little guys who try to foul him to death.
Right. Now I remember Nejara was in for Bradley in 2nd quarter, and Ming had monster 2nd quarter. Shame on Nejara!
You guys seem really bitter towards Najera for doing a great job on Yao. Yao was killing the Mavs, and Nellie made a great adjustment. The outcome may be different next time but guess what ... last night wasn't next time. I say cudos to player that actually leaves everything out there on the court unlike some players **ahem* Mobley ** Najera may not be the most talented player in the NBA but he has heart, and in many cases heart can overcome talent. Ever hear the saying that ... "It's not the dog in the fight, it's the fight in the dog." ... and it's very obvious that Najera has a TON of fight in him. Just give credit where credit is due. Yao had a great game as did Najera on the defensive end. The guys you should really be mad at is Mobley and Francis for freezing out their own teammate (Yao) in the 4th quarter.
Please.......if he was on our team you would love the guy. Sure he does the dirty work, but the guy hustles his butt off every night and leaves it all on the floor.
He wasn't the one that really bothered me, it was Cuban with that idiotic comment about Yao getting the calls like a veteran. Hey Stern, why don't you go ahead and fine him $10 million just for being a moronic, attention-w****.
God forbid someone play with toughness. Jason Collier our Eduardo Najera? LMAO. I tried to tell everyone in here 3 years ago the Eduardo would be a solid NBA player and got laughed at. And gosh, those refs are out to get us! How can the Rockets win when the refs let Najera mug us everytime. Come on. Karla played the same way. They're just tough players. You gotta give em that. Do they get away with fouls. Yes sometimes they do. But who doesn't. And Eduardo is the best charge taker I've ever seen. It's too bad we got that stiff Langhi for him. Eduardo is just the physical presence we DON'T have. Alright flame away.
Originally Quoted by BanginScrew Just out of curiousity what did Mobley do or say for you to type this. BTW Najera did play dirty and the Rockets want be the first team to think so ((Sacramento, I know they whine alot but so do the World Champion Lakers). Cuban always say dumb things just for the attention IMO. Furthermore I have to give credit where credit is due Najera played pretty good denying Yao the ball. I don't think you should blame the guards for Yao lack of assertiveness; he just need to get stronger, (ala weight room) for he can establish his self in the post. Which will come in time.
everytime we play dallas, i have to see one of the rockets mistakes. they should have NEVER traded najera for langhi. never. langhi was such a piece of ****. sure najera was fouling the hell outta yao, but it worked. and yao was not being "froze out" in the 4th, they couldn't get yao the damn ball! a lob pass will not work if yao is being pushed the whole time, he will lose the ball, travel, or fall over. yao was tired. do not blaze the rocket gaurds, dallas just had a hell of a zone working last nite, truly amazing. but they have had a few years to gell, wait till the rockets have a few years together! watch out!
Pues...ojala que no quieres un jugador como el para represantar a Mexico?? El siempre juega muy sucio y nunca va a ser un estrella o una buena jugador.
"I guess what I did tonight was use my quickness against his height and strength," Najera said. "It worked out pretty well. What I was trying to do was stay between the ball and Yao Ming. I knew if they were going to lob it that Dirk was behind me to help me out." Two things stick out to me from this quote. 1) Najera acknowledges the fact that yao has good strength. Obviously, he implies that Yao has the clear stregth advantage over him. This is good, because Najera is not a weak-ling, and his strategy is to overpower opposing PF's or SF's. So Ming is not mind-bogglingly weak like previously thought. 2) Yao Ming required a double team. Not just any double team. A tough guy and a 7-footer. Najera and Nowitzki. What's great about this is that Yao's passing skills and height (lobs) will make them pay.
I also find it amusing that people keep insisting that Najera, while standing bare footed, and with one hand tied behind his back, stopped Ming from scoring single handedly. Ming was double teamed the entire second half. Nowitski helped out constantly, and when Ming would get the ball they fouled him. Najera blocked no shots of Mings, prevented no passes. He just beat on the guy a while and fouled him if he touched the ball. When they do it to Shaq, its called Hack-A-Shaq. When its done to Ming, Nellie is annointed the next coaching genius. blah.
I was aggravated by this as well. And Najera isn't even 6-10. He's listed at 6'8" on ESPN, and he is lucky if he is 6'7" in actuality. There is no reason we shouldn't have been able to get a lob pass over this guy to Ming.
I wish KT got his money's worth for fouls like Najera did last night. We have our more skilled and more athletic version of Najera in KT--if KT would show that hustle and do what you have to do to help your team attitude. Personally I wish KT banged Dirk for every play the Mavs banged Ming. The Rockets need some of that in their team. I don't condone initiating play like that, but once the other teams does you have to return with equal or more strength.
I agree, Ming has to handle the Najera's of the NBA or he will only be a star against soft teams. He has to be able to put Najera down. Ming beat Bradley badly, but Najera got the edge over Ming this time.
When Eduardo was fronting Ming like that and denying the ball I would have like to see these options explored: * Ming come out and set that massive screen for the guard. better known as the pick n' pop, but it'd be cool if they named it the Ming One Niner. * Ming receive the ball up high, facing the basket. So far he is just as deadly from that range so give him the ball on the perimeter *Have one of our fowards come out high to receive the ball then once Ming positons himself in the post, allowing the smaller opponent to front him, lob the ball with precision over the top. the last option is in bold because IMO its the most important one. Having a tall forward who can become the main passer who lobs it over the top with practiced precision is crucial. Hakeem had his Horry. Oneal has his Fox/Horry. Ming needs his own personal lob guy.
I think Najera was even trying to make Yao remember Marbury's crossover. Najera was at the top of the key with nobody else around and he was being guarded by Yao. And at that point I saw Najera keep nodding his head like, "yeah, this is going to be sweet" and then he did something to make the crowd pay attention (didn't he clap is hands above his head or something? I don't remember). Then he bounced the ball and drove it inside. Najera at best is a good role player who uses his strength and hustle to make up for his lack of skill. I wouldn't want an untalented thug on my team. Ming has mad skills and Najera is probably jealous of Ming being the #1 pick. The Mavs underestimate Yao because they think of him as another Wang ZhiZhi. Yao is much better than Wang.
I would say that you're gabbing at straws there. I seriously doubt Najera is jelous of Yao because he was drafted #1 overall. I also don't think they the Mavs think Wang is as good as Yao. It's very obvious to everyone that Yao is better, even Donnie Nelson has said so. Every Championship team needs at least one player like Najera. The Bulls had Rodman, Houston had Horry, the Lakers have Horry, and if the Mavs keep progressing like they have been the last couple of years they will also be champions (believe it or not) and Najera will play a part in that.
Those who think Najera has no talent and is just hustles need to watch him more. He makes incredibly quick decisions on the court. I love to watch him play. He was a big factor in the Minnesota-Dallas series last year and broke his thumb before the Sacramento series. I believe that sacramento-Dallas series would have been closer had he not been hurt. I heard Van Exel say the same thing the other day on the radio. I know Van Exel is big fan of Najera as is everyone on the team. BTW, a couple of years ago, when the Mavs were just coming on, Najera was assigned to guard Karl Malone in Utah. Najera completely flustered and shut Karl down. The Mavs were up 8 or 10 at the time(about 8 minutes left in the game) Najera was yanked from the game and Juwan Howard came in to "secure" the final 8 minutes or so. I cringed at Nellie's decision. Malone preceded to destroy Juwan and the Mavs lost the game. I have been a huge Najera fan ever since. Apparently so is Nellie. Now, Nellie likes to rest Najera for the first 5 minutes of the 4th quarter and he seems to always be in the game at the end. Najera isn't dirty. If you watch him closely he never takes cheap shots at people. He just does his best to help the Mavs win.
Najera plays the same role that Malik Rose of the Spurs does. He's an undersized power forward who hustles for every loose ball,every bit of position,and every put back he can muster. They may not have the talent of the guys around them but their grit and determination and, yes aggressive play, somehow more than make up for it. I wish KT would fill that role on the Rockets. He's got more talent than either of those two. I just wish he'd play like they do every night out. And on Cuban's in game comments.....at first I was ticked off like everyone else here was. Then I remembered two things: 1. He is still a diehard Mav FAN first and the owner second and that's what makes him great---if he's your owner or not dissing your team. I still wish he was the Rockets' owner. 2. Think about this. The comment he made about Yao is exactly the kind of comment he frequently makes about Shaq. What I got from it is that Cuban realized that he wasn't going to get him so he started a campaign to diss him and now will probably try to get in the league officials' heads,like he does with Shaq,in hopes of getting calls on Yao. So if he's giving Yao the Shaq treatment,what does that tell you about his true feelings on Yao's abilities? Just don't expect him to ever admit it.
