Official Thread on Yao Ming's Summer Activities 2006

Yao played really good in this game.

In the 3rd quarter, he put China 14 points ahead but was rested, I think deliberately to see how the other players would cope.

Unfortunately, the Chinese team didn't look very good without Yao. 20 points in 24 minutes for yao and 10 rebounds.

Most importantly, I think I didn't see a turnover from him the whole game (at least not like the 8 last time).

 

and 10 more would-be assists wasted by the guards...

 

63 - 61 China. Yao scored 21 (including game winning basket) and 10 along with 2 blocks and 4 dimes.

Positives:
- was able to establish deep in the post and seal off his man

- did decent against fronting by Bogut

- showed good aggressiveness and was unstoppable one on one

- controlled the paint including stopping dribble penetration. I count about only 5 baskets in the paint from Australia when Yao was on the court. Jumped straight up when challenging dribblers and stop flat footed for shorter players. Got two blocks and altered a bunch. Basically Australia couldn't get in the paint when he was on the court. Most of their points in the paint came off offensive rebounds

- played the first 16 minutes without getting significantly winded, although one has to keep in mind that this isn't NBA level pace. But credit the Chinese guards for actually doing a marginal job at controlling the pace and getting back on transition D

- only had I think one turnover

Negatives:
- still getting screwed by the refs (Rockets fans should be familiar with this). I don't know if the fact that the head ref was American has something to do with this as he sure as hell is getting screwed in the NBA.

2 of the fouls were from trying to grab offensive boards. Not over the back, just plain ridiculous fouls. Definitely won't be called in the NBA. Got hacked by Bogut on a baseline spin dunk and missed it, when getting p1ssed off and tried to come right back at him, got called an offensive backing him down.

Andrew freakin' Bogut got more star calls. Considering that this is played in China, I don't what the hell is gonna happen when he gets back to the NBA

- still a step slow. You can tell that his signature baseline spin doesn't quite beat his man as cleanly as he does in the NBA

- jumpshooting still a bit off, although he got in a bit of a rhythm in the 3rd quarter, it was quickly killed by the refs thanks to a ridiculous foul call, see above.

- still has problem letting go sometimes. Got beat cleanly by Bogut on a high pick n' roll thanks to his even slower than normal footspeed. Still tried to block the shot from behind and ended up giving what would have been an And1 if Bogut didn't miss the FT

- not yet developed chemistry with the team. Went too hight (almost to the FT line) on an 1-3-1 zone and ended up giving up an easy basket due to nobody being under the paint. I wonder how much JVG's teachings have to do with this.

Other rants:
- refs were a HUGE factor. Put Yao in foul trouble since early in the 2nd quarter which made China's 16 point lead dwindle to 5. Put him in foul trouble again in the 3rd when China started playing better which allowed Australia to catch up. The Aussies where hacking like crazy, including Hack-a-Yao and blatant two handed pushes to keep him out of the paint.

Yao's not the only one getting screwed either. When a Chinese player drives to the basket and bumps into a player, it's an offensive. When a Chinese player is standing underneath the basket with arms straight up and an Australian charges in, it's a defensive. Also, they were basically allowing the Australians to play NBA level contact, which is fine if they allowed the Chinese to do the same

- Chinese guards suck at taking the ball across half. In the second quarter before the Aussies went into full court press, one of their 4's would come and stand between the two Chinese guards with the ball. The guard would then try to pass over his head which of course, made it very easy for another player to come in and steal the ball while it's in the air. If you are a guard and you can't freakin' outrun a 4, go home, put your head in a brown paper bag and NEVER play basketball again.

- Liu Wei sucks. I don't know why he's starting. I don't even know why he's on the team. He can't control the pace of the game at all. Chen Jianghua can't either, but at least he's only 17 and actually knows what to do with the ball sometimes. Even Wang Shipeng plays better. I can understand if a guard tries to drive to the basket on transition play. But Liu Wei's teammates where all behind him and the Aussies already went back on D, including 3 big guys underneath the basket. He tried to drive to the basket with a floater and expectedly had it almost swatted back to half court.

On set plays, assuming he makes it across half court (which usually is at the 14 second mark), he'll dribble 6 feet from the top of the key for about 8 seconds and then try to drive to the basket (which he can't) or put up a shot (which he can't make).

- the Chinese played good D by their standards but you can still tell the Australians are a lot better. Their switch very quickly from full court press to trap to man on man to zone.

- the CNT's rebounding problem is quite simple. Certainly rebounding technics is an issue, but by far the most important reason is that nobody other than Yao knows a lick about boxing out. They also have very low defensive awareness. Number 9 on the Australian court drove to right under the Chinese basket while 3 of the Chinese players still have their back turned running in position.

- Is it me or does Bogut flop more in international competition

- The Aussies shot terrible on FT, missing something like 8 of them. Ignoring the sucky ref factor, if they made more, they would have won the game. Of course, I believe they also didn't send their best team.

 

Forgot to mention, Yao did very well finding the open man against double teams, including a Moochie-esque (from the rookie season) handoff to Liu Wei.

 

Errrrr. For Chinese fans, Wang couldn't jump at all due to injury. Even when getting two inches off the ground had to hold his knees afterwards. Not expecting him to play much in the WC.

But on the positive side, he did show a lot of heart in the 4th, catching up to a penetrator from behind and getting high to block his shot against the glass despite the injury. Also showed why he's once considered better than Yao by showing a couple of nice up and under moves when Yao wasn't on the court and Australia was making a run. Scored three key baskets in the 4th. Also showed experience. With China up by 2 and something like 7 seconds left. He fouled the Aussie guard (when China only had 2 team fouls) with about 2 seconds left.

Chen Jianghua did not play I think more than 5 minutes. Not that he played well in that time.

Yi Jianlian is still not aggressive enough, though part of the reason is that he's being pushed two hands against the back out of the paint.

I'd start Du Feng instead of Zhu Fangyu because he can hit the outside shot more consistently although Zhu is technically more of a 3.

Wang and Yi should not play on the court at the same time unless Yao is also there and China is going big. Yi is not strong enough to play inside and Wang can't play inside with his injury. When Yao is out, play Zhang Songtao instead. He's more of a traditional 4. With Wang and Yi together, China can't do anything in the paint at all.

Oh yeah, screw the refs.

 

Who is that masked man!?

 

It looks like Bogut is playing 'DIRTY' [unsportsmanly] A clenched fist to Yao Ming's middle?

 

Geez, what ad is on the back of Boomers' jerseys, "Aussie Tiger Red Wine"? I thought products using tiger parts (and their advertisement) are banned in China.

 

the guy he's guarding is seven foot six. give him a break.

 

Break? What does 7'6 have to do with what's legal or not?

 

who are you? dick bavetta? violet palmer?

same mentality that's exactly what's wrong with nba referees.

 

I think you mean Bennett Salvatore.

 

I read it as Yao is still not 100%. Nothing to be concerned about. He just take longer to rehabilitate. He will be 100% this coming season.

 

I dunno. I guess you can take it multiple ways. Maybe he is just saying he is farther behind basketball-wise than he wanted to be right now. Maybe he just thought he would be able to do more and come back stronger (ala when he came back from his toe surgery) than he is now.

 

I disagree. I think it was obvious to everyone watching the games this week that Yao was not 100%, clearly a step slow. However, he did not seem to injure anything, and thus his statements are not worrisome. He will play rusty and a bit slow in the WBC, but then again if he came back the next season, it is quite possible he will start out rusty as well and play like this in the first few games of the season. Might as well get the rusty phase out of the way now. Worrisome would be if he mentioned a setback in his rehabilitation because of the game action, like Amare's disastrous 3 game stint this past season.

 

Back to Form

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/08/16/289260/Back_to_form.htm

 

OK I'll play.

I think this is the key part in the sina report:

对于自己恢复了多少，大姚开了个玩笑，“有点像写武侠小说，问我功力恢复了多少。...”

My translation is as follows:

As to how much he has recovered, Yao quipped jokingly: "This is sort of like writing a martial arts fiction, (you guys are) asking how much I have regained my prowess..."

My best interpretation is that all the subsequent references/allusions to the word 恢复 by Yao himself in the article may be assumed in the same context, that is, Yao was talking as if he were fighting as a martial arts warrior on battlefield. The "prowess" of course refers to the whole package including his shooting, rebounding, assist, blocking, positioning, court vision, as well as his quickness and stamina. It is absolutely nothing wrong, and perfectly natural for the literal translation of 恢复 into "rehabilitation/rehabilitate," which is more or less associated with "recovery" from a surgery.

Sina is not known for its journalism integrity. The guy who wrote the article could have made it clearer to readers what exactly he meant or Yao himself meant by "恢复".

On the other hand, it's entirely possible Yao understands it's to his own advantage that he doesn't give an impression that he's already 100%, it's generally a good strategy to be low key on the eve of big tournament when you are an underdog facing many tough opponents.