Ric Bucher: The case of Steve Francis , from ESPN.com

This is the biggest myth around here, Yao floating around 3 point line after Shaq sat out.

Was it called by JVG, or Yao just ran out of gas, chose to take it easy, or other players wanted to play their game since no Shaq in the middle any more?

From the post game comment made by Yao, it seems like he blamed himself for not asserting inside more. But by the execution and the reaction on the court, it seems like JVG made the call. Of course, many here believed that the guards don't want to pass to Yao anyway.

 

I wasn't impressed by the 3x2 in Game 2 either.

Game 2 +/-
Yao > -9
Mobley > -9
Taylor > -11
Jackson > -13
Francis > -15
Cato > -16

Pretty tough feat to have a 3x2 and nearly lead your team in negative point differential.

 

That's very poor login, by that logic Derek Fisher was the, "General on the Court"; when they won all of 3 championships in a row. Wigman's right he's not in that postion, don't get me wrong, I do like Ming alot. However, he's not so great a player that when he struggles that we should keep feeding him, I think that he tends to get down on himself; and feeding him more certainly hasn't helped. Steve should be given alittle bit more freedom in these situations. We should be a little bit more flexible in our offensive approach. Wigman I think is right here, Steve hasn't had that chance.

 

UPDATE:


Francis ain't goin' nowhere, while Bucher's credibility is sinking.

From clutchfans.net

 

This article is getting dumber. I know its only three games but Francis is putting up the best numbers in the playoffs.

 

Update: 8.1 assists per game good. 4.4 turnovers per game bad.

I'm not sure why there are such strong reactions to this article. He has good and bad things to say about Francis and simply says at the end the jury is still out.

 

Bucher puts a VERY NEGATIVE spin on the Francis question. Look the trades he references - A.Walker and R.Wallace - is this a situation that calls for those kind of moves?!

He infers that steve is NOT champion ship caliber "...the kind of play no championship-caliber player makes." What championship player has never made a mistake?

A more fresh and insightful article would be one about the effort and heart Steve has shown. How many times have we seen Steve given a hand up by teamates? But that wouldn't make the editorial cut.