Shaq was asked on TNT if he thought Tim Duncan is the best player in the NBA on the low block and he said, "Either him or Yao."
Shaq on TNT Shaq just said Tim Duncan and Yao were the best offensive players in the box. Thats someone who knows what theyre talking about. Finally Yao gets some cred on TNT...
Shaq on NBA on TNT Hilarious show always, made only funnier with shaq on. He gives props to hakeem when kenny pulls a video of him getting scored on by hakeem, and when asked who he thinks is the best in the low box, he mentions timmy and our very own yao
I used to despise Shaq when he was in LA. He has definitely grown on me. He is one of the cooler guys in the NBA
Considering how few players actually play in the box it's an easy statement to make. I'm a big fan of basketball but I liked the old rules better. These new rules take the big man out of the game.
While it's a nice compliment to get, I hope everyone here noticed the difference between the way Duncan plays in the play-offs, and the way Yao played in the play-offs. I think Yao can be as good as Duncan. But he doesn't have the drive that Tim has. Nobody had to give it to Timmy, nobody had to inspire him to play at the level Duncan plays. We've got to find a way to get Yao to play with that drive, before the game is over, and he's at the podium taking blame for losing a game we should've won. Him, T-Mac, Battier, Alston, Head, Howard, Van Gundy..... all of them.
Drive? The one thing that Yao has drive, he continuously tries to improve his game technically. He just doesn't have that mean instincts inside him that Tim Duncan has. It all comes down to his personality. And don't forget Yao is just not as agile and quick as Duncan.
eh spurs offense runs smoother through duncan than the rox's with yao. part of that is JVG and part is Yao not being as quick. plus duncan has ALOT more experience in the playoffs than yao.
It's funny to me when people blame failure on some lack of drive or lack of heart. This Rockets team just wasn't good enough and was overmatched - it had nothing to do with drive. Those guys played their asses off this year and against Utah. In the end, they just weren't athletic enough to get those loose rebounds. Blaming Yao's "drive" for not matching Duncan's production is ludicrous. That guy gives 100% out there. He can't help it that he's slow and has the agility of a tree. It has nothing to do with heart or drive.
If Yao had a Deron Williams, Steve Nash or Dwayne Wade handing him the ball at the right time, he'd have dominated just as Boozer, Amare & Shaq do.
I agree. Utah matched up very well with us by having two bigs who can hit outside jumpers (Okur and Boozer). They also had strong defenders who could match up with Tmac pretty good (Harpring, Giricek, Fisher and Kirilenko). And they had one of the better PG in the league. We played a great series against them and could have easily won if a few long rebounds had bounced our way. Look at the Mavs. Everyone wished we played with their heart and focus during the regular season. Then they had a bad matchup with GS and suddenly they had no heart. Then everyone wished we had the heart of GS while they were beating the Mavs. Did they suddenly lose heart now that they are matched up with Utah who is a far better matchup vs. them then the Mavs were and are down 3-1. I am sure people will soon wish we had the heart and grit of the Jazz. Buit if they lose to SA or PHX then they must have two rounds worth of heart but thats it. Point is the Rox showed grit all year long to win 52 games with their roster and their injuries. Then they lose a heartbreaker series in 7 games and again suddenly people want this team blown up.
And in case someone missed it... In an effort to 'get back' at Shaq for all his 'diss' talk at Kenny in the past, Kenny showed a highlight clip from Dream schooling Shaq in the 95 finals. Shaq's response? "That was good defense, but he's a great player". Cool stuff, I love it when they have all-time greats in the studio, I always like to hear what they have to say. And yeah, he picked the "Big Fundamental" to win the series...
Yao is one of the top low block operators in the league, no doubt about it. I think the injury this year might have made him more fatigued than usual during the playoffs, thus causing his slightly disappointing performance. Of course bad overall team effort also effected everyone's performance.
It's not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man Yao "stumbles". Or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly... Who knows the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows in the end of triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who have never known neither victory nor defeat. The masochists (the whiner, moaner, complainer) on the sidelines of life, out of the arena complaining about the courageous.
What? Yao plays in the box? I think i missed him in the jazz series, all i saw was him fading away outside of the key or turning it over. And again, its not all Yao's fault... Rafer and Luther pass the ball like a bunch of blind goats. By the time they have the balls to make the pass the defenders have already sealed yao. AHDHSHFHFFHH ALSTON AND HEAD U SUCK
