The thread was started a while ago. So, you think that if it was a closer game down the stretch that Yao would have been put back in? It was just a 6 point game with 4 minutes remaining coming off a timeout, btw.
Always play Yao and adjust accordingly, I would love to see Ricky mix up the defense with Yao to keep the shooters honest. Sometime Yao should switch, double, or drop off into the lane. The only thing he seems to do is drop off into the lane.
I've seen star players having a bad night benched down the stretch like that. And I've seen announcer act all shocked about it, but some nights a guy just doesn't have it. It's not a reflection of the player so much as it being a case that the players on the court were executing. And in those cases the coach never benched the player or reduced his minutes in following games.
Yup - the only player that is an exception is Harrington. That's been a problem because he hits 40% of his 3-pointers. Yao can't come out on him because he'll just blow past him. A zone won't work. Nor will doubling him because GS has excellent shooters all the way through and through. So you have to give him the shot and just beat GS by outplaying them on the boards and tiring Harrington out on the other end of the court (playing him really physical). Also with Harrington taking 3's you got to get more rebs.
The only time you bench yao is on a defensive posession at the end of the game, where if time is running out. If you get the ball back you call time out and put him back in.
I agree, completely. Let me be clear. I wasn't asking whether benching Yao for an entire game should be an option. I don't agree with that at all. But if things aren't working out well with him on offense and he's struggling defensively, I think there are scenarios where we'd be better off finishing the game without him. I'm more comfortable running the offense through McGrady in the final minutes anyways, because he's better at generating scores without turning it over. And with Landry coming on strong, we got another player who can catch and finish strong around the basket. That's why I thought I'd bring up this thread again ... I think the addition of Landry makes this a relevant question. Particularly with Utah and Golden State up next.
Ok, I see what you mean, I agree with you in that regard. The thing, though, that helps Yao in that regard is that his shot-blocking will be needed down the stretch in most games, and his freethrowing shooting.
A good chunk of the reason Yao has problems in the fourth is the mediocre quality of the Rockets point guards. They have a huge amount of trouble finding him in the fourth. He gets in the paint and bangs and bangs and bangs and doesn't get the ball. More often than not when the pass does come Yao's out of his sweet spot or the pass itself is crappy. With T-Mac, on the other hand, Yao is a gigantic 7.5 foot target who, when standing inside the restricted zone, is pretty much guaranteed to score or get fouled. And the Rockets look to have an upgrade in the PG spot now in Brooks. I'm not so sure it makes sense to talk about benching Yao for extended periods in the fourth until after we see how he plays with T-Mac and Brooks in the fourth.
in a multi-game series, a bigger team, especially with great big post players, will almost always win against a smaller team. no matter how athletic or fast that smaller team is. see gsw-mavs and gsw-jazz last year for recent examples. strategically, it's always better to force your opponent to adjust than to having to adjust to your opponent. see phil jackson, the master in coaching psycho match. for every measure, there is a counter. it's just a matter of figuring out that counter and execution. and adjust on the fly in the game. yao had a ho hum game in portland BY HIS STANDARD, partly due to the foul troubles. my guess is if the scores were within one possession and there're 3-4 minutes left, he'd be sent back in by adelman. tonight our second unit was doing great in closing out the game. it was rather an exception than a norm. any nba coach (maybe with the exception of don nelson) will just laugh it off when he sees this poll.
As we saw in today's game vs. the Blazers, it's a good choice to bench Yao in the 4th. quarter, especially with such an excellent player called Carl Landry!
Carl should start in place of Yao. Yao can be the backup center. Rockets has a better and younger center than Yao. Why waste the talent?
I believe that different situations warrant different strategies. If the other team goes small and fronts Yao, we could occassionaly try to feed Yao, but otherwise, he should be our offensive rebounder or seal his man when we swing the ball to the weak side. Yao would be in great position for a rebound or a inside pass to him for a dunk. Sometimes, if the other team goes small, we could match energy with energy since our "small" guys (Scola and Landry) play big on the offensive glass.
NO,we should keep yao on the court instead of benching him.YAO is YAO,his step can't matchup the smallball,though ,but his height is a huge advantage to against small teams.
Haha, good idea, just like how the mavs adjusted last year to GS by benching Dampier. These gimmick teams want you to do stupid things like bench your all star. You think these rookies will always play like they did the other night? And as i remember, the Rox beat the Suns in phoenix with Yao going off. The problem is having scrubs like Rafer, Hayes, and Head, who can't take it hard to the hoop and get fouled. Taking it to the hoop collapses the defense and opens up Yao for offensive rebounds and dunks. As soon as small ball teams get punished for putting two guys on one player, then they will open Yao up. If you played organized ball, you will know that the small fast teams might have their moments, but size usually wins out. Lastly, when a small ball team actually wins an NBA championship, then we should discuss benching Yao. Small ball teams are like running quarterbacks in the NFL...looks good, but doesn't win you a championship.
its really hard to say should we bench yao but i think the team will have to think of a way to use yao effectively both offensively and defensively
