I am serious. Send in Cato to take a littel wind out of Shaq. Shaq is goign to want to hurt yao form the get go. To show what a (bully) man he is. Start Cato and let him body up on Shaq. Leave him for the first period and get a good 3-4 hard fouls on him. Send in Yao for the second period and let him shoot jumpers. Make Shaq come out to defend him. Start the second half with Cato again and let him stop on Shaq's toe till he fouls out. Then let Yao come in show how BBall is to be played. Use his skill inside and out to show that Shaq is just a fat bully with little talent. I think this keeps Yao fresh and lessens the chance on an "incident". Cato can play Shaq, for some reason he has always shown up for games against LA. LA does not have a backup that can body Cato or compete with Yao. Should keep the fat, weak toe'd, b*stard tired for most of the game.
I don't want to be down early w/ Cato in early. I think Ming should take his licks and take on Shaq. We need him for the WHOLE GAME!
Yao is eventually going to have to match up with Shaq so hiding him now isn't going to help. Also the fact that Shaq is out of shape is the reason Yao SHOULD start. Yao is fast and Shaq will have trouble keeping up with him. Also Shaq is going to have trouble shooting over him.
I hope Ming firmly plants his size 18s just outside the circle so they have to call a charge when Shaq bulls in like he always does. If the refs call a blocking foul, the stadium screen re-run guy should play Shaq's charges over and over until the refs are tired of seeing their mistakes. Remember, Shaq has no real backup. Ming does.
Start Yao because Rockets should not let media think Yao is afraid of Shaq. If Yao is going to get beaten up by Shaq, let him take it like a man. Rockets shoould protect Yao like he's a fragile porcelain doll. Yao will do fine. No one should expect him to out play Shaq. Shaq is the most DOMINANT player in the basketball world. Just remember that.
Yao is a Man. Let him match up on shaq daddy to see how tough and relentless he is. Hiding him is some weak weak... crap.
Rockets might as well play Yao against Shaq from the get-go. He needs to learn how to play the big marshmallow at some point because as of now, the road to the championship still goes through Shaq and the Lakers. Let Yao take his bumps and bruises now, so he can build experience. If he can contain O'Neal at some point, there really aren't too many other players he couldn't stop.
No! He needs to show up greater than Amare S. I like the idea of multiple showings of Shaq charges and fouls. If Shaq tries any monkey stuff against Yao Ming ,then he should be ejected.
Excerpts of an interview with David Aldridge, ESPN Much has been made about Shaquille O'Neal and yourself. What do you think playing against him will be like? "I think it will be one-sided in my matchup against Shaquille O'Neal. He is much better than I at this point. I think the NBA is a very good classroom for me. I think I will learn from defeat and from my setbacks and it will set a foundation for me to improve in the future." Commmenting on Yao's match-up with Shaquille O'Neal on 11/17/02 "Every problem has to be faced. That's going to be a very important game for me. I'm not going to be looking at it as a normal game. I'm going to look at it as a more important game." Yao said his goal is to be one of the bests in the NBA. To be one of the bests you must face the best. Just like AI and Kobe they didn't shy away from MJ when they were new to the league. I think it would be an insult to Yao if we "hide"him from Shaq. Whatever happens after the game will be a valuable learning experience for him. Everybody expects Shaq to dominate and dunks on Yao. What happens if Yao had a respectable game and a dunk on Shaq? It's a win win situation for Yao. Yao'll be fine.
Somehow I have this weird feeling that Ming is going to have huge game against Shaq, like 20+ pts 10+ rebs, and Rox won at the buzzer with Ming's shot from Francis's miss.
ehh..forget that..i have a feeling he's gonna dunk over Shaq...!! that would be a great start to start off my weekend..h ah aha.... friday is getting closer...3 more days....sigh...time go by too slow
Not a good idea at all. But I would like to see the twin tower line-up for some changes. We can put Cato on Shaq defensively. If he has foul problem then we can bring Collier in.
Thanks for the rolley eyes. It is not that I don't think that Yao can play Shaq, I just thought this would be a better way to dominate him. I am also a slightly concerned that Shaq may lose it. ( A la Brad Miller.) He has been the one building this up, not Yao. So I am a concerned that if Yao is outplaying him, that he may get overly aggressive and actually try to hurt someone. Even if Cato does not start, I would like to see him play about 20 mins, to pick up fouls and keep Yao fresh. This would also lessen the one-on-one hype and return the game to what is is. An important W for the Rocks.
12/03/02 against the Spurs with Tim Duncan and David Robinson Yao Ming 37 minutes 27 points 3 blocks 3 assists 18 rebounds Tim Duncan (all-star and future hall of famer) 43 minutes 25 points 2 blocks 2 assists 12 rebounds David Robinson (all-star and future hall of famer) 26 minutes 7 points 6 rebounds 12/10/02 against the Kings and Vlade Divac Yao Ming 35 minutes 17 points 4 blocks 3 assists 15 rebounds Vlade Divac (all-star) 27 minutes 6 points 1 block 1 assist 6 rebounds 12/18/02 Pacers with Jermain O’Neal and Brad Miller Yao Ming 38 minutes 29 points 6 blocks 1 assist 10 rebounds Jermain O’Neal (Best in the East) 43 minutes 27 points 2 blocks 6 rebounds Brad Miller 37 minutes 16 points 11 rebounds Yao Ming is ready for the next big challenge. He has passed every big test so far with out backing down and it would be wrong for him to back down from this one.
It's time for Shaq to stop hidding from Yao, and take his lumps like the rest of the big boys in the league have done. Go Ming!!
I seriously doubt that Shaq will try to hurt Yao. If you've watched as many LA games as I've, then you'd agree with me that Shaq is not a dirty player. In fact, he often get more timid than he should when confronted with physical plays. Plus, at this level, you won't be able to perform if you let anything else enter your mind during the game. That's what Rodman usually did to people. The Rockets will guard Shaq by committee, just like all 27 other teams have been doing against the Lakers. I really don't see Yao guarding Shaq 1on1 out there. The worry for the Rockets is the defensive rotation and recovery after double team, and I have to say that the Rockets are terrible at that. The more intrigue part of the game will be when the Rockets on offense. Given the history of Phil Jackson's team, you know that the Lakers won't double Yao down low. IF, that is a big IF, Francis and Cat don't get into 1on1 shoot out with Kobe, look to dump the ball to Yao first, then we'll see Yao, with all his offensive arsenals, against Shaq, who is the quickest and strongest 7ft in the league. My prediction is both of them will struggle with foul trouble, neither one will be able to stay on the court for more than 30 minutes, which will be a big advantage to the Rockets since Yao normally only register ~26min a game anyway. With the way the Lakers have been playing the past few games, the confidence they have been accumulating, I think it's going to be very difficult for the Rockets to stop the Lakers.
Of course I expect us to play zone against Shaq but I am curious if Shaq will play Yao straight up the whole game. Shaq has too big of an ego not to play a rookie one on one. If Yao's single covered, that's no excuse or difficulty for our guards not getting Yao the ball more.
if anything shaq should be hiding from yao! i bet he gets "injured" or "food poisoning" right before tip-off. yao gets up for big games and opponents. the bigger the game, the better he plays. yao is the man and i think he is going to shock the world and put shaq in his place. my roommate's from la and we've been talkin smack all week. i cant wait for the game, cause i know yao is going to kick his big, no free throw shooting, turf-toe, kazam aristotle butt and my roommate is going to buy me a case of heineken.
If our team is smart, while Yao is grabbing Shaq's attention, and Posey is blanketing Kobe as much as Kobe can possibly be blanketed, our backcourt will demolish the Lakers. With the acquisition of Posey, we are the best equipped team to bea the Lakers. Even without. Let Yao Ming go early and hard against Shaq, and if he fouls out by the 3rd, it's okay, because Cato comes in and Shaq will already be worn down trying to run around with Ming. Honestly, I think Shaq will come out the winner of that matchup, but I believe we'll win the game, and that's what matters to me. Shaq wants to prove he should be starting the All Star game, so just like Hakeem put David Robinson to SHAME after that MVP award was taken from him, Shaq will try to do the same. He's very likely to succeed, given his record with keeping promises.
