from the AP recap "He gets to practice early and he wants to learn how to get better," Francis said of Ming. "Basketball is basketball. He plays hard, he's just like me - except he's 7-6 and Chinese." One thing I've noticed from watching the Rockets first three games is the amount of encouragement and positive reinforcement that Steve and Cat are giving Yao -- at every break in the action, they're calling his name and giving him a hand slap or a thumbs up. I've seen it not only after Yao scores, but after he makes a crosscourt pass or a nice outlet. It's real cool to see how this team is growing together.
The wuvfest returns with a vengeance! Except for KT apparently, but I won't comment since I didn't see the game except to note that it was his first game back Let's see if it can expand to the entire rotation. I look forward to seeing how things go when Taylor and Rice return to action.
On one side of the list : Encouragement, high-fives, acceptance, positive comments, enthusiasm, thumbs ups (!?), ....on the other side of the list : the ball.
Maybe I'm a bit more sanguine than most, but I didn't get the impression that Yao wasn't getting the ball enough. From Game 1 to Game 3, his touches have gone up in increments. He will only get the ball more now that he's got some confidence and has proven he can score. And the encouragement and positive reinforcement helps.
What I was impressed with last night at the game, was watching Cato attempt to show Yao how to get position under the basket and how to move with the ball. They worked on that for a few minutes during warmup, it was heart warming! I can totally see Yao wanting to learn and how intent he looks watching the game from the bench...
feel the same way man, Yao seems always a pass first, score second type of guy, he should play point I guess...not to mention that sweet pass after yao get that board and sneak it in to the under basket Francis
He had a nice weak side pass to Moochie as well but he missed the shot. Anyway, the guys do seem to help Yao out there. On one free throw episode, Steve was showing Yao how he should box out in case of a miss. I liked that.
I was at the game. What impressed me the most was his passing. He could have at least 3 or 4 assists if the reciever had made 'em. I mean guys were wide open. Already, Yao knows how to pass out of a double team to a wide open guy. I'm not gonna worry about his offense. He just needs to keep improving on being aggressive with rebounds and blocks. He just seemed more confident last nite, and his movement was more crisp and had purpose. He was more comfortable and the crowd had alot to do with it.
Things are going to be much easier on Ming when we have MoT taking some pressure off him, as well as Rice with his 3-pt shot and passing from the post. Those will be key elements to our playoff run. What's this I hear about KT, what happened?
