I hope this isn't a repeat of another thread but . .. It's pretty clear that Yao is capable of big performances but the league is watching. Nahera significantly slowed Yao by being physical. Ditto Candyman. Yao beat up on bradley, Medevenko/Walker, and Brenda. Rudy needs to emphasize Yao's role when the matchup is right, and de-emphasize his role (or use him as a decoy) on other nights. Rudy also needs to start MoTay, so that he can get those quick starts, like he did pre-injury. Also, MoTay is a very good ball handler/driver/passer and works well with Yao.
Najara....It's a spanish thing. Just thought to point it out. It's mainly a double team thing. Physical play gives his some trouble but Yao pushes back and fight physically, but his moves are limited against double team right now. Both mav in 2nd half and Clippers use that. Rockets need to work on that as a team also.
Actually its Najera. Also, Najera didnt stop Yao, Dallas' zone defense stopped Yao. Najera fronted Yao while Nowitzki dropped down off his man to protect against the lob pass. 3 or 4 years ago, before zones were implemented, you would never see Najera guarding a player like Yao one on one. Its funny, zone defenses were legalized to help teams slow players like Shaq and Francis. Today, its going to slow Yao too. I would have really liked to see how dominant Yao can be if zones were still illegal. To be honest, I didnt see the Clippers game at all so maybe someone can give some analysis as to why Yao only got 4 shots.
From what I saw: 1. Rice got really hot, 2. then Steve got hot, 3. Yao,when he gets the ball,actually considers whether it's better to shoot it himself or pass it to someone with a better opportunity (what a concept,huh--smart team play ) 4. then there's still some, " so what if we've got a 7'5" player on our side....I'm gonna show my stuff,check me out ".
