Been rerunning games on tape. If people are wondering why Yao gets blocked so often, the answer is very clear. They are NOT blocks, they are hacks on the arm. Yao usually taps his arms after being hacked but no screaming. Even opposing announcers on replay admitted as such. Somebody need to do the screaming for Yao and take T's to get the ref's attention.
A lot of players in the league get hit when they are shooting but never get the calls. Its happens to everyone. People need to stop blaming the refs and just except that Yao needs to get stronger.
Some fans wants to know why Yao gets blocked so often, so I did some research and came up with the conclusive answer.
You cant avoid the fact that the refs are only calling about 15% of the fouls committed against Yao Ming.When they start calling the fouls then you will see a difference.
When I was watching the game yesterday I saw Yao go for a rebound and he only had 1 arm because a Sonic player was basically holding his other arm and no call...whats up with that?
I haven't watched many games this season. In the ones I have watched, Yao was constantly being held. Players are grabbing his arms, jersey, shorts, whatever to make sure he doesn't get to the rebound. It would be nice if the refs call this crap. Even, the opposing team's TV crew points out these obvious fouls more often than the refs call them. Of course, as Yao gets stronger he should be able to draw more attention to these fouls. If he can at least fight the hold, like Shaq, and look like he is trying to raise his hands then he can draw more attention to this stuff.
Because you can't tell who was holding who. I watched that game and play, they were too close together to make a correct call. It could have as easily been Yao the one that's holding the arm, especially since the other guy has the inside position. It's a fast and physical game and Yao's got to learn to play through it. If you want Jordan or Hakeem you see that they get tapped on the elbow a lot when they shoot, Yao's got to learn to complain and whine or he will never get a call. I remember in Hakeem's book, he said he complained once and the ref told him he's strong enough that a tap on the elbow shouldn't affect his shot
Yao gets blocked because the opponent's hand touches the ball he is shooting. I've watched Kirilenko cleanly block him. I've watch Jerome James cleanly block him. I've watched Erick Dampier cleanly block him. If you think all these blocks are because he's being fouled, you're fooling yourself. Yao has no elevation on his shot. Yao has short arms for a guy his size. Other 7 footers can jump to Yao's height pretty easily. Sure Yao gets fouled, but he gets the crap stuffed out of him because he's doing fadeaways that get blocked from behind and attempts layups and soft turnarounds in the paint from 2 feet.
I agree with DOD, I have seen a lot of blocks that were obviously clean. The last couple of them were in the Jazz game.
I don't care how strong you are when you got hit in the arms you won't be able to shoot. It's absurd that a player get credited for a block when he obviously hit Yao's 6 inches below the wrist while he was in the act of shooting. Yao actually protested about the foul but the refs just ignore him. I rewatched the Sonics/Rockets game and Jerome/Popipiekinko actually fouled Yao on almost every single time when he's in the low post. They clearly had two hands on Yao lower back most the time. Shaq is way stronger than Yao and the refs call foul right away when his defenders lay two pinkies on his fat ass. Maybe the refs still think Yao's a rookie.
He's slow. That's why defenses are able to get to him and block him. He's got a slow release on his shot. Whenever I see Duncan and Shaq shoot, they don't take as long as Yao does. Shaq in particular has a very quick release. He just makes a quick move and kind of gives the ball a toss to the hoop. He doesn't give you any time to recover defensively. Yao's got to realize when you're a big man playing in the paint, you can't take your time shooting. Yao is also a slow leaper. That's why he loses so many jump balls. He needs to get both his feet firmly planted before jumping which gives the defense a lot time to get to him and block his shot. He also needs to create some more space between himself and the defender before shooting. He's got to give the defender a little bump and then shoot.
Once again every good player, Hakeem, Jordan go through it. One, from the game I've seen, Yao doesn't complain enough. Look at Divac, he speaks with broken English too but he complains every play that he felt he should've gotten a call. If Yao wants the calls, he's got to fight for them. If the ref ignores him, do something to get attention, maybe an elbow to the face of a dirty player. (once again, a chapter out of hakeem's book).
Yao told Chinese media that he won't shave until last win, as after he had his hair cut, Rox lost the the three games!
Once in a while he does get blocked from behind on a double team, but that happens to everybody and not because of bad technique. But I do want to ask you this. If someone is inside the circle and go forward on a dunk, even if the defender flops it would still be 2 and 1, if that is true, does Yao know this, maybe somebody should tell him.
Yao gets blocked cleanly a lot, but he gets fouled at least as often without a call. Last night in the 1st quarter, James got all left arm on Yao no call. He wasn't even close to the ball. Yao protested that one. I also counted three other shots where he was clearly shoved while in the air shooting, no call. On rebounds too it's especially atrocious. In a game earlier this season, maybe it was Steve Kerr commented that Yao gets fouled a lot just like Bradley does without the refs calling it. I don't really see how him playing more agressive is going to negate the foul calls. A lot of the no calls (and I'll admit clean blocks too) are on dunk attempts. Just because he's "soft" doesn't mean the refs shouldn't allow the game to be played by the rules and make consistent calls for the players.
