He's got a point. At MSG, the knicks fans were booing for minutes regarding a call they didn't agree with and they boo'd the refs a lot more after that. Houston fans could benefit by getting a bit nastier with the refs. They need to stand up for Yao a bit more.
I said its hard to beat a good team without T-mac and when the refs screw you like that it doesn't help. Simple easy 5 points for NO Houston -4FT Houston have was force two fouls because they where behind +4 That is 13 turnaround and we lost by 5. It doesn't mean that Yao will make all his FT or that NO wouldn't be able to score in a half court instead of easy Fast break point and FTs, but Houston didn't have a chance to win because Yao name is not Duncan, Kobe, Wade, Lebron or even T-MAC. Yao is a superstar that gets treated as a rookie, simple, you will not have to many chance to beat good teams without like that.
We are not talking about home crowd intimidation, but rather disadvantages. I watch lots of games, I don't see any other home courts get so many bad calls, not even the 25 win Raptors in their early days.
I dont think the refs are biased only at Yao. I think they are biased in general toward the big men of the league. You can see Dwight and Shaq get hammered alot too. This is NOT a Yao-hating comment
Yao moves a bit with finesse versus power. If he moved a bit more decisevly and quicker to the basket, opposing players wouldn't even try to reach in. But because he moves a bit slow, it gives the defender time to reach in for the ball. And the refs just aren't going to call it because Yao is so big. Yao has to learn to move more decisively - and I think he will. This is an area where he can improve vastly and hey - that's a good thing. If he learns to master this, then he'll truly be unstoppable. Also, if he moves more decisevly and quicker...with more power into his moves, I think you'll see him get more calls and to the line more as well. It's just harder to defend.
You can try the move you suggested by yourself with sb pushing you at the back with 2 hands and see how it goes.
In the Staple center, Jack Nicholson alone, would get into refs' face non-stop until he got thrown out of the game, for some blatant bad calls. Crying babies get milk. As simple as that.
Either way. But you know, when you hold the ball close to your chest, it's nearly impossible to slap across your arms, and most of the power on the ball comes from your torso. When the ball is away from your body, all the grip comes just from the arms and shoulders - which is why it's a lot easier to take away, plus your arms are exposed.
One other thing Yao Ming can do, I believe, other than his play, is to blow totally up at referees at prompt time. I mean the kind of blowing up that national media will be picking it up and talking about it. It will focus people's attention, it will make clear Yao Ming has had enough. The media then will make a reflection on what Yao has to go through to make him so blowing up. This can help his case tremendously, just like how it helped Shaq. No one nice guy staff, nice guy staff won't get it done. What does Timmy lose by being thrown out of the game?
One other thing: speak out to the media to the extent that the NBA is forced to fine you. Draw some attention to the issue.
I totally agree. I have been advocating for Yao to pick and choose those fine moments to blow up on the media, bring attention to it. David Stern doesn't want negative coverage, just give him some. Like those bogus fouls against Howard could very well raise the question, why? Yao doesn't need to play race cards. He only needs to ask why? It's fine that none of the 3 officials saw DH threw him down, but why that was a foul on him? That's a question I want Yao to ask in press conference. The media will pick up the rest.
Gotta say the refs definitely blew two straight fouls on Yao, which allowed hornets to score 5 pts in a row and go up by 3. Terrible..just terrible as barkley would say it. Regardless, Rockets put up a goood fight.
He does blow up but the refs don't listen...he's got to make it more obvious. And just flailing after the ball is taken isn't going to work. I really surprised Yao hasn't been taught this, there are so many things about the way he posts that I was taught not to do. I'm only six six, but I was somewhat of a big tall lanky stiff and guys would strip the ball away and reach in all the time. So I learned to do this. When I want to move toward the paint and I'm posted up, and I put the ball on the floor, I put a lot of power down into the dribble, this makes it come up faster and harder for a guard to get in there. I also learned that when a guard does come in as i put the ball on the floor, because i put more energy into it, it comes up faster then the guard anticipates so as he comes in, i lift the ball high and step past the guard so he's now behind me and I can either pass or go for a jumper/hook shot. When the guard doesn't come in, I pick up my dribble with the ball to my chest. My left elbow is digging into the defenders chest, my right elbow out clearing space on the right side, and my head is leading infront of the ball and i push my body through all the hands and elbows and arms. So the ball never gets smacked, it's my head and body - i push through all of that...and then lift the ball out over for a clear shot - and often it was an and one shot. Yao never does that. He never bull dozes his way across the paint with a lot of power. I'd like to see him do that at least once or twice a game. make the defensive player keep up with you.
I mean Houston fans can complain all they want, but in the big scale of things, Yao Ming is just another star in the star-trodden league. Bad calls on Yao is just some bad calls being made all over the league. So, to truly grab attention, Yao needs to totally just blowing up, to illustrate the extent of the problem. Weak complaints like he has done plenty won't have this effect. I'm talking about Shaq swinging at Brad Miller kind of blow up.
This 300+ pounds guy plays the second half for 24 minutes. I would have rested Yao for the first 4 minutes of 4th qtr.
