Opposed to his previous games, Yao was challenging shots no matter how late he came. Sure he might've gotten dunked on but who cares, people aren't gonna dunk over you 3 outta 4 times. From the Laker and Spurs game, when Yao sees a dunk attempt, Yao just moves out of the way now. I am sorry but when you're 7' 6", you should challenge every shot no matter how stupid you might look when you get dunked on. My gripes about Ming -Abandon the stupid fade away and attack the basket, Ming is turning into another Rik Smits with all his shots that are away from the basket. -Ming's rebounding is becoming a liability, hes getting boxed out too easily. Also, Ming taps the ball instead of actually grabbing them. -Ming is not physical at all, he should be dunking instead of layups Ming is slow and he is weak, I hope he realizes this and rectifies his weaknesses before he can take his game to another level. Also, hes not playing with the passion that he used to play earlier in the season, no screams no emotion. As a result, Francis and Mobley are detering away from Ming and take the game into their own hands. Larry Smith (whose coaching is left to be questioned) is giving Ming less and less minutes. WE NEED RUDY T BACK, since hes been gone...the team is playing without flair and confidence.
Amen. I can't say it enough. It looked like Rudy had just figured out a good rotation, and the proper ways and times to use Yao, and now all of a sudden that's gone. Yao has reverted to the way he was at the beginning of the season without Rudy here. This may sound pessimistic, but I think we're gonna have to wait until next year for this team to take off, because Larry Smith isn't doing the job Rudy was doing. I mean, we were on like a 5 game winning streak, then Rudy leaves and we're 2-5? The more we lose the more I believe in Rudy's value.
I think he is either injured and not saying anything about it, or all the little bruises and pains are catching up with him (god knows the refs let the players hammer him enough inside). He just looks tired and dejected out there.
I agree with Raven. Also, although I do think Rudy was doin a better job of putting it all together with this team, the so-called 5 game winning streak showing how our team was playing well is a fallacy. For one, we basically LOST the game to the clippers, but the refs decided to give us a freebie. Without that win, our 5 game winnin streak wuda been split in half, into a 2 or 3 game winning streak since the clipper game came in the middle of the streak. In the Toronto game to start the streak, we were down in the 4th Q and playin pretty lousy (or so i recall) until big Yao stepped up with a monster 4th Q and lead us to a win. In addition, Voshon Lenard's last second turnaround jumper to tie the game RIMMED out. So we dodged anohter bullet there. Our only real quality win was over the Suns. We beat the bulls, but they are, afterall, the bulls. We caught New Jersey on a night where they really couldn't hit anything... they had a ton of open looks that just didn't go down. Basically i'm tryin to say that the 5 game winning streak looks a lot better than it really was. Yes, i do feel we were playing better as a team, but we still were not playin well.
i definitely think he's injured. he may not be saying anything to the houston newspapers, but i think it was pretty clear last time in a interview with yang yi or whatever the reporter's name was that yao injured himself in the first quarter against sacramento. he's played badly since the sacramento game and i think its evident that he'll need time to heal but he's going to play through the injury while the idiots think he's soft and that he's a bust already. and to the moron who thinks yao plays like rik smits; you obviously know nothing about rik smits. rik smits had bad feet, he could not run like yao at all. rik smits had no spin move and dunk move, he does not have any of yao's low post moves or as much outside shooting range as yao does. rik smits was strictly a mid range shooter, no fadeaway at all. if unguarded, the guy would make all shots and was automatic from mid range, though he was 7'4, he was not really a shot blocking threat, no mobility because of chronic problem with his feet which eventually led to his retirement and rik smits was notorious for committing dumb fouls and getting in foul trouble very early in the game, guy would foul out of almost every game i remember him playing . even if yao stays at his current level, his game is still way ahead of smits. and smits was never a good rebounder. yao's rookie year numbers are also better than smits numbers were. i remember seeing a stats comparison somewhere. and to all the idiots who thought yao went through a rookie wall period in mid january, i remember an nba insider article on espn that said yao had lost weight at that time and was not eating right and that the excessive commercials and pre-game media press conferences and excessive media attention affected his play at that time. once he got his weight back up and his knee injury that he got from playing against denver healed and they cut the commercials and pre-game media, he started playing well again. and when he was playing badly at that time, people were saying has yao reached his peak? blah blah. bs. now he's injured and playing through it despite the embarrassment and you're calling him a rik smits which is pretty laughable. unlike shaq who had a little toe problem and decided not to play for fear of being embarrassed by yao during the would be shaq yao II on tnt which shaq decided to sit out.
It's a combination of 3. But mainly I think Larry Smith's strict coaching destoryed Yao's confidence (as well as the whole team). He benched him immediately after making a few mistakes or missing a few shots (he did that to all the players too, not only to Yao). Rudy would let his players go and give them confidence. We've seen so many times that Yao and Francis struggled in 1st half and returned to form in the 2nd half or so. But it's very clear that Coach Smith didn't have nearly the same faith in the players especially the stars.
this has nothing to do with coach smith. this has to do with injuries. yao's confidence is not being destroyed by stricter coaching. in fact, when rudy t was so nice to yao. yao said to rudy t, you don't need to give me special treatment and rudy t said that's how i treat all my players. also if you watched the last game against the spurs at the spurs homecourt, rudy t also bench yao and francis for the second half cause they were playing badly. at the time, yao was supposedly going through the rookie wall and eddie griffin was injured as well and not playing. just like tonight's game.
A 5 game win-streak is a 5 game win-streak...doesn't matter how you won, who you played, etc. What matters was the Rox won those 5 games, and more importantly, really started to grow and gel as a team. One thing I've noticed though concerning this team over past 7 games...really makes you see the value of Rudy.
Read the post you herb, I said he was turning into another Rik Smits...hes not Rik Smits, Yao is taking mid range jumpers just like SMits did and, just like Smits, Yao is getting pounded. I know Yao is your hero and what not and Yao is a god to you, but give me a break. Hes getting worked, hes shooting like 25% or something. He needs realize this before he takes his game to another level.
Just to make it clear, I am not bashing Yao. I simply pointing out what hes doing wrong in the past games, while those critiques might not be positive, they are the truth. You can make excuese all you want but if Yao keeps taking 15 ft jumpers and keeps getting pounded night in and night out, hes not gonna be dominant.
Isn't this the second time Yao has hit the "wall"? I thought he hit the wall earlier this year around the time when most rookies hit the wall.
if he's not rik smits, and you're saying he's turning into him when he's been taking mid range jumpers all year in his good games, then you're on crack. he's playing the same way he's played all year long. the jumpers just aren't falling and if the interview is accurate, it's because of an injury. and second yao is not my hero ,nor is he my god? i'm a christian and i believe in jesus christ and i also believe clutch bbs should test all posters for drug use once a week to prevent crackheads like you from posting. i just find it funny how bandwagon jumpers like you will say yao is god and yao is **** all in one week probably.
in addition to what i said in the above, i would also like to point out that i have never posted any threads specifically praising yao or saying trade francis or mobley. i don't praise him when he has a good game and i don't give up on a 22 year old's entire career just because of a recent streak of bad games as some overreacting fans tend to do. also i have never predicted yao to have a good game against shaq. i basically watch rockets games when i have nothing better to watch.
unlike Cipherous, i don't give a f**k if yao succeeds or not. if he fails, it's not the end of the world. if he succeeds, good for him. whether he succeeds or not has no impact on me. people need to stop taking $hit so seriously and get a life.
also wanted to add one more interesting fact, you might want to know. i actually used to go to nba games before yao became a rocket and i have never bought a ticket to a rocket game since yao has become a rocket. what does that tell you ? not that i hate yao, but buying a ticket to a game just to experience the game live is not as exciting as it sounds. i don't waste money on tickets and oh yeah, the only jersey i have is jordan's home chicago bulls 23, wanted to have a collectible of the greatest nba player. not yao's. there goes your insane theory that yao is god to me?
Yao is tired. I think this is the main (if not the only) reason of his late performance. His jumpers used to be reliable, but now they didn't fall. That's not because of tough defense or he played scared. Who could really block his fadeaway? It has to do with himself. I think his tireness also contributed to him not making low post moves. Those moves need quickness and strength. Even if he wanted to do it, his body might not be able to execute them. And picking up cheap fouls quickly in the last two games is also a sign of being tired. Those who said Yao is scared don't know Yao had played against stronger players all his pro life, since he entered CBA at what, 16 or 17. He is not scared, just tired. Hopefully he recovers before the playoff run is over.
