Yao needs to concentrate on Defense and Rebounding

Yao just looks kinda uncomfortable and timid out there... I almost wonder if he's playing with a fear of injury right now.

 

really?...i don't

he has shown that he isn't capable of dominating the smaller quicker players (which should be the advantage of being big). He's a really good player that will always have games like this (i'm pretty sure that was leebigez's point).

 

seriously its only one game but I agree with tinman, offense wont always be there every night. some nights you are just off, thats just how it goes.

but defense is controlled by effort. Yao played horrible defense tonight and played really stupid too. I have no idea what was going through his end. the first two fouls he commited were totally unnecessary, the first over the back foul where there was no chance for him to get the board and then even after if he pulled back he went over the shoulders of perkins and the ref had to call the foul. then off of a offensive rebound he half-assed tries to block a shot and touches perkins on the arm after the shot and its an and-1.


i figure yao to bounce back, but he did not play with intensity tonight on a night where this game was supposed to be your first test of the season against the defending champs. Tracy played as well as he has all season, ron brought all the intensity he could but yao came up flat on BOTH ends. totally unacceptable in this playoff-type caliber game when he is expected to at the very least perform average, but should perform better.

I mean he let Kendrick Perkins have a field day out there, Kendrick Freakin Perkins...

We all have seen Yao play defense and rebound the ball well he picked a horrible night to forget it all. Still frustrated by it all.

 

There is something that needs to be understood with his r****ded mentality.

I said this in the game thread when he got into foul trouble to look at how he decides to play thru the fouls when he gets back in.

When he gets into foul trouble his typical attitude is I am going to do nothing repeat Nothing to expose myself to another foul, that is why we see 0 attempted blocks, 0 atttempted rebounds in traffic, 0 rotation on D. The paint was a wide open door for open layups and when perkins was shooting on the outside he did not come out one time to contest a shot.

All of this was to save his precious self so he can score. In his mind that is the only way he can contribute. When he got stuffed, and started the bricking festival the game was over. In the end all that time saving his fouls and letting the paint exposed he contributed nothing but a deficit.

Even if he did score at a high clip in the 3rd and 4th Q it would just even out the points he gave up with 0 D and no rebounding.

There is something fundamentally flawed with his behavior in playing with fouls. Other great players find some other ways to contribute besides being transfixed on just one aspect of the game.

Playing thru fouls, fronting, passes out of a double team, these are the core inconsistencies in this guys game that he has not corrected 7 years now in the league.

These problems will be magnified 10 fold in the post season.
There is so much ammunition a coach can use to negate Ming in the post season that a YMCA coach will pick up on let alone a veteran NBA.

 

Quit defending Yao, he opened himself to the criticism by playing so terrible last night. I’m angry and disappointed at him and you should be too. I was sitting at the game, and wondering what the heck is this?!? He’s better than that and saying its just one game is a slap in the face to him as a star athlete. Not covering Perkins’ jumpers or losing rebounds was inexcusable. He sets high standards for himself and we should too. Because he has shown to be a prideful athlete, I fully expect him to get to the bottom of the problem and fockass to get himself right.

 

If you think about the era in which he played, he was 7ft 270lbs which was pretty big. Brad was a really good big, but kinda soft. He wasn't in the mold of Hakeem/Ewing/Robinson types, but he was very skilled and very good.

I'm not blaming all the defensive and rebounding woes on Yao, but he has to do his part and control the paint. He has to get the rebounds that are in hi area. He has to get his legs bent and back bent and ass down, arms up and contest shots. In the nba, u can't give guys wide open shots. when u foul Davis or Perkins, get your moneys worth instead of a tick tack foul. Eddie House comes into the lane, put his ass on the effing ground! Its the same thing I've been saying for years now. It get repetitive over the years.

 

House faked the pass to his man on the baseline, Yao bit on it, and he was to slow to recover.

That's Yao, and it won't change. He's very, very slow in changing directions and he has slow reflexes. He needs to learn to not bite on fakes. Just use his height, stick his arms up high, and be an road block against other teams. If they can get around him, then fine. It's the responsibility of his teammates to cover for him. But he shouldn't try to be something he isn't because it's not going to work. He wouldn't be playing to his strengths.

 

sometimes he will, sometimes he won't. He's 29 years old, he's a vet, he is who he is.

Will Tmac start miraculously going to the rack every play (well not when his jumper comes back)? will Artest stop getting techs?

these aren't rookies, they are who they are. Yao's not going to play like that most games but you better believe he will some and be happy that we have depth to stay in the game.

p.s. i think we would have won if Adleman would have stayed with Hayes and Brooks. I can understand he wanted to "test" his starters but we would have been better off in the 4th quarter without Yao and Rafer.

 

I think this is what people need to understand that this thread wasn't meant to pile on. Its a trend that continues as you say. In the playoffs, we saw him get 12 rebs in the last 2 games of the series. People talk about tracy and really ride him when he has a poor shooting game, but tracy will have 4-16 for 15 pts but he'll have 6 rebs and 8 asst and 1 stl. He never let his scoring effect the rest of the game. That's why when Yao misses games, the team can still wn 68% of their games. That's also why the team struggle when tracy is out. Deke/Hayes can make up the rebounding/ defensive parts of yao game and tracy and everyone can find enough point to make up that part. That's neither here nor there.

Game flow or effectiveness should never be tied to offensive effectiveness. Maybe we got spoiled from Hayes,malone, and dream I guess. Maybe we ask Yao to be something he can never be. We've seen games when Seattle would run that zone and take Dream out of the game offensively, but he would still have 12 rebs and 4blks and 2 stl and keep his presence felt. Being played by a 6'8 guy should be a slap in the face to a great pivot. U could never front a 28 yr old shaq with a 6'8 guy. Like I've said, even if the offense is struggling, the rebounding and defense should always be there.

 

I agree, you have to put some of the loss on Adelman. Its a tough decision particularly when you have 2 vets like Yao and Rafer to sit them down when they are playing lousy but I would have done it yesterday with Yao and I would definitely be thinking about giving Brooks more of Rafers minutes on a permanent basis if Rafer keeps shooting like he has.

 

Sometimes I wish our bigs would just let their teammates that play matador perimeter defense get burned because it is happening too frequently and getting them in foul trouble. Just worry about your man but it won't and shouldn't happen. That second foul Yao got was the result of Allen penetrating on McGrady and Yao having to help. He's not only guarding Perkins but the guards getting a step from bad defense. I really don't know how anyone can be content with yesterday's game with any of our big 3. That score hid so many problems on offense and on defense.

 

Yao sucked last night, for one game.

 

I don't think you can separate Yao's offensive and defensive performances. He looked great in the first quarter until he had to go out with those two stupid fouls and after that he just collapsed on both ends of the floor. Anytime Yao gets in early foul trouble he looks timid and the Rockets are in trouble.

As for the boards Yao's got size but not a huge amount of mobility. He also gets zero help when he goes out to block a shot meaning he's out of position to grab any defensive rebounds.

The Rockets as a team were way too eager last night. Early fouls on Yao and Landry, rushed shots, etc. At least the offense looked good in the first until Yao went out.

 

Excellent point there about T-Mac's defense. Ray Allen is too quick for him, and his penetration led to a lot of breakdowns.

 

I agree, this is not bashing Ming we all want the Rox and him to hoist that trophy in the end but I am more than frustrated at the lack of progress after so many years in the league. We keep talking about the same issues over and over and nothing seems to have changed.

I do not believe in the cough out excuse that due mainly to his unathletic build is his forever detriment. God gave him that body and if he used it smartly and efficiently he can overcome those fundamental weaknesses above. It is all in the mind of Ming.

After so many years in the NBA he should learn by now the tricks of the trade, what fouls the refs will call -whether just or unjust- and what fouls you can get away with, this experience should help you play with fouls maintaining a presence on defense and rebounding effort not a complete shutdown that is the case for him.

Experience should also allow you to gain that confidence level and situational awareness during double teams. After so much exposure to doubles you would expect Ming to pass out of the post in a controlled, smooth manner but far too many times he just chucks it out of the post in an erratic, desperate manner with passes at the feet of the shooter -not counting the turnovers. by the time the shooter brings up the ball for a shot his defender has a hand in his face hence negating the open shot.

It is all learning about the game and bringing that experience from those years in the league something Ming has failed to do unfortunately.

 

You should be shamed in yourself. You make Yao look like he is bad. You wrong.... VERY wrong. He is greatest man alive and is still alive. Like a flower in the desert of love, he protects man from them selves. He probably only had bad game because he believed it would help his team win and grow together like the pieces of puzzles man has not figured out but Yao knows many answers that men don't. He will win greatest man of all time and be better than you.

 

Dude, after 6 seasons of playing like that you think he will suddenly grow a pair? Not even Ron Artest can make Yao more aggressive.

What really bother me about this is that the owner, coach, organization, and the fans will forget all about this as soon as he have a good game. If we fail to make it to the first round again this season somebody is gonna have to go.

 

We are talking about games where the Rockets squared up agains the Kings, Grizzlies and Thunder. None of those teams pose the challenge that the Celtics pose and the game against the Mavericks didn't have same quality as this game against the Celtics did. The Rockets need to be focused on how to use Yao and his performance against teams like the Celtics that will be playoff teams. You wanna talk about it being only one game, but it was an important game. If his foot is still bothering him and is a contributing factor to what we saw last night (stuffing himself on the rim, tipping rebounds intead of snatching them up) there's a good chance were going to see more of it in the future. Yes, it's early, but we are all looking at these games closely as a precursor to how the season will turn out. These early games are a reflection of what is to come and in the hotly contested Western Conference playoff race I think every win will be important as it relates to the Rockets seeding in the first round.

The Rocket's really need to be keeping a close eye on this. It's troubling as hell when our 7'6" center struggles against a 6'10" guy all night.