No, defensively Yao is that bad. He is slow and not athletic to defend the better players in the league.
that's why if we play some good big men where yao has to guard, i think the best thing is to limit his minutes until the 4th. use more of the scola/hayes combo (who have shown to by dynamite defensively). i mean scola shut down okur and hayes shut down boozer when they were in there together
Y'know that the Rockets have had the best post defense of any team over the last 3 or 4 years, I wonder if this all by coincidence. 2) In defensive efficiency and points allowed, Yao is actually ranked very high. He doesn't give up alot of points to opposing centers. Name one center who consistently averages over 20 ppg or even 18 ppg against Yao. And for one Boozer is not a center.
The better coaches in the league know that the best way to get Yao in foul trouble is to put an athletic center or a power forward in, let him take Yao out high and use Yao's poor lateral movement to drive past him for a layup. That's the scouting report 101 on Yao.
And yet historically he's done well against Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire. Boozer is the only player I can think of whom Yao hasn't been able to stop or slow.
just for fun, would boozer dominate shaq in his prime? i think hakeem, drob or even ewing would've contained boozer in their primes.
Boozer is top 2 offensive PF in the league, hes gonna get his points anyways. Can those big men contain Boozer? Nobody knows, but last time I checked Duncan couldnt contain him.
As much as I hate to say this, but Yao was more likely defeated mentally. But dont give up on him just yet. we'll see what he can adjust in their next matchup.
Yao is not that bad on boozer i don't think. It's the fact that Deron Williams and Boozer pick and roll is killing Yao. I think Lakers defended the Jazz really well on the pick and roll on Sunday. We should borrow some page from their play book. Spurs run a lot of pick and roll with Manu and Tpark as well. Our bigs are just not that great defending pick and roll. I guess JVG never wanted our bigs to come out on the p&r, don't know if Aldeman is going to change any of that. Hopefully they will fix it. As much as I don't like Kobe Bryant, i think he's a great defensive player. Very underated.
It it's Yao on Boozer, Yao should stop jumper and let Boozer drive so Hayes/Battier/Scola should step in and try to draw charge or force Boozer to kick it out and force AK47 or Brewer to take the 3 rather than Deron or Okur...
The reason why Yao can defend Howard or Stoudmare is that those two do not have killing jump shots. Howard has none, SToudmare has but a little. Boozer offensively is much more versatile than those two centers. He can shoot, he can drive, he can dunk. Offensively, I think Boozer is top 3 PF in the league, though defensively he suffers from lack of size.
------------------------------------------------------------- Exactly. It's just a mental thing from Yao's side. I didnt see Boozer DOMINATE(according to most of the people around here) Yao in their previous matchups. Before the 3rd game of last playoff serie, no matter he was in Cleveland or Utah, Boozer could never be so efficient matching up with Yao. Yao is from Shanghai, China. And Shanghai people is known to be OVER-THINKING in a lot of ways. Yao is a very smart person, but sometimes he might have been too smart.
