If there was a flag football equivalent in basketball, Yao would be great at it. He won't suddenly "figure it out" after 6 seasons. He will never CONSISTENTLY play physical enough for this league. It's not in his DNA. His only real strengths are his height and his soft touch.
Jefferson was playing smart last night, I was impressed. He's skilled enough to take Yao off the dribble, so Yao had to honor that. Once Jefferson got Yao's feet moving, he'd bump him even further off balance, and Yao couldn't react. Once a 7'6" 310 lb guy starts moving one direction, it's hard to recover.
The fact that he only got 1 foul called against him and not getting calls on travelling is even more miraculous. And those 32 points did not even come easy.
i wish Yao could do as you say. but it's too late now. Yao is old. at least he thinks he is old. too scare to get hurt physically. so he prefers embarrassment and lives with it. it won't have to be this way. i really wish Yao could wake up and be a superman. too much to ask? not.
Yao has to realize that NBA games are physical and you have to earn other players' respect by playing physical within rules. When you have the respect, other players would hesitate when they think of abusing your usual style of play. Also, after you have played physical for a while, the refs would be getting used to your play and many of the boogy calls would be gone. Time to wake up: use their spears to attack their shields.
He's Tofu, not Kung Fu. BTW, the Shaq flagrant is pretty scary, but I don't think Shaq deserved it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiLL_ZMgW0Y
lol If Yao does this, then no NBA player will play him dirty. Players are simply not afraid of Yao so therefore they do as much dirty tricks they can to stop him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiY1D1lAH-A
King K0ng is like Mr Pink, He/She criticise Yao for their own short coming in life and other places. haha
to the op - i was gonna say co-signed to your 1st post here. but then you said yao was frightened after being dunked on. if you have watched yao this many years, you'd know he usually responds, or try to, with scoring on the other end. no matter what happened during the games against denver and minny, it was yao who had the last laughter. but i do agree that yao needs to hand out bruises on the court, though. especially when those opposing centers might be thinking they have an upper hand (e.g., nene, the sore loser). if i have only 1 or 2 fouls in the 4th quarter, why not do something and let ppls know everything comes and goes with a cost.
Is the foul worth it? I think he should knock our guards on their butts for not staying in front of their man most of the time.
Yao's priority is to win games, not pad up stats and dunking on people. Winning is everything, if you think like this the championship is not far away. Cmon you are only as good as your next highlight reel.
I am sure Yao doesn't care his stats or the highlights on ESPN,so you can call him TOFU,soft Tofu or whatever you want.Because all hs wants is end of the game---WIN.
Forget Nene or Jefferson. He needs put Dick Bavetta and Steve Javie on their butts. I would love for Yao to show those guys, a real foul.
I'm with the people that say nobody in the NBA fears Yao. If he's going to get called for offensive fouls on flops and ticky tack fouls on defense then he should get his money's worth. I know it's been 6 years or whatever, but somebody needs to drive that point home to him. He should do it every once in a while.
Anything? How about super soft tofu with a side of pink teady bears and buttercups? I kid... sort of.
