I feel this has to be said. He's been staying out of Foul Trouble lately, and that game in Houston just convinced me the refs are finally finally starting to give him some respect. After 2 quick fouls, I thought we were headed for another classic bad Yao line of 20 mins, 10 pts, 5 rebounds. But he managed to stay out of foul toruble after that and getting 29 and 11. In all honesty, I don't see him doing anything differently, I just think the refs are finally starting to respect him more.
i pretty much totally agree i dont see him really doing anything diffrently. just the refs are a little easier on him.
Yao in November: 4.1 fouls per game Yao in December: 4.0 fouls per game Yao in February: 2.8 fouls per game.
Everybody is talking about how Yao has made tremendous strides in his lateral quickness this season (particularly after returning from toe injury). All of his offseason strength and conditioning work has improved that aspect of his game so he's getting better defensive position and getting to the ball quicker which translates into fewer silly defensive fouls and more importantly, better defense. So give Yao some credit.
I was just looking at these stats yesterday. I have also noticed that Yao is now waiting for the offensive players to make their move before he reacts. He is not falling for the pump fakes anymore on defense and on offense he has just been a beast down in the low block.
Also, I think that Yao is being a little more aggressive defensively instead of reaching for silly fouls. His feet are moving better (post surgery?) and he's getting in front of the post players instead of reaching and trying to jar the ball loose. He's just cleaning up the stupid fouls and therefore, staying out of foul trouble.
I think it's more Yao than the refs, to say that all the referee crews all of sudden are cutting him slack is a little far fetched. I think he is learning to stay out of foul trouble, did you see that play on his second foul yesterday, it was a clean block but a foul was called. JVG had to sit Yao after that foul but when he came back to the bench, JVG told Yao that he had to have more space between him and the other other player before he made the block. Subtle things like that are what he is learning in addition to obvious things like blocking fouls on dribble penetrators who are already by him in the lane and his improved lateral quickness since he came back from his injury.
What changed between December and February? Did the refs forget how they'd been calling Yao? No. What changed is that he sat there watching a lot of video of himself and his mistakes. His corrections (not falling for fakes, not rushing) are mental. I think what we're seeing now is the fruit of his studies during the injury layoff. Smart guy, that Yao. A little slow, a little too humble, but smart. And getting smarter every season. That happened to Hakeem, too.
What's even more impressive is that he is intimidating shooters like never before. I'm not sure what his month-by-month splits have been for blocks, but he is jumping at shooters more often and with fewer fouls.
Another thing that's kept Yao's fouls down is that the perimeter defense has been much better. Nowadays, you rarely see a penetrator running free, heading straight at Yao. I cringe every single time that happens because it's pretty much an automatic foul on Yao, but I haven't seen it much at all lately.
knock on wood. tmac and bogans are great at keeping thier man in front of them. wesley and rafer have been doing a nice job latley. hopefully this keeps up.
of those 1.2 fouls he's lost since december, i'd say about .9 is yao and .3 is the refs. it's obvious yao has been staying away from stupid reaches and doesn't seem to put himself inside the charge circle to pick up all those fouls where he stands there and guys run him over but they call him for the block anyway. but he also seems to getting away with things he never got away with. aggressively going after blocks with no calls, the occasional over the back w/o getting the ticky tack foul he always used to get. every game before the injury, all i worried about was when yao was going to get the foul that would make him sit on the bench. now it's nice to actually get to watch him play the game.
On the money! He is adapting to the NBA. The refs are going to call him a certain way and he has to adjust accordingly.
