This has been the most surprising facet of the guy's game, to me. I am going to make a pretty bold statement here...I have never...ever..never seen a center pass as well as Ming has in the brief sample size I've seen. Over the course of a single game, I've never seen a center pass as effectively as Ming did last night! Never. I'm not saying it's never been done...but I am saying that I've been watching basketball for a while now, and I've never seen anything like it. Kareem was an excellent passer, but I don't ever remember even him making the passes that Yao made last night...hell, I don't remember seeing any player, regardless of position, make that kind of cross-court slap pass like he made to Franchise last night.
I call that pass The Ming Sting or for that fact they shoud call all of his passes last night The Ming Sting because every one that was caught by his team mates stung the Kings....
Yao's passing is really awesome and I am sure that play will be a top 10 of the week. He will probably be labeled the best passing center if he keeps it up which i am sure he will. Go YAO!!!!
Yao should have had more like 5-6 assists last night but so many of his great passes didn't end up as buckets (Moochie blew a layup, a couple more were fouled and didn't make the shot). As soon as our guys get used to finishing after they get Ming's passes, he is going to average 4 assists per game.
I believe it's on espn NBA webpage. The franchise and the dynasty dethrone the kings. Go check it out.
They showed the pass 3 different times on Sportscenter (the Rox-Kings game was the lead story), but it was only #10 on the Top Ten Plays segment. I was at the game and I fell out of my seat after that pass. Also after the bounce pass to Moochie on the baseline, I saw Rudy T turn around walking toward the end of the bench, shaking his head in disbelief. I thought that was very funny. Houston Native
Yup, also the other pass in the first half to either KThomas or MoT where Ming did an over the head drop to the cutting guard under the basket when he was double teamed. At least they drew the foul... if it had gone it... would have been highlight. Loved the sickass cross court fling/swat/swipe/pass/thingy to Stevie for the layup, but the back pass to Mooch was just as sweet! The highlight angle was not as impressive, but the one courtside camera angle showed that he actually did a bounce pass from his back as Mooch was cutting on the baseline. Not as simple as it looked from the side court camera angle. CRAZY!!!!! What an exhibition! Jeez... I didn't think they allowed rookies to make those kind of plays and attempts! Most rookies would have not tried any of that for fear of being benched if it didn't go rightl. What confidence and guts!
To the old timers, how does Ming compare to the great passing Centers like Bill Walton and....uhhh...Bill Walton?
It is on ESPN site (NBA page). Here is the link for standard modem: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/broadband/players/index2?skin=basic&id=1475057 Wait, give me few minutes, I need to watch the clip again! that is SICK!
You can also watch all the rocket game here at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Ultimate_Yao_Ming_Fan_Club/ Note: needed to registered for Yahoo account.
MadMax .... I agree. IMO Yao already is or will be better than Divac, better then Sabonis, better than Walton, better than Jabbar. Wilt averaged over ten assists a game one season, just to prove he could, but I don't recall many people talking about Wilt's instinctive passing ability. Anyone on the Board old enough, errr, I mean qualified , to talk about Wilt's passing? I guess a tougher question is whether Yao will be the best passing big man (not counting Magic as a big man) in the game. Bird was awfully good. It will be fun to watch. As an aside, with Yao's passing and shot blocking ability, I can see the possibility that Yao will record quadruple doubles, and perhaps just not on a career day.
yeah..i've been thinking about that too...if this guy is able to pull out multiple quadruple doubles...and assuming he continues to develop, you just might hear his name mentioned among the most complete players who have ever played the game at the end of his career.
With Stevie passing the ball on the perimeter, and Yao passing from the interior, The Rockets are gonna be a real tough team to beat. I'm just glad his passing is infecting all the other Rockets players. Not to mention it's driving fans like me crazy wild!
On the stat sheet, there were only 3 attributed to him last night. How many others that caused trouble for the Kings? Can anyone watched the game describe?
i think sabonis and yao are about equal to each other with their ability to pass. sabonis makes those beautiful passes look so easy. it really is fun to watch him hit cutters and distrubte the ball. with that being said...yao is about 13 years younger and will certainly get better with his passing as he gains experience. also yao's passing develops hopefully his teammates passing will develop too and then we could see some amazing ball movement on the rockets. and wilt averaged 8.5 apg in 1967-1968 to go along with 23.8 rpg and 24.3 ppg while shooting 59.5% from the field. now that is insane!
6 weeks ago he couldn't hold unto a rebound much less look like he was ready for the NBA and now we're comparing him to Wilt, Kareem and Walton. You had to see Wilt play, he was the most complete all around basketball player ever. He was a poor free throw shooter which everyone loves to point out against the guy. But they also forget how great he was at everything else. Having said that Yao's grasp on the basics of the game is incredible. Basketball is definetely fun to watch again when he gets on a roll. He still has a lot to learn but I can't honestly say what weak point there is in his game. The sky is the limit with this guy. In back to back games we just clobbered 2 of the best teams in the league. I'm glad I was already on the bandwagon because it won't be long before the line gets awfully long to hop on.
I was thoroughly impressed with Yao's passing last night and this season, but he will have to do it over a longer period before I begin to think of him with the best passing centers of all time. For me that title goes to Sabonis. He's been passing like that for years. Before Sabonis' body started breaking down he was totally awesome. ~kountzer~
I can remember at least three that the caused fouls which sent the recieving player to the charity stripe and at least one that was just blown. I don't think that pass to Francis was consider an assist either since Francis took it to the hole. He must have made at least 10 good to great passes last night.
