We lost the Philly game for one reason. Coach's pet was on the floor at crunch time and he shagged up a brick. That game is on Van Gundy.
Yao is a beast! His awareness on the court has improved tremendously. The one thing I would like to see is the team get him the ball in the position he wants. Sometimes he gets the ball a little to close to the baseline on the low block and it takes away the baseline spin move. But Yao does a great job of establishing position now and holding it, and if he realizes the angle is not good he will slide across the paint sealing his man off deep under the basket. This is where are team needs to recognize this faster and get him the ball for the easy points, although they have been doing this more noticably of late I must admit. I like the fact that Yao is demanding the ball, his confidence is soaring now and he seems to be more aggressive on the court and has this look about him. He is no longer the timid, Chinese kid who was freakishly tall and had potential. He is now the 7'-6" dominant "Great Wall" who everyone is beginning to fear. For some reason I don't think this is a streak like before, he has a different look in his eye: talking back to the officials and getting T'd up I mean who doesn't love to see that from Yao? I'll tell ya who, the rest of the NBA It seems being down with the toe injury has given Yao some time to study his game and do some reflection on how to improve. Even if we don't make the playoffs and T-Mac misses the rest of the year, if Yao plays like this for the remainder of the season I will be pleased with this season (although still a little concerned for T-Mac's health). Since Feb 1 Yao's averages looks like this: 23.61 points per game 11.44 rebounds per game 2.11 blocks per game 1.44 assists per game I didn't have time to crunch his shooting % but just from glancing it looks to be well above 50% from the field and his FT % is above 80%. Anybody have those stats?
Get over it, Bowen is a pretty good defender. We lost the Phily game because we couldn't stop them down the stretch.
i've mentioned it before, but i still am waiting for yao to stop pivoting off of his outside foot. it drives me nuts. pivot off the inside foot (closest to the defender) so that separation is NOT there. at yao's size and strength (and FT shooting prowess), you want the defender's chest and yao's shoulders to be best friends.
I'm still waiting for Yao to slam dunk with his left hand. He has missed a couple when fouled recently because he insists on having his right hand on the ball when he dunks. Like he does going right, he should use his body and "free" hand to protect the ball when going left. It's good he's trying to throw it down more often and at a minimum draws a foul.
He should take a look at T-mac, or at least game film of T-mac. Tracy is fabulous at dunking and laying it up with his left hand. I really believe that he is the best off-hand finisher in the league. Yao would do will to take a page out of his book.
Is it just me or does Yao look more fluid and smooth when he's in a road red jersey with black shoes rather than a white home jersey with white shoes.
Agreed on Tracy's left hand, except for maybe Nash. On Yao: He will shoot the ball left-handed. I've seen him do semi-hook shots and lay ins, but never dunk it one-handed with his left hand.
