Yao's stamina has improved immensely this year, I always wondered if his stamina issues were innate because he is so big and had questions whether any kind of conditioning program would allow him to play big minutes in the NBA. Well he played 41 minutes in the Warriors game and 35 minutes in the Sonics back to back games and I didn't see any indication of him being winded as in past seasons. The Rox are now finding a way to win and close out their opponents in the latter parts of games and having a fresh Yao on the floor is helping us finish the game.
Yup. It is HUGE. Yoa's stamina is definately improved. Now if we can keep him out of foul trouble, all this non-sense about Yao not living up to potential will finally go away. He's rock solid when he isn't winded and in the game.
He is averaging close to 34 min a game now. I think it would be ideal for him to average 35 a game. That way he can be relatively fresh and have less fouls, playing 41 a minute is too much and should be done only once in a while.
Yao has definitely been on the floor a lot more as the season has progressed and hopefully tis a trend that will keep up through out the whole season. ps: As an aside, in the last game in particular, Van Gundy did give Yao a rest at the beginning of the fourth quarter which was probably crucial in helping Yao finish the game strong as well (given that it was a back to back).
Yea I was going to start a thread on this issue. My question is, when was the last time Yao performed this well, on a back to back game, or was this the first time? It surprises me that Yao still had enough energy to finish off the 4th qtr in the Sonic game after the overtime victory against the Warrior. This is very encouraging for Yao.
I actually sensed an improvement in this area as well, noticed he backed off a block attempt on an Evan's drive. Looked like he was aware that he would be late and would only pick up a cheap foul if he tried to block Evans. So if Yao does his job and avoids the cheap fouls how do we get him some respect from the refs, that play in SF where he just turned and bumped the guy guarding him and gets called for a foul happens to often to him in my opinion. Though on the other hand, he does get his share of refs ignoring his moving screens.
It seems his increase in stamina is due to the change in how he's used in the game. I think starting from the Boston game, JVG had Yao stay near the basket more and not have to come out as much. On defense he's not switching and chasing pg's around the perimeter, and on offense he seems to only be setting the high pick for Tmac. Before he was setting a high pick for whoever was handling the ball, then going down low to fight for position, and often switching to the other side of the court to fight for position again. Looks like his movement is much more efficient now so that's why he's able to stay on the court longer.
You are right JVG eventually did something good for the team! Hopefully he would do more, though I doubt he's capable of.
Does Yao get into foul trouble because of poor stamina does he log fewer minutes because of foul trouble.
Seattle's game isn't easy for Yao. The big Potato ( I can't spell his name right) pushing and shoveling Yao all the time but none was called.
I believe you're talking about danny fartson, but in response to darox, Yao seems to win ALL his jump balls this year, which is also another improvement in his game. Keep it up Yao!
He defintely does--we used to almost be assured a bad toss and Yao would not get the ball. I don't have concrete stats, but I gurantee you that jump ball wins have gone up--nice to have the rock to start the 4th!
i hear starting next season the nba will keep track how many times a player touch the ball each game and how many times they shoot the ball during the pregame warmup too.
Yea, Yao has finally learned how to win the jump balls. It looked like the last couple of years, he'd wait until the ball gets to the apex of it's height because the "rules" say so. He finally realized people always cheat and grab the ball before that. With a half-foot advantage on anyone, he doesn't even need to jump to win the jump ball.
I was impressed with Yao's back to back performances, but let's not jump to conclusion. Yao was able to have the stamina because of the type defense that was used on him. When he overcomes the defenses that give him trouble, then I will be more convinced.
Yao Ming's stamina DID improved alot, as the guy put in alot of hardwork during the summer. While he was recuperating from his ankle surgery, he did alot of swimming and hit the gym room for his strength and conditioning. He also hired Anthony Falsone as his personal strength and conditioning trainer. Anthony Falsone and Tom Thibodeau flied over to China to over-see his recuperation, as well as supervising him on his strength and conditioning. And after the season started, it was repeatedly reported that at games on home court, he always came late to the post-match interviews/Q&As as he would go to the gym room for his strength and conditioning exercise. The following photos were during one of those gruelling sprinting exercise he did under supervision of Anthony Falsone and Tom Thibodeau during the summer.
