RealGM

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-3 ... -Four.html

Basically repeats what all the (knowledgable) fans already have been saying. Yao gets people open by just standing on the court. The only stat anybody should care about is the 'W' next to Houston.

BaYBaller wrote:http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-39-133/Houston-s-Figure-Four.html

Basically repeats what all the (knowledgable) fans already have been saying. Yao gets people open by just standing on the court. The only stat anybody should care about is the 'W' next to Houston.

Again people need to stop defending his poor performances by saying he gets people open by just standing there. So does Kobe, Duncan, LeBron etc. Yet those guys don't score 2 points and 4 points in playoff games. And they win just fine. Sure people feed off of him and get theirs. But him being able to get his in addition is what makes a good playoff team. I am sorry...your best player can't have single digit scoring games in the playoffs.

And its simply ridiculous of you to say that only knowledgeable fans know what Yao means. Don't be an idiot. Just b/c we are upset he scored 4 points the other night doesn't mean we don't know what else he gives us. Knowledge fans...completely unwarranted and unnecessary...know that we can't win without Yao being great. Its as simple as that....we would have been blown out tonight if he didn't play the way he did. The way he has to play for the rest of this series. The only way we won game 3 was because the Blazers got so far down early due to their inexperience in road playoff scenarios that they couldn't catch up. We lost game 2 when Yao had a bad game. We would have lost tonight if he didn't have a good game and we will lose game 5, game 6 and game 7 if he doesn't play well. If he just "stands" around on the court in any of those games we will be the 9th team to lose a 3-1 series lead....that's what knowledgeable fans know.

- KR

I think its safe to say, Yao did his job tonight and got his teammates good looks,

the only bonehead play I can think of is when he turned the ball over trying to pass it back out.... when he was one on one.

other than that he was solid tonight.

I'm pretty sure most fans know how valuable Yao is to this team. A lot of us were just angry after his 2 crappy performances. Yao gets billed by many as the best offensive center in the league and people just expect more out of him.

Whatever though, I'm relatively satisfied with his performance yesterday.

Iggyemu wrote:

BaYBaller wrote:http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-39-133/Houston-s-Figure-Four.html

Basically repeats what all the (knowledgable) fans already have been saying. Yao gets people open by just standing on the court. The only stat anybody should care about is the 'W' next to Houston.

Again people need to stop defending his poor performances by saying he gets people open by just standing there. So does Kobe, Duncan, LeBron etc. Yet those guys don't score 2 points and 4 points in playoff games. And they win just fine. Sure people feed off of him and get theirs. But him being able to get his in addition is what makes a good playoff team. I am sorry...your best player can't have single digit scoring games in the playoffs.

And its simply ridiculous of you to say that only knowledgeable fans know what Yao means. Don't be an idiot. Just b/c we are upset he scored 4 points the other night doesn't mean we don't know what else he gives us. Knowledge fans...completely unwarranted and unnecessary...know that we can't win without Yao being great. Its as simple as that....we would have been blown out tonight if he didn't play the way he did. The way he has to play for the rest of this series. The only way we won game 3 was because the Blazers got so far down early due to their inexperience in road playoff scenarios that they couldn't catch up. We lost game 2 when Yao had a bad game. We would have lost tonight if he didn't have a good game and we will lose game 5, game 6 and game 7 if he doesn't play well. If he just "stands" around on the court in any of those games we will be the 9th team to lose a 3-1 series lead....that's what knowledgeable fans know.

- KR

Why you would compare a center to perimeter players I have no idea. I hope you can understand that it's almost impossible to deny the ball on the perimeter. Add to that Yao is not in the Lebron, Kobe, Wade, Duncan (when he's healthy) class, the comparison is ridiculous.

And if a team sandwiches Yao he can only do so much. I can guarantee there isn't a post player in the league right now that could've gotten many touches with the defense Yao was seeing in gm 2 and 3. A center fronting w/ a PF behind and you're not going to get the ball (outside of offensive rebounds or scrambling defenses or something). Yao got more touches in gm 4 because the defense loosened up on him. They weren't as aggressive fronting because of foul issues and they weren't leaving the PF wide open at the top of the key like they were in gm 2 and 3.

Now that's not to say that just because you're not getting touches that you can't still be effective on the court as good players find other ways to be effective. For a center that would be defending the paint and hitting the glass, both of which Yao has done an excellent job so far regardless of how many points he's scoring.

People just look at the box score and look at the points and think Yao had horrible games. People expect big points because Yao is a great offensive center. But knowledgable fans (yes, knowledgable) look at the team offense, team TOs, etc. to see how the game went. These are the things that matter as far as wins and losses go. In gms 2 and 3 where Yao had "horrible" games, the team still shot at a very efficient clip. I guarantee you coaches don't focus on individual player stats as much as fans do. Yao has been solid this entire series. We probably wouldn't have won a single game w/o him. The only thing that Adelman has ever gotten on Yao about this series was picking up stupid fouls.

One of your other posts talked about how Yao isn't a #1 offensive option. I agree. That's more a product of today's NBA as there no longer is such a thing as a post player being the #1 offensive option. D12 isn't in Orlando, Duncan isn't in SA, etc.

uhh...neither dwight howard or duncan have the offensive game that yao has. not even close. but thats just me. i have a feeling a lot of people agree with that.

rocketworld wrote:uhh...neither dwight howard or duncan have the offensive game that yao has. not even close. but thats just me. i have a feeling a lot of people agree with that.

D12 no, but Duncan is debatable. But my point is that even these great offensive players would not be able to receive post entry passes w/ the defensive attention Yao was getting in gms 2 & 3.

TBH though POR's defense has been very bizarre this whole series and I'm not entirely sure what Nate is doing half the time. He opted to guard Yao 1on1 in gm1, double hard off the ball on him in gm 2, front Artest and Battier in the post, even do hard doubles on Artest on the perimeter in gms 3 and 4. It really makes no sense to me. Nate just doesn't seem like a very good defensive coach and I'm not sure if it's the product of poor scouting, bad game-to-game adjustments or just that he's not good at coming up with defensive gameplans. If I were a POR fan I would be very confused and angry with some of the defensive strategies he has done so far this series. HOU (up until gm 4) has been shooting well above their season average and it's more to do with POR's whacky defense than HOU somehow turning into an offensive juggernaut in the playoffs.

rocketworld wrote:uhh...neither dwight howard or duncan have the offensive game that yao has. not even close. but thats just me. i have a feeling a lot of people agree with that.

Do you know who Duncan is? TIM DUNCAN of the Spurs...

Duncan doesn't get doubled and fronted like that because ginobli and parker will toast the other team with the holes that creates. Pop is a smart coach who instilled elements of the motion offense years ago to make sure that kinda stuff couldn't happen. Wait until we can go get a great wing player, than Yao will get as many looks as he wants. I'd like to hear more people acknowledge how much better his defense is getting, which is just as important as points.

Yao may not put up the best stats, but he is absolutely the biggest factor of a game. Nobody in the team could influence the going of a game as much as he does... that's what i think

yea...i know who duncan is. but at this point in his career, i would take yao with the ball in the post over him anyday

rocketworld wrote:yea...i know who duncan is. but at this point in his career, i would take yao with the ball in the post over him anyday

me too, as long as the guard knows how to pass him the ball... If lowry keep learning he'd be the perfect guard for Yao