Since the same thing applies I'm gonna copy and past from the game thread what I said: "I'm sorry but Artest should have been guarding Dirk the entire game with Battier on Howard. As soon as Dirk started burning us I would have had a lineup of Lowry, Barry, Battier, Artest, and Yao. Also something similiar should have been inserted in the 2rd when Yao was being fronted. Just get 4 guys to camp out at the 3 with just Yao in the middle, either you get an open shot or lob it to Yao if he's fronted and if the help defender leave his man from the 3pt line you have an open shot. That's why Horry was so valuable to our championship teams."
Unfortunately, this isn't a startling thing any more. In 2009, he's only gotten 10 free throw attempts in a game 3 times. That's 3 out of 45 games. Why doesn't Yao draw as many fouls as he used to?
For all of the people last night that continue to say that Yao can not catch the lob, I swear Yao caught two lob passes last night when he was being fronted. Maybe I am not remembering it correctly but I swear I saw it happen.
True, but that doesn't mean Yao can be rendered completely obsolete because of a fronting defense. The easiest way to beat them is efficient passes and moving off the ball... not standing in a corner, letting Yao battle it out for 4-5 seconds, then slowly moving it around to the weakside. This is where Adelman's motion offense was supposed to make Houston a better 4th quarter team than JVG's, but with a lack of execution and no McGrady to make up for it, the Rockets look as poor as ever down the stretch.
I remember him catching one in the 4th quarter, then getting whistled for a BS traveling call when he spun on the baseline. The simplest way to beat this obviously is to run more screen and roll so that Yao can face the basket. Adelman seemed open to this idea when he first starting coaching the Rockets. Since then it seems like they have Yao facing up to the basket much less. Then there's Van Gundy, who was completely opposed having Yao face the basket, despite the fact that he's the best mid-range shooter on the floor most of the time.
I don't know why when Yao is fronted that a guard doesn't penetrate to the basket for a layup or kick it out to a (more than likely) wide open shooter. Do this every single time until they stop it. The playoffs are all going to be about in game adjustments. The team that adjusts more is going to prevail. I agree 100% with what A_3P0 said. Get the rest of the team involved early in the game (for all the hate T-Mac gets, he did do this a lot at the start of games and then he'd take over in the 4th when felt he needed to do so--speaking of a healthy T-Mac).
I never see our pg and pf play pick and roll when Yao was fronted. In my opion, this will be the most effecient way to solve the problem. I suggested this in the forum for several time. Just nobody cares about it. And sadly, I never see the players playing this offense in the game.
Be decisive and make good choice. Drive it or midrange it when your big men has inside position a dish or rebound already. Worse choice, freaking contested, poise-less long bomb. Swing the ball. It needs a lot of dicipiline, but it shouldn't be that hard. You can't let freaking Brandon Bass or Carlos Boozer stop Yao like that.
Maybe adelman will do what carisle when tracy was killing the pistons. Play a guy that hasn't really played all season. Play Brian Cook. Yeah, it sounds dumb, but what choice you have? They front Yao, put cook at the 3pt line top of the key and create a longer travel angle to help. Lowry or brooks on the wing, yao on the blks, cook at the key, artest on opposite blks off and wafer on the other wing.
Seriously? Out of ALLLLL the problems there were to discuss, you choose this? This is why I dislike most anti-Brooks posts. Very little substance.
Why not just play Ron at the 4, Cook doesn't offer anything at that position that Artest doesn't...and that would get Wafer more minutes.
That would work too. I don't know if I want him guarding aldridge and that's why I mentioned cook. If the get physical and front yao with pryzbilla and we know shane and scola's man will be the backside help, cook and a slasher von makes more sense than shane and scola.
This is not the first day the team works with Yao, so they should know what Yao's capabilities are. If it's a lob that Yao can't catch or too risky to catch, then just don't lob and do something else... It's a simple logic that many ppl can't seem to understand..
People are saying we shouldnt try the lob because Yao cant catch. The problem is when our offense gets as bad as it did yesterday trying a lob is definitely worth the risk. Did you see that nice offensive rebound and no look put back he did yesterday. Its not like he is r****ded or something. There is at least a 50% chance he catches it. If he does than it is a 95% we score. That chance is better than the crap our shooters were throwing up there.
At times it sure as hell seems like they have never played together. Everyone in the dam world knows teams are going to front and when it does the Rockets act like they have never seen it before. They dont even look for him when he tries to move over. They give him that 3-5 sec to get it the first time before Artest or some other idiot like Brooks does something stupid.
Definitely. Maybe they should have brought in Barry. he is smart enough to know where the ball should go.
I am seriously telling you: Dallas did not foul Yao at all. That free throw was a mistake since the ref did not realize it would go in. Come on, guys, It is a game. It is a human game. Animals fight until eating the opponent alive. We are human, man. I was playing basketball with my eight years old son yesterday. I was winning by shooting over him. Then he starts to push me whenever I shoot and told me it's legal. I am actually proud of him finding a way to beat the giant. I agree with APO that Yao should NOT be aggressive in the 1st half so he can leave those formal NBA centers on the court one on one in the 2nd half, to avoid fronting of course.. I blame Yao for the loss last night. If he did not score 19 in 17 min, if he did not put their 2nd best center into foul troubles, or if he did not start for the 3rd Q, how could a game like this being reversed? Yao, please play more defense like B.wallace in 1st half. Take it easy in 3rd Q and be aggresive in 4th Q. Just do it in the POs. LOL!
