YaoMingMania.com

as of 11/15/02

Yao proved again he's the real deal against the Phoenix Suns. There were stretches of the game where Yao simply dominated (see Detailed Yao Analysis below). In 14 minutes Yao scored 10 points (in spectacular fashion on 5-6 shooting, mostly dunks), had 2 rebounds, a block and a steal. We have been saying all along The Man has the skills right now to help the Rockets win. Starting center Kelvin Cato was absent for the second straight game because he was tending to family matters after the death of his grandmother, so this gave Yao the opportunity to play almost the same number of minutes (14) as Tuesday night (15). We had a feeling Yao would get the same number of minutes, even before we knew about Cato not being able to play, because of the impression he must have made on head coach Rudy T. in Tuesday's game against the Blazers. Unfortunately, the Rockets lost to the Suns 88-87 in a game they should have won. Somewhat surprisingly, the Rockets didn't play Yao in the fourth quarter after scoring fairly easily with Yao in the game. We can somewhat understand why Rudy opted to play other big guys who were playing relatively well, like Maurice Taylor (14 points), Kenny Thomas (14 points) and Glen Rice (10 points). They have earned the right to play in close games through their successes in the past. And if the Rockets are going to win this year, they need those players to get back up to full-speed. But it would have been nice to see the other dimensions that Yao brings to a game be a factor in this one. Yao will eventually get his turn to play 'important' minutes, and hopefully it will be as early as Sunday against the Lakers since Cato is expected to miss that game, Shaq will not play because of his toe injury, forward Devean George will be out, reserve center Soumaila Samake has been suspeneded, they have no one else who can defend Yao, and the Lakers are struggling overall. We can't wait to see Yao play in crunch time. We believe he's just what the Rockets need since he's a scoring threat down low, can hit his free throws, and can block shots--something the Rockets sorely needed Friday night. And hell, if Shawn Bradley can have an impact defensively (5 blocks Friday night) and get lots of credit for helping his Mavericks go 9-0, we know Yao can do the same for the Rockets. We've always thought that perhaps Rudy is trying to protect Yao so he doesn't get in over his head. Along those lines, check out below the 11/15 quotes from Marc Iavorini, the Suns assistant coach. Iavorini actually gives us insight into the approach Rudy T. and the Rockets might be taking in how they are handling Yao. Agree or disagree, it's nice to hear this kind of perspective into what the Rockets may be thinking. "What you do is you throw him out there and watch him play and then you find out what you've got to teach him. You find out what he's comfortable doing, what he has to get comfortable doing to at least not have a gaping hole in his game. Then you put him in situations where he's most likely to be successful. You have to be very patient with him and deflect all the pressure put on him to be the next big thing."

2nd quarter
12:00	Yao checks into the game.
10:50	What a beautiful play! Maurice Taylor gets the ball at the 3-point line unguarded, and zips a quick pass to Yao, who is cutting into the middle of the lane from the free throw line with a trailing Amare Stoudemire behind him. Yao does a great job catching the hot potato with one hand, bringing it in, and stuffing it home! Interestingly enough, roars from the Phoenix crowd erupted, confirming our thought that Yao is drawing many new fans to arenas throughout the league when he comes a-callin'.
9:15	Getting the ball on the left post, Yao is double-teamed for a second. Then with only one man on him, Yao goes to work. He fakes left toward the lane (in Dream Shake-ish fashion), gets his man Stoudemire to bite on the fake, and pivots right toward the baseline. Yao pump fakes and hesitates to try to draw contact from Stoudemire, who is trying to regain defensive position. Yao doesn't get him Stoudememire to take the bait, so he takes a step toward the basket and easily lays it in. Yao's on a roll and is proving to the national TV audience (ESPN) he's got game.
8:28	Less than a minute later, Yao's teammate Moochie Norris shoots a 3-pointer that misses, and our man has awesome rebounding position (as usual) in front of the rim. He easily gets the rebound, and with defensive men converging all around him swiping for the ball, Yao pump fakes. At that very instant, we could hear the critics saying, "Okay, Yao's got it under the rim with men all over him--he's too soft to go up forcefully with it." No way, chumps. Yao slams it home! America West Arena buzzes after Yao's 6th straight point for the Rockets. You people who thought he was too soft--what are you saying now? Yao is starting to dominate this game. The way he's going, before the season is over defenses will only have one way to try to stop him--it will be called "Hack-a-Yao"." No problem. Yao will make the throws. Can you say "25 points a game?"
7:28	One minute later, the domination continues! Amare Stoudemire drives the right side of the lane and puts up a running floater, but Yao times a block perfectly and knocks it off the backboard to start a break the Rockets way.
5:20	Yao gets the ball in the left high post and has Tsakalidis guarding him. Yao starts his dribble and doesn't see any cutters going to the basket, so he goes to work. He spins right toward the baseline about 12 feet from the basket and puts up a farily long jump shot that's still within his range. But he's too far behind the backboard, and his shot hits the side of the backboard. Phoenix gains possession.
3rd quarter
11:25	Using his long wingspan, Yao tips a rebound a couple of times trying to get control, but is not able to bring it in. But he is able to tip it to another Rocket for a team rebound.
11:01	The next time down the floor, Yao gets it about 14 feet away from the basket from the right side. Rather than try to dribble and create a shot, Yao just turns and shoots the kind of shot he hits all the time in warm-ups. What happens this time? Score the bucket! His shot is poetry in motion that always seems to rip the cords. This guy can do it all.
9:40	For some reason, the Rockets defense doesn't switch correctly since Yao is guarding lightning-quick, crossover extraordinaire Stephon Marbury at the top of the key. This is ridiculous--we all know Marbury will easily blow by any guy over 6'7" on this type of isolation. Where are the Houston guards? Yao is supposed to guard centers, not 6'2" speedster point guards. As expected, Marbury shakes-and-bakes past Yao--with Yao falling backwards on Marbury's wicked crossover. The Phoenix bench cracks up with laughter. Go ahead and laugh. Make the Big Man mad. You'll pay, even though he never should have been put in this defensive position in the first place.
7:51	Penny Hardaway drives across the lane and tries a wraparound pass around Yao, but Penny forgets how much ground Yao covers. Yao uses his quick hands to pick the ball out of the air. Tally up a rare steal for Yao.
6:35	Stevie Franchise drives down the middle of the lane, with Yao crashing the boards (as always) alongside him. Steve goes up and gets Tsakalidas in the air, and then does what Penny tried a minute ago--a wraparound pass. Yao gets the perfect dish moving toward the basket and throws it down with one-hand. What's fun is to see the 'snap' he applies to the dunk, and how fast he does it. It's like when us mere mortals get near one of those kid basketball goals you see at Target in the toy section, where we hardly need to jump--just a snap of the wrist to jam it home. That's how forceful and easy it is for Yao.
5:01	Shawn Marion drives and puts up an acrobatic leaning shot with Yao coming over and brushing 'The Matrix' to pick up his third foul. Yao checks out of the game. After playing another productive 7 minutes, Yao has 14 minutes, 10 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block. Unfortunately, Yao does not return to the game, and the Rockets go on to lose in part because they couldn't get a high percentage shot (Yao could have) in the fourth quarter, or hit some clutch free throws in the last couple of minutes.

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