YaoMingMania.com

as of 11/26/02

Ugly game, horrid shooting Boy, for the second game in a row, this one is hard to write about. The Rockets lost in one of the ugliest games of the year 71-77 to the Portland Trailblazers on the road Tuesday night. But before talking about the game, let's talk about Yao. He scored 10 points (3 for 4 from the field), had 2 rebounds and 1 block. Overall, Yao did a decent job defending 7'3" Arvydas Sabonis. Yao got in early foul trouble early by picking up two quickies , though, and Rudy decided to keep him out of the game for the rest of the first half. But the Rockets were still in the game when Yao started the second half. Offensively speaking, Yao surprised us by only making 4 of 10 free throws. Yao must have caught the same 'illness' Moochie Norris has, who missed his his first two free throws (just like at the end of the Clipper game Sunday, which makes 4 misses in a row from their backup point guard). Stay away from Moochie, Yao. ;-) Those six free throws Yao missed were costly considering the Rockets lost 71-77. He was getting to the line, which we like, but the execution at the line wasn't there for some reason. This is very strange considering he was a 77% free throw shooter coming into this game. As coach Rudy T. stated after the game, "Three games we lost this year, it was free-throw shooting. The guys who were shooting are pretty good. It happens sometimes." We've got to think Yao will not have a worse night at the free throw line this year, and you can bet he's going to be practicing a lot of them before the Golden State game Wednesday night. Better shot selection needed? Now let's talk about the rest of the Rockets. The shooting was pathetic. They finished with their worst shooting (35.5%) and lowest point total of the season (5th worst ever). Nobody could hit anything: Eddie Griffin was 1 for 5 (2-12 in his past two games). Juaquin Hawkins was 2-6. Kenny Thomas was 2-6, as was Terrence Morris. Mo Taylor was 3-8. Moochie was 3-10. Even Steve Francis was 8-18. It's obvious the Rockets have a scoring problem at forward, and say what you will about Cuttino Mobley--the Rockets clearly miss his scoring capability after seeing them struggle over the past few games without him. Hawkins looks like he is a solid player, but he hasn't been able to pick up the slack scoring-wise. The guy who did step up in the Clipper game, Glen Rice, was horrid against the Blazers by going 3 for 13 (1-7 for 3-pointers). In this game, basically no one stepped up. That's got to change if the Rockets are going to win a lot of games this year. From our vantage point it doesn't look like the Houston coaches are emphasizing the importance of shooting high precentage shots. We could write a dissertation on that subject. We'll spare you the details for now. Tomorrow is another day Thank goodness the Rockets can try to get this game out of their system Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors. Hopefully the Rockets won't be too tired from having played the night before against the Blazers, and will shoot better (it can't get any worse). However, they typically don't play very well on the second night of back-to-back games. Uh-oh. The good thing for Yao is that he should have a very supportive crowd on hand in the Bay Area, where we reported on August 23rd for the China-Team USA exhibition game in Oakland they came out in droves to support him. The Warriors also had ticket packages geard toward the Asian-American community, so there should be a good turnout. Maybe with the extra cheering Yao will be able to put his team on his back and be the one to "step up" and bring his team out of its shooting slump.

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Detailed Yao analysis

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1st quarter
12:00		Yao starts the game, but loses the tip to Rasheed Wallace.
11:29		Steve Francis shoots a jumper, but Yao shows hustle by coming from about 10 feet away from the basket to grab the rebound over two Blazers. After gathering the ball, he passes it out smartly to Francis.
11:00		With his hands up, Yao is caught moving as he tries to keep Derek Anderson from driving to the basket on a fast break. Anderson makes the free throws. Blazers lead 2-0.
10:38	Free Throws	Juaquin Hawkins drives the lane and dishes to Yao who is standing at the edge of the paint near the baseline. Yao takes one step toward the basket, and as he goes up for the shot is fouled by Dale Davis from behind on the right wrist. That's the way we like to see it--"drive and dish" to Yao. The Rockets didn't do this at all against the Clippers. Yao makes both free throws with beautiful form. Rockets tie it at 2-2.
10:03		Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot on the left side just outside of the paint. Derek Anderson immediately comes over to double-team and try to steal the ball. He gets a hand on it to poke away, and Yao instinctively sticks his arm out to try to recover the ball, but it brushes up against Andersen. Yao is called for a loose ball foul, and has to sit down with his second foul. Not good. Eddie Griffin checks in for Yao.
3rd quarter
11:16		After starting the second half, Blazer Bonzi Wells trys a whirling dirvish move just outside the paint, spins into the lane and puts up a shot, but Yao comes over from the weak side and times the block perfectly! The Portland crowd groans. The Rockets start a fast break after Yao's block.
10:49	Free Throws	Juaquin Hawkins grabs a defensive rebound and quickly throws an outlet pass to a streaking Steve Francis, who has Scottie Pippen converging on him. We are pleasantly surprised when Franchise, who we fully expected to go up for a dunk that might have been blocked, opts not to go for a highlight reel play and instead passes behind his head to the trailing Yao. Yao had stopped at the free throw line momentarily because he didn't expect Stevie to pass it to him. But Yao had enough time to pick up the ball on the bounce and drive toward the basket. Pippen came back to foul him on his shot, though. We have to give credit to Steve for not being selfish, and instead thinking about his Big Man by rewarding him for trailing on the play, and perhaps wanting to get him into the flow of the game. However, Yao misses both free throws, which we are shocked to see! Maybe Steve should have gone up for that dunk after all. ;-) Yao is now 2-4 from the line. Rockets trail 32-34.
10:14	Free Throws	Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot outside the paint on the left side, quickly spins toward the baseline, takes one step toward the basket and goes underneath for a reverse layup. He misses, but was shoved by Dale Davis for the foul. Yao's first free throw spins in and out! He hits his next free throw, though. Yao has scored three points. The Rockets trail 33-36.
9:42		Steve Francis drives the lane unimpeded, two Blazers converge on him, which leaves Yao open on the baseline. Steve then bounces a perfect pass to Yao, who goes up for the easy two-handed dunk! This is Yao's first field goal in over 5 quarters! It's good to see him score from the field again.
7:31		In one of the most heads-up, hustling defensive plays we have seen in a long time, Yao spins off his man DEFENSIVELY to come around him and meet a penetrating Derek Anderson--gambling that he was going up for a shot. Anderson was. Yao meets him in mid-air to make him miss the shot. Great hustle. Yao grabs the rebound and passes to start a break.
6:46		Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot on the left block. Guarded one-on-one, he dribbles once in place, spins right and goes up for his jump shot--nothing but net! Two shots made in a row for Yao! He now has 7 points. The Rockets trail 41-44.
4:24	Free Throws	Again, Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot (left side just outside of the lane). This time he's covered by Rasheed Wallace one-on-one. Yao then makes a wicked spin move toward the baseline that fakes Rasheed out, and Yao has an open lane to the bucket. Yao dribbles twice to get closer and goes up for his dunk, but Wallace hammers him on the arm so hard that he is sent crashing awkwardly to the floor. A flagrant foul could have been called on this play. Yao misses his first free throw (very uncharacteristic!), and then Rasheed is called for a technical. After Rice hits the technical, Yao misses the second free throw. What's going on? Was the foul so hard that it knocked Yao out of his game? Yao is 3-8 from the line.
2:49		Yao cuts toward the basket and catches a pass on the run. Without bringing the ball down he goes right up for a shot about 3 feet from the basket, but Sabonis is there to get a clean block. Great play by Arvydas. He timed it perfectly. The Portland crowd roars loudly.
2:29		Yao checks out of the game during a timeout after playing 9 minutes and 31 seconds in the quarter. The Rockets are down 46-53.
4th quarter
6:05		After Sabonis easily scores on a tip-in where he got very good position on Glen Rice, Yao checks into the game during a timeout. The Rockets are trailing 68-57. During Yao's absence, they have been outscored 15-11 with the last bucket by Sabonis really hurting.
3:40		On a mini-fast break, Francis throws a nice pass from about 4 feet beyond the free throw line to Yao, who is in the paint on the right side of the bucket. Sabonis is covering him well. Yao pumps and gets Sabonis in the air. He then dribbles once, turns right toward the basket and goes up with a sweet jump hook with the LEFT hand to hit it perfectly. Great hustle by Yao to get ahead of everyone. Yao is 3-4 from the field. The Rockets have scored four points in a row to reduce the deficit to eight points, 63-71. They still have a chance in this game.
2:03	Free Throws	With the Rockets trailing 66-73, Yao gets the ball on right side of the paint in a crucial possession. Sabonis is guarding him one-on-one. Yao, with his back to the basket, dribbles once and then turns to his right for a fallaway jumper along the baseline, but he's fouled by Sabonis. Yao misses the first free throw! But he makes the second one. Yao's 4-10 from the line, which is unusual since he was 77% from the line before the game. Rockets go on to lose 77-71....uuuuuugggly.

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