YaoMingMania.com
100% dedicated to Yao Ming's life in the NBA.Yao vs. Sonics - 11/29/02
Yao blocks one of three Seattle shots Friday night.
The Rockets beat Seattle 83-72 to win their second game in a row to up their record to 9-6.
as of 11/29/02
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Never fails to surprise
Don't just look at the points Yao scored against the Sonics Friday night (six points on 3-7 shooting) to see how effective he was. You might already be keeping an eye on the number of blocks he has during a game. Well, there's one more statistic to watch: assists. Yao had 5 beautiful assists (see Detailed Yao Analysis below) that came primarly when the defense collapsed around him, and allowed him to get his teammates involved in the game. Thanks to Yao and key performances by Steve Francis (21 points) and Moochie Norris (finally, with 3 clutch baskets), the Rockets beat the Sonics in Seattle 83-72. The key was the third quarter when they trailed by 10 points at the start, but outscored the Sonics 32-11 to take the lead for good. Watch out Shaq For the past few years, Shaq has been considered the "best passing big man" in the league, with perhaps Vlade Divac right behind him. Well add Yao to the list of guys who could give Shaq a run for his money. Yao delivered crisp passes all night; in fact, we can count on one hand how many bad passes Yao has thrown all season. This guy is so multi-talented, what's next...steals?...three-pointers? What's scary is that he can hit treys with relative ease, but he probably won't get the chance to shoot them since Houston has enough guys who hoist them up. Oh well, maybe we'll get to see him jack up some shots from behind the arc in the Rookie All-Star game in February. Commentary on the ESPN broadcasters It makes us laugh how the ESPN play-by-play analyst gave credit to Rudy for 'being smart' and bringing Yao along slowly. History revisionists like this guy fail to realize that Rudy couldn't comprehend HOW ready Yao was to play in those first few games, and that Yao WANTED to play more minutes much earlier than what Rudy gave him. If it hadn't been for starting center Kelvin Cato being absent for 3 games to attend his grandmother's funeral, it might have taken 30 more games for Yao to show what he could do. However, we do have to give credit to ESPN color analyst Tom Tolbert, who summed up well how people should think of Yao: "You (should) look at the little things. Don't look at the big picture because he'll have his 30 point game, (then) he'll have his 4 point game. And you'll get confused if you keep looking at the numbers...(you'll say) 'he's great, no he's not great.' Just look at what he has. A nice shooting touch, good footwork, a nice touch on his shot. Those are certainly things you can work with." "He's willing to pass. Alot of guys just aren't willing to pass. He's willing and keeps his head on a swivel. And (Rudy Tomjanovich) said he's really good on plays that break down. He can find guys." Tough game on Sunday Next up for the Rockets are the Sacramento Kings, who lead the Pacific division with a 13-5 record, and are 8-0 at home. Needless to say, it's going to be a tough game for the Rockets to win since they are finishing up their long road series against one of the best teams in the league.
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Detailed Yao analysis
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| 1st quarter | ||
| 9:41 | Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot, which is the left side of the basket a couple of feet outside the paint. However, Brent Barry comes from behind and knocks the ball away and the Sonics start their break. Teams are consistently sending guards Yao's way to try to swipe the ball away. Yao will have to make them pay by either not dribbling, or taking a quick shot, or finding the open man once the other team's guard commits to double-teaming. | |
| 9:01 |  |
Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot again on the left side, pivots toward the baseline and puts up a fadeaway jumper, but it's short and bounces to the Sonics for a rebound. |
| 6:24 |  |
Glen Rice has the ball on the left wing in their half court offense. Yao flashes across the lane. Rice zips a pass to Yao, who catches the ball in the middle of the lane, and then leans in nicely and lays the ball off the glass for the bucket! This play was bang-bang! We swear he looked like Peja Stojokovich on this play showing how fast, nimble and ambidexterous he is. It's one thing to see a relatively 'small' 6'7" forward do it, but another thing to see it from a 7'6" center. Incredible. Rockets trail 8-12. |
| 5:41 |  |
Sonic Reggie Evans drives across the lane from the left wing and goes up for a sweeping baby hook shot on the run, but Yao is there to swat it away! The Rockets start a fast break. |
| 4:32 |  |
On a Sonic fast break, a long pass goes to Payton who has a clear shot to the basket, but YAO HUSTLES BACK FAST ENOUGH TO BLOCK THE SHOT by pinning it off the glass! Whoa! Nice play! Two blocks in one minute and 9 seconds! |
| 3:34 | Yao checks out of the game for Cato. We have seen a trend over the past few games where Yao checks out of the game around this time in the first quarter. | |
| 2nd quarter | ||
| 4:27 | Yao checks back into the game. Rockets trail 29-34. They haven't had any inside offense, instead relying mainly on jump shots. Hopefully Yao can bring some higher percentage shots into the offense. | |
| 3:24 | Free Throws |
Just as we had hoped, Yao gets the ball on the left side of the bucket just inside the paint with his back toward the basket. He turns quickly to his right, then puts a shot off the glass, but he is fouled. Yao claps his hands in disgust because he wanted the bucket and the foul. Unfortunately, Yao misses both free throws! We're just not accustomed to Yao missing free throws like he has recently. We wonder if it's the road crowd noise against him, or travel fatigue? |
| 1:16 |  |
On a play very similar to one in the first quarter, Yao flashes into the lane and Rice zips a ball to him a couple of feet from the basket. This time, though, he doesn't have as clean of a shot. So Yao stops, quickly pivots left and goes up for a little jump hook with the right hand over Vladimir Radmonovic. Score it! |
| :33 | Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot on the left side, immediately spins right toward the baseline and dribbles along the line toward the bucket. He fakes a reverse layup to get the defense up in the air, and pivots to go back up on the other side. But since there are Sonics converging on him and he's blocked in along the baseline, WITHOUT HESITATION HE THROWS A NO-LOOK PASS BEHIND HIS BACK to Juaquin Hawkins standing in the lane. You've got to be kidding me? Where everyone else would have panicked by being boxed in under the basket and have chunked up a shot, Yao had court awareness to see a teammate from the back of his head.
Unfortunately, Hawkins has the ball stripped and a Sonic fast break ensues. But if Hawkins had made the shot, this play would have been all over ESPN SportsCenter this night. |
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| 3rd quarter | ||
| 12:00 | The Rockets start the second half trailing 36-46. Yao starts the quarter. | |
| 10:53 | Yao cuts into the middle of the lane and gets delivered the ball, but fumbles it. After gaining control, he goes up for a fadeaway jumper, but tries to pass it off to Kenny Thomas on the left side of the paint. But the ball is thrown too hard, surprises Thomas, bounces off his chest and is deflected by a Sonic to start a fast break. Yao definitely should have been a little more selfish here and continued with the shot. | |
| 10:07 | Assist | On a nice play, Kenny Thomas passes the ball to Yao on the right wing about 18 feet from the basket. Yao shields the ball well from his defender and passes it right back to Kenny, who is cutting right past him. In effect, Yao sets a screen for Kenny, who then hits a 17 footer from the right baseline. It's a basic, but yet effective, assist from Yao. |
| 10:24 |  |
Sonic Drobnjak has the ball on the right side of the paint and delivers a perfect pass to a cutting Brent Barry in the middle of the lane, who goes up for a layup...BUT YAO TRAILED HIM ALL THE WAY AND SWATS THE BALL AWAY. The crowd roars in awe. Great anticipation and hustle by Yao. |
| 9:37 | Assist | Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot on the left side of the court, faces up to the basket, and THEN ZOOMS A TWO-HANDED BULLET PASS ACROSS THE COURT TO A WIDE OPEN GLEN RICE, WHO HITS THE THREE! Great court vision by the big guy! And nice use of his height to pass over his man. This is Yao's second assist. The Rockets now trail 43-46, and are on a 7-0 run with Yao in the game! |
| 8:18 | Drobnjak drives the lane, and Yao slides alongside of him. But Drobnjak is called for charging after lowering his shoulder and knocks Yao to the floor! Great effort by Yao to stay with his man, and impressive show of mobility! | |
| 8:06 | Assist | Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot, but he's covered pretty well by his man and another. However, he spots Juaquin Hawkins cutting to the basket along the baseline from the opposite side and delivers a perfect strike to him for the layup! This is Yao's third assist in about two minutes! Yao is Larry Bird tonight! Rockets trail 47-49. |
| 6:41 | Assist | Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot and spins toward the baseline. But he's covered well by Drobnjak. With really no place to go, he zips a line drive pass to Rice in the middle of a spin move. Rice drains the three-pointer, and chalk up assist #4 for Yao! This is just like the old Hakeem days when the defense would be drawn inside, and Dream would kick it out to the open man. This is how we like to see Yao utilized! The Rockets take the lead 52-51. |
| 4:53 | Yao checks out of the game for Cato. | |
| 4th quarter | ||
| 9:51 | Yao checks back into the game. The Sonics have gone on a scoring run to close their deficit to seven, 63-70. | |
| 9:35 |  |
Yao gets passed the ball in the middle of the lane, and makes a nice spin move to his right and leans in for a point-blank layup using his left-hand. But the shot bounces off the back rim and misses! Yao never misses shots this close, but he's human so it's bound to happen every once in awhile. |
| 9:05 |  |
From his favorite spot, Yao spins left toward the baseline and shoots an 18-foot fallaway jumper, but misses. Yao is now 2 for 5 from the field. |
| 5:03 |  |
Yao makes a spin move on the left side of the paint and goes up for a shot, but Drobnjak is able to get his hand on the ball and keep Yao from shooting. That's the first time we've seen someone do that to Yao this year. A jump ball is called. |
| 2:03 |  |
The Rockets lead 76-70 on a critical possession. They have hit a dry spell so they need a bucket. Francis goes up for a jumper from beyond the free throw line, and Yao jockeys for great position under the bucket (like always). Francis' shot misses short off the front of the rim, and Yao is there to get the rebound. Unable to go up strong because Drobnjak is hanging on to his arm (but no foul is called), he lofts a difficult shot up which doesn't look like it will go in, but it does! BIG BUCKET! The Rockets lead 78-70.
Hopefully no collapse will occur like what happened against the Clippers on Sunday. Yao is 3-6 from the field. |
| :46 | Assist | The Rockets hold a 6-point lead on a big possession. Yao gets the ball on the left side of the paint and draws a Sonic crowd. Moochie is wide open on the left wing. Yao passes him the ball, and Moochie hits it! HUGE SHOT! The Rockets bench players and coaches launch themselves from their seats! Yao not only gets his fifth assist, but Moochie rids himself of some demons from his collapse against the Clippers on Sunday. He has scored 9 points (3-3 FGs) for the game. Looks like the Rockets will win this one! |
| :26.9 | Yao checks out of the game with six points (3 for 7 shooting), 5 assists and 3 blocks. | |