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Yao vs. Kings - 12/1/02


'Vlade the Veteran' shows Yao one of his many crafty moves Sunday night.
The Kings went on to trounce Houston 103-84.

A learning experience After playing on Sunday night one of the best teams in the league, the Sacramento Kings, the Rockets know where they stand in comparing themselves against one of the best teams in the West. Uh...they have some distance between themselves and the elite. In addition, Yao knows just how unique (yet effective) NBA centers can be after playing the wily and wise Vlade Divac for the first time. Officially the Rockets lost 103-84, but this game was over midway through the third quarter. Although Yao scored 8 points in the first quarter (which was his final total on 2-3 of shooting), he could do little to save this game. The Rockets played poorly with what seemed to be very little confidence, and the Kings still are one of the best passing and shooting teams in the league. They are a beauty to watch, even on busted plays where they still manage to find the open man. We're looking forward to when all of the Rockets can play that way on a consistent basis. Couldn't handle the firepower, nor the ball Vlade went on a roll in the 3rd quarter when he scored 9 points in a little over 7 minutes of play on an assortment of unpredictable offensive plays. Vlade's game probably showed Yao what he can aspire to be someday. But Yao didn't play all that bad. In fact, he had a chance to inflict some damage since Vlade and Keon Clark each had three fouls at halftime. But the Rockets couldn't get that critical fourth foul on either of them to give Yao a nice mismatch he could exploit. And for some reason the Rockets continue to underutilize Yao offensively, despite Yao having proven himself as the NBA leader in field goal percentage at 67%. I know you've heard us harp on it many times before on this site, but we can't figure out why Rudy doesn't instruct his players to give Yao the ball more. Especially considering the struggles the Houston forwards are experiencing (more on that in a moment). We have our theories, but we'll be nice and not hammer Rudy right now. Instead, we encourage you to read an article written by a writer for the Houston Chronicle. He asks the very same question. And believe us, when a very visible Houston writer like this particular one starts bringing this subject up, Rudy will experience more heat. And that's when we might start seeing changes, right or wrong. Back to the game: The rest of the Houston offense was either shooting bricks or turning the ball over (21 times) that kept them from having a chance. At one point in the game, the Kings outscored the Rockets 31-10 in points off turnovers, and outscored the 'Rocks' 32-20 in the 3rd quarter to put the game away. The forwards are going backwards What was considered the Rockets strength at the beginning of the season--the forward position--is turning into a liability on the offensive end of the floor. Maurice Taylor still hasn't become the force we expected after coming back from his season-ending injury last year, relying on too many jump shots for a guy his size. The same goes for Eddie Griffin, who went 1-4 from the field. And Kenny Thomas again had shooting troubles, going 2-9 from the field for 4 points while being outplayed by reserve forward Gerald Wallace (10-11 from the field, 23 points). What's worse is that sharpshooter forward Glen Rice, who had 23 points against the Clippers last Sunday, sat out this game with a sore back and will probably be out for a few more games. Is travel fatigue an excuse? Sure, the argument could be made the Rockets were tired after playing 7 of its last 9 games on the road. But if the Rockets were ever going to break their 8-game losing streak to the Kings, this game would have been it. Super Kings Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovich, Hedo Turkoglu and reputable reserve Scot Pollard all sat out this game because of injuries. The Rockets were also rolling (somewhat) after winning its last two on the road against Golden State and Seattle. So confidence shouldn't have been an issue. But perhaps the thought of being only 1 day away from sleeping in their own beds and eating home cooking was just too much to overcome. Ready to go home..but wait... The Rockets will have to wait one more day before they can sleep in their own beds, though. Because their charter flight wasn't able to depart Sunday night after the game, the Rockets will have to spend the night in Sacramento and will fly back to Houston on Monday. Then on Tuesday they go up against the San Antonio Spurs with Twin Towers Tim Duncan and David Robinson. We can't wait to see how Yao plays against those two. With the problems the Rockets are having at the forward position, perhaps the Rockets should put Kelvin Cato in at center and move Yao over to power forward to match up against Duncan and Robinson. Can you imagine a 7'6" power forward? Yao's capable. Doubt it will happen, though.

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Detailed Yao analysis

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1st quarter
12:00		Yao starts the game.
11:21	Intimidation	Doug Christie drives the lane from the right side, but Yao is there to intimidate. Christie short-arms his shot for an air ball.
10:26		In a similar play we saw a couple of times in the last game, Yao flashes through the lane and Francis delivers a pass to him on the run. However, this time Vlade Divac is there to put a hand on the ball as Yao goes up for the shot. Credit a block to Vlade and his long arms.
9:42		Yao sets a nice screen for Steve Francis out high behind the free throw line. Steve hits it to make the score 4-5, Rockets down by one.
7:25	Free Throws	From his favorite spot (left side angle just outside the paint), Yao pivots left to shoot a fadeaway jump shot over Vlade, but Vlade fouls Yao with his long arm as he went up for the shot. Yao makes both free throws perfectly.
5:30	Intimidation	Bobby Jackson drives the lane and does a nice spin move to go up for a layup on the right side of the bucket, but Yao follows him the entire way and denies him a shot. Jackson passes off.
4:50		Chris Webber drives on Yao from the right side about 20 feet from the basket, but Yao does a good job of moving laterally to tip the ball right after Webber releases the ball.
3:49		From Yao's favorite spot on the left side, he quickly pivots to shoot a fallaway jumper over Vlade. Two! Yao now has 4 points on 1-2 shooting from the field.
3:21	+ Free Throw	Again from his favorite spot, Yao makes a quick spin move to his left toward the baseline, dribbles twice and goes up underneath the bucket on the other side and softly lays it in...AND 1! He's fouled! Yao pumps his fist with vigor! Vlade is called for the infraction and goes to the bench with his second foul. Yao hits the free throw, and closes the lead to 16-21, Kings leading. Yao now has 7 points on 2-3 shooting from the field, and is 3-3 from the line.
2:43		For the third possession in a row, Yao gets the ball in his favorite place with Webber guarding him. Webber is able to poke it away as Yao gets ready to make his move. The Kings had sent a guard to over double-team Yao, and the tipped ball bounced right into the guard's hand to start a Kings fast break.
:58		Once again from Yao's favorite spot, Yao spins to his left and pump fakes to go up for a jump shot with Webber guarding him. At the top of his jump, though, Yao spots Francis underneath the basket and passes a bullet to him. But Doug Christie deflects the ball and steals it to start a fast break. Yao tried a similar move in the last game, and it didn't work. It's a pretty low percentage pass--a much lower percentage than if Yao had just taken the shot.
:33.4		Keon Clark gets the ball in the lane and challenges Yao with a little hook shot, but YAO BLOCKS IT EASILY. The crowd roars in awe. But the ball bounced to Damon Jones out by the three point line, and he heaves up a desperate 3-pointer with 1 second left on the shot clock...and it goes in off the glass! What a lucky break after Yao's rejection!
:12.9	Free Throws	Francis drives the lane and misses a tough layup attempt, but Yao gets the rebound and goes up for the put-back. He misses it, but he's fouled from behind. Yao makes the first free throw, but misses the second one too hard off the back iron. Yao now has 8 points (2-3 from the field, 4-5 from the line).
2nd quarter
12:00		Yao sits on the bench to start the second quarter after playing the entire first quarter. The Rockets are down 19-30.
3:15		Yao checks back into the game. The Rockets are down 34-43.
:37		After Yao sets a screen out high, Francis goes up for a jump shot at the free throw line, but sees Yao cutting toward the basket. Yao catches it cleanly and pump fakes as two Kings converge and fly over him. But Yao's momentum from coming down the lane so fast kept him moving forward and made him take a little baby step, and he's called for traveling. It was a great defensive play by the Kings to make Yao pump fake when he really wanted to go up and jam it through. The Rockets finish the half down by eleven points, 38-49.
3rd quarter
12:00		Trailing 38-49, Yao starts the second half.
9:24		On a Kings inbound pass, Vlade runs through the lane to get the pass, and quickly lays it off the glass behind his head over Yao's outstretched arms. Vlade is showing alot of skill in this quarter. If anything, Vlade and Yao are very similar in that they are finesse players who can hit jumpers, find open men, and also can throw it down with authority. The Kings lead 58-42, and this game is getting away from the Rockets.
8:45		For the third time this season, Yao gets the ball in his favorite spot on the left side and delivers a perfect bounce pass "Vlade style" to Juaquin Hawkins, who is cutting down the lane. This time Hawkins CATCHES that pass, but HE BLOWS THE LAYUP! What does Yao have to do to get an assist on this play to Hawkins? The previous two times they have run this play so far this year, Hawkins has fumbled the ball away.
4:40		Vlade gets the ball in the left post with his back toward the basket with Yao guarding him, dribbles to his left and then quickly turns right and lays the ball off the glass. We've seen him done this so many times, but no one can seem to stop him. Not even Shaq. Vlade is so underrated.
4:20		Yao checks out of the game, and doesn't return because this game was history awhile ago. Yao finishes with 8 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks.

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