Does anyone know why Yao is always assigned to guard Booser? I've not watched this game, but Hayes guarded Okur while Yao guarded Booser in the playoff. Okur would not be as fast although he plays outside more and would have taken Yao outside of paint most of the time. Maybe Rockets think Booser scores a few points less if guarded by another player but guarding Okur takes away Yao's inside presence? It makes Yao look bad when he guards Booser.

I think guarding Okur will create more problem. Okur is a respectable shooter in the league, so that means Yao has to move outside his comfort zone everytime time Jazz set up offense or else Okur will just rain down 3's.

Good centers who have range is a tough match up for any team. Wait until they play raptors.

mingman11

relax, it's only 2 games and you are so upset that Yao isn't scoring 30 ppg and having 15 rpg. the fact is that the rockets are 2-0 and seem to be a more complete team instead of a 2 man show they were last year. wins are more important that individual stats. the big man doesn't have to put up big numbers every night to show he wasn't a factor. look at kobe, he's averaging 44 points/ game right now and his team is 0-1. I'd take Yao's scoring slump but team wins any day. also, he is going to get better, don't worry

+1. I don't understand why people are so fickle. Having one good game doesn't mean he's gonna avgerage 35/15/3 for the rest of the year and having one bad game doesn't mean he's gonna avg 16/9 for the rest of the year...

Now that's well said, period!

Now that's well said, period!

Yao is the one who doesn't want to defend Okur because Yao doesn't want to defend him out in the perimeter.

Yao is not athletic enough to defend Boozer, so the next time the Rox play the Jazz, Yao better be prepared to defend Okur.

Coach's decision.

I think, frankly, that it is a concession by the Rockets. It is a lose lose situation. If Yao guards Okur, like everyone seems to want him to do (ridiculous if you ask me), it takes him and his shotblocking and rebounding out of the paint. At least when Yao is guarding Boozer he is closer to the basket. To have him guard Okur all game would be to completely negate his help defense. It is the lesser of two evils. In no way is it a perfect situation, but sometimes these are the things that matchups dictate.

I am aware that since Boozer is a better offensive player, the logic would seem to support putting your best post defender on him (not Yao). However, remember that Yao had 5 blocks in this game, and 2 steals. I guarantee you those blocks would not be there if Yao was hanging out on the 3pt line. And if Yao wasn't hanging out on the 3pt line (assuming he was guarding Okur), Okur would be raining down threes. Boozer simply does not have that range, and thus, in order to keep Yao's offense on the floor, have no other choice. This is not a complicated issue to me, I don't understand why it keeps coming up.

The Jazz would love Yao guarding Okur, which means taking him out of the paint, and it will give other players more space to take the ball to the basket. Sure Boozer is quicker, but he still has to shoot over Yao at times. So for the Rockets, I think they rather let Yao guard Boozer than let him guard Okur. You just don't want to take that size away from the basket.

Your link was truncated (see the '...' in the middle). Can you please post a working link; I didn't get to see the whole game.

Thanks!