Indazone
03-19-2009, 11:56 AM
http://blogs.chron.com/franblinebury/2009/03/the_bitch_is_back_rockets_106.html
The Biiiiiitch Is Back
March 19, 2009
Can't you just see Yao Ming taking the floor one night wearing big glasses, a garish suit and platform shoes?
Can't you just see him stepping into the spotlight, grabbing the microphone and making it all entirely about him?
Sir Elton, meet Sir Yao.
And that would be Coach Rick Adelman sitting in the front row holding up his lighter and screaming for an encore.
When Yao takes 22 shots in a game, Adelman wants 23 and 24. When Yao scores 31 points in a game, Adelman wants 32 and 33.
Trouble is, Yao is often like the band that wants to play a few songs from the new album. And the audience only wants to hear the greatest hits.
There were a lot of different reasons why the Rockets ended up in mud wrestling match with the Pistons - poor defensive rebounding and a general malaise, to name a few.
But when Yao scored the last 7 Rockets points of regulation time and it came down to the final 54 seconds with a chance to win, it was all about the things Yao didn't do.
That is, biiiiitch and moan for the ball.
Yao passively watched Aaron Brooks dribble and then Luis Scola put up a 19-foot jumper. He watched Ron Artest get the rebound and then saw Scola try to make a move to the hoop and have the ball stolen by Antonio McDyess.
"I can biiiitch, I can biiiitch." That's what Elton would have sung.
And that's what Hakeem Olajuwon would have done in the same situation.
"He's got to demand the ball," said Adelman. "That one possession there at the end of the game - he's just got to go to the post and you tell them to bring it to me.
"He's slipping around, playing pick and roll. We just scored like six times in a row. He's just got to demand the ball.
"If they front him and they take it away and then we go to something else. But until they stop him, we have got to run it through him every time.
"He's got that mentality that he's trying to fit in and sometimes he's just got to take control. I just think it's something he's got to continue to work on. If they're going to let us run 1-on-1s, then he's got a huge advantage."
You approach the dilemma from a professorial standpoint of X's and O's and different options. Or you can think back to the days when Hakeem was roaming the middle for the Rockets and Sam Cassell's ears were frequently burning.
Now the Rockets have a pair of young point guards running the offense and it would seem to be time for some old-fashioned tough love for Brooks and Kyle Lowry.
It's seven years in and the cultural barriers should be long worn down, preferably trampled by Yao enroute to stomping his way through the league.
"I need to be more aggressive, I guess," he said. "That's not me. I'm in this situation before. Ask for the ball, ask for the ball, ask for the ball.
"He's right, in the fourth quarter, I scored the last seven points and the overtime I scored the first two possessions and then I disappear. I need to do more for the team."
Actually, the criticism is that Yao needs to do more for himself and that, in turn, will do more for the team. If Yao is demanding the ball, especially at the end of games, there will be fewer chances for Ron Ron to go rogue and jack up those hackle-raising treys. There will be fewer times when guys like Scola will feel pressured to do more than they should with the clock running down.
There were more than a few nights back in the old days when Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler were ready to grab Cassell by his neck and wring it in order to get the ball.
"I don't have Hakeem's speed. I don't have his moves," Yao said.
And he doesn't have is Hakeem's swagger and the regal arrogance to treat the point guards like his minions.
"I'll walk them to the sideline and say it behind the scenes," Yao said. "I am not going to do it in front of everybody and say, 'Give me the damn ball.' I just don't want to do that right in front of everybody."
It is a difference in styles, a different in culture. Yao admits that every American coach he's played for has wanted him to milk his scoring ability. But he says back in China, it was all about spreading the ball around.
"It is like this water bottle," Yao told me, picking up a prop for his demonstration. "You don't want to use it all up right away."
I thought back to Hakeem and shook my head.
"No." I said. "They want you to be like a hose and just keep the water flowing."
Sir Elton/Yao laughed. I nodded.
Before the biiiitch comes back, first he's got to get here.
and then there is Yao's response
http://rockets.basketball.titan24.com/09-03-19/195798.html (http://rockets.basketball.titan24.com/09-03-19/195798.html)
He said he understood why Rick Adelman brought that out. He said: "It could be Coach Adelman thought that my shots attempts and score in the first 3 quarters were too low. I know what he meant. It is because I can score stably, and by having the ball, I can also help to create space and scoring opportunities for my team mates, and help to make my team mates more aggressive. Therefore, he wanted me to have the ball more."
But when asked whether he will yell out loud on the court: "Give me the ball....damn it !!", he quipped: "It sounds like the playing style of somebody I know. Somebody. But that is not my style. Well, sometimes I would also be put into that kind of situation, and I also demand the ball from my team mates. I know my own strength and power in the low post, and I know what I can do. Coach Adelman is absolutely right. And in fact, I have started to demand the ball in 4th quarter."
When asked why he thought that demanding the ball was out of his character and playing style, he said: "As a matter of fact, demanding the ball from my team mates is not that difficult a thing to do. I will tell my team mates: Give me the ball, give me the ball. I think I will start to do that in our next game with the Minnesota Timberwolves."
Watch out T-Wolves. You are about to experience YAO! :ihit
oh and don't play pick and roll ball with Artest with the clock running down.
The Biiiiiitch Is Back
March 19, 2009
Can't you just see Yao Ming taking the floor one night wearing big glasses, a garish suit and platform shoes?
Can't you just see him stepping into the spotlight, grabbing the microphone and making it all entirely about him?
Sir Elton, meet Sir Yao.
And that would be Coach Rick Adelman sitting in the front row holding up his lighter and screaming for an encore.
When Yao takes 22 shots in a game, Adelman wants 23 and 24. When Yao scores 31 points in a game, Adelman wants 32 and 33.
Trouble is, Yao is often like the band that wants to play a few songs from the new album. And the audience only wants to hear the greatest hits.
There were a lot of different reasons why the Rockets ended up in mud wrestling match with the Pistons - poor defensive rebounding and a general malaise, to name a few.
But when Yao scored the last 7 Rockets points of regulation time and it came down to the final 54 seconds with a chance to win, it was all about the things Yao didn't do.
That is, biiiiitch and moan for the ball.
Yao passively watched Aaron Brooks dribble and then Luis Scola put up a 19-foot jumper. He watched Ron Artest get the rebound and then saw Scola try to make a move to the hoop and have the ball stolen by Antonio McDyess.
"I can biiiitch, I can biiiitch." That's what Elton would have sung.
And that's what Hakeem Olajuwon would have done in the same situation.
"He's got to demand the ball," said Adelman. "That one possession there at the end of the game - he's just got to go to the post and you tell them to bring it to me.
"He's slipping around, playing pick and roll. We just scored like six times in a row. He's just got to demand the ball.
"If they front him and they take it away and then we go to something else. But until they stop him, we have got to run it through him every time.
"He's got that mentality that he's trying to fit in and sometimes he's just got to take control. I just think it's something he's got to continue to work on. If they're going to let us run 1-on-1s, then he's got a huge advantage."
You approach the dilemma from a professorial standpoint of X's and O's and different options. Or you can think back to the days when Hakeem was roaming the middle for the Rockets and Sam Cassell's ears were frequently burning.
Now the Rockets have a pair of young point guards running the offense and it would seem to be time for some old-fashioned tough love for Brooks and Kyle Lowry.
It's seven years in and the cultural barriers should be long worn down, preferably trampled by Yao enroute to stomping his way through the league.
"I need to be more aggressive, I guess," he said. "That's not me. I'm in this situation before. Ask for the ball, ask for the ball, ask for the ball.
"He's right, in the fourth quarter, I scored the last seven points and the overtime I scored the first two possessions and then I disappear. I need to do more for the team."
Actually, the criticism is that Yao needs to do more for himself and that, in turn, will do more for the team. If Yao is demanding the ball, especially at the end of games, there will be fewer chances for Ron Ron to go rogue and jack up those hackle-raising treys. There will be fewer times when guys like Scola will feel pressured to do more than they should with the clock running down.
There were more than a few nights back in the old days when Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler were ready to grab Cassell by his neck and wring it in order to get the ball.
"I don't have Hakeem's speed. I don't have his moves," Yao said.
And he doesn't have is Hakeem's swagger and the regal arrogance to treat the point guards like his minions.
"I'll walk them to the sideline and say it behind the scenes," Yao said. "I am not going to do it in front of everybody and say, 'Give me the damn ball.' I just don't want to do that right in front of everybody."
It is a difference in styles, a different in culture. Yao admits that every American coach he's played for has wanted him to milk his scoring ability. But he says back in China, it was all about spreading the ball around.
"It is like this water bottle," Yao told me, picking up a prop for his demonstration. "You don't want to use it all up right away."
I thought back to Hakeem and shook my head.
"No." I said. "They want you to be like a hose and just keep the water flowing."
Sir Elton/Yao laughed. I nodded.
Before the biiiitch comes back, first he's got to get here.
and then there is Yao's response
http://rockets.basketball.titan24.com/09-03-19/195798.html (http://rockets.basketball.titan24.com/09-03-19/195798.html)
He said he understood why Rick Adelman brought that out. He said: "It could be Coach Adelman thought that my shots attempts and score in the first 3 quarters were too low. I know what he meant. It is because I can score stably, and by having the ball, I can also help to create space and scoring opportunities for my team mates, and help to make my team mates more aggressive. Therefore, he wanted me to have the ball more."
But when asked whether he will yell out loud on the court: "Give me the ball....damn it !!", he quipped: "It sounds like the playing style of somebody I know. Somebody. But that is not my style. Well, sometimes I would also be put into that kind of situation, and I also demand the ball from my team mates. I know my own strength and power in the low post, and I know what I can do. Coach Adelman is absolutely right. And in fact, I have started to demand the ball in 4th quarter."
When asked why he thought that demanding the ball was out of his character and playing style, he said: "As a matter of fact, demanding the ball from my team mates is not that difficult a thing to do. I will tell my team mates: Give me the ball, give me the ball. I think I will start to do that in our next game with the Minnesota Timberwolves."
Watch out T-Wolves. You are about to experience YAO! :ihit
oh and don't play pick and roll ball with Artest with the clock running down.