Yao Ming Mania - Latest Comments in Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

JW — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:01:58 -0000

I think Adelman also needs to do better, especially managing timeouts. how could he allow them toss up three hurried 3-pointers when Portland leading by one late in the game? Phil Jackson would call a timeout on the very first try. Well, Adelman did not have many left late in the game. I think he often waits too long to call a timeout to wake up his players. In playoffs, you don't want to give your players make mistakes twice.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:20:52 -0000

First of all, I am a huge Yao Ming fan. With that being said, it is time to him to lead and deliver. We can blame on all the other players that you want, but Yao is the franchise player on this team and he has to stand up to take this role because he is making franchise player type of money. Not only that, he is no longer a rookie, this is his 7th season in the league, he has not win a playoff series. It is unexcusable for him to take only 6 shots for the entire game. He needs to demand the ball or yelled to the guys, "Give me the DAMN BALL!" I am tired of all the analysis and blame game of McGrady, Artest,...It should be on YAO. Maybe I just have too high expectation on him. Well, not really because we are not asking him to lead the Rockets to a championship, but only out of the first-round. If Yao can't even do that, what kind of super star is he!

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

Bob — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:19:38 -0000

airchina23 said: "A Chinese news source reported seeing Yao sitting by his locker after the game had a long talk with Brooks, with the stats sheet in his hand. So hopefully he was talking about the (lack of) involvement of the post offense."

Good to see Yao mentoring his young teammate between games. How about giving out some no-nonsense instructions during the games when the starting PG remains clueless? Also, what about Ron Artest? Does Yao ever pull him over to have a few words after seeing Artest making repeated boneheaded moves?

Been with the Rockets for over 6 seasons, Yao is the most senior member of the team. If he still doesn't know how to show leadership by now, he's never going to get it.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

Jeff — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:43:23 -0000

The Head Coach does not help at all, when it is anticipated that the opponent is going to deal with Yao. It is too easy to overcome Idleman. He has no plans to handle a changed situation.

Candidate for coach of the year? What a joke. It should be a good topic for Jay Leno or Letterman.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

airchina23 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:15:55 -0000

Agreed. Yao needs to demand the ball. A Chinese news source reported seeing Yao sitting by his locker after the game had a long talk with Brooks, with the stats sheet in his hand. So hopefully he was talking about the (lack of) involvement of the post offense.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

john — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:05:25 -0000

Well the Blazers played like as if thet have nothing to loose. That was their main factor in helping them winning Game 2. Much of the attention was stolen by the Rockets after that blow out win from Game 1.

Yao was in foul trouble. Much of the burden was rest upon Artest and Scola. Clearly tonight he was not at his best. Aldridge out played him this time.

But I still feel that the Rocktes still has what it takes to win this series. Remember the Blazers must steal one game from Houston and that is not as easy one may think. I'm hoping for them to recover for the next two games and utilize their home court status.

Oh yes, your though on tonight game, please.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

Shawn — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:25:04 -0000

Ron doesn't have the lateral quickness to to defend Roy, ball hogging and jacking up bricks doesn't help either. Rockets bench outscored Blazer's like crazy, Rocket's a much deeper team, Roy is not going to score 40+ every game, I still think Rockets can close out in 5.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

Staff — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 13:16:10 -0000

I had a typo where I originally had 2-for-13 when it should have been 2-for-12. I've gone ahead and fixed it. But what this means is that Artest was 6-for-8 in the first quarter, and 2-for-12 the rest of the way. He missed 12 shots total throughout quarters 2, 3, and 4.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

sean — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:38:24 -0000

"Ron Artest, who was 2-for-13 after the first quarter, and missed all six of his 3-pointers after the first quarter. For example, late in the 2nd quarter, the Rockets led by 6 points, but then Artest jacked up two bad 3-point attempts in a row that helped Portland go on a 10-2 run while Houston went scoreless the last 3 minutes of the second."

Is that true? Did Artest miss total of 13 shots in those two quarters? His official stats is 8-20, missed total of 12 shots all game.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

sean — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:34:46 -0000

John: are you sure your statement "Ron Artest, who was 2-for-13 after the first quarter, and missed all six of his 3-pointers after the first quarter. For example, late in the 2nd quarter, the Rockets led by 6 points, but then Artest jacked up two bad 3-point attempts in a row that helped Portland go on a 10-2 run while Houston went scoreless the last 3 minutes of the second." is correct? The official stats for Artest is 8-20, which means he missed total of 12 shots. However, in your statement, he already missed 13 shots during 1st & 2nd quarters.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

Bob — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:41:58 -0000

Thanks John for the play-by-play review of the final 6 minutes. I didn't get to watch the game because it was on NBATV.

Looks like Yao was badly taken out of his game by aggressive defense plays of Portland's big men. Frankly I have grown tired of Yao's talk. He needs to walk the walk. PopcornMachine's GameFlow shows Yao made 1 field goal attempt, shot 2 free throws, grabbed 1 rebound in 10 minutes of play time in the 4th quarter. These numbers are inexcusable for a franchise player. Fatigue shouldn't be a factor since he's got 2 days of rest and not played heavy minutes in the game. Sure the coach and teammates share some blames, perhaps quite a bit of blames for not getting him enough touches, but Yao's got to assert himself in tight games like this. More often than not, he failed to elevate his own game to another level, only resigning to be neutralized.

Pathetic.

Re: Reasons why Rockets lost Game 2 to Blazers

airchina23 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:58:55 -0000

I'm gonna miss Deke. His injury to me was more significant than the loss. The Rockets need to step up their game in honor of Deke.