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Yao vs. Celtics - 2/24/03

Cuttino Mobley yokes Yao after the Rockets stunning comeback win against the Celtics Monday night. The Rockets overcame a 15-point deficit to win 101-95 in overtime. (Reuters photo)

Hi everyone, pigstar911 here. As John mentioned earlier, I will be providing the Yao analysis for the Houston vs Boston game. I was lucky enough to have John ask me to fill in for him as he is away on business. I'll try my best, but as many of you know, John does so much quality work for YaoMingMania that no one can really replace him on his level. I hope all you YaoMingMania Fans find my writings at the very least tolerable, and hopefully, at the very most informative. Before I continue, I would like to thank Tracy and Daryl for helping me through this, and John for giving me this opportunity. Enough with the introduction...onwards to the game....

With the Lakers, Suns, and Rockets all jockeying for the seventh and eighth positions in the Western Conference Playoffs Race, the Rockets don't have much margin for error anymore. With a win against the Celtics, the Rockets could move themselves right back into the playoff mix again. Then, for those of you, like me, who have been passengers on the Rocket roller-coaster, it's particularly refreshing to see the Rockets get the win tonight in Boston. With the win, Houston moves back into the eighth playoff position. Of course, we had a little help from Chicago.

Franchise and Cat

I know many of you YaoMingMania Fans don't like Francis or Mobley, and most of you guys provide pretty valid reasons. But in tonight's game, they really pulled through. Both Francis and Mobley scored big with excellent shooting percentages. Mobley had 31 points (11-of-20), while Francis had 33 points (10-of-18). In addition, Francis dished out nine assists, grabbed nine boards, blocked or altered key shots, came up with some key steals, and only had two turnovers. Mobley, on the other hand, crashed the boards for 10 rebounds and bombed-in key three-pointers (5-of-9), one of them being in overtime. Although their statistics for the game are excellent, the most impressive part of their game tonight was their leadership on the floor and their ability, as leaders, to take control and close the game in overtime (Francis and Mobley accounted for 11 of the 13 overtime points). Sure, they probably won't have these kinds of points come next game, but I hope that Francis and Mobley learn that the Rockets need their leadership more than their points.

Rudy T.

I've got to give Rudy a lot of credit in this game. Many times I've felt that he's been out-coached by the opponent's coach and that he's failed to make the right adjustments in the game. But tonight, although there were speed bumps, he adjusted well. Towards the end of the third quarter, Rudy yanked Yao for Terence Morris instead of Yao's usual replacement, the taller Cato. It took me a while to figure out that Morris was in. I kept thinking did Cato shrink or something? Once I realized that Morris was in for Yao, it dawned upon me what Rudy was trying to do. The Celtics play small and quick. For most of the game, Yao was guarded by Tony Battie who is only 6-10. The insertion of Morris was an attempt to make the Rockets more mobile and quicker...ahhh Rudy making a blatant adjustment.

Keep in mind that this strategy failed. By the time Yao returned, the deficit was 11 points rather than the 4 points when Yao had left earlier. But here's the twist...Rudy put Yao back in on the 8:47 fourth quarter mark, which is much sooner than Yao's usual fourth quarter check-in time...ahhh Rudy is being a little bit more flexible with his time substitutions. Not only did he put Yao back in earlier, Rudy implemented a zone defense through the remainder of the fourth quarter and in overtime. This zone defense stumped the Celtics as they were forced to launch three-pointers which they missed. The result: the Rockets end up tying the game and go on to win it in overtime.

But What About Yao?

Amazingly, Yao only took 2 shots in the whole entire game, including overtime! When you first heard of this, you probably thought that Mobley and Francis must be hiking up all these shots. However, the Boston Celtic Defense was the defining factor that made it so difficult to pass to Yao. The defense would bring in the double-team well before the pass. For instance, as his teammates were trying to pass to him, Battie would front Yao while someone from the opposite side would rush in to sandwich Yao from the backside. Boston's defense was quick enough most of the time to rotate back.

Although Yao, wasn't able to contribute too much offensively, on the defensive side, he did a solid job. Interestingly, when Rudy implemented the zone, Yao was like a general, barking out orders and pointing out directions to the forwards. It was nice to see Yao take charge of the team on the defensive end.

Here's another image from the Boston game, where it was Asian-American night at the Fleet Center, which was sold-out to show Yao some love. (AP Photo)

Detailed Yao Analysis
vs. Boston Celtics 2/24/03
(brought to you by 'pigstar911')

1st quarter - Yao starts the game.

9:55 Boston Celtic Eric Williams gets the ball down low on the left edge of the lane. He puts his shot up over Griffin, but Yao is there to back Griffin up and he cleanly blocks the shot. Unfortunately, Williams gets the ball back and Yao fouls him this time around. Williams hits both free throws. Rockets trail 0-7.

5:10 Assist From the inner right side of the 3-point line, James Posey passes to Yao who's sitting on the right edge of the lane; this is one of the few times Yao's touched the ball this quarter! Instinctively, Celtic Tony Battie prepares for Yao's post move and before Battie can settle in defensively, Yao lays a perfect bounce pass to a cutting Posey who goes through the lane for the easy score. The Rockets should know by now that good things happen when Yao gets his touches! The Rockets trail 12-19.

:34.0 Yao checks out of the game for Cato. Yao leaves with 1 block, 1 assist, and 0 shots attempted.

2nd quarter - The Rockets trail 22-27.

5:34 Yao checks back into the game for Cato. The Rockets trail 34-42.

3:38 Free
Throws Yao finally gets the ball in the post on the left edge. He backs down Tony Battie and as he goes for the easy turnaround lay-up, Celtic point guard J.R. Bremer fouls him. It's clear that Yao is too big for Battie in the post, but getting the ball to Yao seems difficult as Boston is not shy in implementing the double-team to discourage the pass. Yao hits the first free throw, but misses the second.

Halftime - The Rockets trail 50-54. Yao has 1 point.

3rd quarter - Yao starts the quarter.

8:15 Free Throws On the right edge of the lane, Yao recieves a pass from Eddie Griffin. Yao wastes no time in backing Battie down and as he goes for the easy turnaround, Battie is forced to foul Yao. This is the second time that Yao has simply used his weight aggressively to get near the basket. I'm glad to see him use power over finesse against smaller-type centers. Yao makes both free throws and now has 3 points.

6:03 Yao gets the ball a couple feet away from the left edge of the lane. Again, Yao works his way inside, this time backing down Celtic center Mark Blount. There's nothing that Blount can do as Yao hits a 2-foot shot off the glass. This score extends Houston's lead to 61-58.

4:25 Intimidation On a Boston fastbreak, Yao admirably stands in and tries to take the offensive foul from Walter McCarty who's going in for the dunk. McCarty misses the dunk and the rebound goes to Battie who makes an easy 2-footer off the glass. Although Yao didn't really touch the ball, he did intimidate McCarty's dunk attempt that he missed. I think that it's important to note here that Yao could have easily backed off and allowed McCarty to dunk uncontested. But Yao didn't give up, even if it meant that he may be posterized again on a certain idiotic national sports channel (cough..ESPN...cough,cough).

2:57 Deciding to go with a smaller unit, Rudy sends Terence Morris to replace Yao. Yao leaves with 5 points, 1 block, and 1 assist.

4th quarter - The Rockets trail 66-73.

8:47 Yao checks into the game for Maurice Taylor. The Rockets trail 68-79.

3:59 From behind the three-point line, Francis passes the ball to Yao who's standing on the left elbow of the free throw line. Yao moves to center of the key and puts up his classic hook shoot that rattles in for two! There was nothing Battie could do! Yao puts his team within four as the Rockets trail 79-83.

1:29 With the Rockets down by three, Francis gets the crucial steal off Celtic All-Star Paul Pierce. This leads to a fast break where Francis finds Mobley who hits the game-tying 3-pointer. Both teams fail to score in the remaining minutes, thus sending the game into overtime!

Overtime - The score is tied 88-88.

1:29 Free
Throws With the Rockets only up by two, Posey drives the left baseline. As Posey goes up, he loses the ball, but guess who's there to pick it up? Yao grabs the loose ball and goes up strong but is fouled by Tony Battie. As usual, "Mr. Clutch Free Throw" aces both shots, putting his team up by four points!

00:00 After Yao's free throws, the Rockets never looked back. They went on to seal the game at 101-95. Francis and Mobley both played extremely well throughout the game. It's nice for a change to see Francis and Mobley come through, especially in the overtime period. Yao finished the game with 9 points on 2 of 2 shooting, with 1 block, 3 rebounds and 1 assist.

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1st quarter - Yao starts the game.
9:55		Boston Celtic Eric Williams gets the ball down low on the left edge of the lane. He puts his shot up over Griffin, but Yao is there to back Griffin up and he cleanly blocks the shot. Unfortunately, Williams gets the ball back and Yao fouls him this time around. Williams hits both free throws. Rockets trail 0-7.
5:10	Assist	From the inner right side of the 3-point line, James Posey passes to Yao who's sitting on the right edge of the lane; this is one of the few times Yao's touched the ball this quarter! Instinctively, Celtic Tony Battie prepares for Yao's post move and before Battie can settle in defensively, Yao lays a perfect bounce pass to a cutting Posey who goes through the lane for the easy score. The Rockets should know by now that good things happen when Yao gets his touches! The Rockets trail 12-19.
:34.0		Yao checks out of the game for Cato. Yao leaves with 1 block, 1 assist, and 0 shots attempted.
2nd quarter - The Rockets trail 22-27.
5:34		Yao checks back into the game for Cato. The Rockets trail 34-42.
3:38	Free Throws	Yao finally gets the ball in the post on the left edge. He backs down Tony Battie and as he goes for the easy turnaround lay-up, Celtic point guard J.R. Bremer fouls him. It's clear that Yao is too big for Battie in the post, but getting the ball to Yao seems difficult as Boston is not shy in implementing the double-team to discourage the pass. Yao hits the first free throw, but misses the second.
Halftime - The Rockets trail 50-54. Yao has 1 point.
3rd quarter - Yao starts the quarter.
8:15	Free Throws	On the right edge of the lane, Yao recieves a pass from Eddie Griffin. Yao wastes no time in backing Battie down and as he goes for the easy turnaround, Battie is forced to foul Yao. This is the second time that Yao has simply used his weight aggressively to get near the basket. I'm glad to see him use power over finesse against smaller-type centers. Yao makes both free throws and now has 3 points.
6:03		Yao gets the ball a couple feet away from the left edge of the lane. Again, Yao works his way inside, this time backing down Celtic center Mark Blount. There's nothing that Blount can do as Yao hits a 2-foot shot off the glass. This score extends Houston's lead to 61-58.
4:25	Intimidation	On a Boston fastbreak, Yao admirably stands in and tries to take the offensive foul from Walter McCarty who's going in for the dunk. McCarty misses the dunk and the rebound goes to Battie who makes an easy 2-footer off the glass. Although Yao didn't really touch the ball, he did intimidate McCarty's dunk attempt that he missed. I think that it's important to note here that Yao could have easily backed off and allowed McCarty to dunk uncontested. But Yao didn't give up, even if it meant that he may be posterized again on a certain idiotic national sports channel (cough..ESPN...cough,cough).
2:57		Deciding to go with a smaller unit, Rudy sends Terence Morris to replace Yao. Yao leaves with 5 points, 1 block, and 1 assist.
4th quarter - The Rockets trail 66-73.
8:47		Yao checks into the game for Maurice Taylor. The Rockets trail 68-79.
3:59		From behind the three-point line, Francis passes the ball to Yao who's standing on the left elbow of the free throw line. Yao moves to center of the key and puts up his classic hook shoot that rattles in for two! There was nothing Battie could do! Yao puts his team within four as the Rockets trail 79-83.
1:29		With the Rockets down by three, Francis gets the crucial steal off Celtic All-Star Paul Pierce. This leads to a fast break where Francis finds Mobley who hits the game-tying 3-pointer. Both teams fail to score in the remaining minutes, thus sending the game into overtime!
Overtime - The score is tied 88-88.
1:29	Free Throws	With the Rockets only up by two, Posey drives the left baseline. As Posey goes up, he loses the ball, but guess who's there to pick it up? Yao grabs the loose ball and goes up strong but is fouled by Tony Battie. As usual, "Mr. Clutch Free Throw" aces both shots, putting his team up by four points!
00:00		After Yao's free throws, the Rockets never looked back. They went on to seal the game at 101-95. Francis and Mobley both played extremely well throughout the game. It's nice for a change to see Francis and Mobley come through, especially in the overtime period. Yao finished the game with 9 points on 2 of 2 shooting, with 1 block, 3 rebounds and 1 assist.