Postgame by JordanLeDoux

Alright. First, I had an agreement with a Rocket fan to watch the contact Yao endures in the post and report back with my own feelings on the matter.

True to my word, on many possessions, both on offense and defense, I watched Yao, and those guarding him closely. I noticed a few things:

-Yao endures a LOT of contact, just as Rockets fans say.

-Oden does indeed create more contact on Yao than Przybilla.

-Yao tries to hook his defenders arms to get fouls called. I imagine this is a move he developed because refs early in his career weren't calling fouls for him, however, it's technically not a defensive foul. That's part of the finnesse of the game.

-A lot of Przybilla's excessive contact and bumping seems to come from the fact that once Yao establishes a position, he throws his hips and arms EVERYWHERE. 

I don't think Przybilla is used to that kind of contact. Yao is obviously trying to muscle his way into better position, while Przybilla is trying to move around Yao and be mobile. The result, from my point of view, is that Yao basically pushes his body into the defender, but the defender continues their motion around Yao, which has to create a lot of stress for Yao.

-Yao is an absolute expert at throwing his hips into ANYONE within a foot of him. I did not see a SINGLE drive to the hoop into Yao that didn't result in Yao creating a textbook blocking foul. You obviously can't call that every single time, even in a tight game, and Joel gets away with some of that too, but I don't know if Yao knows how NOT to throw his hips at the defender.

While it wasn't part of the deal, I also was watching a lot fo the other contact too. I didn't see a single foul on Scola that he didn't deserve, but Landry got the short end of the stick with touch fouls.

In addition, Brooks is a young guy. He got frustrated, and made some stupid plays/fouls when he got frustrated. 

Now, for the Blazers...

Did I call it, or did I call it? Playing Rudy heavy minutes was the key to this game. Rudy is the only role player on Portland who has shown he can shrug off the Rocket defense. 

Tonight, though he didn't start like I advocated, Rudy was on the floor to begin quarters 2, 3 and 4. He played with energy, and mixed it up with passes, driving, shooting, and most of all, energy.

This freed up Roy to play loose, and keep attacking despite a slow start. Additionally, Lamarcus was looking for his shot instead of hesitating, which is huge. In an elimination game, there is no hesitation. You put it in, or you go home. I don't know if it was McMillian or Roy that said something to him, but Lamarcus clearly understood that he needed to leave everything on the court.

This is the sort of win that you can duplicate, and I can only hope Portland can duplicate it Thursday.