Yi sits again as Nets come back to beat Bucks

March 3, 11:24 PMAsian-American Sports ExaminerMichael Street

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Yi picked up his second foul on this play—
and a spot on the New Jersey bench (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

For the second game in a row, Yi Jianlian sat on the sidelines as his teammates made an important step forward to the playoffs, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks, 99-95.

Last game, Yi collected splinters in his butt because of poor shooting; tonight, it was because of poor body control as he collected fouls like they might earn him valuable prizes.

He picked up his first foul most of the way through the first quarter, having hit both of his shots, and seeming to gain confidence.

Then he missed a shot, hit a shot, and picked up his second foul all within ninety seconds. Bobby Simmons came in for him, and Yi didn't get back out on the floor until midway through the second quarter.

This time, he played six full minutes before picking up his third foul, and Simmons returned. Yi was back in the lineup after the half, and celebrated his return to the floor by collecting his fourth foul before ninety seconds had elapsed.

In came Simmons, out went Yi, and that would be the last time that he saw action tonight.

His final line: 4 points, 2 boards, 1 assist, and 3 blocks in 16 minutes.

That's no way to keep a starting job in the NBA.

The same thing happened to him last season, when he played for the Bucks. Charlie Villanueva, who has exploded onto the scene this year, continually outplayed Yi. After a briefly productive December and January, Yi rode the bench down the stretch.

And that was for a team not battling for a playoff spot, the way New Jersey is this year. They need players that can produce, and as long as their team is doing better without Yi than with him, Coach Frank is going to find ways to keep Yi collecting splinters.

Tonight, the Nets and Bucks traded the lead throughout the first half, and the Nets were trailing when Yi sat down for good. They only managed to narrow the 7-point deficit to 6 by the dawn of the fourth quarter. Significantly, Frank liked the way the team looked, so Yi kept his warmups on.

Then the Nets started to gel, and they started to score. Vince Carter, Jarvis Hayes, Devin Harris and Keeyon Dooling combined for a 14-2 run in 2:16, putting the Nets ahead for good. After trading fouls and free throws, the Nets maintained the lead—and Yi maintained his grip on his warm spot on the bench.

Yi's got a few things going for him. One, tonight's surge—or lack thereof—wasn't entirely his fault. He was shooting well before he got himself yanked from the game. Also, Devin Harris hurt his hand in the first quarter, and missed about seven minutes of game time between the first and second quarters. The team is definitely worse without Harris, and they struggled without him.

Second, the team doesn't have better options at power forward. Yet. Simmons, who came in for him tonight, is a 6'6" small forward, too small for a low post player.

Ryan Anderson is normally Yi's replacement, and he hasn't usually done much better than Yi. Tonight, however, he scored 13 points on perfect shooting: 3-3 (including 2-2 from behind the arc) and 5-5 from the line. If he keeps shooting like this, Frank won't need Yi's outside touch.

The other power forward option, Sean Williams, is two inches shorter than Yi, but he's far more powerful, and his minutes have increased of late. With Williams, they don't need Yi's height or rebounding.

This is not the end for Yi, but he needs to learn better body control out on the court, and learn to moderate his aggressiveness so that he stays in games. He can be the best player in the world, but it doesn't help if he's not on the court.

Going forward, there's no indication that Yi won't start, but Frank's clearly losing confidence in him, and as the Nets continue to scrap for the eighth playoff spot, he's going to care a lot less about developing the future and focus on winning now.

And that "now" may impact Yi's future.

The Nets have a tough stretch of games coming up, with the defending champ Celtics Wednesday, the Magic on Friday, and the Knicks on Sunday.

All three are aggressive teams with tough power forward matchups: Boston has Glen "Big Baby" Davis; Orlando has Rashard Lewis, and New York has Al Harrington. These are the kind of strong, athletic and quick players that give Yi fits, so it's make-or-break time for him.

All of us are rooting for him to make it, but only Yi can make that happen.