FRANCIS: "I would of loved to play,"Francis said. "I don't know what I did. I guess I'm going to have to ask my coach...I hope it doesn't happen like this a lot. If he was (trying to) he definitely send a message to me. Its not fun sitting on the bench like that when I thought I was playing good." What message is are sending Rudy T., "Don't shoot 5-9, and become more whiter like Drew and Bullard. I know that was probably uncalled for but I'm pissed off.
Let me see it must be some obscure alteriorly motivated reason. It couldn't be: 1. getting over a severely aggravated sprain. 2. being slightly out of game-shape due to required inactivity due to aforementioned injury. 3. affects of medications taken for same aforementioned injury. 4. his chief supporter and one of the closer guys (along with Mobley) not being present, but in a hospital having surgery. 5. a coach not wanting to jepordize yet another key player in a game that they were clearly short of (a) attention (b) hustle (c) consistent execution (d) a win. 6. teammates who a night or so ago, performed well without him and needed to play some more with out leaning on their star guard. 7. he was not performing well and looked exhausted as he forced plays to his teammates. 8. finally, maybe it should be mentioned that he had severe diarrhea. Naw, let's called it Rudy not likeing the color of his skin.
Don't be an idiot and turn this into some racially motivated action by Rudy. The fact is Houston was playing terrible when he pulled Francis (Mobley went in for him if you were paying attention...Drew went in for Williams, who doesn't deserve playing time anyway). He pulled the ENTIRE starting lineup. Wouldn't you be frustrated if you are losing to the friggin' Nets by 23 midway through the 3rd? The fact is Drew and Mobley played so well that there was no reason for Francis to come back in the game. Mobes scored 12 points in the last quarter and Bryce scored 16 points (4-5 from 3pt range) in the last 13 minutes to go with a few assist and no turnovers. They ended up cutting the deficit to 12 by the end of the game. So, if you think it is a racial issue, you are completely out of your mind!!!
