Ohh and after the whistle blew Rafer immediately went and put his hand in the guys face. Only one finger was up which makes me think he meant we are No. 1 now. All that could have led to was a punch being thrown. The ref deserves a lot of credit to realize Rafer was the instigator and grab him.
To defend Rafer, the Rockets were up big and Rafer's dribbling the clock out. Sasha wants to get chopped down, that's his own prerogative. All he really had to do was just stand there or foul immediately--not just try and play "tight" defense when there's 45 seconds on the clock and your team losing by 13.
Yeah it could be seen as a bad play overall by Skip in normal circumstances. But Skip doesn't do that kind of thing in normal circumstances. He and Vujacic probably exchanged words earlier, it's a fact (the announcer stated it) that Alston and Fisher exchanged words. It happens all the time in the NBA, Skip was probably just a little bit out of control. He was showboating a little bit but I think he had some reason. The one finger thing was probably just pointing at Vujacic telling him to calm down and stop fouling hard and being a sore loser. You don't know what was said between them. If there was nothing and Rafer was just being a pompous ass, then I agree with you. But I doubt that was the case.
levintblack you did not notice what actually went down this goes back farther than the clip shows. every possession vujacic was bodying rafer bringing up the ball to half court. a few possessions earlier vujacic have rafer a very hard shove with his body and you could see rafer get pissed. he purposefully bodied vujacic hard in front of the scorer's table in front of the 3 point line. vujacic took the bait and tried to come back to rafer hard. he reared back and bodied vujacic as hard as he could but rafer had planned that and bounced off him and with vujacic now off balance rafer blew past him all the way to the rim and scored a layup. what you're seeing is only the residual of that play in the waning seconds. vujacic got shown up but should have taken it like a man instead of continuing to try to "get back" at rafer. yeah I saw what went down with scola and odom. good for him for standing up to odom. i cant remember the last time when a winning team deigns to run out the final possession of the clock and some noob tries to steal the ball... and not only that very aggressively and physically it's bush league to be sure, but you sure you think it was rafer and scola at fault? seems backwards
Its really quite simple. The clip shows Kobe going to the bench which signified that the Lakers were conceding the game. Vujacic should have played loose at best D but was really up close on Rafer hounding him while Rafe was just trying to run the clock. Rafe tried to create space and Vujacic would just keep coming back, so he went street on him. Anyone notice the next possession they doubled Rafer and made him pass the ball? That's bush league.
Youtube Rafer's And1 Mix tapes Rafer's And1 Mix tapes I have never seen those before. These would give Van Gundy heart attacks. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Za8WK9h1PnY&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Za8WK9h1PnY&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VMA_TGG8vuI&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VMA_TGG8vuI&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
To the last three who posted. Is he playing tight defense when he is behind the guy and just trying to get in front of him??????????? And who the F cares what happened previously at the end of the game you don't do that. One of said the guy was playing Rafer tight all game when he was bringing the ball up. That's called strategy and good defense. The Lakers obviously thought pressuring Rafer would help stop him from being so effective. Tire him out more. It doesn't matter what was said or what had happened before. Rafer should have been happy wiht getting the win and not pulled that crap. By what some of you said you were fine with what Zidane did to that Italian dude in the World Cup (the infamous headbutt). And if Rafer did it because the guy was trash talking then thats horrible. Anyone who ever played sports whether high school, college, or pros knows trash talking is part of the game and you can't let it get to you.
when is a spin move known as a "and1 move" he reached and rafer spun and came back ive seen him do this move a million times in a regular season game it's not like he threw the ball between his leg or around his head
BTW the league migth review this and if Rafer really does touch him in the face with his finger that is supposed to be an automatic suspension. I don't think they will review because it didn't really turn bad.
you're entitled to your opinion, assuming it's a informed opinion and not a knee jerk reaction. I guess you want him to be like yao and just take lumps and move on. I can understand that point of view and sportsmanship but consider 2 points 1) the same toughness that rafer exhibited in not backing down is what allows him to be stone cold. without that toughness rafer does not deliver like he did and the streak ends at 21. a team needs guys like that especially when at the pinnacle of the team are guys like tmac and yao 2) as JVG said during the broadcast, rafter plays "on the edge" (JVG said as he himself does) you cannot ask a guy to walk on that edge and not go over it sometimes... especially when provoked I can see understanding criticizing a guy's game but like the stuff with yao's "softness" tmac's "laziness" etc it's hard to blame how a guy is or his personality. rafer is intense you cant ask him to play hard all game then back down to some punk who's pissy all of the sudden they're going to lose the game. the lakers were pressing in the backcourt for most of the 4th quarter and pretty physical. if you're going to blame rafer for arguing, fairmindedness says you have to pass some blame to vujacic as well since they were both going at it... the only difference is rafer got the better of him time and time again. but they were both going at it
Watch it again he spins multiple times and then starts hopping and bouncing it between the legs just like he did when he was Skip 2 My Lou.
There's a difference in going at it during the heat of battle when the game is close and then doing that stuff when the other team has conceded. The first is done to try and win the second is done to rub it in.
if you watch it he dribbles up the court and saha is guarding him hard and sasha was reaching all he was doing was protecting the ball i see nothing wrong with what he did
Vujacic was not showing any signs of conceding. If he had conceded and let Rafer dribble out the clock none of this stuff would have happened.
To me "exchanging words" and "trash talking" are two different things. I did say Skip 2 My Legend was out of control a little bit and that he was showboating a little bit, too. Rafer is a passionate guy, you heard the commentators talk about it earlier. I am not holding anything against him for this. The guy just LIT UP the Lakers and some Stopping in front of someone is a strategy too, btw. Rafer didn't really do anything that bad. Vujacic was going at him Rafer has every right to move away. Rafer didn't make an attempt to go to the basket so he wasn't showing him up in that sense, although he easily could have. Watch the clip again. Vujacic goes hard at Alston first, Alston goes fancy a little bit and gets away, but does nothing illegal.
There's a difference it playing tight defense when the game is close and then playing tight defense when the other team has clearly kicked your ass with less than a minute left. The first one is done to try and win the second is done because Sasha's a douche bag waiting to be Skip To My Lou'd on.
I agree. If Vujacic had just given that end-of-game token effort at playing defense and "conceded", Rafer would not have gone off on him.
i dont understand this post. I cannot even fathom the following statement "who the F cares what happened previously" 1 minute earlier? so you dont want to know what happened to lead up to the altercation, you're just interested in blaming one party for an isolated part at the tail end of that altercation... okay... on one hand trash talking is "part of the game" but showing up a guy with your dribble is not??? it's okay to grab a dude not going for the ball if you're pissy enough but it's not okay to point a finger to tell a guy to back off? if your post is going to be about sportsmanship it should at minimum be consistent. moreover you're not actually mad at rafer for what happened (he dribbled around with the ball, was tackled and pointed a finger) but what didn't actually happen (vujacic throwing a punch) and also something that happened in the world cup basically you dont like rafer?
Umm haven't the Rockets played tight defense after the game is decided and we are going to win. Oh wait they did that against the Lakers today and JVG praised them for it.
