I don't know if it was the absence of Alston or McGrady or both, but our offensive was as efficient as it has been in about a decade since the time McGrady went out and Alston was traded.
"Off games" would be an understatement. He was horrible and completely useless in those 2 games. An experienced, starting-caliber PG should never be that bad, especially in a playoff game. Even average starting PGs find a way to impact almost every game they play. Plus, games 2 and 5 represent 33% of this series. So, I wouldn't say "only" 2 off games. As with Houston, Rafer plays the position in a very conservative and pedestrian manner with Orlando. I understand that is all they are asking him to do and for good reason. That is all he can do. Even legit, average quality starting PGs dictate play at times, breaking down the defense, attacking the basket and finding open players. Rafer rarely does any of those things. Like with Houston, he almost exclusively brings the ball up the court, hands it off to a teammate then camps out on the perimeter. When his shot is off, he goes into Battier mode and passes up open shots, forcing teammates into more difficult ones. One thing people often fail to realize is that Alston's low TO rate has as much to do with his entirely unaggressive style of play as his good handles. The elite PGs in this league all turn the ball over a lot because they make things happen, which is inherently risky. Paul, Nash, Williams, Parker, etc... all turn the ball over a lot more than Rafer. Rafer plays "safe" which is good to a certain extent but more fitting of a backup PG, especially considering his horrible shooting technique and low efficiency. His extremely low FTA per game ratio throughout his career is further evidence of his entirely unaggressive style of play.
So Rafer had a very bad game. That's why he's role player. A role player are not supposed to carry his team. But rafer's a very good role player because when he's hot he can win your a game in a playoff series. He won one game for Magic. It's good enough for a role player. Both Luis/Shane won one game for Rockets. They are great role player. You can't have 5 franchise players in your team. Just 1-3 all stars and a bunch of good role players. Rafer is good role player because he plays his role always.
Rafer has had 2 bad games, in this series alone. Bad is actually an understatement and I'm not just saying that to bash him. He was useless. Anthony Johnson has outplayed him on a number of occasions this postseason, even if it isn't fully apparent in the stats. You just had to watch the games to see it. Rafer is not a very good role player as a starter because he's not a starting-caliber PG. He's a low-risk/low-reward type of PG. You know, like Brevin Knight, the backup PG for Utah. Rafer has more games where he is a non-factor or where he hurts his team than games where he is a big factor in their success. Some will argue that "playing safe" is a good thing because he doesn't make a lot of mistakes. The counterpoint is that he doesn't make a lot of things happen either. Good staring PGs all turn the ball over a lot because they are penetrating, breaking down defenses and making things happen. Rafer is overly conservative becaue he can't do those things. Being a steady hand is fine... for a backup, which is what Rafer is. He ended up in Houston where we haven't had a good PG in ages. That's the only reason he had the opportunity to start. We have been trying repeatedly to find a replacement for him. He was a stopgap solution for us and it says more about how bad the likes of Mike James and Steve Francis 2.0 were than how good Rafer was to keep the job for so long. I agree that Rafer is a good role player because he plays his role all the time. The only problem is that his role should be as a backup PG. Legit starting PGs don't just hand the ball off to a teammate practically every time up the court then camp out on the perimeter to shoot jump shots with poor technique.
Did it matter? Horrible or bad? A lose is a lose in a playoff series. Nothing more. One funny thing is u guys are obsessed in trashing Skip. Skip is making 5 millions - the pay of a role/bench player. If Skip gave you 3 good games out of 5 games in a playoff series, everyone was happy to take that. Another funny thing is Skip gets more attention than Rashard Lewis. People trashes Skip for his off games and doesn't even pay attention to the Magic highest paid player Rashard Lewis's off games.
You post in the Dish so you should know that plenty of people point out Rashard's flaws. For a guy that makes as much money as him, he goes into disappearing mode way too often. All players should get trashed if they deserve it. A subpar starting PG like Alston is no exception.
Not as much as people trashing Skip. And that's what happens even in the media. It's funny for me. Skip is always kind of a lightning rod himself even for his insignificant role.
That happens to plenty of Rockets players, not just Alston. Nobody is immune to it, not even our best players. In fact, if you go around to other forums, you see the exact same kind of stuff. Derek Fisher is a regular whipping boy on one of the Lakers forums. I was checking out their game threads during the series. It's actually worse than what Rafer gets around here. And Fisher is a guy that was part of multiple championship teams. Even Kobe gets trashed severely when things aren't going well for the Lakers. I understand where you're coming from though. I wish we could all be more civil in these discussion but I think it's just the nature of the beast. The beast in this case is a sports forum. People are often irrational when it comes to discussing competitive sports. It brings the worst out in people, myself included.
this is my first post here. Rafer looks like the same Rafer to me, just he has a different style of Center he works with now. To me his shot looks no better no worse, he still plays semi good defense, still forces up 3's...... His little runner is hit or miss....so OVERALL, he looks to me to be the same Rafer
all i know is he failed us on that game 7 series vs. the jazz when he was in a rockets uniform that's what matters
T-Mac is the lightning rod. Just do a news google search on Mcgrady and Alston. The media didn't really care about Alston, besides a few chronicle articles. He was usually mentioned as an afterthought in a piece.
Yes, Rafer runs the offense well night in and night out. AB doesn't always run the offense well and that can be seen in the games where Yao barely had any shots (ie. Portland game 2). So far tonight, he is running the offense for Orlando quite well.
Alston is still Alston and although his scoring is still what it was here, his scoring is definitely suffice for the Magic who have some good options. I think another difference is having Dwight instead of Yao. Skip although is not a great scorer is a decent defender and a good passer. When we lost Mcgrady this year it seemed like Skip and Shane were the only two people who could really get the ball to Yao. Ron wasn't at all great at it. Shane was ok at it but it was really skip that did the job. Right now Skip doesn't need to make that special pass to Dwight. He can pass at ease or pass it someone else who doesn't need to be a great passer and the ball will still get to dwight. Dwight can flat out catch the ball. He also isn't relied on as much as he was in Houston to be a third scorer. Skip can play his game now and that is why he looks great as a Magic. Glad he's not a Rocket anymore and glad he's doing wonderful as a Magic. He's a former Rocket and bled for this team. He isn't Scottie Pippen so I still wish him well.
I think alot of Rafer haters on this board need to eat crow. While Rafer isn't as good as Jameer Nelson, Rafer Alston is a legitimate starting PG in the NBA that is capable of helping his team to the NBA finals. Rafer plays his role quite well and his biggest strength is running the offense, something that AB has to learn better. It's just too bad Rafer wasn't on the team for one more year to mentor AB on how to run the offense better and help AB improve on his passing game (especially the entry pass to Yao).
+1. Many people said teams were simply incapable of playoff success because the starting PG couldn't make shots at a decent enough %. Hopefully now they realize being a PG isn't just about shooting, and if he's on a team loaded with offensive talent, his shooting weakness isn't nearly as much as a problem. He's the classic equivalent of a game-managing quarterback in football.
Rafer works in Orlando because he doesn't shoot.....here, he shot too much. Good for Rafer..this was a trade good for both teams. Plus it is the Leastern conference, let's see how they do against the Lakers... DD
Good Riddence I mean . .. good for him . . but still glad he gone As DaDa says. .. .it was time to move on this worked out best for both teams Rocket River
No, he fit quite well. Unlike AB, Rafer was one of our few players that could make an entry pass to Yao. Now we have to rely on Battier to make entry passes to Yao. Hope AB works on his passing game this summer, and learns to run the offense as well as Rafer. The Magic got what they wanted - a PG that could run the offense into the playoffs in place of Jameer Nelson. And Rafer is doing that quite well ... running the Magic's offense all the way to the NBA finals.
