Not really, Nelson had some good minutes but in those last couple of minutes but other then a few good passes he didn't do much for the team on the floor. He couldn't even penetrate past the three point line down the final stretch was constantly handing the ball off to Turkoglu while Fisher was defending him. Bringing Rafer out there to stabilize the defense at the point and have the possibility of dribble penetration or scoring from the point guard position in the final minutes wouldn't have been any more difficult then when any starter who is saved for clutch time is brought off the bench after sitting most of the fourth. It was a dumb decision to have a player in Nelson's condition on the court for so long. Hurt the team and probably cost them the series.
Stats say it all....Playing Jameer Nelson in finals was a mistake http://www.nba.com/playerfile/rafer_alston/game_by_game_stats.html
SVG finally realizes alston sucks and benches him in the 4th and ot and alston whines about it like a baby. Talk about being selfish when your team is in the finals.
Alston does not suck..Rafer was critical to the Magic's success in playoffs this year...when Rafer plays 30+ minutes Magic usually win..I rest my case http://www.nba.com/playerfile/rafer_alston/game_by_game_stats.html
Coaches in the NFL also know that if you run for 100 yards, you will usually win the game. So why dont more teams just run the ball early on to get to the 100 yard mark and thus increase their chances of winning?? Oh, because its the flow of the game and how your team does getting those 100 yards that is more telling. Kinda like its how Rafer is doing in the flow of the game that determines the outcome, more than simply him playing in the 4th quarter. Rafer is very erratic. I mean, last year against the Lakers he put up 28 points or so and that was win number 22 in a row. How many other games did he do that???
VS Lakers Brooks 3-Rafer 1 Magic won only 1 game with Rafer at PG. He wasn't the Laker killer after all. Stellar shooting and great passing as usual.
To me, these finals validated the trade entirely. We were def a better unit with Rafer out, Brooks elevated and especially Lowry's tough contributions off the bench. That said, I am happy to hear we are possibly trying to move up and get a top flight PG. With any luck we can pull together resources to make a great trade that sends TMac and Brooks out and brings in a valuable swingman.
Actually, Brooks is as inconsistent as Rafer. The difference is, when Brooks is hot, he stays hot the whole game. Rafer is hot in bunches, and rarely stay hot the whole game. I can't believe I had to go through the pain of watching Rafer bricking wide open 3s all over again. Ahh, if only I didn't hate these Lakers so much...
Oh good old Skip, at least he was consistent on being inconsistent. Nelson should have never came back cuz now I cant say that it was all Skip's fault in the PG area. Well I still <3 Skip a little bit, he got a piece of my heart, kinda like an insane ex girlfriend that broke your heart again and again and again.
Here are some of Skip to My Lou's playoffs/finals numbers: Playoffs (23 games): 32.2 mpg, 12.2 ppg, 4.1 apg, 1.74 to, 38% FG, 31.9% 3PT Finals (5 games): 29.4 mpg, 10.6 ppg, 3.0 apg, 1.60 to, 36.8% FG, 15.8% 3PT
Rox isn't that better without Rafer yet. Rafer/ AB combo might still be better than AB/Lowry combo as fo now. But Lowry has a lot potential. Rox is worse without Yao.
It will be interesting what the Magic decides to do with Rafer next season. I get the feeling he's not in their long-term plans, and things between the team and Rafer may have soured some after his performance in the finals and his public criticism of SVG's PG rotation. So Orlando could end up trading his expiring contract by the next trade deadline. Or else, they could keep him until the end of next season, let his contract expire and get some cap relief, which it sounds like they probably need.
I hope they sign Rafer to a big extension and keep him as the starting PG. Jameer will not be happy as a back up role and demand a trade. Then, we trade Brooks and filler for Jameer.
Skip got his team into the Finals and u dudes still have beef on Skip??? Duh!!! Yeah right, u dudes are happy with a 2nd round exit.
Easy to see why you have negative rep. The Yao-less experience was 4 games - all against the one team who we just happened to match up well with playing small ball. The team got noticeably tougher after the Rafer deal with Lowry...and putting Brooks in as a starter, while initially tumoltuos, ended up allowing him to flourish and he played BIG in the playoffs. Result - best season in 12 years (and Yao was a massive part of that also, just not for those last few games)
Rafer is nothing more than an average point guard. He's not even starter quality any more, he's somewhere between a starter and a sub. His shot selection is awful, and for all the rep he's gotten as a "pass first" point guard, he still somehow ends up being in the top 3 field goals taken of his team regardless of his shooting percentage at the time. He has a low turnover ratio, but I would bet a lot of that is because he's played with two of the best play-making forwards in the league (Tmac and Hedo) for the past half decade now. He's also incredibly streaky, which means he'll give you games but he'll take them away again. The worst thing about him though is he's a mini cancer waiting to happen. He's always had a mouth bigger than a man with his abilities should have, and even before he came here he already had a reputation in Toronto as someone who carries around a lot of baggage. Considering he's already throwing his coach under the bus to the media, I guess his time here in Houston and playing with Yao, Deke, Battier and Scola just masked his cancer genes more than anything. I for one am glad he's off the team so we can have some consistency at the pg spot.
HAHA, I am sorry that now magic consider to use alston + someone for J.Richardson after final immediately. I dont think alston will in magic next season.
