Gotta say Duncan is MIA. Maybe Pop needs to stop the team bus again and rip into Duncan just like what Pop did after the Kings' game.
Yes, but the reactions to that comment are typically overblown. All Alston said at the time was that while West is an all-star, Yao is a superstar- and at the time, he was absolutely right. Matter of fact, until West does it consistently for 2-3 years, he still has a ways to go B4 comparisons to Yao, or even Amare. That being said, wow.
Reading the Spurs forum...it's absolutely hilarious reading all their complaints about Paul's "4 step drives" when they have Manu on their team.
Goddamit. Who would have thought back in 2005 that 3 years from then, Mike James and Ryan Bowen would be in the second round before Tmac and Yao would even sniff it?
No- that's not the point. Rafer keeps getting crap from posters about saying that David West wasn't a superstar like Yao- and at the time he said it, he was absolutely right. He said something like "David West is a great player, an All-Star, but he's not a superstar like Yao. We rely on Yao much more..." or something to that effect. This is just one of those things in a long line of stuff with sports that is just wrong, or slanted, or mis-information, or whatever you want to call it. You know, like T-Mac is a loser for not getting out of the first round, or Charles Barkley isn't as great because he didn't win a championship, etc. There's just a lot of things that the media and the fans run with that, if they really sat down and thought about it, they'd realize it's wrong. IMHO.
First of all, Rafer should have never said anything of that sort. He was wrong taking trash talk off of the court and rightfully gets criticized for it. Chris Paul had done the same thing regarding Rafer and he was wrong too. It is well known that there is bad blood between Hornets and Rafer and it is not too far fetched to say that, while there might be truth to Rafer's statement, there was spite involved. Rafer hasn't made a comment such as that against any other team except the Hornets. As for the superstar thing, that's debatable too. Yao has made 3 playoff appearances so far and he hasn't played like superstar in any single one of them. I think most neutral fans will take Yao as a star but definitely not a supertsar when it comes to impact. I am a Rockets fan and I refuse to say that Yao is a superstar based on his performances in playoffs. I will gladly change my stance when I see otherwise from him next year or so once he shows that he can take over games and get his teams wins. Even during regular season, Yao has trouble securing win for Rockets when Tracy McGrady is out. McGrady, OTOH, has fared much better in that regards. For this season alone, (the one in which Rafer made the comment) David West was just as important to Hornets as Yao Ming was to the Rockets. West is actually setting himself apart with these playoffs performances. David West is not a superstar either, but if he keeps this up, he might be soon.
Props to Pop for bluntly admitting the 3rd quarter blowout was because of the Hornets defense and not mainly because the Spurs played poorly. He may not answer every question but the answers he gives are truthful.
If Tyson Chandler's injury is serious, Spurs in 7. If Tyson is fine for next two games, Hornets in 7.
If all players are healthy, Hornets in 6. When they play their best, they are simply better than the Spurs.
What the Hornets are doing on defense is exactly why I rail at the one-dimensional non-athletes the Rockets have collected. Who is the Hornets' perimeter defensive stopper....Peja, Mo Pete, Pargo, Bonzi, CP3, Julian Wright? The Hornets have players who are not under-tall or under athletic playing very excellent team defense. They are to the man quick enough to cause the Spurs problems in both transition O & D. But more importantly...HUGE problems with their defensive rotations.
