Since we're going to take this on a game-by-game basis, might as well bump this. AB was awful at the end, and Lowry should have played. Both PGs missed free throws and some costly mistakes at the end, whether it was a turnover or a bad shot. Their main job is to get Yao involved in our offense, and today was a failure.
Rafer was a fourth quarter dagger tosser - one of the best around. I didn't see that from Brooks/Lowry today. I repeat, I really miss Rafer Alston.
I'll wait until the Rockets playoff run is over for my final judgment (if you ask me this thread is way too premature). But for now I definitely don't see the Rockets playing any better with Alston. As some have already said the positives with Rafer are going to be some better passing and the half-court offense will most likely run a bit smoother (less dribbling, less dumb turnovers). I also contend that Rafer was probably the last hope on the team for controlling Artest's wild offensive nights. Right now there's just noone on the team who would dare challenge him. This is just my opinion since there's really no evidence to compare. Artest started going crazy when T-Mac went down, which is basically the same time Rafer was traded. So, it's hard to tell which contributed the most to Artest playing out of control...probably a combination of both. But anyway, for now it appears the scoring efficiency of Kyle and Aaron trumps any of the positives we'd get from Rafer's minutes. AB has obviously been shooting lights out and Lowry's been doing what he does, which is get to the line for some easy points. Whereas Rafer would still be having his inconsistent shooting nights. Still, I definitely am not ready to call the trade a tremendous success yet, as some people already seem to be. Brooks and Lowry need to keep up their efficiency, which is going to be tough as teams actually start adjusting to them over the course of a series.
Fixed that. Maybe you missed the part where the Rocekts should have been inbounding down by 2 with 1.5 seconds left. A turnover does not mean a guaranteed made shot if you dont turn it over. Just remember that. So while he DID make it a little tougher(since any shot that any player gets still has to make or miss) with the two turnovers and a missed 3, he did that no more so than Yao not blocking out Oden. Or Battier giving the ref a chance to call a foul on Roy. Of course "inbounding the ball down 2 with 1.5 left" does not mean we automatically make that shot(whoever gets the ball) to win or tie the game. But you can't say Aaron was terrible at the end of the game when the team was given up for dead at 100-92 and in a very T-Mac or Isaiah Thomas fashion brought them storming back with impossible play after impossible play. The play that ticked me off the most of the entire night was the phantom call on Kyle Lowry when Rudy Fernandez tripped himself up. There should have at least been an attempt at a potential historic miracle play. They never got that chance because a NBA level referree(and based on his overall numbers he is a good ref) made the most ROOKIE of mistakes an official can make. He made the call before he saw it. He made the call because he ASSUMED that would happen. See the call. Make the call. The NBA is worse off because it missed a chance at another Isaiah Thomas performance. Another Reggie Miller performance. Another Clutch City performance.
