Alston puts instant jolt in Rockets Guard returns from injury, adds offensive options By JONATHAN FEIGEN Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle CLEVELAND - In the Rockets' sudden, unexpected eruption of offensive numbers Tuesday — with a season high in nine team or individual categories — some were overlooked. In addition to scoring more points and getting more assists than he had in any game for the Rockets, Rafer Alston collected five beaming smiles, three agonized scowls, two hugs of officials and one clear statement that he was back, just in time to return to Toronto on Friday. "Coach always stressed with me, 'Get the passion, play with passion, show your passion,' " Alston said. "That's something I've had since I started playing ball." In Alston's eight games before he was hurt, the player Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy has described as a fellow "wacko" often seemed to be pressing too hard to succeed with his new team. But after losing so much time to the first injury of his career, a hairline fracture of his right fibula, Alston has seemed to delight in being back. "Rafer came in, and he was a playmaker," Rockets forward Juwan Howard said. "He is a point guard. He did his job and it made it contagious. We all started passing and finding the open man. It started with Rafer." Alston's return and the discovery of the Rockets' offense are no coincidence. More than anything, the Rockets made shots they had been missing. They gave up a scorer, Mike James, to get Alston to direct their offense. And on Tuesday, the offense with Alston looked better than it has in any game this season. For most of the season, Tracy McGrady was the only ballhandler who was able to penetrate and create off the dribble. Alston's return offered the option to let a point guard attack the defense in pick-and-rolls, take over some of McGrady's playmaking duties and make up for some of the inside-out offense lost when Yao Ming went out. "We would like to get some more dribble penetration from people other than Tracy McGrady," Van Gundy said. "It would be nice to get McGrady a spot-up shot that wasn't under duress, where he didn't have to create a shot for himself but where a shot was created for him. Particularly when McGrady is out, we'll try to do more pick-and-roll stuff for Rafer." More fast breaks The Rockets, who face the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight, got into the open court more. Their 11 fast-break points were hardly Showtime worthy but were as much as they had scored in the previous three games combined. The Rockets got into their offense more quickly and rarely needed to rush shots. "I'm a good pace guy, a guy with energy," said Alston, 29. "They got to watch us. I'm going to come off the pick-and-roll hard. I'm going to turn the corner. It helped that I stepped behind and hit the shot, something I was doing the last three or four years in this league. That's something I have to keep doing." Alston had been shooting just 33.8 percent, but he made seven of 11 shots Tuesday, including three of five 3-pointers, and is now at 38.9 percent. The Rockets need Alston's accuracy to be more than an aberration. The Cavaliers are the NBA's third-leading scoring team. The Raptors will offer reminders of their defeat of the Rockets last month and Alston's frustrating season in Toronto. "Preparation is my biggest thing," Alston said. "I knew in Toronto we didn't prepare to have what it takes to win the game. We didn't know what the other team was doing. We didn't have a clue how we were going to defend. That frustrated me. We were going out there cold to try to win games." Alston's "passion" is running hot. At least for one night, so was the Rockets' offense. jonathan.feigen@chron.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROCKETS SUMMARY Lucas, Davis released Less than a week and two games after the Rockets brought in John Lucas III to bolster their injured backcourt, they released him and forward Josh Davis on Wednesday, a day before the contracts of players on NBA rosters become guaranteed. Unless they are picked up by another team, the Rockets could bring back either with a 10-day contract beginning on Tuesday. With a league exception that allows them to have 16 players on the roster, the Rockets will have to cut a player to return to the usual maximum of 15 when Jon Barry comes back from his calf injury, likely on Friday. "We were happy with both of them," Rockets general manager Carroll Dawson said. "They did a good job." Asked if he planned to bring either player back when 10-day contracts are permitted, Dawson said, "I don't know yet. We'll see how things go." Easing the burden In the 15 games since Tracy McGrady came back from his strained back, he has played fewer than 40 minutes just four times — his first game back, in the blowout loss in Denver, in the game he left at halftime and Tuesday at Washington. Averaging 38.3 minutes per game this season, he said playing 35:33 on Tuesday helped him finish strong. After missing his first nine shots of the second half, McGrady made his last three, scoring eight points in the last eight minutes. "I rarely get any rest in a game, always playing 44 to 48 (minutes)," McGrady said. "Tonight, with the guys contributing, making shots and playing extremely well, I had a chance to rest, sit down and gather myself a little bit to where I came in in the fourth quarter fresh and was able to close out the game." JONATHAN FEIGEN http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/3563848.html
I'm surprised no one's responded to this thread. I think some are a little dumfounded by it. Rafer had a good game, but it wasn't spectacular. Rafer's had a miserable start here and Mike James would have no doubt helped us win a game or two so far. But the bottom line is this team has needed a pg almost since Lucas got banned. Yao being "a very good player" has magnified the lack thereof. JVG's comment about TMac being "maybe the best pg in the league" still resonates. Since TMac always has the ball it doesn't really matter. Most of the above was intended to be somewhat sarcastic, because it does seem to me that 90% of this bbs has a knee-jerk reaction to perceived weaknesses in one player and the immortality of another - or the loss of the great Mike James. Most don't know Rafer Alston yet. I have no idea if he's a good fit for us yet, but what he has done in the past is everything this team needs. And even if we start playing .500 ball I still won't know until Yao comes back. But whatever anyone thinks this is a particularly interesting Feigen article. Sometimes I wish he'd write an op-ed blog just to see what he thinks of what he is constrained to write.
Mike James would have provided a huge boost in scoring... ...but... When we built our roster, that wasn't what we needed. We had huge scorers in McGrady and Yao and role-playing sharpshooters around them in Barry, Head, Wesley, and Anderson. With that kind of lineup, it made a lot of sense (and still does) to have a true point guard in place. The James/Alston trade was the right thing to do because we had no idea we'd lose so many scorers to injury. The most recent game and this article are good at articulating how much Rafer can bring to the game in intangibles. Lane penetration from the point guard and outside shooting can make a huge difference in our offense. Juwan's comment supports this: <table cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="100%"><tr><td class="qBox"><div><strong>Juwan Howard</strong></div><div style="font-style:italic"> <b><i>"Rafer came in, and he was a playmaker," Rockets forward Juwan Howard said. "He is a point guard. He did his job and it made it contagious. We all started passing and finding the open man. It started with Rafer."</i></b></div></td></tr></table> That says it all right there. I hope the trend continues.
Looking at the big picture, knowing that we filled the hole we had at the 4 spot already, and that Sura was going to be out, the management saw fit that we needed someone to run the offense. I agree with them, they couldnt have known about all the other injuries that would happen. Even looking at it, i think James would have helped us right now, but alston will help more in the long run.
He had a good game against the worst defense in the league. I hope he keeps it up, though! Rock on, Rafer!
Rafer is a very good PG, he's a true playmaker last year in Toronto (I 've watched most of the games of Raptors). This year, he hasn't had a lot of opportunities to showup himself since what we let him do is just to bring the ball up. If we let him do more things (penetrations or drbbles, set-up-palyers etc.), he will be much better than what he is as of now.
i agree with himalayas. i watched alot of raptors game last year. i always thought of alston as some flashy dribbler guy due to his and1 popularity, but after watching him play his guts out last year, with the awful sam mitchell taking cheap shots at him through the media, i have nothing but respect for rafer. i'm rooting for him, and i dont care how many points mike james scores for the raptors, i really believe that the houston rockets is a better team with him than mike james.
Alston is good as long as he consistently plays like the Wizards game...but i'll give him up if we're going to acquire Bibby...
