JVG picked head down the stretch today against the Pacers. Im not sure, but i think rafer should have been in. Head looked too shaky.
When Luther is hot, T-mac should bring the ball up and have Head at the 2. When Luther isn't hot, have Rafer bring the ball up with T-mac at 2
TMac should handle the ball in crunch time. Rafer is an excellent ball handler, and great at pushing the ball up court. He should be limited to five or less shot attempts per game. Maybe be only allowed to take spot up threes of the horse shot variety. Luther is usually a money shooter in the fourth.
The crunch time lineup will be no doubt: tmac, luther, shane, chuck , yao No sense in having rafer in there, tmac will handle the ball and make all decisions anyway, and you have to have luther in there for clutch shots if tmac decises to pass to him, yao has to be in to draw attention from defenses or to get an easy shot, and shane and chuck have to be in for defense. teams will almost certainly double or triple tmac and not let him beat them.
Luther is NOT a pg, he is an undersized sg, he can't handle the ball the ball, the only thing he can do is shoot 3s. I wouldn't want him handling the ball in the playoffs at all. Rafer or tmac, that's it.
Rafer's man defense against strong guards is just abyssmal. Jamaal Tinsley, today Chauncey Billups, they can have their way with him in isolation. If the Jazz win the first round, it WILL be because of Deron Williams.
My thoughts on Rafer: I was at tonight's game, and gained a new perspective on one of my favorite Rockets. The guy really does have a lot of potential. I denied it before, but tonight I realized how much Rafer's shot slection can make or break our offense. In the first half, Rafer faked a pass to Shane who was semi-open in the corner. Rafer's man bought the fake and rotated towards the corner. Rafer then gathered himself and popped a three. Well, that was poor decision because Rafer rarely makes threes in those situations (he is much better when he shoots off of a pass, moving forward). Also, the lane was WIDE OPEN! Driving towards the hoop would have been a much better option. I also noticed that when Rafer sees a hole and drives for a layup (not a floater), he almost always makes it because the defense is so afraid that he will pass to Yao that they virtually ignore him. Also, I don't think his teardrop/floater is as bad as people say it is. He was 1/1 tonight on the floater. I honestly think that if he thought "layup" first and "floater second, he would have a much better inside game. I've always said that Rafer is a great decision-maker. Well, tonight he showed that he can be at times and can also be a complete idiot at other times. He made some ugly turnovers tonight, but his shot selection was really great, making our offense uber-efficient. Usually it's the other way around; he limits his turnovers, but takes low-percentage shots. My point is that he has the ability to be a very efficeint PG. He can shoot the 3 ball, he can drive to the basket, and he can feed the post. The problem his, he doesn't often do all three of those things in a given game. Whatever the case, it is clear that he is getting into playoff form. And if Skip can play well in the playoffs, then WATCH THE F OUT!
If Luther head had point guard handles, the search for a PG would be over....Rafer would defintly be luther's back up!...but as for now, we need rafer to bring the ball up the court if the other team is pressing... Bring the ball up the court: Rafer Taking any shot in the 4th: Luther Head blind-folded!
