But Rondo is actually a good pg. He's a good rebounder, passer, defender, etc... His only weakness is that he's not a real good shooter, but unlike Rafer, he doesn't settle for outside shots all the time when the defense leaves him open. Rondo actually drives it in and gets high % shots or creates for others, wich is why he has so many assists and a good shooting %. Rafer can't hit open shots and can't create for himself and can't create for others. These are the 2 things the Rockets need most out of their pg, but since Rafer doesn't give you either, he's of no real use to this team. Instead, he mostly camps out and throws up brick after brick unless he drives it in for a teardrop, which might as well be a turnover. The problem with your argument is that the pg position has become so vital in today's nba. Everything goes through your pg. You might say look at Derek Fischer, but at least he'll make you pay if you leave him open. You need your pg to at least be able to do a couple of things well. I just don't see anything that Rafer does well. I don't wanna hear about how he "runs the offense," because it's a ridiculous argument and doesn't make sense. His D is overrated. Unlike Fischer, he can't hit open shots. He can't drive and dish or finish at the basket. Unlike Rondo, he's not a good rebounder for his position. He is this team's biggest liability. The Rockets will not have much success in the playoffs with such a poor player at the pg position. He's averaging almost as many fga as Yao! There's a reason he's always open. Other teams know why, you know why, and I know why. A healthy Steve Francis, Marbury, Hinrich, Jameer Nelson, Raymond Felton, and even Steven Blake are upgrades over Alston. The reason I mention them is because they seem like the only realistic options at this point for a severly needed upgrade at the pg position.
Yea rafer is garbage...so if that is the case and he has the best +/- of anyone on the team what does that make Yao, Tmac, Shane, Scola...i think u get the idea
some of you fellow rocket fans are something else, do you not realize that every team loses a game? It was a lost the we could AFFORD, not that we wanted to lose, but hey, we are getting ron artest back next game I believe, and If t-mac stays playing, then we should be able to get onto a run, so stop all yall cryin.......
exactly these idiots keep saying "man rafer sucks.......but he's what we have" wake up people........if he was so bad , it wouldn't be hard to replace him.........the only upgrades over rafer are perennial all stars.......everyone else is either a downgrade or at best a lateral move.
Steve Francis is a downgrade cause he doesnt know how to run a team....he already had a shot at rafer's spot last year.....and rafer beat him out.......marbury is a downgrade because he's a me player......every team he plays on sucks, and when he leaves they get better.....and everyone he plays with hates him....both have more talent than rafer, but as far as running the rockets, they're downgrades Hinrich is hurt.......he's career 41% shooter......if you think rafer sucks at shooting well hinrich is 2% better from 3, what does that make hinrich? plus hinrich turns it over a lot more than rafer, and he's not even making any entry passes to the post. Jameer Nelson would be a slight upgrade at best, he can't shoot the 3 either. steve blake is a lateral move at best.....i can dribble my way around steve blake...... if "running the offense" is so easy, then aaron brooks would be able to do it
Even though I don't think SF3 is in game shape, we will see if he's a downgrade or not. He was injured last year by the way. The Rockets' window of opportunity is closing and there needs to be a sense of urgency. Thus, I would take my chances on Marbury. He brings what the Rockets need at the pg position. What you're forgetting is that Rafer's shots are WIDE open. You can imagine the results if any of the the pgs I mentioned, including Hinrich, got WIDE open shots on a consistent basis. At least Steve Blake is consistent and will make you pay for leaving him wide open. I've heard that Rafer "runs the offense" well. What does that exactly mean? From what I've seen, it consists of dribbling it close to half court and passing it to T-Mac. I do think Brooks, despite his inconsistencies as a young player, will do an adequate job. I don't wish inury on anybody, but I agree that Alston's injury could be a blessing in disguise.
Didn't watch the entire game, but it didn't seem like Hayes was used much to defend Randolph. I remember in the previous game, Hayes did a great job containing him.
T-MAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HE NEEDA MOVE THE DAM BALL AROUND SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!!!! t-mac slow the tempo of the game so bad its just sad...all he do is stand there and let people move around and just pass if they are open. Barkley is right, T-mac is a ballstopper.
um that's kind of what stars do if you haven't notices, look at yao ming he gets the ball he's shooting unless he gets double teamed, same thing goes for ron artest as well, so don't just single out t-mac just because you don't like the guy.
Same minuses for this team and people still blaming the coach. I wonder or hope morey is doing something about the lack of height,speed,atheleticism. If not , this team wnt win the title healthy or not.
I think people look at Clippers record and say, well they suck. They are one of the worst teams in the NBA. Well of course. They had a shaky start, but when you look at their roster... Damn they're good. You have Baron, Randolph and Thorton. They can score at will. Than you add Camby who owns the paint and Kaman who is also pretty good. They are comming alive. And I am not suprised. Before the season I was sure they were gonna make playoffs. But of course it is not an excuse. When you have T-Mac, Yao and as good team as we have we should and even HAVE TO win games like that.
A PF that rebound and defend will free Yao. Actually compare with T-Mac, Yao is more consistent... Yao may not be a superstar, but with T-Mac you will go no where... don't ever expect T-Mac will ever come back, because in his entire career he has never been tough to himselve and his rival.
Yao cannot be compared to T-Mac in the playoffs. Last season, T-Mac was playing with two injuries and with all that pain he still put up 40 points in game 6. If T-Mac is not consistent, Yao should dominate and elevate his performance. Be the consistent factor so that we don't have to pick on T-Mac all the time. But you won't get that, Yao will have 1 good game, another bad one, etc. This is the case with all our players. Let us hope Artest can be our new leader and will be the consistent one.
Rocket's signature play: Rafer drives in the lane, looks off Yao for a chippy, looks off Landry for a dunk, shoots his floater and misses giving the Clips a fast break and an easy bucket.
T. McGrady G 32:52 5-17 2-5 7-8 -5 0 5 3 2 1 0 2 1 19 R. Alston G 32:43 3-11 1-5 1-2 -12 1 2 7 2 1 0 1 2 8 Y. Ming C 35:38 10-17 0-0 4-4 -2 3 13 2 4 0 1 0 0 24 L. Scola F 33:22 4-10 0-0 0-0 -2 3 7 1 0 1 0 2 4 8 S. Battier F 33:16 1-8 1-5 0-0 -1 3 6 6 1 1 1 1 3 3 Bench Min FG 3Pt FT +/- Off Reb Ast TO Stl BS BA PF Pts C. Landry 21:49 2-4 0-0 1-2 -14 2 5 1 1 0 0 1 2 5 A. Brooks 17:05 2-10 0-4 1-1 -5 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 1 5 L. Head 15:42 3-6 1-1 0-0 -10 0 3 1 0 0 0 1 0 7 C. Hayes 10:21 1-2 0-0 0-0 -6 1 2 0 1 1 0 1 1 2 V. Wafer 7:09 0-2 0-1 1-2 -8 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 1 B. Barry DNP - Coach's Decision Totals 31-87 5-21 15-19 13 44 22 11 5 2 12 17 82 Percentages: .356 .238 .789 Team Rebounds: 9 It would be shy even won the game with 0.356 shooting
