Battier was definitely clutch tonight. Hit 3 big shots down the stretch and added three free throws to seal the win. It was great to finally see the Rockets finish a game strong and win it in the final minutes. It was great seeing this but it also illustrated how different a team can be with a legitimate offensive perimeter star to turn to in the final minutes of a game. I don't know how many games a star can win playing the way Battier did at the end of the game, but I figure that more games are won this way than one realizes. A recent example would be a healthy/semi healthy McGrady. Obviously he turned out to be a lazy underachieving malcontent, but in his first years here he finished a lot of games for us the way Battier did. If he wasn't scoring, he was setting Yao up beautifully or getting someone an open shot. He won a lot of regular season games for us that way. I know that the argument that the Rockets need a closer has been discussed for a long time now and this is nothing new. It is just that our need for a closer was made much more apparent to me after Battier's performance. Can Brooks evolve into one? Martin takes advantage of the defense when the set offense is run, but he's not much of a 1-on-1 guy. Now I'm really hoping that we somehow acquire a perimeter star!
