Attention Rafer bashers! This guy is important to our team. Yes he might throw up a lot of junk but check out our offense without him. Its UGLY. 30 points in a half and its not just because we are shooting bad. Rafer ignites this teams offense. Luther and JL3 CANNOT run this offense nearly as well as rafer. Im not even sure why he was ejected but its hurt this team and im telling you we are going to struggle to get the W.
yeah it's ugly when they are trying to run sets, but if battier and head hit even half of their wide open shots (that's independent of who's running the team) they could have masked the total ineffectiveness of head and jl3 running the team.
yaaa go RAFER JLIII is garbage Luther cannot set up plays... i wanna see some Spann ... didn't he demolish Chris paul during the world champs?
true that.. seriously though, tmac set up other ppl more than rafer.. he's just having a bad game. plus 1 half does not count!
This is what i was saying in the chat room. Whereas Rafer would always push the ball to the paint or at least the freethrow line before pulling or passing out, Luther and JL3 panic at damn near halfcourt and get rid of it. This leads to a much later starting offense and a bunch of contested jumpers.
ESPN REQUEST i know this is totally unrelated, but it doesn't deserve it's own thread.... ANYONE with ESPN Insider, care to let us know what it says about Bonzi Wells in the Rumor Central section? Thanks in Advance!
Hi ind0fo0, you're in luck! I happen to have ESPN Insider. It's a bunch of rubbish though. Especially the part about not trading J.ho to upgrade the PF position. <i><b> Upgrade Needed</b? Feb 3 - We know that GM Carroll Dawson has never been one to sit on his hands at trade time when he's got an opportunity to pull the trigger instead. Even in his last season on the job, he is never satisfied, always looking to improve the club. So it keeps coming back to Bonzi Wells. Because if the Rockets are going to upgrade themselves at the power forward spot it is not going to be by trading Juwan Howard. It's his resume that keeps other GMs -- Detroit? Chicago? Miami? -- ringing Dawson's phone with constant interest and offers. -- Houston Chronicle </i>
Yeah Rafer's valuable. T-Mac hurt his wrist and this is finally his off game. Equals loss to me. COME ON ROCKETS PULL THROUGH.
Sure, having Rafer would help (mainly because then we wouldn't have to play JLIII and Head at the PG position), but I don't think that's the reason the Rockets are making lots of TOs and missing tons of wide open shots. This is just an ugly offensive game, and the Rockets have come out completely flat and without a fight are giving this game away...it's a low energy/focus game for the Rockets, they didn't come to play tonight. A well-earned loss...and here comes the Wolves, which is a team that has always been a tough team for us to match up against, even when Yao is playing. If we come out with anything less than focused, high energy play we will lose another one at home. No biggie, but we will see how the Rockets respond after this one...
I agree Alston is important, but we were not playing well before he got ejected either. N.O. had more energy than us tonight.
What happened to Rafer tonight? I've been busying doing some community service for my one of my groups so i haven't had a chance to read ESPN, and SI. Is he hurt or just sitting one out? I checked the score on Yahoo and its a very disappointing lose, but hopefully it keeps the team in check and won't let the 4-game winning streak and domination of teams like Portland get to their heads.
D. Mason of Hornets gave a VERY hard foul to TMac on a layup (i now hate bill worrell for supporting and defending Mason)... so Alston got pissed, and Alston and Mason exchanged words... both were ejected... referees absolutely pitiful tonight... atleast 20 late LATE and bad BAD calls. no need for the ejection. ridiculous
I am not sure Rafer could have boosted the shooting % had he remained in, but they sure looked lost on the offensive end without him.
JVG pretty much called out both Rafer and Mason in the postgame conference. I completely agree with what he said.
I bet he was just calling out Rafer, he just threw in Mason to look objective and not pile on to his player solely...I'm sure he doesn't give a dang about Mason
