Because a professional should never be surprised about doing something good. Because a professional should always maintain his temperment. I'm extremely happy that Rafer had a career night. If he hadn't we would have lost. But that doesn't give him the right to lose control.
Look if you guys didn't know, RA approached Alston and calmly told him a few words. RA: "Dude that was awesome you totally pwned him. I'll grab you a beer later." Kidding. Look, lets just end this arguement. Both sides were wrong. Vagine (lol im sorry I can't help it. But no offense ) suddenly played tough defense on rafer at closing moments. In fact, he was bashing rafer with his body. If you guys didn't know, T-mac did it long time ago to this dude when he was in the USA basketball team. A guy dribbling hard was bashing t-mac with his ass, and t-mac bashed him back with his body. If we're all living in the same world, bashing somebody with your body is giving them a statement. Vagine bashed Alston with his body, and alston didn't take it well because the game was near finish. Odom was no better, but he reached in a casual and friendly way. At least he didn't bash scola with his body. Yes Alston shouldn't have showboated, but if I was correct, chris paul did the exact same thing rafer did during a game against rockets last time with yao or without yao. I forgot which one it was. But I guess its ok to do it when the game is on the line?
Well Rafer was about to probably about to wrap the ball around his head so he took the weenie way out and fouled him.
Clutch, where did you find such a track to put on that clip?? Can we just agree they were both wrong and move on with it? Sasha got owned and that's that. I'm not worried about that play lighting a fire under anyone's arse. The Lakers are still gonna come with even more aggression next time we meet them (WCF finals?) regardless of Skip doing that move. The fact that they lost this one will motivate them to show us up next time. I'm not scared. Are you? They showed up with that stupid arrogance yesterday and they got their asses handed to them. They might have a healthier and more complete squad, but we're gonna be ready. No team with Derek Fisher and Sasha Vujabich is gonna scare us. What's gonna happen is they get overly confident with a healthier squad while we're still without Yao. The end result, they underestimate us and gets a nice surprise with a big L.
Rafer's explanation from the postgame interview: <hr>"I didn't mean to showboat against him, but you know, when guys are reaching, you gotta put the ball in different places, behind your back, between your legs, you have to, you know, keep the ball away from him... It's amazing how referees allow the first thing to happen, and then when the second thing happens, that's when they run over there. I always thought if you get to the root of the problem, you can nip things in the bud early. So if they give him a techincal for swinging at me when he's trying to make a foul, they give him a technical right there, then I walk to the [free throw] line." http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=145122&page=1&pp=20 <hr> Vu-jock-itch took a cheap shot at Rafer, end of story.
Perception = reality. Levin perceives Rafer in the wrong, thus for him its reality. And arguing a man's reality is futile.
The only mistake Rafer did was confronting Sasha after the foul. He should have just taken the foul and cooly drained the freebies, preferably with a smile on his face. However, if there is less than a minute to play in the 4th, Kobe has been sat down officially conceding the game, then play defense but don't body up like Sasha was doing. Rafer went And1 on him to show him he really couldn't guard him. Sasha got upset and fouled him because it's the only thing he could do to stop Rafer. Nothing wrong with what Rafer did, you have to have heart in this league and claim respect for yourself. Rafer did that, Sasha answered with a foul. That's the game within the game. It wouldn't be basketball otherwise. Other than Rafer losing his cool over a frustration foul from the opponent he did nothing wrong imo.
After watching the replay it is clear that The Vagine punch fouled rafer in the mid-section with both hands, ala a one-two punch. That is uncalled for at the end of the game. Poor sportsmanship on The Vagine's part. Rafer was just running out the clock. Another case of the Fakers being sore losers.
Hey sasha earned the lesson by Rafer why was he pressuring like that when the game was over??? The pointing part was over the top but the schoolage was excellent
He's human. He's on national TV with what was then the biggest game of the NBA season. The stakes were the number one seed and the streak. He single-handedly carried the team on offense. You expect him to be calm? *You* try to be calm. Professional or not.
Wrong? I thought they were both right. It's ridiculous to say Vuja should stop playing defense because the game was out of reach. He is a professional and played like one. Rafer had to keep his dribble alive because the shot clock was shorter than the game clock; he was burning some time and then would attempt a shot with a second on the shot clock. Picking up his dribble would have essentially conceded a 24-second violation, and passing it is an unnecessary risk, especially when he is such a good ballhandler. The foul being hard and the finger may have been unnnecessary, but not a big deal. But, saying either player should have backed down before the foul is silly; they were doing just what thye were supposed to.
