Why do people insist that benching Alston was wrong?

I really don't know how you could totally point that on Rafer for the Magic's 3rd qtr lead lost.

Who made 2 bad turnovers at the start of 3rd qtr? Lee and Howard.
Who let Ariza score 11 points in 3rd qtr? Hedo

Yeah, Alston shot 1/5 in 3rd qtr. But 2 driving layups were near misses. He became too aggressive when the Magic was sucking. But he only got 1 turnover in that period.

How did Howard/Lewis/Hedo do in that quarter? You tell me.

Sometimes, momentum is a b****.

What did Nelson do when he came in at 1:28 in 3rd qtr?
TO to Fisher which resulted in Bryant's 2 points.
Couldn't get a shot off in the last 4.6 secs. Should I count it as a TO too?

The reason why Phil sticks with Fisher through bad times is exactly the same reason why SVG should stick with Alston. But if SVG doesn't know the reason, then he will lose his players fast. I kind of agree why Shaq calls SVG "the Master of Panic". LOL!

 

why is a shot someone takes a bad shot??? cause they miss.........Magic lost, so right off the bat he's wrong to have Nelson in there......to make matters worse, derek fisher had 2 good looks for devastating 3's and that's on Nelson as well......only play i remember him making was that one pass to howard for a dunk, that's it. had a dumb foul on gasol which resulted in the fisher 3 as well.

 

Why should the Magic have played Rafer, because hindsight is 20/20. Read this article by Jason Whitlock.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/9671330/Magic-lost-because-Van-Gundy-hit-panic-button

 

this whole series got screwed up when svg decided to let a guy who hasn't played in 4 months and be in the rotation for a huge chunk of minutes and produce little to no offense and poor defense. the outcome to this series would probably have changed if they kept rafer and whoever was the backup before jameer decided to make a comeback.

 

Yep. It's pretty awkward now. If Jameer says he can play, then SVG is sort of obligated to play him. If SVG shuts him down and they lose, he'd get roasted by the fans/media for not playing him.

As for Nelson, I wonder if he even realizes the damage he's causing. Good job screwing your own team over.

 

childish post by whitlock.......he seems more angry than rafer is.........he aint holding any responsibility for howard cause he grabbed rebounds and had 9 blocks? gimme a break, if you're going to give dwight howard all this credit for carrying your 3/4ths of the way, then you gotta blame him for the last 1/4th considering it was a freaking ft.

 

Putting this game on Jameir is dumb. If Turk would have made 2 of 4 free throw down the stretch, if Howord would have made a free throw, or even if the damn coach would have called the team out of a press when you saw they were going full court maybe they would have won. They want to focus on Nelson not crowding Fisher but no one mention that Nelson was the only playmaker of the damn 4th quater for them to get the league back.

 

There are many factors that contributed to the loss. Putting the blame on free throws ALONE is as silly as putting the blame on Nelson ALONE. But I agree that Rafer would have been better than Nelson.

It was a close game. Every little mistake counts, be it a missed free throw, a missed defensive assignment, a foot on the line, or a wrong substitution by the coach.

 

I think the big deal is that Nelson isn't completely healthy yet and it shows. I love that the guy worked hard enough to come back now, but seriously... Rafer was not having one of his patented bad games, he was doing well. SVG should have put him back in the game.

At the very least he should have been in the game for that last defensive sequence before OT.

If he was having one of his horrible shooting nights, then yeah, leaving Nelson on the floor would have been for the best.

 

I can't comprehend anyone defending SVG in this situation. There was absolutely no reason to leave Nelson is for the entire 4th quarter. He has been terrible the entire series both offensively and defensively. Teams don't guard him on offense either, because he's scared to shoot. His defense has been abysmal as well. It seem some people in this thread are using the points that he had two good entry passes to D12, and the Magic had a bad thrid with Rafer. While Rafer contributed to that bad 3rd, it was a team effort. Giving Nelson credit for the good 4th is pretty laughable. Other then the two good entry passes, what did he do on the court? Nothing.

The truth of the matter is that Nelson shouldn't even being playing. Anthony Johnson has played solid basketball throughout the entire playoffs, It's a joke to watch him ride the pine, because of SVG's loyalty to a guy who looks as though he's playing at 50%. I think Nelson's decision to return was selfish as well. I understand wanting to win , but he''s hurting his team. Just my take on the situation.

 

I still don't see how a guy was hurt for 4 months and then makes a comeback IN THE FINALS. I could understand the first round or second round but this is rediculous. he's so rusty right now, he's not producing offense and his defense is sub-par. He had more turnover then alston in fewer minutes, back to back turnovers in critical times. although if howard makes 1 freethrow the games basically over but hes not a good ft shooter and isn't expected to make them.