Rafer is getting lucky. That's it, plain and simple. Plus, he's not playing against the Fakers or the Blazers. He would suck against Fisher and Blake.
look at all the assist he got tonight...funny things happen when you put Rafer around good shooters.. :
Rafer was always a scape goat on here for people who looking at scoring as the end all stat and wanted him to match opposing all star PG's in production or get rid of him. The main problem with him on the rockets is that injuries and other non-scoring role players like Chuck Hayes, Mutumbo, and Battier were starting at times for us and forced Rafer to be the 2nd or 3rd scorer for us to win. You are not going to have all stars at every position, and as a role player Rafer is obviously good enough to help a team past the first round and maybe even to the finals despite the blame he shouldered for play off failures here. But if you are counting on him being a 16+ a game scorer every night then yeah, he isn't going to be consistent in that role.
I hope your kidding, because Fisher and Blake are probably the easiest PG match ups in the entire playoffs...
God damn it. I thought that after Rafer's gone, we'd never see the obligatory "OMG Rafer's AWESOME" thread that pops up every couple of months or so. Look, Even 38% shooters have a game where they shoot lights out. And if they get lucky, they might be able to do so for several games(see last year's 22 game winning streak). It doesn't disprove the fact that Rafer was NOT the answer to this team. That said, we all knew it was going to be a great trade for Orlando. Because despite his deficiencies, Rafer's still way better than any other PG on that team.
Quit the yackity yacking. Rafer did not fit well in Houston. He is doing fine in Orlando. Can't expect someone to play consistently everywhere. Factors change, Mickymouse is in Orlando. Let him be.
People have said Rockets can't get to the finals with Rafer as starting pg because of Rafers poor shooting....Magic are 1 win away from the finals...the problem was never Rafer...Rafer did the best he could with what we had...
Brooks incompetence as a "PASSING" pg is astounding...people were begging Adleman to put Lowry in cause that was the only alternative we had...Brooks is a shooting guard ...
Would the Rockets have won a few more playoff games with Alston? Possibly, but they probably would also have lost a few more with Brooks not putting up those monstrous offensive games as the starter. The coaches and the players may never publicly admit this, but this team wasn't contending for a championship once McGrady was out for the season, and having or not having Alston did not alter this fact, IMO. So investing the remaining season in developing Lowry and Brooks made more sense in the long term. Trading Alston was the right move for the Rockets, and I'm glad it's proving to have been the right move for Rafer as well.
For Brooks, it was an easy matchup because of his speed and penetration. Their mediocre defense would be enough to stop REEFER. The dude has no speed.
cuz blake and fisher are much more of a matchup problem than mo williams rajon rondo or andre miller... I MISS RAFER ALSTON!!!
Rafer is not getting lucky Cleveland is just not playing any defense. Any NBA guard will hit open shots like that when no one is even trying to at least run at him.
tell me how many assists per game he has been averaging in the playoffs. also tell me who the leader in assists per game for the magic has been in the playoffs.
Rafer is still the old Rafer, set the offense well, with streaky shootings. Two things are sorta new now: 1. Rafer showd he can be a flashy/excellent open court PG now playing with Howard. He couldnt do that with Rox because of Yao, now he has much more freedom. I wonder what he would say if reporters asked him the difference playing with Yao and Howard. 2. Rafer proved he was NOT our problem, He CAN be a starting PG at a champ team. That was no supprise to me though, I always felt amused when people scapegoat Rafer for our failure, I dont know what these people been smoking but I said it before I will say it again: If Rafer was healthy during the first 2 playoff games last year, we would have had beaten the Jazz.
Rondo, Mo williams and Andre Miller where much more difficult PG matchups than any thing Brooks had to face and despite Brooks having some huge scoring that definitely won us some games, he also had games where he was outscored by the likes of Blake and Fisher and averaged more turn overs than assists for an entire 7 game series... But if you just want scoring from the PG position then Brooks is the better choice. Of course we didn't trade Brooks for Rafer, so you could have had both.
