No Rafer to blame, so who's next? Since people are calling for James or Francis to start so I guess they are not blaming the two in order to save face. Oh, I know, Carl Landry sucks! - Landry couldnt finish a basket under the baskets with 3/4 offensive rebounds. - Landry couldnt hold on the rebound becoz Chuck "freaking" Hayes bumped him and he fell to the floor with hands out of bound and costed us a TO and 2 pts. Trade Landry's sucking arse! Dont worry, we always find another guy to blame no matter what.
WHAT NOW RAFER HATERS? OWNAGE! I missed todays game, didn't know it started at 11:30, but let me guess and say the offense was really sloppy and we had a crap load of turnovers.
Yeah, I just don't understand players like Francis. Why are they so inconsistent when they have been in the league for so long? Francis led the league or was one of the leaders in FT% for some time last season. Now he shoots like crap.
Agreed Rafer lovers are loving it. But the fact is that even in the first half Stevie took too long to get the offense started. He brings the ball up way to slow and sometimes seems lost after he gets up court and waits way too long to take open shots. He just didn't get in any kind of groove and at times looked much older than 30. He has played better and even this afternoon had a few moments but right now this team doesn't look better with him in their. I hope Stevie gets his form back. He had some great games last year so it's hard to believe he still doesn't have some game left. As much as I hate to admit it (because I don't think we can far with Rafer at the point, he is are best point.
How classy of you Clutch to make this a case of Rafer backer v Rafer critics. No one said we need Rafer to play high level basketball, we showed in the first half that we are very capable of that, however I think we are on the same page when you say that we probably needed Rafer in there to settle down that confused offense and change the momentum of the game in that disasterous 3rd period. We back Rafer because we see his value to the team, not because we have unconditional love for him, please do not sterotype us. I think it would be tremendous progress if the Rockets played without Rafer for a few more games. The Rockets showed that we can play top basketball without Rafer (in the first half), a point you have continously made ClutchHence, if the team was able to do this the entire game, then it will best the best case scenario and we won't be needing Rafer anymore. However, we did miss Rafer's tempo controlling ability in the 3rd quarter, his ability to settle the offense down and call a set play, his ability to actually get some fastbreak points for the Rockets and his ability to get the ball to Yao and T-Mac in their favourable positions with still 20seconds left on the shot clock. I know you do not hold any importance for Rafer other then breaking full court presses, but I believe that is not truly appreciating his overall contributions which are much more hard to notice then his house building skills. With no disrespect. _ Blues
When is Rafer coming back anyways? Rafer isn't Jason Kidd or anything, but there are spots when the Rockets were falling into a bad rhythm that I think Rafer could have helped breaking them out of it.
Steve is really a 2 ( and still not in shape yet)and rafer needs to stay healthy enough to ship his butt out.
What does class have anything to do with it? I didn't read the rest. Agreed, but they had other problems tonight as well.
Oh no need to, never expected you to read a post from a rookie, just give me a reason before I realise I can't post anymore next time okay? _ Blues
I didn't pay close enough attention to Stevie in the first half... that might have been the case. I honestly was worried when they showed Steve stretching his legs a little too much there at the start of the second half. What I keep hearing is that he doesn't have the legs yet to be a full-time starter but that he's getting better conditioned. But he had problems with pressure tonight.
Of course. The way I see it, just like it was not ideal to have to play Rafer without a viable backup (like last year), it isn't ideal to not have Rafer as an option and have to go to the Mike/Steve combo exclusively. None of these guys are reliable enough to be a 35 mpg player, unfortunately. They are the basketball version of the lefty/righty platoon in the outfield.
a lot of mediocre players at a position doesnt add up to a very good player...none of our point guards are starting calibre for a championship team
When I heard that SF3 had the starting job I got a little worried. Mainly because I knew he would still be hesitant in this offense and he's not playing the driving style of ball he's known for. His shot so far is broken and he's shooting way under his career averages. I was thinking a few more games, like a month's worth playing behind Alston, was the best we could hope for. I hope this is temporary for him.
Man, I was hoping steve would have had a great game. Rafer Alston though is faster and better to rely on and now we all know. Steve is great off the bench, but he has a scorers mentality. As much as I would love to see Steve start, we are better off with Rafer. And don't get me wrong, that was just one game but I truly think the offense flows better with Rafer because he feeds our 2 scorers the best.
Rafer has been off this season, last year Rafer was pretty good from the arc, if he can find his stroke back he'll be a great player for this team, spreads out the offense and runs the game.
