RealGM

Rafer Alston



Tracy McGrady



Ron Artest



Luis Scola



Yao Ming




Local: FSNHOU FS Oklahoma HD
Time: 8:00 pm ET

http://www.nba.com/games/20090109/HOUOKC/preview.html

Yao has played in 12 of those 16 games and averaged 23.2 points and 10.5 rebounds while shooting 54.9 percent from the field and 88.5 percent from the free-throw line.

I hope we win and T-Mac shows improvement.

Ditto, no slacking for us, no matter what team we are playing you gotta play hard the entire 48 minutes. T-Mac needs to use this game to show some better body language and aggressiveness.

These are the games we end up losing.

If Rafer Alston plays the same or more minutes than Brooks we will lose. This isn't even up for debate. I don't care who we play....everyone knows to leave Rafer open and double Yao which will force us into turnovers. If Brooks doesn't play more than Alston we will lose tonight. Its that simple. We let bad teams hang with us b/c we can't score. How dare the Wizards hold us below 90 points. The Wizards...in our gym of all places. We don't smack bad teams b/c we don't score enough. We don't score enough b/c Rafer Alston plays 35 minutes a night.

Iggyemu wrote:If Rafer Alston plays the same or more minutes than Brooks we will lose. This isn't even up for debate. I don't care who we play....everyone knows to leave Rafer open and double Yao which will force us into turnovers. If Brooks doesn't play more than Alston we will lose tonight. Its that simple. We let bad teams hang with us b/c we can't score. How dare the Wizards hold us below 90 points. The Wizards...in our gym of all places. We don't smack bad teams b/c we don't score enough. We don't score enough b/c Rafer Alston plays 35 minutes a night.

Even if Rafer goes 7 for 11 with 7 assists and no turnovers and tmac puts up 1 for 15, this game is still Rafer's fault if we lose? In case you guys have forgotten, we won 22 games in a row with Alston logging heavy minutes. Now you guys think he's the reincarnation of Satan.

Maybe Alston will have (another) terrible shooting night and we end up losing to the Thunder. But you can't say things like If he plays more than Brooks we will lose for sure. Thats just stupid. Come on Iggy...

Now if Tmac decides to jog to the mid court during a fast break and just camp 2 feet behind the 3 point line, then its on him.

Since Alston has been back hes been averaging 14.7 points on 47.5 3PT%. I don't think its a matter up putting up the right stats, but more of how the tempo is flowing throughout the game. The excution is better, and Brooks is an athletically advanced individual that has certain physical attributes that I think help this offense run better and smooth, that's just my take.

Guy986 wrote:
Even if Rafer goes 7 for 11 with 7 assists and no turnovers and tmac puts up 1 for 15, this game is still Rafer's fault if we lose? In case you guys have forgotten, we won 22 games in a row with Alston logging heavy minutes. Now you guys think he's the reincarnation of Satan.

Maybe Alston will have (another) terrible shooting night and we end up losing to the Thunder. But you can't say things like If he plays more than Brooks we will lose for sure. Thats just stupid. Come on Iggy...

Now if Tmac decides to jog to the mid court during a fast break and just camp 2 feet behind the 3 point line, then its on him.

I prefer to not care about McGrady. He has very little impact on this team on the court save for a few games. He is so in and out of this lineup that I think this team just doesn't rely on him anymore. Thats just what I personally think. The Boston game IMO proved it. They just didn't care...in fact I think they stopped caring a while ago. However it was in that game that they finally...since Alston returned from injury....spread the floor. I think the Battier being out hurt this team over the last few games b/c our defense just wasn't there. I think that more than anything McGrady has done affected us. I think we need Artest tonight...and we need Brooks to play more.

Look....this isn't Rocket science. Stop going back to flukey win streaks that will never happen again. We are a better team when Alston doesn't play and Brooks does. He is just a better fit for this team that needs players to spread the floor. Let me ask you this...if Phil Jackson or Greg Pop coached this team would Alston still be a Rocket? I don't think so. You can't have liabilities on offense in today's NBA. Its b/c we have those liabilities that we struggle against bad teams. Tonight if Brooks plays more than Alston we will win. If he doesn't...we will lose. And go ahead and call me on it if I am wrong. But the love that people like yourself have for Rafer Alston is sickening. The guy is a scrub...stop thinking that because he can make 3s in video games that he is a good player. Wake the hell up..we are a better basketball team with Aaron Brooks.

Iggyemu wrote:

Guy986 wrote:
Even if Rafer goes 7 for 11 with 7 assists and no turnovers and tmac puts up 1 for 15, this game is still Rafer's fault if we lose? In case you guys have forgotten, we won 22 games in a row with Alston logging heavy minutes. Now you guys think he's the reincarnation of Satan.

Maybe Alston will have (another) terrible shooting night and we end up losing to the Thunder. But you can't say things like If he plays more than Brooks we will lose for sure. Thats just stupid. Come on Iggy...

Now if Tmac decides to jog to the mid court during a fast break and just camp 2 feet behind the 3 point line, then its on him.

I prefer to not care about McGrady. He has very little impact on this team on the court save for a few games. He is so in and out of this lineup that I think this team just doesn't rely on him anymore. Thats just what I personally think. The Boston game IMO proved it. They just didn't care...in fact I think they stopped caring a while ago. However it was in that game that they finally...since Alston returned from injury....spread the floor. I think the Battier being out hurt this team over the last few games b/c our defense just wasn't there. I think that more than anything McGrady has done affected us. I think we need Artest tonight...and we need Brooks to play more.

Look....this isn't Rocket science. Stop going back to flukey win streaks that will never happen again. We are a better team when Alston doesn't play and Brooks does. He is just a better fit for this team that needs players to spread the floor. Let me ask you this...if Phil Jackson or Greg Pop coached this team would Alston still be a Rocket? I don't think so. You can't have liabilities on offense in today's NBA. Its b/c we have those liabilities that we struggle against bad teams. Tonight if Brooks plays more than Alston we will win. If he doesn't...we will lose. And go ahead and call me on it if I am wrong. But the love that people like yourself have for Rafer Alston is sickening. The guy is a scrub...stop thinking that because he can make 3s in video games that he is a good player. Wake the hell up..we are a better basketball team with Aaron Brooks.

I have long been advocating for Brooks to close out games during the 4th quarter. I firmly believe that Brooks is the far better player than Alston right now. That doesn't mean Alston is a scrub. He is an average Starting PG in this league with good defense and solid court vision.

IF Phil was coaching this team would Alston still be a Rocket? Absolutely. The Lakers have planted Luke Walton on the starting lineup. Walton's 3 point shot is worse than Alston's by a fair margin. Coaches love guys like Alston on the team because he is good defensively, tough minded, not turnover prone, runs the offense well etc. JVG and Adelman's coaching philsophy are absolute polar opposite of each other, yet, both of them believes in Alston. Maybe you guys think you know basketball more than those 2 but you don't. Alston, like most of the Rockets, have weaknesses. But at the end of the day, he is a very solid NBA player.

I think we'll win this game and i think Alston will log more minutes than Brooks. So lets see if your prediction will come to fruition.

I hear Artest, Barry, and Battier are out. McGrady has to contribute tonight with those guys out at the swingman position.

abcdef wrote:I hear Artest, Barry, and Battier are out. McGrady has to contribute tonight with those guys out at the swingman position.

Didn't you hear? It doesn't matter who's playing or whos out. As long as Rafer plays a minute longer than Brooks, we will lose.

damn alston blows

tmac sucks so much its not even funny. Put in Landry

Yao should dominate this game

Nice to see Alston continues to prove everything I say about him is correct. Westbrook isn't even guarding him.

What was that Rafer...please get him out of the game. OMG.

Almost half way through the first and not even one field goal made...

tmac attacking towards the rim is like slow motion

wow this line up sucks

we need to trade scola for vassili spanoulis. He's been nonexistant lately