Rafer and role players make the difference against Kings
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008
by John
Rafer Alston penetrates into the lane and dishes for an assist against the Sacramento Kings. Alston would finish with 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting, 5 assists, and no turnovers to lead the Rockets to a 108-100 victory over Sacramento.
After watching the Rockets-Kings game on Monday night, I just had to watch the second half and overtime of the Lakers-Kings game on NBA TV because of the playoff implications that game had for the Rockets.
If the Lakers had lost that game like they did on the first night of a back-to-back on Sunday night against the Warriors, then the Rockets would be tied for 1st place in the West with L.A.
Unfortunately, the refs made one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen that basically gave the game to the Lakers (more on that later). That ‘win’ by the Lakers might be the difference of a few spots in the playoff standings for the Rockets down the stretch given how tight the race is in the West.
With other games getting top billing for the night, like Lakers-Warriors and Suns-Pistons, the Houston-Sacramento game was really an afterthought.
It was strange to see one of Houston’s games being so low-profile after every game during the 22-game winning streak seemed to be the top sports story, or their subsequent games after the streak against high-profile teams like the Celtics, Hornets, Warriors and Suns getting plenty of attention, too.
So Houston had to get “up” for a game against a very dangerous team on a Monday night when everyone else interested in the NBA was focusing on other games. It has all the signs of being another let-down game after the streak ended.
But give credit to Houston for taking care of business by beating the Kings 108-100. It wasn’t easy, though.
Rafer Alston penetrates into the lane and dishes for an assist against the Sacramento Kings. Alston would finish with 28 points on 9-of-17 shooting, 5 assists, and no turnovers to lead the Rockets to a 108-100 victory over Sacramento.After watching the Rockets-Kings game on Monday night, I just had to watch the second half and overtime of the Lakers-Kings game on NBA TV because of the playoff implications that game had for the Rockets.
If the Lakers had lost that game like they did on the first night of a back-to-back on Sunday night against the Warriors, then the Rockets would be tied for 1st place in the West with L.A.
Unfortunately, the refs made one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen that basically gave the game to the Lakers (more on that later). That ‘win’ by the Lakers might be the difference of a few spots in the playoff standings for the Rockets down the stretch given how tight the race is in the West.
With other games getting top billing for the night, like Lakers-Warriors and Suns-Pistons, the Houston-Sacramento game was really an afterthought.
It was strange to see one of Houston’s games being so low-profile after every game during the 22-game winning streak seemed to be the top sports story, or their subsequent games after the streak against high-profile teams like the Celtics, Hornets, Warriors and Suns getting plenty of attention, too.
So Houston had to get “up” for a game against a very dangerous team on a Monday night when everyone else interested in the NBA was focusing on other games. It has all the signs of being another let-down game after the streak ended.
But give credit to Houston for taking care of business by beating the Kings 108-100. It wasn’t easy, though.