Rafer's Career- Success Or Failure?

Rafer "Skip To My Banishment" Alston is probably done in the NBA.

After being demoted to third string PG behind Carlos Arroyo and Mario Chalmers, Skip blew a fuse and suddenly decided to bail and put Heat coaches and officials on his 'pay no mind' list. Bad move. Maybe a career-ending one, too.

The irony is that, all things considered, Skip is somewhat of a success story. Despite playing for a low-profile college (Fresno State), Alston was drafted in '98 by the Bucks.

He played sparingly for a couple years in Milwaukee and Toronto, being shuffled up and down between the pros and their D League affiliates. He was this close to being out of the league entirely.

Then he got a chance to start for Miami in 2004 and proved he belonged, averaging 12/4 for a playoff team.

Houston traded for him and he was pretty good for them in 2006- 13/5, playoffs, among the league leaders in steals and 3s.

A couple years later, he was dealt again, this time to Orlando. With Jameer Nelson injured, he started at PG for a team that went all the way to the Finals. Many experts still believe Orlando would have won that series by playing Alston and Anthony Johnson against LA instead of rushing the hobbled Nelson back out there. Van Panic even admitted his mistake after the fact.

Then Alston was traded by Orlando to the Nets as part of the Vince Carter deal. They released him per his request so he could sign with a contender. He signed with Miami instead.

And now, here he is, lost in limbo. With lots of bridges burned. But if this is the last we see of Skip, let the record show that he played over a decade in the NBA and led three different teams to playoff berths. People are shitting on him right now but he fought against long odds and carved out a nice career for himself, even if it seems to be ending badly.

Pictured: playground legend, 2nd round pick, 11 year vet

Fish And Ariza Tear Magic's Heart Out

Wow. Derek Fisher nailed an ice-cold 3 with 4.6 seconds left to send Game 4 into OT and then drained another huge bomb in the extra session to close out a thrilling 99-91 Lakers victory over the wobbly Magic who, quite honestly, just fell apart after leading by 12 at half. Greyhound Trevor Ariza took over the game in the 3rd on both ends of the floor, keying a 30-14 advantage in the quarter that put LA in control.

Just a classic, classic game...unless you're an Orlando fan, in which case you probably want to stick your head in the oven today.

Seriously.

Dwight Howard bricked 8 out of 14 freebies, including two that would have iced the game in regulation. He also turned the ball over 7 times. Van Panic continued to destroy the confidence of his young guards by fucking with their minutes, this time playing Jameer Nelson the entire 4th quarter and OT while starting point Rafer Alston sat on the bench and waited...and waited...and waited. Courtney Lee, another starter, got just 7 minutes of burn.

The strangest (and most compelling) aspect to this game is that Orlando actually looked invincible in the first half. Howard, who finished with a ridiculous 15 pt/21 reb/9 block (a Finals record) stat line, absolutely dominated the first 24 minutes. He single-handedly got Bynum, Pau and Lamar in early foul trouble. Things got so bad that at one point, Phil Jackson was playing a lineup of Farmar, Walton, Kobe, Ariza and DJ Mbenga. I actually found myself wishing LA still had Kwame Brown. No, I'm not kidding. I started having flashbacks of Game 6 against Boston and Game 5 against Detroit in 2004. Every long contested jumper that Kobe Nowitzki missed (he finished 11-31) gave me more of a sinking feeling. At 2:48 of the 1st quarter, the cameras showed a close-up of Howard and he had this look on his face that was the epitome of cockiness. He knew LA couldn't stop him. I was afraid, very afraid. The only positive in LA's favor was that Orlando kept turning the ball over, allowing the Lakers to stay withing striking distance.

During the ABC Halftime Show, Magic Johnson lit into LA: 'The Lakers are playing no defense! The game plan is to beat Orlando!' Thanks, Captain Obvious. I've always found it strange that Johnson, who's currently a high-ranking Laker official, is providing commentary. Reminds me of when CBS use to have Tom Heinsohn work the Celtics games in the 80s. About as biased as you can get, really.

The third quarter started with Fish and Ariza in every passing lane, diving on the floor for every loose ball. Kobe snatched a rebound away from Superboy and then threw the big man off of him, drawing an over-the-back foul. When Howard attempted to make peace, Kobe told him to 'shut up' and then calmly drained the FTs. The crowd started chanting 'refs suck' which I found ironic after all the touch (or nonexistent) fouls that were called on LA's bigs in the first half.

Then the game started getting really physical. Howard stopped his goofy smiling thing for the first time this postseason. Pietrus smacked Gasol in the grill on a rebound. Fisher talked shit to Rashard Lewis.

The added drama fueled the Lakers and rattled the Magic.

Down the stretch, Hedo Turkoglu missed 3/4 FTs. Ariza hit a bailout 3 as the :24 clock expired. And then, with the Nick Anderson Curse permeating the building, Howard clanged that pair with :11 seconds to go, setting the stage for Fisher's dagger.

In OT, the Tragic folded like a cheap tent. The biggest play was an ill-advised tap out by Rashard Lewis that went straight to a streaking (yes, streaking!) Pau Gasol for dunk to put the Lakers up 96-91 with :21 left.

So, does Orlando have anything in the tank? Can they muster the heart to win 3 straight, including two on the road, against a team that just bitch-slapped them?

Not if Fisher and Ariza have anything to say about it.

Fish: 'Thousand bucks says he misses these free throws'

If Lee's Shot Goes In...

If Courtney Lee's layup goes in, everyone's talking today about what a genius Stan Van Gundy is, how Orlando has a chance to close this out at home. Instead, the rookie bricks the bunny and the Tragic are down 2-0 and looking shaky and discombobulated. Their morale is horrible. Rafer Alston's scared shitless, Jameer Nelson's wondering if he made a mistake by coming back, Anthony Johnson is seething and Dwight Howard probably won't pass the ball to anyone not named Hedo or Rashard for the rest of the series.

If Lee's layup goes in, there's no second-guessing Van Panic for playing JJ Redick 27 minutes and all of overtime. I mean, seriously, what the fuck was he thinking? Redick. That'd be like if Phil suddenly decided to give 27 minutes to Sasha.

If Lee's layup goes in, Orlando's strategy of going big is a 'key' and a 'solution' to the Lakers D. Pau Gasol is 'soft' again. Seriously, it's that fine a line.

But, as we all know, Lee's two-foot chippy missed by a foot and as a result, Orlando's outlook is pretty bleak. They've now lost six Finals games in a row. They have zero chemistry. They have zero momentum. They also have very little Finals experience (what's up, Tyronn Lue?).

On the positive side, the Tragic can take some solace in the fact that they played the Lakers tough, at least. They competed. They showed up, which certainly wasn't the case in those pitiful last three quarters of Game 1. And LA has been known to let teams back into series after assuming commanding leads, most notably the 3-1 chokejob against Phoenix a few years back when Raja Ball gave Kobe that forearm shiver to the throat. Apologies to die-hard Laker fans for bringing that up.

Orlando ain't done. Howard's got at least one monster game in him. LA's been gambling by playing Lamar and Pau on him at times but that's not a strategy that'll work long-term, especially at Amway Arena where the refs aren't gonna blow the whistle when Superboy throws elbows or barrels over people. The refs also won't call any offensive fouls on Hedo for his patented push-off. And most importantly, they won't give Kobe FTs for that touch foul on Lewis in OT.

If Houston and Denver both crushed LA on their homecourts, I see no reason why Orlando won't do the same. And 2-0 isn't insurmountable, by any means. It just doesn't sound as good as 1-1 with the next three at home. I'm sure Lee would agree.

Van Panic: 'No, JJ, don't make that pass! NOOOOOOOOOOO!'