Re: Von Wafer out tonight I have some doubts whether we see Barry for more than 4-5 minutes, it'd be like us losing Travis and using his minutes to give to Channing for 15-20 mins. Houston is going to go all out and play their key guys the whole game to end it tonight. Brooks, Lowry, Battier, Artest might as well be prepared to play 40-45 mins.
Re: Von Wafer out tonight Brent Barry wont beat the Blazers. Von Wafer didnt beat the Blazers. The Blazers played like the youngest team in the league at the end of games 3 and 4. simple as that.
Re: Von Wafer out tonight I agree. I think we'll see a lot more Brooks and Lowry on the floor together. Lowry has done a pretty good job on the boards, and he can definitely cover Rudy Fernandez if need be. The Rockets lose three-point shooting and scoring punch off the bench, though. I expect to see Barry in the first half if the Rockets get out to a good lead. If he plays well, then he'll return in the second. Otherwise, Brooks may have to go the enitre second half.
Re: Von Wafer out tonight Exactly. Houston needs to treat this like the last game of the year, because if they lose tonight they most likely lose game 7. In a game this big, you just can't afford to insert a guy who hasn't played all series long. Counting regular season, these teams will be on their 9th game against each other tonight. They've got such a feel for what the other team likes to do. You put Barry in there (who has suited up against the Blazers for a grand total of 23 minutes all year) and you are putting him well behind the curve of the other players.
Re: Von Wafer out tonight ACTUALLY-he scored 12 in game 4 and 6 in game 3, which obviously made the difference in a close game, no? He is averaging 10.6 for the series, and his being out will affect the Rockets offense now that they don't have the threat of Wafer driving to the hoop and kicking it out to open shooters-plus Barry is a step slower in the defensive end...
Re: Von Wafer out tonight IF?????? AND THAT'S A BIG IFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!! We push tempo, and attack the glass, make the extra pass, and for THE LOVE OF THE BLAZERS not turn into a half court jump shooting team we can beat these guys. Without Von the tempo of Houston even becomes slower than it is now. This should be a major break for us, if we use our BRAINS, and NOT PLAY HOUSTON BALL!!!!!
Re: Von Wafer out tonight I agreed with you until you said Wafer kicking it out to the open shotoer lol.. but its ok we still can be friends.
Re: Von Wafer out tonight ok so literally subtracting his 6 points in game 3 would have helped the Blazers, but you cant play that game. "if LMA hadnt missed a couple of those FT's in game 4 we would have WON!" sure Von Wafer being out certainly helps the Blazers, he has been a lightning rod at all the right times so far in this series. but he didnt beat the blazers. yes, he may have hurt the blazers. Portland had multiple opportunities in games 3 and 4 to win, tie or make it more interesting but simply didnt do it. why? not boxing out, offensive rebounds, Battier shooting wide open 3's, poor clock/shot management amongst many other things. young team mistakes. none of which are Von flippin' Wafer.
Re: Von Wafer out tonight Agreed. The health of young teams is more consistent than older ones.. This could be the X factor in this series.
Re: Von Wafer out tonight Wasn't trying to mean that Wafer is the only reason that they won, obviously we shot ourselves in the foot plenty. What I meant was that the dynamics of Houston's offense do change a lot without Wafer in, and they really don't have any other offensive spark off the bench...
Re: Von Wafer out tonight I am betting Houston actually is using this as a ruse to throw off game preparation, and then Wafer will play tonight. After all, it said "doubtful" not "out".
Re: Von Wafer out tonight Von Wafer comes out of the tunnel in a Willis Reed, Kevin Duckworth moment!
Re: Von Wafer out tonight Actually Von Wafer has been a net negative for the Rockets. He has their worst +/- at minus 13. The good news is that Brent Barry WOULD have a much worse +/- if he'd kept up the same rate for more minutes, but just hasn't played enough. Also, Lowry has a net negative. Their best +/- rate guy was Mutombo. (Surprise, surprise - Battier has been their best +/- guy. He really is the Anti-Durant.)
Re: Von Wafer out tonight Are the +/- stats really that relevant, though? I mean, wouldn't the 30 point blowout in the first game pretty much skew all the numbers? If you just looked at the +/- numbers for the series, you'd think Houston had swept us. We don't have anybody who is higher than +6 for the series. Aldridge is a -14.
Re: Von Wafer out tonight The one thing Wafer has been great at during the series (especially at home) was firing up his teammates and the crowd. In game three especially, Von was the guy who had the big dunk or the big three that got the crowd back into the game. I'm glad he's out. Von is one of those guys who can murder you if he's on. He hasn't been on the last couple games, but he could have easily gone off tonight.
Re: Von Wafer doubtful tonight [video=youtube;-f_DPrSEOEo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f_DPrSEOEo[/video] -Pop
Re: Von Wafer doubtful tonight dammit.. when I saw the name of the thread I was gonna get the same thing!!! although I did do that video a while back.. beat me dang it!
Re: Von Wafer out tonight Its stated at that website now. And also here ! http://www.click2houston.com/sports/19334928/detail.html#-
It's also on NBA.com that Wafer is out for sure I'm still a little shaky..I just have a feeling he will play...But we'll see!
