When Rafer Alston slapped Eddie House in the back of the head, Ben Q. Rock of Third Quarter Collapse said on the Twitter that an Alston suspension would mean that the Celtics would likely win Game 3 in Orlando. Does losing Alston make that much of a difference?
Ben Q’s co-author Eddy Rivera, who kills it over at TQC ever day with stats analysis, ran the numbers and found that Alston and Anthony Johnson have been a wash offensively during the playoffs.
In the regular season, Alston was a better distributor and turned the ball over less often than “AJ.” Johnson’s defensive numbers for the season look solid–the Magic gave up the same number of points per possession with AJ in the lineup as they did when he was on the bench.
One interesting nugget: Eddy says that we could see Courtney Lee spend some time guarding Rajon Rondo tomorrow, since AJ has trouble guarding quick points. We’ve seen lots of teams guard Rajon with taller guys (Kobe, Jared Jeffries) who play a step or two off of Rajon, daring him to shoot the jumper. Something to watch tomorrow.
Loading ...
Thanks for the kind words, Zach. I appreciate it.
.. yeah, definitely keep an eye out on Lee if he plays tomorrow. At this point, he is SVG’s trump card. Alston can’t guard Rondo. Johnson can’t guard Rondo. Only player that I think could slow down Rajon is Courtney.
anyone else getting bored with the cavs overreactions and mini-celebrations after everything they do? yes, they owned homecourt, it just happens to be a much easier road to the finals then we had, or anyone has had in forever. we all know the pistons quit. and now they are playing a terrible road team that is injured and whole goal was to just get to the 2nd round…now that they are there they dont know what to do.
whoever they get in the ECF will not be 100%…..lame…I think they are truly overrated…good yes, not great.
Lebron has committed an average of 1 foul in over 30 minutes of play. its disgusting. he gets breathed on, hes at the line instantly, they furiously blow that whistle if anyon even gets near him (laughable really, if paul pierce could even get a call in these playffs id be shocked) meanwhile at the other end he can slap, push and hack his man every time he does anything, and you will get a tech for suggesting lebron fouled you.
All I want at this point is for the cavs to get punked, by anyone, even if its the lakers