Rafer Alston
Rafer Alston
Rafer Jamel Alstonis an American retired professional basketball player. He played for six NBA teams throughout his career...
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth24 July 1976
CityNew York City, NY
biggest clue cold frustrated knew prepare takes team toronto win
Preparation is my biggest thing. I knew in Toronto we didn't prepare to have what it takes to win the game. We didn't know what the other team was doing. We didn't have a clue how we were going to defend. That frustrated me. We were going out there cold to try to win games.
teams
It was nothing that other teams did to us. It was a lot of what we did to ourselves.
good mind playing playoff rather teams
It's good to play teams like that. We'd rather be playing for a playoff spot, but I wouldn't mind being a spoiler.
ball continuing create double game giving keeping letting played shots sticking team turn
It comes down to sticking with our game plan, not getting away from the things we know we need to ? that's continuing to find Yao, and keeping our turnovers down. When we turn the ball over and we're not getting the ball to Yao, letting him create shots for us as they double team and if they don't double, letting him score, we're just giving away the game. We were right there. We should have played the game the same way we did in the (first) half.
best hard notch player supposed teams turn
You're supposed to get better. When other teams turn it up a notch or two levels, we turn it down a notch or two. Teams make it hard for us to get it to our best player (Yao Ming). We don't make it hard to get it to some of their best players.
agendas contract hard personal stay team whether
You're a professional, you have pride, and you have a contract to go out and play hard. But we do have things to play for, whether personal agendas or team goals. You have to play hard and stay hungry.
aware great intensity pick starting team
It was great team defense. Everybody's alert, aware and ready. We're starting to pick up our intensity defensively.
aggressive defend pace run team
You want to play up-tempo. You always want to come out aggressive and set a pace for your team to play. We were making them have to defend and we were making them run up and down the court.
bad balls games great guys loose reason secure shooting team veteran win
You can still win games shooting a bad percentage. You've got to do the little things, and for some reason we're not doing them. I don't know why. We've got some great veteran guys on this team and we know better, but we have to find a way to get to loose balls and secure the rebounds.
five games last loved six teams understand
I loved to be prepared. I love to go in there and understand what we are doing defensively, offensively. I like to know what the other teams have been doing the last five or six games. Going into games I didn't know.
energy intensity less shoot
We have to find a way to shoot better at home. We have to have more intensity and more energy and less mistakes.
needed stops
We got stops when we needed them. It wasn't always pretty, but we'll take it for sure.
anywhere shoot time
Every time down, you know they're going to them. When they get it going, they can pretty much shoot from anywhere on the court.
found points
We should have found Yao more. Yao should have had 50 points tonight. He should have had 50.