I gotta give the game ball to Rak

[PhatOrange]

I really thought he saved our asses inside. 11 boards 3 blocks 8 points. He was really disruptive inside and effected a lot of shot.

 

[All4SU]

Yup. Solid effort.

 

[kcsu]

James played lights out as well. Forget his shooting the kid is tough as nails under the boards and has a great bball IQ. I love this kid.

 

[jdubs30]

Southerland has been incredible lately. If him and Rak keep improving we're going places folks; Scoop/Kris/Waiters/Triche will get theirs, but if those 2 can be huge contributors we're gonna be playing for a while...

 

[PhatOrange]

James played lights out as well. Forget his shooting the kid is tough as nails under the boards and has a great bball IQ. I love this kid.

JSouth would be my #2. His 6 rebounds all seemed like they were huge.

 

[CaptainJ]

Rak was big, and a really good team effort overall. I loved the team defense, enjoyed the passing for the most part too. But yeah, I think the spotlight was on Rak with all the talk about Fab's absence, and against some pretty good competition he seemed to exceed expectations. It's amazing how different this team looked than it did 2 days ago.

 

[pearl31]

Rak was great today. More than I could have asked for or expected. Henriquez and Gipson kind of had their way in the 1st half but Rak/JS really clamped down and got tough in the 2nd.
Most promising.

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

I really thought he saved our asses inside. 11 boards 3 blocks 8 points. He was really disruptive inside and effected a lot of shot.

Certainly in terms of who gave us the upside surprise, it was Rak. Good choice.

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

Rak was great today. More than I could have asked for or expected. Henriquez and Gipson kind of had their way in the 1st half but Rak/JS really clamped down and got tough in the 2nd.
Most promising.

Agreed. Whatever adjustment we made in the second half, we need to bottle it. We looked more aggressive, confident, quick, and decisive. The players executed, but you have to give JB credit.

 

[pearl31]

I'm pretty sure, after he blocked that floater attempt of Rodriguez late in the game, that Rak gave one of those "don't bring that around here" winks to a teammate. Love it!

 

[IthacaMatt]

I really thought he saved our asses inside. 11 boards 3 blocks 8 points. He was really disruptive inside and effected a lot of shot.

You have to admit, though, those first 8 minutes or so were scary as hell. I didn't think he was ever going to get a rebound. He steadied himself and did pretty well, although maybe not quite as well as the numbers indicate. The key was when their big man went out with his third foul with about 15 minutes and change left in the game. I thought Martin held him out too long - we blew it out to 10 points in no time.

After that, some of Rak's stats were of the garbage time variety, but hey, let him build his confidence. He did a solid job and we are moving on. Keita did a nice job contesting shots near the rim, too, although I swear to God I'd like to strangle whoever first gave them the idea to tip the defensive rebounds. Grab the damn ball !

 

[IthacaMatt]

Southerland has been incredible lately. If him and Rak keep improving we're going places folks; Scoop/Kris/Waiters/Triche will get theirs, but if those 2 can be huge contributors we're gonna be playing for a while...

Imagine if C.J. can get back to his old self. We need that for the defensive boards, too. He is our top remaining rebounder, statistically.

 

[PhatOrange]

You have to admit, though, those first 8 minutes or so were scary as hell. I didn't think he was ever going to get a rebound. He steadied himself and did pretty well, although maybe not quite as well as the numbers indicate. The key was when their big man went out with his third foul with about 15 minutes and change left in the game. I thought Martin held him out too long - we blew it out to 10 points in no time.

After that, some of Rak's stats were of the garbage time variety, but hey, let him build his confidence. He did a solid job and we are moving on. Keita did a nice job contesting shots near the rim, too, although I swear to God I'd like to strangle whoever first gave them the idea to tip the defensive rebounds. Grab the damn ball !

4 of his points were in garbage time, that was it. Everything else was during the second half when it mattered.

His rebounding was terrific and he was the difference in the middle. When Baye was in the game is when they were killing us on the glass. When Rak was in it was a different story.

 

[mark79]

Yep, CJ and BT. Would love to
have them both playing well.

 

[phil77]

I think Scoop and James were great today but I think Rak was the difference maker in the game. K St was able to stay in the game in the first half because they controlled the paint in the second half RAK controlled the paint and we blew them out.

 

[Muttsy]

Yeah, Rak and Southerland.

 

[Ghost]

Yep, CJ and BT. Would love to
have them both playing well.

I'm really befuddled by what I'm seeing out of CJ of late. Not rebounding, can't make the easy shots, or the harder ones, missed all but one free-throw. Would love to see him get going.

 

[Muttsy]

Re CJ, wasn't there some talk of him being sick? I know it was a week or so ago, but with the not wearing a headband thing, that sounded like sinus pressure to me. And sinus stuff can just stick around for-ever.

Weird how his level of play has dropped so dramatically in the last couple weeks.

 

[GFTakedown]

What I was impressed by also is Raks stamina. Pretty much played the entire 2nd half and had to deal with two big boys some time.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Imagine if C.J. can get back to his old self. We need that for the defensive boards, too. He is our top remaining rebounder, statistically.

While CJ was off, his knowledge that the disruptive big was on him man to man and decision to take it the rack and draw the guys third was just a huge mentally sound play. Changed the dynamics of the game in my mind.

 

[Knicks411]

While CJ was off, his knowledge that the disruptive big was on him man to man and decision to take it the rack and draw the guys third was just a huge mentally sound play. Changed the dynamics of the game in my mind.

Yeah, was that play a switch or something? Why did they have Henriquez checking Fair?

 

[Sgt Cuse]

Yeah, was that play a switch or something? Why did they have Henriquez checking Fair?

I am not sure why, probably a switch. But then with Henriquez in foul trouble, coupled with Samuels out, Rak was up against their 3rd stringer and we started taking advantage.

 

[AZOrange]

scoop completely changed the course of the game. not even close.

 

[mark79]

The one thing that has also changed for us recently is JS. He is a force to be reckoned with, and Fabs absence has been his gain.

 

[LAOrange]

What I liked was that Rak agressively pursued position in the second half. He actually pushed their big guy out to about 6 feet or so on a regular basis. His footwork just got better and better. Night and day from UNC Asheville. I'd like to see Henriquez's first to second half comparison.