I had center court seats tonight.  Really good seats.  And I have never seen such a great 44 minutes by a short-handed Rockets team.  Von Wafer was holding Kobe mostly in check.  Luis Landry was tormenting Gasol and Odom.  Yao was owning Bynum (again).  It was beautiful.

Then Coach Sleepy put Rafer Alston back in the game for some reason.

WHY?!!?!?

To quote my reaction upon Rafer's re-entrance into the game with just under 5 minutes remaining:

"nooooo!  Don't put Rafer in!  He's going to fuck this all up!!"

(direct quote.  I promise.)

And what does Rafer do?  He fucks it all up.  Again.

Von Wafer played like God all night.  In fact, if you told me right now that Von Wafer is a God (not The God, just a God), I wouldn't even question it.

Carl Landry had a MONSTER game.  Luis Scola was on his way to a monster game until the referees decided they had enough of it.  But that's another story for another time.  In the end, Luis Landry went 11-16, for 27 points and 9 rebounds.

Seriously, I hate you so much Rafer.  So very, very much.

Yao was a beast again.  19 points and 17 rebounds.  And a technical foul.  Which I liked very much.  Get angry Yao.  Get angry... it was well-worth it.

Alas, it returns to Rafer.  With the Rockets down two and the whole team open, Rafer decides it best to try to take the shot himself.  He misses.  Same scenario just two minutes later... Rafer gets the loose ball and tries to shoot.  He's fouled.  Which normally is good.  Except that Rafer sucks, you see.  Now, normally Rafer is a 79% free throw shooter this season (73% career).  He picked an awesome time to revert back to a bad free throw shooter.

HOW THE HELL DO YOU MISS BOTH FREE THROWS?!?!?

And in one fell swoop, Rafer decides to steal the headlines away from Von Wafer, whose career game will now be for naught.  I hate you, Rafer.  Why the hell did you shoot *14* times tonight?!??!

Ugh. 

note:  For those that don't know, that is a James Bond movie quote in the title.  I don't actually want Rafer Alston to die.  Nor am I advocating someone to enact vigilante justice on behalf of the Rockets. Not that I'd shed a tear if he was somehow incapacitated for the rest of the year.