Chris Palmer is following NYC playground legend Rafer Alston through the Bucks-Magic series. Check back and get a feel for life behind the scenes. Here's the third installment. Click here to see Part 2.

Like most of us, Rafer Alston thought the Bucks/Magic series was only going to go three games. So on the trip to Orlando, he packed accordingly -- and ran out of clothes after two days when the Magic took Saturday's Game 3.

So the day after the loss, Skip (you should know by now that this is Rafer), Michael Redd and I head for the West Oaks Mall just outside Orlando. At a place called Mr. Rags, Rafer finds all the gear he needs to extend his road trip. While we check out a Phat Farm rack, Redd is across the store looking at some gear Skip and I immediately determine to be whack. "I should tell him it's hot, so he'll buy it," Rafer laughs.

Sensing the prankster vibe from his teammate, Redd moves on and selects a white Sean John short set. Rafer settles on something from Triple 5 Soul. I pick up some Ecko cargo pants and a matching T -- hey, I packed just as light as the Bucks did. On our way out of the store, North Carolina's Jason Capel walks in. Mr. Rags is a popular place to be.

Next, we stop at a cell phone stand. Rafer is looking for an earpiece -- why strain the shooting arm by holding the cell all day? But Rafer doesn't like what the Nextel salesman has to show him, so we move on.

At another stand, Redd points to some cheap jewelry. "There you go Skip," he says to Rafer. "Man, I ain't buying no flatinum," Skip replies disgustedly. We cruise the mall for a few ... nothing goin' on here, so we're out.

We jump in the rental and head back to the hotel. On the way, Skip slips into a New York state of mind when a Jay-Z song comes on the radio. He's almost hypnotized by the words, "This can't be life, this can't be us."

Later, we're walking through the lobby of the team hotel when a fortyish woman sees Skip and asks him "Are you Rafer?" When he nods, she runs off, screaming "I told you!" to several more women gathered on the fringe.

Meanwhile Redd, the sharpshooter out of Ohio State, is signing basketballs for three young kids by the elevators. When Skip and I walk up, they hardly give us a second look. One minute he's adored, the next he's ignored ... such is life when you're both a playground hero and an NBA reserve.

That evening, we're eating on the terrace of the hotel restaurant. Dinner conversation ranges from summer league to playing time to street ballers who never made it in the league. "If I played 30 minutes a game, I could lead the league in assists," Alston says at one point. (He could be right -- if you check his assists per 48 minutes, he's second only to Jason Kidd.)

But for now, he's thinking more about his chicken fettucini than handing out the pill. He knows his time will come.

Chris Palmer covers The NBA Life for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at christopher.palmer@espnmag.com.