This is one of those games that's impossible to summarize in a single narrative, so bullet points:
-- we won, sweeping our mini homestand and beating back to back two of the "toughest" opponents we will face all month. So yay.
-- but I'm sad, because for the second game in a row all anybody is going to be talking about is refereeing , not our win. In this one the refs sent us to the line 49 times to the Raptors 24. In the final seconds Ben McLemore tried to singlehandedly make it exciting by giving the Raptors FIVE points on one defensive possession...but on a play that should have been a 4pt play (yes another one) for the Raptors, the officials blew the call, called Lowry for his 6th foul, and slapped a technical on him as well. Yikes. If it had been us we would be livid. And unfortunately anywhere but the Kingdom, that's what they'll talk about. The refs gave it to us, etc. etc. Sigh.
-- in the first half none of our big three played particularly well, but MT and JT did to pick up the slack.. Then just before half Marcus got upended going for a rebound and took a HUGE fall, and had to leave the game (reports are its just a bruise).
-- that left a larger hole than you might think. So large in fact that this is how sad our situation became: we were playing Isaiah Thomas, Jimmer Fredette, and Ben McLemore TOGETHER for DEFENSE. Ben in particular of course just was clueless and watched Steve Novak shoot the Raptors right back into the game form 20pts down. I think I could score on Ben. I'm damn sure he'd play me wrong because he plays everyone wrong.
-- compounding all this, that little bit of Derek Williams stupidity the other night? Well unless he's been traded, Malone wasn't as cool with it as he said he was. He refused to play Williams all night, playing a totally ineffective Travis Outlaw instead, and refusing to put in Williams even as we got in danger late in the game. We short benched ourselves.
-- meanwhile we had 3 players score at 23 pts....and I'm not sure any of them were spectacular. Boogie looked heavy legged, much more effected by the injury than he was his first game back. but more than that that touch and those hands just weren't really there tonight. Big thudding numbers and made plays, and cut off a lot of penetration on defense, but mobility and touch and all that not what the numbers say. Also had to play the entire 2nd half without rest on that ankle after we seized up and the lead starting going away, and dove over the scorers table going for a loose ball. Gay was forcing. Isaiah mostly stayed back for a second straight game (his numbers are inflated by shooting our technical and intentional fouls late in the game), and yet boxscore looked like the three amigos rode again.
Anyway, 2-0 this month (11-11 with Cuz/Gay/IT all together). Weak teams ahead. Maybe we'll even leave Boston with a shiny new Rondo in tow (after all Landry barely played either...)
P.S. 'Grats to KF member Mike Tavares for making it on the Sacto broadcast shaking hands with KJ.
Your Consoritum Graders tonight:
Bricklayer
Uncia03
Bajaden
Rainmaker
Henkel
Boxscore
Stats: 43min 24pts (7-17, 0-3, 10-11) 10reb 3ast 4stl 1blk 3TO
Gay ( B ) -- this game was up, down, and everything in between for Rudy, who never did establish any sort of rhythm to his game tonight, but still came in to pile up numbers and help us win the game. Played good defense on an early posessionn by Ross, who believe it or not scored 50 last week, but had nothing this time out. But Rudy was missing his early jumpers, and could barely get his hands on an errant alley oop type pass from Cuz that was just off the mark -- in fact he and Cuz spent much of the night exchanging bad passes trying to set each other up. But in a pattern that repeated itself through most of the night, Rudy started to just slam inside drawing fouls as a way to put points on the board even while his offense was off. In the early 2nd set up Ben for him his only three to push the lead to 12, and finally hit an amazing baseline shot (a force actually) for his first hoop in the mid 2nd. That seemed to get him going, and the points began to pile up, although they still didn't feel entirely in rhythm. Late in the 2nd made a bad play that must have looked familiar to Toronto fans as he dribbled, got doubled, refuesed to give it up, finally threw a last second bad pass to MT, which Marcus missed, then went down the other way and fouled Lowry for the +1. Then topped it by getting a technical. That was not a good sequence, and I felt bad for Rudy because you just knew that all across the internet everyone was smirking and saying, see, same ole selfish inefficient player. After half while the offense remained up and down, it was notable as he began to really show up on the boards, as Rudy, Cuz and JT alone had almost as many rebs as the entire Raptors team. Twice he attempted terrible lead passes to Cuz out on the break that probably killed somebody out in the audience. Maybe Manute could have snagged them if he had the hands, but not a mere 6'11" guy with a bum ankle. As the game got tight late, made a key play circling on the perimeter and hitting Cuz for the layin at the 2:45 mark to push the lead back to 7. Also forced a drive and got to the line at the 2:12 mark and hit both. As with the other two members of our tripod, I didn't feel this game was as good as the numbers. In Rudy's case, maybe he was forcing a bit against his old team, or maybe they just knew his game well enough to bother him. But either way he found ways to contribute, found ways to score, made a couple of big plays late. --Brick
Stats: 27min 9pts (3-8, 0-0, 3-4) 10reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 0TO
Thompson ( B+ ) -- JT played a great hustle game in this one and his impact was mostly due to his aggressive offensive rebounding. He was just an unstoppable bundle of energy to start the game as he seemingly took every rebound away from the Raptor’s bigs on the offensive end. In his first 8 minute stint he grabbed 6 rebounds while playing good defense. He spent most of his time guarding both Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas and did a good job keeping them from easy scoring opportunities. His defensive rotations were mostly solid. The one thing that wasn’t of high caliber was his shooting percentage as he only made 3 out of 8 attempts. However after only 4 minutes of play he already had 5 shot attempts, and most of his misses were offensive put-backs/tip-ins that just rolled off the rim, so it’s hard to really fault him for poor shooting when he was hustling and creating the scoring opportunities himself. The second quarter was really strange because he played about the first nine minutes of the 3rd quarter, and then with the Kings up big he essentially sat for the rest of the game. Even when Toronto was storming back on their 19-2 run, Malone choose to go small and he left his energetic big man on the bench, which I thought was a mistake. JT infused energy into the court on this one and his aggressive rebounding was paying big dividends through-out the game. I thought he deserved another run in the 4th quarter, especially when the Kings began to lose their composure. --Uncia
Stats: 38min 25pts (8-18, 0-0, 9-14) 10reb 4ast 1stl 2blk 2TO
Cousins ( B+ ) -- Cousins is in the unfortunate position of being graded against himself. He's become his own measuring stick. If his best game is an A+, then every other game has to be graded against that standard. Last season, or in any of his previous seasons, this game would have been an A. Thus is the price of greatness! It was apparent from the get go, when Cuz made a strong move to the basket, scored, and was fouled, that Valanciunas wasn't capable, nor was anyone else on the Raptors, of guarding Cousins one on one. On the next possession, he scored again on a pick and roll with IT. When he blocked Lowry's shot at the other end, I thought, its going to be a rough night for the Raptors if they can't get Cousins off the floor. In that regard, he tried to help them with a couple of early fouls, finally getting his third foul with with a little over 4 minutes to play in the first half. However, he did log 38 minutes on the night, which is a lot for the big guy, since he's still a little out of shape from his injury lay off. It was also a game that got quite physical at times, with the Raptors doubling and tripling Cuz almost every time he got the ball in the post. They managed to keep him from scoring baskets, but continued to put him on the line. Where, he hit only 9 of 14 attempts. He also went 8 of 19 from the floor. So on the whole, it was a poor shooting percentage night for the big guy. I attribute some of it to his being a little gassed. There were a few times when it was obvious he was struggling up and down the floor. Plus, he took a bit of a beating under the basket, along with crashing into and over the scorers table. It became one of those, the mind is willing, but the body isn't. Sounds like my typical day! One last thing. It's apparent to me, that Cousins post defense has dramatically improved. His rotations to stop the ball have been very good, and his man defense has fundamentally improved. Thus his 102 defensive rating. He'll never be a prolific shotblocker, but he'll get his share just by being in the right position. To sum it up, just another Ho Hum game for Cousins. --Baja
Stats: 16min 12pts (4-9, 2-4, 2-3) 1reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Thornton ( B- ) -- In the first quarter was doing a great job providing us with the defense and outside shooting we so rarely see from the two guard spot. Not a great defensive performance but the effort and disciple was impressive from a guy who's struggled with both. With the havoc the big guys were causing down low found himself with a few open looks from three and managed to convert a couple. Had a couple of nice plays going to the basket as well, including a nice reverse layup with a few seconds left in the quarter. At this point I figured Thornton was poised to have himself a big game. Even with all his struggles, when he gets a little bit of swagger going I can't help but expect the old Thornton. The guy who use to be dangerous with some momentum behind him. And maybe that's what we would of gotten tonight. Unfortunately shortly after reentering the game he took a hard fall that would sideline him for the rest of the night. Luckily he managed to walked off with a bruised hip. No matter what kind of night he had ahead of him we could of used whatever veteran experience he brings late in this one. --Henkel
Stats: 38min 23pts (4-12, 0-2, 15-16) 3reb 5ast 2stl 0blk 3TO
Thomas ( B- ) -- This is a tough grade as it was a mixed bag, good and bad, positive intent and not so positive execution of said intent. Isaiah came out as a facilitator once again, looking to move the ball quickly and allowed Rudy and Cuz to get the ball earlier in the clock. He was less involved in the offense but still had a presence. In the 1st, made a beautiful pass to Boogie on a cut from the wing for a basket. Hit two runners/short jumpers in the lane which were good shots. Isaiah ended what was a pretty solid period by jumping in the air with nowhere to go in the corner in front of our bench, then throwing a cross court pass which was easily picked off. The 2nd quarter was worse than the 1st as Isaiah seemed to get into a brief mono e mono battle with Lowry after Lowry hit a 3 on him. He immediately came down and forced a contested jumper which he missed, then on the following possession no one else touched the ball and he forced another tough jumper off a pump-fake which wasn't close. Dropped a perfect pass to Thornton on the break towards the end of the 2nd, then missed a last second fadeaway at the halftime buzzer. Despite the short battle with Lowry, he spent most of the 1st half moving the ball and taking a step back within our offense. Continued moving the ball through the 3rd and what I really liked was for much of the night Isaiah was making a quick initial pass on our offensive possessions. Hit a 10 footer in the paint early in the 3rd but that was the only shot he'd make in the entire 2nd half and his jumper was just off tonight as he missed every shot he took outside of the paint. Found Boogie for a nice finish plus the foul in transition early in the 3rd. Seemed to have a rocky stretch late in the 3rd where he appeared frustrated after driving into four defenders, throwing a wild behind the back pass which resulted in a turnover, then picked up a technical. Started struggling more on defense as well as the game wore on, not so much 1v1 Lowry/Vasquez(which was ok, all things considered) but rather in his rotations. There was one sequence where he lost his man twice in 10 seconds. Simply chose to follow his man as he cut, stood there, rotated to another guy, then stood in place as that guy cut to the basket. We weren't in a zone. While IT had a poor shooting night going 4-12 and 0-3 in the 4th, he did find a way to get to the FT line. A lot, as in 15-16 from the stripe. Looking the boxscore it'd appear as if he was a dominant offensive force given the FT attempts, but he shot 5-6 from the line on three late intentional fouls and three other FT's came from technicals, so during most of the actual game he was 7-7. Going back to why this is a tough grade, Isaiah shot poorly from the floor and the FT attempts are misleading in number, but it was also clear for the large majority of the game his focus was on moving the ball and setting up his teammates. His assist numbers weren't great but it was mostly due to playing through Rudy and Cuz, getting them the ball earlier and letting them make plays. He didn't have as much time on the ball as usual. I thought his defense against Lowry was pretty good tonight(again, all things considered) and stayed in front of him and challenged shots quite well, yet his team defense and rotations left a lot to be desired at times. It's tough to change your mentality and the way in which you approach a game but it's a positive sign Isaiah has reeled it in the last two games and taken a step back.--Rain
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