Good bleeping lord.
Artest ( B- ) -- started off the game with the first rebound, and it proved to be a good omen in the early going as he really scrapped and hustled around the boards all first half. Missed a lot of shots in the early going, but they were good misses, aggressive takes, post moves, inside battling, not giveup jumpers. And on defense his hands were just everywhere. Recorded FIVE first half steals, and pestered the heck out of Ricky Davis. Perhaps tired out, because he slowed down considerably in the late going. And while he recorded a remarkable 12rebs and 7stls(!), in the late going he forced shot after shot, too many from long distance, and at times seemed to intentionally ignore open teammates while throwing up more junk. End result was an ugly 6-24 and a hand in our late disintegration. Loved the hustle and the hard work on the boards -- the best King for most of the night. But bad shot after bad shot pulls this one way down despite all the good things he did.
Thomas ( C ) -- a few sloppy plays and offensive aggression early, which is always a bit of a mixed blessing. Was at least pretty active. As the game went along began to challenge Garnett mano a mano again and again, and not surprisingly began to miss shots in the face of defense from a man half a foot taller, while not being able to force him to miss even once on the toher end. Just seemed to get out of control like he was trying to prove a point -- the irony being that the only point being proven was that KT is not always a very smart basketball player. Grabbed 10 boards on a night in which our rebounding was just about the only good thing that could be said about us, but it was still a pretty dumb and chippy effort.
Miller ( D ) -- Missed his first 4 jumpers, and you could see him trying to just feel the ball in. Was also getting badly outworked and outboarded by Mark Blount, one of the few more laconic, worse rebounding centers in the league. And Muss responded by benching him for most of the remainder of the first half. Did somewhat better after half, and at least began to rebound much better as the game went along. Offense never did come around though, and besides a few surprising gallops to the hoop for layups, I'm not sure he hit ANYTHING from outside. Late rebounding push saves him from an even worse grade.
Martin ( B ) -- 23 of the quietest points you are likely to see makes for a challenging grade. Leading scorer, only player who could hit anything, largely courtesy of his normal array of layups and leak outs, but...I dunno. Just no real impact. In the early going had a couple of hoops, but was largely kept out of the action by attentive Minnesota defense. Made his layups, but looked uncomfortable from the perimeter and got most of his points sneaking in for garbage hoops here and there. Reminiscient of a vintage Peja game where Kevin was the guy getting those easy points for us, but without great impact. Kept on chipping in scores here an there after half, but began to mix in forces and miscues, and joined the team in just going one on one in the 4th, turning it over repeatedly. Given Ron's meltdown probably the best King tonight, but a pretty middling game given the scoring effort (nice for my fantasy teams though
).
Bibby ( D ) -- Sigh. So much for the heroic game played through injury. Looked pretty stable in the early going with the thumb, including one of his patented single dribble to the left and pop jumpers. But then started missing everything, before finally stopping a big Minny "run" (it was a slow game) with a three. Was at least being responsible and crashing back to help out our "bigs" on the glass. Continued to struggle after half, and while Mike James was largely held in check defensively, that may have just been James having a lousy game himself because Troy Hudson was barely deterred at all. And then our best clutch player helped seal this one for the OTHER team when with Minnesota up 6, and with KG going to the line, Mike suddenly gave them an abolsolute gift as Mike picked up not 1 but 2 technicals, got himself tossed, and saw the Wolves go from 6 up to 10 up. Thanks Mike. Right there helping lead our team to oblivion as we fell apart in the 4th.
Reef ( B- ) -- came in early for Brad (ironically the same frontcourt rotation as Rick took so much heat for), was aggressive on offense when KG sat down for a while, but wasn't able to convert many. Continued to show good aggression, on offense at least(and underline that) in the second half, but started to get out of control in the 4th, committing TOs and fouls, and got pulled. And of course same tired story otherwise: 25min, 3rebs 0blks. At least there was aggression in one aspect of the game.
Salmons ( C+ ) -- looked solid in his first half minutes. Not there in the stats, but helped on the boards and with his size helped compensate for Muss trying to trump just about anything Rick ever did smallball wise. Quiet minutes late, and missed a corner three to help finish us (not his shot). Not awful, just...quiet.
Price ( INC ) -- came in to start the 2nd quarter NEXT to Mike AND Salmons in a tiny lineup. Did little, made a couple of fouls, and was replaced quickly by Cisco. Did not return.
Taylor ( D ) -- Sigh 2, got a couple of stints where he thrashed around inside to no particular effect, except to prove that Kevin Garnett is much taller than he is. But then out of nowhere tried to channel his inner Anthony Peeler/Danny Fortson and got into a running chippy battle with KG, the end result of which was him getting himself tossed. Actually may have been the start of us losing our cool, and while losing Mo as a player hardly hurts, it did cost us a point.
Garcia ( INC ) -- in the first half got intimidated and missed a layup, and was pulled after only 1 minute. Came back in the second half, made another mistake, and was immediately pulled again. Ouch.
Muss ( C- ) -- Well...not a great debut. We had good hustle for much fo the game, but offensively it was all kinds of ugly, and Rick Adelman must be rolling over in his hammock on whichever tropical island he is vacationing on at the 13ast to 18TO ratio. And of course a complete 4th quarter collapse puts up a huge stench cloud over the whole night. Worse yet, Muss may have ahd a part in that collapse, simply standing over there wiht a concerend look non his face, but refusing to call a timeout, and after yanking people in and out viciously in the first half, not making signficiant changes even after we were in fullblown panic mode. Also of course some interesting trends -- a real tendency to go small ball which did not hurt us on the glass tongiht, but may have contribut4ed to our complete inability to stop anybody inside. And at least until the meltdown started a real quick hook yanking guys in and out all over the place -- makes us feel better as fans, but you have to be careful and watch that or players will start to resent it. We'll see how it goes, but something to watch as the season progresses. IN any case...disappointing. Not that we lost particulalry -- indeed until Mike showed up I was expecting that. But in the HOW of the loss. 4th quarter collapses are demoralizing, and it looked like Kenny may already have had some words for Artest. Not a complete loss -- Kevin had a good scoring game and we ahd a lot of hustle and boardwork in the earlygoing. But we're still 0-1, and put together a terribkle offensive game the likes of which we rarely saw in the good ole days.
Artest ( B- ) -- started off the game with the first rebound, and it proved to be a good omen in the early going as he really scrapped and hustled around the boards all first half. Missed a lot of shots in the early going, but they were good misses, aggressive takes, post moves, inside battling, not giveup jumpers. And on defense his hands were just everywhere. Recorded FIVE first half steals, and pestered the heck out of Ricky Davis. Perhaps tired out, because he slowed down considerably in the late going. And while he recorded a remarkable 12rebs and 7stls(!), in the late going he forced shot after shot, too many from long distance, and at times seemed to intentionally ignore open teammates while throwing up more junk. End result was an ugly 6-24 and a hand in our late disintegration. Loved the hustle and the hard work on the boards -- the best King for most of the night. But bad shot after bad shot pulls this one way down despite all the good things he did.
Thomas ( C ) -- a few sloppy plays and offensive aggression early, which is always a bit of a mixed blessing. Was at least pretty active. As the game went along began to challenge Garnett mano a mano again and again, and not surprisingly began to miss shots in the face of defense from a man half a foot taller, while not being able to force him to miss even once on the toher end. Just seemed to get out of control like he was trying to prove a point -- the irony being that the only point being proven was that KT is not always a very smart basketball player. Grabbed 10 boards on a night in which our rebounding was just about the only good thing that could be said about us, but it was still a pretty dumb and chippy effort.
Miller ( D ) -- Missed his first 4 jumpers, and you could see him trying to just feel the ball in. Was also getting badly outworked and outboarded by Mark Blount, one of the few more laconic, worse rebounding centers in the league. And Muss responded by benching him for most of the remainder of the first half. Did somewhat better after half, and at least began to rebound much better as the game went along. Offense never did come around though, and besides a few surprising gallops to the hoop for layups, I'm not sure he hit ANYTHING from outside. Late rebounding push saves him from an even worse grade.
Martin ( B ) -- 23 of the quietest points you are likely to see makes for a challenging grade. Leading scorer, only player who could hit anything, largely courtesy of his normal array of layups and leak outs, but...I dunno. Just no real impact. In the early going had a couple of hoops, but was largely kept out of the action by attentive Minnesota defense. Made his layups, but looked uncomfortable from the perimeter and got most of his points sneaking in for garbage hoops here and there. Reminiscient of a vintage Peja game where Kevin was the guy getting those easy points for us, but without great impact. Kept on chipping in scores here an there after half, but began to mix in forces and miscues, and joined the team in just going one on one in the 4th, turning it over repeatedly. Given Ron's meltdown probably the best King tonight, but a pretty middling game given the scoring effort (nice for my fantasy teams though
). Bibby ( D ) -- Sigh. So much for the heroic game played through injury. Looked pretty stable in the early going with the thumb, including one of his patented single dribble to the left and pop jumpers. But then started missing everything, before finally stopping a big Minny "run" (it was a slow game) with a three. Was at least being responsible and crashing back to help out our "bigs" on the glass. Continued to struggle after half, and while Mike James was largely held in check defensively, that may have just been James having a lousy game himself because Troy Hudson was barely deterred at all. And then our best clutch player helped seal this one for the OTHER team when with Minnesota up 6, and with KG going to the line, Mike suddenly gave them an abolsolute gift as Mike picked up not 1 but 2 technicals, got himself tossed, and saw the Wolves go from 6 up to 10 up. Thanks Mike. Right there helping lead our team to oblivion as we fell apart in the 4th.
Reef ( B- ) -- came in early for Brad (ironically the same frontcourt rotation as Rick took so much heat for), was aggressive on offense when KG sat down for a while, but wasn't able to convert many. Continued to show good aggression, on offense at least(and underline that) in the second half, but started to get out of control in the 4th, committing TOs and fouls, and got pulled. And of course same tired story otherwise: 25min, 3rebs 0blks. At least there was aggression in one aspect of the game.
Salmons ( C+ ) -- looked solid in his first half minutes. Not there in the stats, but helped on the boards and with his size helped compensate for Muss trying to trump just about anything Rick ever did smallball wise. Quiet minutes late, and missed a corner three to help finish us (not his shot). Not awful, just...quiet.
Price ( INC ) -- came in to start the 2nd quarter NEXT to Mike AND Salmons in a tiny lineup. Did little, made a couple of fouls, and was replaced quickly by Cisco. Did not return.
Taylor ( D ) -- Sigh 2, got a couple of stints where he thrashed around inside to no particular effect, except to prove that Kevin Garnett is much taller than he is. But then out of nowhere tried to channel his inner Anthony Peeler/Danny Fortson and got into a running chippy battle with KG, the end result of which was him getting himself tossed. Actually may have been the start of us losing our cool, and while losing Mo as a player hardly hurts, it did cost us a point.
Garcia ( INC ) -- in the first half got intimidated and missed a layup, and was pulled after only 1 minute. Came back in the second half, made another mistake, and was immediately pulled again. Ouch.
Muss ( C- ) -- Well...not a great debut. We had good hustle for much fo the game, but offensively it was all kinds of ugly, and Rick Adelman must be rolling over in his hammock on whichever tropical island he is vacationing on at the 13ast to 18TO ratio. And of course a complete 4th quarter collapse puts up a huge stench cloud over the whole night. Worse yet, Muss may have ahd a part in that collapse, simply standing over there wiht a concerend look non his face, but refusing to call a timeout, and after yanking people in and out viciously in the first half, not making signficiant changes even after we were in fullblown panic mode. Also of course some interesting trends -- a real tendency to go small ball which did not hurt us on the glass tongiht, but may have contribut4ed to our complete inability to stop anybody inside. And at least until the meltdown started a real quick hook yanking guys in and out all over the place -- makes us feel better as fans, but you have to be careful and watch that or players will start to resent it. We'll see how it goes, but something to watch as the season progresses. IN any case...disappointing. Not that we lost particulalry -- indeed until Mike showed up I was expecting that. But in the HOW of the loss. 4th quarter collapses are demoralizing, and it looked like Kenny may already have had some words for Artest. Not a complete loss -- Kevin had a good scoring game and we ahd a lot of hustle and boardwork in the earlygoing. But we're still 0-1, and put together a terribkle offensive game the likes of which we rarely saw in the good ole days.
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