Artest ( A ) -- one of those SuperRon games that he will have every once in a while on onbodies schedule but his own. Easy and strong first half offensively, and finished with something like 14 pts. Was actually fairly quiet in the 3rd as we just kind of waddled on along. BUt stepeed back up with a huge 4th as he completely carried us, and in the end may well have been the only reason we beat th Milwaulkee Bucks' J.V. squad. Has somethign like 18 in the quarter alone, and was jsut hitting everything. Never a blown shot. Jumpers, layups. All so very easy. I was more than a little confused at the Bucks defensive stratgy against him (the obvious one would have seemed to be be just let Patterson bang against him all night), but then again, the Bucks might be the worst defensive team in the league and their coach is only still there because he must have naked pictures of Senator Kohl (owner) with some geese or something, so who knows. There can be no "+" when you beat the Bucks at home, but Ron was unquestionably that man tonight.
Thomas ( A- ) -- got the start again, but did little indiviudally in the first quarter other than stay out of the way as everybody else poured in 37 points. At one point got backed down and overpowered by Patterson. Patterson is powerful and just as tall as Kenny, but still man, you're a PF, he's a SF, stand your ground! Scored several hoops in the late 2nd to help us open the lead back up and got himself going. And then lit up former fellow "flexible piece" Skinner in the third, with Brad in particular setting him up for layup after layup. Kept it very simple, did not shoot unless he was hit with a pass right on top of the basket, and converted nearly everything. And the scorng seemed to spur a little energy on the boards as well. Major factor in keeping the lead for us as the Bucks would not go away and were constantly threatening to trigger another one of our infamous collapses. Best game in forever for Kenny.
Miller ( B+ ) -- I remember this style of Brad game from last year, and remember I always gave it a B+. Effective in the overall sense, but complete anathema for a big man, centered as it was around passing and long standstill jumpshots, and not including rebounding, inside work or defense. Got off to the excellent start taking advantage of Bogut and moving the ball, and came back to splash in a three after returning in the late second. Which is actually a bit frightening as Brad has one foot in the Brian Cook/Terry Mills/Raef LaFrentz grave as it is, and I would hate to see him give up his last scrap of big man dignity to go become Damon Jones. Slowed down a lot after half, which was actually the tipper here between the A- and B+. Did set KT up repeatedly in the third, but otherwise largely invisible.
Martin ( C ) -- point total here is a bit deceptive as this actually ended up being another struggling game for Kevin. Got off to the fast start as the Bucks had to be reminded that he is somebody you still have to guard. Had 10-12 points in the first quarter, and also set several guys up with assists. But then cooled way off and began barely missing everything, FTs, threes, layups. I say barely because they were all just rolling out. Added a nice block inside on Ersan Ilyasova, swooping in from behind to disrupt a layup. And at one point in the 4th bit on an up fake from Boykins and clobbered the little guy -- I suspect Kevin never felt so buff before. In the end had basically one good quarter, and then three struggling ones.
Bibby ( C- ) -- So Mike figured a new way to be ineffective tongiht, and simply didn't even try to score. Fortunately Ron rode to the rescue, because otherwise we were going down to a bottom five team right now on our home floor. Meanwhile Mike took all of 7 shots, never looked comfortable, and watched his counterpart, itsy bitsy Earl Boykins dazzle with a career high 36. and after an sinspiring run at thend of December/early January where Mike scored 20+ in 6 of 7 games, he;s now colapsed and scored 13 or fewer in 6 of the last 8. At least this time he did soemthign else -- racked up 8 assists, alebit most of them in our first quarter explosion. Beats the completely drab efforts that have typified this streak. But on the other hand on most nights of the streak the opposing PG hasn't stood only belly button high and dropped a career high on us while almost singlehandly putting his team in position to steal the game. Of course Mike was not the only one who could not contend with Boykins when he had to try to guard him. You can add Kevin, Ron and Salmons to that list. But noentheless when you have a Mike Bibby vs. Earl Boykins starting matchup and one scores 36 and the other 11, Mike is supposed to have that 36.
Salmons ( C ) -- eh... first half. Just eh. I don't even feel obligated to discuss it any further. It was one of those. And followed it up with a mostly eh..2nd half, except highlighted this time with a fun little matchup with Boykins for a short stretch. We tried to pay Salmons at the point to maybe take advanatge of the mighty mite, and it was an amusing contest to wacth the relatively hulking Salmons try to bring it up agains the little guy, smartly post the mite up several times (to no effect actually), and then have to try to chase him around on the other end. Still not much of an overall game by John.
Cisco ( B- ) -- gave us hustle in his first half stint for modest effect. Came in early for Kevin in the third quarter and hit a pair of jumpers, one a three, that helped us open the lead back up again. Got into foul trouble in another not so bright Cisco hackfest and didn;t play for much longer, but those two shots came at a critical time when basically Cisco Garcia and Kenny Thomas were the two Kings holding the Bucks off.
Reef ( B- ) -- back off the bench again, and as I assume he was healthy this time guess we've switched back again? Grabbed some boards in the first half, but provided no offense and was very quiet out there. Came back with a burst to open the 4th, and while it was shortlived and he was soon supplanted by Ron's heroics, Reef still ended up with a solid 8pt 6reb effort after looking lost out there in the early going.
Corliss ( INC ) -- got his normal first half stint, but did nothing coinciding with our worst stretch of the game, and never got a return call after halftime.
Douby ( INC ) -- in the first half came in and immediately took advantage of little Boykins on a drive, but then bricked a three and was quickly rebanished to the bench as we were playing awful ball for a stretch.
Muss ( ) -- This game came down to this simple observation -- we had a starting lineup, the Bucks did not. 4 of the 5 projected Bucks starters are gone, and their best weapon was a 5'5" career backup who they traded for 2 weeks ago and told him just score as many as you can. Well the "can" for today was a career high 36. I don't have much to say here. We won. At home. By 5 over a 17-24 team missing its starting PG, OG, SF and PF and on the back end of a back to back. We did what we had to do...or ratehr i the end Ron did. We jumped out on them wiht a huge 37 point first quarter, but it should surprise nobody when I say the lead did not last. Nor shoudl it surprise many if I say Muss may have had a hand in that as he deced to trot out a 100% backup crew to opent eh 2nd quarter after the starters had played so well to beign the game. The backups didn't get it done, we lost all momentujm, and form that point onward we never were able to shake a team who's best players were Ruben Patterson and Earl Boyklins. We did I think pass them in the standing however, something that we may one day soon regret.
Boykins ( A+ ) -- most entertaining player on the floor. Fun game. Favorite moment was when Stotts put him in there between 6'7" Thomas and 6'7" Artest to try to grab a potential missed FT.
Thomas ( A- ) -- got the start again, but did little indiviudally in the first quarter other than stay out of the way as everybody else poured in 37 points. At one point got backed down and overpowered by Patterson. Patterson is powerful and just as tall as Kenny, but still man, you're a PF, he's a SF, stand your ground! Scored several hoops in the late 2nd to help us open the lead back up and got himself going. And then lit up former fellow "flexible piece" Skinner in the third, with Brad in particular setting him up for layup after layup. Kept it very simple, did not shoot unless he was hit with a pass right on top of the basket, and converted nearly everything. And the scorng seemed to spur a little energy on the boards as well. Major factor in keeping the lead for us as the Bucks would not go away and were constantly threatening to trigger another one of our infamous collapses. Best game in forever for Kenny.
Miller ( B+ ) -- I remember this style of Brad game from last year, and remember I always gave it a B+. Effective in the overall sense, but complete anathema for a big man, centered as it was around passing and long standstill jumpshots, and not including rebounding, inside work or defense. Got off to the excellent start taking advantage of Bogut and moving the ball, and came back to splash in a three after returning in the late second. Which is actually a bit frightening as Brad has one foot in the Brian Cook/Terry Mills/Raef LaFrentz grave as it is, and I would hate to see him give up his last scrap of big man dignity to go become Damon Jones. Slowed down a lot after half, which was actually the tipper here between the A- and B+. Did set KT up repeatedly in the third, but otherwise largely invisible.
Martin ( C ) -- point total here is a bit deceptive as this actually ended up being another struggling game for Kevin. Got off to the fast start as the Bucks had to be reminded that he is somebody you still have to guard. Had 10-12 points in the first quarter, and also set several guys up with assists. But then cooled way off and began barely missing everything, FTs, threes, layups. I say barely because they were all just rolling out. Added a nice block inside on Ersan Ilyasova, swooping in from behind to disrupt a layup. And at one point in the 4th bit on an up fake from Boykins and clobbered the little guy -- I suspect Kevin never felt so buff before. In the end had basically one good quarter, and then three struggling ones.
Bibby ( C- ) -- So Mike figured a new way to be ineffective tongiht, and simply didn't even try to score. Fortunately Ron rode to the rescue, because otherwise we were going down to a bottom five team right now on our home floor. Meanwhile Mike took all of 7 shots, never looked comfortable, and watched his counterpart, itsy bitsy Earl Boykins dazzle with a career high 36. and after an sinspiring run at thend of December/early January where Mike scored 20+ in 6 of 7 games, he;s now colapsed and scored 13 or fewer in 6 of the last 8. At least this time he did soemthign else -- racked up 8 assists, alebit most of them in our first quarter explosion. Beats the completely drab efforts that have typified this streak. But on the other hand on most nights of the streak the opposing PG hasn't stood only belly button high and dropped a career high on us while almost singlehandly putting his team in position to steal the game. Of course Mike was not the only one who could not contend with Boykins when he had to try to guard him. You can add Kevin, Ron and Salmons to that list. But noentheless when you have a Mike Bibby vs. Earl Boykins starting matchup and one scores 36 and the other 11, Mike is supposed to have that 36.
Salmons ( C ) -- eh... first half. Just eh. I don't even feel obligated to discuss it any further. It was one of those. And followed it up with a mostly eh..2nd half, except highlighted this time with a fun little matchup with Boykins for a short stretch. We tried to pay Salmons at the point to maybe take advanatge of the mighty mite, and it was an amusing contest to wacth the relatively hulking Salmons try to bring it up agains the little guy, smartly post the mite up several times (to no effect actually), and then have to try to chase him around on the other end. Still not much of an overall game by John.
Cisco ( B- ) -- gave us hustle in his first half stint for modest effect. Came in early for Kevin in the third quarter and hit a pair of jumpers, one a three, that helped us open the lead back up again. Got into foul trouble in another not so bright Cisco hackfest and didn;t play for much longer, but those two shots came at a critical time when basically Cisco Garcia and Kenny Thomas were the two Kings holding the Bucks off.
Reef ( B- ) -- back off the bench again, and as I assume he was healthy this time guess we've switched back again? Grabbed some boards in the first half, but provided no offense and was very quiet out there. Came back with a burst to open the 4th, and while it was shortlived and he was soon supplanted by Ron's heroics, Reef still ended up with a solid 8pt 6reb effort after looking lost out there in the early going.
Corliss ( INC ) -- got his normal first half stint, but did nothing coinciding with our worst stretch of the game, and never got a return call after halftime.
Douby ( INC ) -- in the first half came in and immediately took advantage of little Boykins on a drive, but then bricked a three and was quickly rebanished to the bench as we were playing awful ball for a stretch.
Muss ( ) -- This game came down to this simple observation -- we had a starting lineup, the Bucks did not. 4 of the 5 projected Bucks starters are gone, and their best weapon was a 5'5" career backup who they traded for 2 weeks ago and told him just score as many as you can. Well the "can" for today was a career high 36. I don't have much to say here. We won. At home. By 5 over a 17-24 team missing its starting PG, OG, SF and PF and on the back end of a back to back. We did what we had to do...or ratehr i the end Ron did. We jumped out on them wiht a huge 37 point first quarter, but it should surprise nobody when I say the lead did not last. Nor shoudl it surprise many if I say Muss may have had a hand in that as he deced to trot out a 100% backup crew to opent eh 2nd quarter after the starters had played so well to beign the game. The backups didn't get it done, we lost all momentujm, and form that point onward we never were able to shake a team who's best players were Ruben Patterson and Earl Boyklins. We did I think pass them in the standing however, something that we may one day soon regret.
Boykins ( A+ ) -- most entertaining player on the floor. Fun game. Favorite moment was when Stotts put him in there between 6'7" Thomas and 6'7" Artest to try to grab a potential missed FT.
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