Grades v. Rockets 04/08

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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1
Lin > Woss

Tonight's Theme (in honor of Easter): Bunnies!

Artest ( D ) -- and so maybe Ron is finally waking up and shutting it down too. Very quiet early, but at least in those early moments was helping to keep TMac quiet the other way (the stiff back may have helped too before warming up, who knows). Despite the generally quiet half, that had to be the highlight for Ron. Started to awaken offensively in the third, but unfortunately so did TMac. And when a superstar starts to awaken, that can be a very very bad thing. As in 40pts 10ast 8reb bad thing. And as he got scorched by TMac, Ron started trying to force stuff the other way, helping to throw us out of rhtyhm in the process. Shot a nifty 2-14 in this one with 4 TOs, and while the 7rebs and 5 stls were nice, the matchup with McGrady did not go well. Still played almost the whole game, and of course a lot of those minutes were as a smallball PF. Not sure why.

And you know what? Its real. Straight from the BBC. The bunny who ate Texas.

Reef ( A- ) -- played a nicely active overall game, stepping outside against Yao, and going inside against the Rockets "PFs (by my count one of perhaps two teams (NJ) with a worse rotation there than we have). Looked sporadically energetic and aggressive as well. Fell by the wayside again as it became smallball kiddie corps time again.

NIGHT OF THE LEPUS -- yes indeed, quite possibly the greatest giant killer bunny movie ever made. If you have not seen it, your life has been hollow and empty. And as if a killer bunny movie needed any more attractions, it stars Dr. McCoy in those (obviously) desperate days post-Star Trek series, pre-Star Trek movies.

Miller ( C- ) -- in the early going out there to start I suppose to counter Yao. Let's just say did not work, as Yao ran off 9 of his team's first 11 points. Was more effective later in the game with Yao saddled with foul trouble, but "more effective" is all relative in this case. 4pt 7rebs isn't going to excite anybody, and I doubt he would have notched as many minutes if Justin had not gotten into foul trouble himself. Did come up with a few of his little excuse me blocked shots, and had a couple of the normal passes to Kevin and Cisco on the baseline. Otherwise...

What? You thought I was going to get through this topic and forget about this guy? Silly wabbit!

Martin ( B ) -- started off very aggressive, but not hitting those shots. Warmed up a little in the second period, with most of his points coming off of (clean it should be noted (as opposed to flopped)) aggressive drives and fouls to the hoop. Actually lost some of his second half minutes to the Cisco explosion, and pretty much was sitting on his season averages until he got two late FGs of the "somebody gets to hit a layup" variety, where we needed three, but the Rockets were more than willing to give us the two.

RABBIT OF CAERBANNOG -- arghhhh!!! Run Away! Run Away!
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#2
Bibby ( C- ) -- Pack it in game #2 for Mike. Hit a couple of early threes with a little swagger, but also had several sloppy turnovers. Not the terrible effort from last game, and Ronnie did not have the same impact this time out. But it was still a weak effort by Mike other than tossing in a few threes and he was not in for the stretch run where we could have used a few of his late game heroics (no we couldn't have actually and it all worked out for the best, but I have to say that).

Yay for bunnies! :p (at the Palms no less)

Salmons ( B- ) -- hit a pair of open threes in the second quarter, and matched the kids' defensive intensity. Looked for a while like he was going for the repeat performance from the Utah game. But that of course would be consistent. So John kept on playing, took a turn or two getting abused by TMac, and started missing shots from all over the floor. Not a terrible effort, but John is not somebody you would nromally expect to take 14 shots in 23 min. And if he did, you would certainly hope he'd hit more than 5 of them.

The giant chocolate bunny I sent to my parents as a joke 5-6 years ago -- 50?lbs of chocolate yumminess from a little company out in the Pennsylvania outback. Never actually got to see it myself before it was cruelly dismembered.

Williams ( B ) -- took a while to get it going this time, but began to be effective on offense just finishing toward the rim off of shots created by others. Not much on the glass and is not going to block Yao of course, but as it did in the Utah game his energy gave us a major boost in the early going. Difference from that game was that he wasn't able to carry much over into the second half with foul trouble severely limiting any late contributions.

Actually this particular bunny really needs to die.
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#3
Cisco ( A ) -- started the game off making hustling plays on defense and running effective give and gos on offense. Another impact bench game as the perfect complement to the Price/Williams energy duo. Hit a three to open the 4th, but then came back with a miss, and then fouled TMac on the elbow. Kept on racing around though, and in the darkest hours of this one it was Cisco who had me most worried he was going to find a way to further screw up our draft prospects. Gotta love his hustle, but the problem has always been from the neck up, and tonight here he was again trying to really pee me off by going balls to the wall for a victory that is just patently bad for us at this point. Stop it before you make me mad Cisco.

This was going to be Roger Rabbit, and then I suddenly had a revelation...was I bleeping nuts??

Price ( B- ) -- also took a while to get going, but eventually got the motor running in the mid 2nd with the all kiddie lineup. Not able to sustain the same energy from the other night though, and while he was in there for the stretch run, it wasn;t a particualrly successful one for him or us.

Time for a little bunny vengeance after millenia of putting up with all of that yip yippy crap (Amy(the rabbit) is 4ft long and weighs 42lbs)

Muss ( ) --
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#11
Hey Brick, can we have a "different" version of the grades? One that reflects a goal of getting LINS?

Believe me, I was seriously tempted in those Jazz grades in particular, but I've been trying to keep the grades "pure" just for the sake of consistency. That includes taking a little extra time to cool down if they pee me off by actually winning and going back and tryign to give credit where its due.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#12
Believe me, I was seriously tempted in those Jazz grades in particular, but I've been trying to keep the grades "pure" just for the sake of consistency. That includes taking a little extra time to cool down if they pee me off by actually winning and going back and tryign to give credit where its due.
I think that's one of the things that makes your grades so well read. I like knowing that regardless of the woss/lin whatever stuff, reading your grades will reflect how the players actually did. We know they're not thinking about lins and wosses. They're to the point where they're just either ready to phone it in OR they're trying their hardest to make some kind of impact that might have a major affect on their future in the NBA.

BTW, as someone who has recently bailed on the PBP out of pure despondency, I really appreciate the amount of time and effort it takes for you to do these.

 
#14
Believe me, I was seriously tempted in those Jazz grades in particular, but I've been trying to keep the grades "pure" just for the sake of consistency. That includes taking a little extra time to cool down if they pee me off by actually winning and going back and tryign to give credit where its due.
do two grades. one grade for how well they played. one for how much they helped out lottery chances.

and just because someone gets an A in the first doesn't mean they'll get an F for the second. for example, say K-Mart has a great game, he deserves an A for how well he played. He could still get an A for helping the lottery cause if he "missed" a couple of free throws in a close loss.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#15
do two grades. one grade for how well they played. one for how much they helped out lottery chances.

and just because someone gets an A in the first doesn't mean they'll get an F for the second. for example, say K-Mart has a great game, he deserves an A for how well he played. He could still get an A for helping the lottery cause if he "missed" a couple of free throws in a close loss.
You do realize Brickie has a real job, right? ;)

There's a lot that goes into the preparation of these grades that I think people just don't realize.

Brick watches the game - sometimes on tape - and takes notes about the various players and their performances. Then, afterwards, he has to assemble those notes into some kind of context AND assign grades. Now, with the addition of the "themes," he does even more by adding blurbs for each grade.

I'm truly amazed he can do as much as he does. I personally think asking for anything more is really pushing it.

Having said that, however, it's Brick's domain and not mine. I'm just glad he's able to do as much as he does, though, since there have been a number of times when the only bright spot about a game was Brickie's assessments.
 
#16
yeah i really do appreciate the grades brick. im living in sd for college, so i dont get to watch more than a handful of grades. this brings another dimension to just lookin at recaps and box score. cheers to you :)
 
#17
You do realize Brickie has a real job, right? ;)

There's a lot that goes into the preparation of these grades that I think people just don't realize.

Brick watches the game - sometimes on tape - and takes notes about the various players and their performances. Then, afterwards, he has to assemble those notes into some kind of context AND assign grades. Now, with the addition of the "themes," he does even more by adding blurbs for each grade.

I'm truly amazed he can do as much as he does. I personally think asking for anything more is really pushing it.

Having said that, however, it's Brick's domain and not mine. I'm just glad he's able to do as much as he does, though, since there have been a number of times when the only bright spot about a game was Brickie's assessments.
which is why he needs to do more. because i have a real job too, and quite frankly there's nothing i like doing more than being lazy reading his grades while at work!:D
 
#18
but here's how he could do it... hypothetically of course:

Martin B/A- -- started off very "aggressive," but "not hitting" those shots. "Warmed up" a little in the second period, with most of his points coming off of (clean it should be noted (as opposed to flopped)) aggressive drives and fouls to the hoop. Actually lost some of his second half minutes to the Cisco explosion, which could have hurt us, and pretty much was sitting on his season averages until he got two late FGs of the "somebody gets to hit a layup" variety, where we "needed" three, but the Rockets were more than willing to give us the two.


see, i just added one little blurb about Cisco, and a bunch of quotation marks ;)
 
#21
I know this game is pretty much pointless, but I will never, ever understand Musselman's fascination with Corliss. He always always always leaves him way too long on the floor, even when he's jacking up horrible shots, even when he's hopelessly outmatched with size, and even when Shareef is having a really strong game.

I just don't get it. But then again, it's Musselman.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#23
Believe me, I was seriously tempted in those Jazz grades in particular, but I've been trying to keep the grades "pure" just for the sake of consistency. That includes taking a little extra time to cool down if they pee me off by actually winning and going back and tryign to give credit where its due.
It's a moral dilemma, isn't it?;)
 
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