Grades v. Spurs 11/26

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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1
Well things we learned tonight:

Mikki Moore >>> Tim Duncan (who is old and washed up)
Beno Udrih >>> Tony Parker (Eva chose the wrong Spurs PG)
Brad Miller >>> any Spur, past or present, living or dead
The Spurs defense is awful and gives up 112pts a game.

And so the Grades Thread, even a blind squirrel edition is on its way.

Theme Tonight: Movies They Wish They Had Not Made

Artest ( B+ ) -- drawing a lot of attention early, and while he did not dominate and had some flubs in there, he eventually justified the attention with some strong play. Got into a thing guarding and being guarded by Duncan there for a stretch in the second quarter, but did not have a lot of luck at either. Spurs had a problem finding anyone to guard him as the game went along, and one element of their slide was when they foolishly switched Bowen onto him and off of Kevin -- all of a sudden they had nobody who could step Kevin OR Ron. Hit a big jumper as the clock was running out at about the 5:45 mark to push us back up to 10 after the Spurs had cut it to 8. Also once again played a significant role in making Mikki go by doing the Jason Kidd, drawing the double, and hitting him on cuts to the rim. This was not as dominant as some of Ron's performances since coming back, but once again a lot of good things were happening because teams, even the Spurs (or maybe especially the Spurs) can't find a good matchup for him.

Catwoman -- of course Halle's big mistake after winning her Oscar, and squelched any superstardom before it even began But at least she was a sport and a) wore some yummy fetish costumes; and b) accepted her Razzie award for worst actress for the performance in person, and apologized to her fans for starring in such a godawful movie. [/B]

Moore ( A- ) -- had a double clutch dunk in the opening minutes and was the early beneficiary of the attention paid to the better Kings out there. Rebounding was of course illegal and he snagged a lovely zero in the first half. Gets tough to grade as Mikki Moore came out of halftime possessed, hit all the easy shots given him, and even a not so easy hook over Duncan. Blocked two shots. Whooped and swung his arms like an idiot. And STILL grabbed no rebounds. Started to pick up fouls in the late going, but Duncan did not have it tonight, and Moore stayed in his way late in the game and made him work (and miss).

Hercules In New York -- if you asked most people what the Gubernator's first movie was, they might come up with the ones that helped him burst onto the scene: either Conan the Barbarian (in one of the greatest casted roles of all time -- at the time Arnie WAS Conan), or maybe The Terminator for the role that made him really famous. Few enough would come up with his first real starring role way back around 1970 in one of the most hilariously awful movies of all time: a horribly dubbed Italian crapper named Hercules in New York. It is actually so incredibly bad that it turns into a pretty good comedy by the end (about the times that our seminude hero races through New York traffic in his cheesy chariot), but I'm sure this is one that Arnie wishes could be buried beneath a very large rock.

Miller ( A ) -- big start in all facets -- was on the glass, aggressively looking for his shots, even threw in a blocked shot for a "Duncan who?" moment. Funny thing is: Brad can't play against this team. Or that has long been the M.O. By tradition he has been completely helpless against the Spurs. But here he was really leading the team, and just coming up with seemingly every play. Led the game in rebounding, blocked a couple of shots, was agrgessive on offense, and picked apart the Spurs with timely passing (playing a significant role in several of the big games by other Kings). Best Brad game of the season by a long way.

Waterworld -- hard as this may be to believe for those unde the age of 30 or so, there was a time in the late 80s and early 90s when Kevin Costner may very well have been THE biggest movie star in the world. Everything he touched turned to gold, and he starred or directed blockbuster after blockbuster. That all changed in the mid-90s though, and while this movie was not the only blow (indeed I think it started with Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves), I think this one was the real turning point as far as Costner's new image as an egomaniac prone to glorious excess in the pursuit of his own glory. Funny thing was, this I did not think the movie itself was all that bad. Simply could not conceive where they claim to have spent $180million making it (unless the tanker cost that much), but the idea behind it was kind of interesting. It certainly was a far cry better than the absolutely ludicrous Postman which followed it. But in any case, this fiasco was a major blow to Costner's star power, and the bginning of the end of him as superstar.

Martin ( D ) -- bottom fell out for Kevin and its too bad he couldn't have joined our first half party -- was aggressive early, but got off to another raggedy start not looking comfortable on the shot (often against Bowen who has been known to have that effect) and throwing some shaky passes as well. Even got his lone open court opportunity broken up by Bowen for a blown layup. Was helping on the glass again, in what has been a welcome addition to has game of late. Finished the first half with no FGs. Finally hit a quartet of open court layups off of our pressure in the 3rd quarter, but they were mostly freebies. Got nothing going structured or form the outside, adn after a rash ot shaky ballhandling decisions late, Reggie just ended up benching him down the stretch. Now gradewise -- hey, we won without him, and he did help on the glass. He had a role as we opened up the lead in the third. And yet he's a 25ppg scorer who scored all of 10. That's not going to automatically F him, but certainly you can't get much of a grade off such a performance unless its physically impossible for him to get Fs or Ds.

Simply Irresistible -- this was an early attempt by Sarah Michelle Gellar to expand out into starring roles in movies as Buffy became such a cult phenomenon. It was a romantic comedy, and really seemed to be something that she could do, and maybe even milk repeatedly. In fact she herself was largely appealing in what passed for a role. However I have discussed this movie before -- you see, the plot depends entirely upon the actions of...a magic crab. Yes, you heard that right. A magic crab sits on her shelf in her kitchen and sprinkles magic crab pixie dust into her food and... oh screw it. Suffice it to say that whoever came up wiht that idea to be SMG's breakout role should be shot. Just..duh. In fact such a bad duh that as far as I know she has never returned to the genre, and really to this point has still yet to cleanly establish herself in any particular genre as a big screen actress. Edit: special bonus, this bit of tripe also managed to rope in poor Amanda Peet in a supporting role that may be less regretted just because it was brief.
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#2
Beno ( A ) -- In some ways, Beno's peformance tonight was not that surprising -- see it all the time in the NBA. The player with something to prove to his former team. But it was the degree of it rather than the fact of the inspired game itself which was remarkable. For the night, Beno was a better PG than Tony Parker. Now ask me how often that will happen int he future anjd you will get a fun answer. But tonight Parker was flat, and more than flat, was making bad decisions. And Beno..well, this was likely his career game. He was maybe pressing a bit in front of his old team in the early going, but eventually settled down and started hitting his shots. Was largely looking for his own offense rather than setting people up, but he hit some crazy shots on the way to a 12pt first half, and did not let off the gas in the second half. Inside and out, he was amajor factor as we pushed out to our big lead int he third, and came back to hit what may have been the icing drive +1 in the final minutes of the 4th. Quite obviously I think there is nothig to do now but for everyone to head off to troll the various Spurs boards laughing at them for keeping the inferior PG. Now if Beno could just get himself a wife that looked anything like Tony's, Kings games might really be spiced up.

In the Cut -- I have referenced this one once this season -- back in 2003, Meg Ryan's long long run as the cutesy queen of rom com was finally coming to an end simply due to age. Her response, in either an attempt to branch out, or act out, was to star in her own seedy little version of Basic Instinct. It was dark, depressing, and generally no fun. The world finally got to see Meg fully naked and apparently having a guy go down on her etc., what she got out of it other than trashing her own image is less clear.

Cisco ( C- ) -- ragged play surrounded his minutes in both halves, and he really did little. This was kind of a feast or famine game for the various Kings, and Kevin and Cisco, really our best two young players were squarely on the famine side of things tonight. Whereas last game it was Cisco outperforming Salmons before the late flub, today it was the other way around (sans late flub).

Cyborg 2 -- in 1993 an 18yr old Angelina Jolie made her big screen debut (as an adult -- had appeared in a movie as a young girl) in a charming little flick called "Cyborg 2" (claiming to be the sequel to the entirely forgettable Jean Claude Van Damme movie Cyborg, but not having anything to do with it beyond the title). It was a bad movie. Very bad. One of its major stars was Jack Palance's disembodied lips in black light. Anyway...at the time you could not help notice that the young and very nubile female android in the movie was ridiculously beautiful. But as Ms. Jolie emerged as an Oscar winning actress in serious films a few years later, it took me a while to put it together that that was the same woman. Bet she wishes that I hadn't.

Salmons ( B ) -- quiet first half until canning a wide open three at the 3 minute mark of the second quarter that put us up 9 and caused the Spurs to call timeout. Also got in there once on a double on Duncan to rip the ball away and Cause Timmy to grab him with the Bradesque frustration foul. Made some strong drives while we were on our big run to push open the lead, and was the valuable extra bench performer we needed tonight to make up for Kevin's absence.

Rambo III -- I had a choice here, either going for Rambo III or Rocky V, but went for this for for the sheer ridiculousness of the proceedings. Rocky V was a failure, but this was just stupid. And the combined effect of the two movies was to begin the long slow decline of Sly Stallone as box office megastar. Through the early 90s he did come up with one sleeper favorite of mine -- 1993's Demolition Man (with Sandra Bullock and Wesley Snipes, and quite hilarious). But the duel killing off of his two most successful franchises and transformation from actor into cartoon character eventually chased him almost entirely from the scene until his recent over the hill revitalization with a new Rocky (a surprisingly strong and mature entry BTW) and Rambo (which alas does not look like its going to take Rocky Balboa's advice about going back to the beginning). In any case, I had the benefit of seeing Rambo III for the first time very late at night, with friends, and not entirely sober. And let me tell you, it helped. It turned an incredibly cheesy turd into a rolling on the floor comedy. Rambo III still to this day holds the world record as the most violent film of all time according to the Guiness Book, featuring 108 kills, 221 acts of violence, and one superhero singlehandedly wiping out the entire Russian army with a single machine gun (slung under one arm of course).

Hawes ( B ) -- played a strong first half, but people are of course correct that I grimaced as the quick development of our very own Raef LaFrentz continues. Came in, hit a jumper, stepped out further, hit a three, and then got over anxious and traveled on his only first half post move. Got a block, and even graced us with a couple of those rebound things when not 30 feet from the hoop. Did not do much in his second half minutes, and with Brad and Mikki both having season best games, Reggie did not stay with him long with the Spurs lurking.

Gigli -- and falling in as one of the all time "they should have known better" movies, this one did critical damage to Ben Affleck's career (which was already on thin ice due to a rash of poor movie choices), and while JLo seemed to be able to continue on making movies at the same level she always had (i.e. tier two), there is no doubt her star is nowhere near as bright now as it was back in 2003-2004. I actually watched a bit of this movie just to see what all the fuss was about, and while it was bad, I don't think it was THAT bad. Worst all time or whatever. It was more just a predictable backlash, a poor script, and two actors just apparently either clueless or gluttons for punishment. Put a target on their backs, and then gave the critics not only ammunition, but sniper scopes as well to make sure they could not miss.
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#3
Douby ( INC ) -- got several spots of action in the first half, largely because of Kevin's struggles. Tried to harass Parker with mixed effects, and missed a wide open three from the wing. Even spottier minutes after half.

Batman and Robin -- otherwise affectionately known as Batman With Nipples. And thank heaven for the new, darker, rebirth of the series, or this would have been the last image of Batman burned into the retinas of anyone unfortunate enough to watch it. Now I'm going to tag the actor with regrets as being George Clooney, who despite absolutely oozing with charisma had a hard time getting off the ground in his early movie roles (although I think most of the others -- From Dusk til Dawn, One Fine Day, The Peacemaker etc. were underrated). There were of course a number of other big names embarrassing themselves in this one, but Arnie was already a joke before the movie came out, and Alicia Silverstone's one hit wonder career was already sliding by this point. Now Clooney on the other hand -- on the way to megastardom and sexiest man on earthdom, and yet never able to fully live down wearing a Batman suit complete with pokey little erect nipples in case he got cold.

Williams ( INC ) -- just the final minute of garbagetime

Star Wars: The Phantom Meance -- I am hereby taking another poster's advice, and using this movie. Wildly successful? Sure. But the party with regrets in this one might be George Lucas (who's regrets likely ended as he was counting his millions at the bank). Revered as some sort of god for putting together the intial trilogy, The Phantom Menace (and the wildly despised Jar Jar Binks) popped his balloon, and with the help of the other two prequels reduced him from great Star Wars guru, to the guy who was the problem. I could have used a number of the big name actors involved here as well, as they all seemed flat and swallowed up by the CGI. But none appeared to suffer any real damage from the director making them look bad, and it was Lucas's shame, not the actors/actresses.

Watkins ( INC ) -- just the final minute of garbagetime

Woo -- and here I will take another poster suggestion and go with Woo, a notoriously crappy rom com from the late 90's which Jada Pinkett Smith would probably like to forget. Since I have not seen it, I cannot zing it as it no doubt deserves. In fact just looking at that cover above, I think I might rather like to see Jada wearing that outfit...
 
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VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#8
Brickie? You forgot one...

Theus>>>>>>>>>Popovich.













I love this giddy feeling and I'm going to fully enjoy it as long as humanly possible.

:p
 
#9
This is the first real team effort we've seen from this team and look what happened. They took care of the ball, found the open man, and beat the spurs. Also, our normal ballhogs weren't hogging the ball.
 
#11
Yes, we are over-the-top happy tonight, Brick. The very fact that wins will be hard to come by this season, makes each win all that much more sweet. Especially since it was the world champs. I'm a happy Kings fan tonight.:D
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#12
I think it is also a great night because it was a well played game especially on the defensive end. The team is beginning to look like a team.
 
#13
Is there any way we can bottle this for the next 4 home games and then take it on the road?! All five starters in double figures - nice!

Even though Kevin had only 10 pts on 4-12 his presence was a factor as the Spurs collapsed all over him which opened up a lot for Beno, etc. Kev still had 2 steals and 7 boards, so he wasn't a flop at all.

GREAT TEAM EFFORT!!
 
#15
All we have to do is play all the good teams on the second night of back-to-backs for the rest of the season, and we're home free!
Tonight's game shows that the Kings can stand toe to toe with quality teams and beat them, and it doesn't matter if a team has back to back games, championship teams should win them, especially a veteran team like the Spurs. The Kings fought hard and earned another win without any handouts and the win wasn't based on luck either.
 

Warhawk

Give blood and save a life!
Staff member
#16
And so the Grades Thread, even a blind squirrel edition is on its way.

Theme Tonight: Movies They Wish They Had Not Made
Can I suggest:

*Punch Drunk Love
*Ultraviolet
*Aeon Flux
*Brothers Grimm
*Species
*"updated" versions of Star Wars IV-VI (Han Solo shoots first, dammit), or maybe I-III at all (Who the #$%@*&^ thought Jar Jar was a good character) for that matter.....
*Anything with Jean-Claude Van Damme in it
*Any movie so far based off a video game

Am I missing anything yet????
 
#20
what a game im gonna enjoy this for a loooong time! wednesday probably
Yeah, I just heard that lot of cars leaving Arco tonight were honking and yelling GO KINGS!! - but it was a quick exit since it wasn't a huge crowd. The problem is Wednesday the Warriors (who are sizzling hot at the moment) might have a convoy of fans coming into Arco from the Bay Area. Will it be an "almost" home game for the W's next game?:eek:
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#21
Tonight's game shows that the Kings can stand toe to toe with quality teams and beat them, and it doesn't matter if a team has back to back games, championship teams should win them, especially a veteran team like the Spurs. The Kings fought hard and earned another win without any handouts and the win wasn't based on luck either.
If you say so. Benefit of the schedule is at least a little bit lucky, in my estimation.

I'm not even saying that it's not a good win that everybody should be happy about, and I'm not saying that I wasn't rooting for the team while the game was going on. I'm just saying that I don't particularly think of this as any kind of statement game or "turn the season around" game. Sorry, but I just don't.
 
#22
If you say so. Benefit of the schedule is at least a little bit lucky, in my estimation.

I'm not even saying that it's not a good win that everybody should be happy about, and I'm not saying that I wasn't rooting for the team while the game was going on. I'm just saying that I don't particularly think of this as any kind of statement game or "turn the season around" game. Sorry, but I just don't.
Alright, I respect everyone's own opinion, but I still feel that this win was huge and it shows that the Kings are headed in the right direction.
 
#23
If you say so. Benefit of the schedule is at least a little bit lucky, in my estimation.

I'm not even saying that it's not a good win that everybody should be happy about, and I'm not saying that I wasn't rooting for the team while the game was going on. I'm just saying that I don't particularly think of this as any kind of statement game or "turn the season around" game. Sorry, but I just don't.
i share this sentiment. it was a good win, and certainly was something to cheer about, but i'm glad a win against the spurs is coming this early in the season. there are a lot of games to be played (and lost) from now until the end of the season. a win like tonight's could help boost a team on to the finish after the all star break, for example. but, at this point, i just don't see it mattering much. the homecourt advantage was in the kings favor tonight, and the spurs lost a winnable road game. that's about all it amounts to in the greater scheme of things. the danger, really, is in recognizing how important the homecourt is to the kings. if anything, the kings have proven to be able to bring the fire at arco, which means they might just land themselves near the 30+ wins they finished with last season, as opposed to a record that would land them a much more preferable top 5 pick.
 

Warhawk

Give blood and save a life!
Staff member
#25
Who wishes they hadn't made it? Do you mean Adam Sandler or Paul Thomas Anderson? (Personally, I love that movie but to each his own.)
Oh, man. My wife and parents wanted to go see a romantic comedy, and based on the commercials, that seemed to fit. Little did we know what we were in for - it was neither funny nor romantic. Nobody liked it. :mad:
 
#26
Can I suggest:

*Punch Drunk Love
*Ultraviolet
*Aeon Flux
*Brothers Grimm
*Species
*"updated" versions of Star Wars IV-VI (Han Solo shoots first, dammit), or maybe I-III at all (Who the #$%@*&^ thought Jar Jar was a good character) for that matter.....
*Anything with Jean-Claude Van Damme in it
*Any movie so far based off a video game

Am I missing anything yet????
punch drunk love was a beautiful, excellent film, full of great character quirks and a unique, genuinely romantic storyline. it's a terribly misunderstood movie, and in my opinion, paul thomas anderson's (boogie nights, magnolia) best. the rest on your list, however, i can agree with wholeheartedly...
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
#27
... if anything, the kings have proven to be able to bring the fire at arco, which means they might just land themselves near the 30+ wins they finished with last season, as opposed to a record that would land them a much more preferable top 5 pick.
And see, I wasn't even going to go there; people tend to be touchy when you say the "l" word.
 
#28
Well, this has been a great couple of days. My daughter and the boys were evacuated from their small house in Malibu and returned to find it saved. My team played a great team and beat them. The best 48 minutes this season and I am going to enjoy it! It really doesn't bother me what anyone else has to say about tonight--can't take away what I saw and enjoyed. Annie.
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#29
Can I suggest:

*Punch Drunk Love
*Ultraviolet
*Aeon Flux
*Brothers Grimm
*Species
*"updated" versions of Star Wars IV-VI (Han Solo shoots first, dammit), or maybe I-III at all (Who the #$%@*&^ thought Jar Jar was a good character) for that matter.....
*Anything with Jean-Claude Van Damme in it
*Any movie so far based off a video game

Am I missing anything yet????

Well..my angle on this thread was more of a movie which brought discredit to an otherwise creditworhty individual. Some of the above would apply, and I am going to steal one I think. But for instance Jean Claude Van Damme was alwasy a joke so... ;)


I have never seen Woo -- and I know, I feel terrible about it. Guess the inclusion query would be: did it scuttle Jada Pinkett Smith's career?
 
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