Ya know you have issues when you lose by 18 and it feels like a bounceback game...
Salmons ( C ) -- quiet start and never did get much consistently going in the first half. Continues to force drives into two or three defenders and lose the ball in the process. Little noise in the early 4th in a battle vs. Hedo. Pretty strong down the stretch helping us with his passing, but dominating the ball in order to do so. A little something here, but was badly outplayed by both the Magic SFs (Hedo/Rashard (mostly playing PF), and even by Mickael Pietrus. Interesting how his lack of size at SF has already been exposed several times here in tthe very early season.
Moore ( C- ) -- in the early going was able to prosper against the Magic's no PF lineup, matched against Rashard Lewis, and was maybe better than his first haalf numbers (4pts 1reb 2ast) would indicate. At least active. Of course on the other hand rather than Mikki getting with it and rising up to the level of the young Kings on the boards, the flow seemed to go the other way as the young bigs got infected with Mikkiitis (brought on by an acute case of Howardophobia) and all turned invisible on the glass. For the third game in a row faded as the game went on, and was nto surprisingly completely ineffective in trying to stop Dwight. this time neither young big was great, but for the third game in a row they were both better than Mikki. Going to be interesting when Brad comes back.
Hawes ( B- ) -- not Odened and competed, but Dwight ain't 6'8" and it showed. Struggled in the first half, and got in foul trouble trying to compete against the vastly physically superior Howard. In the third did a nice job chasing down Rashard on a breakaway and fouling him rather than letting him have the layup. Unfortunately maybe ill-timed as it gave him his 4th foul and picked up his 5th a minute later again trying to stay with the big guy inside. Got the offense going late, but it was against Rashard Lewis which almost doesn't count, and with the game largely out of reach. Chucked in a three becuase he cannot help himself to put us over 100. Had a couple of nice assists, and also a slew of turnovers. Per minute numbers were not bad here, but the game was rather less impressive as Howard dominated us inside and there wasn't much Spencer could do until the dying minutes when it no longer mattered. Did not run screaming into the night however, so good enough, for now.
Martin ( A- ) -- opened the game nicely with a steal and resulting breakaway dunk, but it took a while for him to hit a groove here. His second score was again just a breakway and he was seeing lots of pressure in the halfcourt and was pretty much trying to just run into people and flop out of it but refs weren't going for it. Started to get into a more natural rhythm in the 2nd quarter, at least on offense. Orlando's defense had none of the intensity seen the other night in Miami, and Kevin began to get to his spots fairly easily. On defense was way too small/weak to guard Hedo, and was getting lit up. Surprisingly unable to get much going back the other way in the matchup, as the larger opponent is normally precisely the one Kevin prefers to attack to utilize his quickness. But settled in and got his points if not in dominant fashion, at least back to smooth Kevin type fashion. this continued on right through the third quarter, when the hustle of Jason Thompson gifted him with a couple of more good open looks. Largely invisible down the stretch however, as it was mostly Salmons and very late, Hawes, during those minutes. Kind of mirrored the overall game tonight -- back to the efficiency and high scoring of a more normal Kevin game, but never really any great impact. Was no sense of danger to what he was doing. Still a relief to see him back to being Kevin. We'd go 0-82 this season if the guy from Miami showed up every night.
Beno ( C+ ) -- a Beno sighting in this young season, was our best player in the early going and continued to look smooth if not dominant throughout the first half. Thankfully held onto the damn ball this time, and the offense was coming pretty easily against stubby Jameer Nelson (who is actually a pretty decent defender most of the time). Never really made it back out for the second half however. Not sure what happened. Wasn't that he was bad, per se, just completely invisible. Almost all his numbers were before the break, and he and Jameer Nelson just sank down into a 11pt 5ast vs. 12pt 5ast pillow fight while their teammates decided this one.
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Thompson ( B ) -- in and quickly got introduced to Howard's power, but showed a little more organization to his game in return, wasn't much else from him in the first half, but did at least hit a little side jumper. Was being shielded off the glass by the big guy aside from a hustle board. Came on in the second half however, as Mikki disappeared once again. Had a good hustle board and kickout to Kevin for the open three in the third and knocked another ball lose to him as well. Starting to slow the game down and make the little patient plays he was rushing too fast for in the preseason. Gets a hustle board, and then rather than do something stupid, just kicks it out. Offense looks more controlled. And one thing he did late that will not show up in the boxscore was keep Howard occupied so that Spencer could work on natural SF Rashard Lewis. With three solid performances in a row JT is quickly establishing himself as an NBA player. I'm not really willing to go higher than B on any of these grades for the young bigs however -- they all put up scoring numbers against the undersized Magic, but they all also got their butt kicked inside by Howard, grabbed fewer rebounds combined than he did alone, and stopped nobody inside on defense.
BJax ( C ) -- back to back jumpers in the early 2nd to pull us back some -- finally giving us a little spark off the bench in a role that he used to be so famous for. But that was pretty much it. Did little bad, but almost nothing good therafter, and was just kind of out there. He and Beno combining for a remarkable 24 minutes of just out thereing in the second half in which they might not half gotten 2pts 2ast between them while creaky 2-time ex-King Anthony Johnson outshone both.
Williams ( B ) -- not able to finish, but effective in there early banging around and being active, against the bakcups. Got ruined by Howard in the early 2nd quarter, who went right over, and then through him, but when he came back int he second half actually gave Superman a battle in there. Also came up with a ridiculous slicing, spinning whirling dervish where-the-hell-did-that-come-from drive that made me almost choke on my hot chocolate. Think Candace must be giving him some turoring, or maybe its former whirling-dervish master Reef at work.
Douby ( C+ ) -- as it was not garbagetime, Quincy contented himself with his normal short minute miss and go sit on the bench routine in the first half. Was matched against JJ Reddick too, and you would have thought he could have taken him. Hell, I could probably take Reddick. Came back for another short second half stint, and his lone hit in the early 4th was at least a good one, helping us keep contact as the Magic threatened to put it away early on us.
Thomas ( C- ) -- why oh why? I guess Reggie decided that not having KT in Miami was the problem, so he was back. Kinda like toenail fungus. Gave us a lovely zero points and zero rebounds in his 7 minutes, so glad we brought him along. In all seriousness looked a little better than that, being active on defense and getting one good late in the first half steal jumping in front of Howard in the post.
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Theus ( C+ ) -- well, not sure if this was truly a pride bounceback game for us or not. In a lot of ways the easy offense sort of conceals things -- it always feels better losing when you are scoring easily yourself. Its all so pretty and easy that it covers up the ugly truth that you just lost by double figures again. At least it was a true bounceback for Kevin, who looked more himself even if he never had any real impact on the game. Along the way we shot 53% and scored 103pts -- yay! While letting the Magic shoot 55% and score 121. Not so yay. And all three of our young bigs (because Shelden has to be included this time out) showed a little something, combingin for 37pts 13rebs and 4blks -- yay! While getting chewed up and spat out to the tune of 29pts 14rebs and 5blks by THE young big in the league all by himself. Not so yay. And so it goes -- it just all depends on how you look at this one. In any case, good or not so good it was still better than the debacle in Miami, so progress by default. As I'm not sure about the pride bounceback/fierce we-have-to-win-this-one sentiment truly being out there, its kind of hard to credit Reggie for inspiring such a thing. His apparent contributions to this one being a) activating Kenny Thomas instead of Donte Greene, which I think is some sort of automatic half grade demerit (I am guessing it must have been in anticipation of Howard-related frontline foul trouble havoc), b) perhaps instituting something approaching a hack-a-Howard policy in there in the first half as it seemed that all of our bigs were just taking the hammer/warp up option on Dwight when he caught the ball in low on them, and c) getting together with Stan Van Gundy in an apparently mutual decision by the two benches to play their starters right down to the final buzzer even in a 18 point game. I was not upset with much of anything Reggie did tonight -- although these random 2nd quarter Kenny cameos are confusing -- but we have got to better on defense than this or its going to be a LONG season.
Salmons ( C ) -- quiet start and never did get much consistently going in the first half. Continues to force drives into two or three defenders and lose the ball in the process. Little noise in the early 4th in a battle vs. Hedo. Pretty strong down the stretch helping us with his passing, but dominating the ball in order to do so. A little something here, but was badly outplayed by both the Magic SFs (Hedo/Rashard (mostly playing PF), and even by Mickael Pietrus. Interesting how his lack of size at SF has already been exposed several times here in tthe very early season.
Moore ( C- ) -- in the early going was able to prosper against the Magic's no PF lineup, matched against Rashard Lewis, and was maybe better than his first haalf numbers (4pts 1reb 2ast) would indicate. At least active. Of course on the other hand rather than Mikki getting with it and rising up to the level of the young Kings on the boards, the flow seemed to go the other way as the young bigs got infected with Mikkiitis (brought on by an acute case of Howardophobia) and all turned invisible on the glass. For the third game in a row faded as the game went on, and was nto surprisingly completely ineffective in trying to stop Dwight. this time neither young big was great, but for the third game in a row they were both better than Mikki. Going to be interesting when Brad comes back.
Hawes ( B- ) -- not Odened and competed, but Dwight ain't 6'8" and it showed. Struggled in the first half, and got in foul trouble trying to compete against the vastly physically superior Howard. In the third did a nice job chasing down Rashard on a breakaway and fouling him rather than letting him have the layup. Unfortunately maybe ill-timed as it gave him his 4th foul and picked up his 5th a minute later again trying to stay with the big guy inside. Got the offense going late, but it was against Rashard Lewis which almost doesn't count, and with the game largely out of reach. Chucked in a three becuase he cannot help himself to put us over 100. Had a couple of nice assists, and also a slew of turnovers. Per minute numbers were not bad here, but the game was rather less impressive as Howard dominated us inside and there wasn't much Spencer could do until the dying minutes when it no longer mattered. Did not run screaming into the night however, so good enough, for now.
Martin ( A- ) -- opened the game nicely with a steal and resulting breakaway dunk, but it took a while for him to hit a groove here. His second score was again just a breakway and he was seeing lots of pressure in the halfcourt and was pretty much trying to just run into people and flop out of it but refs weren't going for it. Started to get into a more natural rhythm in the 2nd quarter, at least on offense. Orlando's defense had none of the intensity seen the other night in Miami, and Kevin began to get to his spots fairly easily. On defense was way too small/weak to guard Hedo, and was getting lit up. Surprisingly unable to get much going back the other way in the matchup, as the larger opponent is normally precisely the one Kevin prefers to attack to utilize his quickness. But settled in and got his points if not in dominant fashion, at least back to smooth Kevin type fashion. this continued on right through the third quarter, when the hustle of Jason Thompson gifted him with a couple of more good open looks. Largely invisible down the stretch however, as it was mostly Salmons and very late, Hawes, during those minutes. Kind of mirrored the overall game tonight -- back to the efficiency and high scoring of a more normal Kevin game, but never really any great impact. Was no sense of danger to what he was doing. Still a relief to see him back to being Kevin. We'd go 0-82 this season if the guy from Miami showed up every night.
Beno ( C+ ) -- a Beno sighting in this young season, was our best player in the early going and continued to look smooth if not dominant throughout the first half. Thankfully held onto the damn ball this time, and the offense was coming pretty easily against stubby Jameer Nelson (who is actually a pretty decent defender most of the time). Never really made it back out for the second half however. Not sure what happened. Wasn't that he was bad, per se, just completely invisible. Almost all his numbers were before the break, and he and Jameer Nelson just sank down into a 11pt 5ast vs. 12pt 5ast pillow fight while their teammates decided this one.
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Thompson ( B ) -- in and quickly got introduced to Howard's power, but showed a little more organization to his game in return, wasn't much else from him in the first half, but did at least hit a little side jumper. Was being shielded off the glass by the big guy aside from a hustle board. Came on in the second half however, as Mikki disappeared once again. Had a good hustle board and kickout to Kevin for the open three in the third and knocked another ball lose to him as well. Starting to slow the game down and make the little patient plays he was rushing too fast for in the preseason. Gets a hustle board, and then rather than do something stupid, just kicks it out. Offense looks more controlled. And one thing he did late that will not show up in the boxscore was keep Howard occupied so that Spencer could work on natural SF Rashard Lewis. With three solid performances in a row JT is quickly establishing himself as an NBA player. I'm not really willing to go higher than B on any of these grades for the young bigs however -- they all put up scoring numbers against the undersized Magic, but they all also got their butt kicked inside by Howard, grabbed fewer rebounds combined than he did alone, and stopped nobody inside on defense.
BJax ( C ) -- back to back jumpers in the early 2nd to pull us back some -- finally giving us a little spark off the bench in a role that he used to be so famous for. But that was pretty much it. Did little bad, but almost nothing good therafter, and was just kind of out there. He and Beno combining for a remarkable 24 minutes of just out thereing in the second half in which they might not half gotten 2pts 2ast between them while creaky 2-time ex-King Anthony Johnson outshone both.
Williams ( B ) -- not able to finish, but effective in there early banging around and being active, against the bakcups. Got ruined by Howard in the early 2nd quarter, who went right over, and then through him, but when he came back int he second half actually gave Superman a battle in there. Also came up with a ridiculous slicing, spinning whirling dervish where-the-hell-did-that-come-from drive that made me almost choke on my hot chocolate. Think Candace must be giving him some turoring, or maybe its former whirling-dervish master Reef at work.
Douby ( C+ ) -- as it was not garbagetime, Quincy contented himself with his normal short minute miss and go sit on the bench routine in the first half. Was matched against JJ Reddick too, and you would have thought he could have taken him. Hell, I could probably take Reddick. Came back for another short second half stint, and his lone hit in the early 4th was at least a good one, helping us keep contact as the Magic threatened to put it away early on us.
Thomas ( C- ) -- why oh why? I guess Reggie decided that not having KT in Miami was the problem, so he was back. Kinda like toenail fungus. Gave us a lovely zero points and zero rebounds in his 7 minutes, so glad we brought him along. In all seriousness looked a little better than that, being active on defense and getting one good late in the first half steal jumping in front of Howard in the post.
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Theus ( C+ ) -- well, not sure if this was truly a pride bounceback game for us or not. In a lot of ways the easy offense sort of conceals things -- it always feels better losing when you are scoring easily yourself. Its all so pretty and easy that it covers up the ugly truth that you just lost by double figures again. At least it was a true bounceback for Kevin, who looked more himself even if he never had any real impact on the game. Along the way we shot 53% and scored 103pts -- yay! While letting the Magic shoot 55% and score 121. Not so yay. And all three of our young bigs (because Shelden has to be included this time out) showed a little something, combingin for 37pts 13rebs and 4blks -- yay! While getting chewed up and spat out to the tune of 29pts 14rebs and 5blks by THE young big in the league all by himself. Not so yay. And so it goes -- it just all depends on how you look at this one. In any case, good or not so good it was still better than the debacle in Miami, so progress by default. As I'm not sure about the pride bounceback/fierce we-have-to-win-this-one sentiment truly being out there, its kind of hard to credit Reggie for inspiring such a thing. His apparent contributions to this one being a) activating Kenny Thomas instead of Donte Greene, which I think is some sort of automatic half grade demerit (I am guessing it must have been in anticipation of Howard-related frontline foul trouble havoc), b) perhaps instituting something approaching a hack-a-Howard policy in there in the first half as it seemed that all of our bigs were just taking the hammer/warp up option on Dwight when he caught the ball in low on them, and c) getting together with Stan Van Gundy in an apparently mutual decision by the two benches to play their starters right down to the final buzzer even in a 18 point game. I was not upset with much of anything Reggie did tonight -- although these random 2nd quarter Kenny cameos are confusing -- but we have got to better on defense than this or its going to be a LONG season.
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), but the offense looked disjointed and the defense needs help. A large part of that was probably due to Howard, but the Magic were getting open 3s like crazy....
