We actually lost the Toilet Bowl. Impressive, the fake hustle charge at the end notwithstanding. I am thinking all the hard work, all the remarkable efforts may finally pay off this week with some dead last #30s in the upcoming power polls. We've worked hard for that honor. We deserve it, and it will be nice to finally get some recognition for our astounding incompetence. In the interim I think losing the Toilet Bowl deserves some recognition of its own, a trophy perhaps. So here ya go guys! You earned it:
Record needed to tie for the #8 seed: 38-1
While being down by 21 to the 8-32 Washington Wizards on your home court should realistically automatically trigger a Pretty Girls theme regardless of how things go thereafter, in the interests of not cheapening the tradition I am undecided.
Salmons ( B+ ) -- in the first half had some one on one scoring, but wasn't helping much on any front. Of course drew the Butler assignement on defense, and had minimal luck with it for 3/4 as Butler just overpowered our skinny excuse for a "forward". But this game was reminscient of the Milwaulkee game in many many ways, not least of it John suddenly coming alive again in the early 4th as the Wizards tried to do the collapse against us. Not only were he and Beno the offensive engines of the comeback, but suddenly the defense on Butler kicked in in a major way too as we awesomely held an 8-32 team to only 110 points. I am well and tired of the pattern of slouching around and losing the game for three quarters, and then making a big oh so exciting "comeback" that falls short because we already lost the game by not showing up. I am even more tired of it against quite possibly (coming in) THE worst team in the NBA, on our homecourt, with them missing half their team to injuries and us 100% healthy. That sort of thing is not going to earn an A from me.
Thompson ( B- ) -- off to another good start to this one with 8pts 3rebs in the first. Was iced by the long and effective first Sheldon stint, and did not return until the end of the 2nd quarter after sitting out for 8-10 minutes. Got in quick foul trouble against Jamison in the third severely curtailing his minutes. Had a brief burst of open court running helping us to begin the 4th, but just that quickly was gone. Fouled out quickly, once on an unnecessary push foul against Darius Suckgaila (who just might be the most worthless "big" in the NBA -- I remember our debates about him. Short, slow, no defense, no rebounding and no post game, but hey, kinda has a jumper sometimes), then on a phantom 6th foul where he barely slapped the guy's upper arm. He really could have gotten a technical for his protest too. Lessons he has to leanr -- all that "activity" much lauded and all that is hurting him on defense, he's bouncing around, hitting people, flailing his arms, and in general doing everything possible to draw the refs eye and look like an out of control flailer. His offensive game is looking more settled, he needs to bring calm and control on the other side of the ball too or there will be many short nights ahead.
Miller ( D- ) -- wow, prety sweet back to back there Brad. Never woke up from the Denver fiasco, and instead of Nene working him in the early going, this time it was Andray Blatche, who I have liked for years, but who should not be lighting up your former "All Star". Was quickly pulled for Spencer, given another shot in the third, failed again, given another shot in the 4th, and failed again as the Wizards used smaller quicker bigs to expose Brad's lack of footspeed. Got so bad that by the end of the game we were trying to win it with Natt's throw the game smallball lineup surrounding a single big: Sheldon Williams. Maybe Brad does not want to be traded and is tanking? Or maybe he is being really saavy -- hoping to be traded to a contender, and figuring if he can drive his value down far enough his new team won't have to give up hardly anything to get him and he'll have a better chance at that ring. Or maybe he has just quit. That would be a true shocker.
Martin ( C ) -- strangeness here on another bad shooting night (5-16) that dropped his season percentage to 42.5%. Stuggled mightily to a 1-6 first quarter. Took some not so bright shots and missed the ones he should have made. Was not involed in the seocnd quarter besides one nice pass to Brad and looked just awful and out of sync out there. Then of course it hit the third quarter -- a quarter without which Kevin might be a 12ppg scorer this season, and he found one thing, and one thing only, that he could do and do well. Scattered in 4 three pointers in the period, not all in one rush, but over the space of maybe 7-8 minutes. A three, long stretch of nothing, then a three, long stretch, then a three etc. Didn't seem like he was even really looking at much else in the period, and he even threw up a giveup 27 footer on one play because it just looked like it was all he could think to do. And then that was kind of it. A recurring pattern in what has really been a bad month for Kevin's late game cred -- he scored in the third to help us keep it under 30, and then it was others who took over in the 4th while Kevin contributed 2 points I think. On defense at least made an effort to hop the passing lanes a few times up top in this one, but otherwise outhustled all night by Dominic McGuire, who entered the game averaging 3.2pts and 4.5rebs.
Udrih ( A- ) -- another one of these well what do you do with this grades. Got his first half minutes, not that he did much with them against a very weak PG tandem. But lets stop right there -- nobody cares about his performance in the first quarter, the second quarter, or even the third quarter in this one. this game was 100% about Beno's ridiculous 4th quarter. Last year, when he earned his big contract, Beno was NEVER consistent, but he would occassionally tease oyu with a ridiculous quarter or half where he was flowing and could literally be the best player on the floor. Better than Kevin or John or ron, better than Parker on night, Kobe the next. And for maybe the second time all seasaon (early season Clippers game was the other) he sudduenly, out of nowhere, had one of those quarters. The guy who can not hit ahtree this year, bombed in three of them, including one in the final minute that kept us alive. He sliced through the defense, set peoipe up, popped in short jumpers, made little layups. It in fact was such a ridiculous turnaround from his play in the first three quarters, or all seasosn for that matter, that I am strongly tempted to discount it altogether. This wasn't a guy correcting a few things or tightening it up. this was an entirely different player. And on the back of such a silly display, we almost mounted a 19pt 4th quarter comeback against...well, against a middleschool girls team. I'll deliver the appropriate grade here, but let's just say I'll believe this means anything when I see it repeated.
Record needed to tie for the #8 seed: 38-1
While being down by 21 to the 8-32 Washington Wizards on your home court should realistically automatically trigger a Pretty Girls theme regardless of how things go thereafter, in the interests of not cheapening the tradition I am undecided.
Salmons ( B+ ) -- in the first half had some one on one scoring, but wasn't helping much on any front. Of course drew the Butler assignement on defense, and had minimal luck with it for 3/4 as Butler just overpowered our skinny excuse for a "forward". But this game was reminscient of the Milwaulkee game in many many ways, not least of it John suddenly coming alive again in the early 4th as the Wizards tried to do the collapse against us. Not only were he and Beno the offensive engines of the comeback, but suddenly the defense on Butler kicked in in a major way too as we awesomely held an 8-32 team to only 110 points. I am well and tired of the pattern of slouching around and losing the game for three quarters, and then making a big oh so exciting "comeback" that falls short because we already lost the game by not showing up. I am even more tired of it against quite possibly (coming in) THE worst team in the NBA, on our homecourt, with them missing half their team to injuries and us 100% healthy. That sort of thing is not going to earn an A from me.
Thompson ( B- ) -- off to another good start to this one with 8pts 3rebs in the first. Was iced by the long and effective first Sheldon stint, and did not return until the end of the 2nd quarter after sitting out for 8-10 minutes. Got in quick foul trouble against Jamison in the third severely curtailing his minutes. Had a brief burst of open court running helping us to begin the 4th, but just that quickly was gone. Fouled out quickly, once on an unnecessary push foul against Darius Suckgaila (who just might be the most worthless "big" in the NBA -- I remember our debates about him. Short, slow, no defense, no rebounding and no post game, but hey, kinda has a jumper sometimes), then on a phantom 6th foul where he barely slapped the guy's upper arm. He really could have gotten a technical for his protest too. Lessons he has to leanr -- all that "activity" much lauded and all that is hurting him on defense, he's bouncing around, hitting people, flailing his arms, and in general doing everything possible to draw the refs eye and look like an out of control flailer. His offensive game is looking more settled, he needs to bring calm and control on the other side of the ball too or there will be many short nights ahead.
Miller ( D- ) -- wow, prety sweet back to back there Brad. Never woke up from the Denver fiasco, and instead of Nene working him in the early going, this time it was Andray Blatche, who I have liked for years, but who should not be lighting up your former "All Star". Was quickly pulled for Spencer, given another shot in the third, failed again, given another shot in the 4th, and failed again as the Wizards used smaller quicker bigs to expose Brad's lack of footspeed. Got so bad that by the end of the game we were trying to win it with Natt's throw the game smallball lineup surrounding a single big: Sheldon Williams. Maybe Brad does not want to be traded and is tanking? Or maybe he is being really saavy -- hoping to be traded to a contender, and figuring if he can drive his value down far enough his new team won't have to give up hardly anything to get him and he'll have a better chance at that ring. Or maybe he has just quit. That would be a true shocker.
Martin ( C ) -- strangeness here on another bad shooting night (5-16) that dropped his season percentage to 42.5%. Stuggled mightily to a 1-6 first quarter. Took some not so bright shots and missed the ones he should have made. Was not involed in the seocnd quarter besides one nice pass to Brad and looked just awful and out of sync out there. Then of course it hit the third quarter -- a quarter without which Kevin might be a 12ppg scorer this season, and he found one thing, and one thing only, that he could do and do well. Scattered in 4 three pointers in the period, not all in one rush, but over the space of maybe 7-8 minutes. A three, long stretch of nothing, then a three, long stretch, then a three etc. Didn't seem like he was even really looking at much else in the period, and he even threw up a giveup 27 footer on one play because it just looked like it was all he could think to do. And then that was kind of it. A recurring pattern in what has really been a bad month for Kevin's late game cred -- he scored in the third to help us keep it under 30, and then it was others who took over in the 4th while Kevin contributed 2 points I think. On defense at least made an effort to hop the passing lanes a few times up top in this one, but otherwise outhustled all night by Dominic McGuire, who entered the game averaging 3.2pts and 4.5rebs.
Udrih ( A- ) -- another one of these well what do you do with this grades. Got his first half minutes, not that he did much with them against a very weak PG tandem. But lets stop right there -- nobody cares about his performance in the first quarter, the second quarter, or even the third quarter in this one. this game was 100% about Beno's ridiculous 4th quarter. Last year, when he earned his big contract, Beno was NEVER consistent, but he would occassionally tease oyu with a ridiculous quarter or half where he was flowing and could literally be the best player on the floor. Better than Kevin or John or ron, better than Parker on night, Kobe the next. And for maybe the second time all seasaon (early season Clippers game was the other) he sudduenly, out of nowhere, had one of those quarters. The guy who can not hit ahtree this year, bombed in three of them, including one in the final minute that kept us alive. He sliced through the defense, set peoipe up, popped in short jumpers, made little layups. It in fact was such a ridiculous turnaround from his play in the first three quarters, or all seasosn for that matter, that I am strongly tempted to discount it altogether. This wasn't a guy correcting a few things or tightening it up. this was an entirely different player. And on the back of such a silly display, we almost mounted a 19pt 4th quarter comeback against...well, against a middleschool girls team. I'll deliver the appropriate grade here, but let's just say I'll believe this means anything when I see it repeated.
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