Well that was fun. Legitimately fun -- been a while since I said that about a Kings game without being sarcastic. But you can tell we are still figuring it out. Lots of interesting developments to grade however, which will come fairly quickly.
Mason ( C+ ) -- quickly off the schneid with an alley opp from May to start the game, but only played about 6 first half minutes. Back in the old days we used to call this an "Iavaroni start", in that the starter was just a spot player and the real starter was somebody else (in Iavroni's case, Thurl Bailey played 35min off the bench). Then in the second half we immediately started him off with a jumper. And those twp starter baskets in each half were the grand total of his offensive contribution. In fact the lack of a jumper had the Hornets falling way off of him and daring him to shoot. But he contributed in a tough gritty second half for us, playing physically, and helping on the glass. Certainly nothing special here, and was outplayed by rookie Julian Wright, but he contributed some scrappiness on a night when we had a lot of it.
Thompson ( B- ) -- indifferent first half highlighted by some solid passing. In the second quarter got worked in the post on defense (Okafor and West both), but began to respond back the other way as we headed back into the break. Set a good pick to get Kevin an early hoop in the third as we tried to get him (Kevin) going. Active and scrappy on the offensive glass throughout the second half, and for once managed to avoid fouling himself out. But to go with the active interior play, really, really, struggled to finsih, and still has a really shaky touch in there. Blew at least three assists for Reke, and denied himself probably 10-12 points (and a monster game) as he struggled to an ugly (especially for an interior palyer) 4-16 night. Had a hand, good and bad, in the frantic final minute. Missed a drawn up play out of the timeout with a minute to go with another off the rim shot, but came back 30 seconds later to save the must have board as Brockman missed his 5th FT of the night. Gave us a last chance, but it was for naught as Okafor came up with the huge block on Kevin. So really interesting night. All kinds of numbers. 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and...4-16 shooting.
That's hard to grade. B- may in fact be too high, but if you watched the game Thompson was at the heart of an all hustle lineup including Brockman, Reke, sometimes Noc or Mason or Casspi etc. that really battled the Hornets all night long.
May ( B ) -- started the game immediately playing better physical post defense against Okafor than he had all night against Krstic. Followed it up with a nice pass, and then got a bucket by running the floor. Turned the rebounding around in the first half with 5 in only 12 1/2 minutes. Of course Okafor still had 10, but some of that was against Hawes and Thompson. Was in and out of the lineup after half, but while in continued to make decent contributions, and was an able sub/complement to the banging guys we had going up front. Poked away some balls down low for steals too. All in all, solid game.
Martin ( C- ) -- colorful outing for Keivn in which he took 29 shots, hit only 9 of them, in the process missing more shots than any other King even took, didn't get to the line once, got beat on defense repeatedly, yet made several good hustle plays, finally stepped forward to hit a big shot at the 2:00 mark, only to then make several critical mistakes down the stretch and watch his final game winning three point shot attempt be swatted back in face by the opposing team's center. Got off to a slow start on both sides, opening the game with a three before missing 7 of his next 8 shots, the only hit coming on a nice give and go layup with Beno. On the other end lost Peja on defense, and then got posted by Posey, who was getting clearouts called for him just so he could go to work on Kevin. Made a bad gamble trying to steal the ball from Paul in the backcourt as well. Finshed the half 4-13 and volume shooting. And yet for all that, will say that there was distinctly more effort on defense from Kevin, even if it wasn't always competent defense. Drew several charges. In the late 4th made a great fullcourt hustle save. At least he was trying. On offense briefly began to wake up offensively in the third before the Hornets showed they read my stuff, and re-cooled him with little Bobby Brown -- the counter to Kevin is always quickness. Of course Peja was able to stop him as well in the 4th, which might juat be an indication of how off Kevin was, but also could be Peja inherently understanding a lot of Kevin's game, since a lot of it resembles hs own from back in the day. Chose a good time to finally hit a shot on a running layup at the 2:00 mark to put us in good position down the stretch. But could not stand prosperity, immeditately following it up by turning the ball over on a 24 sec violation by just overdribbling (must have dribbed for 10-12 seconds there) and having nowhere to pass it as the buzzer sounded. And then, in a truly shocking development, tried to jump into a guy to draw a foul at the 30 second mark, and discovered that nope, amazingly the refs STILL aren't going to call that. Same old story. Finally we tried to go to him for a tying three with 5 seconds to go, which given his 2-10 3pt shooting and clutch struggles might seem a dubious decision, but the play was right there. It almost worked. In fact I thought he had the clean look until out of nowhere big ole Emeka Okafor comes flying out to block the shot and seal it. That one at least wasn't on Kevin -- it was a good play, very nearly a good look. Who knows if he makes it if he gets it off, but just a great play by Okafor to stymie it. So 9-29 with some more clutch errors and shaky defense = really terrible grade right? But oddly, no. It was not good, and there is no way in hell Kevin should be taking 29 shots with a player like Reke beside him, Noc going well etc. But there was effort here this time. That has to be worth something.
Evans ( A- ) -- and so the Reke Havoc era perhaps truly begins. This was an impressive game. Not perfect, but impressive. A month ago Tyreke was 19 years old and would have just been starting his sophomore year in college. And tonight he faced down the best PG in the world today and gave him all he wanted for 48 minutes. Not a big statistical first half, but looked pretty impressive out there against Paul. Started off splashing in his first two jumpers, a key for his development of course. And was giving Paul all he wanted, stealing several passes, posting him, hustling back to cut him off on the break. Picked up his third foul in the first half on a bad gamble trying to pick Paul in the backcourt, but fortunately foul trouble never became a major factor therafter (and maybe a sign that Reke knows how to play with fouls as well). Came out in the third and began a bruising back and forth war with Paul that went on right to the final buzzer. Hurt CP3 in the post and with a jumper in the early part of the quarter and then began to really get the post and drive game going, missing layups and finishes, but getting to the line again and again. Not as many setups of other people as you might have liked as he was more in a duel mode with Paul, but he had a few nifty ones, and should have had a number of others were it not for a ton of blown conversions. Missed jumpers are one thing. We missed layups all night long no matter how good the pass. Began to press a little down the stretch and made several mistakes. But suddenly stepped up and hit a big three and then a two to follow as we made a serious bid to steal this one. Hit the boards down the stretch too. But on his way to a possible wow! breakout performance announcing his presence, made a rookie mistake that killed us in the final seconds, overpenetrating and turning it over. Let's call it a Salmons. And so its an A-. But this was as I said really impressive. Its not just that he was lined up across from Chris Paul. Its that he basically wanted him. He isolated him, squared him up, and then went right at him in the post and slashing to the hoop. It was star on star combat. And for a long time it wasn't clear that the MVP candiate was going to get the better of it.
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Hawes ( C- ) -- some interesting developments in this game for Spencer as well, and if he didn't recognize the threat to his minutes previously, he'd be a fool not to after a night in which he was limited to 14 minutes of fade away jumpers and three point shots while a whole cadre of undersized scrappers battled on the boards and sent him to the bench. Came in weakly in the first half, immediately getting scored on and turning the ball over, and then quickly got into foul trouble. Down the stretch of the third was back and did a good job of tipping balls on the offensive glass, but kept on falling away and fading out on his shots and missed almost everything. Meanwhile we were hanging in this one on pure physical grit and muscle, and that's JT's game, Brockman's game, even May's game, not Spencer's. Watched his old college teammate (Brockman) steal his minutes down the stretch of the game, and maybe was wondering if convincing the Maloofs to draft Peaches was such a good idea. But the issue is Spencer's, not Brockman's. Spencer has more talent and potential on his left pinky toe than Jon Brockman has in his whole body. But hey, if you are going to let the little guys come in and battle, and scrap, while you flutter about the perimeter...its on you Spencer. Man up.
Brockman ( B+ ) -- actually started this one slowly, but picked it up against the Hornets still weak bench near the end of the first quarter. Grabbed an offensive board and got the follow blocked, likely something we'll see quite a bit of this year. Dominated the glass down the stretch of the second quarter and finished with 8rebs in only 10+min. Did miss all 3 of his FTs. Was having trouble with West on defense, which given West's skill level is no huge surprise. I was wondering what Westphal was thinking as he didn't bring him back for a single minute of the 3rd, and we still had not seen him by the 9 minute mark of the 4th. Normally if a guy gives you 8rebs in 10 minutes you would think you would be looking for ways to get him back out there as soon as possible. But Westphal answered my question when he reinserted him with 8+ minutes to go in the 4th, and then surprised me by just playing him all the way right down the stretch. Upon returning he instantly got another board, but would only get one more (his 10th) down the stretch. Did however drop a knee into a sensitive part of CP3s anatomy, which has to count for something (for a CP3 three point play in the last 2 minutes, so maybe not such a good thing). Got all the crunchtime minutes, and even found himself with a chance to be a hero with 2 FTs with 25 seconds to go and a chance to tie the game. Unfortunately FT shooting is not a speciality of the "Brockness Monster" (Jerry's term -- I prefer Peaches ) Made the first, bricked the second, and while Jason came up with a big board to save the brick and give us a last shot, it was not to be.
Casspi ( C+ ) -- had a cold shooting start to the first half, but did get back to help on the glass and then came on strong down the stretch of the half with some confident looking scores inside and out. Forgotten about after half, and I'm not sure he was terribly happy about it. May not have been anything he did wrong so much as how scrappy the guys ahead of him were playing.
Mason ( C+ ) -- quickly off the schneid with an alley opp from May to start the game, but only played about 6 first half minutes. Back in the old days we used to call this an "Iavaroni start", in that the starter was just a spot player and the real starter was somebody else (in Iavroni's case, Thurl Bailey played 35min off the bench). Then in the second half we immediately started him off with a jumper. And those twp starter baskets in each half were the grand total of his offensive contribution. In fact the lack of a jumper had the Hornets falling way off of him and daring him to shoot. But he contributed in a tough gritty second half for us, playing physically, and helping on the glass. Certainly nothing special here, and was outplayed by rookie Julian Wright, but he contributed some scrappiness on a night when we had a lot of it.
Thompson ( B- ) -- indifferent first half highlighted by some solid passing. In the second quarter got worked in the post on defense (Okafor and West both), but began to respond back the other way as we headed back into the break. Set a good pick to get Kevin an early hoop in the third as we tried to get him (Kevin) going. Active and scrappy on the offensive glass throughout the second half, and for once managed to avoid fouling himself out. But to go with the active interior play, really, really, struggled to finsih, and still has a really shaky touch in there. Blew at least three assists for Reke, and denied himself probably 10-12 points (and a monster game) as he struggled to an ugly (especially for an interior palyer) 4-16 night. Had a hand, good and bad, in the frantic final minute. Missed a drawn up play out of the timeout with a minute to go with another off the rim shot, but came back 30 seconds later to save the must have board as Brockman missed his 5th FT of the night. Gave us a last chance, but it was for naught as Okafor came up with the huge block on Kevin. So really interesting night. All kinds of numbers. 12 rebounds, 6 assists, and...4-16 shooting.
That's hard to grade. B- may in fact be too high, but if you watched the game Thompson was at the heart of an all hustle lineup including Brockman, Reke, sometimes Noc or Mason or Casspi etc. that really battled the Hornets all night long. May ( B ) -- started the game immediately playing better physical post defense against Okafor than he had all night against Krstic. Followed it up with a nice pass, and then got a bucket by running the floor. Turned the rebounding around in the first half with 5 in only 12 1/2 minutes. Of course Okafor still had 10, but some of that was against Hawes and Thompson. Was in and out of the lineup after half, but while in continued to make decent contributions, and was an able sub/complement to the banging guys we had going up front. Poked away some balls down low for steals too. All in all, solid game.
Martin ( C- ) -- colorful outing for Keivn in which he took 29 shots, hit only 9 of them, in the process missing more shots than any other King even took, didn't get to the line once, got beat on defense repeatedly, yet made several good hustle plays, finally stepped forward to hit a big shot at the 2:00 mark, only to then make several critical mistakes down the stretch and watch his final game winning three point shot attempt be swatted back in face by the opposing team's center. Got off to a slow start on both sides, opening the game with a three before missing 7 of his next 8 shots, the only hit coming on a nice give and go layup with Beno. On the other end lost Peja on defense, and then got posted by Posey, who was getting clearouts called for him just so he could go to work on Kevin. Made a bad gamble trying to steal the ball from Paul in the backcourt as well. Finshed the half 4-13 and volume shooting. And yet for all that, will say that there was distinctly more effort on defense from Kevin, even if it wasn't always competent defense. Drew several charges. In the late 4th made a great fullcourt hustle save. At least he was trying. On offense briefly began to wake up offensively in the third before the Hornets showed they read my stuff, and re-cooled him with little Bobby Brown -- the counter to Kevin is always quickness. Of course Peja was able to stop him as well in the 4th, which might juat be an indication of how off Kevin was, but also could be Peja inherently understanding a lot of Kevin's game, since a lot of it resembles hs own from back in the day. Chose a good time to finally hit a shot on a running layup at the 2:00 mark to put us in good position down the stretch. But could not stand prosperity, immeditately following it up by turning the ball over on a 24 sec violation by just overdribbling (must have dribbed for 10-12 seconds there) and having nowhere to pass it as the buzzer sounded. And then, in a truly shocking development, tried to jump into a guy to draw a foul at the 30 second mark, and discovered that nope, amazingly the refs STILL aren't going to call that. Same old story. Finally we tried to go to him for a tying three with 5 seconds to go, which given his 2-10 3pt shooting and clutch struggles might seem a dubious decision, but the play was right there. It almost worked. In fact I thought he had the clean look until out of nowhere big ole Emeka Okafor comes flying out to block the shot and seal it. That one at least wasn't on Kevin -- it was a good play, very nearly a good look. Who knows if he makes it if he gets it off, but just a great play by Okafor to stymie it. So 9-29 with some more clutch errors and shaky defense = really terrible grade right? But oddly, no. It was not good, and there is no way in hell Kevin should be taking 29 shots with a player like Reke beside him, Noc going well etc. But there was effort here this time. That has to be worth something.
Evans ( A- ) -- and so the Reke Havoc era perhaps truly begins. This was an impressive game. Not perfect, but impressive. A month ago Tyreke was 19 years old and would have just been starting his sophomore year in college. And tonight he faced down the best PG in the world today and gave him all he wanted for 48 minutes. Not a big statistical first half, but looked pretty impressive out there against Paul. Started off splashing in his first two jumpers, a key for his development of course. And was giving Paul all he wanted, stealing several passes, posting him, hustling back to cut him off on the break. Picked up his third foul in the first half on a bad gamble trying to pick Paul in the backcourt, but fortunately foul trouble never became a major factor therafter (and maybe a sign that Reke knows how to play with fouls as well). Came out in the third and began a bruising back and forth war with Paul that went on right to the final buzzer. Hurt CP3 in the post and with a jumper in the early part of the quarter and then began to really get the post and drive game going, missing layups and finishes, but getting to the line again and again. Not as many setups of other people as you might have liked as he was more in a duel mode with Paul, but he had a few nifty ones, and should have had a number of others were it not for a ton of blown conversions. Missed jumpers are one thing. We missed layups all night long no matter how good the pass. Began to press a little down the stretch and made several mistakes. But suddenly stepped up and hit a big three and then a two to follow as we made a serious bid to steal this one. Hit the boards down the stretch too. But on his way to a possible wow! breakout performance announcing his presence, made a rookie mistake that killed us in the final seconds, overpenetrating and turning it over. Let's call it a Salmons. And so its an A-. But this was as I said really impressive. Its not just that he was lined up across from Chris Paul. Its that he basically wanted him. He isolated him, squared him up, and then went right at him in the post and slashing to the hoop. It was star on star combat. And for a long time it wasn't clear that the MVP candiate was going to get the better of it.
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Hawes ( C- ) -- some interesting developments in this game for Spencer as well, and if he didn't recognize the threat to his minutes previously, he'd be a fool not to after a night in which he was limited to 14 minutes of fade away jumpers and three point shots while a whole cadre of undersized scrappers battled on the boards and sent him to the bench. Came in weakly in the first half, immediately getting scored on and turning the ball over, and then quickly got into foul trouble. Down the stretch of the third was back and did a good job of tipping balls on the offensive glass, but kept on falling away and fading out on his shots and missed almost everything. Meanwhile we were hanging in this one on pure physical grit and muscle, and that's JT's game, Brockman's game, even May's game, not Spencer's. Watched his old college teammate (Brockman) steal his minutes down the stretch of the game, and maybe was wondering if convincing the Maloofs to draft Peaches was such a good idea. But the issue is Spencer's, not Brockman's. Spencer has more talent and potential on his left pinky toe than Jon Brockman has in his whole body. But hey, if you are going to let the little guys come in and battle, and scrap, while you flutter about the perimeter...its on you Spencer. Man up.
Brockman ( B+ ) -- actually started this one slowly, but picked it up against the Hornets still weak bench near the end of the first quarter. Grabbed an offensive board and got the follow blocked, likely something we'll see quite a bit of this year. Dominated the glass down the stretch of the second quarter and finished with 8rebs in only 10+min. Did miss all 3 of his FTs. Was having trouble with West on defense, which given West's skill level is no huge surprise. I was wondering what Westphal was thinking as he didn't bring him back for a single minute of the 3rd, and we still had not seen him by the 9 minute mark of the 4th. Normally if a guy gives you 8rebs in 10 minutes you would think you would be looking for ways to get him back out there as soon as possible. But Westphal answered my question when he reinserted him with 8+ minutes to go in the 4th, and then surprised me by just playing him all the way right down the stretch. Upon returning he instantly got another board, but would only get one more (his 10th) down the stretch. Did however drop a knee into a sensitive part of CP3s anatomy, which has to count for something (for a CP3 three point play in the last 2 minutes, so maybe not such a good thing). Got all the crunchtime minutes, and even found himself with a chance to be a hero with 2 FTs with 25 seconds to go and a chance to tie the game. Unfortunately FT shooting is not a speciality of the "Brockness Monster" (Jerry's term -- I prefer Peaches
) Made the first, bricked the second, and while Jason came up with a big board to save the brick and give us a last shot, it was not to be.Casspi ( C+ ) -- had a cold shooting start to the first half, but did get back to help on the glass and then came on strong down the stretch of the half with some confident looking scores inside and out. Forgotten about after half, and I'm not sure he was terribly happy about it. May not have been anything he did wrong so much as how scrappy the guys ahead of him were playing.
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