Nocioni ( C- ) -- solid in the early going and splashed in a three, but overshadowed by the rest of the team's fireworks. Minutes were held down by our flood of productive guys off the bench -- Casspi in particular. Came out ragged to start the third, forcing a post shot, then getting out of control on the break and charging. With Coach going to the bench looking for a spark, and again finding it in Casspi/Udrih, lost the rest of his second half minutes.
Thompson ( B- ) -- was off to a middling start to this one when he had his defining moment of the game -- unfortunately for Jason that defining moment was a big hard hard foul from Brooke Lopez on the break -- pulled him right out of the sky to thud on his back hard enough to shake Arco's rotting rafters, and Jason had no chance to catch himself to break the fall (maybe a good thing as that's a good way to break an arm). Returned and grabbed a few boards, but minutes and production were both short. Last seen in the first half falling on his behind after having the chair pulled out from under him. Started off the 3rd with a jumper but then largely disappeared until picking a bad time to pick up his 4th foul with Hawes already hurt and out of the game by the middle of the quarter. Resulted in Westphal's nightmare scenario with one of his two bigs hurt and the other a hackmaster (JT is again leading the entire NBA in fouls/gm by a wide margin), and a succession of ridiculous May/Brockman, Brockman/KT type frontlines that would be considered stubby in college, let alone the NBA facing a good young center like Lopez. Perhaps learning to play with fouls, since he always has them, as he was decently effective in the 4th, coming up with a momentum swinging shotblock in the mid quarter and focusing this time on the defensive glass rather than the offensive. Not an impact performance again, but hung in there and provided a little help after the big fall.
Hawes ( A- ) -- and so another strong half game from Spencer, this time bineg limited not by coach but by an injury (minor). Got a lot of early points just playing garbageman on the offensive glass and pick and roll with Evans -- they are developing a real chemistry especially on the high pick and roll from the top of the key. Was hanging inthe paint against Brook Lopez, even after bieng splatted once early. And was playing big on defense -- and by big here I don't mean dominant, I just mean was staying tall and with a lot of double team help holding Lopez down somewhat (Lopez had 11 first half points, and only averages 17, but it felt like a struggle). Played right through the first half and was a major component of our almost embarrassing first half board dominance. Finsihed the first half having played 24 minutes, and with 16pts and 8rebs to Lopez's 11pts 3reds. Didn't chuck his first three until late in the half, but unfortunately in the third it was Flutter who came out of the locker room, not the first half guy. Started chucking more threes, turning it over, and I wanted to just go down there and slap him -- how do you just forget how to play big man in the space of a single halftime? But this time there may have been an excuse -- about 5 minutes into the third quarter, wiht Spencer playing awfully and the team flat, Westphal made the call...and who you gonna call? Sean May.
I found that dubious as a way to change momentum, May proved me right in thinking it was dubious, but it turned out maybe Coach did not have a choice as Spencer was spotted limping over on the sideline, and it turns out he had banged knees with somebody inthe first half and was having problems in the second -- he never returned. If this was the first time we had ever seen Flutter take the court, I would attribute the poor second half largely to the injury. As its been a season long issue...well, I just hope it was the injury. In any case the strong first half against a legit full sized center carries the bulk of this grade, and we can all just pretend that Specner never came out of that lockerroom after half (and in many ways he actually didn't).
Greene ( B- ) -- in the first half was much better than the modest numbers here indicate -- worked very well with Evans, with the two guys taking turns setting each other up. The shot blocking was back, showed surprising ballhandling and really nifty passing, including one bouncepass on the break that actually passed right under Lopez's foot in midstride and hit Reke in stride for the foul (hence no assist). There were some problems -- against the quicker guard (Douglas Roberts) this time out his ballhandling and extreme desire to drive right was more obvious. And while he was putting in the effort on defense and rocking up the interior blocks, Douglas-Roberts was actually scoring back the other way pretty prolifically. Still, you would have ben hard pressed to call the first half Evans/Greene backcourt pairing anything but a grand success. But after half...much like Noc...and Hawes...and well just about everyone, it was a different story. Wasn't a question of Donte doing poorly so much as just not able to get anything going at all after half, and he only lasted a few minuts before being replaced by SuperBeno. And of course once SuperBeno takes the floor, there is no getting him off of it.
Evans ( B ) -- and so the continued grading difficulty with a rook who is at once so consistent (9 straight games he has scored 19 or more points) and who has so much potential that a 21pt 8reb game is just hohum and leaves me talking mostly about its flaws. Reke and Donte started off this one playing extremely well together, with their off court friendship apparently playing into a real oncourt chemistry. And with the 6'11" Donte as a SG, Reke again got to work on the opposing team's PG, in this case a good, if rusty (coming off of injury) defender in Devin Harris. And Reke just whipped him, easily, for the first 24 minutes. Major key was that he was hitting his jumpers, and trhen that is happening it just makes it nearly impossible for his defender. So Reke ended up just casually dominating the half and Harris was never a factor on either end of the court. But like a lot of things in this game, things changed after half. Harris came out much more aggressive to start the third and went right at Reke, and when I say went right at him, I mean right at him -- couldn't get around him, but was repeatedly working up a head of steam and driving right into his chest and drawing fouls. Meanwhile Reke kind of started pressing, just trying to just ram the ball down the court wihtout plan. Got several shots blocked in there, and it felt much more like the game in Memphis, where Reke put up big numbers but it felt individualistic. And maybe, given our 3rd quarter collapse here, that is Reke's response when nobody else is doing anything -- loses confidence in hsi teammates and just tries to do it himself. But for whatever the reason his imapct and control of the game slipped, and while he still was making the occasional nice play, still was working the defensive glass, he was no longer leading the team until the arrival of SuperBeno bailed everybody out. Beno for the most part ran the team down the stretch, and I think a key component to Beno's early success has been teams really gearing themselves up to stop Reke, and then when Beno comes in aggressive and takes over the duties, they can't handle the extra attacker. Were some scattered good and bad moments in the 4th for Reke. Made a bad play dribbling too long, getting doubled, and then throwing a desperate crosscourt pass to try to escape that was picked off to start a Nets break. But also stepped up to take and hit his only three of the game at a key moment to stave off Nets momentum. So strong first half, not so strong second half with decent numbers but not much impact. A mere 21pt 8reb 3ast on 50% shooting night. So let's call this one a B.
Oh BTW, fun factoid:
Brandon Roy 36.7min 19.8pts (.446FG% .791FT%) 4.4reb 5.2ast 0.4stl 0.2blk 2.1TO
Tyreke Evans 35.8min 19.1pts (.450Fg% .785FT%) 5.3reb 4.8ast 1.4stl 0.4blk 3.1TO
Thompson ( B- ) -- was off to a middling start to this one when he had his defining moment of the game -- unfortunately for Jason that defining moment was a big hard hard foul from Brooke Lopez on the break -- pulled him right out of the sky to thud on his back hard enough to shake Arco's rotting rafters, and Jason had no chance to catch himself to break the fall (maybe a good thing as that's a good way to break an arm). Returned and grabbed a few boards, but minutes and production were both short. Last seen in the first half falling on his behind after having the chair pulled out from under him. Started off the 3rd with a jumper but then largely disappeared until picking a bad time to pick up his 4th foul with Hawes already hurt and out of the game by the middle of the quarter. Resulted in Westphal's nightmare scenario with one of his two bigs hurt and the other a hackmaster (JT is again leading the entire NBA in fouls/gm by a wide margin), and a succession of ridiculous May/Brockman, Brockman/KT type frontlines that would be considered stubby in college, let alone the NBA facing a good young center like Lopez. Perhaps learning to play with fouls, since he always has them, as he was decently effective in the 4th, coming up with a momentum swinging shotblock in the mid quarter and focusing this time on the defensive glass rather than the offensive. Not an impact performance again, but hung in there and provided a little help after the big fall.
Hawes ( A- ) -- and so another strong half game from Spencer, this time bineg limited not by coach but by an injury (minor). Got a lot of early points just playing garbageman on the offensive glass and pick and roll with Evans -- they are developing a real chemistry especially on the high pick and roll from the top of the key. Was hanging inthe paint against Brook Lopez, even after bieng splatted once early. And was playing big on defense -- and by big here I don't mean dominant, I just mean was staying tall and with a lot of double team help holding Lopez down somewhat (Lopez had 11 first half points, and only averages 17, but it felt like a struggle). Played right through the first half and was a major component of our almost embarrassing first half board dominance. Finsihed the first half having played 24 minutes, and with 16pts and 8rebs to Lopez's 11pts 3reds. Didn't chuck his first three until late in the half, but unfortunately in the third it was Flutter who came out of the locker room, not the first half guy. Started chucking more threes, turning it over, and I wanted to just go down there and slap him -- how do you just forget how to play big man in the space of a single halftime? But this time there may have been an excuse -- about 5 minutes into the third quarter, wiht Spencer playing awfully and the team flat, Westphal made the call...and who you gonna call? Sean May.
I found that dubious as a way to change momentum, May proved me right in thinking it was dubious, but it turned out maybe Coach did not have a choice as Spencer was spotted limping over on the sideline, and it turns out he had banged knees with somebody inthe first half and was having problems in the second -- he never returned. If this was the first time we had ever seen Flutter take the court, I would attribute the poor second half largely to the injury. As its been a season long issue...well, I just hope it was the injury. In any case the strong first half against a legit full sized center carries the bulk of this grade, and we can all just pretend that Specner never came out of that lockerroom after half (and in many ways he actually didn't).Greene ( B- ) -- in the first half was much better than the modest numbers here indicate -- worked very well with Evans, with the two guys taking turns setting each other up. The shot blocking was back, showed surprising ballhandling and really nifty passing, including one bouncepass on the break that actually passed right under Lopez's foot in midstride and hit Reke in stride for the foul (hence no assist). There were some problems -- against the quicker guard (Douglas Roberts) this time out his ballhandling and extreme desire to drive right was more obvious. And while he was putting in the effort on defense and rocking up the interior blocks, Douglas-Roberts was actually scoring back the other way pretty prolifically. Still, you would have ben hard pressed to call the first half Evans/Greene backcourt pairing anything but a grand success. But after half...much like Noc...and Hawes...and well just about everyone, it was a different story. Wasn't a question of Donte doing poorly so much as just not able to get anything going at all after half, and he only lasted a few minuts before being replaced by SuperBeno. And of course once SuperBeno takes the floor, there is no getting him off of it.
Evans ( B ) -- and so the continued grading difficulty with a rook who is at once so consistent (9 straight games he has scored 19 or more points) and who has so much potential that a 21pt 8reb game is just hohum and leaves me talking mostly about its flaws. Reke and Donte started off this one playing extremely well together, with their off court friendship apparently playing into a real oncourt chemistry. And with the 6'11" Donte as a SG, Reke again got to work on the opposing team's PG, in this case a good, if rusty (coming off of injury) defender in Devin Harris. And Reke just whipped him, easily, for the first 24 minutes. Major key was that he was hitting his jumpers, and trhen that is happening it just makes it nearly impossible for his defender. So Reke ended up just casually dominating the half and Harris was never a factor on either end of the court. But like a lot of things in this game, things changed after half. Harris came out much more aggressive to start the third and went right at Reke, and when I say went right at him, I mean right at him -- couldn't get around him, but was repeatedly working up a head of steam and driving right into his chest and drawing fouls. Meanwhile Reke kind of started pressing, just trying to just ram the ball down the court wihtout plan. Got several shots blocked in there, and it felt much more like the game in Memphis, where Reke put up big numbers but it felt individualistic. And maybe, given our 3rd quarter collapse here, that is Reke's response when nobody else is doing anything -- loses confidence in hsi teammates and just tries to do it himself. But for whatever the reason his imapct and control of the game slipped, and while he still was making the occasional nice play, still was working the defensive glass, he was no longer leading the team until the arrival of SuperBeno bailed everybody out. Beno for the most part ran the team down the stretch, and I think a key component to Beno's early success has been teams really gearing themselves up to stop Reke, and then when Beno comes in aggressive and takes over the duties, they can't handle the extra attacker. Were some scattered good and bad moments in the 4th for Reke. Made a bad play dribbling too long, getting doubled, and then throwing a desperate crosscourt pass to try to escape that was picked off to start a Nets break. But also stepped up to take and hit his only three of the game at a key moment to stave off Nets momentum. So strong first half, not so strong second half with decent numbers but not much impact. A mere 21pt 8reb 3ast on 50% shooting night. So let's call this one a B.
Oh BTW, fun factoid:
Brandon Roy 36.7min 19.8pts (.446FG% .791FT%) 4.4reb 5.2ast 0.4stl 0.2blk 2.1TO
Tyreke Evans 35.8min 19.1pts (.450Fg% .785FT%) 5.3reb 4.8ast 1.4stl 0.4blk 3.1TO
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