Boxscore
Nocioni ( C+ ) -- got off to the invisible start and made it to the first TV timeout (i.e halfway through the first quarter) with no stats of any kind. But finally hit a three off a dropoff pass from Reke, and thereafter was an occasional participant on offense, popping up for a spotup three or drive every few minutes. Got moved to smallball PF against West when we initially took out Kenny, but wasn't able to get much done defensively inside, and never showed much on the boards. When I checked the boxscore at the end of this one I was surprised to see how many points/min Noc scored tonight, because while he contributed, this was not really an impact game for him and I don't think he saw the floor in the 4th as we won it.
Thomas ( C- ) -- got the emergency start with Spencer out, and if that isn't an emergency sign that we need a third big I don't know what is. Got lit up by West in the early going, and not surprisingly could not find a role on offense. Tried to work as a passer in the 2nd and but was off target hitting guys out of stride and eventually turned it over. Not much on the glass tonight either, although it should be noted that West isd pathetically soft in that aspect himself and did not hurt us (the Hornets' PF grabbed all of 2 in 40 min). KT's lack of offense was allowing the Hornets to really load up on doubles on Reke and letting them just stand shotblockers in the paint to stop the drive, so Westphal finally went another way with us fading in the third.
Thompson ( A- ) -- the last of our true bigs, and maybe what Jason really needs is to get knocked on his *** every few games because in the wake of the big fall Friday night this was his best outing in several weeks. Got off to the active start to this one and in the early going his contributions were largely the return of his hyper garbaeman game. But also dropped a classic post move turnaround jumper in the 2nd, and wrapped up a strong first half wiht 16pts 8rebs (the second night in a row one of our bigs has dropped 16pts 8rebs in the first half against somebody). Different story after half, as Okafor came on strong and got the better of it, dominating the interior on both ends. While Jason held up his end statistically, he never was terribly effective defenisvely, and it really was 2 big games (Okafor and West) vs. Jason's one. Recovered a bit in the 4th and was active again down the stretch. May have just been tired, as as our only big over 6'7" tonight he went almost the entire way.
Greene ( B+ ) -- relatively short minutes tonight, but I have to tell you a) much better than the stats; and b) I really like what I am seeing in Donte even playing what I would consider to be out of position. There was some quick shooting early, but was also doing a nice job of creating for teammates and swung the ball willingly and rapidly whenever he was out there. Actually think our ball movement may have been better with Donte than it was with the two PGs off the bench. Showed nice defensive versatility as well, not only handling the SG duties, but doing a nice job holding off Okafor on a switch, and then blocking him out for the board off the miss. At his size showing hints he could be one of those really unique defenders able to matchup anywhere from SG to C. Derrick McKey could do that. A young Horry. Rodman (don't you dare take that comparison any further). If he can just keep his focus the potential there is tremendous. Not as effective after half and eventually left the game in favor of Beno/Sergio, but on this night I think it was really more about Reke finally struggling in a game and needing another ballhandler than it was about Donte himself.
Evans ( C- ) -- the Hornets made the conscious decision tonight to limit Reke, and they succeeded. But in the process they made things easier for other Kings all over the court and we sent them home with a loss. Works for me. The offgame is almost a relief in some ways, as if Reke kept scoring 20pts every single night a) he was going to go down as one of the best rookies of the last 20 years, and b) that 20pt night was eventually going to become a C or C+ on the Reke scale. So anyway, got off to a slow start, and already you could see the Hornets loading the paint against him. Had some early problems losing control of the ball and getting it stripped -- not sure what that was, just seemed "off". Never did get on the boards tonight either, and just in general did not seem as in command of the game as he has been. Despite the struggles his first two hoops were real highlight reel beauties of the drive. Started several two pass and an open three sequences reading doubles and finding where one Hornet player was having to cover two guys. But also got impatient with the packed in defenses and tried to force things that were not there. Showed some real defenisve intimidation in the 2nd quarter with a flying knee to the head of an unfortunate player that would have made Bruce Bowen proud. Unfortunately the victim was Beno and he was knocked to the floor stunned, and with his family in the stands too. Reke better hope daddy doesn't own a gun... Started off the third trying to post and take advntage of the huge size advantage, but both Hornets bigs were blatantly cheating off of KT and Jason and there was no path to the hoop. That strategy hasn't been as effective recently, and again it wasn't efficient tonight. We may need to draw up a better scheme to get those extra defenders out of the lane, because all its doing rihgt now is clogging up the offense. Finally started to get into a little rhythm at the end of the 3rd, but picked up an offensive foul and then fouled Devin Brown at the buzzer to prevent the leakout layup at the close of the quarter. Finally found a bit of an answer by hitting several midrange jumpers in the 4th -- and the development of that shot will clearly be the one that sets him free from these kind of defensive tactics, same way it did for Kobe. despite being moderately more effective in the 4th, never really did get that healthy rhythm down, and was largely playing off the ball late while Beno/Sergio ran things. In fact tonight for the first time we saw a three guard Sergio/Beno/Reke lineup that often had him effectively playing SF. Given the wasteland that is New Orelans' backcourt without Paul/Peja, it was a tactic wihtout any serious drawbacks. Would not want to see it against the Lakers though.
Nocioni ( C+ ) -- got off to the invisible start and made it to the first TV timeout (i.e halfway through the first quarter) with no stats of any kind. But finally hit a three off a dropoff pass from Reke, and thereafter was an occasional participant on offense, popping up for a spotup three or drive every few minutes. Got moved to smallball PF against West when we initially took out Kenny, but wasn't able to get much done defensively inside, and never showed much on the boards. When I checked the boxscore at the end of this one I was surprised to see how many points/min Noc scored tonight, because while he contributed, this was not really an impact game for him and I don't think he saw the floor in the 4th as we won it.
Thomas ( C- ) -- got the emergency start with Spencer out, and if that isn't an emergency sign that we need a third big I don't know what is. Got lit up by West in the early going, and not surprisingly could not find a role on offense. Tried to work as a passer in the 2nd and but was off target hitting guys out of stride and eventually turned it over. Not much on the glass tonight either, although it should be noted that West isd pathetically soft in that aspect himself and did not hurt us (the Hornets' PF grabbed all of 2 in 40 min). KT's lack of offense was allowing the Hornets to really load up on doubles on Reke and letting them just stand shotblockers in the paint to stop the drive, so Westphal finally went another way with us fading in the third.
Thompson ( A- ) -- the last of our true bigs, and maybe what Jason really needs is to get knocked on his *** every few games because in the wake of the big fall Friday night this was his best outing in several weeks. Got off to the active start to this one and in the early going his contributions were largely the return of his hyper garbaeman game. But also dropped a classic post move turnaround jumper in the 2nd, and wrapped up a strong first half wiht 16pts 8rebs (the second night in a row one of our bigs has dropped 16pts 8rebs in the first half against somebody). Different story after half, as Okafor came on strong and got the better of it, dominating the interior on both ends. While Jason held up his end statistically, he never was terribly effective defenisvely, and it really was 2 big games (Okafor and West) vs. Jason's one. Recovered a bit in the 4th and was active again down the stretch. May have just been tired, as as our only big over 6'7" tonight he went almost the entire way.
Greene ( B+ ) -- relatively short minutes tonight, but I have to tell you a) much better than the stats; and b) I really like what I am seeing in Donte even playing what I would consider to be out of position. There was some quick shooting early, but was also doing a nice job of creating for teammates and swung the ball willingly and rapidly whenever he was out there. Actually think our ball movement may have been better with Donte than it was with the two PGs off the bench. Showed nice defensive versatility as well, not only handling the SG duties, but doing a nice job holding off Okafor on a switch, and then blocking him out for the board off the miss. At his size showing hints he could be one of those really unique defenders able to matchup anywhere from SG to C. Derrick McKey could do that. A young Horry. Rodman (don't you dare take that comparison any further). If he can just keep his focus the potential there is tremendous. Not as effective after half and eventually left the game in favor of Beno/Sergio, but on this night I think it was really more about Reke finally struggling in a game and needing another ballhandler than it was about Donte himself.
Evans ( C- ) -- the Hornets made the conscious decision tonight to limit Reke, and they succeeded. But in the process they made things easier for other Kings all over the court and we sent them home with a loss. Works for me. The offgame is almost a relief in some ways, as if Reke kept scoring 20pts every single night a) he was going to go down as one of the best rookies of the last 20 years, and b) that 20pt night was eventually going to become a C or C+ on the Reke scale. So anyway, got off to a slow start, and already you could see the Hornets loading the paint against him. Had some early problems losing control of the ball and getting it stripped -- not sure what that was, just seemed "off". Never did get on the boards tonight either, and just in general did not seem as in command of the game as he has been. Despite the struggles his first two hoops were real highlight reel beauties of the drive. Started several two pass and an open three sequences reading doubles and finding where one Hornet player was having to cover two guys. But also got impatient with the packed in defenses and tried to force things that were not there. Showed some real defenisve intimidation in the 2nd quarter with a flying knee to the head of an unfortunate player that would have made Bruce Bowen proud. Unfortunately the victim was Beno and he was knocked to the floor stunned, and with his family in the stands too. Reke better hope daddy doesn't own a gun... Started off the third trying to post and take advntage of the huge size advantage, but both Hornets bigs were blatantly cheating off of KT and Jason and there was no path to the hoop. That strategy hasn't been as effective recently, and again it wasn't efficient tonight. We may need to draw up a better scheme to get those extra defenders out of the lane, because all its doing rihgt now is clogging up the offense. Finally started to get into a little rhythm at the end of the 3rd, but picked up an offensive foul and then fouled Devin Brown at the buzzer to prevent the leakout layup at the close of the quarter. Finally found a bit of an answer by hitting several midrange jumpers in the 4th -- and the development of that shot will clearly be the one that sets him free from these kind of defensive tactics, same way it did for Kobe. despite being moderately more effective in the 4th, never really did get that healthy rhythm down, and was largely playing off the ball late while Beno/Sergio ran things. In fact tonight for the first time we saw a three guard Sergio/Beno/Reke lineup that often had him effectively playing SF. Given the wasteland that is New Orelans' backcourt without Paul/Peja, it was a tactic wihtout any serious drawbacks. Would not want to see it against the Lakers though.
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