Grades v. Celtics 02/16/10

Which Geoff are we going to see at the trading deadline?

  • Sleepy: [IMG]http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l306/atilladahun_2006/GeoffAsleep1.jpg[/IMG]

    Votes: 47 77.0%
  • Stinky: [IMG]http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l306/atilladahun_2006/GeoffFart1.jpg[/IMG]

    Votes: 14 23.0%

  • Total voters
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1
Okay, time for me to pick up my grading game. No more of this next day stuff.

So first of all, all that seperated us and the Celtics tonight was FT shooting. They got physical, we got physical back. They played defense, we played defense. Their offense sucked eggs, our offense sucked eggs. But in the end, they hit their FTs, we did not, game over.

Second, Theme tonight = Beautiful College Campuses

Third, I'll try to get them up same night/early monring from now on. So onto the grades.

Boxscore

Casspi ( B+ ) -- maybe still hyped about the All Star game and raced off to a hot start pouring in 10 points from the perimeter. Thre win a nice block on KG inside in the midst to the hot streak as he was just all fired up. Cooled in the second. Fell down on the dribble and turned it over. Got a layup on the break on a nifty feed from Reke. Hit a jumper off a scramble play in the early 3rd as points begane ot get more dofficult to come by for us. Missed a straight on three. Inverted the normal order of things with
the nice feed to Evans cutting inside. Came up with the big three from Reke to give us the lead in the late 4th with 3:30 to go and looked like he might be poised to be the hero, or at least one of them. Things took a bad turn though as out of the resulting Boston timeout Omri immediately got a
goaltend on Pierce to give the lead right back. Missed a desperation heave against the clock. Then it was time for FT fun, which in Omri's case seldom is. Got fouled on the drive against Pierce out of the timeout at the 1:30 mark, and with a chance to tie the game... missed them both. Made
a mistake at the 5 second mark, getting the ball when we needed a three to tie and dribbling into the paint to get fouled with 4 seconds to go. So he misses the first, and then we check in John Brockman, and I have no idea why Jerry was so surprised -- you had to know why. So Omri tries to miss the second one...and instead, now it goes in. Missed all the ones he needed to make then made the one he needed to miss. At the 2 second mark, got the ball again after Boston hit 2 FTs the other way and again did not get the shot up and was back at the line. This time did it right, hit the first, intentionally missed the second, but it was too late and we could not get the FT. Played a inspired game for most of it. Competed hard and did not back down. But at the end of the game it came down to FT shooting, and there you find one of Omri's weakest suits.


Locust Walk -- UPenn -- I start with this one not out of alumni pride but simply because it was the one that started the conversation months ago that inspired this theme. Locust Walk is the famous walk down the heart of Penn's campus that thousands of students walk every day. Its a gorgeous green shelter from the surrounding city in spring and summer, and yes, most of the buildings surrounding the walk are covered in ivy, historic, or both.

Greene ( C ) -- started off knocking down an open three, but then got a bit out of control on the next few positions. Could not rebound his position in the 2nd and lost his minutes to JT. Missed a short jumper to start the third. Strong drive and foul and finaly hit the pair of FTs. Got picked up top by Pierce and Garnett, who have been known to do that. In and out three as we had a streak of those in the late 3rd as we were falling back. Drew a charge at the end of the 3rd. Joined Kevin over on the bench for the 4th as JT and Beno took their spots and that unit scrapped and clawed and hung in there against a tough veteran crew. But Donte competed while he was out there -- just about everybody did. Competed, had a few good moments, certainly wasn't destroyed by the ghost of Garnett. But struggled wiht his shot, his loose handle got exposed by the Celtics defense, and generally not one of his better games.

Redwood Park -- Humboldt State University -- and to be fair before I advance to the other schools, this was the picture borught up by the person I was chatting with. Humboldt State Univeristy is up in Eureka, CA. Redwood country. You won't normally find it on a list of most beautiful college campuses, but damn if it isn't surrounded by gorgeous redwoods and incorporates places like this within its boundaries.

Hawes ( B- ) -- interesting game in which Spencer put up indifferent numbers but did the one thing that matters most for much of the night and went out and competed. Not much statistically in the first half, but active on defense in the early going. Started the third with a missed fall away hook. Threw a weak pass trying to hit Reke that Rondo picked off, but got back to defend the layup and cause Rondo to miss. Got back again on the break to disrupt an Allen layup attempt and was hustling at that end. Hit a toilet bowl running hook in the early 4th. Hit Beno on the cut (he seems to be the only guy out there still running Princeton stuff with our holdover guards Beno and Kevin), then stepped up and hit a three in the mid quarter. Of course this encouraged him to take another three down the stretch, which he bricked. Missed the galloping drive at the 50 second mark after Reke could not get anything going. Only shot 3-10 for the game and was too soft with his offense, but had 9pts 8rebs on the night, and they were competitive ones. Was in there with the strtech run crew battling, and even though he did not have a great impact on the outcome, it never felt like we were playing 4 on 5.

University of Virginia -- I applied there for law school, but did not stop on by until years later when I was in the D.C. area. Beautiful campus originally designed by Thomas Jefferson, and has that colonial feel to it. All white columns and green green grass.
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#2
Martin ( C ) -- hit the opening shot of the game, but quickly knocked into offensive passivity and seemed to willingly moved into the role of passive passer. That's of course both the good and the bad news. Had 4 first half assists, not of the creative variety, but just by willingly swinging it around the perimeter to open people. The hesitiation as he looks for his own shot was largely not there tonight, and the offensive flowed better because of it. On the other hand the reason the hesitation was not there was because Kevin was not even looking for his shot in the early going, and then later when he did, he wasn't getting the ball. So...different. You can feel him trying to make it work. After another 11pt 3-10 shooting night where he spent the 4th quarter on the bench, you can still see it really isn't. Did throw up one quick shot three out of frustratin at not touching it I think, but otherwise just swung the ball around in the early going. Fouled on an aggressive drive at the end of the quarter. Should have got the ball on a Reke drive on the break, got it belatedly, and then promptly airballed the three. Got blocked at the rim. Dropped his arms after he realized Reke was not going to pass it to him on the perimeter, but when he finally did get it dirbbled left for a nice pullup. Better effort on defense, at least in spurts. Was actually closeing out on his man, and I only spotted him releasing early to cherry pick one time, and that was mostly the correct play -- he was running a t a three point shooter at the time. Missed a three off a nice baseline pass from Hawes. Missed the corner two in the early third. Not involved in the 3rd. Finally in the mid quarter did his step to the left jumper over Allen. Had a painful end to the quarter as even Kevin was competing on this night. Hit the deck several times runnning into picks on defense. Hit the ground again getting run over by KG on the break. A three off the ball movement popped out at the 2:30 mark of the 3rd. And went to the bench wiht all of his numbers for the night. Did not play at all in the 4th as we found a crew who played well together with Reke/Beno/Casspi in the backcourt, and the full sized frontline. Finally in at the 15 second mark when we were down 4 and needed a three. So he tried to fit in, but in the process got irrelevant -- same story, same problem. Gets a bump above his numbers here for competing and trying to play both sides of the ball.


University of Michigan -- Law Quad -- speaking of great public law schools (UVA, Michigan and Berkeley are the three best), here is Michigan's beautiful law quad. Applied there too as a safety, although have no idea what I would have done in Michigan. Had a friedn accept and go there though, and now know why she kept sending me mocking emails about how much prettier her law school was.

Evans ( B ) -- good drive to start but mostly quiet in the early going.
Settled for a couple of jumpers, which were off. Was involved in some tough physical drives in the first half with punishment being dished out in both directions. In the second quarter began to heat up witthe to the basket game, and as usual it was spectacular. Really nice fastbreak dishing to Casspi after a nifty fake to freeze the defender. Another nice break with the alley oop to JT. Beat Rondo and was fouled. Then a great drive on the break. Forced a jumper after dribbling out 18 seconds of the clock looking for penetration. Another tough drive and back to the line -- and boy was it getting physical. We kept on trying top post him on Rondo, but could not even get the ball to him. Quick and strong take out of the high post blowing past Allen and getting fouled. Missed too many FTs in the late 3rd/early 4th -- a disease that would prove catching unofrtunately. Slap steal on Daniels, which the Celtics got back. Was teaming wiht JT to really munch boards on the d-glass. Not able to find seams down the stretch as Boston soft shifted the defense his way, and we just weren't getting good shots. One on one pull up jumper that clanked off the glass. Explosive drive with less than two mintues to go, could not get the conversion, but grabbed the o-board and kicked it back out. Quick drive out of the timeout at the 15 second mark but lost his footing and could not finish it. But then came back and drained the clutch three at the 6 second mark to make it a 1pt game. Again not padding -- Reke stepped up, and it could have happened until we died under a flurry of missed FTs. Just playing with so much confidence, and the All Star experience can only have added to the inevitable. The C's are obviously a top defensive team, and their sagging and constant shifting of the defense in his direction (at times even harassing him full court with two guys) was a puzzle Reke could not consistently solve. And yet he played a major league game and showed more of the star stuff than any of the Celtics big names on his way to a near triple double: 17pts 11rebs 7ast.


Cornell University -- Triphammer Gorge -- when I was at law school I had a little friend who introduced me to Cornell's (she was a grad) ridiculously beautiful Triphammer Gorge. In fact the whole campus is surrounded by beautiful falls and gorges. So beautiful however that like the sirens of myth it seems to have the power to lure people to their doom. The gorge is not only famous for its beauty, but also because of a long string of suicides as depressed students dive off the bridge.
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#3
Bench

Udrih ( C+ ) -- came in off the bench firing for 5 quick points, but slowed thereafter. Got picked by Rondo, then got his shot blcoked at the 1st quarter buzzer. Back in late in the third and a joined the parade of threes rattling out. Scored on a cut courtesy of Spencer. Threw a bad pass turnover trying to feed Reke in the post on Rondo -- was not the only one. We need work on our post entries, and reke needs experience holding off an aggressive defender. Missed the open stop and pop, butstill ran virtually the entire way in the 4th quarter -- not because of anything in particular he was doing, but simply because he was part of a unit that fighting and scrapping and clawing and finding a ways to not only stay in the game but to make up ground. So he stayed, and Kevin sat.

Stanford -- how bout some Stanford? Rich and immaculate. Its all red tile roofs, covered colonnades, and those silly little mop topped bushes that Californians and Pacific Islanders try to claim are real trees.

Thompson ( B+ ) -- ineffective first stint getting outmuscled on the boards, but would come on strong down the close of this one to be a major factor. Got a block on Allen inside when Ray overpenetrated and I guess got about 22 feet too close to be offensively effective. JT threw up several of his clumsy airballs and what not in the paint and it was looking like same ole with him. Go the alley oop from Reke late in the half. Got his shot blocked on our final offensive play of the half, but got it back and laid it in. Bunch of first half stats -- 6pts 4reb 3blk, but did not look that effective once more. Got backed down and overpowered in the post at the end of the third by Sheed, and was out there right through a horrid stretch where we did not score for something like 4-5 minutes. And then the 4th quarter came around, and all of a sudden the light went on for Jason. He entered the quarter with 8pts and 4rebs. 12 minutes later he had 14pts and 11rebs. Got the help block on Big Baby to start the quarter. Then laid a hard screen on House. Missed another short jumper. Strong rebound and finish in the mid quarter, and was really dominating the glass by that point. Forced up a tough shot on the drive. Good offensive board, and then stepped in and calmly hit the jumper for the lead again. Came up with a huge block down the stretch on KG at the 30 second mark, then got the ball from Reke, went inside and got fouled to go to the line with a chance to tie the game and be a hero...and he too choked both the FTs as we just shot ourselves in the foot so often we probably blew the damn thing right off. The big quarter right when we needed it, down the stretch against the Cs might have even threatened to ush him up into A- type territory. But the chokejob at the end knocks him back down. Assuming he doesn't let the ending destroy his confidence again and send him into another whoa is me spiral, this though was a game he could build off of - for once not just numbers, but impact.


Swathmore College -- Swarthmore is one of the "baby Ivies", like Amherst or Williams a top small (1500 students) liberal arts school with admissions standards almost as exclusive as their bigger cousins. Its also a beautiful school. I applied there at the same time I applied to Penn, and since it too is in the Philly area, made it a point to go out for a visit after I arrived in town. Beautiful rolling tree filled campus.

Nocioni ( INC ) -- we played all 12 active guys last night...which means that Sergio was deactivated BTW, and in a silly display none of the last 5 of them played more than 7 minutes. Just put them in almost just to say we had done so. Look at us! We have depth! 5min a game depth! Woot! Anyway, Noc's own time amounted to 4 min 30 seconds in the first half, during which he stepped up and knocked down a three courtesy of a Reke kickout. All for the low low price of $9mil a year.

Pepperdine -- you know, for such a famously beautiful college, there really was no iconic shot of it I could find around the web. Part of the problem is that the very key to its beauty is that it sits up on the Malibu cliffs overlooking the Pacific. So of course you want to try to get the water in the shot, which means that you somehow have to get up above the college, and its not shown to best advantage. Or you can take to from down below -- I drove by it one night down on the highway below and it was all lit up against the night and loooked like a fairy castle -- but then of course you lose the whole on the cliffs over the ocean context. In any case, its purdy.
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#4
Brockman ( INC ) -- got a combined 5min in a short first half stint, and then a few seconds late as we needed a designated rebounder. The highlights were getting fed in the post and outmuscling Sheed for a layup at the rim, and getting a hustle steal running into a passing lane from behind on the break. Was back into the game at the end of the 4th, and why wasn't exactly a mystery. With Casspi on the line and us down three, it was Brock's job to try to grab Casspi's intentionally missed FT (and in the worst disguised play of all time Casspi even called him over to whisper in his ear just before the attempt). But of course Omri can only make them when he tries to miss them, so Peaches never had a chance.


Princeton -- old college rivalries aside, I would be remiss if I did not mention Geoff's alma mater Princeton. And its not just the beautiful campus itself either, but also the lovely surrounding college town with its quaint tree lined streets. First saw it when I was a little kid and while I don't think I quite knew what it all meant at the time, I'm sure it influenced my tastes for what a college should look like from an early edge.

Cicso ( INC ) -- hey everybody, did you hear that Cisco is back? Well kinda. Returned to action for the first time since the nasty accident to a nice ovation, but it was a mere 1min 30sec cameo and he got nothing accomplished during it. And it must be said, although returning after the All Star break makes perfect sense, when you see an injured guy come back at this time of the year, get on court just to prove he can get on court, get a nice ovation and then almost as quickly sit down, you always have to wonder is that him finally getting in to say hello? Or is that him being showcased as healthy and being given a brief cameo to say goodbye? Ah, the nuttiness of trade season.
And since their ancient rivalry is so legendary, why not:

Oxford -- maybe the most famous school of them all, and looks like Hogwarts to those of us stateside; and

Cambridge -- just don't walk on their perfectly manicured grass (I had a college friend who went their for grad school, and I guess its all strictly look but don't touch stay off the grass stuff).
 
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Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#5
Udoka ( INC ) -- in for defense and to save fouls on Reke in the last minute of the half. Got beat by Rondo on the final play of the half, but
Rondo lost the ball. 43 sec on the night.


UCSB -- somebody called for Santa Barbara? In honor of my brother here you go. Its not the architecture, but the aerial shot shows the real beauty of the locale.

May ( C+ ) -- got into the game myteriously in the mid third, but gave us a bit of a lift. On one possesion blocked a Pierce snot and then after Pierce got it back, drew the offensive foul. Went down the other way with some bounce in his step, got an offensive board, but then KG returned the blocked shot favor. Forced a drive to start the 4th and missed. Blocked Big Baby back on the other end, as it was a Sean May block party. The numbers look terrible -- 0pts 1reb on 0-4 shooting in 7+min. But behind them he brought some energy.

Indiana University, Bloomington -- for this last one I really wanted to go down south. But problem is that I really haven't seen many of them personally so its hard to tell from just a photo. Elon is ometimes mentioned, but the pics were just...eh. Classic red brick schoolhouse look. Furnan has a nifty lagoon/lighthouse looking thing out on a spar of land in the middle of it. I know Duke (indeed almost became a Dukie), and it has a nifty cathedral, but not sold on the rest of the grounds. So...I decided to go equally speculative here. Thought of Univeristy of Wisconsin, which believe it or not gets mentioned often for its beautiful central quad/green thingie, but Indiana Univeristy is often also mentioned for its beautiful botanicals, so going to offer it up.

Notes: Kev half 7pts 3reb 4ast; Reke 7pts 5reb 3ast. Kev second half 3pts 1reb 0ast; Reke second half 10pts 6reb 4ast.
 
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#7
I was actually pretty happy with the team defense under the rim. We had 11 blocks, and in general protected the paint MUCH better than we have done all year. If this is something that's gonna stick, and not just a one time deal, then there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about the future, even if no trade is made before the deadline.
 
#9
Well, can't really be mad at the Kings. Probably the best D they've played all year. So much effort.

I thought Spencer was good. Just that sprint down the floor after getting stripped was great.

Omri was as active as we've seen him all year.

JT has continued his better play off the bench.

Their D really focused on Tyreke but he still managed to put his stamp on the game.

Just couldn't close it out as the vets do.
 
#10
Okay, time for me to pick up my grading game. No more of this next day stuff.

So first of all, all that seperated us and the Celtics tonight was FT shooting. They got physical, we got physical back. They played defense, we played defense. Their offense sucked eggs, our offense sucked eggs. But in the end, they hot their Fts, we did not, game over.

Second, Theme tonight = Beautiful College Campuses

Third, I'll try to get them up same night/early monring from now on. So onto the grades.

Boxscore

placeholder...
But since you will be going for the campus theme, may I suggest Rice University? Probably the most beautiful campus in the country.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=rice university&oq=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
 

rainmaker

Hall of Famer
#11
We played great. The energy and hustle was there all night. Missed ft's got us in the end. Only thing I didn't like was Kevin walking to the scorers table at the 6min mark, and then not returning to instead play Beno down the stretch.

If we are keeping Kevin, play him, especially when a few more points might have won the game. Tyreke was being shadowed by 3 players almost every trip down the court because we didn't have another shooter out there. Kevin would have helped with spacing.
 
#13
We played great. The energy and hustle was there all night. Missed ft's got us in the end. Only thing I didn't like was Kevin walking to the scorers table at the 6min mark, and then not returning to instead play Beno down the stretch.

If we are keeping Kevin, play him, especially when a few more points might have won the game. Tyreke was being shadowed by 3 players almost every trip down the court because we didn't have another shooter out there. Kevin would have helped with spacing.
Interview with Westphal after the game told that Kevin told coach they should go with the guys that were going good. In other words, he didn't want to go in the game and disturb the flow. IMO, I don't like that attitude one bit. It's a weak excuse. I want to see some fire in the guy and see him want to go out and be the reason for winning.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#14
Interview with Westphal after the game told that Kevin told coach they should go with the guys that were going good. In other words, he didn't want to go in the game and disturb the flow. IMO, I don't like that attitude one bit. It's a weak excuse. I want to see some fire in the guy and see him want to go out and be the reason for winning.
yeah, right. And if he had gone in and the momentum had shifted, you all would be berating him for being selfish.

Geez...
 
#17
I really hope that after a good effort like tonights came we see them go out and play a dud against a bad team like the warriors like we so often do. Thats what really pisses me off.
 
#18
I'd like to put a vote in for Univ. of Alaska Anchorage...incredibly beautiful!

edit: imagine just pulling an all nighter and waking up to a furry friend knocking at your door...errr...window...like this...LITERALLY!

 
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CruzDude

Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
#20
Missing 9 of 10 FT in 4th quarter was the whole game. Only missed 3 FT thru first 3 quarters, then...............

Defense was excellent as was most else. Still getting burned on perimeter shooters named Eddie House.
 

Warhawk

Give blood and save a life!
Staff member
#24

Stanford -- how bout some Stanford? Rich and immaculate. Its all red tile roofs, covered colonnades, and those silly little mop topped bushes that Californians and Pacific Islanders try to claim are real trees.
Um, for the record, not all Californians like palm trees. Don't care much for them myself (except when I am in Hawaii for some reason, but maybe the "being in Hawaii" part has something to do with that ;) ).
 
#25
yeah, right. And if he had gone in and the momentum had shifted, you all would be berating him for being selfish.

Geez...
You can't let possible criticism keep you from wanting to contribute. This attitude bothered me.
Edit: I'm referring to Martin's attitude. :)
 
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#27
yeah, right. And if he had gone in and the momentum had shifted, you all would be berating him for being selfish.

Geez...

I'm sorry you don't get to make my responses for me. I get to do that.

And I don't prefer the starting SG sitting on the bench at his own request. This is about Kevin's mindset as a player. I want to see him successful and my favorite team be successful. I don't want to see him hiding from situations where he can make an impact on the game. Successful people don't hide.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
#28
Makes me wish I had gone to a University with an actual campus and not some evil gentrification plot to remove everything that was cool from Kenmore Square. I'm sure if my alma mater could turn Fenway Park into an Abercrombie and Fitch they would.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#30
Yeah, I didn't mind him wanting to sit in the 4th. Its not like you notice he's there anyways.
Well, with everyone missing freethrows and Martin being the best freethrow shooter on the team, I think it might have been nice if he were out there. Apparently Westphal told him he wanted him in the game and Martin didn't want to go back in. The Dude is being paid big bucks to be the man. He's not being paid big bucks to watch.
 
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