Fugly, fugly, fugly...but a win.
So just how ugly? Carl Landry, and to a minor extent Cisco were the only two players who could throw the ball in the ocean. Landry shot 7-13 in the game. The other 4 starters combined for... 15-57. Cisco shot 4-7 off the bench. The rest of the bench? 6-23. Fugly fugly. And the Rockets weren't much better. They shot 39% from the field. Kevin was 3-13. Aaron Brooks was 2-13 from 3pt land alone...and got called upon to take the attempted game tying three (which we left wide open). Fugly fugly fugly. Get this: so how rare is it to shoot 32% from the field as a team (not a misprint) and win the game? The last time this franchise did it was in 1963 when they were still playing in Cincinatti and were still called the Royals. And how did we pull it off? By getting lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of shots. Our 61 shots in the first half is as Sacramento-era record. With all the misses bouncing around we came up with 24 offensive rebounds, and despite all the fugly, only turned it over 8 times. Better memorize those numbers, because I suspect the NBA will need to erase all evidence of this gam...er...event if it ever hopes to see attendance rebound and secure a new TV contract.
Boxscore
Ok, sorry for the delay. I actually wasn't going to do girls as this was a win and I inserted that option mostly as a joke, but since as usual its popular, and since I am late here and need a quick and simple theme, girls it will be. Help to wash the ugly away. And I suppose a boy or two as a token for the other side.
Casspi ( B- ) -- was aggressive if a tad wild in his short minutes, and probbaly deserved more. Started off the game being guarded by Kevin, and apprpriately tried to use his size to go over him. But failed on the post move, and missed several scoops right at the hoop. In the 2nd tried to spin into the post and got blocked by Budinger. Missed a wild spinner, but then got fouled on the nice dumpoff form Reke. In the third tipped in a Beno miss, drove and was fouled. First FT hit every part of the rim, backboard, net, and probably scorers table before falling in. Finally got a spinning post move to go over Kevin. Lost the late minutes with Beno playing big minutes again, and Cisco playing well. Probably as close to being effective offensively as anybody but our "Big 2" (Landry and Cisco).
Kiele Sanchez
Landry ( A ) -- I may jsut shut the grades down after this one, because its all down hill from here on out. Was THE guy for us this game. As in, the only guy. As in, by the 3rd quarter any time Landry didn't get the ball on a posssession you were mad because you knew it was going to be a brick. Back in his old haunt, and just had an ear to ear grin about it. Most tough guys are grim, fierce types. Carl always looks like he's having a ball. Came out and immediately hit the jumper, then came up with an offensive tip. Great offensive board over two Rockets got the 2nd foul on Hayes. Anderson came in and Landry immediately exploded by him on the drive and big dunk. Went down the other side and came up with the block to key Reke out on the break. In the second had a good strong move through a double or triple and got to the line. Long jumper. Missed the tough turnaround in traffiic. Good offensive rebound in a big scrum. Tough physical spin move to get to the line on our final organized possession of the half. Great job getting back to break up the Rockets end of the half inbounds, knock it free on the 3/4 court pass, the whole play ending in Cisco's buzzer beating three, which turned out to be the winning margin BTW. In the 3rd snagged a good defensive board and got the 4th foul on Hayes, who was never a factor (not hat he is often a factor, but he is ther best post defender). Powered into Jeffries. Nice offensive board on a wild scramble. Quick layup on the dropoff from Udoka. Missed the side jumper. Quick post move going to the middle against Jeffries. In the final quarter a bad pass turnover up top started Kevin racing on the break. Got stiripepd in the post, but got it back to Reke for the jumper (his ONLY jumper). Grabbed a d-board to get to 10 for the first time for us. Nice defense on Brooks forcing a turnover. Then hit the little hook. Some defense on Scola as well. Missed the side jumper in the last mintue. Got the ball on the inbounds at the 5.5 sec mark with the 1 point lead, got intentionally fouled, and stepped up to knock down both clutch FTs with every reason to feel pressure and miss them. Put us up 3 with 4 seconds to go, and we survived as Brooks missed his 11th three pointer of the night. 22 and 10 actually aren't THAt dominant numbers. Very strong ones, but acheivable. But if you saw this game played you just could not miss how much Landry stood out, not only for the Kings, but just above just about everybody involved in htis suckfest. He was clearly the man, and so he gets "The Man's" grade.
Amber Lee Ettinger
Hawes ( C- ) -- was kind of hoping for a bounceback game after the weeniness in OKC, but no such luck. At least he grabbed some boards this time against Dopey and Sneezy and Doc. Slow start, along with everybody else, finally scored on an offensive follow after we missed about three attempts point blank. Came out grabbing boards as we hung tough. Slipped to the hoop and hit over the top by Evans. Some good defense on Jeffries -- of course Dr. Ruth could play some good defense on Jeffries. Got his second and final hoop. Terrible attempted feed inside -- no chance at all. Got beat by a really clever up and under by Scola after he thought he had him stopped. Got his shot blocked by Battier, got an offensive rebound, missed the follow. Missed an offensive follow, but finally hit the next. After the break started off the third falling for Keivn's upfake and fouling him. Blew a layin on the break set up nicely by Reke. Out clevered by Scola again. Back in late in the 4th, and grabbed a good d-board. Down the stretch drifted out and missed the corner three that I don't think Westphal was happy about, although whether he was more angry at Spencer for taking that shot at that time or Reke for passing it to him I could not tell. Tough grade. Grabbed 10 rebs...but of course there were a hell of a lot boards to be had in this one. Shot 2-10. Got pantsed by Scola a couple of times. It can't be a good grade. But he did do something out there we needed, so better than it could have been I guess.
Pilar Rubio
Udrih ( C+ ) -- big minutes and kept on firing until he was our second leading scorer/support piece...with 13pts. On 5-15 shooting. And tonight he felt dangerous. Nice off balance drive and hit, then stripped Kevin on defense. In the 2nd a nice spinning take. Missed a jumper. Finally made a little jumper to get us off of 34-34, where both teams had stalled out for a good chunk fo the 2nd quarter. In the 3rd missed the open jumper from Reke. Lost Kevin on a backcut. Missed the up and under jumper, but made a saavy play and tipped the rebound over to Dorsey for the big dunk. Three on the kick from Reke. Quick little pullup to give us the 2 for 1 at the end of the third. Some good defense on Brooks late. Missed a jumper with :45 seconds to go in the game. Got the o-reb on the Landry miss and smartly dribbled it out to run more clock. Okay, he shot 5-15. That was the bad. And that is bad. But he hustled, tried on defense, and made a number of saavy little plays in this one. So the grade is maybe not as low as you might think.
Freddie Prinze Jr. -- have I used him before? I forget. Does he still look like this? Is he even still considered hot? 10 years ago sure, but I don't even know what he's doing any more except making babies with Buffy. But I try ladies, really I do.
So just how ugly? Carl Landry, and to a minor extent Cisco were the only two players who could throw the ball in the ocean. Landry shot 7-13 in the game. The other 4 starters combined for... 15-57. Cisco shot 4-7 off the bench. The rest of the bench? 6-23. Fugly fugly. And the Rockets weren't much better. They shot 39% from the field. Kevin was 3-13. Aaron Brooks was 2-13 from 3pt land alone...and got called upon to take the attempted game tying three (which we left wide open). Fugly fugly fugly. Get this: so how rare is it to shoot 32% from the field as a team (not a misprint) and win the game? The last time this franchise did it was in 1963 when they were still playing in Cincinatti and were still called the Royals. And how did we pull it off? By getting lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of shots. Our 61 shots in the first half is as Sacramento-era record. With all the misses bouncing around we came up with 24 offensive rebounds, and despite all the fugly, only turned it over 8 times. Better memorize those numbers, because I suspect the NBA will need to erase all evidence of this gam...er...event if it ever hopes to see attendance rebound and secure a new TV contract.
Boxscore
Ok, sorry for the delay. I actually wasn't going to do girls as this was a win and I inserted that option mostly as a joke, but since as usual its popular, and since I am late here and need a quick and simple theme, girls it will be. Help to wash the ugly away. And I suppose a boy or two as a token for the other side.
Casspi ( B- ) -- was aggressive if a tad wild in his short minutes, and probbaly deserved more. Started off the game being guarded by Kevin, and apprpriately tried to use his size to go over him. But failed on the post move, and missed several scoops right at the hoop. In the 2nd tried to spin into the post and got blocked by Budinger. Missed a wild spinner, but then got fouled on the nice dumpoff form Reke. In the third tipped in a Beno miss, drove and was fouled. First FT hit every part of the rim, backboard, net, and probably scorers table before falling in. Finally got a spinning post move to go over Kevin. Lost the late minutes with Beno playing big minutes again, and Cisco playing well. Probably as close to being effective offensively as anybody but our "Big 2" (Landry and Cisco).
Kiele Sanchez
Landry ( A ) -- I may jsut shut the grades down after this one, because its all down hill from here on out. Was THE guy for us this game. As in, the only guy. As in, by the 3rd quarter any time Landry didn't get the ball on a posssession you were mad because you knew it was going to be a brick. Back in his old haunt, and just had an ear to ear grin about it. Most tough guys are grim, fierce types. Carl always looks like he's having a ball. Came out and immediately hit the jumper, then came up with an offensive tip. Great offensive board over two Rockets got the 2nd foul on Hayes. Anderson came in and Landry immediately exploded by him on the drive and big dunk. Went down the other side and came up with the block to key Reke out on the break. In the second had a good strong move through a double or triple and got to the line. Long jumper. Missed the tough turnaround in traffiic. Good offensive rebound in a big scrum. Tough physical spin move to get to the line on our final organized possession of the half. Great job getting back to break up the Rockets end of the half inbounds, knock it free on the 3/4 court pass, the whole play ending in Cisco's buzzer beating three, which turned out to be the winning margin BTW. In the 3rd snagged a good defensive board and got the 4th foul on Hayes, who was never a factor (not hat he is often a factor, but he is ther best post defender). Powered into Jeffries. Nice offensive board on a wild scramble. Quick layup on the dropoff from Udoka. Missed the side jumper. Quick post move going to the middle against Jeffries. In the final quarter a bad pass turnover up top started Kevin racing on the break. Got stiripepd in the post, but got it back to Reke for the jumper (his ONLY jumper). Grabbed a d-board to get to 10 for the first time for us. Nice defense on Brooks forcing a turnover. Then hit the little hook. Some defense on Scola as well. Missed the side jumper in the last mintue. Got the ball on the inbounds at the 5.5 sec mark with the 1 point lead, got intentionally fouled, and stepped up to knock down both clutch FTs with every reason to feel pressure and miss them. Put us up 3 with 4 seconds to go, and we survived as Brooks missed his 11th three pointer of the night. 22 and 10 actually aren't THAt dominant numbers. Very strong ones, but acheivable. But if you saw this game played you just could not miss how much Landry stood out, not only for the Kings, but just above just about everybody involved in htis suckfest. He was clearly the man, and so he gets "The Man's" grade.
Amber Lee Ettinger
Hawes ( C- ) -- was kind of hoping for a bounceback game after the weeniness in OKC, but no such luck. At least he grabbed some boards this time against Dopey and Sneezy and Doc. Slow start, along with everybody else, finally scored on an offensive follow after we missed about three attempts point blank. Came out grabbing boards as we hung tough. Slipped to the hoop and hit over the top by Evans. Some good defense on Jeffries -- of course Dr. Ruth could play some good defense on Jeffries. Got his second and final hoop. Terrible attempted feed inside -- no chance at all. Got beat by a really clever up and under by Scola after he thought he had him stopped. Got his shot blocked by Battier, got an offensive rebound, missed the follow. Missed an offensive follow, but finally hit the next. After the break started off the third falling for Keivn's upfake and fouling him. Blew a layin on the break set up nicely by Reke. Out clevered by Scola again. Back in late in the 4th, and grabbed a good d-board. Down the stretch drifted out and missed the corner three that I don't think Westphal was happy about, although whether he was more angry at Spencer for taking that shot at that time or Reke for passing it to him I could not tell. Tough grade. Grabbed 10 rebs...but of course there were a hell of a lot boards to be had in this one. Shot 2-10. Got pantsed by Scola a couple of times. It can't be a good grade. But he did do something out there we needed, so better than it could have been I guess.
Pilar Rubio
Udrih ( C+ ) -- big minutes and kept on firing until he was our second leading scorer/support piece...with 13pts. On 5-15 shooting. And tonight he felt dangerous. Nice off balance drive and hit, then stripped Kevin on defense. In the 2nd a nice spinning take. Missed a jumper. Finally made a little jumper to get us off of 34-34, where both teams had stalled out for a good chunk fo the 2nd quarter. In the 3rd missed the open jumper from Reke. Lost Kevin on a backcut. Missed the up and under jumper, but made a saavy play and tipped the rebound over to Dorsey for the big dunk. Three on the kick from Reke. Quick little pullup to give us the 2 for 1 at the end of the third. Some good defense on Brooks late. Missed a jumper with :45 seconds to go in the game. Got the o-reb on the Landry miss and smartly dribbled it out to run more clock. Okay, he shot 5-15. That was the bad. And that is bad. But he hustled, tried on defense, and made a number of saavy little plays in this one. So the grade is maybe not as low as you might think.
Freddie Prinze Jr. -- have I used him before? I forget. Does he still look like this? Is he even still considered hot? 10 years ago sure, but I don't even know what he's doing any more except making babies with Buffy. But I try ladies, really I do.
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But it was brilliant let me tell you. I think we should sign him to the MLE before that exception is abolished during the next CBA. Get 'er done Geoff!
