Alright, another aborted comeback, another loss. 0-5 on the roadtrip, opening with a loss to a team vying for the worst record of all time, closing with a loss to a team with a 16 game losing streak.
All in all, enough for a Girl theme, and tonight I have enough time to do the grades right. SO:
Pretty Girls: The Annual Dance Team Edition
Boxscore
Nocioni ( C+ ) -- got the start off the big game in Indy, and for a littel while looked like he even might justify it. Hit two threes in the early going as Reke found him out there all night, added a running flip in the paint, and other than getting stripped on one drive looked more settled than he has off the bench. The 2nd quarter brought the reality check as he began the quarter missing a three, and then started repeatedly running into Darko in the paint and getting balls sent back in his face. Made a few contributions in the third, hitting a three off a scramble play, delivering a nice drive and dish to Landry for the layup, getting a traditional three point play off another scramble play, but also missed several more, including the running one hander to close the third, and never did give us anything on the boards (grabbed 2 in 33 minutes) as we got creamed in all the hustle categories. Watched Donte help lead our 4th quarter comeback in his stead.
Jaclyn (Suns) -- As it turns out the Suns' dancers recently knocked our own ladies oout of the Dance Team Bracket over at NBA.com. At the risk of sounding very unpatriotic, you know what? No complaints.
Landry ( C ) -- started decently but seemed to tire quickly and was quietly having himself a bad game until he found a reserve of energy and came on in the 4th to help us come back. Overpowered inside by Jefferson for the first hoop, but was able to counter decently wiht a series of jumpers baclk the other way. Also got a couple of help blocks against Flynn, although Big Al continued to have his way with him. Began to get his shots blocked by both Darko (who is a shotblocker) and Big Al (who is not), and the misses began to spread from there, both in the post and from the perimeter. Got blocked again by Jefferson on his first attempt of the third, but otherwise begna ot fall into a pattern of making his post moves, but continuing to clank his jumpers (legs maybe). The 4th started poorly with a wild miss and then a fumbled catch in the post. Hit alopng jumper, but then missed one, got beat by Al in the psot again, and on one remarkable play (that significantly padded his rebounding stats) got blocked not once, not twice, but THREE times in the post one one possession by Big Al for the 24 second violation. Ironically that one play, kind of the depths of humiliation for him and for us (think we were down 20 at the time) was the turning point. Donte was giving us some energy, Reke returend with the eye of the tiger thing, and Carl found a second wind. IN the next 4-5 minutes he got a little hit in the post from Reke. Then a second little jumper. Missed the side jumper so bad it went off the glass and in. Got the finish from Reke when he drew all the defense. Drove, fouled, and split the pair to make it 6. BUt unfoirtunately that was it. Unable to contain Jefferson late. Fouled Brewer for the +1 to finish us at the 1:00 mark. Just no length to challegne the shot. Should have got the technical too as he slammed the ball out of bounds into the stands (which is supposed to be an automatic). Terrible soft inbounds pass out of a timeout closed the final desperate hope at the 38 second mark, -- meant for Reke in a 7 point game that would have needed a near miracle. Instead easily picked off by Brewer for the breakaway sealer and the final 9pt margin. Truth is this is STILL a subpar game for Carl -- 22pts, sure, but took a ton of our shots (24), and just did not have it for most of the night. Got crunched on the glass again, as so did we. Looked undersized against the big Wolves frontline in getting his shot blocked 5 times. And made another swath of errors down the stretch once we had finally got it into winnable position.
Katie (Suns) -- Jaclyn has a friend. Yay for friends.
Thompson ( C+ ) -- solid offensive game, but disappointing on the glass where he got outrebounded by 4 different Wolves, including their SF and a bencher who only played 23min, and unable to defend the middle either against his man or penetration. Mixed hits and misses all night long, never really going on astreak either way. Missed the long jumper to start, then drained the next one on the baseline. Got the stong post move over Love to go...then got his post turnaround blocked by Darko. Scored over by Darko repeatedly, but followed a Darko blocked shot of Noc with a layup. Bad pass turnover trying to hit Greene. Good hustle o-reb to save a Landry miss, passed it out, got it back, and traveled. Did not get on the glass in the first half, grabbing only two. In the third was getting killed by Darko on defense, although did have a good defensive possession against Big Al late in the 3rd. Was getting a lot of open jumpers as Reke began to figure out that Darko was cheating on him and drew the defense and kicked, and kicked. JT's results on that play were mixed. Got an easy finish inside when Reke kicked the formula up a notch, driving hard and forcing Darko and Al to come to him and then dumping to JT for the layup rather than the jumper. Overpowered in the post at the 3:00 mark by Jefferson just as we were finally threatening. Miscommunicated out of the timeout at the 1:10 mark with Reke and threw it out of bounds. Another finish +1 from Reke in the final minute. The 7-10 15pts 7reb stat line looks solid. But not sure it passes the scent test if you scratch and sniff it. Got beat up on defense, and largely failed as our best hope on the glass. In the end outperformed, statistically and otherwise, by Darko Milicic.
Leslie (Hawks) -- Leslie dances for the Hawks, and along the way looks like a 1960s pinup model.
Udrih ( D+ ) -- finally had a true down game, and really of all our guys this is the one where saying the legs just ran out of gas after his recent spell filling in for Reke seems most appropriate. Whatever the cause, he and Landry, who were effectively our goto guys while Reke was out, both struggled tonight, combining to shoot 13-34, and leaving us struggling to find points. Actually hit his opening shot on a little side pop, but then began missing pretty much everything from all ranged. Got trapped in the paint by Darko and threw it out of bounds. Was getting torched by Flynn on defense in the first half as well. Pass ahead to Donte for the dunk on the break, as his 9 assists helping Reke run the team were definitely his highlight. Made a bad decision on the break passing it to Noc instead of Reke and leading to Noc getting blcoked. Began the third still missing, and sat down having contributed little. When he returned late in the quarter provided a little help with a drive and dish to Brockman for the +1, and was a little more active in the early fourth, running into a steal on the break and finally getting a little hit at the 9:00 mark. Missed the three out of the timeout at the 2:00 mark, leaving him 0-6 from that range over the last two days. Cisco was of no help last time we saw him, but we missed him tonight -- needed an alternative. Heck, Sergio would have helped too.
Alex (Magic) -- I purposefully copied over Alex's entire bio page, because it was what got her in here. Hottie dancer by night, brainy molecular biology student by day? You could do worse guys.
All in all, enough for a Girl theme, and tonight I have enough time to do the grades right. SO:
Pretty Girls: The Annual Dance Team Edition
Boxscore
Nocioni ( C+ ) -- got the start off the big game in Indy, and for a littel while looked like he even might justify it. Hit two threes in the early going as Reke found him out there all night, added a running flip in the paint, and other than getting stripped on one drive looked more settled than he has off the bench. The 2nd quarter brought the reality check as he began the quarter missing a three, and then started repeatedly running into Darko in the paint and getting balls sent back in his face. Made a few contributions in the third, hitting a three off a scramble play, delivering a nice drive and dish to Landry for the layup, getting a traditional three point play off another scramble play, but also missed several more, including the running one hander to close the third, and never did give us anything on the boards (grabbed 2 in 33 minutes) as we got creamed in all the hustle categories. Watched Donte help lead our 4th quarter comeback in his stead.
Jaclyn (Suns) -- As it turns out the Suns' dancers recently knocked our own ladies oout of the Dance Team Bracket over at NBA.com. At the risk of sounding very unpatriotic, you know what? No complaints.
Landry ( C ) -- started decently but seemed to tire quickly and was quietly having himself a bad game until he found a reserve of energy and came on in the 4th to help us come back. Overpowered inside by Jefferson for the first hoop, but was able to counter decently wiht a series of jumpers baclk the other way. Also got a couple of help blocks against Flynn, although Big Al continued to have his way with him. Began to get his shots blocked by both Darko (who is a shotblocker) and Big Al (who is not), and the misses began to spread from there, both in the post and from the perimeter. Got blocked again by Jefferson on his first attempt of the third, but otherwise begna ot fall into a pattern of making his post moves, but continuing to clank his jumpers (legs maybe). The 4th started poorly with a wild miss and then a fumbled catch in the post. Hit alopng jumper, but then missed one, got beat by Al in the psot again, and on one remarkable play (that significantly padded his rebounding stats) got blocked not once, not twice, but THREE times in the post one one possession by Big Al for the 24 second violation. Ironically that one play, kind of the depths of humiliation for him and for us (think we were down 20 at the time) was the turning point. Donte was giving us some energy, Reke returend with the eye of the tiger thing, and Carl found a second wind. IN the next 4-5 minutes he got a little hit in the post from Reke. Then a second little jumper. Missed the side jumper so bad it went off the glass and in. Got the finish from Reke when he drew all the defense. Drove, fouled, and split the pair to make it 6. BUt unfoirtunately that was it. Unable to contain Jefferson late. Fouled Brewer for the +1 to finish us at the 1:00 mark. Just no length to challegne the shot. Should have got the technical too as he slammed the ball out of bounds into the stands (which is supposed to be an automatic). Terrible soft inbounds pass out of a timeout closed the final desperate hope at the 38 second mark, -- meant for Reke in a 7 point game that would have needed a near miracle. Instead easily picked off by Brewer for the breakaway sealer and the final 9pt margin. Truth is this is STILL a subpar game for Carl -- 22pts, sure, but took a ton of our shots (24), and just did not have it for most of the night. Got crunched on the glass again, as so did we. Looked undersized against the big Wolves frontline in getting his shot blocked 5 times. And made another swath of errors down the stretch once we had finally got it into winnable position.
Katie (Suns) -- Jaclyn has a friend. Yay for friends.
Thompson ( C+ ) -- solid offensive game, but disappointing on the glass where he got outrebounded by 4 different Wolves, including their SF and a bencher who only played 23min, and unable to defend the middle either against his man or penetration. Mixed hits and misses all night long, never really going on astreak either way. Missed the long jumper to start, then drained the next one on the baseline. Got the stong post move over Love to go...then got his post turnaround blocked by Darko. Scored over by Darko repeatedly, but followed a Darko blocked shot of Noc with a layup. Bad pass turnover trying to hit Greene. Good hustle o-reb to save a Landry miss, passed it out, got it back, and traveled. Did not get on the glass in the first half, grabbing only two. In the third was getting killed by Darko on defense, although did have a good defensive possession against Big Al late in the 3rd. Was getting a lot of open jumpers as Reke began to figure out that Darko was cheating on him and drew the defense and kicked, and kicked. JT's results on that play were mixed. Got an easy finish inside when Reke kicked the formula up a notch, driving hard and forcing Darko and Al to come to him and then dumping to JT for the layup rather than the jumper. Overpowered in the post at the 3:00 mark by Jefferson just as we were finally threatening. Miscommunicated out of the timeout at the 1:10 mark with Reke and threw it out of bounds. Another finish +1 from Reke in the final minute. The 7-10 15pts 7reb stat line looks solid. But not sure it passes the scent test if you scratch and sniff it. Got beat up on defense, and largely failed as our best hope on the glass. In the end outperformed, statistically and otherwise, by Darko Milicic.
Leslie (Hawks) -- Leslie dances for the Hawks, and along the way looks like a 1960s pinup model.
Udrih ( D+ ) -- finally had a true down game, and really of all our guys this is the one where saying the legs just ran out of gas after his recent spell filling in for Reke seems most appropriate. Whatever the cause, he and Landry, who were effectively our goto guys while Reke was out, both struggled tonight, combining to shoot 13-34, and leaving us struggling to find points. Actually hit his opening shot on a little side pop, but then began missing pretty much everything from all ranged. Got trapped in the paint by Darko and threw it out of bounds. Was getting torched by Flynn on defense in the first half as well. Pass ahead to Donte for the dunk on the break, as his 9 assists helping Reke run the team were definitely his highlight. Made a bad decision on the break passing it to Noc instead of Reke and leading to Noc getting blcoked. Began the third still missing, and sat down having contributed little. When he returned late in the quarter provided a little help with a drive and dish to Brockman for the +1, and was a little more active in the early fourth, running into a steal on the break and finally getting a little hit at the 9:00 mark. Missed the three out of the timeout at the 2:00 mark, leaving him 0-6 from that range over the last two days. Cisco was of no help last time we saw him, but we missed him tonight -- needed an alternative. Heck, Sergio would have helped too.
Alex (Magic) -- I purposefully copied over Alex's entire bio page, because it was what got her in here. Hottie dancer by night, brainy molecular biology student by day? You could do worse guys.
Last edited:
