Darn. Just about everything went wrong for a while, but one positive: we still have yet to give up in a game this year. That's a huge thing.
Okay dokie, time to do this. Unfortuately we lost. We lost = theme. And since I know losing to the Lakers is cause for all kinds of suicidal behaviors in Kingsland, allow me to present to you: Scary Bridges to Jump Off Of
Along with the grades of course.
P.S. May I also just mention that absolutely nothing has changed reagarding the Kings luck in nationally televised games? And no I am not referring to the final score. I am referring to the game beforehand going to OT and causing the enitre first quarter to not be shown on ESPN's main site. That ALWAYS happened back in the old days. Tight games, timeouts, fouls, OTs...an endless torture in the first games of doubleheaders where we were due to appear. It was beyond ironic to see it again.
Casspi ( D ) -- nope, not today, and not even close. And I remember him having a big game last year down in L.A., so it wasn't the moment or the opponent. He just got schooled on the night. He split a pair of threes in the first quarter, but was getting outsaavied by Kobe and outmuscled by Artest, although while mixing it up with the nutter he did draw an offensive foul on him. And while you can't really blame this on the player, his inability to comepte, combined with Donte apparently having slept with Westphal's mother, had unfortunate consequences. After seeing Kobe torch him a few times on defense we shied away from that matchup, obviously could not send Beno into the fray (the limitations fo the two PG backcourt were also exposed), and so had to use Reke on Kobe, resulting in massive foul trouble that helped define this game. Omri himself did very little after the first quarter, and many of his second half minutes went to Cisco, and then Carl Landry and Darnell Jackson, who Westphal experimented with as mega-SFs to match Artest's strength.
Aiguille du Midi Bridge, France -- high up in the French Alps, 12,600 feet above sea level, with the winds gusting snow flurries around you, somebody decided to stick a bridge between two peaks. Have fun.
Landry ( B- ) -- well, for the first half of this one you really had to respect Carl's scrap, in particular on the glass where he has been so inviisble this year. But then the second half rolled around, we started experimenting with him as a SF, and when we turned to him in the 4th he gave us very little. He was fighting for boards early on both sides of the gall, and was frequently down on the floor slamming around. A nice change on the glass. Hit several long jumpers as well, but Odom was just unconscious back the other way against him. We brought him back in in the middle second for a bit of our monster Cousins/Thompson/Landry frontline, and after a long struggle he finally got an important hoop +1 for us with a minute and a half to go after we had gone 6 minutes without a score. Good tough 9pt 5reb first half. Got little accomplished in the third, and was having trouble finishing inside. And the toughness on the glass disappeared as well, and he grabbed zero after half. Was back in in the early 4th and displayed some of his tunnel vision blissfully ignoring open teammtes, but did give us a little more scoring as we hung just on the fringes of making it a real game. Gave us nothing down the stretch, as he went 0-2 from the line at a critical point in the mid 4th with us down 10, and then got stripped up top in the in crunchtime to start a Lakers break and score that may have finished us. I had this a high B in the first half, a low C in the second half, and split the difference for this grade.
Hussaini Hanging Bridge, Pakistan -- hey, come to scenic Pakistan, and uh, die. Who built this and thought it was a good idea? Yes that's a raging river underneath it.
Cousins ( C ) -- well, came out ready to play and went toe to toe with Gaosl for a while, but things got sloppy late and he clearly lost the matchup. Took a quick turnaround jumper and missed for our first shot, but followed that on his next possession with a nifty baseline spin and flush on Gasol, who looked surprised. Unfortunately then got beat on the same spin back the other way by Gasol and had to foul -- had to be intetional on Gasol's part, tit for tat. Cuz came up with another nifty move on the block, but wasn't able to slow Pau at all. Some flashes, but overall Gasoil easily got the better of it in the eartly going. Got smushed twice on one very physical possession in the late 2nd that certainly looked liek fouls to me. Lost control of his brain cells in the third. After inadvertently running into Tyreke and knocking him down, scooped up the ball, stepped back and drained a three. But that was maybe not a good thing after all as he then decided, hey I can hit that! and to follow Luther Head's lead and just start chucking jumpers rather than playing inside. Took four threes in the half, and while you may or may not be abel to excuise the last couple as desperation time heaves, he was 3-13 on the night overall, 1-4 from 3pt land, and that's just not what we need. And of course 5 fouls in 20min. Dalembert fared much better on defense against Pau as well (and as expected). So some flashes, a brief bit of fun challenge of Pau in the early going, but ultimately this was very much the talented but immature kid vs. the old pro game.
Sidu River Bridge, China - less than a year old (opened Nov 2009), it is the world's highest suspension bridge at over 1500 feet above the ground. Knowing how the Chinese government thinks, that's probably exactly why they built it. The Empire State building could stand underneath it.
Udrih ( B+ ) -- probably our steadiest and most consistent player of the night, and yet the one for whom I have the fewest notes. Probably precisely because of the steadiness. With lots of guys having off and on games for various reasons, and with Reke getting victimized by foul trouble, Beno was the constant, and just kept perking along. He and Cisco in particular worked well together and produced several of our best stretches of play of the night, getting their shots, not the shots the Lakers were giving them, and knocking them down. In fact on the whole evening, I am not sure I recall Beno taking a single bad shot. It was all his little midrange pullups, and a smattering of layups. He did get victimized just at the halftime buzzer as our transition defense got exposed again and Kobe threw a 60ft pass over the top to Barnes for the layup. Beno was just too short. Drained back to back threes with Cisco in the early 4th to cut the game over sized lead back down to 15 and force the Lakers to keep chugging up the minutes with their starters. A half step late on the close to the corner as Fisher drained the backbreaking three in crunchtime.
U Pain Bridge, Myanmar -- a bridge with an appropriate name, does that look safe to you? What if I told you that it is 3/4 of a mile long? What if I also told you that it 200 years old? And 3/4 mile long. You a fan now?
Okay dokie, time to do this. Unfortuately we lost. We lost = theme. And since I know losing to the Lakers is cause for all kinds of suicidal behaviors in Kingsland, allow me to present to you: Scary Bridges to Jump Off Of
Along with the grades of course.
P.S. May I also just mention that absolutely nothing has changed reagarding the Kings luck in nationally televised games? And no I am not referring to the final score. I am referring to the game beforehand going to OT and causing the enitre first quarter to not be shown on ESPN's main site. That ALWAYS happened back in the old days. Tight games, timeouts, fouls, OTs...an endless torture in the first games of doubleheaders where we were due to appear. It was beyond ironic to see it again.
Casspi ( D ) -- nope, not today, and not even close. And I remember him having a big game last year down in L.A., so it wasn't the moment or the opponent. He just got schooled on the night. He split a pair of threes in the first quarter, but was getting outsaavied by Kobe and outmuscled by Artest, although while mixing it up with the nutter he did draw an offensive foul on him. And while you can't really blame this on the player, his inability to comepte, combined with Donte apparently having slept with Westphal's mother, had unfortunate consequences. After seeing Kobe torch him a few times on defense we shied away from that matchup, obviously could not send Beno into the fray (the limitations fo the two PG backcourt were also exposed), and so had to use Reke on Kobe, resulting in massive foul trouble that helped define this game. Omri himself did very little after the first quarter, and many of his second half minutes went to Cisco, and then Carl Landry and Darnell Jackson, who Westphal experimented with as mega-SFs to match Artest's strength.
Aiguille du Midi Bridge, France -- high up in the French Alps, 12,600 feet above sea level, with the winds gusting snow flurries around you, somebody decided to stick a bridge between two peaks. Have fun.
Landry ( B- ) -- well, for the first half of this one you really had to respect Carl's scrap, in particular on the glass where he has been so inviisble this year. But then the second half rolled around, we started experimenting with him as a SF, and when we turned to him in the 4th he gave us very little. He was fighting for boards early on both sides of the gall, and was frequently down on the floor slamming around. A nice change on the glass. Hit several long jumpers as well, but Odom was just unconscious back the other way against him. We brought him back in in the middle second for a bit of our monster Cousins/Thompson/Landry frontline, and after a long struggle he finally got an important hoop +1 for us with a minute and a half to go after we had gone 6 minutes without a score. Good tough 9pt 5reb first half. Got little accomplished in the third, and was having trouble finishing inside. And the toughness on the glass disappeared as well, and he grabbed zero after half. Was back in in the early 4th and displayed some of his tunnel vision blissfully ignoring open teammtes, but did give us a little more scoring as we hung just on the fringes of making it a real game. Gave us nothing down the stretch, as he went 0-2 from the line at a critical point in the mid 4th with us down 10, and then got stripped up top in the in crunchtime to start a Lakers break and score that may have finished us. I had this a high B in the first half, a low C in the second half, and split the difference for this grade.
Hussaini Hanging Bridge, Pakistan -- hey, come to scenic Pakistan, and uh, die. Who built this and thought it was a good idea? Yes that's a raging river underneath it.
Cousins ( C ) -- well, came out ready to play and went toe to toe with Gaosl for a while, but things got sloppy late and he clearly lost the matchup. Took a quick turnaround jumper and missed for our first shot, but followed that on his next possession with a nifty baseline spin and flush on Gasol, who looked surprised. Unfortunately then got beat on the same spin back the other way by Gasol and had to foul -- had to be intetional on Gasol's part, tit for tat. Cuz came up with another nifty move on the block, but wasn't able to slow Pau at all. Some flashes, but overall Gasoil easily got the better of it in the eartly going. Got smushed twice on one very physical possession in the late 2nd that certainly looked liek fouls to me. Lost control of his brain cells in the third. After inadvertently running into Tyreke and knocking him down, scooped up the ball, stepped back and drained a three. But that was maybe not a good thing after all as he then decided, hey I can hit that! and to follow Luther Head's lead and just start chucking jumpers rather than playing inside. Took four threes in the half, and while you may or may not be abel to excuise the last couple as desperation time heaves, he was 3-13 on the night overall, 1-4 from 3pt land, and that's just not what we need. And of course 5 fouls in 20min. Dalembert fared much better on defense against Pau as well (and as expected). So some flashes, a brief bit of fun challenge of Pau in the early going, but ultimately this was very much the talented but immature kid vs. the old pro game.
Sidu River Bridge, China - less than a year old (opened Nov 2009), it is the world's highest suspension bridge at over 1500 feet above the ground. Knowing how the Chinese government thinks, that's probably exactly why they built it. The Empire State building could stand underneath it.
Udrih ( B+ ) -- probably our steadiest and most consistent player of the night, and yet the one for whom I have the fewest notes. Probably precisely because of the steadiness. With lots of guys having off and on games for various reasons, and with Reke getting victimized by foul trouble, Beno was the constant, and just kept perking along. He and Cisco in particular worked well together and produced several of our best stretches of play of the night, getting their shots, not the shots the Lakers were giving them, and knocking them down. In fact on the whole evening, I am not sure I recall Beno taking a single bad shot. It was all his little midrange pullups, and a smattering of layups. He did get victimized just at the halftime buzzer as our transition defense got exposed again and Kobe threw a 60ft pass over the top to Barnes for the layup. Beno was just too short. Drained back to back threes with Cisco in the early 4th to cut the game over sized lead back down to 15 and force the Lakers to keep chugging up the minutes with their starters. A half step late on the close to the corner as Fisher drained the backbreaking three in crunchtime.
U Pain Bridge, Myanmar -- a bridge with an appropriate name, does that look safe to you? What if I told you that it is 3/4 of a mile long? What if I also told you that it 200 years old? And 3/4 mile long. You a fan now?
Last edited:
