Critical turning point early in this one: we were on our way to a big first quarter, having fun, passing the ball. DeMarcus, who was off to a pretty good start, gets out on the break and tries to have TOO much fun, attempting a behind the back pass, in traffic, and turning it over and blowing what should have been a sure 2pts for us. Okay. Dumb. But young dumb. We're having fun dumb.
At that point I think Smart made a mistake. And with DeMarcus at least he's normally had the right answer. But here he immediately sent Chuck Hayes to the scorer's table to sub in fron DeMarcus, even though it was only mid quarter and Boogie and we as a team were playing well. In other words purely a punishment type move, like that time that Westphal pulled Donte for the extra flair on a dunk. Thing is, DeMarcus did not like it at ALL. He saw the Hayes move coming, and so he promptly committed a **** you foul for Smart's benefit. And right there we lost him for the entire game. He was unhappy/pouty down at the end of the bench. He came back in, still looked out of sorts, got the third foul, went back to the bench. Came out in the third just lax and sloppy. And basically he just quit. Not so much on the team as on Smart. Smart had showed him up, and he wasn't happy and wasn't going to play for him tonight. That's what I saw at least. And I strongly suspect it being the 2nd night of a back to back only made it that much easier for DeMarcus to mail it in. And bereft of our dominant big man, and once again turning one of the two worst offensive teams in the league (other = Charlotte) into a 100+ ppg 55% shooting powerhouse, we blew what should have been a win for us.
Theme = well, guess we'll call it Cover Songs I Like. Did a "Bad Cover Songs" theme a couple of months ago and had in mind its counterpart "Good Cover Songs". Except in music what is "good music"? I think there is more universaility in recognizing bad versions of things where the artists just failed. But "good" often comes down to tastes in music as much as anything esle. So without annointing these unviersal "goods", even though I think they are all popular/generally more appreciated than not, I am instead just going to call this Cover Songs I Like...and maybe you will too.
Boxscore
Evans ( A- ) -- on what can kindly be called "off nights" for Cuz and IT, we got games out of the other three starters to keep us semi-in this one (as well as one bench guy, TWill), and none was any better than Reke. Got off to a good start hitting an improbable long jumper against the clock with a hand in his face, then throwing a full court baseball pass to a streaking Thornton. Was doing a beautiful job passing in the early going and had something approaching half of our first half assists. And note too, racked up 8 assits and ZERO turnovers, which is a pretty decent ratio. Started the third strong again with a jumper, a steal, and a pair of Fts. But forced a bad long jumper after a sequence of selfish shots by virtually everybody on the team, then got called for a clear path foul trying to get back in transtion. Left the game soon therafter and was replaced by TWill, but the lead swelled while he ws out and it was not until he returned to create that effective TWill/Reke duo we've been seeing that we made a push to get back into it. Really began sizing up the Hornets in the late 4th after he took over at PG. Set up JT, knocked down a jumper, got a drive -- was kind of that way all night as he was contributing in all areas (including playing active defense all night). But with us having gotten the lead back to four and 3 minutes to go, briefly got infected with that recurring case of the heroes and got too one on oney as he tried to punch us into the lead. As is normally the case with that disease, it had the opposite effect.
Ring of Fire - Social D -- one of the all time great covers in my mind, walking that fine line of the band making the song its own, moving it into a new genre, and yet still staying true to Johnny Cash's original. Only thing I miss are the mariachi horns.
Thompson ( B ) -- there was a good and a bad to this one for Jason. The good was that he came up with 18pts on 8-12 shooting to help the offense. The bad was that his opponent (Jason Smith), who should NOT be doing such things, came with 22pts on 10-12 shooting to hurt the defense. A lot of that hurt came early as Jason, with a little non-help from his friends on defense, got torched by Smith in the early going, letting him get whatever shot he wanted. Came alive himself on the defensive glas, and started pushing the ball on the break himself rather than giving it to guards. Amazingly that worked out for him, and on maybe our best play of the night he kicked the ball ahead to Thornton, then kept running the floor and took the touch pass back for a dunk. Scattered in some tough post moves throughout the game. Came up with a big offensive rebound at the 3:00 to give us an extra possession, but led nowhere. Led the team in rebounding, but wasn't special on the boards and without Cuz we got crunched one more time there. Have to cap this grade to reflect the defense on Smith, or lack thereof.
With A Little Help From My Friends - Joe Cocker -- of course Joe Cocker is famous for his covers, and this is one of those songs where more than just covering it, his version (which he first sung at Woodstock 40 years ago) may have gone on to eclipse the Beatles original to become the defining version.
Cousins ( F ) -- see my introductory writeup for what I think happened here. The rest of the details are comparatively unimportant. Started the game showing the quick hands again, and if nothing else Demarcus has now notched 10 steals in the last two games, which is one of those numbers that may truly not have been seen out of a center since Olajuwon. Then came the ridiculous behind the bakc pass attemtp, and that defeined the rest of the game. Was just forcing and getting nothing accomplished, and the lack of fiocus was just pulsing out of in waves. Started the third with a bad pass turnover. Started making selfish decision in the third just charging inside and throwing up junk. Then just started settling for long missed jumpers that he jsut kind of threw up there, but never did seem to bear down and concentrate as if this one mattered to him. Once again an example of somehing I have been talking about all year with Boogie -- despite the huge strides, a major point of continuing immaturity is his inability to play through/fight through adversity. I don't even know if that's immaturity per se, since my dad was teaching me those tough guy/never give in lessons in grade school. But its a definite trait that needs improving, and its one that as guys get older and become professionals and take pride in that label, and in themselves, that they get past. With all of Boogie's talent, learnign to play through fatigue/bad calls/pssing matches with coaches/whatever may be the only thing standing between him and just tearing up the league next year.
The Metro - Alkaline Trio -- System of A Down also tried covering this old Berlin song, but I thought theirs committed the sin of trashing the original. This version though just takes the original synthicized new wave and gives it a kick in the butt while still maintaining the integrity of the song.
Thornton ( A- ) -- after some previous struggles, came back home and finally got that strong performance before family and friends that he has been looking for. Really energetic out on the break in the early going, and blew up for 13 first quarter points. but was also doing a ncie job of being unselfish vis a vis JT in particualr, and delivered a beautiful touch pass back to JT for the dunk after JT had led the break and found Marcus. Hit a three inside the 2:00 mark to make the lead 5, and had a chacne to play the big here when Reke got it to him for a challenged one next time down the floor, but he missed it, and we got no closer. On the other end of the court it should be noted that we got beat essentiall by Jason Smith, Marco Bellinelli, Graevis Vasquez, and Xavier Henry. If you're a casual fan and just said WHO? you are not alone I am sure. But my point here is that the last three of those names were often matched up on Marcus.
Wish You Were Here - Rasputina -- I have never been a fan of Pink Floyd -- probably from having been forced to watch the frickin' The Wall movie at least half a dozen times in my school years and growing sick of it. I have also never been much of a fan of Rasputina -- one of those bands I have tried to like, but just can't. But now put them together and add in one awesomely moody cello, and I think you've got a great cover.
At that point I think Smart made a mistake. And with DeMarcus at least he's normally had the right answer. But here he immediately sent Chuck Hayes to the scorer's table to sub in fron DeMarcus, even though it was only mid quarter and Boogie and we as a team were playing well. In other words purely a punishment type move, like that time that Westphal pulled Donte for the extra flair on a dunk. Thing is, DeMarcus did not like it at ALL. He saw the Hayes move coming, and so he promptly committed a **** you foul for Smart's benefit. And right there we lost him for the entire game. He was unhappy/pouty down at the end of the bench. He came back in, still looked out of sorts, got the third foul, went back to the bench. Came out in the third just lax and sloppy. And basically he just quit. Not so much on the team as on Smart. Smart had showed him up, and he wasn't happy and wasn't going to play for him tonight. That's what I saw at least. And I strongly suspect it being the 2nd night of a back to back only made it that much easier for DeMarcus to mail it in. And bereft of our dominant big man, and once again turning one of the two worst offensive teams in the league (other = Charlotte) into a 100+ ppg 55% shooting powerhouse, we blew what should have been a win for us.
Theme = well, guess we'll call it Cover Songs I Like. Did a "Bad Cover Songs" theme a couple of months ago and had in mind its counterpart "Good Cover Songs". Except in music what is "good music"? I think there is more universaility in recognizing bad versions of things where the artists just failed. But "good" often comes down to tastes in music as much as anything esle. So without annointing these unviersal "goods", even though I think they are all popular/generally more appreciated than not, I am instead just going to call this Cover Songs I Like...and maybe you will too.
Boxscore
Evans ( A- ) -- on what can kindly be called "off nights" for Cuz and IT, we got games out of the other three starters to keep us semi-in this one (as well as one bench guy, TWill), and none was any better than Reke. Got off to a good start hitting an improbable long jumper against the clock with a hand in his face, then throwing a full court baseball pass to a streaking Thornton. Was doing a beautiful job passing in the early going and had something approaching half of our first half assists. And note too, racked up 8 assits and ZERO turnovers, which is a pretty decent ratio. Started the third strong again with a jumper, a steal, and a pair of Fts. But forced a bad long jumper after a sequence of selfish shots by virtually everybody on the team, then got called for a clear path foul trying to get back in transtion. Left the game soon therafter and was replaced by TWill, but the lead swelled while he ws out and it was not until he returned to create that effective TWill/Reke duo we've been seeing that we made a push to get back into it. Really began sizing up the Hornets in the late 4th after he took over at PG. Set up JT, knocked down a jumper, got a drive -- was kind of that way all night as he was contributing in all areas (including playing active defense all night). But with us having gotten the lead back to four and 3 minutes to go, briefly got infected with that recurring case of the heroes and got too one on oney as he tried to punch us into the lead. As is normally the case with that disease, it had the opposite effect.
Thompson ( B ) -- there was a good and a bad to this one for Jason. The good was that he came up with 18pts on 8-12 shooting to help the offense. The bad was that his opponent (Jason Smith), who should NOT be doing such things, came with 22pts on 10-12 shooting to hurt the defense. A lot of that hurt came early as Jason, with a little non-help from his friends on defense, got torched by Smith in the early going, letting him get whatever shot he wanted. Came alive himself on the defensive glas, and started pushing the ball on the break himself rather than giving it to guards. Amazingly that worked out for him, and on maybe our best play of the night he kicked the ball ahead to Thornton, then kept running the floor and took the touch pass back for a dunk. Scattered in some tough post moves throughout the game. Came up with a big offensive rebound at the 3:00 to give us an extra possession, but led nowhere. Led the team in rebounding, but wasn't special on the boards and without Cuz we got crunched one more time there. Have to cap this grade to reflect the defense on Smith, or lack thereof.
Cousins ( F ) -- see my introductory writeup for what I think happened here. The rest of the details are comparatively unimportant. Started the game showing the quick hands again, and if nothing else Demarcus has now notched 10 steals in the last two games, which is one of those numbers that may truly not have been seen out of a center since Olajuwon. Then came the ridiculous behind the bakc pass attemtp, and that defeined the rest of the game. Was just forcing and getting nothing accomplished, and the lack of fiocus was just pulsing out of in waves. Started the third with a bad pass turnover. Started making selfish decision in the third just charging inside and throwing up junk. Then just started settling for long missed jumpers that he jsut kind of threw up there, but never did seem to bear down and concentrate as if this one mattered to him. Once again an example of somehing I have been talking about all year with Boogie -- despite the huge strides, a major point of continuing immaturity is his inability to play through/fight through adversity. I don't even know if that's immaturity per se, since my dad was teaching me those tough guy/never give in lessons in grade school. But its a definite trait that needs improving, and its one that as guys get older and become professionals and take pride in that label, and in themselves, that they get past. With all of Boogie's talent, learnign to play through fatigue/bad calls/pssing matches with coaches/whatever may be the only thing standing between him and just tearing up the league next year.
Thornton ( A- ) -- after some previous struggles, came back home and finally got that strong performance before family and friends that he has been looking for. Really energetic out on the break in the early going, and blew up for 13 first quarter points. but was also doing a ncie job of being unselfish vis a vis JT in particualr, and delivered a beautiful touch pass back to JT for the dunk after JT had led the break and found Marcus. Hit a three inside the 2:00 mark to make the lead 5, and had a chacne to play the big here when Reke got it to him for a challenged one next time down the floor, but he missed it, and we got no closer. On the other end of the court it should be noted that we got beat essentiall by Jason Smith, Marco Bellinelli, Graevis Vasquez, and Xavier Henry. If you're a casual fan and just said WHO? you are not alone I am sure. But my point here is that the last three of those names were often matched up on Marcus.
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