Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well that was impressive. 
Artest ( B+ ) -- a scattering of nice takes to the rim in the first half as the third of our early scorers (basically that whole PG/OG/SF trio again). And generally efficient on offense all night long. Didn't really have anybody to guard out there, and the guys he did guard didn't pay much attention to him. Had little effect on Roy, and Muss got him into an untenable defensive matchup trying to check Zach Randolph in a smallballing Bibby/Martin/Salmons/Ron lineup in the second quarter -- Zach is just too big and good to be checked by a SF, even Ron. Over the course of the game did come up with a couple of nice interior blocks in there as the last (pretty much ONLY) line of defense we had in the paint. Tried to carry the offense in early OT, attacking at the rim. But was kind of forgotten about and quiet for the final 3-4 minutes. Another strong, efficient offensive outing, mostly attacking inside, creating some shots for others, only forcing one or two. But not an impact game defensively.
Thomas ( D- ) -- slow start, and while Randolph was not great, he clearly got the better of it (no surprise). Kenny returned to do basically nothing in the third either, and got a technical to close his night before heading to the bench for the rest of the game. Thx Kenny.
Reef ( C ) -- invisible start, although at least not being badly victimized on the other end as Pryzbilla was a nonfactor in the early going. Could not finish inside after returning in the third, but at least there was some effort. But another night on which we got better after he got pulled, at least for a while. Came back in OT to battle Randolph moderately effectively, but got beat for the go ahead basket.
Martin ( B- ) -- big scoring first quarter, but being scored right back on by Roy the other way, causing us to basically have to hide him so that Ron could take his man. In fact everyone he was guarding was scoring on him, and it really has to be mentioned how much his defense seems to have fallen off. Got quiet offensively after half as well as the Blazers decided to try actualy guarding him. And then missed not 1, but TWO huge FTs in the final seconds to let the Blazers tie it up. That's two nights in a row where Kevin had the game in his hands at the line and choked it away. Interesting phenomenon here, because second night in a row where his numbers are right on his averages, but I really was not in love with his actual game. Bad defense, choking in the clutch...Kevin needs to refocus here.
Bibby ( A- ) -- another scorching start, and got whatever he wanted all half. The second half was quieter however, and Mike was often invisible until abruptly reemerging to bury ANOTHER huge clutch 3 to bring us within 1 with 6 seconds to go in OT. 2nd game in a row Mike has stepped up in classic Bibby fashion to try to bail us out. Second game in row it was not enough, as a few seconds later he came up way way short on the forced game tying attempt (man was right in his face). And so just like last year the holiday season has seen Mike returning to form and catching fire. And yet as a team we are still just waddling along, critically hamstrung by his and our inability to stop anyone on the other side.
Miller ( C+ ) -- came in off the bench, hit a jumper, made a nice bounce pass for a Martin layup. Then embarrassed himself trying to post up a guard and failing miserably. And never returned after half -- apparently still ailing. After seeing the horrendous crap that was our front line in the second half, culminating with the resort to Mo Taylor...Brad, get well. Soon. Wish we had Justin Williams in uni.
Salmons ( C+ ) -- a lot of minutes for very limtied production tonight. John has in many ways emerged as Muss's safety blanket here. Problem being Muss still grasps at it even when its not really doing much. In the early going John made a nice play posting up little Sergio Rodriguez, but otherwise did little before the break. Logged major 2nd half minutes, many in a variety of smallballing lineups with Ron at PF. Played solid defense, but got beat for the game tying shot in regulation. 2nd game in a row we've seen John beat despite his best efforts. Came back in OT to turn the tables and hit his own game tying three with a minute to go. But 30 seconds later switched his hero's cape for a goat outfit as he stepped out of bounds in the corner with Portland up 2 and us trying to tie it up. Set the stage for our demise, as we could never recover. In the end 6pts 4reb 4ast in 31min on 1-5 shooting (the one being the big shot) with good and bad highlights cancelling each other out.
Douby ( C- ) -- started the second quarter at OG next to Bibby, first shot got blocked, but did eventually hit a three. Think he got benched after some lacksadaisical play including a bush league leakout/attempt at cherry picking where he ran up court to get the freebie layup before we had even grabbed the rebound, and the ball happened to fall right in the spot he had just vacated. Oops. No second half minutes, and this time no stone cold insertion in late OT to try to win the game for us either.
Corliss ( B+ ) -- did little in the first half -- just too small to check Randolph. And while he continued to struggle guarding the big bigs after half, he was at the core of the little mini-run we put on to open the 4th, punctuating it with a big power jam as we pulled away. And believe it or not, when Coriliss fouled out late in regulation, that may have sealed our fate, as the remaining bigs -- Reef, Mo, and KT all sucked in various degrees.
Taylor ( B- ) -- got in in the second half, presumably in Miller's spot in the rotation after Brad's illness kept him in the locker room. And...did not suck. Nothing special, but that 5 spot was a gaping wound all night for us, and Mo at least filled in solidly. Was uncharacteristically grabbing rebounds -- this being one of the notoriously weakest rebounding "bigs" in the league. But slipped up late, missed shots he shouldn't have taken (not at this point in his career anyway), looked shaky, and was gone by OT. Hey, Mo Taylor this year doing ANYTHING for you is a cause for celebration. But Mo in the game in crunchtime is
Garcia ( INC ) -- got a minute in there somewhere, last game may have chased him back from the rotation
Muss ( ) -- So this was supposed to be the sure thing. The one and only game that we win everytime this year -- the sub .500 opponent on our home floor. We came into the game 8-1 against those teams. 6-15 vs. everyone else. Make that 8-2 against those teams now. This one featuring all of our inconsistency and frontcourt impotence on full display. In the first half, our not so big three all went off...and yet we still trailed at half because of terrible defense. In the second half the Blazers tried everythign possible to give the game to us -- missing open look after open look after open look, and we STILL couldn't put them away on the power of a mighty 12pt 4th quarter. Along the way our entire 5 man frontcourt (SAR, Kenny, Brad, Mo and Corliss) put up 23pts and 21rebs. Zach Randolph alone put up 32 and 15. And yet fair or not, this one is probably remembered as the one we should have gotten had our best FT shooter just hit his FTs in the clutch. Well, Muss did not miss the FTs anymore than Rick did on a far greater stage back in the day. Nor did he have any particular answers up front, where he rode the only effective "big" he had (6'5"ish Corliss) as far as he could before Nasty fouled out. On the other hand, at no point in this game did we have an effective defensive scheme, and really the only reason we were not blown out on our home floor is because the Blazers missed open shots at an alarming rate -- why they suck of course (and a charitable grader might suggest our strategy was to depend upon their crappy shooting to miss). We smallballed ourselves into trouble in the second quarter, and as laudable defender as he is, we put Ron into a very tough position having to try to guard a hulking mega-scoring PF like Randolph down in the post. That guy can drop 30 on Duncan, and is just too big for even Ron's brawn. Of course given our absolutely pathetic frontcourt, maybe the smallball theory was "why not?" But it didn't work. Randolph went inside at will, and then when we finally started doubling him, their perimeter guys got all the open looks they wanted, and our smallballing insertion (Salmons) was only moderately more effective than our bigs. And of course the Kings being the Kings, consistency of any sort is not allowed, so we score 31 in the first quarter, and then proceed to score all of 36 in the entire second half, including a terrible 4th quarter collapse where the only thing saving us was an even worse effort from the Blazers. You can feel free to explain to me what happened to our high scoring backcourt down the stretch, and why Mo Taylor was jacking up shots like it was 1998. Better yet, explain it to Muss so that maybe he can go crunch some numbers to figure out its bad. So we lose...and if we just keep on losing its not necessarily the worst thing that could happen. If we lose 20 in a row there is hope for the future via a top draft pick. If we win 20 in a row there is hope for the present in the playoffs. But instead, we just wobble along, and unless Geoff finds some reinforcements, how's that going to change?
Artest ( B+ ) -- a scattering of nice takes to the rim in the first half as the third of our early scorers (basically that whole PG/OG/SF trio again). And generally efficient on offense all night long. Didn't really have anybody to guard out there, and the guys he did guard didn't pay much attention to him. Had little effect on Roy, and Muss got him into an untenable defensive matchup trying to check Zach Randolph in a smallballing Bibby/Martin/Salmons/Ron lineup in the second quarter -- Zach is just too big and good to be checked by a SF, even Ron. Over the course of the game did come up with a couple of nice interior blocks in there as the last (pretty much ONLY) line of defense we had in the paint. Tried to carry the offense in early OT, attacking at the rim. But was kind of forgotten about and quiet for the final 3-4 minutes. Another strong, efficient offensive outing, mostly attacking inside, creating some shots for others, only forcing one or two. But not an impact game defensively.
Thomas ( D- ) -- slow start, and while Randolph was not great, he clearly got the better of it (no surprise). Kenny returned to do basically nothing in the third either, and got a technical to close his night before heading to the bench for the rest of the game. Thx Kenny.
Reef ( C ) -- invisible start, although at least not being badly victimized on the other end as Pryzbilla was a nonfactor in the early going. Could not finish inside after returning in the third, but at least there was some effort. But another night on which we got better after he got pulled, at least for a while. Came back in OT to battle Randolph moderately effectively, but got beat for the go ahead basket.
Martin ( B- ) -- big scoring first quarter, but being scored right back on by Roy the other way, causing us to basically have to hide him so that Ron could take his man. In fact everyone he was guarding was scoring on him, and it really has to be mentioned how much his defense seems to have fallen off. Got quiet offensively after half as well as the Blazers decided to try actualy guarding him. And then missed not 1, but TWO huge FTs in the final seconds to let the Blazers tie it up. That's two nights in a row where Kevin had the game in his hands at the line and choked it away. Interesting phenomenon here, because second night in a row where his numbers are right on his averages, but I really was not in love with his actual game. Bad defense, choking in the clutch...Kevin needs to refocus here.
Bibby ( A- ) -- another scorching start, and got whatever he wanted all half. The second half was quieter however, and Mike was often invisible until abruptly reemerging to bury ANOTHER huge clutch 3 to bring us within 1 with 6 seconds to go in OT. 2nd game in a row Mike has stepped up in classic Bibby fashion to try to bail us out. Second game in row it was not enough, as a few seconds later he came up way way short on the forced game tying attempt (man was right in his face). And so just like last year the holiday season has seen Mike returning to form and catching fire. And yet as a team we are still just waddling along, critically hamstrung by his and our inability to stop anyone on the other side.
Miller ( C+ ) -- came in off the bench, hit a jumper, made a nice bounce pass for a Martin layup. Then embarrassed himself trying to post up a guard and failing miserably. And never returned after half -- apparently still ailing. After seeing the horrendous crap that was our front line in the second half, culminating with the resort to Mo Taylor...Brad, get well. Soon. Wish we had Justin Williams in uni.
Salmons ( C+ ) -- a lot of minutes for very limtied production tonight. John has in many ways emerged as Muss's safety blanket here. Problem being Muss still grasps at it even when its not really doing much. In the early going John made a nice play posting up little Sergio Rodriguez, but otherwise did little before the break. Logged major 2nd half minutes, many in a variety of smallballing lineups with Ron at PF. Played solid defense, but got beat for the game tying shot in regulation. 2nd game in a row we've seen John beat despite his best efforts. Came back in OT to turn the tables and hit his own game tying three with a minute to go. But 30 seconds later switched his hero's cape for a goat outfit as he stepped out of bounds in the corner with Portland up 2 and us trying to tie it up. Set the stage for our demise, as we could never recover. In the end 6pts 4reb 4ast in 31min on 1-5 shooting (the one being the big shot) with good and bad highlights cancelling each other out.
Douby ( C- ) -- started the second quarter at OG next to Bibby, first shot got blocked, but did eventually hit a three. Think he got benched after some lacksadaisical play including a bush league leakout/attempt at cherry picking where he ran up court to get the freebie layup before we had even grabbed the rebound, and the ball happened to fall right in the spot he had just vacated. Oops. No second half minutes, and this time no stone cold insertion in late OT to try to win the game for us either.
Corliss ( B+ ) -- did little in the first half -- just too small to check Randolph. And while he continued to struggle guarding the big bigs after half, he was at the core of the little mini-run we put on to open the 4th, punctuating it with a big power jam as we pulled away. And believe it or not, when Coriliss fouled out late in regulation, that may have sealed our fate, as the remaining bigs -- Reef, Mo, and KT all sucked in various degrees.
Taylor ( B- ) -- got in in the second half, presumably in Miller's spot in the rotation after Brad's illness kept him in the locker room. And...did not suck. Nothing special, but that 5 spot was a gaping wound all night for us, and Mo at least filled in solidly. Was uncharacteristically grabbing rebounds -- this being one of the notoriously weakest rebounding "bigs" in the league. But slipped up late, missed shots he shouldn't have taken (not at this point in his career anyway), looked shaky, and was gone by OT. Hey, Mo Taylor this year doing ANYTHING for you is a cause for celebration. But Mo in the game in crunchtime is
Garcia ( INC ) -- got a minute in there somewhere, last game may have chased him back from the rotation
Muss ( ) -- So this was supposed to be the sure thing. The one and only game that we win everytime this year -- the sub .500 opponent on our home floor. We came into the game 8-1 against those teams. 6-15 vs. everyone else. Make that 8-2 against those teams now. This one featuring all of our inconsistency and frontcourt impotence on full display. In the first half, our not so big three all went off...and yet we still trailed at half because of terrible defense. In the second half the Blazers tried everythign possible to give the game to us -- missing open look after open look after open look, and we STILL couldn't put them away on the power of a mighty 12pt 4th quarter. Along the way our entire 5 man frontcourt (SAR, Kenny, Brad, Mo and Corliss) put up 23pts and 21rebs. Zach Randolph alone put up 32 and 15. And yet fair or not, this one is probably remembered as the one we should have gotten had our best FT shooter just hit his FTs in the clutch. Well, Muss did not miss the FTs anymore than Rick did on a far greater stage back in the day. Nor did he have any particular answers up front, where he rode the only effective "big" he had (6'5"ish Corliss) as far as he could before Nasty fouled out. On the other hand, at no point in this game did we have an effective defensive scheme, and really the only reason we were not blown out on our home floor is because the Blazers missed open shots at an alarming rate -- why they suck of course (and a charitable grader might suggest our strategy was to depend upon their crappy shooting to miss). We smallballed ourselves into trouble in the second quarter, and as laudable defender as he is, we put Ron into a very tough position having to try to guard a hulking mega-scoring PF like Randolph down in the post. That guy can drop 30 on Duncan, and is just too big for even Ron's brawn. Of course given our absolutely pathetic frontcourt, maybe the smallball theory was "why not?" But it didn't work. Randolph went inside at will, and then when we finally started doubling him, their perimeter guys got all the open looks they wanted, and our smallballing insertion (Salmons) was only moderately more effective than our bigs. And of course the Kings being the Kings, consistency of any sort is not allowed, so we score 31 in the first quarter, and then proceed to score all of 36 in the entire second half, including a terrible 4th quarter collapse where the only thing saving us was an even worse effort from the Blazers. You can feel free to explain to me what happened to our high scoring backcourt down the stretch, and why Mo Taylor was jacking up shots like it was 1998. Better yet, explain it to Muss so that maybe he can go crunch some numbers to figure out its bad. So we lose...and if we just keep on losing its not necessarily the worst thing that could happen. If we lose 20 in a row there is hope for the future via a top draft pick. If we win 20 in a row there is hope for the present in the playoffs. But instead, we just wobble along, and unless Geoff finds some reinforcements, how's that going to change?
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