Peja ( F ) -- just has to be the grade on a night when Peja Stojakovic scored 6 pts. Very worrisome performance assuming he's healthy. The good news is that he got off to a strong start on the glass, grabbing 4 first quarter boards. The bad news...well that was everything else. Just a very very passive effort after the first few minutes, and I'm hoping here that we haven't discovered another of those patented "Peja stoppers" in Ruben Patterson. And Ruben creamed him with his athleticism on the other side of the court too. Picked a good time to FINALLY make another shot on a drive with a minute left in OT. And liked the confidence, but not the result, when the next trip down the floor he called for the ball aggressively looking for the short jumper. But that's really scraping the barrel for something positive to say tonight.
Webber ( A ) -- Had some splashes of out of control play and bizarre decision-making to deny him his "+", but that was ALL that kept it from him. We've seen clutch Webb, and he was here tonight, and we've seen leader Webb, and he was there as well. And now we have fan favorite Webb engaging the crowd, pumping them up, telling them to get loud -- breaching that hostility gap. Got off to a slow start, but began to become the dominant player on the floor as the game headed down the stretch. Made a spectacular Webb-only play in the early 4th where he grabbed a defensive rebound with one hand and in the same motion threw the ball full court down to a streaking Martin. Hit big clutch shots again for us in the last 2 minutes of regulation, but tarnished that a bit by again trying to win the game with a three pointer. At this point I have tremendous confidence in him hitting the game winning shot, but why a three all the time? Just about anything else has to be higher percenbtage for him. Made up for that gaffe though by grabbing a giant board in front of Wilt Pryzbilla, getting fouled, and then hitting two clutch FTs to seal it with 15 seconds to go in OT. Not a perfect game, but another night of MVP caliber superstar play.
Miller ( B ) -- nice bounceback game in some ways, more of the same in others. Still has absolutely no confidence in that jumper, but tonight was working inside much more effectively than he has been recently, mostly because he was letting it come to him on assists from teammates and hustle plays rather than one on one drives. Made some great team defense plays -- came up with steal after steal. But again saw an opposing scrub have a career night against him, although tonight he could at least say that Joel Pryzbilla was frequently open as a result of our designed defensive rotations. Much much steadier effort tonight with numerous flashes of inspired play. But he just can't let his opposing number, a career journeyman no less, outrebound him 21 tro 8.
Mobley ( B+ ) -- struggled on offense in the first half, and we found out that while the Cat is quick, he is not quick enough on defense to control a dart like Nick the Quick or Mighty Mouse. Came out in the third smoking hot, and combined with Evans and Martin to give us perhaps our single most inspired stretch of play of the night in the early 4th. Also hit a big three in OT which helped swing the tide in our favor.
Bibby ( B ) -- had his buddy Stoudemire under control in the first half, and was scoring back on the other side of the court aggressively. But lost control of Damon in the third, and Mike was not much of a factor late. Made a bad mistake with 5 seconds to go in regulation and the game tied -- for the second time this year had a wide open game winning shot lined up, and just flat out passed it up. The only thing I can think of is that he thought there was too much time still on the clock, but who cares if you just go ahead and hit it? Instead ended up dumping it to Webb for another PF-shooting-a-three to win it heave. Defense was actually not terrible despite the big numbers for the Portland backcourt. Was fighting hard, but the Portland twerps just kept on chucking them up.
Songaila ( B+ ) -- nice first half stint, in which he combined with Mo Evans to give us a nice energetic burst off the bench. Still active when he returned in the second half, albeit to lesser effect. Not much on the boards on a night when we really needed the help.
Evans ( A ) -- very strong effort off the bench for us once again. Just almost every night anymore. As critical as any of his more talented teammtes beause he gives us something no other King can -- a live body. Banged, hustled, hit the glass, had the dunk of the night -- ho-hum, just another Mo Evans night.
House ( C ) -- took his normal first half stint, and still was unable to hit his shots. Hustled and made a nice pass, but opened the door to Rick experimenting with the Mobley/Marin backcourt, and because of that might be the last we see of Eddie for a long time.
Martin ( A- ) -- got a call at an interesting time of the game. It was the late third, normally House's spot in the rotation, and all of a sudden Rick broke his pattern and went with the Mobley/Martin/Evans small player experiment, and it paid off in spades. Just more energy and athleticism than any other PG/OG/SF trio I can remember in recent Sacramento history. Broke the game open for us there in the early 4th, although of course Portland made a late run to catch back up. Still scoring better on hustle type plays than with his organized offense.
Adelman ( A- ) -- short of slipping on a uniform again and going out and grabbing a few boards, not sure what else Rick can do on a night like this. Went to the bench and found help, mixed and matched and rotated little players in an attempt to disrupt and slowdown the twin mites of doom in the Portland backcourt. Thought outside the box a bit and broke out of his standard House insertion in the second half to try what turned out to be a great lineup of Evans/Martin/Mobley that provided us with a huge surge of quick athletic energy. Impossible to adequately express my feelings regarding our rebounding in the final 30 seconds -- lotta %'s, #'s $'s, strong together in long string like thus $@#%#*!*!!!! We must have given them about 4 or 5 consecutive shots to beat us as we proved totally unable to grab the game saving defensive rebound. But that's not really on Rick -- sure he was screaming as loud as the rest of us. Played Peja a LOT, as is his wont even when Peja sucks. Not warranted tonight, in particualr with Mo playing so well. Maybe could have tried to draw up some plays just to get Peja going if he was going to insist in playing him big minutes. On the final play of regulation drew up a play that resulted in Bibby being open for a three to win it -- perfect. But Bibby passed it up and swung it to Webber for the three instead. Hope THAT wasn't the play. 5 wins and counting...now a question...is this team EVER going to blow somebody out??
Webber ( A ) -- Had some splashes of out of control play and bizarre decision-making to deny him his "+", but that was ALL that kept it from him. We've seen clutch Webb, and he was here tonight, and we've seen leader Webb, and he was there as well. And now we have fan favorite Webb engaging the crowd, pumping them up, telling them to get loud -- breaching that hostility gap. Got off to a slow start, but began to become the dominant player on the floor as the game headed down the stretch. Made a spectacular Webb-only play in the early 4th where he grabbed a defensive rebound with one hand and in the same motion threw the ball full court down to a streaking Martin. Hit big clutch shots again for us in the last 2 minutes of regulation, but tarnished that a bit by again trying to win the game with a three pointer. At this point I have tremendous confidence in him hitting the game winning shot, but why a three all the time? Just about anything else has to be higher percenbtage for him. Made up for that gaffe though by grabbing a giant board in front of Wilt Pryzbilla, getting fouled, and then hitting two clutch FTs to seal it with 15 seconds to go in OT. Not a perfect game, but another night of MVP caliber superstar play.
Miller ( B ) -- nice bounceback game in some ways, more of the same in others. Still has absolutely no confidence in that jumper, but tonight was working inside much more effectively than he has been recently, mostly because he was letting it come to him on assists from teammates and hustle plays rather than one on one drives. Made some great team defense plays -- came up with steal after steal. But again saw an opposing scrub have a career night against him, although tonight he could at least say that Joel Pryzbilla was frequently open as a result of our designed defensive rotations. Much much steadier effort tonight with numerous flashes of inspired play. But he just can't let his opposing number, a career journeyman no less, outrebound him 21 tro 8.
Mobley ( B+ ) -- struggled on offense in the first half, and we found out that while the Cat is quick, he is not quick enough on defense to control a dart like Nick the Quick or Mighty Mouse. Came out in the third smoking hot, and combined with Evans and Martin to give us perhaps our single most inspired stretch of play of the night in the early 4th. Also hit a big three in OT which helped swing the tide in our favor.
Bibby ( B ) -- had his buddy Stoudemire under control in the first half, and was scoring back on the other side of the court aggressively. But lost control of Damon in the third, and Mike was not much of a factor late. Made a bad mistake with 5 seconds to go in regulation and the game tied -- for the second time this year had a wide open game winning shot lined up, and just flat out passed it up. The only thing I can think of is that he thought there was too much time still on the clock, but who cares if you just go ahead and hit it? Instead ended up dumping it to Webb for another PF-shooting-a-three to win it heave. Defense was actually not terrible despite the big numbers for the Portland backcourt. Was fighting hard, but the Portland twerps just kept on chucking them up.
Songaila ( B+ ) -- nice first half stint, in which he combined with Mo Evans to give us a nice energetic burst off the bench. Still active when he returned in the second half, albeit to lesser effect. Not much on the boards on a night when we really needed the help.
Evans ( A ) -- very strong effort off the bench for us once again. Just almost every night anymore. As critical as any of his more talented teammtes beause he gives us something no other King can -- a live body. Banged, hustled, hit the glass, had the dunk of the night -- ho-hum, just another Mo Evans night.
House ( C ) -- took his normal first half stint, and still was unable to hit his shots. Hustled and made a nice pass, but opened the door to Rick experimenting with the Mobley/Marin backcourt, and because of that might be the last we see of Eddie for a long time.
Martin ( A- ) -- got a call at an interesting time of the game. It was the late third, normally House's spot in the rotation, and all of a sudden Rick broke his pattern and went with the Mobley/Martin/Evans small player experiment, and it paid off in spades. Just more energy and athleticism than any other PG/OG/SF trio I can remember in recent Sacramento history. Broke the game open for us there in the early 4th, although of course Portland made a late run to catch back up. Still scoring better on hustle type plays than with his organized offense.
Adelman ( A- ) -- short of slipping on a uniform again and going out and grabbing a few boards, not sure what else Rick can do on a night like this. Went to the bench and found help, mixed and matched and rotated little players in an attempt to disrupt and slowdown the twin mites of doom in the Portland backcourt. Thought outside the box a bit and broke out of his standard House insertion in the second half to try what turned out to be a great lineup of Evans/Martin/Mobley that provided us with a huge surge of quick athletic energy. Impossible to adequately express my feelings regarding our rebounding in the final 30 seconds -- lotta %'s, #'s $'s, strong together in long string like thus $@#%#*!*!!!! We must have given them about 4 or 5 consecutive shots to beat us as we proved totally unable to grab the game saving defensive rebound. But that's not really on Rick -- sure he was screaming as loud as the rest of us. Played Peja a LOT, as is his wont even when Peja sucks. Not warranted tonight, in particualr with Mo playing so well. Maybe could have tried to draw up some plays just to get Peja going if he was going to insist in playing him big minutes. On the final play of regulation drew up a play that resulted in Bibby being open for a three to win it -- perfect. But Bibby passed it up and swung it to Webber for the three instead. Hope THAT wasn't the play.
5 wins and counting...now a question...is this team EVER going to blow somebody out??
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