Kings v. Blazers 02/05
Peja ( D ) -- the good news -- was moving really well. Hopefully the back does not tighten up after the game. The bad? Rusty as all hell. Patterson took it to him at both ends of the court once again. Not sure whether we can add Ruben to the Peja-stoppers list because of lingering questions about the back, but he's certainly tortured Peja this season. Was stripped repeatedly down low, and once even out at the three point line in the play that finished us in the final minute. Hit a couple of open threes, including one in the final minute as we tried to steal another game, but otherwise was a real struggle on offense. No boardwork at all, but did make a few nice passes. First game back, and he had a few worse ones last month, so go a little easy.
Webber ( B+ ) -- Wanders back on in from the injury wilderness and merely tosses in a triple double. Easily the best of our three injury returnees tonight, but despite the huge numbers still had some obvious rust himself. Started off very slow in chuck-a-lazy jumper mode, but after sitting at the end of the quarter came back a new player in the 2nd. Started very aggressively working the post, and beat everyone the Blazers threw at him down there. Second half tried to continue attacking the middle, but the Blazers shotblockers were huge tonight and met him in there 3 or 4 times. In what is at this point a ho-hum unsurprising development started hitting big shots in the stretch run, including another three -- Webb is shooting 45% from three this year. Fouled out in the final minute, but the final few fouls were good ones taken for the team. Big on the boards tonight, which was important with Brad a non-factor (and get this grabbed SEVEN offensive boards to lead what has to be some sort of Kings record of 21 off boards to only 18 def boards), and of course was at the heart of our revitalized passing attack.
Miller ( B ) -- solid game from Brad but nothing more. in the first quarter was the only one of our starters who could hit the broad side of a barn, and looked like maybe he would have to carry our regulars the way he has carried the scrubbies. But calmed down thereafter, and despite some nice moments here and there was never a huge factor. Even amazingly seemed to just quit shooting there at some point, something that just yesterday I had said I hoped we'd never see again.
Mobley ( D- ) -- UGLY. Looked like Cat maybe shouldn't have tried to come back, because he really didn't have anything tonight. Shot was way way off, and got burned on defense as well. Just not really ready to compete yet. Hit a three in the last 12 seconds, but way too little too late as he was actually scoreless before then. Not going to go to an F here because at least Cat knew he didn't have it and quit shooting + instead made some nifty passes to set others up.
Bibby ( A- ) -- scored a ton of points again, and again had trouble on the other end of the floor. Tonight he goes for 35 and ends up with only a +5. And so again the "-" to the "A". Was not always guarding Stoudamire, but to the degree we tried a variety of other people to cover him it was because Mike was getting torched. With Peja and Mobley still working their way back, was our only dependable shooter out there, but still forced some bad shots. First half was actually a struggle for him until he hit a three just before the halftime buzzer. Then it was off to the races in the second half with Mike carrying an otherwise impotent group of All-Star and near All-Stars. Made a bad defensive play (or non-play) and made a poor turnover late, but then turned around and tried to bail us out again with big clutch shots. Not enough though.
Songaila ( C- ) -- struggled again. Must have felt just like his starting stints to come off the bench and immediately be faced by a 20-10 player in Zach Randolph who was playing 6th man for the Blazers tonight. Played physical defense on Zach, but Randolph was just too good and beat him repeatedly for a big night. Looked like he had no confidence in the jumper, maybe due to the struggles last night.
Evans ( B- ) -- might have looked his best since coming back, but victimized by the minutes game and the tiny Portland backcourt tonight. Reminiscient of the Josh Smth experience in Atlanta, was once again met and blocked up in the sky by an equally dynamic but bigger athlete in Darius Miles.
House ( B- ) -- hit some shots for us in his stints, and came up with the ball a few times on defense. But was victimized by the Van Exel PG post game on the other side of the floor and that chased him from the game in the 4th.
Barnes ( C ) -- Bit of a struggle for Matt tonight but at least tried to step forward again in the 4th, and Rick showed real confidence in him after last night's heroics by again playing him right down the stretch of the game (initially to get a bigger defender on the pesky Portland guards). But some of Bad Matt crept back into the Finest's game tonight, and he was to be very careful right now -- Matt, for the love of whatever you hold holy please be careful with the damn ball, and please PLEASE take your time and hit those layups. The two problems that caused him to lose his playing time in the first place reemerged tonight, and he's got to clean that up if he doesn't want the coach's confidence to wane again. Bad free throw shooting came back to bite him and us tonight as well -- basically he hustled but got all of the details wrong.
Adelman ( B- ) -- a predictable result but an immesely frustrating one. Too many guys injured for too long come back all at once, and only one of them gave us even his "C" game. Rick actually limited Mobley/Peja's minutes somewhat, which was a good move, but was never able to find an adequate replacement off the bench to cover for them. Biggest substitution questions would have been 1) maybe more Mo? Was not having a great game and got out-athleted by Darius Miles a few times, but did look to have his legs under him which would have helped; and 2) as always in games where we are getting lit up what about Tag? Not as if Darius looked so good in his stints that it was inconcievable to try someone else. Anyway, after a sluggish start actually got a pretty good effort from the team, including a huge (for us) effort on the offensive glass that kept us in the game despite being out shot 55% to 40%
, but the defense was totally out of synch once again. Championship teams do not lose many games 114-108. Nor let bad teams shoot 60+% and 55% on back to back nights. Entirely different lineup for us, but results very reminscient of last night's scrubbie game vs. the Knicks. 4th game in 5 nights, but that really wasn't the problem tonight as we had three starters who haven't been playing at all. Real issue was just the major disruption of trying to get everybody back on the same page. Rick handled it fine, but nothing special either.
Peja ( D ) -- the good news -- was moving really well. Hopefully the back does not tighten up after the game. The bad? Rusty as all hell. Patterson took it to him at both ends of the court once again. Not sure whether we can add Ruben to the Peja-stoppers list because of lingering questions about the back, but he's certainly tortured Peja this season. Was stripped repeatedly down low, and once even out at the three point line in the play that finished us in the final minute. Hit a couple of open threes, including one in the final minute as we tried to steal another game, but otherwise was a real struggle on offense. No boardwork at all, but did make a few nice passes. First game back, and he had a few worse ones last month, so go a little easy.
Webber ( B+ ) -- Wanders back on in from the injury wilderness and merely tosses in a triple double. Easily the best of our three injury returnees tonight, but despite the huge numbers still had some obvious rust himself. Started off very slow in chuck-a-lazy jumper mode, but after sitting at the end of the quarter came back a new player in the 2nd. Started very aggressively working the post, and beat everyone the Blazers threw at him down there. Second half tried to continue attacking the middle, but the Blazers shotblockers were huge tonight and met him in there 3 or 4 times. In what is at this point a ho-hum unsurprising development started hitting big shots in the stretch run, including another three -- Webb is shooting 45% from three this year. Fouled out in the final minute, but the final few fouls were good ones taken for the team. Big on the boards tonight, which was important with Brad a non-factor (and get this grabbed SEVEN offensive boards to lead what has to be some sort of Kings record of 21 off boards to only 18 def boards), and of course was at the heart of our revitalized passing attack.
Miller ( B ) -- solid game from Brad but nothing more. in the first quarter was the only one of our starters who could hit the broad side of a barn, and looked like maybe he would have to carry our regulars the way he has carried the scrubbies. But calmed down thereafter, and despite some nice moments here and there was never a huge factor. Even amazingly seemed to just quit shooting there at some point, something that just yesterday I had said I hoped we'd never see again.
Mobley ( D- ) -- UGLY. Looked like Cat maybe shouldn't have tried to come back, because he really didn't have anything tonight. Shot was way way off, and got burned on defense as well. Just not really ready to compete yet. Hit a three in the last 12 seconds, but way too little too late as he was actually scoreless before then. Not going to go to an F here because at least Cat knew he didn't have it and quit shooting + instead made some nifty passes to set others up.
Bibby ( A- ) -- scored a ton of points again, and again had trouble on the other end of the floor. Tonight he goes for 35 and ends up with only a +5. And so again the "-" to the "A". Was not always guarding Stoudamire, but to the degree we tried a variety of other people to cover him it was because Mike was getting torched. With Peja and Mobley still working their way back, was our only dependable shooter out there, but still forced some bad shots. First half was actually a struggle for him until he hit a three just before the halftime buzzer. Then it was off to the races in the second half with Mike carrying an otherwise impotent group of All-Star and near All-Stars. Made a bad defensive play (or non-play) and made a poor turnover late, but then turned around and tried to bail us out again with big clutch shots. Not enough though.
Songaila ( C- ) -- struggled again. Must have felt just like his starting stints to come off the bench and immediately be faced by a 20-10 player in Zach Randolph who was playing 6th man for the Blazers tonight. Played physical defense on Zach, but Randolph was just too good and beat him repeatedly for a big night. Looked like he had no confidence in the jumper, maybe due to the struggles last night.
Evans ( B- ) -- might have looked his best since coming back, but victimized by the minutes game and the tiny Portland backcourt tonight. Reminiscient of the Josh Smth experience in Atlanta, was once again met and blocked up in the sky by an equally dynamic but bigger athlete in Darius Miles.
House ( B- ) -- hit some shots for us in his stints, and came up with the ball a few times on defense. But was victimized by the Van Exel PG post game on the other side of the floor and that chased him from the game in the 4th.
Barnes ( C ) -- Bit of a struggle for Matt tonight but at least tried to step forward again in the 4th, and Rick showed real confidence in him after last night's heroics by again playing him right down the stretch of the game (initially to get a bigger defender on the pesky Portland guards). But some of Bad Matt crept back into the Finest's game tonight, and he was to be very careful right now -- Matt, for the love of whatever you hold holy please be careful with the damn ball, and please PLEASE take your time and hit those layups. The two problems that caused him to lose his playing time in the first place reemerged tonight, and he's got to clean that up if he doesn't want the coach's confidence to wane again. Bad free throw shooting came back to bite him and us tonight as well -- basically he hustled but got all of the details wrong.
Adelman ( B- ) -- a predictable result but an immesely frustrating one. Too many guys injured for too long come back all at once, and only one of them gave us even his "C" game. Rick actually limited Mobley/Peja's minutes somewhat, which was a good move, but was never able to find an adequate replacement off the bench to cover for them. Biggest substitution questions would have been 1) maybe more Mo? Was not having a great game and got out-athleted by Darius Miles a few times, but did look to have his legs under him which would have helped; and 2) as always in games where we are getting lit up what about Tag? Not as if Darius looked so good in his stints that it was inconcievable to try someone else. Anyway, after a sluggish start actually got a pretty good effort from the team, including a huge (for us) effort on the offensive glass that kept us in the game despite being out shot 55% to 40%
, but the defense was totally out of synch once again. Championship teams do not lose many games 114-108. Nor let bad teams shoot 60+% and 55% on back to back nights. Entirely different lineup for us, but results very reminscient of last night's scrubbie game vs. the Knicks. 4th game in 5 nights, but that really wasn't the problem tonight as we had three starters who haven't been playing at all. Real issue was just the major disruption of trying to get everybody back on the same page. Rick handled it fine, but nothing special either.
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