Individual grades here seem to pile up to too high for a tight game against perhaps the worst team in the league. But anyway:
Peja ( A ) -- was just ok in the first two quarters, but utterly carried us offensively in the second half. Hit a couple of threes to start the third, and was off to the races. Ruben Patterson was not a factor tonight, and in fact rarely was even in the picture on many of Peja's shots. Stayed with us and did not fade away in the 4th this time -- had seven points, 1 good rebound, a steal. Not dominant, but good enough. Not much on the board again, but a few of the ones he had were uncharacteristically manly, and on a night when he pumped in 35 it was enough. Did turn the ball over, but also came up with some steals back the other way. Overall not the most well rounded effort, but the big scoring number was the story of the game this time out.
Thomas ( INC ) -- was off to an ok start, but went down early in the first in a scary moment for Kings fans -- not a monster injury, but caught an inadvertent Wiltbilla elbow below the eye and that ended his evening.
Skinner ( A- ) -- ineffective start as Wiltbilla once again dominated inside play in the first quarter. But kind of outlasted the big guy, who was really not effective in the second half as Brian came on strong and really began to dominate the glass late in the game -- repeatedly keeping possessions alive for us on the offensive glass. Along with Peja's scoring probably the reason we pulled this one out, and nice to see him have himself another impact game.
Mobley ( C+ ) -- another one of Cat's yang struggling efforts through three quarters, but came alive again in the fourth. Actually has gotten ridiculous enough at times that I am having a hard time feeling warm and fuzzy about his fourth quarter heroics right now. If he just gave us ANYTHING in the first three quarters we wouldn't even have needed his scoring boost late. Nice to see clutch play late. Not so nice to see sloppy unfocused play early. Damon Stoudamire never did much against him on offense, but left the game with an injury and may never have really been in this one. Lot of gimping and limping and grimacing from Cat again late, but I'm not sure I am buying it any more. Think he's ok, or at least ok enough.
Bibby ( B ) -- got off to a good start to the game, but then started to fall off a bit and ended up with a fairly quiet first half. However, began to pick it up and really orchestrate the offense well as the game went along, and set up a lot of shots for Peja and Corliss in particular. Outside stroke still looked unsteady at times, and he made some unfortunate turnovers when he tried to force too much. Also again had problems containing penetration. But the most important thing was his ability to keep the offense clicking throughout the second half, and that alone was a enough to beat a bad team.
Songaila ( B- ) -- strong stint off the bench in place of the injured KT in the first half. Received passes for easy scores, and also returned the favor with some good passes back the other way. But defense was pretty invisible as the Blazers went flying to the rim, and he got into foul trouble yet again -- and that actually has become enough of a problem that it may not only have cost him the start in the second half, but severely limited his minutes as well. If KT is out for any length of time, Darius has got to clean that up or we're going to be very short up front. I don't normally knock grades down much for fouls (whcih can actually be a sign of aggressiveness), but this is becoming a real issue for him right now and limiting how much he can help us.
Williamson ( A- ) -- very aggressive second quarter in which he did an excellent job on the boards and attacked inside. Strong enough to get him the start in the third quarter and earn him the majority of the PF minutes for the remainder of the game. Did a real nice job on the glass for a extremely undersized 6'5" PF, and played tough if not always effective defense. Got into it with Joel Pryzbilla in the 4th quarter -- too small, not athletic enough, but does have the attitude of a tough guy. Started to have problems finishing around the rim as the game went along, but kept after it and grabbed and tipped a number of his misses.
House ( B+ ) -- came in with yet another efficient performance off the bench. And his reward was...no second half minutes at all. Second time that's happened in the last month. Bibby was running the offense well, and it looks like if Bibby's going strong, doesn't matter how well Eddie plays.
Evans ( B- ) -- as with the rest of the second unit, very efficient offensively in the second quarter. But one of those flipside games for him where all of that super rebounding and hustle just somehow wasn't there. I really don't get how a guy can grab 8 rebs in a quarter one night, 1 rebound the whole game the next. But here he is. Didn't do much in the second half.
Adelman ( B ) -- Trying to figure out, do I feel good about this one or not? We let a terrible injury-riddled team shoot 55% and score 115 against us, and they might well have beaten us if they hit their FTs. On the other hand, we won + clinched our playoff berth. So...good enough I suppose. X-factor in the good game/bad game assessment may be the seriousness or lack thereof, of the injury to KT. As far as Rick himself -- called a good timeout early when we were just flat. Got a great burst from the second unit in the second quarter, and then big efforts from Peja and Skinner in the second half to carry us home. Can't be happy with the interior defense again, but we overcame it tonight. Made a couple of interesting substitution decisions, going with Corliss as our starting PF in the second half rather than Darius. And turned out that Darius got into so much foul trouble that it was probably a good decision. Also totally excluded Eddie House from the second half rotation after another good effort from him and tacked another 40 minutes on Bibby's wobbly legs. And again kept Tag pinned to the bench despite our getting pounded inside yet one more time. So again -- good enough I suppose. We got the victory, 7th straight playoff appearance. But if we play like this in the playoffs...
Peja ( A ) -- was just ok in the first two quarters, but utterly carried us offensively in the second half. Hit a couple of threes to start the third, and was off to the races. Ruben Patterson was not a factor tonight, and in fact rarely was even in the picture on many of Peja's shots. Stayed with us and did not fade away in the 4th this time -- had seven points, 1 good rebound, a steal. Not dominant, but good enough. Not much on the board again, but a few of the ones he had were uncharacteristically manly, and on a night when he pumped in 35 it was enough. Did turn the ball over, but also came up with some steals back the other way. Overall not the most well rounded effort, but the big scoring number was the story of the game this time out.
Thomas ( INC ) -- was off to an ok start, but went down early in the first in a scary moment for Kings fans -- not a monster injury, but caught an inadvertent Wiltbilla elbow below the eye and that ended his evening.
Skinner ( A- ) -- ineffective start as Wiltbilla once again dominated inside play in the first quarter. But kind of outlasted the big guy, who was really not effective in the second half as Brian came on strong and really began to dominate the glass late in the game -- repeatedly keeping possessions alive for us on the offensive glass. Along with Peja's scoring probably the reason we pulled this one out, and nice to see him have himself another impact game.
Mobley ( C+ ) -- another one of Cat's yang struggling efforts through three quarters, but came alive again in the fourth. Actually has gotten ridiculous enough at times that I am having a hard time feeling warm and fuzzy about his fourth quarter heroics right now. If he just gave us ANYTHING in the first three quarters we wouldn't even have needed his scoring boost late. Nice to see clutch play late. Not so nice to see sloppy unfocused play early. Damon Stoudamire never did much against him on offense, but left the game with an injury and may never have really been in this one. Lot of gimping and limping and grimacing from Cat again late, but I'm not sure I am buying it any more. Think he's ok, or at least ok enough.
Bibby ( B ) -- got off to a good start to the game, but then started to fall off a bit and ended up with a fairly quiet first half. However, began to pick it up and really orchestrate the offense well as the game went along, and set up a lot of shots for Peja and Corliss in particular. Outside stroke still looked unsteady at times, and he made some unfortunate turnovers when he tried to force too much. Also again had problems containing penetration. But the most important thing was his ability to keep the offense clicking throughout the second half, and that alone was a enough to beat a bad team.
Songaila ( B- ) -- strong stint off the bench in place of the injured KT in the first half. Received passes for easy scores, and also returned the favor with some good passes back the other way. But defense was pretty invisible as the Blazers went flying to the rim, and he got into foul trouble yet again -- and that actually has become enough of a problem that it may not only have cost him the start in the second half, but severely limited his minutes as well. If KT is out for any length of time, Darius has got to clean that up or we're going to be very short up front. I don't normally knock grades down much for fouls (whcih can actually be a sign of aggressiveness), but this is becoming a real issue for him right now and limiting how much he can help us.
Williamson ( A- ) -- very aggressive second quarter in which he did an excellent job on the boards and attacked inside. Strong enough to get him the start in the third quarter and earn him the majority of the PF minutes for the remainder of the game. Did a real nice job on the glass for a extremely undersized 6'5" PF, and played tough if not always effective defense. Got into it with Joel Pryzbilla in the 4th quarter -- too small, not athletic enough, but does have the attitude of a tough guy. Started to have problems finishing around the rim as the game went along, but kept after it and grabbed and tipped a number of his misses.
House ( B+ ) -- came in with yet another efficient performance off the bench. And his reward was...no second half minutes at all. Second time that's happened in the last month. Bibby was running the offense well, and it looks like if Bibby's going strong, doesn't matter how well Eddie plays.
Evans ( B- ) -- as with the rest of the second unit, very efficient offensively in the second quarter. But one of those flipside games for him where all of that super rebounding and hustle just somehow wasn't there. I really don't get how a guy can grab 8 rebs in a quarter one night, 1 rebound the whole game the next. But here he is. Didn't do much in the second half.
Adelman ( B ) -- Trying to figure out, do I feel good about this one or not? We let a terrible injury-riddled team shoot 55% and score 115 against us, and they might well have beaten us if they hit their FTs. On the other hand, we won + clinched our playoff berth. So...good enough I suppose. X-factor in the good game/bad game assessment may be the seriousness or lack thereof, of the injury to KT. As far as Rick himself -- called a good timeout early when we were just flat. Got a great burst from the second unit in the second quarter, and then big efforts from Peja and Skinner in the second half to carry us home. Can't be happy with the interior defense again, but we overcame it tonight. Made a couple of interesting substitution decisions, going with Corliss as our starting PF in the second half rather than Darius. And turned out that Darius got into so much foul trouble that it was probably a good decision. Also totally excluded Eddie House from the second half rotation after another good effort from him and tacked another 40 minutes on Bibby's wobbly legs. And again kept Tag pinned to the bench despite our getting pounded inside yet one more time. So again -- good enough I suppose. We got the victory, 7th straight playoff appearance. But if we play like this in the playoffs...
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. Bibby played his B game and Peja gave the A performance we expect to see from him every night.
