Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Artest ( B+ ) -- Most consistent King over the course of the game. Solid and fairly efficient offensively, helped on the galss, and was quietly keeping Brandon Roy in check for much of the game. Nothing spectacular, and hence not a spectacular grade. But solid, and steadied us while most of the guys were on and off and struggling for consistency.
Reef ( C ) -- back in a starting PF role, and back to invisible in the early going. Passed the ball around, did nothing himself. Then the backups come in, and suddenly he comes to life a bit. Helped a little more after half with some scattered hoops, but never did show on the boards, finishing with a nifty 3 in 29min.
Miller ( B- ) -- snoozed through the first half despite a few early minutes of working hard on defense and paying attention on that end in the early going. Hit a three, but then came back down a couple of minutes later and managed to get himself packed by Brandon Roy, a rookie OG. Much more assertive after half, and that was to our benefit. Also threw in a few good passes. Even with the big 3rd, still had modest numbers and missed a lot of shots, but made a definitive 2nd half contribution and overall not a terrible return to action.
Martin ( A ) -- came damn near to losing this grade -- I had made up my mind by the 6:00 mark of the first quarter he was going to earn at least an A barring complete disasterr, and then for a long stretch it looked like he was going to test my resolve. Started off the game looking beyond supremely confident, feeling so good that he just began throwing up shots that would normally be stupid -- just dribbling down, no passes, and chucking up threes. But he was in the zone, and knew it, and everything was falling to the tune of 17 pts in about 6-7 min of the first quarter. Was active on the other end too. Cooled way way down thereafter and appeared to be forcing it a bit trying to refind the zone. On the hot streak initially I was going to go with the ridiculous comparison to Jordan in the Finals vs. Portland when he was so scorching in the first half of a game that he turned to the camera and shrugged after hitting something like his 5th three. But in the nearly complete disappearance after the streak, it may have been more, dare I say, Pejaesque. In any case struggled and looked uncomfrotabel for a long stretch -- only shooting 2-13 after starting 5-5. But finally recovered in the 4th enough to let me justify the straight A for that ridiculous hot streak.
Price ( D+ ) -- had a couple of solid early passes but was forcing his own offense a bit, and was quiet all night. Played some solid pesky defense, but finsihed the game exactly he opposite as last time -- with NO points on 0-3FG in 26 min. Was tempted to go with a C- for the defense, but it wasn't enough to make up for the complete lack of production -- 0pts 2reb 2ast 1To as a starting PG = yikes.
Salmons ( C ) -- got in a brief stint early as Ron went out to get his finger taped, and then returned at the end of the first quarter in the normal rotation. Moved his feet well on defense, but on offense put his lack of shooting on full display missing jumper after jumper until finally breaking things up by using that first step to get to the rim. Compounded things by missing 4 FTs.
Hart ( C+ ) -- hustled well in his first quarter minutes and seemed to run the team better than Price in the 4th. On the other hand had more TOs than ast, and was largely invisible on offense.
Garcia ( INC ) -- only a short, largely ineffective first half stint
Taylor ( B ) -- showed up a little this time, grabbed a few boards, made a nice post spin move on Joel Pryzbilla, and was actually using that big body to bang with peopel on defense and deny them inside position. Also showed his experience with some solid passes.
Corliss ( INC ) -- picked up 3 fouls in about 3 minutes, but along with Mo was actually muscling around pretty well in there with Pryzbilla
Douby ( INC ) -- came in at the end of the first half and forced a shot
Muss ( N/A ) -- This was ugly. Our Bibby replacements combined for 5pts 4ast on 1-5 shooting in 48min. Fortunately when the going got tough and it looked like we might choke in the 4th, we showed the worst team in the West we meant business and reinserted our starters to ice the preseason victory at home. Grr...we're tough. In any case...onto the regular season. And Mike....get healthy. Fast.
Reef ( C ) -- back in a starting PF role, and back to invisible in the early going. Passed the ball around, did nothing himself. Then the backups come in, and suddenly he comes to life a bit. Helped a little more after half with some scattered hoops, but never did show on the boards, finishing with a nifty 3 in 29min.
Miller ( B- ) -- snoozed through the first half despite a few early minutes of working hard on defense and paying attention on that end in the early going. Hit a three, but then came back down a couple of minutes later and managed to get himself packed by Brandon Roy, a rookie OG. Much more assertive after half, and that was to our benefit. Also threw in a few good passes. Even with the big 3rd, still had modest numbers and missed a lot of shots, but made a definitive 2nd half contribution and overall not a terrible return to action.
Martin ( A ) -- came damn near to losing this grade -- I had made up my mind by the 6:00 mark of the first quarter he was going to earn at least an A barring complete disasterr, and then for a long stretch it looked like he was going to test my resolve. Started off the game looking beyond supremely confident, feeling so good that he just began throwing up shots that would normally be stupid -- just dribbling down, no passes, and chucking up threes. But he was in the zone, and knew it, and everything was falling to the tune of 17 pts in about 6-7 min of the first quarter. Was active on the other end too. Cooled way way down thereafter and appeared to be forcing it a bit trying to refind the zone. On the hot streak initially I was going to go with the ridiculous comparison to Jordan in the Finals vs. Portland when he was so scorching in the first half of a game that he turned to the camera and shrugged after hitting something like his 5th three. But in the nearly complete disappearance after the streak, it may have been more, dare I say, Pejaesque. In any case struggled and looked uncomfrotabel for a long stretch -- only shooting 2-13 after starting 5-5. But finally recovered in the 4th enough to let me justify the straight A for that ridiculous hot streak.
Price ( D+ ) -- had a couple of solid early passes but was forcing his own offense a bit, and was quiet all night. Played some solid pesky defense, but finsihed the game exactly he opposite as last time -- with NO points on 0-3FG in 26 min. Was tempted to go with a C- for the defense, but it wasn't enough to make up for the complete lack of production -- 0pts 2reb 2ast 1To as a starting PG = yikes.
Salmons ( C ) -- got in a brief stint early as Ron went out to get his finger taped, and then returned at the end of the first quarter in the normal rotation. Moved his feet well on defense, but on offense put his lack of shooting on full display missing jumper after jumper until finally breaking things up by using that first step to get to the rim. Compounded things by missing 4 FTs.
Hart ( C+ ) -- hustled well in his first quarter minutes and seemed to run the team better than Price in the 4th. On the other hand had more TOs than ast, and was largely invisible on offense.
Garcia ( INC ) -- only a short, largely ineffective first half stint
Taylor ( B ) -- showed up a little this time, grabbed a few boards, made a nice post spin move on Joel Pryzbilla, and was actually using that big body to bang with peopel on defense and deny them inside position. Also showed his experience with some solid passes.
Corliss ( INC ) -- picked up 3 fouls in about 3 minutes, but along with Mo was actually muscling around pretty well in there with Pryzbilla
Douby ( INC ) -- came in at the end of the first half and forced a shot
Muss ( N/A ) -- This was ugly. Our Bibby replacements combined for 5pts 4ast on 1-5 shooting in 48min. Fortunately when the going got tough and it looked like we might choke in the 4th, we showed the worst team in the West we meant business and reinserted our starters to ice the preseason victory at home. Grr...we're tough. In any case...onto the regular season. And Mike....get healthy. Fast.
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