Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Salmons ( B ) -- solid start, more of the little of this, little of that, approach, and wrapped up the first half with roleplaying contributions across the board. Played a lot of minutes in the second half, but did little, could not convert from outside, and yet Muss still leaned on him as a bit of a crutch. Overall a solid multifaceted effort, but not really one deserving of leading the team in minutes.
Thomas ( B ) -- was bizarrely being doubled at times to open this one -- and you wonder why Portland is one of the league's worst defensive teams?
But did a solid job handling what must have been an unfamiliar situation as part of a very strong first quarter again -- his favorite period. Filled up the stat sheet, with the only downside being that Zach Randolph was filling it up even faster on the other end. As it often goes, slowed way down therafter, and strangely had his minutes cut short this time. Of course none of the starters played big minutes in what was a semi-blowout for about 36 minutes. In any case, a solid 7pt 9reb 4ast in 26min performance.
Reef ( B ) -- scored in spurts in this one, no boardwork, helped bail us out in the mid-3rd when we were, believe it or not, trying to collapse against the Blazers of all teams, with a couple of steadying hoops in the midst of some real offensive ugliness. Middling outing, but gets some extra credit for helping to stem the tide in that one little danger point back there. Eventually fouled out in the final 40 seconds after only 28 min, but like many of our guys, helped but did not dominate during his time.
Martin ( B+ ) -- started the game picking right up where he left off, knocking down two open threes to begin the game, and finishing with 12 by the end of the quarter. Had a pretty silly first half -- one of those where basically anything he threw up was going to fall through the net. Wasn't doing much else, but in this one there was no need. It was all so very easy that he seemed very relaxed as he cruised around looking for his next shot, and hit. But came out of halftime and immediately forced up a tough forced shot to open the second half...and actually missed. In fact went cold there for a good stretch of the quarter as we began to struggle. And unfortunately remained pretty one dimensional even while cooling. Got a little, either aggressive or selfish depending on how you spin it, with his offense at the close of the third, but was not really feeling it. Had to come back in to close this one as the bench had sqandered much of the lead by the 3 minute mark, and immediately got a three point play to help us seal it. So silly first half, kind of scrappy 2nd half and one of the few times this season where Kevin did not look settled. Was going A- with this one, but backed it off after checking the bodxscore and confirming that scoring was just about the only thing Kevin was really doing this time out. Call it a B++.
Bibby ( B- ) -- had what was almost a quiet 12 points at half as we were scoring nearly every time down the floor and Mike might have been comparatively cold actually. Was cold and quiet in the third as we started to struggle until stepping up to drain a long long three to close the quarter. And then after a long bench stint, came back in with Kevin in the final minutes as Muss's necktie began to tighten against his adam's apple with the lead slowly but surely eroding. Followed Kevin's 3pt play by knocking down maybe the clenching three. 20pts again, but nowhere near his best, and again 3pt centric.
Corliss ( C+ ) -- still the first big into the game even with Brad back from injury, and competed well in there in the first half, joining the offensive party and not standing out on defense for incompetence. Second half minutes were not nearly so good however as Corliss both had problems converting and his inability to board in there with the big trees began to become a problem.
Artest ( C ) -- came in off the bench and had a very quiet first half aside form one steal and one nice pass on the break. Was getting a little concerned because this was Ron TOO passive offensively, and was worrying that maybe the message about overshooting was either garbled or was being intentionally misconstrued to prove a point. In any case, the second all may have allayed my fears -- maybe. As things got tight, there Ron was shooting...and missing, again. Which is both a good and bad obviously. In any case he really wasn't needed in this one and so correspondingly barely showed up. Grabbed a few boards, but otherwise just a very quiet 1-6 shooting performance in 21 min off the bench. Presumably he will resume his real position and stature for the Clips on Tuesaday.
Miller ( C+ ) -- started the 2nd quarter for his first action since the injury, and immediately set a pick to free up Bibby -- just like old times. And eventually 4 minutes later hit his first shot (a jumper of course). Played well in his first stint, grabbed some boards, helped us extend. Little in the second half, and committed his great if-he-ever-does-that-again-he-should-be-dragged-out-back-and-flogged classic Brad error when he killed one of our late possessions by passing up an open jumper for the millionth time since becoming a King. Another guy not really needed to beat this team just working himself back into game shape.
Garcia ( B- ) -- had a pretty good first half, and aside from a little turnover trouble, was mostly in control. Thing is in this case that meant that his game was largely reduced to that of a spotup 3pt shooter waiting for the kick pass, and he wasn't hitting them. After half had only a few good moments, and for the second game in a row was one of those pulled in the final minutes as Muss inserted more dependable personnel to try to wrap it up. Just not feeling terribly dynamic right now, and again am wondering if he's being a bit tentative.
Price ( INC ) --10th man in in this one as we nearly emptied the bench before halftime. Was quiet and finally got back in to wrap up garbagetime. Hit a couple of nice little garabagetime hoops at the very end of the game.
Muss ( B- ) -- This one was never close. Never would have known that the Blazers were better recordwise this year based on this game. They were every bit as disorganized, defenseless, shotless and hopeless in this one as they have been for the last few years. And against their second worst in the league FG% defense we shot a ridiculous 69% in the first half. However we came out of halftime with no intensity whatsovever, and the wheels damn near fell off. Lost 10 points off the lead in about 4 minutes before Muss finally called a timeout to settle things. So I am calling for yet another one of Muss's halftime speeches to be permanently scratched off the list. Not sure what is going on, but the way we have been playing second halves at Arco recently I am half convinced that we must have a wacky weed smoking janitor leaving behind a feel good cloud for our guys to suck on while Muss is yapping away. In any case had all kinds of problems after half with the press, and if the Blazers could have hit the broadside of a barn we might almost have gotten into trouble against an obvviously inferior opponent. Was going to say I liked Muss's huge "rotation" tonight. You can't do this most nights out, but it felt like we could go ahead and play everybody this time out without fear of the Blazers taking advantage. And yet, doing so almost caught up to us in the end as the Blazers slowly crept back up in the 4th quarter and made it a 12 point game with about 3:30 to go, forcing us to reinsert our starters to try to close it out. So...eh. A big win on the scoreboard, bt maybe not that impressive in reality. Either way, it was important we get these two as warmups for the showdowns of the next few weeks. Barring complete collpase, it gives us a good shot to be .500 even after running into the Clips, Spurs, Mavs, Magic, Heat and Suns just one after another.
Thomas ( B ) -- was bizarrely being doubled at times to open this one -- and you wonder why Portland is one of the league's worst defensive teams?
But did a solid job handling what must have been an unfamiliar situation as part of a very strong first quarter again -- his favorite period. Filled up the stat sheet, with the only downside being that Zach Randolph was filling it up even faster on the other end. As it often goes, slowed way down therafter, and strangely had his minutes cut short this time. Of course none of the starters played big minutes in what was a semi-blowout for about 36 minutes. In any case, a solid 7pt 9reb 4ast in 26min performance.Reef ( B ) -- scored in spurts in this one, no boardwork, helped bail us out in the mid-3rd when we were, believe it or not, trying to collapse against the Blazers of all teams, with a couple of steadying hoops in the midst of some real offensive ugliness. Middling outing, but gets some extra credit for helping to stem the tide in that one little danger point back there. Eventually fouled out in the final 40 seconds after only 28 min, but like many of our guys, helped but did not dominate during his time.
Martin ( B+ ) -- started the game picking right up where he left off, knocking down two open threes to begin the game, and finishing with 12 by the end of the quarter. Had a pretty silly first half -- one of those where basically anything he threw up was going to fall through the net. Wasn't doing much else, but in this one there was no need. It was all so very easy that he seemed very relaxed as he cruised around looking for his next shot, and hit. But came out of halftime and immediately forced up a tough forced shot to open the second half...and actually missed. In fact went cold there for a good stretch of the quarter as we began to struggle. And unfortunately remained pretty one dimensional even while cooling. Got a little, either aggressive or selfish depending on how you spin it, with his offense at the close of the third, but was not really feeling it. Had to come back in to close this one as the bench had sqandered much of the lead by the 3 minute mark, and immediately got a three point play to help us seal it. So silly first half, kind of scrappy 2nd half and one of the few times this season where Kevin did not look settled. Was going A- with this one, but backed it off after checking the bodxscore and confirming that scoring was just about the only thing Kevin was really doing this time out. Call it a B++.
Bibby ( B- ) -- had what was almost a quiet 12 points at half as we were scoring nearly every time down the floor and Mike might have been comparatively cold actually. Was cold and quiet in the third as we started to struggle until stepping up to drain a long long three to close the quarter. And then after a long bench stint, came back in with Kevin in the final minutes as Muss's necktie began to tighten against his adam's apple with the lead slowly but surely eroding. Followed Kevin's 3pt play by knocking down maybe the clenching three. 20pts again, but nowhere near his best, and again 3pt centric.
Corliss ( C+ ) -- still the first big into the game even with Brad back from injury, and competed well in there in the first half, joining the offensive party and not standing out on defense for incompetence. Second half minutes were not nearly so good however as Corliss both had problems converting and his inability to board in there with the big trees began to become a problem.
Artest ( C ) -- came in off the bench and had a very quiet first half aside form one steal and one nice pass on the break. Was getting a little concerned because this was Ron TOO passive offensively, and was worrying that maybe the message about overshooting was either garbled or was being intentionally misconstrued to prove a point. In any case, the second all may have allayed my fears -- maybe. As things got tight, there Ron was shooting...and missing, again. Which is both a good and bad obviously. In any case he really wasn't needed in this one and so correspondingly barely showed up. Grabbed a few boards, but otherwise just a very quiet 1-6 shooting performance in 21 min off the bench. Presumably he will resume his real position and stature for the Clips on Tuesaday.
Miller ( C+ ) -- started the 2nd quarter for his first action since the injury, and immediately set a pick to free up Bibby -- just like old times. And eventually 4 minutes later hit his first shot (a jumper of course). Played well in his first stint, grabbed some boards, helped us extend. Little in the second half, and committed his great if-he-ever-does-that-again-he-should-be-dragged-out-back-and-flogged classic Brad error when he killed one of our late possessions by passing up an open jumper for the millionth time since becoming a King. Another guy not really needed to beat this team just working himself back into game shape.
Garcia ( B- ) -- had a pretty good first half, and aside from a little turnover trouble, was mostly in control. Thing is in this case that meant that his game was largely reduced to that of a spotup 3pt shooter waiting for the kick pass, and he wasn't hitting them. After half had only a few good moments, and for the second game in a row was one of those pulled in the final minutes as Muss inserted more dependable personnel to try to wrap it up. Just not feeling terribly dynamic right now, and again am wondering if he's being a bit tentative.
Price ( INC ) --10th man in in this one as we nearly emptied the bench before halftime. Was quiet and finally got back in to wrap up garbagetime. Hit a couple of nice little garabagetime hoops at the very end of the game.
Muss ( B- ) -- This one was never close. Never would have known that the Blazers were better recordwise this year based on this game. They were every bit as disorganized, defenseless, shotless and hopeless in this one as they have been for the last few years. And against their second worst in the league FG% defense we shot a ridiculous 69% in the first half. However we came out of halftime with no intensity whatsovever, and the wheels damn near fell off. Lost 10 points off the lead in about 4 minutes before Muss finally called a timeout to settle things. So I am calling for yet another one of Muss's halftime speeches to be permanently scratched off the list. Not sure what is going on, but the way we have been playing second halves at Arco recently I am half convinced that we must have a wacky weed smoking janitor leaving behind a feel good cloud for our guys to suck on while Muss is yapping away. In any case had all kinds of problems after half with the press, and if the Blazers could have hit the broadside of a barn we might almost have gotten into trouble against an obvviously inferior opponent. Was going to say I liked Muss's huge "rotation" tonight. You can't do this most nights out, but it felt like we could go ahead and play everybody this time out without fear of the Blazers taking advantage. And yet, doing so almost caught up to us in the end as the Blazers slowly crept back up in the 4th quarter and made it a 12 point game with about 3:30 to go, forcing us to reinsert our starters to try to close it out. So...eh. A big win on the scoreboard, bt maybe not that impressive in reality. Either way, it was important we get these two as warmups for the showdowns of the next few weeks. Barring complete collpase, it gives us a good shot to be .500 even after running into the Clips, Spurs, Mavs, Magic, Heat and Suns just one after another.
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