Peja ( C+ ) -- unexpectedly started the game, and got off to a hot start -- Blazers repeatedly lost him off screens and scramble plays, and Peja was knocking them down. Had 12 first quarter points. Scattered in a few aggressive plays as well. Seemed to be wincing as the game went along however -- not sure if he was entirely healthy or not. Maybe he came back early and took one for the team to try to help? Ok, silly thought. Anyway, hit his obligatory shot to open the third, and then followed with his obligatory fade. Airballed a three and wasn't heard from again until he finally splashed in a late three after the game was already pretty much over. 19 pts 5rebs on 50+% shooting, all above his season norms. But once again no impact at all after the first quarter and unable to do anything to help us avoid the embarrassment.
Reef ( C+ ) -- started off the game scoring well inside, and mixed in occasional hits for the rest of the game. But never any period of dominance as he was guarded by a mixture of the Blazers big shotblockers and some of their long SFs. And has apparently decided to never rebound like a power player again and managed to get himself outrebounded by Peja "Rodman" Stojakovic.
In the early 4th picked up some energy from Skinner and Price and came up with a huge dunk in traffic -- a highlight on an otherwise drab evening.
Miller ( C ) -- started ok, and after Wiltzilla went to the bench, Brad briefly feasted upon the undersized Blazers frontline on the offensive glass. But that was about it for bright moments for either Brad or us. Gave us the boards we have been begging for but once again offered absolutely no resistance inside as the Blazers trashed us inside and out to their highest scoring game of the season. For managing to avoid getting exterminated like a bug by Big Joel for once, I thought of giving Brad the A++. For having little impact, and none after the first half (in fact Rick went with Brian Skinner for extended minutes there late in the game rather than Brad) he gets this grade.
Martin ( D ) -- was a little loose early and made some dumb turnovers. Came back to mix in some aggressive confident drives and some ugly outside bricks. As is so often the case, one of those games where you just had no idea what he was going to give you on any given trip. Lost some minutes to Garcia, and some more to Ronnie Price as the little man grabbed some Bobby Jackson OG minutes with his hustle. On the other end Juan Dixon and Steve Blake were having a field day on the perimeter and put up ridiculous numbers for...Juan Dixon and Steve Blake.
Bibby ( D+ ) -- started the game showing a little bit of defense against both of the Blazers small scrub guards they called starters, and was helping run a smooth offensive effort in the first quarter. But was as flat and careless as everybody else in the second quarter despite hitting what temprarily looked like it could be an important shot late in the half to get us within striking distance. And in the second half things went south in a hurry. Airballed a three back to back with Peja to break our early third momentum, and the rest of the night it was a series of forces and ragged play. Meanwhile the Blake/Dixon duo were combining to shoot 13-22 and hit shots from wherever they wanted to whenever the Blazers needed them. And Blake of course was getting into the lane repeatedly to dish out to open shooters. Rick left Mike out there to make a few good passes, and late to allow Ronnie Price to play at his more natural OG against the small Blazers' backcourt rather than have to try to run the point at an NBA level. But not a 39 minute effort if there was a decent backup on the roster.
Thomas ( D ) -- interesting game in that Rick tried him, tried to go small with him, and everything fell apart. Not all Kenny's fault, but he was unable to get anything going offensively (the Blazers even had a SF (Patterson) guarding him for spots), and got worked on defense. And in the second half Rick went away with him and actually went big with Skinner instead. Its Rick struggling for answers again, as he has with the Hart/Price situation. Maybe the most patient coach in the NBA is breaking things up looking for a spark. And tonight Kenny became a casualty. See how/if that plays out in future games.
Garcia ( C+ ) -- another all over the place effort from Cisco. Made a nice aggressive drive to open things up in the second, then was wild and dumb and missing shots, then came back with more hustle and hit a three, then was taken advantage of again and started to get ragged. Etc. Etc. Ahhh...the life of an NBA rookie. Continues to really look the part of a guy who simply has a bad outisde shot which just...mystifies. Least he finally got a three to go in, and his aggression, unfocused though it is, has to be some sort of positive for a passionless team.
Hart ( D ) -- really surprised me by getting the early call as the backup PG ahead of Price. Why? And it kind of worked out the same way as last time. Did little other than force a drive into the teeth of the Portland defense and have the ball taken away from him. And Price took Jason's second half minutes. One of these times that just has to become permanet.
Williamson ( INC ) -- came in and missed the shots. Hustled for some offensive balls, but he was part of the crew that got pasted 20-0 in that second quarter. No second half minutes off of that performance.
Price ( B+ ) -- this is how desperate things got in the disastrous 2nd quarter -- with 3:00 to go and the Blazers on a 20-0 run, in desperation we turned to NCAA Division II star Ronnie Price to try to bail out the $60 million of basketball players ahead of him on the roster. He couldn't do it of course, but ridiculously came on the floor and was basically the only King doing ANYTHING in the dying minutes of the second quarter. Brought him in as an OG next to Bibby ala BJax, which helped reduce his reponsibilities and make the game simpler for him. Could not hit his shot, but REALLY hustled, made a couple of nice passes, and was probably the King who's game I was happiest with tonight despite the modest results. Get me 5 guys busting their butt the way Ronnie was, and I'll take this loss with a smile on my face.
Skinner ( B ) -- And FINALLY, with us dying Rick went to Brian to start the 4th and give us something inside. And Brian played pretty well. Hustled at least. Not always effective, but damnit, at least he brought some energy. A cautionary tale of "Skinner as hero" though was watching Zach Randolph go right at him and score over him repeatedly with ease. Brian is the best we've got as an interior defender, but he is not, and never has been, an elite impact player in those regards. Just a nice solid contributor on teams that have usually had one or two other players of similar ilk to combine him with. He and Price brought much needed energy in the 4th, but they are still what they are. We were down 11 when we brought them in, down 16 when they left 8 minutes later.
Adelman ( F ) -- It should be noted here that in game Rick tried nearly every player looking for spark. But this F grade is the unquestioned team grade, and really Rick's grade too -- just as many people have never recognized how amazing it was that Rick could have his guys ready to play game after game, season after season during all of our successful years -- and that THAT is 90% of coaching -- now that the worm has turned and we come out and are unable to summon heart, effort, anything against a terrible team of raw kids and castoffs...well, that preparation is still 90% of coaching. No Bonzi, No Heart apparently. Even with Bonzi we were in need of a quintuple bypass. Take him out and we just aimlessly wandered around out there and collapsed at the first sign of adversity. Following our awful second quarter Rick tried every player on the roster except Sampson, and found barely a beating heart between them. Got a little something out of the kid Price, and FINALLY swallowed his...Pride? Stubborness? Blindspot? whatever, and put in Skinner to give us the closest thing we have to a tough guy inside. But Brian Skinner and Ronnie Price are what they are, and while they have the traits we need (hustle, defense, toughness) they don't have the talent to express those traits in winning basketball. So the deficit got worse despite their effort, and Rick finally just brought the entire starting unit back with 4:00 to go as if to say, ok, do you have any pride or not? Not apparently. Good first quarter + good first few minutes of the 3rd. And outside of that, just passionless, flat, stupid, selfish basketball. How long can this realistically go on? I would have said tonight was an absolute MUST win for this team and this coach. Well they didn't. What now?
Reef ( C+ ) -- started off the game scoring well inside, and mixed in occasional hits for the rest of the game. But never any period of dominance as he was guarded by a mixture of the Blazers big shotblockers and some of their long SFs. And has apparently decided to never rebound like a power player again and managed to get himself outrebounded by Peja "Rodman" Stojakovic.
In the early 4th picked up some energy from Skinner and Price and came up with a huge dunk in traffic -- a highlight on an otherwise drab evening.Miller ( C ) -- started ok, and after Wiltzilla went to the bench, Brad briefly feasted upon the undersized Blazers frontline on the offensive glass. But that was about it for bright moments for either Brad or us. Gave us the boards we have been begging for but once again offered absolutely no resistance inside as the Blazers trashed us inside and out to their highest scoring game of the season. For managing to avoid getting exterminated like a bug by Big Joel for once, I thought of giving Brad the A++. For having little impact, and none after the first half (in fact Rick went with Brian Skinner for extended minutes there late in the game rather than Brad) he gets this grade.
Martin ( D ) -- was a little loose early and made some dumb turnovers. Came back to mix in some aggressive confident drives and some ugly outside bricks. As is so often the case, one of those games where you just had no idea what he was going to give you on any given trip. Lost some minutes to Garcia, and some more to Ronnie Price as the little man grabbed some Bobby Jackson OG minutes with his hustle. On the other end Juan Dixon and Steve Blake
were having a field day on the perimeter and put up ridiculous numbers for...Juan Dixon and Steve Blake.Bibby ( D+ ) -- started the game showing a little bit of defense against both of the Blazers small scrub guards they called starters, and was helping run a smooth offensive effort in the first quarter. But was as flat and careless as everybody else in the second quarter despite hitting what temprarily looked like it could be an important shot late in the half to get us within striking distance. And in the second half things went south in a hurry. Airballed a three back to back with Peja to break our early third momentum, and the rest of the night it was a series of forces and ragged play. Meanwhile the Blake/Dixon duo were combining to shoot 13-22 and hit shots from wherever they wanted to whenever the Blazers needed them. And Blake of course was getting into the lane repeatedly to dish out to open shooters. Rick left Mike out there to make a few good passes, and late to allow Ronnie Price to play at his more natural OG against the small Blazers' backcourt rather than have to try to run the point at an NBA level. But not a 39 minute effort if there was a decent backup on the roster.
Thomas ( D ) -- interesting game in that Rick tried him, tried to go small with him, and everything fell apart. Not all Kenny's fault, but he was unable to get anything going offensively (the Blazers even had a SF (Patterson) guarding him for spots), and got worked on defense. And in the second half Rick went away with him and actually went big with Skinner instead. Its Rick struggling for answers again, as he has with the Hart/Price situation. Maybe the most patient coach in the NBA is breaking things up looking for a spark. And tonight Kenny became a casualty. See how/if that plays out in future games.
Garcia ( C+ ) -- another all over the place effort from Cisco. Made a nice aggressive drive to open things up in the second, then was wild and dumb and missing shots, then came back with more hustle and hit a three, then was taken advantage of again and started to get ragged. Etc. Etc. Ahhh...the life of an NBA rookie. Continues to really look the part of a guy who simply has a bad outisde shot which just...mystifies. Least he finally got a three to go in, and his aggression, unfocused though it is, has to be some sort of positive for a passionless team.
Hart ( D ) -- really surprised me by getting the early call as the backup PG ahead of Price. Why? And it kind of worked out the same way as last time. Did little other than force a drive into the teeth of the Portland defense and have the ball taken away from him. And Price took Jason's second half minutes. One of these times that just has to become permanet.
Williamson ( INC ) -- came in and missed the shots. Hustled for some offensive balls, but he was part of the crew that got pasted 20-0 in that second quarter. No second half minutes off of that performance.
Price ( B+ ) -- this is how desperate things got in the disastrous 2nd quarter -- with 3:00 to go and the Blazers on a 20-0 run, in desperation we turned to NCAA Division II star Ronnie Price to try to bail out the $60 million of basketball players ahead of him on the roster. He couldn't do it of course, but ridiculously came on the floor and was basically the only King doing ANYTHING in the dying minutes of the second quarter. Brought him in as an OG next to Bibby ala BJax, which helped reduce his reponsibilities and make the game simpler for him. Could not hit his shot, but REALLY hustled, made a couple of nice passes, and was probably the King who's game I was happiest with tonight despite the modest results. Get me 5 guys busting their butt the way Ronnie was, and I'll take this loss with a smile on my face.
Skinner ( B ) -- And FINALLY, with us dying Rick went to Brian to start the 4th and give us something inside. And Brian played pretty well. Hustled at least. Not always effective, but damnit, at least he brought some energy. A cautionary tale of "Skinner as hero" though was watching Zach Randolph go right at him and score over him repeatedly with ease. Brian is the best we've got as an interior defender, but he is not, and never has been, an elite impact player in those regards. Just a nice solid contributor on teams that have usually had one or two other players of similar ilk to combine him with. He and Price brought much needed energy in the 4th, but they are still what they are. We were down 11 when we brought them in, down 16 when they left 8 minutes later.
Adelman ( F ) -- It should be noted here that in game Rick tried nearly every player looking for spark. But this F grade is the unquestioned team grade, and really Rick's grade too -- just as many people have never recognized how amazing it was that Rick could have his guys ready to play game after game, season after season during all of our successful years -- and that THAT is 90% of coaching -- now that the worm has turned and we come out and are unable to summon heart, effort, anything against a terrible team of raw kids and castoffs...well, that preparation is still 90% of coaching. No Bonzi, No Heart apparently. Even with Bonzi we were in need of a quintuple bypass. Take him out and we just aimlessly wandered around out there and collapsed at the first sign of adversity. Following our awful second quarter Rick tried every player on the roster except Sampson, and found barely a beating heart between them. Got a little something out of the kid Price, and FINALLY swallowed his...Pride? Stubborness? Blindspot? whatever, and put in Skinner to give us the closest thing we have to a tough guy inside. But Brian Skinner and Ronnie Price are what they are, and while they have the traits we need (hustle, defense, toughness) they don't have the talent to express those traits in winning basketball. So the deficit got worse despite their effort, and Rick finally just brought the entire starting unit back with 4:00 to go as if to say, ok, do you have any pride or not? Not apparently. Good first quarter + good first few minutes of the 3rd. And outside of that, just passionless, flat, stupid, selfish basketball. How long can this realistically go on? I would have said tonight was an absolute MUST win for this team and this coach. Well they didn't. What now?
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