Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
First of all let me just tip my hat to Steve Blake, who played one of the best games for the Kings we've seen in years.
Secondly let me note: now 2-24 the last two seasons without Cousins. I can't say unprecedented without some way of looking it up, but I can say staggering.
Thirdly however let me also note that this again was a "good loss". Not a woss, or a lin, or whatever, but a good loss in that yes, without Cousins we were doomed, and even when we closed the score in this one I never felt we were going to win it. But we did close the score, we got bench productivity, we played hard, and in general we lost this because we didn't have the personnel, not because we lacked heart, or (mostly) weren't playing it right. It was an honorable loss the guys who played can walk off the court with heads held high about. Now can we kindly get the big guy back on the court again so we can just count them by wins and losses, not "honorable losses"?
Boxscore
Stats: 38min 24pts (10-22, 1-1, 3-4) 8reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Gay ( B ) -- Rudy was working hard to carry us in the early going, but a lot of it was tough 1 on 1 work rather than anything team oriented. As it was against the Spurs his long first layoff seemed to chill him, and he provided little after coming back late in the half. Unlike the Spurs game, he came back out to play after half, and was again doing what he could to carry us not only as a scorer, but also notching his only assist to Landry. he was never really spectacular, took 22shots to get his 24pts, but he kept scoring into the 4th, and along with the big bench effort was giving us enough of a goto guy to hang in there. It was hard work though, not always in the flow, never special. After hitting a big 3pt shot to get us within 1 with 8:30 to go, he wouldn't hit another shot until there was a minute left and the game was all but over.
Stats: 16min 5pts (2-6, 0-0, 1-2) 4reb 0ast 1stl 1blk 0TO
Landry ( C- ) -- its possible I am being kind here. Ever since Karl has arrived he has been given these opportunities as a starter, and he's just flopped. I mean, in ruinous fashion for his future. He at least battled on the boards in the early going, but he was just flat too small. he got both his hoops in the early third off nice little dumpoff passes from Rudy and Ray, and that was it. After we started getting crushed on the glass, Karl brought in Reggie for some muscle and there just was no reason to go back to Landry again. Early this season I thought Malone was starting to maybe get enough out of Landry to make that contract at least survivable, but now I'm worried its getting anvil heavy again.
Stats: 18min 2pts (1-3, 0-0, 0-0) 4reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Thompson ( D- ) -- On a night when we didn't have Cousins, and we were going up against a big front line, we really really needed a lot of minutes out of JT. And he responded by becoming a foul magnet, eventually fouling out in the 4th quarter shortly after entering the game with five fouls. JT actually got off to a promising start by making a very nice pass to Gay under the basket for a layup. Then on the other end of the floor he played very tough defense on Aldridge, and getting a stop. But that was it folks. He then decided he was a three point shooter and missed one. Then Aldridge took him off the dribble and hit a running hook. A bit later Aldridge took him off the dribble again and laid it in. Then when McCallum got caught in a switch with Aldridge, JT was late rotating to help. JT went to the bench at the 4:49 mark of the 1st quarter with three fouls. Re-entered the game at the 7:30 mark of the 2nd quarter and three minutes later went back to the bench with his fourth foul. I won't belabor you with any more worthless info. That was basically the entire night for JT. So after putting together a couple of very good games, he reverted back to his inconsistent self. --Baja
Stats: 24min 12pts (4-12, 2-5, 2-2) 2reb 1ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
McLemore ( C+ ) -- well, we have a story of not 1, not 2, but 3 separate games for Ben. in Game 1: Ben gets his ass beat by a coach who appeared to have a distinct theory on how to attack him. Ben came out, and the Blazers, a big powerfully built team, took to posting him up and simply overpowering him inside again and again. Often with Wes Matthews, but once by Robin Lopez when Ben got caught on a switch, and for some reason nobody recognized it. then just when Jason was coming over to help, Ben gave up and gambled and let Lopez roll by him for the easy layup. In any case, they were attacking him blatantly enough and successfully enough that he was quickly pulled by Karl and replaced by the much bigger Omri. In Game 2: Ben comes back in for the 2nd quarter, and he's a new man. Perhaps pep talked up on the sideline I don't know. But after Rudy kept us breathing in the first quarter, Ben filled a critical role aggressively and confidently (like the first half vs. the Spurs) striding around out there as a full fledged goto guy keeping us with a weapon out there until Rudy returned. It was an impressive streak again. Then came Game 3: and in game 3 we saw something we very rarely have: Ben turned into Nick Young. it seems clear Karl is goosing him trying to get him to be confident. But for one of the rare times in his career we saw the downside of that as Ben wouldn't step back, seemed to be come enamoured with gunning, and started throwing up some real crap shots. In fact it went badly enough that I think Karl decided to teach him a lesson that I hope Ben takes like it was a college coach doing it, and Ben was sent to the bench in the early 3rd and never returned. So, F-A-F? D-B+-D? I dunno, whatever it is, there was one quarter there to hold onto, as there often is with Ben. But just doesn't seem to be able to put together a whole game of the good stuff.
Stats: 25min 12pts (5-13, 0-2, 2-2) 2reb 5ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
McCallum ( C+ ) -- how to feel about Ray's game again is an err... Started off the game ineffective as the Blazers tried to blow us out of our own building. Came back in after Miler had restored order, and contributed a few scores down the stretch of the half. And had another burst of scoring in the third. He notched 1 or 2 good assists over that span too, which was a good thing because he was once again making some selfish decisions out there and throwing up some real junk. I can only imagine that Karl is asking he and Ben to be aggressive, but when the result is 9-25 nights with a bunch of bad forces... So Ray, like Ben, had a stretch there where he was effective, but in the end Lillard eventually began to dominate the matchup and Miller was really our key guard fighting back.
Bench
Stats: 27min 7pts (2-7, 0-2, 3-4) 1reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Casspi ( C- ) -- well, and again after those 29rebs in t e first two Karl games, Omri is now settling in as an inefficient bench scrapper. And when you look for evidence of some of Karl's philosophies, Omri embracing his inner Tyreke (he even used a Euro step on one drive -- who knows he may have even learned it from Tyreke, or possibly Harden) and just attacking the hoop again and again for those across the lane flips could well be a reflection. Its always what he's wanted to do anyway, but these last few games its been too much, and they just aren't falling. Despite the lack of numbers I thought he made a positive contribution in his second half stint, giving us size and scrap if no real productivity. But as Karl auditions continue it would probably behoove him to have another good one soon.
Stats: 28min 4pts (2-3, 0-0, 0-0) 3reb 1ast 1stl 1blk 0TO
Hollins ( C+ ) --I almost hate to only give Ryan a C + for this game because for Ryan, this was probably as good as it gets. This was probably his A game. But I can't give an A to a player that played 28 minutes, scored 4 points and grabbed 3 rebounds. But the thing is, he did impact the game at times. He made a timely block of Leonards shot that resulted in a fast break. He ended up on the floor battling for a loose ball that again resulted in a fast break. He had a very timely steal that again resulted in a fast break. There were a couple of instances when he played outstanding defense on Aldridge. He also had one of the softest dunks I've ever seen on a alley oop from Miller. I guess that was a dunk, but hey, he made it. He got to play tonight, and although he didn't put up gawdy stats, He made a difference. --Baja
Stats: 26min 12pts (6-7, 0-0, 0-0) 2reb 10ast 2stl 0blk 3TO
Miller ( A+ ) -- this might be the last A+ Andre Miller earns in his long career. Because let's be honest, at his age every day that goes by decreases the odds of him ever notching another 12pt 10ast on 6-7 shooting game in only 26min. He, in fact, was the single most important player on our entire team tonight. Which is a terrible sign for your team, but another great one of the old guy picked up off the scrapheap a couple of weeks back. He came in immediately as a scorer again, and was simply too physical for a pathetic Steve Blake (if Dre is 29, then Blake looked at least 45 bumbling around out there). And while early on it was his scoring push that helped bump us back into the game, throughout the night it was Miller showing what a true PG can do, keeping his head up, leading the break, especially finding DWill again and again, and notching the first double figure assist game in over 2 months for a King. he had a huge impact on the game and helped turn it into a contest.
Stats: 15min 3pts (0-1, 0-0, 3-4) 6reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Evans ( C- ) -- Reggie got a C - because he grabbed six boards in fifteen minutes. He also had two assists, neither of which were by design. While I understand why, the idea of having Hollins and Evans on the floor at the same time is a bad one if it can be avoided. It puts tremendous pressure on the other three to score. I paid special attention to Reggie's defense off the ball, and on the ball when he's forced to the perimeter, and its terrible. Reggie couldn't guard Aldridge on the perimeter if he velcroed himself to him. He dodged bullet after bullet when he totally left Aldridge to help McCallum when he didn't need help. McCallum would fight through the pick, and there would both McCallum and Evans guarding Lillard, and Aldridge with a wide open shot, which fortunately he missed. Reggie did make a nice play when he fought for a board, pulled the ball away from Leonard, and passed it to McLemore for a corner three. Reggie is a great rebounder, but beyond that, he's a very limited player. --Baja
Stats: 23min 18ts (7-12, 0-2, 4-5) 1reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Williams ( A-? ) -- in truth I don't know how to grade this. DWill didn't actually play basketball this game. He just played dunk contest, which is really all he wants to do by instinct anyway. And so he didn't pass, he didn't rebound, he didn't defend...and yet he had a definite impact just getting out and running the floor again and again and having Andre Miller throw him alley oops. And that finishing was a major factor in our bench's effectiveness. So I don't really know how to grade this. It worked for us the same way a one dimensional 3pt shooter can turn a game if properly set up and covered for on the other end. Again and again somebody else got the stop, somebody else got the ball to Miller (or occasionally another guard), and again and again DWill ran down court and raced along the baseline until the guard threw it up for him to knock in with his hops. It was half a step up from Vivek's 4 on 5 cheery picker idea. But what if that cherry picker idea worked and the cherry picker had 18pts? That's a good grade right? And on the other hand what if that cherry picker had a -13 in his 22min? Did it really work? Well...DWill didn't cherry pick. He just wasn't effective at anything else, but was very effective out on the break catching long passes. So I'm calling this a good game. It was certainly one of the more memorable ones on the night.
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