Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
We interrupt the daily oh woe, where is the team going to be playing next year concerns for a little dash of normalcy.
In other words the Kings played a good team tough, then collapsed down the stretch for the loss.
The positives: DeMarcus Cousins and Marcus Thornton. And that a pretty good set of positives to have. We said goodbye to playoff aspirations in December. All this stuff now is about tryig to figure out what the team is going to look like next year. And those two guys looked great. Would love to get Reke back in time to have a little 15-20 game tryout wiht all three of them before the year is over.
Theme tonight is going to be Hail to the Little Guys, based on the observation that sports fans have a sometimes illogical love affari with the undersized players, perhaps because relatively speaking the vast majority fo sports fans are little guys themselves and want to cling to the fnatasy they could coimpete with the monsters. So I'll be going through some fo the best little guys to ever play in a variety of sports.
Official Boxscore
Casspi ( D ) -- again with an early three -- becoming a tradition now for Omri to start the game off with a three in the early moments. Unfortunately its also becoming a tradition for that to be all that he does for a long long spell. In this one he was largely neutralized by 6'2" Andre Miller, which brought back ugly memories of Peja's inability to take advantage of smaller players. Be one thing if it was just his offense that disappeared -- there at least you can say that he is not a primary option and the ball just went other ways. But neither did he board, have many notable moments on defense, or rack up any assists. Finally got another score late in the thrid when he was guarded by Batum again, but again it led nowhere. And his final image of the game was of him dribbling downcourt out of control at the 1:30 mark, getting over excited, and throwing a terrible pass for a turnover that was near backbreaking.
Allen Iverson (6'0" 165) -- heh -- I just spent 15 minutes trying to find a single mix of this guy without a truly vile soundtrack -- natrue of the beast I suppose. In any case, for all the street cred B.S. and whatnot that fueled A.I.'s popularity, I think another huge component of it was his status as a midget in a land of giants. He was taller than the real mites liek Mugsy or Spud, but he checked in at a kick sand in your face 165lbs and as one of the primary offensive weapons in NBA history was going to take a ridiculous amount of hits from guys weighing 50-100lbs more than him over the course of his career. And for all that his controversial playing style was actively destructive of the players around him, he is generally considered the best little player of all time, and in his youth was just impossibly, unfairly quick (the little man's great equalizer).
Thompson ( B- ) -- this was another solid roleplaying effort for Jason, and we're starting to see more of these now. Games where he is keeping it simple, playing within himself and off of other guys rather than trying to force up fugly stuff. From the beginning was moving to the hoop and taking nice passes from Cousins and Thornton. Not on the glass again before half, and lost his starting role after half to Cousins. But he returend to play a solid 4th quarter for us alongisde both the centers. Played witj power on both sides of the court, finsihing strong inside, and coming up with d-boards and a block ther other way. Also flopped to draw an offensive foul on Aldridge. Repeated Cousins' deat from earlier in the game, as in the mid-4th mhe issed 2 FTs that could have given us the lead, but then went doiwn the other way, grabbed the d-board when the Blazers missed, and hit the long jumper on our offensive possession to make up off the gaffes at the line. Should also be noted that Aldridge had another tough shooting night against us, and this time out it wasn't all Dalembert -- Jason did a solid job on him as well.
Barry Sanders (5'8" 200) -- we had this discussion back in the summer when we were talking about Tyreke, and of whom he reminded everybody, and so I call forth Barry Sanders again. IMO the most talented running back I have ever seen, he played a sport inhabited by giants who routinely tip the scales at over 300lbs and who can bench press small automobiles, and yet at all of 5'8" tall if Barry moved in next door and came over to introduce himself you would think that maybe he sold kitchen appliances for a living. But as with almost every great little man athlete, it was that amazing quickness and elusiveness that set him apart. The big man can't hurt you if he can't find you, and there was never anyone as difficult to find as Barry Sanders. His ability to stop, start, change directions, break down and then burst out at full speed again just made defenders look silly.
Dalembert ( B- ) -- an ok game from Daly in all respects except one -- somebody apparently sprayed his hands with WD-40 befrore the game. Was able to get a smooth turnaround in the post even against Camby, and set some good screens up top for Beno. First half foul trouble limited his minutes against Aldridge, and when he was on him it wasn't the spectcular smush job of our last game against these guys. On the other hand Aldridge had just as tough a time scoring as I think he has trouble finding a comfort zone against a frontcourt who to a man is every bit as big as he is. On offense Daly (liek Jaosn) was very efficient, and most of his shots were very patient power moves resuylting in dunks, incluyding a big one to retie the game at the 3:00 mark of the 4th. Unfortunately throughout the game he was showing shaky hands as he mishandled a number of passes, and down the stretch he had 2 poor TOs that helped us collapse, including one on a play out of a timeout. Fact of the matter is though that I am giving both he and Jason B- grades, and yet they combined for 18pts and 17rebs on 9-11 shooting, which ain't too shabby. Throw in Coussins' numbers and our frontcourt contributed 46pts and 28rebs on 19-28 shooting. Those guys didn't lose this one.
Spud Webb (5'7" 135) -- this list will of course be basketball heavy because its a basketball board, but you could hardly do a list of this nature wihtout Spud anyway. Not as good an overall player as Kings fans sometimes remember him as, he was still remarkable given a size and build that probably had chess club members shaking him down for his lunch money in school. And of course the hops are what he is most remmebered for -- this old dunk footage shows both how far the dunk contest has come, and how far it has fallen. The dunks are better/more elaborate, but the fun and joy of it is largely gone now.
Taylor ( C ) -- several good athletic plays early again, although did get careless bringing the ball up against Miller and got picked clean in the open court for a Portland layup. Lost his starting job after half not so much through incompetence as through just being in front of a more dynamic presence in Marcus Thornton. Back in to start he 4th and miss several opportunities at the rim, including a wild open court layup in the early 4th that could have given us the lead. But a few seconds later cut to the hoop and got the big dunk as Cousins beat the double team. Added a couple of little statpadding hoops in the final 10 seconds to make the statline look a lot better, but it was pretty much just a 6pt game. Will say this: a number of our players ahve, along wiht Westphal's rptations (much the same pattern we saw last year) now settled into roles and are doing a pretty good job of playing wihton those roles. I'm thinking here of JT, Taylor, Daly, Omri (mostly), Donte. They aren't great, but they are being mostly smart and in control.
Dominik Hasek (5'11" 165) -- hockey is not my sport, and because of that I think I often come up wiht wacky outside the box solutions to hockey problems. I for instance have pondered how severely bad an idea it would be for one of the overgrown children/bar brawlers that starts fights every night in hte NHL to come at me while I am standing there armed with a wooden club and sharp metal bades on my feet. I have also examined the size of the scoring surface -- the goals -- in hockey and suggested with a straight face why doesn't somebody just hire Konishiki or some other giant sumo to play goalie for them and just sit in the middle of the goal. Along with all the padding goalies wear it might be physically impossible for the opposing team to score. However if you don't happen to have a 6'3" 550lb man available to sit in the goal, then your next best option may have been a 5'11" 165lb Czech who may very well have been the best hockey goalie of all time (which btw I think pisses off Canadiens to no end). While many of the other great hockey goalies were tremendous technicians, Hasek has often been accused of having no style at all...except the style of stopping the puck. His instincts, flexiblity, and quickness made him nearly impossible to score on during his peak, and the classic image is of him flopping on the ground, kicking legs and blockers in all directions to create a whirling barrier to stop the puck. Of all the great goalies of the modern era, none can touch The Dominator's save percentages, and it might only be his being trapped behind the Iron Curtain for the first 26 years of his life that allows alternatives for GOAT to be seriously considered.
In other words the Kings played a good team tough, then collapsed down the stretch for the loss.
The positives: DeMarcus Cousins and Marcus Thornton. And that a pretty good set of positives to have. We said goodbye to playoff aspirations in December. All this stuff now is about tryig to figure out what the team is going to look like next year. And those two guys looked great. Would love to get Reke back in time to have a little 15-20 game tryout wiht all three of them before the year is over.
Theme tonight is going to be Hail to the Little Guys, based on the observation that sports fans have a sometimes illogical love affari with the undersized players, perhaps because relatively speaking the vast majority fo sports fans are little guys themselves and want to cling to the fnatasy they could coimpete with the monsters. So I'll be going through some fo the best little guys to ever play in a variety of sports.
Official Boxscore
Casspi ( D ) -- again with an early three -- becoming a tradition now for Omri to start the game off with a three in the early moments. Unfortunately its also becoming a tradition for that to be all that he does for a long long spell. In this one he was largely neutralized by 6'2" Andre Miller, which brought back ugly memories of Peja's inability to take advantage of smaller players. Be one thing if it was just his offense that disappeared -- there at least you can say that he is not a primary option and the ball just went other ways. But neither did he board, have many notable moments on defense, or rack up any assists. Finally got another score late in the thrid when he was guarded by Batum again, but again it led nowhere. And his final image of the game was of him dribbling downcourt out of control at the 1:30 mark, getting over excited, and throwing a terrible pass for a turnover that was near backbreaking.
Thompson ( B- ) -- this was another solid roleplaying effort for Jason, and we're starting to see more of these now. Games where he is keeping it simple, playing within himself and off of other guys rather than trying to force up fugly stuff. From the beginning was moving to the hoop and taking nice passes from Cousins and Thornton. Not on the glass again before half, and lost his starting role after half to Cousins. But he returend to play a solid 4th quarter for us alongisde both the centers. Played witj power on both sides of the court, finsihing strong inside, and coming up with d-boards and a block ther other way. Also flopped to draw an offensive foul on Aldridge. Repeated Cousins' deat from earlier in the game, as in the mid-4th mhe issed 2 FTs that could have given us the lead, but then went doiwn the other way, grabbed the d-board when the Blazers missed, and hit the long jumper on our offensive possession to make up off the gaffes at the line. Should also be noted that Aldridge had another tough shooting night against us, and this time out it wasn't all Dalembert -- Jason did a solid job on him as well.
Dalembert ( B- ) -- an ok game from Daly in all respects except one -- somebody apparently sprayed his hands with WD-40 befrore the game. Was able to get a smooth turnaround in the post even against Camby, and set some good screens up top for Beno. First half foul trouble limited his minutes against Aldridge, and when he was on him it wasn't the spectcular smush job of our last game against these guys. On the other hand Aldridge had just as tough a time scoring as I think he has trouble finding a comfort zone against a frontcourt who to a man is every bit as big as he is. On offense Daly (liek Jaosn) was very efficient, and most of his shots were very patient power moves resuylting in dunks, incluyding a big one to retie the game at the 3:00 mark of the 4th. Unfortunately throughout the game he was showing shaky hands as he mishandled a number of passes, and down the stretch he had 2 poor TOs that helped us collapse, including one on a play out of a timeout. Fact of the matter is though that I am giving both he and Jason B- grades, and yet they combined for 18pts and 17rebs on 9-11 shooting, which ain't too shabby. Throw in Coussins' numbers and our frontcourt contributed 46pts and 28rebs on 19-28 shooting. Those guys didn't lose this one.
Taylor ( C ) -- several good athletic plays early again, although did get careless bringing the ball up against Miller and got picked clean in the open court for a Portland layup. Lost his starting job after half not so much through incompetence as through just being in front of a more dynamic presence in Marcus Thornton. Back in to start he 4th and miss several opportunities at the rim, including a wild open court layup in the early 4th that could have given us the lead. But a few seconds later cut to the hoop and got the big dunk as Cousins beat the double team. Added a couple of little statpadding hoops in the final 10 seconds to make the statline look a lot better, but it was pretty much just a 6pt game. Will say this: a number of our players ahve, along wiht Westphal's rptations (much the same pattern we saw last year) now settled into roles and are doing a pretty good job of playing wihton those roles. I'm thinking here of JT, Taylor, Daly, Omri (mostly), Donte. They aren't great, but they are being mostly smart and in control.
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