Peja ( D- ) -- started out showing a little uncommon muscle and willingness to get his big body in the post against the OGs he was being guarded by. On the other hand, missed far too many open jumpers in the first half, and abruptly quit playing around the hoop the first time he got one of his ground bound layups swatted out of there. Opened the second half (we just rename the early third "Peja time") by knocking down a couple of open jumpers, but then returned to the struggle and was seldom (and perhaps never?) heard from again. Certainly not in the 4th or OT when we desperately needed somebody to step up (although he did make a nifty open court bounce pass to Martin to retie the game at the 2:00 mark of the 4th). Ended up having another ugly game, and this time with no great defender smothering him as an excuse. Peja's road trip: 4-12 14pts, 4-9 10pts, 5-14 13pts, 5-16 13pts.
Reef ( A- ) -- got off to a fast start again -- a carry over from the San Antonio game perhaps. Nobody on the Bobcats could really guard him -- Okafor would have been the only one with a prayer, and he didn't seem terribly focused on the task and then went down with an injury at the end fo the third. End result was Reef playing a clear #1 option and staying hot throughout the first half. Still all offense, no rebounding, but was the only starter standing between us and getting blown out by a 6-16 team in that first half. Slowed down in the third, but remained hot and hitting eveything. More just a question of the Bobcats focusing on getting the ball out of his hands. In fact wished he had forced it a little more against the doubles rather than making some dubious passes out to our perimeter guys. After Okafor went down in particular, the Bobcats had absolutely nothing to guard him with except a variety of small forwards. SO how does he earn a "-" on his best offensive game of the season? Well first of course, there remains the rebounding problem. He is averaging career low numbers and just dropped them further wiht another 5 rebounds in 46minutes of action. And secondly, he missed the big ones we needed in OT, as we tried to go to him and everything was in and out. Still by far and away our best of the night, but we come up short one more time.
Miller ( C ) -- started out getting worked over by Primoz Brezec again, and made some loose turnovers. Finally began to stroke a few open jumpers at the end of the first half to answer back. Battled better on defense and the glass as the game went along, but did little offensively in the second half and Brezec ended up with an obscene 26pt 8reb night. Combined with Peja to make a nice defensive stop on Gerald Wallace with the Bobcats up two and :45 to go, but besides a few long rebounds in the corners (nice to see the rebounding finally picking up) had very little impact on this game and was back into "refuse to shoot it" mode, managing a paltry 3-6 in 43min and putting absolutely no pressure on Brezec on that end. Glad to see the rebounding. But the defense...every center in the league has a date with us circled on his calendar, better yet if its a contract year for them. And of all of our many problems, I just have a real hard time seeing how that one can be corrected.
Bonzi ( INC ) -- not even going to bother analyzing his 6 minutes of action -- THE story was that Bonzi finally suffered an injury he was unable to walk away from. Some sort of groin injury which actually saw Bonzi collapse in the tunnel on the way back to the lockerroom. And there went our heart, and now one wonders how tough this season might get if the injury lingers (whihc groin injuries are known to) and he is out for any long stretch.
Bibby ( C+ ) -- was unable to take advantage of the MASH unit that was the Bobcats PG situation in the first half. Was really having to battle out there aginst the physical and aggressive defense the Bobcats PGs were throwing at him. In the second half really became the story of the game as tried to win the game himself, but maybe too much. Mixed in big scores with a variety of forces. In the process led us in scoring down the stretch and at least looked like he wanted the game (wasnt sure about some of our other guys) but also repeatedly broke and flat out ignored the offense. Got engaged with Raymond Felton in a battle of who could jack up the most dumb forced shots as the two "dueled" in that aspect in the 4th. And came up short on both of the attempts to win it/tie it at the buzzer at the end of regulation and OT. Mike made the late game this time out about him. And if we pull it out, he is the gutsy hero who played with heart while others were snoozing. But when we don't win...well now you have to really start questioning all the forced misses. All the times Raymond Felton, who had been terrible thus far in his rookie season, was able to break down the defense and crash into the lane generally causing havoc (for both sides). And you have to wonder, was Mike right to try to lead? Or did he kill us with it? Or even did the just step forward when it became evident nobody else wanted to? I'm giving him a grade for trying at least.
Garcia ( F ) -- got the early call with Bonzi out, and was immediately victimized by the bigger stronger Wallace, and then less forgiveably, by Matt Carrol (and if you said who? you understand why this was a problem). Rick isn't having any of that stuff right now and pulled him almost immediately in favor of Kevin. Did get another shot at it in the late 3rd when he came in after Peja picked up his 4th foul. But struggled again making mistakes on both ends of the floor. Just completely out of rhythm right now, and would not surprise me if Martin passed him back up with the strong performance tonight. Just not ready.
Martin ( A ) -- Rick has developed a very quick hook with Cisco, and opportunity knocked in a big way for Martin again with Bonzi down and Cisco struggling. And what do you know, no shyboy stuff, no wallflower, he just came in and seized the opprtunity like the spot was his. Maybe the time on the bench stewing actually did him some good. Came in and immediately used his athleticsim to make a couple of nice plays for us. In the early second started forcing and missing shots but remained aggressive and drew a number of fouls and got his points at the line. All of which saw him get the nod over Cisco to start the second half and really make an impact for us with hustle and scoring easy in rhythm baskets -- nothing complex, just running the cuts hard and taking passes, but has the athleticism to finish those cuts. Nights like these always make you wonder about the "I feel lost" evenings he has. It seems easy at times (of course especially against the Bobcats backup OGs). Sloppier than the career game he had last month, but in some ways better/more significant. Gave us hustle that we critically needed with Bonzi out, and may very well have given himself a starting spot vs. Dallas if the Bonzi's injury does not cooperate. Made enough errors to shave any "+"s off the grade, and maybe even wouodl ge a "-" as an established player. But as a bench scrub who was out of the rotation and had ??s hangin over his career, you could hardly ask for a better effort. Was just about the only King playing the game as hard or as fast as the Bobcats own scrubbies forced into the game by injuries.
Thomas ( D ) -- with the Bonzi injury and Garcia benching disrupting our rotations, Kenny got the first quarter call at SF rtaher than his more customary PF. Also kept Reef in his PF spot where he was off to the hot start. But KT had problems defensively at SF and did precious little out there. Stroked one long jumper but otherwise...? Zip from out putatve 6th man.
Skinner ( INC ) -- banged around in there for a few first half minutes, and did not get a return call. Maybe he should have as Brad turned Primoz Abdul-Brezec into another cult hero as a center.
Hart ( D- ) -- had some real ballhandling adventures in there in his first half stint. And the joke was he wasn;t playing anybody. Brevin Knight was out, so the BobCats started their backup (Felton, a rook) and then brought in their 3rd string I'm-barely-in-the-league-PG to beat on Hart (well except for the play when Hart tried to chase him down from behind in the open court, tripped, tackled him, and got a flagrant). No 2nd half minutes as Rick just let Bibby try to win it and was obviously not in the mood to tolerate scrub play. Not exactly the type of return he imagined I would guess.
Williamson ( B- ) -- came in to start the 4th as Rick went looking for pride and energy and immediately found himsel guarding 7'1" Primoz Brezec.
Scored on a couple of little baseline moves, had little other impact and picked up some fouls inside where he was just too small to guard anybody.
Adelman ( C+ ) -- We run into a team that had lost 9 of 10 (we started that streak BTW when we beat them in Arco), that was missing their starting PG, who lost their starting OG in the first quarter, and had their rookie backup PG go down in the 2nd quarter, and then lost their best player at the end of the third when Okafor went down with an ankle injury. And we LOST. And Rick looked disgusted most of the night. Big big story was losing Bonzi to injury in the first half. Left Rick scrambling, but he came up with a gem for the night in Martin, who may have been our second best player out there. Rick rode Reef as long as he could carry us in the first half, and all game long you could feel the urgency with which he was coaching. There was no patience with Cisco's struggles, no return for Hart after a poor first half. A late appearance for Corliss as Rick looked for somebody to give us a spark. He still relied too heavily on Peja (who over his entire career he has always mysteriously left out there even when nothing is happening) and maybe Miller, who was being badly outplayed by Brezec. But relatively speaking, Rick was yanking guys in and out. The lack of urgency from the team is going to fall on Rick's head of course, but not as if he looked remotely happy or content about it. And losing Bonzi and his touhgness may have really hurt us (although with the Bobcats down 3/5 of their starting lineup by the 4th quarter that's no excuse). Tried to turn it over to Bibby to win it twice at the end, but don't think Mike has hit one of those shots yet this year. Particualrly interesting was the final play of the game when I think Rick intentionally told Mike not to call our final :20 second timeout so that he might get a freer more open look at the game tying shot without the Bobcats having a chance to set the defense. Maybe a good call, but given that we did not make it, will be questioned. Rick's grade here is significantly better than the team's only because I wish they had wanted this one as much as he did. This was the game we had to have to validate the road trip. Now, despite some good efforts along the way, we come back 1-3, 10-15 on the year, and with our last big homestand of the season coming up. Last chance to get above .500 before we spend the bulk of the remainder of the year on the road.
Reef ( A- ) -- got off to a fast start again -- a carry over from the San Antonio game perhaps. Nobody on the Bobcats could really guard him -- Okafor would have been the only one with a prayer, and he didn't seem terribly focused on the task and then went down with an injury at the end fo the third. End result was Reef playing a clear #1 option and staying hot throughout the first half. Still all offense, no rebounding, but was the only starter standing between us and getting blown out by a 6-16 team in that first half. Slowed down in the third, but remained hot and hitting eveything. More just a question of the Bobcats focusing on getting the ball out of his hands. In fact wished he had forced it a little more against the doubles rather than making some dubious passes out to our perimeter guys. After Okafor went down in particular, the Bobcats had absolutely nothing to guard him with except a variety of small forwards. SO how does he earn a "-" on his best offensive game of the season? Well first of course, there remains the rebounding problem. He is averaging career low numbers and just dropped them further wiht another 5 rebounds in 46minutes of action. And secondly, he missed the big ones we needed in OT, as we tried to go to him and everything was in and out. Still by far and away our best of the night, but we come up short one more time.
Miller ( C ) -- started out getting worked over by Primoz Brezec again, and made some loose turnovers. Finally began to stroke a few open jumpers at the end of the first half to answer back. Battled better on defense and the glass as the game went along, but did little offensively in the second half and Brezec ended up with an obscene 26pt 8reb night. Combined with Peja to make a nice defensive stop on Gerald Wallace with the Bobcats up two and :45 to go, but besides a few long rebounds in the corners (nice to see the rebounding finally picking up) had very little impact on this game and was back into "refuse to shoot it" mode, managing a paltry 3-6 in 43min and putting absolutely no pressure on Brezec on that end. Glad to see the rebounding. But the defense...every center in the league has a date with us circled on his calendar, better yet if its a contract year for them. And of all of our many problems, I just have a real hard time seeing how that one can be corrected.
Bonzi ( INC ) -- not even going to bother analyzing his 6 minutes of action -- THE story was that Bonzi finally suffered an injury he was unable to walk away from. Some sort of groin injury which actually saw Bonzi collapse in the tunnel on the way back to the lockerroom. And there went our heart, and now one wonders how tough this season might get if the injury lingers (whihc groin injuries are known to) and he is out for any long stretch.
Bibby ( C+ ) -- was unable to take advantage of the MASH unit that was the Bobcats PG situation in the first half. Was really having to battle out there aginst the physical and aggressive defense the Bobcats PGs were throwing at him. In the second half really became the story of the game as tried to win the game himself, but maybe too much. Mixed in big scores with a variety of forces. In the process led us in scoring down the stretch and at least looked like he wanted the game (wasnt sure about some of our other guys) but also repeatedly broke and flat out ignored the offense. Got engaged with Raymond Felton in a battle of who could jack up the most dumb forced shots as the two "dueled" in that aspect in the 4th. And came up short on both of the attempts to win it/tie it at the buzzer at the end of regulation and OT. Mike made the late game this time out about him. And if we pull it out, he is the gutsy hero who played with heart while others were snoozing. But when we don't win...well now you have to really start questioning all the forced misses. All the times Raymond Felton, who had been terrible thus far in his rookie season, was able to break down the defense and crash into the lane generally causing havoc (for both sides). And you have to wonder, was Mike right to try to lead? Or did he kill us with it? Or even did the just step forward when it became evident nobody else wanted to? I'm giving him a grade for trying at least.
Garcia ( F ) -- got the early call with Bonzi out, and was immediately victimized by the bigger stronger Wallace, and then less forgiveably, by Matt Carrol (and if you said who? you understand why this was a problem). Rick isn't having any of that stuff right now and pulled him almost immediately in favor of Kevin. Did get another shot at it in the late 3rd when he came in after Peja picked up his 4th foul. But struggled again making mistakes on both ends of the floor. Just completely out of rhythm right now, and would not surprise me if Martin passed him back up with the strong performance tonight. Just not ready.
Martin ( A ) -- Rick has developed a very quick hook with Cisco, and opportunity knocked in a big way for Martin again with Bonzi down and Cisco struggling. And what do you know, no shyboy stuff, no wallflower, he just came in and seized the opprtunity like the spot was his. Maybe the time on the bench stewing actually did him some good. Came in and immediately used his athleticsim to make a couple of nice plays for us. In the early second started forcing and missing shots but remained aggressive and drew a number of fouls and got his points at the line. All of which saw him get the nod over Cisco to start the second half and really make an impact for us with hustle and scoring easy in rhythm baskets -- nothing complex, just running the cuts hard and taking passes, but has the athleticism to finish those cuts. Nights like these always make you wonder about the "I feel lost" evenings he has. It seems easy at times (of course especially against the Bobcats backup OGs). Sloppier than the career game he had last month, but in some ways better/more significant. Gave us hustle that we critically needed with Bonzi out, and may very well have given himself a starting spot vs. Dallas if the Bonzi's injury does not cooperate. Made enough errors to shave any "+"s off the grade, and maybe even wouodl ge a "-" as an established player. But as a bench scrub who was out of the rotation and had ??s hangin over his career, you could hardly ask for a better effort. Was just about the only King playing the game as hard or as fast as the Bobcats own scrubbies forced into the game by injuries.
Thomas ( D ) -- with the Bonzi injury and Garcia benching disrupting our rotations, Kenny got the first quarter call at SF rtaher than his more customary PF. Also kept Reef in his PF spot where he was off to the hot start. But KT had problems defensively at SF and did precious little out there. Stroked one long jumper but otherwise...? Zip from out putatve 6th man.
Skinner ( INC ) -- banged around in there for a few first half minutes, and did not get a return call. Maybe he should have as Brad turned Primoz Abdul-Brezec into another cult hero as a center.
Hart ( D- ) -- had some real ballhandling adventures in there in his first half stint. And the joke was he wasn;t playing anybody. Brevin Knight was out, so the BobCats started their backup (Felton, a rook) and then brought in their 3rd string I'm-barely-in-the-league-PG to beat on Hart (well except for the play when Hart tried to chase him down from behind in the open court, tripped, tackled him, and got a flagrant). No 2nd half minutes as Rick just let Bibby try to win it and was obviously not in the mood to tolerate scrub play. Not exactly the type of return he imagined I would guess.
Williamson ( B- ) -- came in to start the 4th as Rick went looking for pride and energy and immediately found himsel guarding 7'1" Primoz Brezec.
Scored on a couple of little baseline moves, had little other impact and picked up some fouls inside where he was just too small to guard anybody.Adelman ( C+ ) -- We run into a team that had lost 9 of 10 (we started that streak BTW when we beat them in Arco), that was missing their starting PG, who lost their starting OG in the first quarter, and had their rookie backup PG go down in the 2nd quarter, and then lost their best player at the end of the third when Okafor went down with an ankle injury. And we LOST. And Rick looked disgusted most of the night. Big big story was losing Bonzi to injury in the first half. Left Rick scrambling, but he came up with a gem for the night in Martin, who may have been our second best player out there. Rick rode Reef as long as he could carry us in the first half, and all game long you could feel the urgency with which he was coaching. There was no patience with Cisco's struggles, no return for Hart after a poor first half. A late appearance for Corliss as Rick looked for somebody to give us a spark. He still relied too heavily on Peja (who over his entire career he has always mysteriously left out there even when nothing is happening) and maybe Miller, who was being badly outplayed by Brezec. But relatively speaking, Rick was yanking guys in and out. The lack of urgency from the team is going to fall on Rick's head of course, but not as if he looked remotely happy or content about it. And losing Bonzi and his touhgness may have really hurt us (although with the Bobcats down 3/5 of their starting lineup by the 4th quarter that's no excuse). Tried to turn it over to Bibby to win it twice at the end, but don't think Mike has hit one of those shots yet this year. Particualrly interesting was the final play of the game when I think Rick intentionally told Mike not to call our final :20 second timeout so that he might get a freer more open look at the game tying shot without the Bobcats having a chance to set the defense. Maybe a good call, but given that we did not make it, will be questioned. Rick's grade here is significantly better than the team's only because I wish they had wanted this one as much as he did. This was the game we had to have to validate the road trip. Now, despite some good efforts along the way, we come back 1-3, 10-15 on the year, and with our last big homestand of the season coming up. Last chance to get above .500 before we spend the bulk of the remainder of the year on the road.
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