Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well, yeah yeah, end of yet another losing season, team under threat of being moved, disengage etc. But if you do happen to still be around and watching a lot of these games of late have had a lot of things going on in them. In this one you have DeMarcus Cousins, almost playing alone out there in the first half but completely unguardable on his way to a monster night, get undercut by Mike Dunleavy of all people in the third, freak out, get kicked out, and leave us without the only thing that had kept us in the game. You've got Reke as Cousins only first half wingman almost completely frozen out by coach and team in the second half, until the final three minutes when he almost wins it at the buzzer. You've got IT stepping forward to play yay yay IT ball as soon as Cousins leaves, he takes every shot, dominates every possession...and sends us on a run to get right back into the game, before miss after force after miss finally kills the momentum and sends him out of the game...at which point a team full of guards and scrubs, led by Jimmer Fredette, who sucked in the first half, Cole Aldrich, who hasn't played in 3 games, and the sudden reappearance of Tyreke (possibly as a PF), we go on another big run, have a chance to tie or win, probably get cheated by the refs on a no call after an intentionally missed FT that works, and Reke still manages to get up a desperate three point heave that barely rims out....
Not bad for a meaningless game in the garbagetime of another lost season.
Stats: 36min 4pts (2-8, 1-5, 0-2) 4reb 4ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Salmons ( F ) -- I believe this is the second F in row for John. Not sure because I started drinking heavily after watching John in the first half. 36 minutes, and 5 pts. Wow! You'd think that a player could accidently accomplish more than Salmons did in that amount of time on the floor. I have a ton of notes, but I'm not going to bore you with them. Except for a few nice passes, he was terrible. In the first half, he struggled on the defensive side of the ball as well. He was 2 of 8 overall, and 1 of 5 from the three. Just about all my notes say, "John misses another three". I know he didn't mean to miss them, and to some extent, I blame Smart for giving him 36 minutes of playing time. Sometimes its obvious when a player just doesn't have it. And he didn't! He added a couple of turnovers to his line tonight as well, and to be honest, a couple of turnovers wouldn't be a big deal if he had done something positive somewhere else. I'm looking at my notes, and I can't find anything.....--Baja
Stats: 37min 18pts (8-13, 0-0, 2-2) 8reb 2ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Thompson ( B ) -- It looked for a while like JT was going to implode when he got the technical. But he managed to pull himself together and really play well the rest of the game. He started the game well enough by backing in on Udoh and scoring on a right handed hookshot. A bit later, on a pass from Salmons, he triple fakepumped and got it up between Dalembert and Udoh. No mean feat! After missing a 15 footer on a pass from IT, he headed to the bench. He returned with 4:09 left in the 2nd quarter, which was uneventful except for missing a hookshot. He started the second half by getting fouled and hitting both freethrows. After missing a shot under the basket, he obviously made a comment about the heritage of the ref, and got a technical. He did a repeat performance on the miss, but not technical this time, and then he was off to the races. He grabbed a tough rebound and put it back in. He then scored on a hookshot. He followed that by scoring with a little flipshot. He scored again on a putback of an IT miss. Then he hit an 18 footer. All or most of this happened after Cousin's ejection, so he did a good job of stepping up in a time of need. Good game for JT tonight! --Baja
Stats: 28min 29pts (10-12, 0-0, 4-4) 10reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Cousins ( A/DUMB ) -- amusingly I was already considering a split grade for Boogie even before seeing Capt.'s response to the most recent Boogie meltdown. A story I have related a few more times than it deserves, but with applicability again here -- I got kicked out of my final high school football game. I was a tough and fierce player, always on edge out there, sometimes dirty, not often popular with the guys I was beating up on. And on one play in the third quarter of that game suddenly a dude crashed into my knee from the side. So I did the only rational thing and I raised my leg up and kicked him in the face. Hard. Truth was feeling your knee buckle like that is scary, and being 17 and angry I was of course convinced he did it on purpose (the dude, also being 17 had written laughable things like "Kill" and "Maim" with little lightning bolts around them on his ripper pads). Turns out he had been blocked into me, and in my own defense I will say that if I had gone to the sidelines, and they had told me that, that I would not have come out and kicked the guy in the face anyway. I was young, dumb, and angry. Not DeMarcus. So...back to Boogie.
I had a whole bunch of notes about Boogie's actual game building up. He completely dominated this one. Our other center, who alas is wearing a different uniform because this franchise is fundamentally stupid as a 17yr old itself, was posing a real roadblock around the rim, so Boogie opend up the full scope of his versatility and peppered Daly with long jumpers. Then when the Bucks started bringing in their waves of scrawy/unudersized backup bigs, Boogie just manhandled them. He was on his way to a huge night, sitting at 24pts 10rebs, barely missing a shot (10-12FG). The jumper was on, the flips were falling, he was pinning guys and powering it up. There have been several games of late where Boogie has looked like everything he will hopefully one day be. Unfortunately here today, he is still Boogie. And late in the third quarter, he made like me in high school. Dunleavy undercut him apparently inadvertently while trying to block him out on the break -- I say apparently because if somebody did that to me when I was 17 I might have kicked him in the face too. He dove really low on Boogie, collapsed his knee inward, and I know that one. Boogie went down grabbing his knee, and its scary. A dude could blow your knee out that way. Thing is, DeMarcus did not kick him in the face on the spot. Frankly if he had, I would have gotten that to some degree. I know that reaction. You stay away from my knees. But this is Boogie. He makes himself hard to defend, on court and off. The world is out to get him, and he's not going to lay down and take it. ever. no matter how long, stupid, or irrational his attempts to get back at all the meanies are. He won't let things go. Ever. So instead of an immediate response, a timeout is called, he goes over to the huddle, Coach "Smart", somehow not knowing his animal after a year and a half with him, leaves him in the game. Which is...duh. And so Boogie comes out of the timeout, immediately finds Dunleavy and starts jawing with him. 1 technical. More duh. Smart still doesn't take him out. MORE duh. Play resumes. Dunleavy runs through the lane. Boogie elbows him to the head. Flagrant, automatic technical. Bye bye Boogie. Duh duh duh. And just that quick is how you lose a dominant center with the mentality of an angry 17yr old. And its how a clear A, maybe even an A+, ends up as a dual grade disappointment. If it makes everyone feel better, you do grow out of it. Or at least I did. --Brick
Stats: 31min 16pts (8-17, 1-3, 3-4) 5reb 3ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( B-/A ) -- Tyreke started the game out by being too aggressive, missing layups on drives that weren't there and even turning the ball over on a bad drive. Then he hit four shots in a row, including an open three, before basically shutting down his offense for the game. He only made one basket on five attempts (and 3/4 FTs) between going out at the 3:10 mark of the first quarter and his basket at the 1 minute mark that brought the Kings within three. He made two subsequent layups, one on a spin move in the lane and another on a drive (both to bring the Kings within one), but with the shot clock off the Kings had to foul both times, only to front-rim the desperation three that he should never have had to take - Jimmer was SO fouled getting the rebound on his missed FT. For the last three minutes of the game he did almost nothing wrong, including playing some tough D on Monta Ellis, but it wasn't quite enough. In the end, Evans ended up with three assists, but he was moving the ball better than the number indicate, with teammates missing shots - notably starting the third quarter by getting the ball to JT deep in the lane on three possessions in a row with JT coming up empty all three times. Defensively the numbers were outstanding, with Tyreke only allowing 11 points on 14 shots, though the fact that he was mostly guarding Ellis gives one a bit of an expectation of low efficiency. All in all, though, Tyreke had a good start and a great finish bookending a mediocre middle (including two really bad plays in the second - once getting destroyed on an Ellis drive for a layup, and then missing a wild layup with about 20 seconds on the clock instead of holding for the final shot). That taken into account, I can't give Evans more than a B- despite the push at the end. He gets the secondary A for not taking himself out of the game while the best player on the floor by intentionally elbowing an opponent in the head.--Capt.
Stats: 35min 20pts (4-16, 1-5, 5-6) 5reb 9ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( D+/A ) -- IT had basically nothing at all going for most of the first three quarters, going 0-7 before Cousins got himself tossed. At that point, IT briefly led the Kings on a scoring spurt, pouring in 9 points in I believe four possessions on two layups, a three, and a pair of free throws. But after that one stretch he went 1-6 the rest of the game with his only bucket coming on a goaltend. Thomas came out at the 3:38 mark in the fourth, just in time for us to mount our furious comeback without him. Hmm. If you look at the box score, the one good thing IT had going for him were his nine assists. Nine Hometown assists, I think, because I counted three assists, two passes that I probably wouldn't have given assist credit for, and then four where I don't even know where they came from. Normally if I miss one I figure I just missed it, but four? When I'm deliberately watching? Maybe it's an off day, but I think the scorer was being friendly. Defensively, the Bucks didn't really take it to IT nearly as much as you might expect. He started out the first six minutes of the first playing pretty well, but from there it was mostly the same old IT. He allowed 13 points on 11 shots - not terrible - but I've written in my notes in bold font about the play in the fourth quarter in transition where he inexplicably left Jennings, who had the ball mind you, to cover a man spreading out to the wing. Jennings said "thank you very much" and hit a completely uncontested three. Way to go, IT. Good thinking. Leave the guy with the ball. So, in total, his offense was inefficient, his defense was what we've come to expect, I don't think his passing was as good as advertised, and we went on a huge run when he came out of the game. He's done better. He gets the secondary A for not taking himself out of the game while the best player on the floor by intentionally elbowing an opponent in the head.--Capt.
Not bad for a meaningless game in the garbagetime of another lost season.
Stats: 36min 4pts (2-8, 1-5, 0-2) 4reb 4ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Salmons ( F ) -- I believe this is the second F in row for John. Not sure because I started drinking heavily after watching John in the first half. 36 minutes, and 5 pts. Wow! You'd think that a player could accidently accomplish more than Salmons did in that amount of time on the floor. I have a ton of notes, but I'm not going to bore you with them. Except for a few nice passes, he was terrible. In the first half, he struggled on the defensive side of the ball as well. He was 2 of 8 overall, and 1 of 5 from the three. Just about all my notes say, "John misses another three". I know he didn't mean to miss them, and to some extent, I blame Smart for giving him 36 minutes of playing time. Sometimes its obvious when a player just doesn't have it. And he didn't! He added a couple of turnovers to his line tonight as well, and to be honest, a couple of turnovers wouldn't be a big deal if he had done something positive somewhere else. I'm looking at my notes, and I can't find anything.....--Baja
Stats: 37min 18pts (8-13, 0-0, 2-2) 8reb 2ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Thompson ( B ) -- It looked for a while like JT was going to implode when he got the technical. But he managed to pull himself together and really play well the rest of the game. He started the game well enough by backing in on Udoh and scoring on a right handed hookshot. A bit later, on a pass from Salmons, he triple fakepumped and got it up between Dalembert and Udoh. No mean feat! After missing a 15 footer on a pass from IT, he headed to the bench. He returned with 4:09 left in the 2nd quarter, which was uneventful except for missing a hookshot. He started the second half by getting fouled and hitting both freethrows. After missing a shot under the basket, he obviously made a comment about the heritage of the ref, and got a technical. He did a repeat performance on the miss, but not technical this time, and then he was off to the races. He grabbed a tough rebound and put it back in. He then scored on a hookshot. He followed that by scoring with a little flipshot. He scored again on a putback of an IT miss. Then he hit an 18 footer. All or most of this happened after Cousin's ejection, so he did a good job of stepping up in a time of need. Good game for JT tonight! --Baja
Stats: 28min 29pts (10-12, 0-0, 4-4) 10reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Cousins ( A/DUMB ) -- amusingly I was already considering a split grade for Boogie even before seeing Capt.'s response to the most recent Boogie meltdown. A story I have related a few more times than it deserves, but with applicability again here -- I got kicked out of my final high school football game. I was a tough and fierce player, always on edge out there, sometimes dirty, not often popular with the guys I was beating up on. And on one play in the third quarter of that game suddenly a dude crashed into my knee from the side. So I did the only rational thing and I raised my leg up and kicked him in the face. Hard. Truth was feeling your knee buckle like that is scary, and being 17 and angry I was of course convinced he did it on purpose (the dude, also being 17 had written laughable things like "Kill" and "Maim" with little lightning bolts around them on his ripper pads). Turns out he had been blocked into me, and in my own defense I will say that if I had gone to the sidelines, and they had told me that, that I would not have come out and kicked the guy in the face anyway. I was young, dumb, and angry. Not DeMarcus. So...back to Boogie.
I had a whole bunch of notes about Boogie's actual game building up. He completely dominated this one. Our other center, who alas is wearing a different uniform because this franchise is fundamentally stupid as a 17yr old itself, was posing a real roadblock around the rim, so Boogie opend up the full scope of his versatility and peppered Daly with long jumpers. Then when the Bucks started bringing in their waves of scrawy/unudersized backup bigs, Boogie just manhandled them. He was on his way to a huge night, sitting at 24pts 10rebs, barely missing a shot (10-12FG). The jumper was on, the flips were falling, he was pinning guys and powering it up. There have been several games of late where Boogie has looked like everything he will hopefully one day be. Unfortunately here today, he is still Boogie. And late in the third quarter, he made like me in high school. Dunleavy undercut him apparently inadvertently while trying to block him out on the break -- I say apparently because if somebody did that to me when I was 17 I might have kicked him in the face too. He dove really low on Boogie, collapsed his knee inward, and I know that one. Boogie went down grabbing his knee, and its scary. A dude could blow your knee out that way. Thing is, DeMarcus did not kick him in the face on the spot. Frankly if he had, I would have gotten that to some degree. I know that reaction. You stay away from my knees. But this is Boogie. He makes himself hard to defend, on court and off. The world is out to get him, and he's not going to lay down and take it. ever. no matter how long, stupid, or irrational his attempts to get back at all the meanies are. He won't let things go. Ever. So instead of an immediate response, a timeout is called, he goes over to the huddle, Coach "Smart", somehow not knowing his animal after a year and a half with him, leaves him in the game. Which is...duh. And so Boogie comes out of the timeout, immediately finds Dunleavy and starts jawing with him. 1 technical. More duh. Smart still doesn't take him out. MORE duh. Play resumes. Dunleavy runs through the lane. Boogie elbows him to the head. Flagrant, automatic technical. Bye bye Boogie. Duh duh duh. And just that quick is how you lose a dominant center with the mentality of an angry 17yr old. And its how a clear A, maybe even an A+, ends up as a dual grade disappointment. If it makes everyone feel better, you do grow out of it. Or at least I did. --Brick
Stats: 31min 16pts (8-17, 1-3, 3-4) 5reb 3ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( B-/A ) -- Tyreke started the game out by being too aggressive, missing layups on drives that weren't there and even turning the ball over on a bad drive. Then he hit four shots in a row, including an open three, before basically shutting down his offense for the game. He only made one basket on five attempts (and 3/4 FTs) between going out at the 3:10 mark of the first quarter and his basket at the 1 minute mark that brought the Kings within three. He made two subsequent layups, one on a spin move in the lane and another on a drive (both to bring the Kings within one), but with the shot clock off the Kings had to foul both times, only to front-rim the desperation three that he should never have had to take - Jimmer was SO fouled getting the rebound on his missed FT. For the last three minutes of the game he did almost nothing wrong, including playing some tough D on Monta Ellis, but it wasn't quite enough. In the end, Evans ended up with three assists, but he was moving the ball better than the number indicate, with teammates missing shots - notably starting the third quarter by getting the ball to JT deep in the lane on three possessions in a row with JT coming up empty all three times. Defensively the numbers were outstanding, with Tyreke only allowing 11 points on 14 shots, though the fact that he was mostly guarding Ellis gives one a bit of an expectation of low efficiency. All in all, though, Tyreke had a good start and a great finish bookending a mediocre middle (including two really bad plays in the second - once getting destroyed on an Ellis drive for a layup, and then missing a wild layup with about 20 seconds on the clock instead of holding for the final shot). That taken into account, I can't give Evans more than a B- despite the push at the end. He gets the secondary A for not taking himself out of the game while the best player on the floor by intentionally elbowing an opponent in the head.--Capt.
Stats: 35min 20pts (4-16, 1-5, 5-6) 5reb 9ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( D+/A ) -- IT had basically nothing at all going for most of the first three quarters, going 0-7 before Cousins got himself tossed. At that point, IT briefly led the Kings on a scoring spurt, pouring in 9 points in I believe four possessions on two layups, a three, and a pair of free throws. But after that one stretch he went 1-6 the rest of the game with his only bucket coming on a goaltend. Thomas came out at the 3:38 mark in the fourth, just in time for us to mount our furious comeback without him. Hmm. If you look at the box score, the one good thing IT had going for him were his nine assists. Nine Hometown assists, I think, because I counted three assists, two passes that I probably wouldn't have given assist credit for, and then four where I don't even know where they came from. Normally if I miss one I figure I just missed it, but four? When I'm deliberately watching? Maybe it's an off day, but I think the scorer was being friendly. Defensively, the Bucks didn't really take it to IT nearly as much as you might expect. He started out the first six minutes of the first playing pretty well, but from there it was mostly the same old IT. He allowed 13 points on 11 shots - not terrible - but I've written in my notes in bold font about the play in the fourth quarter in transition where he inexplicably left Jennings, who had the ball mind you, to cover a man spreading out to the wing. Jennings said "thank you very much" and hit a completely uncontested three. Way to go, IT. Good thinking. Leave the guy with the ball. So, in total, his offense was inefficient, his defense was what we've come to expect, I don't think his passing was as good as advertised, and we went on a huge run when he came out of the game. He's done better. He gets the secondary A for not taking himself out of the game while the best player on the floor by intentionally elbowing an opponent in the head.--Capt.
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