Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
We do find a way don't we?
Record needed to tie for #8 seed: 38-0...Gameface On!
Salmons ( C ) -- played an odd 20+ minutes in the first half, again barely shooting, working mostly as a passer, but not a creater -- just moving the ball along. Played some momenets of good man defense, but they were scoring over us at will anyway. Some steals in the third and a three in the early fourth had you thinking that maybe he was going to step up again late as he did against the Bucks last week, but it never led to anything. Not as bad this time perhaps as the numbers appear -- somebody on this team of soft one dimensional shooters has to pass on his shot and play the defensive roleplayer and had me almost thinking of switching John's grading standard over to Doug Christie standard. But still another headscratching (and trade value diminishng) outing from the guy who is supposed to be your 2nd leading scorer but who checks himself out of the game half the time (and he would have had to as Natt wasn't about to -- gave him 42 minutes to get his 7pts 3rebs 4ast).
Thompson ( B+ ) -- strong first half minutes when Natt let him actually play. Charlie V. prefers playing out on the perimeter as usual, and Jason was able to work mostly uncontested inside, but also smoothly stepping outside for the midrange jumpers. His coach's smallball fascination limited his minutes more than anything else before half. Effective again in the third, although also began to rack up fouls and was not always winning the hustle battle against the Bucks benchers (Villanueva was again in foul trouble). Was active and got out on the break a few times, but also showing a bit of a worrisome trait there as I think he might be learning the wrong lessons from some of our vets -- could have sworn our power forward was hanging back cherrypicking on several plays. Pulled in the mid 4th because Natt is far more comfortable having his veterans lose games for him than giving the kids a shot at it. Still a very solid 16 and 9 outing.
Miller ( B+ ) -- hey, whadya know -- Brad showed up for one. Big first half against a team without a legitimate center to slow him down with Bogut out. Remember when Gadzuric used to at least be an effective rebounder/shotblocker? Last heard from when 5 1/4" floppies were still the thing. In response to such "resistance" Brad did chuck one of his threes, but for the most part was being smart (yes, Brad Miller was being smart) and just rumbling down the lane barley contested to try groundbound flips and finger rolls. Much of the offense ran thorugh him in the third, but I say "ran through him" on purpose, as all of a sudden the assists started piling up, but not sure Brad himself had a single point after half in the face of pestering by a suddenly effective Francisco Elson (who has looked terrible most of the season, looked terrible alst week against us, and couldn't slow Brad in the first half either but picked this game to wake up), including getting picked at midcourt by Elson for a key 4th quarter breakaway. Somebody might have wanted to send Natt a memo about Brad's scoreless second half however -- an assistant coach perhaps? Or maybe just a diehard fan willing to sacrifice the rest of his hot dog to bean Natt is the head and get his attnetion. Because without said notice, the Natt decided that Brad was going to be our crunchtime hero, drawing up both of our final two gamewinning/game tying possessions for him. And both plays resulted in pretty good looks...that Brad did not finish. The first was one of the lumbering drives where all Brad had to do was finish over 6'7" Richard Jefferson (he did not), and then after the Bucks again left the door open by hitting only 1 of 2 FTs, it was an open 18 footer from the top of the key to tie. And again, our 18 foot jumpshooting specilist bricked it for the loss. An ultimately dissatisfying near triple double (dissatisfying enoguh this grade feels high).
Martin ( C ) -- still getting his points. Still mostly struggling to do so. Struggled his way to a 10pt first half, almost all of it at the line in the early going. Otherwise it was turnover after turnover, on the dribble especially. Continues same pattern in the third, hitting a three, turning it over twice, never really developing any momentum. Even after Michael Redd left he gam with what turned out to be a devestating season ending knee injury (torn ACl and MCL), still not able to get much going. May have been bothered by the Bucks response to the Redd situation -- without quality backup SGs they resorted to twin PG arrangements, and that of course meant quickness guarding Kevin, whihc he has never liked. Could have had one chance to put a kinder wash on this one when he set Brad up for the gamne tying shot, but Brad bricked it and another L was earned. Another horribly one dimensional night for Kevin too (20pts 1reb 1ast) -- well two dimensional with all the turnovers (6). And with Michael Redd done for the year, Kevin might now succede to the crown as most one dimensional OG in the league. Congrats.
Udrih ( B- ) -- effective first half both as a scorer and a passer. Little defensive resistance provided by Ridnour obviously. Grew quiet for a very long stretch despite playing major minutes. Was not hurting us, but neither was he particulalry helping. Avoided the dumb mistakes but think he only had 4 points after half, and not sure he had any assists at all. Enough to keep the two Bobby's pinned to the bench however. Knocked down another two corner threes in this one, as all of a sudden he has found the range from out there. Showed back up in th4e final seconds when somehow out of a timeout wiht 35 seconds to go and 7 seconds on the shot clock, the best play we could draw up was Beno with a 12 foot turnaround in the post with 38 seconds to go? He had a size advantage, but that's hardly his shot, and it was blocked. Do not know whether that was what we were trying to get, or whether the guy(s) we wanted to hit just never got open, but either way, it, combined with Brad's brick's, were a fugly finsih to the game.
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Cisco ( B ) -- our main and almost only guy off the bench at whatever position as Natt's brain cell is thoroughly in love with the smaball at this point. His response to a twerpy Bucks team missing their only legit rebounder/shotblocker? Out twerp 'em! Result we get creamed on the glass and Luke Ridnour outblocks our entire squad. Cisco entered and ran up and down the court scored with decent effect from all over the floor. Well, everywhere except three point land where he was chucking up backboard breakers for most of the night. Be nice if he didn't completely lose himself to Kevin/John disease -- tonight in his 30 minutes? 1 reb and 2ast. There were still moments of hustle, but most of them resulted in fouls rather than tangible gains, and he, Kevin, and John combined for 5 rebounds in over 110 minutes of action. As I suggested in my Midseason Numbers Thread, it has been the complete lack of rebounding effort by our smaller players that has been hurting us even more than our bigs. Was back in for the second half of the 4th in place of JT with Natt of course trying to smallball for the win again (never mind its only worked one time, and that took triple OT and may have been easier without it). Because its Cisco, and he's prone to show up i those moments, for better or worse, had a lot going on. Hit a shot, but then only 1 of 2 FTs before airballing a three after we got the rebound off the missed FT, which hurt. Came back to hit a big three to keep us in position to steal it, but then outCiscoed himself, and came up with back to back bad fouls to put the Bucks inot the penalty and send them to the line in the final minutes. Not involve in our series of not so great attempts to win it in the final 30 seconds.
Hawes ( B- ) -- short first half minutes with foul trouble and Natt preferring to do his smallball thing some more. Had a brief moment with back to back hoops as we opened the fourth on a mini-run, but we didn't sustain, neither did Spencer, and Natt ws getting anxious to get vets back into the game to lose again, and so the same player who looked like an obvious season long startr on a rebuilding tream back in November has now been Natted down to 11 minutes a night.
Brown ( B- ) -- came in and sped up an already fast pace, was very aggresive on both sides of the ball, sometimes to good effect, sometimes getting wild. Frozen out after half by Natt.
Jackson ( C ) -- got caught up too much in the early gunning, and in his case missing. Was more in control but had less impact in his second half stint.
Record needed to tie for #8 seed: 38-0...Gameface On!
Salmons ( C ) -- played an odd 20+ minutes in the first half, again barely shooting, working mostly as a passer, but not a creater -- just moving the ball along. Played some momenets of good man defense, but they were scoring over us at will anyway. Some steals in the third and a three in the early fourth had you thinking that maybe he was going to step up again late as he did against the Bucks last week, but it never led to anything. Not as bad this time perhaps as the numbers appear -- somebody on this team of soft one dimensional shooters has to pass on his shot and play the defensive roleplayer and had me almost thinking of switching John's grading standard over to Doug Christie standard. But still another headscratching (and trade value diminishng) outing from the guy who is supposed to be your 2nd leading scorer but who checks himself out of the game half the time (and he would have had to as Natt wasn't about to -- gave him 42 minutes to get his 7pts 3rebs 4ast).
Thompson ( B+ ) -- strong first half minutes when Natt let him actually play. Charlie V. prefers playing out on the perimeter as usual, and Jason was able to work mostly uncontested inside, but also smoothly stepping outside for the midrange jumpers. His coach's smallball fascination limited his minutes more than anything else before half. Effective again in the third, although also began to rack up fouls and was not always winning the hustle battle against the Bucks benchers (Villanueva was again in foul trouble). Was active and got out on the break a few times, but also showing a bit of a worrisome trait there as I think he might be learning the wrong lessons from some of our vets -- could have sworn our power forward was hanging back cherrypicking on several plays. Pulled in the mid 4th because Natt is far more comfortable having his veterans lose games for him than giving the kids a shot at it. Still a very solid 16 and 9 outing.
Miller ( B+ ) -- hey, whadya know -- Brad showed up for one. Big first half against a team without a legitimate center to slow him down with Bogut out. Remember when Gadzuric used to at least be an effective rebounder/shotblocker? Last heard from when 5 1/4" floppies were still the thing. In response to such "resistance" Brad did chuck one of his threes, but for the most part was being smart (yes, Brad Miller was being smart) and just rumbling down the lane barley contested to try groundbound flips and finger rolls. Much of the offense ran thorugh him in the third, but I say "ran through him" on purpose, as all of a sudden the assists started piling up, but not sure Brad himself had a single point after half in the face of pestering by a suddenly effective Francisco Elson (who has looked terrible most of the season, looked terrible alst week against us, and couldn't slow Brad in the first half either but picked this game to wake up), including getting picked at midcourt by Elson for a key 4th quarter breakaway. Somebody might have wanted to send Natt a memo about Brad's scoreless second half however -- an assistant coach perhaps? Or maybe just a diehard fan willing to sacrifice the rest of his hot dog to bean Natt is the head and get his attnetion. Because without said notice, the Natt decided that Brad was going to be our crunchtime hero, drawing up both of our final two gamewinning/game tying possessions for him. And both plays resulted in pretty good looks...that Brad did not finish. The first was one of the lumbering drives where all Brad had to do was finish over 6'7" Richard Jefferson (he did not), and then after the Bucks again left the door open by hitting only 1 of 2 FTs, it was an open 18 footer from the top of the key to tie. And again, our 18 foot jumpshooting specilist bricked it for the loss. An ultimately dissatisfying near triple double (dissatisfying enoguh this grade feels high).
Martin ( C ) -- still getting his points. Still mostly struggling to do so. Struggled his way to a 10pt first half, almost all of it at the line in the early going. Otherwise it was turnover after turnover, on the dribble especially. Continues same pattern in the third, hitting a three, turning it over twice, never really developing any momentum. Even after Michael Redd left he gam with what turned out to be a devestating season ending knee injury (torn ACl and MCL), still not able to get much going. May have been bothered by the Bucks response to the Redd situation -- without quality backup SGs they resorted to twin PG arrangements, and that of course meant quickness guarding Kevin, whihc he has never liked. Could have had one chance to put a kinder wash on this one when he set Brad up for the gamne tying shot, but Brad bricked it and another L was earned. Another horribly one dimensional night for Kevin too (20pts 1reb 1ast) -- well two dimensional with all the turnovers (6). And with Michael Redd done for the year, Kevin might now succede to the crown as most one dimensional OG in the league. Congrats.
Udrih ( B- ) -- effective first half both as a scorer and a passer. Little defensive resistance provided by Ridnour obviously. Grew quiet for a very long stretch despite playing major minutes. Was not hurting us, but neither was he particulalry helping. Avoided the dumb mistakes but think he only had 4 points after half, and not sure he had any assists at all. Enough to keep the two Bobby's pinned to the bench however. Knocked down another two corner threes in this one, as all of a sudden he has found the range from out there. Showed back up in th4e final seconds when somehow out of a timeout wiht 35 seconds to go and 7 seconds on the shot clock, the best play we could draw up was Beno with a 12 foot turnaround in the post with 38 seconds to go? He had a size advantage, but that's hardly his shot, and it was blocked. Do not know whether that was what we were trying to get, or whether the guy(s) we wanted to hit just never got open, but either way, it, combined with Brad's brick's, were a fugly finsih to the game.
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Cisco ( B ) -- our main and almost only guy off the bench at whatever position as Natt's brain cell is thoroughly in love with the smaball at this point. His response to a twerpy Bucks team missing their only legit rebounder/shotblocker? Out twerp 'em! Result we get creamed on the glass and Luke Ridnour outblocks our entire squad. Cisco entered and ran up and down the court scored with decent effect from all over the floor. Well, everywhere except three point land where he was chucking up backboard breakers for most of the night. Be nice if he didn't completely lose himself to Kevin/John disease -- tonight in his 30 minutes? 1 reb and 2ast. There were still moments of hustle, but most of them resulted in fouls rather than tangible gains, and he, Kevin, and John combined for 5 rebounds in over 110 minutes of action. As I suggested in my Midseason Numbers Thread, it has been the complete lack of rebounding effort by our smaller players that has been hurting us even more than our bigs. Was back in for the second half of the 4th in place of JT with Natt of course trying to smallball for the win again (never mind its only worked one time, and that took triple OT and may have been easier without it). Because its Cisco, and he's prone to show up i those moments, for better or worse, had a lot going on. Hit a shot, but then only 1 of 2 FTs before airballing a three after we got the rebound off the missed FT, which hurt. Came back to hit a big three to keep us in position to steal it, but then outCiscoed himself, and came up with back to back bad fouls to put the Bucks inot the penalty and send them to the line in the final minutes. Not involve in our series of not so great attempts to win it in the final 30 seconds.
Hawes ( B- ) -- short first half minutes with foul trouble and Natt preferring to do his smallball thing some more. Had a brief moment with back to back hoops as we opened the fourth on a mini-run, but we didn't sustain, neither did Spencer, and Natt ws getting anxious to get vets back into the game to lose again, and so the same player who looked like an obvious season long startr on a rebuilding tream back in November has now been Natted down to 11 minutes a night.
Brown ( B- ) -- came in and sped up an already fast pace, was very aggresive on both sides of the ball, sometimes to good effect, sometimes getting wild. Frozen out after half by Natt.
Jackson ( C ) -- got caught up too much in the early gunning, and in his case missing. Was more in control but had less impact in his second half stint.
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