Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Artest ( D ) -- quickly picked up two early fouls, and then after sitting for a long stretch, came back in and ended up picking up a third before the end of the half. Was doing some good things in spots on defense, but Ruben Patterson seemed to be bothering him as one fo the few guys in the league who can match his physical combinatiopn of strenght and qucikness. And the foul trouble seemed to make Ron less willing to mix it up in the 3rd quarter as we got blown off the court. Instead he settled for chucking up long threes (and missing them) and backing off rather than bodying the Bucks on defense. Despite the general invisibility and irrelevance, not going lower than a D here just because fouls were a major factor here, and Ron played so few minutes he would have been hardpressed to have a major impact. Well, he didn't. We got a first half lead largely without him, and we got blown out wiht his help, but not following his lead. Recorded 5 stlks and 2 blks in only 21 minutes, which continues his string of remarkable statistical games defensively, but nowehere near that impact really this time.
Thomas ( B- ) -- considerably more active early than he was last night, and in the face of the much softer front line of the Bucks was able to help spot us to an early rebounding lead. Unable to stay anywhere close to Charlie Villanueva after half (of course anywhere close to Villanueva would have been at the 3pt line) or contest Bogut (half a foot taller) however, as he and Reef together out there just got creamed. Along the way got lit up 25pts 7rebs to his own 6pts and 7rebs by his counterpart. And yet overall in most ways this was a low level adequate KT performance -- did most of his limited job, but was simply outperformed by a mroe talented player.
Miller ( B- ) -- went after the glass early, and made moderate contributions across the board in the first half, aside from some turnover problems. But then things got interesting: Brad never made it out of the locker room at halftime, apaprently suddenly coming down with plantar fasciitis? I didn't think that was something that just hopped up on you like a sprained ankle, but a slow developing, lingering problem? In any case, Brad never returned, and without him we got completely wiped out along the frontline by Bogut (inside) and Villanueva (outside) while getting pummeled on the glass. That was interesting -- Brad of course a notorious source of weakness himself defensively and reboundingwise, and yet for a half the cause and effect looked like no Brad = a rather embarrassing punking by the young Bucks frontline. Heal fast Brad?
Martin ( C- ) -- hit an early three, but mostly a struggle in the early going, and ended up sitting for a long spell in the early 2nd period. Not sure he was happy about it either (just reading body/face language). And after returning just struggled to get anything at all to fall from just about anywhere. Nor did he make up for it with significant contributions in other areas as Redd went off, and aside from an occasional burst Kevin was not a factor on the glass or in the passing game.
Bibby ( D+ ) -- a fast start pushing our offense, but also a shot happy one, and unfortunately after the activity fell off and the shots stopped falling, Mike just kept right on firing. Completely ineffective after half, and combined with Kevin to shoot a lovely 9-29. Considerably outplayed by his counterpart tonight (Williams went 15pts 12ast 6rebs despite some wildness problems) and may just have run out of gas in the second half.
Salmons ( B+ ) -- got in early in the first with Ron in quick foul trouble, and ran for the entire rest of the half while giving us rock solid minutes, hitting his shots, helping on the glass, and making good decisions. Played a long stretch in the second half again, but under different circumstances as most of the minutes came with us pretty much out of the game. Nor was he anywhere near as effective after half. But at least got the focus right and put up the better numbers while the game was still on rather than in garbagetime. Almost went A- here, but those late minutes really were pretty drab, we lost badly, and by the end of the game John's 18pts 2reb 2ast in 37 min doesn't look all that special, nor all that well rounded. So B+, but probably our best, most reliable player tonight.
Reef ( B+ ) -- very good aggression in the second quarter led to a big first half for him, and was headed toward his first A type grade of the season. But after getting the surprise start to open the 2nd half when Brad went down with an injury, got worked over badly by Bogut inside as the Bucks blew us out. Nor did Reef come back with much the other way other than a few jumpers. Gets some minor consideration for playing out of position in the 2nd half, but the fact is that for better or worse he IS our backup center, and that didn't work at all. Especially not since Reef had already grabbed his 6 rebounds for the game by halftime and so was contractually prevented from going after anymore without some sort of bonus clause kicking in. So earns this grade entirely for his good work off the bench before intermission rather than the frightening preview of what a KT/Reef starting frontline might look like should Brad be out for a while.
Garcia ( D ) -- got some first half minutes, but didn't do much in them, and then got another long stint in garbagetime, but was completely invisible. Worried about where his head is right now after the early and quick hooks of the first few games. Certainly isn't playing his way onto the court.
Price ( B ) -- got a long run in the second quarter, and while doing little statistically or on offense, played strong defense Came back for our early surrender in the 4th, and scored well in garbagetime, although also displaying a bit of a troubling selfish streak.
Williamson ( B- ) -- got in in semi-garbagetime in the 4th and after a slow start had a little burst of energy in the late going resulting in a few hoops.
Taylor ( D ) -- got in in garbagetime and did the big Mo for us. Which translated thus far this year means he did exactly jack and squat.
Muss ( C- ) -- well...for a half it was there. Or at least possibly there. But then Brad got hurt and we completely fell apart? Defensively???? WTF? Anyway, maybe it was the back to back thing, although I believe the Bucks had a back to back to, so that excuse might not fly. Maybe it was the Ron thing -- our leader was saddled with foul trouble all game long. In any case our frontcourt got embarrassed again, and this time our backcourt guys who have carried us thus far all sucked and struggled in various degrees. As usual there were a few positive signs as in the first half we got good bench performances out of both our non-garbagetime bench players (Reef and Salmons) -- first real sigg of an actual bench this season -- and we also showed the most sustained competence on offense we have in the early going. But those positive signs get swamped by the neagatives of the scoreboard -- our newfound defense completely evaporated on one end, and our 91, while still our best thus far this season, still looks punchless. Hey, at least we are going in the right direction -- 83, 88, 91 -- at this rate we are bound to have a 100pt game sometime before Christmas.
Muss himself seemed to have a pretty good pulse on things in the first half, although I am watching to see how players are responding to the subtitution patterns. Brad has sat a lot in the early going of this season (and now with the injury may sit longer stil), Cisco has been yanked in and out like a yoyo, which is ether tough love or the type of thing that can strip a player's confidence, and I am not at all sure that kevin was happy about the long stretch he spent on the bench in this one in the first half after pouring in 30 the night before. And of course after half we displayed just how completely out of adequate bigman optins we are once Brad is removed from the equation -- put two undersized PFs out on the floor together, and got pummeled. Muss did call one timeout in the midst of the 37-16 blowout quarter, but not much seemed to change because of it. And then he kind of oddly seemed to throw in the towel early in the 4th as we threw all the kids out there together. Maybe looking for energy, but also leaving us without the sorts of veteran guns you would think might have the best shot to pull our chestnuts out of the fire. We seemed ready to go from the start of this one, so it wasn't the preparation. Maybe Muss just gave them a really really crappy halftime speech? Anyway, back home to hopefully get healthy and get some things figured out. Stealing that one in Chicago now looms even larger as it would have been a depressing 0-3 plane ride home otherwise.
Thomas ( B- ) -- considerably more active early than he was last night, and in the face of the much softer front line of the Bucks was able to help spot us to an early rebounding lead. Unable to stay anywhere close to Charlie Villanueva after half (of course anywhere close to Villanueva would have been at the 3pt line) or contest Bogut (half a foot taller) however, as he and Reef together out there just got creamed. Along the way got lit up 25pts 7rebs to his own 6pts and 7rebs by his counterpart. And yet overall in most ways this was a low level adequate KT performance -- did most of his limited job, but was simply outperformed by a mroe talented player.
Miller ( B- ) -- went after the glass early, and made moderate contributions across the board in the first half, aside from some turnover problems. But then things got interesting: Brad never made it out of the locker room at halftime, apaprently suddenly coming down with plantar fasciitis? I didn't think that was something that just hopped up on you like a sprained ankle, but a slow developing, lingering problem? In any case, Brad never returned, and without him we got completely wiped out along the frontline by Bogut (inside) and Villanueva (outside) while getting pummeled on the glass. That was interesting -- Brad of course a notorious source of weakness himself defensively and reboundingwise, and yet for a half the cause and effect looked like no Brad = a rather embarrassing punking by the young Bucks frontline. Heal fast Brad?
Martin ( C- ) -- hit an early three, but mostly a struggle in the early going, and ended up sitting for a long spell in the early 2nd period. Not sure he was happy about it either (just reading body/face language). And after returning just struggled to get anything at all to fall from just about anywhere. Nor did he make up for it with significant contributions in other areas as Redd went off, and aside from an occasional burst Kevin was not a factor on the glass or in the passing game.
Bibby ( D+ ) -- a fast start pushing our offense, but also a shot happy one, and unfortunately after the activity fell off and the shots stopped falling, Mike just kept right on firing. Completely ineffective after half, and combined with Kevin to shoot a lovely 9-29. Considerably outplayed by his counterpart tonight (Williams went 15pts 12ast 6rebs despite some wildness problems) and may just have run out of gas in the second half.
Salmons ( B+ ) -- got in early in the first with Ron in quick foul trouble, and ran for the entire rest of the half while giving us rock solid minutes, hitting his shots, helping on the glass, and making good decisions. Played a long stretch in the second half again, but under different circumstances as most of the minutes came with us pretty much out of the game. Nor was he anywhere near as effective after half. But at least got the focus right and put up the better numbers while the game was still on rather than in garbagetime. Almost went A- here, but those late minutes really were pretty drab, we lost badly, and by the end of the game John's 18pts 2reb 2ast in 37 min doesn't look all that special, nor all that well rounded. So B+, but probably our best, most reliable player tonight.
Reef ( B+ ) -- very good aggression in the second quarter led to a big first half for him, and was headed toward his first A type grade of the season. But after getting the surprise start to open the 2nd half when Brad went down with an injury, got worked over badly by Bogut inside as the Bucks blew us out. Nor did Reef come back with much the other way other than a few jumpers. Gets some minor consideration for playing out of position in the 2nd half, but the fact is that for better or worse he IS our backup center, and that didn't work at all. Especially not since Reef had already grabbed his 6 rebounds for the game by halftime and so was contractually prevented from going after anymore without some sort of bonus clause kicking in. So earns this grade entirely for his good work off the bench before intermission rather than the frightening preview of what a KT/Reef starting frontline might look like should Brad be out for a while.
Garcia ( D ) -- got some first half minutes, but didn't do much in them, and then got another long stint in garbagetime, but was completely invisible. Worried about where his head is right now after the early and quick hooks of the first few games. Certainly isn't playing his way onto the court.
Price ( B ) -- got a long run in the second quarter, and while doing little statistically or on offense, played strong defense Came back for our early surrender in the 4th, and scored well in garbagetime, although also displaying a bit of a troubling selfish streak.
Williamson ( B- ) -- got in in semi-garbagetime in the 4th and after a slow start had a little burst of energy in the late going resulting in a few hoops.
Taylor ( D ) -- got in in garbagetime and did the big Mo for us. Which translated thus far this year means he did exactly jack and squat.
Muss ( C- ) -- well...for a half it was there. Or at least possibly there. But then Brad got hurt and we completely fell apart? Defensively???? WTF? Anyway, maybe it was the back to back thing, although I believe the Bucks had a back to back to, so that excuse might not fly. Maybe it was the Ron thing -- our leader was saddled with foul trouble all game long. In any case our frontcourt got embarrassed again, and this time our backcourt guys who have carried us thus far all sucked and struggled in various degrees. As usual there were a few positive signs as in the first half we got good bench performances out of both our non-garbagetime bench players (Reef and Salmons) -- first real sigg of an actual bench this season -- and we also showed the most sustained competence on offense we have in the early going. But those positive signs get swamped by the neagatives of the scoreboard -- our newfound defense completely evaporated on one end, and our 91, while still our best thus far this season, still looks punchless. Hey, at least we are going in the right direction -- 83, 88, 91 -- at this rate we are bound to have a 100pt game sometime before Christmas.
Muss himself seemed to have a pretty good pulse on things in the first half, although I am watching to see how players are responding to the subtitution patterns. Brad has sat a lot in the early going of this season (and now with the injury may sit longer stil), Cisco has been yanked in and out like a yoyo, which is ether tough love or the type of thing that can strip a player's confidence, and I am not at all sure that kevin was happy about the long stretch he spent on the bench in this one in the first half after pouring in 30 the night before. And of course after half we displayed just how completely out of adequate bigman optins we are once Brad is removed from the equation -- put two undersized PFs out on the floor together, and got pummeled. Muss did call one timeout in the midst of the 37-16 blowout quarter, but not much seemed to change because of it. And then he kind of oddly seemed to throw in the towel early in the 4th as we threw all the kids out there together. Maybe looking for energy, but also leaving us without the sorts of veteran guns you would think might have the best shot to pull our chestnuts out of the fire. We seemed ready to go from the start of this one, so it wasn't the preparation. Maybe Muss just gave them a really really crappy halftime speech? Anyway, back home to hopefully get healthy and get some things figured out. Stealing that one in Chicago now looms even larger as it would have been a depressing 0-3 plane ride home otherwise.
Last edited:
