“When there is no peril in the fight there is no glory in the triumph.” -- Pierre Corneille
Boxscore
Nocioni ( C ) -- nothing early, but finally splashed in a three to start the 2nd. Other than terrible 1-7 shooting did put up a good roleplaying line in the first half 3pts 5rebs 3ast. Problem was that you barely noticed him doing so, so its hard to give him scrappy team play points as opposed to invisible guy points. Came out in the third for some more invisible work, this time without many numbers of any kind, and was gone halfway through the quarter, replaced by Beno, and I don't think ever returned. Nor do I think he was terribly pleased about it. Get the feeling he's actually moving a little toward grumpy Noc here, maybe about minutes or whatnot, but they say winning cures many ills. Or at least covers them up.
Thompson ( B+ ) -- really did not play a good first half, or a bad one, or any one at all -- was just invisible out there. And yet came on strong enough down the stretch of the game to be a serious player of the game candidate. In the early going was getting jumpers shot over him by various Bucks, made turnover in the paint, and after a couple of early hoops, really gave us nothign the rest of the half. Think he finished up the first half at something like 5pts 3rebs 0impact. Faced up Bogut and drove to start the 3rd, but could not finish and was still missing FTs. When Hawes went out, Bogut went right through him. Began to put up numbers as the third wore on, althoguh at first it was scruffy and rhythmlessd. After a timeout in the late third seemed ot come out more settled however, and put together back to back good hoops in the late third, one a jumper, follwoed by a good post move on Kurt Thomas. Came on particularly strong down the stretch, and until Reke's late heroics was the guy who did most of the carrying. Hit a pair of FTs to give us a lead at the 5:30 mark. Got a questionable continuation call at the 2:40 mark to get us back within 1. Then came up with the rebound + putback off a Beno miss to give us the lead once again at the 2:00 mark. Made a good interior pass to Hawes for the dunk that gave us the lead back at the 1:00 mark. Was unable to come up with the defensive board to save the game at the 20 second mark. But hit the flip courtesy of Reke to put us ahead again with 12 seconds to go before getting involved up top with Reke in the wild scramble play that let the Bucks take the lead back wiht 5 seconds to go. Numbers skyrocketed from that invisible 5pt 3reb half to 22pts 10rebs by the end of the game and was involved in half a dozen lead changing plays down the stretch.
Hawes ( B- ) -- I don't know about this effusive praise Coach was heaping upon Spencer after this one -- my translation there would be "trying to boost young player's confidence" -- but it was the best game he's had in some time. Started out with a soft touch foul on Bogut's head that was just classic Spencer. But then came up with strong finish through Bogut on the baseline that was not. Followed with a beautiful pass to a cutting Evans and generally was the more solid of our two bigs in the first quarter. Good firrst stint, but after returning late in the second it was back to Flutter, got a shot blocked, missed another, got overpowered by Bogut and had to foul. Did not last long before we brought back Noc to finish the half. Hit a top of the circle three off a Reke kick out of the double to start the 3rd, but got beat by Bogut again on D and really was no impact in the third. Reemerged to play some role down the stretch, splitting a pair of FTs at the 5:00 mark and courtesy of a JT pass delivering the big dunk to give us the lead back at the 1:00 mark. Unfortunately fouled out when he picked up not 1, but 2 fouls before we got the ball back, as he fouled Bogut, Bogut missed both FTs, the Bucks got the o-board, missed, got another o-board, missed, got another o-board, missed, got another o-board, and finally drew the 6th on Hawes. You could call that bad luck, except of course as your tallest guy Hawes should have been a good candidate to grab one of those d-boards, and instead got whipped 13-4 on the glass by Bogut.
Casspi ( B- ) -- got his third consecutive start, this time over at SG. Got into quick foul trouble and never got much going in limited first half minutes. Things picked up after half, althoguht still not to the level he has been playing at. Did a good job guarding Jennings on a switch in the eaely third and got a little offhand flip to go. Was hitting his FTs on the night, which was a relief (not to mention critical in a 1pt victory). Accidentally got a steal in the late 3rd with his elbow when he was just throwing his hands up with his back turned after a Bucks defensive rebound in an effort to slow their break. Elbow hit the ball and knocked it away, and Casspi said thank you very much and scooped it up. Then played some good defense on the final Bucks possesion of the quarter and got the block on the long 3pt heave at the buzzer. Hit a three in the early 4th, but his offense was neaturalized as he kept on helping off of Delfino and letting him get open out at the three point line to punsih us with bombs. Made a bad bad foul at the 1:10 mark on Jennings. The Bucks only had 2 secoinds to get the shot off of an inbounds play, all Omri had to do was challenge high. Instead he rammed into Jennings right off the catch, Jennings sank them both to give the Bucks the lead, and it could easily have cost us the game. That mistake was bad enough that I almost went with C+ here, but that just felt a little low. I did not think Omri had a bad game so much as just a minor one, and never did get terribly involved offensively.
Evans ( B+ ) -- Fun little factoid that popped up in the game recap notes: Tyreke Evans, superrook and already franchise player for the Kings, is the second youngest player in the entire NBA. Only Jrue Holdiay is any younger. Talk about a future. Maybe trying to do too much early with the hype, and had back to back turnovers, once with a bad pass, once when dribbling off his leg. Settled in and had maybe his most impressive move of the season on a spinning drive in the first, but could not finish it. Picked up another brilliant poke steal ala the Washington gamewinner, but this time got to finish it with the breakaway dunk on Delfino. Picked up a backcourt steal as well but blew the layup to finsih it. Wehn the ghsot of Michael Redd checked in worked him at one end, and then stopped him on the other (of course as was seen basically all of our guys found what's left of Redd easy to stop tonight). Kept right on scoring through the second quarter, and finished the half with a big drive along the baseline to beat the buzzer and to give him 17 before the break. Tried to post him right from the beginning of the 3rd, but the Bucks were ready for it and overplaying. Jennings not able to get around him (or oddly, Beno) on offense. Made a saavy little slap away from behind on Bogut causing a turnover. Began to force the action a little in the mid third, and I thought was beginning to look noticeably tired by the end of the quarter. Back in in the 4th and immediately posted Ridnour but again blew the layup (if he only hits hi layups this was a 30pt night). Two of his turnovers again were on offensive fouls as he forced the action and the Bucks, like most teams, practically had five guys in the paint to try to stop him. Came up with the strong offensive board and follow to give us the lead back at the 5:30 mark. Good board night, but fell asleep on the defensive glass at the 4:10 mark on an extended Bucks possession, and Delfino ran right around him for the putback as we got tied up again. Got tied up for the jumpball when Spencer brought his man right on top of him (I have no explanation for that unless it was an attempted pick) and lost the tip at the 4:00 mark. Got his shot blocked on the drive a minute later and really it was JT who was making more plays to keep us in it. But stepped up in the crunch, first finding JT for the go ahead flip at the 12 second mark. Then nearly winning the game as he deflected Jennings inbounds pass at the 12 second mark -- ironically a play that actually ended up hurting us as in the scramble we ended up 3 on 4 and they got the easy go ahead layup. And then of course came back to leave no doubt he'd make Sportscenter with the superstar dribble take to win it at the buzzer and damn near juke Bogut out of his shoes. Take that Kobe, as the Bucks have now been superstarred into defeat two nights in a row. And yet as I've mentioned before, the surest sign of just how great Evans is that he can put up a 24pt 7reb 3ast 2stl night, win the game at the buzzer, and yet really not have his best game -- had 6 TOs and a lot of forces, particularly after half when I thought the 4 games in 5 nights was starting to show. And so I "+'d" his B for winning it, but didn't feel compelled to make it some sort of A -- a guy like Tyreke Evans, a nascient superstar, can beat you on a B night.
Boxscore
Nocioni ( C ) -- nothing early, but finally splashed in a three to start the 2nd. Other than terrible 1-7 shooting did put up a good roleplaying line in the first half 3pts 5rebs 3ast. Problem was that you barely noticed him doing so, so its hard to give him scrappy team play points as opposed to invisible guy points. Came out in the third for some more invisible work, this time without many numbers of any kind, and was gone halfway through the quarter, replaced by Beno, and I don't think ever returned. Nor do I think he was terribly pleased about it. Get the feeling he's actually moving a little toward grumpy Noc here, maybe about minutes or whatnot, but they say winning cures many ills. Or at least covers them up.
Thompson ( B+ ) -- really did not play a good first half, or a bad one, or any one at all -- was just invisible out there. And yet came on strong enough down the stretch of the game to be a serious player of the game candidate. In the early going was getting jumpers shot over him by various Bucks, made turnover in the paint, and after a couple of early hoops, really gave us nothign the rest of the half. Think he finished up the first half at something like 5pts 3rebs 0impact. Faced up Bogut and drove to start the 3rd, but could not finish and was still missing FTs. When Hawes went out, Bogut went right through him. Began to put up numbers as the third wore on, althoguh at first it was scruffy and rhythmlessd. After a timeout in the late third seemed ot come out more settled however, and put together back to back good hoops in the late third, one a jumper, follwoed by a good post move on Kurt Thomas. Came on particularly strong down the stretch, and until Reke's late heroics was the guy who did most of the carrying. Hit a pair of FTs to give us a lead at the 5:30 mark. Got a questionable continuation call at the 2:40 mark to get us back within 1. Then came up with the rebound + putback off a Beno miss to give us the lead once again at the 2:00 mark. Made a good interior pass to Hawes for the dunk that gave us the lead back at the 1:00 mark. Was unable to come up with the defensive board to save the game at the 20 second mark. But hit the flip courtesy of Reke to put us ahead again with 12 seconds to go before getting involved up top with Reke in the wild scramble play that let the Bucks take the lead back wiht 5 seconds to go. Numbers skyrocketed from that invisible 5pt 3reb half to 22pts 10rebs by the end of the game and was involved in half a dozen lead changing plays down the stretch.
Hawes ( B- ) -- I don't know about this effusive praise Coach was heaping upon Spencer after this one -- my translation there would be "trying to boost young player's confidence" -- but it was the best game he's had in some time. Started out with a soft touch foul on Bogut's head that was just classic Spencer. But then came up with strong finish through Bogut on the baseline that was not. Followed with a beautiful pass to a cutting Evans and generally was the more solid of our two bigs in the first quarter. Good firrst stint, but after returning late in the second it was back to Flutter, got a shot blocked, missed another, got overpowered by Bogut and had to foul. Did not last long before we brought back Noc to finish the half. Hit a top of the circle three off a Reke kick out of the double to start the 3rd, but got beat by Bogut again on D and really was no impact in the third. Reemerged to play some role down the stretch, splitting a pair of FTs at the 5:00 mark and courtesy of a JT pass delivering the big dunk to give us the lead back at the 1:00 mark. Unfortunately fouled out when he picked up not 1, but 2 fouls before we got the ball back, as he fouled Bogut, Bogut missed both FTs, the Bucks got the o-board, missed, got another o-board, missed, got another o-board, missed, got another o-board, and finally drew the 6th on Hawes. You could call that bad luck, except of course as your tallest guy Hawes should have been a good candidate to grab one of those d-boards, and instead got whipped 13-4 on the glass by Bogut.
Casspi ( B- ) -- got his third consecutive start, this time over at SG. Got into quick foul trouble and never got much going in limited first half minutes. Things picked up after half, althoguht still not to the level he has been playing at. Did a good job guarding Jennings on a switch in the eaely third and got a little offhand flip to go. Was hitting his FTs on the night, which was a relief (not to mention critical in a 1pt victory). Accidentally got a steal in the late 3rd with his elbow when he was just throwing his hands up with his back turned after a Bucks defensive rebound in an effort to slow their break. Elbow hit the ball and knocked it away, and Casspi said thank you very much and scooped it up. Then played some good defense on the final Bucks possesion of the quarter and got the block on the long 3pt heave at the buzzer. Hit a three in the early 4th, but his offense was neaturalized as he kept on helping off of Delfino and letting him get open out at the three point line to punsih us with bombs. Made a bad bad foul at the 1:10 mark on Jennings. The Bucks only had 2 secoinds to get the shot off of an inbounds play, all Omri had to do was challenge high. Instead he rammed into Jennings right off the catch, Jennings sank them both to give the Bucks the lead, and it could easily have cost us the game. That mistake was bad enough that I almost went with C+ here, but that just felt a little low. I did not think Omri had a bad game so much as just a minor one, and never did get terribly involved offensively.
Evans ( B+ ) -- Fun little factoid that popped up in the game recap notes: Tyreke Evans, superrook and already franchise player for the Kings, is the second youngest player in the entire NBA. Only Jrue Holdiay is any younger. Talk about a future. Maybe trying to do too much early with the hype, and had back to back turnovers, once with a bad pass, once when dribbling off his leg. Settled in and had maybe his most impressive move of the season on a spinning drive in the first, but could not finish it. Picked up another brilliant poke steal ala the Washington gamewinner, but this time got to finish it with the breakaway dunk on Delfino. Picked up a backcourt steal as well but blew the layup to finsih it. Wehn the ghsot of Michael Redd checked in worked him at one end, and then stopped him on the other (of course as was seen basically all of our guys found what's left of Redd easy to stop tonight). Kept right on scoring through the second quarter, and finished the half with a big drive along the baseline to beat the buzzer and to give him 17 before the break. Tried to post him right from the beginning of the 3rd, but the Bucks were ready for it and overplaying. Jennings not able to get around him (or oddly, Beno) on offense. Made a saavy little slap away from behind on Bogut causing a turnover. Began to force the action a little in the mid third, and I thought was beginning to look noticeably tired by the end of the quarter. Back in in the 4th and immediately posted Ridnour but again blew the layup (if he only hits hi layups this was a 30pt night). Two of his turnovers again were on offensive fouls as he forced the action and the Bucks, like most teams, practically had five guys in the paint to try to stop him. Came up with the strong offensive board and follow to give us the lead back at the 5:30 mark. Good board night, but fell asleep on the defensive glass at the 4:10 mark on an extended Bucks possession, and Delfino ran right around him for the putback as we got tied up again. Got tied up for the jumpball when Spencer brought his man right on top of him (I have no explanation for that unless it was an attempted pick) and lost the tip at the 4:00 mark. Got his shot blocked on the drive a minute later and really it was JT who was making more plays to keep us in it. But stepped up in the crunch, first finding JT for the go ahead flip at the 12 second mark. Then nearly winning the game as he deflected Jennings inbounds pass at the 12 second mark -- ironically a play that actually ended up hurting us as in the scramble we ended up 3 on 4 and they got the easy go ahead layup. And then of course came back to leave no doubt he'd make Sportscenter with the superstar dribble take to win it at the buzzer and damn near juke Bogut out of his shoes. Take that Kobe, as the Bucks have now been superstarred into defeat two nights in a row. And yet as I've mentioned before, the surest sign of just how great Evans is that he can put up a 24pt 7reb 3ast 2stl night, win the game at the buzzer, and yet really not have his best game -- had 6 TOs and a lot of forces, particularly after half when I thought the 4 games in 5 nights was starting to show. And so I "+'d" his B for winning it, but didn't feel compelled to make it some sort of A -- a guy like Tyreke Evans, a nascient superstar, can beat you on a B night.
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And of course steadiness. Again played a key bridging role in this one, getting us from Reke's stong first half, to JT and Reke's late game surge, and making sure we stayed close in the interim. Like a lot of games we have seen from Beno this season on offense, but bumped him half a tick for the d-word.
