Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Kings v. Bucks 3/08
Artest ( C+ ) -- another very quiet night for Ron offensively. He goes from 30pts and our dominant offensive player in Washington, to 14 pts and irrelevant against the Nets, and now 9pts and completely invisible. Again undescores something with Ron -- he is quite obviously one of the real impact players in the NBA. But he's not a dependable #1 offensive option. And so we are still lacking that guy. In any case, tonight Ron did little offensively but did get on the glass, and our domination of the boards was a significant reason we won this one. Defensively not really able to have much effect on things. There were a few bursts -- came out to start the 3rd quarter and gave us a taste of vintage Artest, getting his hackles raised up and completely smothering and frustrating Bobby Simmons and enticing him to commit a silly 4th foul in retaliation. And in the 4th stepped up and started smothering Redd as well, and also hit a three to stretch the lead back out after the Bucks made a run to close it. Also hit two big FTs to stop the bleeding as we started collapsing. But the men that Ron was guarding -- Simmons and Redd, both had big nights against us, and despite his occasional harassment, both hit shots in his face too. Like the NJ game, a game where the mere fact that Ron is our leader and our heart now is enough even without great contributions on the court. Same players otherwise that we had to start the year, but now they have somebody driving them to compete. As our year without leadership has shown us, that's critical even when said leader is having a quiet night.
Thomas ( A ) -- big active first quarter where Kenny was able to use his quickness to get to every board and repeatedly to the hoop. And the Bucks had no potent inside scorers to push back at him on the other end. Over the course of the game was able to beat the Bucks bigs with quickness so consistently makes you wonder how they could not make the simple adjustment of making him prove he could hit that jumper. Slowed down a bit in the second half but still finished up with a big 19pt 12reb effort in 29 minutes. And Kenny is one of oour true bellweather players. He's inconsistent, and not a top rate starter. But when he plays well, we are in good shape (or possibly he plays well when we play well -- cause and effect). In any case, in our wins? 11.2pts 7.6rebs 2.4ast .502FG%. In our losses 7.7pts 6.9rebs 1.4ast .465FG%. Tonight it was the former type of effort, and however you feel about the grumpy/whiny stuff, he's been a smarter basketball player since Artest arrived and continues to take the easy shots while passing up most of the bad ones.
Miller ( C ) -- had the ball in his hands a lot as he was running the offense. One of those all assists but no rebounds efforts, almost like old Vlade gave us (as in OLD Vlade). Of course Brad is not yet old, so its somewhat less amusing. Racked up eleven assists as the ball was really moving for us out there. But also made some mistakes, and the shooting got ugly late as he not only could not hit, but started making bad decisions to avoid even having to put one up. At least finally hit a shot with under a minute to go to help us seal it. His eleven assists is a great sign for us, but it came on a night when it was pretty much all he did. Hence along with Ron played an important role for us while having a low-grade overall game.
Martin ( B ) -- got off to the great active start in the opening minutes, and was just too quick for Michael Redd. But on the other end fell asleep at times on defense and Redd scored back at us at will. Not sure what is up with that because he can be a good defender when he's focused, but you could tell Rick was steamed. Good game kind of got swamped by the flood of teammates who really came to play this time out. Had 8 points in the first 6 minutes, only 8 therafter with Bonzi stealing many of his minutes with another stong game. Sat for a long long stretch in the second half before being reinserted in the final minute for FT shooting purposes, but still ended up with 16pts in 23minutes, which if you consider Bonzi and his 31min the starter tonight, and Kevin the backup, is basically a prolific performance off the bench.
Bibby ( A- ) -- Another huge scoring game for us to help us close out the road trip. Started off the game hot offensively and running the team well, but getting lit up at the other end by TJ Ford. Took some dubious "just dribble downcourt and chuck up a shot" shots, but they were falling. Never had the super explosiuon like he did against the Nets, but was jsut there all night long in a game with little defense being played on either side. Stepped up repeatedly in the 4th to hit shots to hold off the Bucks. Do not think there is any real way to give a guy who pours in 36pts and carries us offensively to our 4th road victory in 5 games anything less than some sort of A, but was getting run around by TJ Ford like a traffic cone on the other end, and so call it an A-.
Bonzi ( A- ) -- and kind of the confirmation game that early season Bonzi is back just in time to help us power toward a playoff berth. Power being the operative word. In the first half he and Reef really exploded off our bench and dominated bench play. And Bonzi was looking for Reef repeatedly with interior passes -- some of them ill-advised I might add. Might have been our best interior defender on a night when we had few, by once more getting his hands on ball after ball down low and stripping the bigs before they went up. Was not only scoring with his scrap around the hoop, but this time also smoothly stroking jumpers from all over court. And of course was on those boards again. Its too bad he got hurt because Bonzi is not so quietly turning in one of the best years on the glass by a pure guard that I have seen. On the downside began to be plagued by his old Achilles -- TOs. And while he was certainly physically too much for the Bucks to deal with, their swingman lit our swingman up on the other end, particularly from the perimeter. Finished his night by hitting 3 of 4 ugly Fts in the last minute as the Bucks started fouling in desperation. Hit the front rim with all 4, but 3 of them crawled over or things could have gotten real tight. Strong game.
Reef ( B ) -- active first half off the bench and along with Bonzi poured in nearly a point a minute before the break by constantly being right around the hoop. Not much in the second half however, and while we had a big rebounding game, you can see why we struggled early in the year as neither Brad nor Reef, our original starters, gave us much of anything there, and instead it was our power duo of Bonzi and Artest joining Kenny to control the glass. Ended up with 14pts 4rebs in 25min, but did it on 7-9 shooting, with maybe one jumper total in the bunch.
Adelman ( A ) -- and so the worm has turned. We entered this roadtrip balancing on a knife. A 1-4, or certainly 0-5 could have basically ended our season for us. Instead we come up with a huge 4-1 and now things are pretty much all even and it looks like a flat out dogfight to the finish line with the Lakers, New Orleans, Utah and Houston. 5 teams for 2 spots. Not exactly competing for the best record in the NBA stuff, but should be fun. We came out absolutely ready to play in this one, and while the team esprit d' corp is always a primary factor there, that stuff, both the good and the bad, also gets attributed to the coaches. Very focused....on offense at least. Had an absolutely amazing first half when we shot 58%, poured in 69pts, got 24pts off the bench and grabbed twice as many rebounds as the Bucks. And yet only led by 12. And similarly we end up scoing 123...and only end up winning by 7. Key win, but the second time this roadtrip when our new improved defense...well, pretty much hasn't been so new and improved. Still a strong win because the Bucks themselves played this one like they wanted to win it...on offense. This wasn't a struggling New Jersey team, but rather a team facing its own playoff desperation, and they played hard and just came up short. Rotationwise Rick was of course back to the strong 7-man we are now running, but this time out he had so many people going well he was having a hard time getting them all minutes. Kenny and Reef ended up nearly splitting, and Kevin, who scored 16 pts in 23min, actually lost his minutes to Bonzi, who was giving us one of his vintage power guard nights (19pt 8reb). In fact the only guys NOT having good nights were Brad and Ron. And Ron is of course Ron, and has tremendous intangible value almost no matter how bad the stats get, and Brad is not only our only big man (however he plays), but also the guy we were running much of the offense through tonight. Rick tried an interesting Martin/Bonzi/Artest backcourt as an answer to the backup PG minutes tonight, but it did not last long and I'm not sure we'll see that again. We did try to collapse down the stretch again, appropriately enough on defense where we just could not get a stop over the final 4 minutes. But Brad and Ron, who had both had poor games, both stepped up with a few points, Bonzi dribbled over some shaky FTs, and the Bucks just ran out of time. But we have not -- and as of today the #8 spot and maybe even #7 spot, are anybody's game. Would not even be a shock to see us and Houston sneak in their to displace the shaky current holders of thsoe spots. But we have to keep on playing at this level. Not time to get tired. Not time to slump. And no turnips this time please.
Artest ( C+ ) -- another very quiet night for Ron offensively. He goes from 30pts and our dominant offensive player in Washington, to 14 pts and irrelevant against the Nets, and now 9pts and completely invisible. Again undescores something with Ron -- he is quite obviously one of the real impact players in the NBA. But he's not a dependable #1 offensive option. And so we are still lacking that guy. In any case, tonight Ron did little offensively but did get on the glass, and our domination of the boards was a significant reason we won this one. Defensively not really able to have much effect on things. There were a few bursts -- came out to start the 3rd quarter and gave us a taste of vintage Artest, getting his hackles raised up and completely smothering and frustrating Bobby Simmons and enticing him to commit a silly 4th foul in retaliation. And in the 4th stepped up and started smothering Redd as well, and also hit a three to stretch the lead back out after the Bucks made a run to close it. Also hit two big FTs to stop the bleeding as we started collapsing. But the men that Ron was guarding -- Simmons and Redd, both had big nights against us, and despite his occasional harassment, both hit shots in his face too. Like the NJ game, a game where the mere fact that Ron is our leader and our heart now is enough even without great contributions on the court. Same players otherwise that we had to start the year, but now they have somebody driving them to compete. As our year without leadership has shown us, that's critical even when said leader is having a quiet night.
Thomas ( A ) -- big active first quarter where Kenny was able to use his quickness to get to every board and repeatedly to the hoop. And the Bucks had no potent inside scorers to push back at him on the other end. Over the course of the game was able to beat the Bucks bigs with quickness so consistently makes you wonder how they could not make the simple adjustment of making him prove he could hit that jumper. Slowed down a bit in the second half but still finished up with a big 19pt 12reb effort in 29 minutes. And Kenny is one of oour true bellweather players. He's inconsistent, and not a top rate starter. But when he plays well, we are in good shape (or possibly he plays well when we play well -- cause and effect). In any case, in our wins? 11.2pts 7.6rebs 2.4ast .502FG%. In our losses 7.7pts 6.9rebs 1.4ast .465FG%. Tonight it was the former type of effort, and however you feel about the grumpy/whiny stuff, he's been a smarter basketball player since Artest arrived and continues to take the easy shots while passing up most of the bad ones.
Miller ( C ) -- had the ball in his hands a lot as he was running the offense. One of those all assists but no rebounds efforts, almost like old Vlade gave us (as in OLD Vlade). Of course Brad is not yet old, so its somewhat less amusing. Racked up eleven assists as the ball was really moving for us out there. But also made some mistakes, and the shooting got ugly late as he not only could not hit, but started making bad decisions to avoid even having to put one up. At least finally hit a shot with under a minute to go to help us seal it. His eleven assists is a great sign for us, but it came on a night when it was pretty much all he did. Hence along with Ron played an important role for us while having a low-grade overall game.
Martin ( B ) -- got off to the great active start in the opening minutes, and was just too quick for Michael Redd. But on the other end fell asleep at times on defense and Redd scored back at us at will. Not sure what is up with that because he can be a good defender when he's focused, but you could tell Rick was steamed. Good game kind of got swamped by the flood of teammates who really came to play this time out. Had 8 points in the first 6 minutes, only 8 therafter with Bonzi stealing many of his minutes with another stong game. Sat for a long long stretch in the second half before being reinserted in the final minute for FT shooting purposes, but still ended up with 16pts in 23minutes, which if you consider Bonzi and his 31min the starter tonight, and Kevin the backup, is basically a prolific performance off the bench.
Bibby ( A- ) -- Another huge scoring game for us to help us close out the road trip. Started off the game hot offensively and running the team well, but getting lit up at the other end by TJ Ford. Took some dubious "just dribble downcourt and chuck up a shot" shots, but they were falling. Never had the super explosiuon like he did against the Nets, but was jsut there all night long in a game with little defense being played on either side. Stepped up repeatedly in the 4th to hit shots to hold off the Bucks. Do not think there is any real way to give a guy who pours in 36pts and carries us offensively to our 4th road victory in 5 games anything less than some sort of A, but was getting run around by TJ Ford like a traffic cone on the other end, and so call it an A-.
Bonzi ( A- ) -- and kind of the confirmation game that early season Bonzi is back just in time to help us power toward a playoff berth. Power being the operative word. In the first half he and Reef really exploded off our bench and dominated bench play. And Bonzi was looking for Reef repeatedly with interior passes -- some of them ill-advised I might add. Might have been our best interior defender on a night when we had few, by once more getting his hands on ball after ball down low and stripping the bigs before they went up. Was not only scoring with his scrap around the hoop, but this time also smoothly stroking jumpers from all over court. And of course was on those boards again. Its too bad he got hurt because Bonzi is not so quietly turning in one of the best years on the glass by a pure guard that I have seen. On the downside began to be plagued by his old Achilles -- TOs. And while he was certainly physically too much for the Bucks to deal with, their swingman lit our swingman up on the other end, particularly from the perimeter. Finished his night by hitting 3 of 4 ugly Fts in the last minute as the Bucks started fouling in desperation. Hit the front rim with all 4, but 3 of them crawled over or things could have gotten real tight. Strong game.
Reef ( B ) -- active first half off the bench and along with Bonzi poured in nearly a point a minute before the break by constantly being right around the hoop. Not much in the second half however, and while we had a big rebounding game, you can see why we struggled early in the year as neither Brad nor Reef, our original starters, gave us much of anything there, and instead it was our power duo of Bonzi and Artest joining Kenny to control the glass. Ended up with 14pts 4rebs in 25min, but did it on 7-9 shooting, with maybe one jumper total in the bunch.
Adelman ( A ) -- and so the worm has turned. We entered this roadtrip balancing on a knife. A 1-4, or certainly 0-5 could have basically ended our season for us. Instead we come up with a huge 4-1 and now things are pretty much all even and it looks like a flat out dogfight to the finish line with the Lakers, New Orleans, Utah and Houston. 5 teams for 2 spots. Not exactly competing for the best record in the NBA stuff, but should be fun. We came out absolutely ready to play in this one, and while the team esprit d' corp is always a primary factor there, that stuff, both the good and the bad, also gets attributed to the coaches. Very focused....on offense at least. Had an absolutely amazing first half when we shot 58%, poured in 69pts, got 24pts off the bench and grabbed twice as many rebounds as the Bucks. And yet only led by 12. And similarly we end up scoing 123...and only end up winning by 7. Key win, but the second time this roadtrip when our new improved defense...well, pretty much hasn't been so new and improved. Still a strong win because the Bucks themselves played this one like they wanted to win it...on offense. This wasn't a struggling New Jersey team, but rather a team facing its own playoff desperation, and they played hard and just came up short. Rotationwise Rick was of course back to the strong 7-man we are now running, but this time out he had so many people going well he was having a hard time getting them all minutes. Kenny and Reef ended up nearly splitting, and Kevin, who scored 16 pts in 23min, actually lost his minutes to Bonzi, who was giving us one of his vintage power guard nights (19pt 8reb). In fact the only guys NOT having good nights were Brad and Ron. And Ron is of course Ron, and has tremendous intangible value almost no matter how bad the stats get, and Brad is not only our only big man (however he plays), but also the guy we were running much of the offense through tonight. Rick tried an interesting Martin/Bonzi/Artest backcourt as an answer to the backup PG minutes tonight, but it did not last long and I'm not sure we'll see that again. We did try to collapse down the stretch again, appropriately enough on defense where we just could not get a stop over the final 4 minutes. But Brad and Ron, who had both had poor games, both stepped up with a few points, Bonzi dribbled over some shaky FTs, and the Bucks just ran out of time. But we have not -- and as of today the #8 spot and maybe even #7 spot, are anybody's game. Would not even be a shock to see us and Houston sneak in their to displace the shaky current holders of thsoe spots. But we have to keep on playing at this level. Not time to get tired. Not time to slump. And no turnips this time please.
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