Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well, this can be summed up this way: this was a spectacularly easy blowout of the worst team in the NBA for about 33 minutes before we lost focus and all our worst traits reasserted themselves to leave a bad taste to the garbagetime.
We were up 40 by the late third, had 104 points by the end of the third (although the last few minutes of the third featured IT and Gay reverting to 1 on1ism after refraining for most of the night). We then played a terrible 4th quarter causing Malone to get madder than a rained on rooster and take it out on Royce White, who should by all rights have played 8-10min in this game, but instead got another 48 seconds which I'm guessing could lead to his release without ever getting an opportunity. If you aren't going to play in back to back home games where the best team in the league blows you out in one game, and you blow out the worst team in the league in the next, then why are we paying you?
Cousins was tremendous. IT was in control. Ben had a strong first half before the shooting evaporated again and it was back to bricking. Reggie teamed with Cuz to play patty cake off the boards all night. Rudy was huge in the first half but seemed to tire and failed as the goto guy in the early 4th. Ray...had a disastrous 4th quarter stint when he was both selfish and ineffective and ended up getting benched for the final 7 minutes of the game.
Boxscore
Stats: 41min 24pts (9-16, 0-4, 6-7) 8reb 4ast 0stl 1blk 3TO
Gay ( B ) -- this was going to be a higher grade until he got stained by the 4th quarter fuglies -- played almost the entire 4th when we entered the 4th up 34. That's a demerit on his coach more than Rudy -- some petulance I think when guys weren't playing it right. Up until that point though, Rudy had been Cuz's main wingman before half as we hammered the Bucks. Of the Big Three, I thought Rudy was actually the only one making it look at all tough -- Cuz and IT pretty much did whatever they wanted, but for Rudy it was more a question of aggression and pure talent allowing him to finish tough shots. Was around the glass a ton in the early going, not really scorching hot, but persistent and attacking again and again, got to the line several times before leaving for his normal rest. When he returned in the second, began to take over the game and as usual came up with several pretty pretty finishes in there. Began to dominate late in the half as he and Cousins were getting ridiculous, combining for 38 first half points and just killing whoever the Bucks put on them. Started the third slow, but worked his way into it as we really began to open things up and at one point had the Bucks down 40. Felt like he and IT began to break our spell a little late in the 3rd though, as it was so easy that both guys began to notably start looking for their own stuff 1 on 1. And why not right? It was all falling. But it was a change. And then the 4th rolled around, and Malone was apparently not convinced that our reserves could hold a 34 point 4th quarter lead without Rudy out there to steady them. But thing is, he didn't His play was ragged, and he looked gassed out there, notably panting during breaks, which were frequent as Malone called timeouts to, er, exhort his team let's say. He forced a couple of shots, had a loose turnover, the defensive focus was shot and nobody was getting back on the break. And still Malone left him out there. He did come up with a nice pass to a backcutting Outlaw to briefly stem the bleeding, but otherwise the minutes were largely wasted, and if Malone was trying to teach an 8yr vet about playing to the end even though you're gassed in late March after you've already been eliminated from the playoffs...well..I suspect that was w3asted to. Likely cost Royce White his best chance to get minutes for us too. But again, that's Malone stuff, not really Rudy stuff. Rudy was quite good for 3/4. Not as good as Cuz, but dominating. Then just ran out of gas and lost a + at least in the final stanza.
Stats: 27min 6pts (1-5, 0-0, 4-4) 10reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( B ) -- one thing about Reggie is that that boardwork is steady as rain, and sometimes it obscures whether his game was actually on the good side or the bad side. Tonight he rebounded at about the same rate he did against the Spurs, but he was just much more effective, and he and Cousins were just hammering the Bucks on the glass throughout their minutes together. And Reggie's boards were all aggressive tonight. He chased them, snatched them, made them physical. Fumbled several things that should have been hoops, took an elbow to the nose for his troubles from Adrien, but he turned it into a scrum, and its one we were imminently better equipped to win than they were (although they did at one sub in a terrifying looking gigantic Eastern European potbellied outlaw biker named Raduljica at one point and I thought there might be trouble). The offensive push appears to be over, late in the half took another brilliant Cousins fullcourt pass and flat flubbed the catch and shot, blowing the gimme. But he did hit all his FTs, so hey progress and all that. Anyway, this was a good game from Reggie. Very much part fo the whooping the starters were laying on them.
Stats: 29min 32pts (14-19, 0-0, 4-6) 12reb 4ast 2stl 1blk 1TO
Cousins ( A+ ) -- this was just a brilliant game by Cuz. There wasn't much opposition of course, but he largely treated it like there was none at all. In a complete turnaround from the Spurs game the jumper was just wet from the start of this one, and so he took it again and again and again, from various different angles, and I can only recall one miss on the whole night. He had something like 14 points by the end of the first quarter, and he didn't even play the whole quarter after catching a finger to the eye or some such and sitting out while the trainer attended to things. When he came into the game immediately made a strong d-board and great KLove style fullcourt pass to a streakjng IT for the layin. And then he went to work in the post to make things really unfair for the Bucks. Took a charge, was almost running the PG at times. It was just all around toying with the Bucks stuff. The only even illusory threat to his general buttkicking came when on back to back offensive/defensive possessions with 3min to go in the quarter, he picked up 2 quick fouls. But it didn't lead to anything but another splashed in jumper as he was at 21pts 8rebs by half and I think only had 1 or 2 missed shots. Came out to being the third with a bad possesion to start the 2nd half, eventually resulting in a 24sec violation. But with his obligatory bad play out of the way, resumed just fullcourt dominance. Hot a turn around post move on the baseline. Blocked a Knight drive (and was stepping up all night taking away lanes), just took it himself on a fullcourt drive and big dunk. Maybe right at the very very end of the 3rd he was getting infected a little by the selfishness that started leaking in, his last few possessions were a little more forced, a little less smooth than the previous few had been, he added two late misses. But by that time he already had 32pts and 12reb in 29 min, and we were sitting on a 40pt lead. While Gay had to play much of the 4th, apparently as some sort of penance, and It had to return in the mid quarter because McCallum was flat screwing up, bringing Cuz back would have just been unfair to the Bucks, and so he sat over on the sideline as part of the coaching staff for the 4th. greta game. And really, still a little tiny bit of something to play for for him, as with our crappy record he needs as many great games as he can stack up to try to make the All NBA teams.
Stats: 34min 15pts (6-15, 3-8, 0-0) 4reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
McLemore ( B ) -- the eternal question of where to slot Ben's grade comes down to this: in the first half of this one he was legitimately good, and a contributing part of the starting unit which just whipped the Bucks in every way possible. Then after half he once again would have lost a game of horse to Reggie Evans. He looked tentative on his first shot in this one, feeling in a little runner like he'd never taken one of them before, but maybe it settled him, or maybe it was just the complete disorganization of the Bucks "defense" and the whooping the rest of the guys were putting on it. Whatever it was, Ben settled in quickly and soon looked almost completely comfortable running to open spots and popping up for hits. Neither Giannis (finally got to hear Jerry say his name, and alas, it wasn't that big of a problem) or Mayo seemed terribly committed to staying with him. And on the other end while Giannis out physicalled him once or twice, and Mayo got him a few scattered times (I counted three, once in the first, once in third, and once in the fourth), in general he was where he needed to be and you couldn't fault him for causing his opponents to score. After half he missed his first three and the confidence completely eroded again. After three misses he finally got a tip in to go, but he just curled up into an offensive fetal position and returned to forgotten man status. His only other hit was on an accident in the deep garbagetime when Aaron Gray (that's how you know its deep garbagetime) tipped a loose rebound his way, and he caught it and drained it before he had time to think about it. So, Ben wasn't why we won this. He wasn't our first, or second, or third, or I think even 4th best starter. But in the first half he played well and did what we needed, and if he didn't after halftime, well, as I've said these grades are half relative, and this was another one of the recent games where Ben has had at least stretches of real contributing play. For most of this season he's been a blatant burden weighing down the lineups he's in, but he's starting to carry his weight for extended stretches now.
Stats: 37min 30pts (9-13, 3-4, 9-11) 3reb 8ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( A ) -- I had this targeted as an A all along, but there was a brief waver pondering a "-" based on what happened in the 4th. But what happens in garbagetime stays in garbagetime I think, at least in this case. Because for a long long time in this game everything came very easy to Isaiah. Actually missed his first three of the game, but for the next 2 1/2 to 3 quarters was able to basically play a perfectly relaxed game of pickup ball. He got to wherever on the court he wanted, and here was the thing: he used his powers for the forces of good, not the powers of chucking. The shot he took were easy, open, but just as often he found space and dropped it to a teammate for their own easy and open shot. I have speculated before about whether IT has ever in his life notched more assists than FGA, well, for a half he did. And we rolled out to a huge lead. And on the other end while he wasn't smothering Knight, he was the point man on a strong defensive team effort that saw Knight cut off again and again on his drives. He wasn't dominant, just smooth and hyper efficient, with the only real wart that he was still missing FTs. he began the third with another easy little gimme jumper, and was still in the right mindset as we punched the lead out to 40. Things finally took a slight turn late in the third, when he notched his first, and only, turnover as he overpenetrated, and more significantly you could feel his gunner instincts beginning to struggle up. We were blowing them off the court, and then we had a series of one on one selfish possessions largely featuring IT and Gay, and the magic bubble began to dissipate. Nonetheless, at that point it was still a hyperefficeint night, and I think we were up 34 when IT left the game. I think he had missed 2 shots and had something like a 7-1 turnover ratio while Brandon night was a ghost. The problem, and slight waver on this grade, came when IT was summoned back into the game with 7min to go because McCallum had just created a mess out there in the first half of the 4th. But here was the thing: McCallum was playing selfishly and missing all his shots. We were badly out of rhythm, not getting back on D. And so you summon your relative vet PG to settle things right? Except we didn't get first half Isaiah out there to settle things down and set guys up and get everybody in rhythm. Instead IT came in and basically statpadded. He gunned just like Ray was doing, except he was still hitting many of his shots. Mind you this was in a 20+pt game when he returned, so it was not as if we were asking him to save us with scoring. We were asking him to calm us down, and he did not. And in addition, the Bucks began to experiment with a large guard lineup of OJ Mayo and Giannis, and IT got stuck guarding Mayo and giving up 7 inches to him, and Mayo took full advantage bombing over him repeatedly in the final minutes as the Bucks dropped 37 on us in the quarter. And so... I am sticking with an A here. The numbers say A. The game was an A while we just killed these guys. But the final 6min of this one was a throwback to a dissatisfying combination of gunning and ineffective defense (I don't think Isaiah wasn't trying on that end, he was just too little to stop a 6'4" guy form shooting over him), and so I had to think about it.
We were up 40 by the late third, had 104 points by the end of the third (although the last few minutes of the third featured IT and Gay reverting to 1 on1ism after refraining for most of the night). We then played a terrible 4th quarter causing Malone to get madder than a rained on rooster and take it out on Royce White, who should by all rights have played 8-10min in this game, but instead got another 48 seconds which I'm guessing could lead to his release without ever getting an opportunity. If you aren't going to play in back to back home games where the best team in the league blows you out in one game, and you blow out the worst team in the league in the next, then why are we paying you?
Cousins was tremendous. IT was in control. Ben had a strong first half before the shooting evaporated again and it was back to bricking. Reggie teamed with Cuz to play patty cake off the boards all night. Rudy was huge in the first half but seemed to tire and failed as the goto guy in the early 4th. Ray...had a disastrous 4th quarter stint when he was both selfish and ineffective and ended up getting benched for the final 7 minutes of the game.
Boxscore
Stats: 41min 24pts (9-16, 0-4, 6-7) 8reb 4ast 0stl 1blk 3TO
Gay ( B ) -- this was going to be a higher grade until he got stained by the 4th quarter fuglies -- played almost the entire 4th when we entered the 4th up 34. That's a demerit on his coach more than Rudy -- some petulance I think when guys weren't playing it right. Up until that point though, Rudy had been Cuz's main wingman before half as we hammered the Bucks. Of the Big Three, I thought Rudy was actually the only one making it look at all tough -- Cuz and IT pretty much did whatever they wanted, but for Rudy it was more a question of aggression and pure talent allowing him to finish tough shots. Was around the glass a ton in the early going, not really scorching hot, but persistent and attacking again and again, got to the line several times before leaving for his normal rest. When he returned in the second, began to take over the game and as usual came up with several pretty pretty finishes in there. Began to dominate late in the half as he and Cousins were getting ridiculous, combining for 38 first half points and just killing whoever the Bucks put on them. Started the third slow, but worked his way into it as we really began to open things up and at one point had the Bucks down 40. Felt like he and IT began to break our spell a little late in the 3rd though, as it was so easy that both guys began to notably start looking for their own stuff 1 on 1. And why not right? It was all falling. But it was a change. And then the 4th rolled around, and Malone was apparently not convinced that our reserves could hold a 34 point 4th quarter lead without Rudy out there to steady them. But thing is, he didn't His play was ragged, and he looked gassed out there, notably panting during breaks, which were frequent as Malone called timeouts to, er, exhort his team let's say. He forced a couple of shots, had a loose turnover, the defensive focus was shot and nobody was getting back on the break. And still Malone left him out there. He did come up with a nice pass to a backcutting Outlaw to briefly stem the bleeding, but otherwise the minutes were largely wasted, and if Malone was trying to teach an 8yr vet about playing to the end even though you're gassed in late March after you've already been eliminated from the playoffs...well..I suspect that was w3asted to. Likely cost Royce White his best chance to get minutes for us too. But again, that's Malone stuff, not really Rudy stuff. Rudy was quite good for 3/4. Not as good as Cuz, but dominating. Then just ran out of gas and lost a + at least in the final stanza.
Stats: 27min 6pts (1-5, 0-0, 4-4) 10reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( B ) -- one thing about Reggie is that that boardwork is steady as rain, and sometimes it obscures whether his game was actually on the good side or the bad side. Tonight he rebounded at about the same rate he did against the Spurs, but he was just much more effective, and he and Cousins were just hammering the Bucks on the glass throughout their minutes together. And Reggie's boards were all aggressive tonight. He chased them, snatched them, made them physical. Fumbled several things that should have been hoops, took an elbow to the nose for his troubles from Adrien, but he turned it into a scrum, and its one we were imminently better equipped to win than they were (although they did at one sub in a terrifying looking gigantic Eastern European potbellied outlaw biker named Raduljica at one point and I thought there might be trouble). The offensive push appears to be over, late in the half took another brilliant Cousins fullcourt pass and flat flubbed the catch and shot, blowing the gimme. But he did hit all his FTs, so hey progress and all that. Anyway, this was a good game from Reggie. Very much part fo the whooping the starters were laying on them.
Stats: 29min 32pts (14-19, 0-0, 4-6) 12reb 4ast 2stl 1blk 1TO
Cousins ( A+ ) -- this was just a brilliant game by Cuz. There wasn't much opposition of course, but he largely treated it like there was none at all. In a complete turnaround from the Spurs game the jumper was just wet from the start of this one, and so he took it again and again and again, from various different angles, and I can only recall one miss on the whole night. He had something like 14 points by the end of the first quarter, and he didn't even play the whole quarter after catching a finger to the eye or some such and sitting out while the trainer attended to things. When he came into the game immediately made a strong d-board and great KLove style fullcourt pass to a streakjng IT for the layin. And then he went to work in the post to make things really unfair for the Bucks. Took a charge, was almost running the PG at times. It was just all around toying with the Bucks stuff. The only even illusory threat to his general buttkicking came when on back to back offensive/defensive possessions with 3min to go in the quarter, he picked up 2 quick fouls. But it didn't lead to anything but another splashed in jumper as he was at 21pts 8rebs by half and I think only had 1 or 2 missed shots. Came out to being the third with a bad possesion to start the 2nd half, eventually resulting in a 24sec violation. But with his obligatory bad play out of the way, resumed just fullcourt dominance. Hot a turn around post move on the baseline. Blocked a Knight drive (and was stepping up all night taking away lanes), just took it himself on a fullcourt drive and big dunk. Maybe right at the very very end of the 3rd he was getting infected a little by the selfishness that started leaking in, his last few possessions were a little more forced, a little less smooth than the previous few had been, he added two late misses. But by that time he already had 32pts and 12reb in 29 min, and we were sitting on a 40pt lead. While Gay had to play much of the 4th, apparently as some sort of penance, and It had to return in the mid quarter because McCallum was flat screwing up, bringing Cuz back would have just been unfair to the Bucks, and so he sat over on the sideline as part of the coaching staff for the 4th. greta game. And really, still a little tiny bit of something to play for for him, as with our crappy record he needs as many great games as he can stack up to try to make the All NBA teams.
Stats: 34min 15pts (6-15, 3-8, 0-0) 4reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
McLemore ( B ) -- the eternal question of where to slot Ben's grade comes down to this: in the first half of this one he was legitimately good, and a contributing part of the starting unit which just whipped the Bucks in every way possible. Then after half he once again would have lost a game of horse to Reggie Evans. He looked tentative on his first shot in this one, feeling in a little runner like he'd never taken one of them before, but maybe it settled him, or maybe it was just the complete disorganization of the Bucks "defense" and the whooping the rest of the guys were putting on it. Whatever it was, Ben settled in quickly and soon looked almost completely comfortable running to open spots and popping up for hits. Neither Giannis (finally got to hear Jerry say his name, and alas, it wasn't that big of a problem) or Mayo seemed terribly committed to staying with him. And on the other end while Giannis out physicalled him once or twice, and Mayo got him a few scattered times (I counted three, once in the first, once in third, and once in the fourth), in general he was where he needed to be and you couldn't fault him for causing his opponents to score. After half he missed his first three and the confidence completely eroded again. After three misses he finally got a tip in to go, but he just curled up into an offensive fetal position and returned to forgotten man status. His only other hit was on an accident in the deep garbagetime when Aaron Gray (that's how you know its deep garbagetime) tipped a loose rebound his way, and he caught it and drained it before he had time to think about it. So, Ben wasn't why we won this. He wasn't our first, or second, or third, or I think even 4th best starter. But in the first half he played well and did what we needed, and if he didn't after halftime, well, as I've said these grades are half relative, and this was another one of the recent games where Ben has had at least stretches of real contributing play. For most of this season he's been a blatant burden weighing down the lineups he's in, but he's starting to carry his weight for extended stretches now.
Stats: 37min 30pts (9-13, 3-4, 9-11) 3reb 8ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( A ) -- I had this targeted as an A all along, but there was a brief waver pondering a "-" based on what happened in the 4th. But what happens in garbagetime stays in garbagetime I think, at least in this case. Because for a long long time in this game everything came very easy to Isaiah. Actually missed his first three of the game, but for the next 2 1/2 to 3 quarters was able to basically play a perfectly relaxed game of pickup ball. He got to wherever on the court he wanted, and here was the thing: he used his powers for the forces of good, not the powers of chucking. The shot he took were easy, open, but just as often he found space and dropped it to a teammate for their own easy and open shot. I have speculated before about whether IT has ever in his life notched more assists than FGA, well, for a half he did. And we rolled out to a huge lead. And on the other end while he wasn't smothering Knight, he was the point man on a strong defensive team effort that saw Knight cut off again and again on his drives. He wasn't dominant, just smooth and hyper efficient, with the only real wart that he was still missing FTs. he began the third with another easy little gimme jumper, and was still in the right mindset as we punched the lead out to 40. Things finally took a slight turn late in the third, when he notched his first, and only, turnover as he overpenetrated, and more significantly you could feel his gunner instincts beginning to struggle up. We were blowing them off the court, and then we had a series of one on one selfish possessions largely featuring IT and Gay, and the magic bubble began to dissipate. Nonetheless, at that point it was still a hyperefficeint night, and I think we were up 34 when IT left the game. I think he had missed 2 shots and had something like a 7-1 turnover ratio while Brandon night was a ghost. The problem, and slight waver on this grade, came when IT was summoned back into the game with 7min to go because McCallum had just created a mess out there in the first half of the 4th. But here was the thing: McCallum was playing selfishly and missing all his shots. We were badly out of rhythm, not getting back on D. And so you summon your relative vet PG to settle things right? Except we didn't get first half Isaiah out there to settle things down and set guys up and get everybody in rhythm. Instead IT came in and basically statpadded. He gunned just like Ray was doing, except he was still hitting many of his shots. Mind you this was in a 20+pt game when he returned, so it was not as if we were asking him to save us with scoring. We were asking him to calm us down, and he did not. And in addition, the Bucks began to experiment with a large guard lineup of OJ Mayo and Giannis, and IT got stuck guarding Mayo and giving up 7 inches to him, and Mayo took full advantage bombing over him repeatedly in the final minutes as the Bucks dropped 37 on us in the quarter. And so... I am sticking with an A here. The numbers say A. The game was an A while we just killed these guys. But the final 6min of this one was a throwback to a dissatisfying combination of gunning and ineffective defense (I don't think Isaiah wasn't trying on that end, he was just too little to stop a 6'4" guy form shooting over him), and so I had to think about it.
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