Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Quote of the Night: Doug Collins: "This is an ugly game -- there is not going to be a winner, there's going to be a survivor."
Revelation of the Night: The Pistons v. Lakers game was actually what I looked forward to watching tonight, not Kings/Bulls which was every bit as drab as it sounded like it would be.
Artest ( B- ) -- had a solid but mostly quiet first half. Contributed to the defensive effort, and made some solid across the board contributions. Did little after half besides help on the defensive glass. Forced a shot in the stretch where maybe he was trying to one on one show up Big Ben, but got bailed out by Mike and general Bull incompetence. There was certainly nothing remotely outstanding about this effort, but it felt more solid than the weakish numbers might indicate.
Thomas ( D ) -- PJ Brown was dominating the glass over him early in the first quarter, and while neither guy did much in the third, it was another spot start for Kenny. 18 min, 0pts 4 rebs. Hohum. This guy's gonna be a King until the next decade.
Miller ( B- ) -- managed to get worked over by Ben Wallace in the paint early and missed his own shots. Still set up Kevin for layups on several of he classic high post passes to backcutters. Picked up the rebounding in the third, had another out of body experience to record a block or two in the late going, and generally ended up with across the board roleplayer numbers: 7pts 12rebs 6ast 2blks. Game didn't really feel as good as those kinds of numebrs look, so I chipped in a minus.
Martin ( A- ) -- scored our first 7 pts, and a strong scoring first quarter with 10pts. No rebs, no asts in the early going, and took a while for the full game to get going. Was able to work the backcuts again and again with Brad for easy layups. Was steady after half -- not perfect, missed as many as he hit -- but steady and consistent. Got some freebie FTs late with the Bulls intentionally fouling, but still turned in a big scoring game on a night and in a game where nobody was scoring big. On the other end of the floor Ben Gordon was just awful, but really that had little to do with Kevin (or Mike) and much to do with the inherently unreliable nature of Gordon, who is shooting something like 20% on their current roadtrip. In any case, for Kevin a 29pt outing on national TV will do much for his Most Improved Player chances I think. Was a strong effort, but not sure it was a dominant one. did not ever feel like he was truly taking over the game. So went with a "-" here too. Might just be the general drabness of the game getting to me.
Bibby ( B- ) -- an early three, otherwise, little before half. Opened up the third with a rush that separated the teams, then lost composure and made some turnovers and forced shots that hurt us. Stepped back up in the clutch to nail back to back shots (forced shots btw if he had missed them)down the stretch to seal this one for us after the lead had dwindled back to 4. Really kind of an odd game -- basically all of his contributions came in a big rush in the early third, adn then in a mini-rush in the late 4th. Otehrwise he was very drab and invisible. But at those key moments -- most important moments of the game for us probably -- he was the man.
Corliss ( C ) -- logged most of the first half PF minutes again, although the game behind those minutes was a bit shaky. Was passing well, but also turning it over. Never did establish much after half. and made several bad fouls in there. AN oo 4pts 5rebs 2ast night, but also 4TOs and 4fls and this tiem he was the guy replaced at PF down the stretch of this one.
Salmons ( C ) -- quiet first half, but helped in our zone defensive schemes. Never got anything really going after half, and has some turnovers in the third as the Bulls caught back up. Once again put up those deadly to grade 4pt 3reb 2ast numbers, but this time on poor shooting and with 4 TOs thrown in. Kind of the standard nothing game from John, but the ragged version this time, rather than the intangibles make it better version.
Reef ( B- ) -- struggled in the first quarter, got his shot blocked, traveled, pretty lousy audition for a Bulls trade. But came back in the 4th to make a difference for us. Had a big and 1 finish to open the 4th over Tyrus Thomas, and was able to follow that up with another hit over the rook. Got the stretch PF minutes for once, and while he did nothing spectacularly, missed a jumper etc., he also chipped in a block, and grabbed a couple of boards on the defensive glass.
Cisco ( C ) -- came in and immediately hit a three for us....then proceeded to basically do absolutely nothing over the next 12 minutes of playing time. Didn't hurt us, was another long body in the zone schemes, but 3pts 1reb on 1-4 shooting is not an impact performance.
Muss ( B+ ) -- Ugly ugly ugly. So Muss did...well, pretty much the same in his return. It was ugly, it was drab, we had a nice lead, we blew that lead (but this time it was both built and lost all in the space of the third quarter). And being at hime, we hung on for the narrow win rather than then narrow loss. Kings basketball, its fan-tastic!
In the first half Muss made a smart switch to a zone which made a huge difference for us defensively -- before its introduction we were doing our traditional get pounded in the paint bit, and afterwards, the Bulls "offense" completely collapsed and they turned in a godawful 12pt quarter. On the flipside, the zone also killed our own rebounding, and the Bulls huung close pretty much jsut by pounding us to death on the glass, retrieving brick after brick after brick that their terrible outside shooters chucked up (not just their outside shooters -- they blew half a dozen layups at least too). We avoided our post halftime slump, and courtesy of Mike even opened the third on a run. But it was quickly answered, and by the end of the third we were right back where we had been at half -- up by 2. After a fortuitous Bulls injury (Tyrus Thomas sprained his ankle on a breakaway that would have been a dunk to bring it within 6, and instead we came down the other way 5 on 4 and drained a three) we jumped up 11 and looked to be closing it out in the mid 4th. Being us however, we went from 11 up to 4 up in the space of about 2-3 minutes, and Muss made a good use of a timeout (one of several well timed timeouts tongiht) to settle us and apaprently tell Mike "go forth and force bad shots that go in and are clutch". Mike obliged, and we win. 4 game winning streak. Is that better? Or worse? And so now here we sit, in no man's land. Man what a pointless season. Can we just go back to last May and just start over? Do everything different, and see if it led to anything exciting.
Revelation of the Night: The Pistons v. Lakers game was actually what I looked forward to watching tonight, not Kings/Bulls which was every bit as drab as it sounded like it would be.
Artest ( B- ) -- had a solid but mostly quiet first half. Contributed to the defensive effort, and made some solid across the board contributions. Did little after half besides help on the defensive glass. Forced a shot in the stretch where maybe he was trying to one on one show up Big Ben, but got bailed out by Mike and general Bull incompetence. There was certainly nothing remotely outstanding about this effort, but it felt more solid than the weakish numbers might indicate.
Thomas ( D ) -- PJ Brown was dominating the glass over him early in the first quarter, and while neither guy did much in the third, it was another spot start for Kenny. 18 min, 0pts 4 rebs. Hohum. This guy's gonna be a King until the next decade.
Miller ( B- ) -- managed to get worked over by Ben Wallace in the paint early and missed his own shots. Still set up Kevin for layups on several of he classic high post passes to backcutters. Picked up the rebounding in the third, had another out of body experience to record a block or two in the late going, and generally ended up with across the board roleplayer numbers: 7pts 12rebs 6ast 2blks. Game didn't really feel as good as those kinds of numebrs look, so I chipped in a minus.
Martin ( A- ) -- scored our first 7 pts, and a strong scoring first quarter with 10pts. No rebs, no asts in the early going, and took a while for the full game to get going. Was able to work the backcuts again and again with Brad for easy layups. Was steady after half -- not perfect, missed as many as he hit -- but steady and consistent. Got some freebie FTs late with the Bulls intentionally fouling, but still turned in a big scoring game on a night and in a game where nobody was scoring big. On the other end of the floor Ben Gordon was just awful, but really that had little to do with Kevin (or Mike) and much to do with the inherently unreliable nature of Gordon, who is shooting something like 20% on their current roadtrip. In any case, for Kevin a 29pt outing on national TV will do much for his Most Improved Player chances I think. Was a strong effort, but not sure it was a dominant one. did not ever feel like he was truly taking over the game. So went with a "-" here too. Might just be the general drabness of the game getting to me.
Bibby ( B- ) -- an early three, otherwise, little before half. Opened up the third with a rush that separated the teams, then lost composure and made some turnovers and forced shots that hurt us. Stepped back up in the clutch to nail back to back shots (forced shots btw if he had missed them)down the stretch to seal this one for us after the lead had dwindled back to 4. Really kind of an odd game -- basically all of his contributions came in a big rush in the early third, adn then in a mini-rush in the late 4th. Otehrwise he was very drab and invisible. But at those key moments -- most important moments of the game for us probably -- he was the man.
Corliss ( C ) -- logged most of the first half PF minutes again, although the game behind those minutes was a bit shaky. Was passing well, but also turning it over. Never did establish much after half. and made several bad fouls in there. AN oo 4pts 5rebs 2ast night, but also 4TOs and 4fls and this tiem he was the guy replaced at PF down the stretch of this one.
Salmons ( C ) -- quiet first half, but helped in our zone defensive schemes. Never got anything really going after half, and has some turnovers in the third as the Bulls caught back up. Once again put up those deadly to grade 4pt 3reb 2ast numbers, but this time on poor shooting and with 4 TOs thrown in. Kind of the standard nothing game from John, but the ragged version this time, rather than the intangibles make it better version.
Reef ( B- ) -- struggled in the first quarter, got his shot blocked, traveled, pretty lousy audition for a Bulls trade. But came back in the 4th to make a difference for us. Had a big and 1 finish to open the 4th over Tyrus Thomas, and was able to follow that up with another hit over the rook. Got the stretch PF minutes for once, and while he did nothing spectacularly, missed a jumper etc., he also chipped in a block, and grabbed a couple of boards on the defensive glass.
Cisco ( C ) -- came in and immediately hit a three for us....then proceeded to basically do absolutely nothing over the next 12 minutes of playing time. Didn't hurt us, was another long body in the zone schemes, but 3pts 1reb on 1-4 shooting is not an impact performance.
Muss ( B+ ) -- Ugly ugly ugly. So Muss did...well, pretty much the same in his return. It was ugly, it was drab, we had a nice lead, we blew that lead (but this time it was both built and lost all in the space of the third quarter). And being at hime, we hung on for the narrow win rather than then narrow loss. Kings basketball, its fan-tastic!
In the first half Muss made a smart switch to a zone which made a huge difference for us defensively -- before its introduction we were doing our traditional get pounded in the paint bit, and afterwards, the Bulls "offense" completely collapsed and they turned in a godawful 12pt quarter. On the flipside, the zone also killed our own rebounding, and the Bulls huung close pretty much jsut by pounding us to death on the glass, retrieving brick after brick after brick that their terrible outside shooters chucked up (not just their outside shooters -- they blew half a dozen layups at least too). We avoided our post halftime slump, and courtesy of Mike even opened the third on a run. But it was quickly answered, and by the end of the third we were right back where we had been at half -- up by 2. After a fortuitous Bulls injury (Tyrus Thomas sprained his ankle on a breakaway that would have been a dunk to bring it within 6, and instead we came down the other way 5 on 4 and drained a three) we jumped up 11 and looked to be closing it out in the mid 4th. Being us however, we went from 11 up to 4 up in the space of about 2-3 minutes, and Muss made a good use of a timeout (one of several well timed timeouts tongiht) to settle us and apaprently tell Mike "go forth and force bad shots that go in and are clutch". Mike obliged, and we win. 4 game winning streak. Is that better? Or worse? And so now here we sit, in no man's land. Man what a pointless season. Can we just go back to last May and just start over? Do everything different, and see if it led to anything exciting.
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