Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( A- ) -- one of our two offensive weapons for most of the night. Never as hot as Bibby, but at this point I think its fair to say that's he's pretty much out of his shooting slump. Hit a couple of big threes down the stretch to ice the game. Played an active game as well, in particular in the first half. Began to lose control of Luol Deng as the game wore on. One area where he is still in a lifelong slump however is with rebounding. We were getting pummeled on the glass again, in particular in the first half, and Peja was nowhere to be found. Unless I'm mistaken Mike Bibby is now outrebounding him on the season. 
Called this an "A-" even though I felt like it was more of a "B+" just based on his late streak and the raw number of points he scored (and efficiently).
Webber ( B ) -- pretty ugly game for Webb in a lot of ways. But earned his grade based upon his boardwork in the second half. We were getting absolutely killed on the boards in the first half, but Webb came out of halftime and just shut down the defensive glass. Big factor in our surge to open up the game, and a welcome sight to a team desperate for boardwork. Had a number of assists, but looked a little shaky directing the offense. Not a good shooting night either, but a number of his misses were up against the shot clock after the offense broke down and nobody else popped open.
Miller ( C+ ) -- not a great effort by Brad. Maybe too much positive press.
Was working hard, but nothing coming easily. Missed some open jumpers, and generally shied away from shooting therafter. Was fumbling some boards as well, but did join Webb to help seal the glass in the second half. But just did not look smooth. Struggled to contain Curry in the first half, but was more effective after the break.
Christie ( C+ ) -- not an awful performance, but still hasn't had a breakthrough game this year. Just offesnviely AWOl. Neither looking for, nor making shots. Decent defense, in particular in the thrid quarter when we picked it up, but not a huge impact tonight.
Bibby ( A- ) -- along with Peja, carried the team offensively until Bobby joined the act late. Was hot from the start of the game, and this time maintained his presence. Lot of points, scored efficiently. On the other side of the court got off to a forgettable start as we tried to hide him on Erik Piatkowski only to find that Mike is the only basketball player on the planet, NBA or otherwise, who can not stay with the Polish Rifle. Actually it was bad enough that I wasn't even entirely sure who was SUSPOSED to be guarding Pike until I looked around the court and saw that everybody else was accounted for. Also still having some struggles with his FT shooting -- not sure what is up, but he's not very dependable there right now. Overall figured that either both he and Peja deserved "B+"s or they both deserved "A-"s as our twin offensive engines. Decided to give both of them the vote of confidence despite noticeable holes in their games this time out.
BJax ( B ) -- may seem like a bit of a harsh grade for a bench guy coming in and dropping 20pts, but there are two halves to the game, and in the first Bobby was pretty putrid. Was actually impressed by Rick leaving him in there, because not only was he throwing up junk, he was really breaking down our offense to do so. But maybe the extra floor time helped, because he gradually worked his way out of it, started attacking the rim, doing the Bobby hustle thing, and had himself a nice second half where he contributed on both sides of the floor. Was the first guy to get to all of the loose balls.
Songaila ( C+ ) -- bit of a mixed bag for Darius, and I could be talked into a slight bump. Came into the game in the second quarter and was stinking the place up -- missed shots, fumbled balls, and actualy blew a couple of assists from Greg Ostertag of all people. But got better therafter, and made a few nice hustle plays as the game wore on, including a nifty steal where he slapped the ball away from Chandler maybe? who was coming full speed on a swooping drive and took it full speed himself down the other direction.
Ostertag ( C- ) -- came in in the second quarter along with Darius and was put in the position of running the offense ala Webb or Miller. He actually showed a little passing ability, but you can see a potential problem there with teaming him with Darius -- just as we never had Pollard run the offense when he was here, don't think we want to put the ball in Tag's hands either. Probably needs to always work with either Webb or Miller. Running an offense is just not his strength. On the other end used his big body to help calm down Curry after a fast start -- done that a few times this year for us. But he's still not boarding, and we need that from him (or just anyone).
Barnes ( C+ ) short stint. Missed a three. Nice drive to draw a foul. Some of his usual hustle. Right now we're running tight rotations and Barnes is kind of the last guy to get any regular PT. Just coming in for short bursts of energy.
Adelman ( B ) -- well, hard to grade here. We did not come out to play at the beginning of the game really. Kind of sleepwalking and doing the play down to your opponent thing. Also did not appear to be ready for Piatkowski getting the start. But Rick must have said something at halftime. Because we got with it and were serious on the boards and defense in the third quarter. Which is actually annoying in a way, because why can't we be focused all of the time? Anyway, a few interesting notes -- Tag/Songaila experiment failed for us in the first half. He also left Bobby in even while he was killing our offensive flow. But in the end that may have paid dividends as Bobby played his way out of it. And late we weere having problems with a Chicago zone, which really should be easy to defeat for a team which passes and shoots the way we do. I'm giving a B as sort of a shrug -- hard to get too excited about a win over the Bulls. We won. No huge awful mistakes. Not much danger after we came out of halftime roaring. So, ok. We're back to .500, which should shut up most of the sky is falling stuff. Now the real season can start.
Called this an "A-" even though I felt like it was more of a "B+" just based on his late streak and the raw number of points he scored (and efficiently).Webber ( B ) -- pretty ugly game for Webb in a lot of ways. But earned his grade based upon his boardwork in the second half. We were getting absolutely killed on the boards in the first half, but Webb came out of halftime and just shut down the defensive glass. Big factor in our surge to open up the game, and a welcome sight to a team desperate for boardwork. Had a number of assists, but looked a little shaky directing the offense. Not a good shooting night either, but a number of his misses were up against the shot clock after the offense broke down and nobody else popped open.
Miller ( C+ ) -- not a great effort by Brad. Maybe too much positive press.
Was working hard, but nothing coming easily. Missed some open jumpers, and generally shied away from shooting therafter. Was fumbling some boards as well, but did join Webb to help seal the glass in the second half. But just did not look smooth. Struggled to contain Curry in the first half, but was more effective after the break.Christie ( C+ ) -- not an awful performance, but still hasn't had a breakthrough game this year. Just offesnviely AWOl. Neither looking for, nor making shots. Decent defense, in particular in the thrid quarter when we picked it up, but not a huge impact tonight.
Bibby ( A- ) -- along with Peja, carried the team offensively until Bobby joined the act late. Was hot from the start of the game, and this time maintained his presence. Lot of points, scored efficiently. On the other side of the court got off to a forgettable start as we tried to hide him on Erik Piatkowski only to find that Mike is the only basketball player on the planet, NBA or otherwise, who can not stay with the Polish Rifle. Actually it was bad enough that I wasn't even entirely sure who was SUSPOSED to be guarding Pike until I looked around the court and saw that everybody else was accounted for. Also still having some struggles with his FT shooting -- not sure what is up, but he's not very dependable there right now. Overall figured that either both he and Peja deserved "B+"s or they both deserved "A-"s as our twin offensive engines. Decided to give both of them the vote of confidence despite noticeable holes in their games this time out.
BJax ( B ) -- may seem like a bit of a harsh grade for a bench guy coming in and dropping 20pts, but there are two halves to the game, and in the first Bobby was pretty putrid. Was actually impressed by Rick leaving him in there, because not only was he throwing up junk, he was really breaking down our offense to do so. But maybe the extra floor time helped, because he gradually worked his way out of it, started attacking the rim, doing the Bobby hustle thing, and had himself a nice second half where he contributed on both sides of the floor. Was the first guy to get to all of the loose balls.
Songaila ( C+ ) -- bit of a mixed bag for Darius, and I could be talked into a slight bump. Came into the game in the second quarter and was stinking the place up -- missed shots, fumbled balls, and actualy blew a couple of assists from Greg Ostertag of all people. But got better therafter, and made a few nice hustle plays as the game wore on, including a nifty steal where he slapped the ball away from Chandler maybe? who was coming full speed on a swooping drive and took it full speed himself down the other direction.
Ostertag ( C- ) -- came in in the second quarter along with Darius and was put in the position of running the offense ala Webb or Miller. He actually showed a little passing ability, but you can see a potential problem there with teaming him with Darius -- just as we never had Pollard run the offense when he was here, don't think we want to put the ball in Tag's hands either. Probably needs to always work with either Webb or Miller. Running an offense is just not his strength. On the other end used his big body to help calm down Curry after a fast start -- done that a few times this year for us. But he's still not boarding, and we need that from him (or just anyone).
Barnes ( C+ ) short stint. Missed a three. Nice drive to draw a foul. Some of his usual hustle. Right now we're running tight rotations and Barnes is kind of the last guy to get any regular PT. Just coming in for short bursts of energy.
Adelman ( B ) -- well, hard to grade here. We did not come out to play at the beginning of the game really. Kind of sleepwalking and doing the play down to your opponent thing. Also did not appear to be ready for Piatkowski getting the start. But Rick must have said something at halftime. Because we got with it and were serious on the boards and defense in the third quarter. Which is actually annoying in a way, because why can't we be focused all of the time? Anyway, a few interesting notes -- Tag/Songaila experiment failed for us in the first half. He also left Bobby in even while he was killing our offensive flow. But in the end that may have paid dividends as Bobby played his way out of it. And late we weere having problems with a Chicago zone, which really should be easy to defeat for a team which passes and shoots the way we do. I'm giving a B as sort of a shrug -- hard to get too excited about a win over the Bulls. We won. No huge awful mistakes. Not much danger after we came out of halftime roaring. So, ok. We're back to .500, which should shut up most of the sky is falling stuff. Now the real season can start.
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