Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well coming into this one if you had asked me which 4 players was it most important to have play a strong game (an admittedly silly question) I would have said Cuz to resume dominating, Reke to reestablish himself in the starting lineup/#2 slot, Thornton to reestablish himself period, and TRob to cement in his mind the hustle/roleplayer approach that has been working for him. Throw in a good game for Jimmer so that all 4 of our lottery picks from the last 3 years played well, and we got all of that. That's a woot.
Less wooty were these sorts of things:
Reke:
18pts (6-6, 2-2, 4-4). So...plays 25min (and you wonder why he doesn't seem upset at the prospect of being traded) even though...
Waiters
33pts (12-18, 3-3, 6-8) torched the rest of our backcourt and Reke is a perfect matchup for him.
and
Cleveland
118pts (season high)
But hey. We won.
Some highlights:
The Grading Consortium is back to a trio tonight:
Bricklayer
Bajaden
Capt. Factorial
Boxscore
Stats: 32min 14pts (5-12, 1-4, 3-4) 2reb 4ast 2stl 1blk 0TO
Salmons ( C+ ) -- On the surface, John's game tonight doesn't look that bad. He had 14 pts on the night and 4 assists. I'm a big fan of players quietly going about their business, but tonight, Salmons just didn't impact the game that much when he was on the floor. Salmons, who is generally a good defender, lost his man more than a few times, and it seemed every time he did, it resulted in a score.. In the second half he lost Miles, who hit a three pointer. He immediately tried to make it up at the other end, when he rushed a jumper from the top of the key, which he missed. He did come through when the Kings were losing their lead toward the bottom of the 3rd quarter and hit a pullup jumper with 2 minutes left. A minute later he drove to the basket and scored giving the Kings a desperately needed basket. All in all, he had a few very good monents, but not enough to warrant more than a C+. --Baja
Stats: 22min 6pts (2-9, 0-0, 2-2) 4reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Thompson ( D ) -- another game, another struggle, as Jason has resumed his consistency. Unfortunately now he's being consistently bad. Just not looking comfortable on anything. The team tried to get him going late in the first half hitting for several easy finishes at the rim. But it was the only time that worked, he started the third coming up short again, and he actually managed to lose many of his second half minutes to TRob -- and who would have thought that a week ago? --Brick
Stats: 32min 26pts (7-14, 0-0, 12-12) 14reb 6ast 2stl 3blk 3TO
Cousins ( A- ) -- 4th monster statline in the last 6, and its getting routine enough that I am handing A-'s out for all league numbers. In this case its largely for the early going, where Boogie was not in rhythm and not taking advantage of his opportunities. It was a sloppy start, and there were too many give up jumpers, that were not falling. Played his way into things though, and when he did fully arrive it was in a big way again. When he returned to the game late in the half came up with 2 good blocks inside, and began to overwhelm Zeller with a flurry of power. In fact got on such a roll that he was on pace for a triple double by half. Kept his composure in the third when it looked like the refs were looking to take him out of it with a weak technical and even weaker flagrant where he missed the block attempt and smacked Zeller in the face. Ratehr than doing the death spiral we have so often seen, responded by stealing a pass up top and going the other way on the break. Returned in the 4th to stablize a bench crew that I was praying was going to get Smart fired, and made back to back plays in crunchtime to seal it, with a fullcourt gallop to maybe lock the game up at the 1:40 mark, and then hitting Reke on the cut next possession as well. Ho hum. 26-14-6. See that all the time from centers nowadays. In the 10 games since his return is now averaging a kinda solid 33.0min 20.1pts (.480 .000 .808) 12.0reb 4.5ast 1.7stl 0.6blk. Done this from the start, and he's your all star cent...er..."frontcourt player". NBA = asses BTW. --Brick
Stats: 25min 18pts (6-6, 2-2, 4-4) 4reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( B+ ) -- involved early and drained his first three off the kick from Cousins -- important obviously to help as a spacer. Still, was not really in a rhythm, and the whole starting unit seemed to be moving in fits and spurts as it tried to get used to each other again. But he never missed a shot. Not early, not late, not from the 3pt line, not from the stripe. Never. It was a perfect game shooting efficiency wise, and you can expect Hollinger to have Memphis ringing us about him again sometime this morning. So how can a guy who never missed a hsot and scored 18pts on 6 shots only get a B+? Well, for one thing I have never, and still do not, beleive shooting efficiency stats to be more than one little corner of a basketball game. For another, as efficient as he was, the very fact that he wasn't getting many shots kept him from ever trully dominating. He was just never missed whenever he did get an opportunity. Not flawless -- there were several times in the game when he moved too slow against the clock and time ran out on us. Just perfect.
He also gave us a boost with his defensive rebounding, welcome after so many games of Joh Salmons/Cisco/IT/Jimmer etc. as the worst group of rebounding guards/SFs in the game. He was rewarded by his coach for never missing a shot by being absolutely iced and sat out for nearly the entire 4th quarter while we clung to a 3-6pt lead while Dion Waiters -- shooting 37% on the season coming inot he game -- lighting us up for 21 points int eh final 15 minutes of the game after we removed Reke late in the third. Dion Waiters who plays the same position as oour best defender, who also happens to have not missed a shot on the night...gee, this aoching stuff sure is hard huh Keith? Was finally brought back in for the the final 3 minutes, originally as a PG as Kyrie has started lighting up Jimmer finally late. We celebrated by immediately getting a 24 sec violation. But brought the defense as asked, and whiel Waiters was so on fire by that point he draiend a three right inhis face, Reke would convert yet another shot on a pass from Cuz off the cut, and then played great defense on Waiters to close this one up inside the final 10 seconds. Oh, and Reke's numbers over his last 10 games? 26.9min 16.1pts (.523 .467 .778) 4.5reb 2.2ast 1.1stl 0.8blk. He's also BTW now shooting .333 on the seaso from 3pt land. Marcus (.342) and IT (.342) better watch out. --Brick
Stats: 31min 6pts (2-8, 0-3, 2-2) 2reb 6ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( C+ ) -- Had a few highlight plays on offense, including a spectacular half-court alleyoop to TRob as the first quarter expired. Also went for a quick drive through the birch trees in the fourth for a nice layup. Otherwise, generally initiated the offense early and had a few drive-and-kicks for assists, but was ineffective with his shot and not really looking for his offense (until Jimmer came to the table in the 2nd and he immediately jacked up a lousy shot - something that is becoming a trend). On the defensive end, the Cavs (especially Irving and Waiters) attacked IT, attempting 19 shots against him. Remarkably, despite being unable to stay in front of either Irving or Waiters, those 19 shots only turned into 14 points, and IT had a very good contest to force 5 misses. During crunch time, we went with a bigger team so IT didn't get to see the court down the stretch. On a night when his offense wasn't working he set up the half-court solidly and put in a good enough effort on the defensive end to earn a decent grade. --Capt.
Less wooty were these sorts of things:
Reke:
18pts (6-6, 2-2, 4-4). So...plays 25min (and you wonder why he doesn't seem upset at the prospect of being traded) even though...
Waiters
33pts (12-18, 3-3, 6-8) torched the rest of our backcourt and Reke is a perfect matchup for him.
and
Cleveland
118pts (season high)
But hey. We won.
Some highlights:
The Grading Consortium is back to a trio tonight:
Bricklayer
Bajaden
Capt. Factorial
Boxscore
Stats: 32min 14pts (5-12, 1-4, 3-4) 2reb 4ast 2stl 1blk 0TO
Salmons ( C+ ) -- On the surface, John's game tonight doesn't look that bad. He had 14 pts on the night and 4 assists. I'm a big fan of players quietly going about their business, but tonight, Salmons just didn't impact the game that much when he was on the floor. Salmons, who is generally a good defender, lost his man more than a few times, and it seemed every time he did, it resulted in a score.. In the second half he lost Miles, who hit a three pointer. He immediately tried to make it up at the other end, when he rushed a jumper from the top of the key, which he missed. He did come through when the Kings were losing their lead toward the bottom of the 3rd quarter and hit a pullup jumper with 2 minutes left. A minute later he drove to the basket and scored giving the Kings a desperately needed basket. All in all, he had a few very good monents, but not enough to warrant more than a C+. --Baja
Stats: 22min 6pts (2-9, 0-0, 2-2) 4reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Thompson ( D ) -- another game, another struggle, as Jason has resumed his consistency. Unfortunately now he's being consistently bad. Just not looking comfortable on anything. The team tried to get him going late in the first half hitting for several easy finishes at the rim. But it was the only time that worked, he started the third coming up short again, and he actually managed to lose many of his second half minutes to TRob -- and who would have thought that a week ago? --Brick
Stats: 32min 26pts (7-14, 0-0, 12-12) 14reb 6ast 2stl 3blk 3TO
Cousins ( A- ) -- 4th monster statline in the last 6, and its getting routine enough that I am handing A-'s out for all league numbers. In this case its largely for the early going, where Boogie was not in rhythm and not taking advantage of his opportunities. It was a sloppy start, and there were too many give up jumpers, that were not falling. Played his way into things though, and when he did fully arrive it was in a big way again. When he returned to the game late in the half came up with 2 good blocks inside, and began to overwhelm Zeller with a flurry of power. In fact got on such a roll that he was on pace for a triple double by half. Kept his composure in the third when it looked like the refs were looking to take him out of it with a weak technical and even weaker flagrant where he missed the block attempt and smacked Zeller in the face. Ratehr than doing the death spiral we have so often seen, responded by stealing a pass up top and going the other way on the break. Returned in the 4th to stablize a bench crew that I was praying was going to get Smart fired, and made back to back plays in crunchtime to seal it, with a fullcourt gallop to maybe lock the game up at the 1:40 mark, and then hitting Reke on the cut next possession as well. Ho hum. 26-14-6. See that all the time from centers nowadays. In the 10 games since his return is now averaging a kinda solid 33.0min 20.1pts (.480 .000 .808) 12.0reb 4.5ast 1.7stl 0.6blk. Done this from the start, and he's your all star cent...er..."frontcourt player". NBA = asses BTW. --Brick
Stats: 25min 18pts (6-6, 2-2, 4-4) 4reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( B+ ) -- involved early and drained his first three off the kick from Cousins -- important obviously to help as a spacer. Still, was not really in a rhythm, and the whole starting unit seemed to be moving in fits and spurts as it tried to get used to each other again. But he never missed a shot. Not early, not late, not from the 3pt line, not from the stripe. Never. It was a perfect game shooting efficiency wise, and you can expect Hollinger to have Memphis ringing us about him again sometime this morning. So how can a guy who never missed a hsot and scored 18pts on 6 shots only get a B+? Well, for one thing I have never, and still do not, beleive shooting efficiency stats to be more than one little corner of a basketball game. For another, as efficient as he was, the very fact that he wasn't getting many shots kept him from ever trully dominating. He was just never missed whenever he did get an opportunity. Not flawless -- there were several times in the game when he moved too slow against the clock and time ran out on us. Just perfect.
He also gave us a boost with his defensive rebounding, welcome after so many games of Joh Salmons/Cisco/IT/Jimmer etc. as the worst group of rebounding guards/SFs in the game. He was rewarded by his coach for never missing a shot by being absolutely iced and sat out for nearly the entire 4th quarter while we clung to a 3-6pt lead while Dion Waiters -- shooting 37% on the season coming inot he game -- lighting us up for 21 points int eh final 15 minutes of the game after we removed Reke late in the third. Dion Waiters who plays the same position as oour best defender, who also happens to have not missed a shot on the night...gee, this aoching stuff sure is hard huh Keith? Was finally brought back in for the the final 3 minutes, originally as a PG as Kyrie has started lighting up Jimmer finally late. We celebrated by immediately getting a 24 sec violation. But brought the defense as asked, and whiel Waiters was so on fire by that point he draiend a three right inhis face, Reke would convert yet another shot on a pass from Cuz off the cut, and then played great defense on Waiters to close this one up inside the final 10 seconds. Oh, and Reke's numbers over his last 10 games? 26.9min 16.1pts (.523 .467 .778) 4.5reb 2.2ast 1.1stl 0.8blk. He's also BTW now shooting .333 on the seaso from 3pt land. Marcus (.342) and IT (.342) better watch out. --BrickStats: 31min 6pts (2-8, 0-3, 2-2) 2reb 6ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( C+ ) -- Had a few highlight plays on offense, including a spectacular half-court alleyoop to TRob as the first quarter expired. Also went for a quick drive through the birch trees in the fourth for a nice layup. Otherwise, generally initiated the offense early and had a few drive-and-kicks for assists, but was ineffective with his shot and not really looking for his offense (until Jimmer came to the table in the 2nd and he immediately jacked up a lousy shot - something that is becoming a trend). On the defensive end, the Cavs (especially Irving and Waiters) attacked IT, attempting 19 shots against him. Remarkably, despite being unable to stay in front of either Irving or Waiters, those 19 shots only turned into 14 points, and IT had a very good contest to force 5 misses. During crunch time, we went with a bigger team so IT didn't get to see the court down the stretch. On a night when his offense wasn't working he set up the half-court solidly and put in a good enough effort on the defensive end to earn a decent grade. --Capt.
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