WHEW!!!
I seriously do not know how we are going to manage to lose enough the rest of the way for our draft pick. Road woes, do not fail us now.
Theme = Dominant Weapons of War -- seemed kind of appropriate given that the Cavs unleashed the greatest one currently in the NBA on us last night
Nocioni ( B- ) -- came out, and again in typical fashion showed no fear of matching up with Lebron. Knocked down a three, and did what he could to keep Lebron from feeling comfortable in the early going. Over time of course proved to be a losing battle. A REAL losing battle. But there was competitiveness there, and on a night when we actually managed to outrebound somebody (trhe Cavs were curiously inept on the boards), Noc led us in that category with 9. Down the stretch got an offensive foul called on him for running over a Mo Williams screen while trying to chase LeBron, but came back with a nice post move inside with 1:30 to go (which would have been labeled here a stupid one on one force if he had missed it, but he did not). And almost could not be blamed for some of the stuff LeBron was doing. Got beat around the corener by LeBron yes -- at whihc point there is nobody in this or any other league who is going to stop him. But also watched LeBron pull up and drain 27, 28, 29 foot 3pt bombs from 5 feet outside the 4pt line and...what are you going to do?
Phalanx -- not a weapon, but rather a formation, the Greek phalanxes dominated Mediterranean and Near Eastern warfare for centuries. No great trick to them -- lock your shields together and present an army of spears to your opponent. But in an era when many forces were far less disciplined, the phalanxes' teamwork would often roll right over them while minimizing Greek casualties. The Spartans were of course the greatest masters of this style of warfare and simply would not break no matter how great the odds stacked against them. This was the formation which legend has them using to block the pass at Thermopylae.
Thomposn ( B+ ) -- nice to see Jason show up for a game again. Got off to the strong start offensively, and was keeping Varejao off the glass (although oddly Jason himself only came up with 6 for the game despite the activity). Continued to clean up junk around the glass as the Cavs seemed curiously unable to come up with rebounds in there. Hit a couple of jumpers, and looked comfortable against basically all fo the Cavs big men -- Z was slow (and maybe still feeling the broken nose he suffered the ngit before -- he was not even wearing a mask??), Varejao ineffective and not even floppy, Joe Smith ancient. Pretty much all quick hitters as I think its going to take a while, likely more than this season actually, before Jason earns/reearns feed it to me privileges, but was the most/only consistent ofrce inside for either team (Varejao got 18 points on 8-8 shooting, but they were basically 8 dunks courtesy of LeBron passes). Not involved late as everyone pretty much just sat back to watch a duel for the ages between LeBron and Will Solomon. Rare game for Jason in which he made very few mistakes himself foulwise or turnoverwise and took advanatge of every one made by his opponents.
Keshik -- the Keshiks were the Mongolian cavalry that allowed the Mongols to conquer almost all of Asia in the 13th and 14th centuries. They were a hard hard lot, which was at the core of their effectiveness. They could march were no other army could march, survive for weeks on nothing but the blood and milk of their horses, and feared nothing and noone. But in battle it was their unprecedented mobility which baffled every foe they enocountered (until the Egyptian Mameluks famously popped their bubble and checked them in Syria in 1260 -- stopping their spread from reaching all the way to the Atlantic). Riding small horses which they rotated frequently (each warrior would have several horses) and being deadly horse archers, they would race in, fire volleys, and race out, again and again and again and simply wear down and demoralize infantry or heavier cavalry that tried to engage them by inflicting constant casualties while rarely suffering any in return.
Hawes ( C+ ) -- came out very energized in this one, and it was surprising in the end how little he got accomplished before fouling out. Did a good defensive job on a couple of switches against Lebron in the early going, and seemed to relish the challenge. Was trying to work as a passer, but also had a couple of really sloppy ones from the high elbow, just throwing no chancers down into the paint for TOs. Hit a three late in the first quarter, and that was again part fo the problem, as he rarely got the ball in the paint and did not challenge the big Cleveland frontcourt down inside. Did not get on the glass either, and dessite energy and major minutes finished up with a mere 11pt 4reb night.
Impi -- the impi were the warriors Shaka Zulu used to briefly create a huge sub-Saharan African empire in the early 19th century. At that time in history, African warfare largely consisted of two tribes meeting on a field and yelling insults at each other. Occasionally somebody would throw a spear. But the general idea was to get out of things alive and unhurt. Then came Shaka. Shaka was not a nice man. In fact he only lasted 10 years after estbalishing his empire before the people got tired of him and assassinated him. But as he rose up he revolutionied African warfare by making it, well, war. He got rid of the throwing spears, turned his warriors into disciplined close combat units, armed them with short stabbing spears instead to maul opponents in close combat and poke lots of holes in them, and invented a "horns" formation whereby he would outflank opponents and force them into an encircling trap. His impis could cover up to 50 miles a day...on foot. Unfortunately for the Zulus (not Shaka, since his own people took care of that), the impi was developed very late in history, and the Europeans were already arriving on the scene with their rifles. Despite a few setbacks due to overconfidence, rifles > short spears.
Martin ( A- ) -- had a quiet first quarter, and while he opened the 2nd with a three he was largely forgotten about out there, and on at least one occasion (an open cut that McCants missed) blatantly ignored by his teammates. Had a big third quarter though as he started racking up fouls on a totally clueless Pavlovic and scoring in the open court. Canned two threes as well on his way to a big 16-18 pt quarter as we dropped 39 in the quarter on a team that is supposed to be about the league's best on the defensive end (we lit them too in Cleveland -- matchups?). Hit a critical +1 continuation in crunchtime to push a dwindling lead back out to 9, and had we not been playing a team with one of the all time greats on it (I am referring of course to Sasha Pavlovic who was set up by LeBron for two threes in the final two minutes) that might have been enough. Hurt the cause though with a careless traveling call at the 2 minute mark -- just shuffled his pivot feet way up at the top fo the circle for no other reason than indecision. Then after Bobby threw a truly horrible crosscourt pass after taking a blow to the eye from Spencer, Kevin had to defend LeBron on the break, fouling him for the tying FT. Got a chance to be the hero and redeem himself for all that January crunchtime ugliness, and ended up making the same mistake yet AGAIN. Trying desperately to draw contact and get bailed out by the refs on the final shot attempt, ratheer than jsut shooting the damn ball and letting what will be, be. And he was being guarded by LeBron no less. What exactly are the odds you are going to hop into LeBron on the final play of regulation and be awarded FTs to win the game? Just...duh. But maybe that is the sort of dedication it takes to FT shoot your way to the HOF -- I do not know, never having seen it done before. Not a factor in OT. Going to go A- despite my pique at the continued crunchtime stupidity. Was huge in the third quarter, and to the degree he was irrelevant early, felt that was as much about how we as a team were generating our offense as it was about Kevin.
War Elephant -- used continuously throughout history by the Indians, war elephants were also adopted by Aleksander and many of the empires that sprang up upon his death. In the West they are perhaps most famously associated with Hannibal and the Cathaginians who utterly terrorized the Romans with them in the Punic Wars. The standard Roman sword with which they conquered their vast empire was the gladius -- the gladius is a tiny little sword maybe two feet long, and used mostly for stabbing. You know what you get when you poke a 10,000 lb animal with a 2 foot long little stabbing sword? A very mad 10,000 lb animal. Useful for crushing infantry formations (who the hell is going to stand in front of a wall of charging elephants?) they were also used to break up cavalry charges, because horses hate the smell of them and panic in their presence.
I seriously do not know how we are going to manage to lose enough the rest of the way for our draft pick. Road woes, do not fail us now.
Theme = Dominant Weapons of War -- seemed kind of appropriate given that the Cavs unleashed the greatest one currently in the NBA on us last night
Nocioni ( B- ) -- came out, and again in typical fashion showed no fear of matching up with Lebron. Knocked down a three, and did what he could to keep Lebron from feeling comfortable in the early going. Over time of course proved to be a losing battle. A REAL losing battle. But there was competitiveness there, and on a night when we actually managed to outrebound somebody (trhe Cavs were curiously inept on the boards), Noc led us in that category with 9. Down the stretch got an offensive foul called on him for running over a Mo Williams screen while trying to chase LeBron, but came back with a nice post move inside with 1:30 to go (which would have been labeled here a stupid one on one force if he had missed it, but he did not). And almost could not be blamed for some of the stuff LeBron was doing. Got beat around the corener by LeBron yes -- at whihc point there is nobody in this or any other league who is going to stop him. But also watched LeBron pull up and drain 27, 28, 29 foot 3pt bombs from 5 feet outside the 4pt line and...what are you going to do?
Phalanx -- not a weapon, but rather a formation, the Greek phalanxes dominated Mediterranean and Near Eastern warfare for centuries. No great trick to them -- lock your shields together and present an army of spears to your opponent. But in an era when many forces were far less disciplined, the phalanxes' teamwork would often roll right over them while minimizing Greek casualties. The Spartans were of course the greatest masters of this style of warfare and simply would not break no matter how great the odds stacked against them. This was the formation which legend has them using to block the pass at Thermopylae.
Thomposn ( B+ ) -- nice to see Jason show up for a game again. Got off to the strong start offensively, and was keeping Varejao off the glass (although oddly Jason himself only came up with 6 for the game despite the activity). Continued to clean up junk around the glass as the Cavs seemed curiously unable to come up with rebounds in there. Hit a couple of jumpers, and looked comfortable against basically all fo the Cavs big men -- Z was slow (and maybe still feeling the broken nose he suffered the ngit before -- he was not even wearing a mask??), Varejao ineffective and not even floppy, Joe Smith ancient. Pretty much all quick hitters as I think its going to take a while, likely more than this season actually, before Jason earns/reearns feed it to me privileges, but was the most/only consistent ofrce inside for either team (Varejao got 18 points on 8-8 shooting, but they were basically 8 dunks courtesy of LeBron passes). Not involved late as everyone pretty much just sat back to watch a duel for the ages between LeBron and Will Solomon. Rare game for Jason in which he made very few mistakes himself foulwise or turnoverwise and took advanatge of every one made by his opponents.
Keshik -- the Keshiks were the Mongolian cavalry that allowed the Mongols to conquer almost all of Asia in the 13th and 14th centuries. They were a hard hard lot, which was at the core of their effectiveness. They could march were no other army could march, survive for weeks on nothing but the blood and milk of their horses, and feared nothing and noone. But in battle it was their unprecedented mobility which baffled every foe they enocountered (until the Egyptian Mameluks famously popped their bubble and checked them in Syria in 1260 -- stopping their spread from reaching all the way to the Atlantic). Riding small horses which they rotated frequently (each warrior would have several horses) and being deadly horse archers, they would race in, fire volleys, and race out, again and again and again and simply wear down and demoralize infantry or heavier cavalry that tried to engage them by inflicting constant casualties while rarely suffering any in return.
Hawes ( C+ ) -- came out very energized in this one, and it was surprising in the end how little he got accomplished before fouling out. Did a good defensive job on a couple of switches against Lebron in the early going, and seemed to relish the challenge. Was trying to work as a passer, but also had a couple of really sloppy ones from the high elbow, just throwing no chancers down into the paint for TOs. Hit a three late in the first quarter, and that was again part fo the problem, as he rarely got the ball in the paint and did not challenge the big Cleveland frontcourt down inside. Did not get on the glass either, and dessite energy and major minutes finished up with a mere 11pt 4reb night.
Impi -- the impi were the warriors Shaka Zulu used to briefly create a huge sub-Saharan African empire in the early 19th century. At that time in history, African warfare largely consisted of two tribes meeting on a field and yelling insults at each other. Occasionally somebody would throw a spear. But the general idea was to get out of things alive and unhurt. Then came Shaka. Shaka was not a nice man. In fact he only lasted 10 years after estbalishing his empire before the people got tired of him and assassinated him. But as he rose up he revolutionied African warfare by making it, well, war. He got rid of the throwing spears, turned his warriors into disciplined close combat units, armed them with short stabbing spears instead to maul opponents in close combat and poke lots of holes in them, and invented a "horns" formation whereby he would outflank opponents and force them into an encircling trap. His impis could cover up to 50 miles a day...on foot. Unfortunately for the Zulus (not Shaka, since his own people took care of that), the impi was developed very late in history, and the Europeans were already arriving on the scene with their rifles. Despite a few setbacks due to overconfidence, rifles > short spears.
Martin ( A- ) -- had a quiet first quarter, and while he opened the 2nd with a three he was largely forgotten about out there, and on at least one occasion (an open cut that McCants missed) blatantly ignored by his teammates. Had a big third quarter though as he started racking up fouls on a totally clueless Pavlovic and scoring in the open court. Canned two threes as well on his way to a big 16-18 pt quarter as we dropped 39 in the quarter on a team that is supposed to be about the league's best on the defensive end (we lit them too in Cleveland -- matchups?). Hit a critical +1 continuation in crunchtime to push a dwindling lead back out to 9, and had we not been playing a team with one of the all time greats on it (I am referring of course to Sasha Pavlovic who was set up by LeBron for two threes in the final two minutes) that might have been enough. Hurt the cause though with a careless traveling call at the 2 minute mark -- just shuffled his pivot feet way up at the top fo the circle for no other reason than indecision. Then after Bobby threw a truly horrible crosscourt pass after taking a blow to the eye from Spencer, Kevin had to defend LeBron on the break, fouling him for the tying FT. Got a chance to be the hero and redeem himself for all that January crunchtime ugliness, and ended up making the same mistake yet AGAIN. Trying desperately to draw contact and get bailed out by the refs on the final shot attempt, ratheer than jsut shooting the damn ball and letting what will be, be. And he was being guarded by LeBron no less. What exactly are the odds you are going to hop into LeBron on the final play of regulation and be awarded FTs to win the game? Just...duh. But maybe that is the sort of dedication it takes to FT shoot your way to the HOF -- I do not know, never having seen it done before. Not a factor in OT. Going to go A- despite my pique at the continued crunchtime stupidity. Was huge in the third quarter, and to the degree he was irrelevant early, felt that was as much about how we as a team were generating our offense as it was about Kevin.
War Elephant -- used continuously throughout history by the Indians, war elephants were also adopted by Aleksander and many of the empires that sprang up upon his death. In the West they are perhaps most famously associated with Hannibal and the Cathaginians who utterly terrorized the Romans with them in the Punic Wars. The standard Roman sword with which they conquered their vast empire was the gladius -- the gladius is a tiny little sword maybe two feet long, and used mostly for stabbing. You know what you get when you poke a 10,000 lb animal with a 2 foot long little stabbing sword? A very mad 10,000 lb animal. Useful for crushing infantry formations (who the hell is going to stand in front of a wall of charging elephants?) they were also used to break up cavalry charges, because horses hate the smell of them and panic in their presence.
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