Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Better.
We pick on old dudes real well.
Boxscore
Salmons ( C+ ) -- so, what did the fashionable one contribute to this game? Well, how about he stayed out of the way. In some ways despite the fire power coming from the other three starters, Salmons and IT were the key figures here, as if they came out and played selfish, I absolutely guarantee you Thornton follows suit, Cousins gets frustrated and forces etc. But that wasn't John's focus out there. Seemed more interested in passing that shooting in the early going, and if the ball is never exactly going to just skip through his hands, there was little of that ball stopping let me spend 10 seconds dribbling looking for my shot even though I'm the 4th option stuff that killed us the last time he was a starter. Put up the same numbers he did last time he started, whcch is to say, none. Still a horrid rebounder at SF. Did not stop Pierce on defense, but he did make himwork for his points. And yet we played him 39min, and while I absolutely refuse to call John freakin Salmons a "glue guy" the reason he played all those minutes was because he simply did not get in the way and let our big players on the night do their thing without competition. That sort of thing is hard to grade since grades are largely about individual accomplishment, but it deserves something. He did little, and yet he did not hurt us, and that's all we needed.
Thompson ( A ) -- wow. Now Jason has had any number of hot streaks and cold streaks as an NBA player. I remember a time he went for much of a month putting up something like 18 and 10before inevitably falling back to Earth in typically clumsy style. But as far as back to back games? These last two might have been the finest of his career, and coming just out of nowhere after Smart randomly benched him for rebounding too much to be a King just a few nights back against Golden State. And the great thing is that he has put up star numbers (21pts 15rebs) the last two games without at al playing a star game. What he has done, moving without the ball, attacking the offensive glass for follows, splashing in facing jumpers off of kickouts, operating as that critical weakside rebounder behind Cousins and stepping up to fill the middle during those long stretches when he is out -- its all sustainable. Not that he will of course. This si Jason Thompson, and we know his schtick at this point. But these aren't aberration games in that suddenly he's got a new role or he's acting like a primary option and putting up 17 shots a night or something (he was 9-11 on the night and almsot every one was a good shot). Instead, just the perfection of the roleplayer art and a real steadying force for us all night. Helped stave off the grandpas' attempt at a push in the early third, knocking down a long jumper and grabbing several strong boards to get us started on a ridiculously explosive 41pt 3rd quarter. Had a great steal up top at the three point line and broke out for the fullcourt layup +1. And just generally was there all night for us with the right play at the right time.
Cousins ( B ) -- bit of a loose game seemingly constantly distracted by either KG, the refs, or both. And yet at this point just far bigger and more talented than anybody the C's throw out there on their frontline and was frequently creating at will. I'll give you one guess what the limiting facotr was in this one for him. One. This time all three of his first half fouls were on the offensive side of the ball as he continues to exhaustively exploreevery single way to accumulate an unnecessary foul that is possible under NBA rules. If nothing else by the time he is done with his study in 2017 or so his knowledge should be so comprehensive that he should never commit another foul for the remainder of his career. Alas, as of right now he is still an undisiplined kid, and he picked them up getting over exuberant scrapping for rebounds, slamming inside on drives. Got a technical on a bogus call with Garnett , then went back the other way and took a major risk compeltely faking a flop to get a call against KG. Wasn't happy with the 4th foul either, and was seen exhorting the crowd to make noise about it. Just in general way way overconcerned with the refs and was playing them more than the Cs. And stilll the thing is at this point that he can be distracted and still be so much better than anybody else he is sill going to put 20pts in 25 min. One minor point of concern is that once again he just wasn't dominant on the glass. adn after a dominant first half of the year, he just hasn't been special on the glass this month -- in February he averaged 12.3rebs in 30.2min/gm. So far in March its 9.3 in 30.2min.
Thornton ( A ) -- this was Marcus Thornton heaven - a game where he was going to get to touch his ball as much as he wanted, where he had an absolute green light to shoot it whenever he touched it, and where he was guarded by some old guy who wasn't even a particularly good defender when young. And Marcus responded in spades trying to wash away the memory of the last two oddly down games. Got to the hoop early rather than a jumper fest. Scored well in the late second as we tried to hold off the Celtics surge and led a break -- led it, and threw a full speed behind the back pass to Jimmer who zipped it to Thompson for the score. And on the night Marcus notched 4 assists of his own as in the last week or two the ball has begun to become unstuck from his hand. Following Salmons' earlier transformation into a PG this could be a good sign. There was still selfishnes of course. Forced a 1 on 1 3ptr late in the 2nd that got blocked. Ran several breaks where he just flat out refused to pass it, inclduding a 3 on 1 where it was a layup for either trailer but nobody was going to get the ball from Marcus once his tunne vision had engaged. But on this night those sorts of concerns were secondary to Thronton as explosive scorer, as he blew up again in the late 3rd/early 4th and bombed the Cletics out fo the game with a series of threes, mixed with aggressive drives to get to the line. Kept on hitting them until finally the Cs said uncle with 6 mins to go and Marcus had his season high in points.
Thomas ( B+ ) -- like Salmons I thought IT had a critical role to play in this one not so much for what he did do, as for what he did not: he put away the 5'9" gunner crap, did not compete with Thornton for shots, and passed well, to Cousins in particular. Along the way he notched the second double figure assist game of his career and had the offense humming in high gear. Had a great start to the third in particular as well with a nice pass into Cousins for the dunk, a steal and breakaway layup, and then a side three forcing a Boston timeout. Never really had any problems with an oddly uninvolved Rondo, who of course isn't much of a scorer anyway, but who juat never played this game with any force and was rarely any sort of factor.
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Bench
Honeycutt ( B- ) -- in in the first quarter backing up Salmons, and came up with a good hustle play breaking up a Boston break. Nice job leading the break as well. Minutes were limited by the general excellence of the starters and a bit hard to assess this, but other than one quick shot from the perimeter that was conduct unbecoming a rookie roleplayer, looked like he belonged
Greene ( B ) -- had a short but impressive stint which was hopefully limited more by JTs excellence than Donte apparently managing to offend Smart's family heritage midgame. The large number of minutes for Outlaw throws this into doubt however. In any case, for a few minutes int he first half it was the Donte Greene show as he did a great job with a defensive reobund and leading the break before dropping it off for a layup, finishing on the break, and knocking down a three. Some defense as well.
Hayes ( C+ ) -- some more hapless offense as the Celtics (think it was Stiemsma) kind of disdainfully swatted out the stubby little guy's flips. Please do not ask me why he insists on taking them. Was active and passing well in his second stint in the ealry 4th, but we rapidly lost momentum and soon went back to the starters up front.
Fredette ( C ) -- Pretty good job on Allen staying with him, but no chance when switched on Pierce on defense, and not involved on the other end. So pulled up and randomly chucked up a 28 foot three that fell for his only shot. Had a couple of his solid passes for assists, but multiple bad pass turnovers finished his night in a hurry. May have had words with Smart too, not sure. In any case we called timeout immediately, Jimmer knew what was what and was angry either at himself or the Coach or both.
Outlaw ( B+ ) -- one of his best games for us, Which of course wouldn't require much, but he was legitimately helpful. Came in for Honeycutt in the 2nd and hit a jumper and a three. Missed a three but nice hustle pay sneaking in behind Rondo for a steal. Some strong atheltic rebounds s well, which is oe of the many things he has not done this year. I have no diea whatever happened to this guy, so I have no idea if this one will lead anywwhere. But at least for a night was a positive contributor.
Whiteside ( INC ) -- in for the final 3 minutes of garbagetime, but did not do anything during it
We pick on old dudes real well.
Boxscore
Salmons ( C+ ) -- so, what did the fashionable one contribute to this game? Well, how about he stayed out of the way. In some ways despite the fire power coming from the other three starters, Salmons and IT were the key figures here, as if they came out and played selfish, I absolutely guarantee you Thornton follows suit, Cousins gets frustrated and forces etc. But that wasn't John's focus out there. Seemed more interested in passing that shooting in the early going, and if the ball is never exactly going to just skip through his hands, there was little of that ball stopping let me spend 10 seconds dribbling looking for my shot even though I'm the 4th option stuff that killed us the last time he was a starter. Put up the same numbers he did last time he started, whcch is to say, none. Still a horrid rebounder at SF. Did not stop Pierce on defense, but he did make himwork for his points. And yet we played him 39min, and while I absolutely refuse to call John freakin Salmons a "glue guy" the reason he played all those minutes was because he simply did not get in the way and let our big players on the night do their thing without competition. That sort of thing is hard to grade since grades are largely about individual accomplishment, but it deserves something. He did little, and yet he did not hurt us, and that's all we needed.
Thompson ( A ) -- wow. Now Jason has had any number of hot streaks and cold streaks as an NBA player. I remember a time he went for much of a month putting up something like 18 and 10before inevitably falling back to Earth in typically clumsy style. But as far as back to back games? These last two might have been the finest of his career, and coming just out of nowhere after Smart randomly benched him for rebounding too much to be a King just a few nights back against Golden State. And the great thing is that he has put up star numbers (21pts 15rebs) the last two games without at al playing a star game. What he has done, moving without the ball, attacking the offensive glass for follows, splashing in facing jumpers off of kickouts, operating as that critical weakside rebounder behind Cousins and stepping up to fill the middle during those long stretches when he is out -- its all sustainable. Not that he will of course. This si Jason Thompson, and we know his schtick at this point. But these aren't aberration games in that suddenly he's got a new role or he's acting like a primary option and putting up 17 shots a night or something (he was 9-11 on the night and almsot every one was a good shot). Instead, just the perfection of the roleplayer art and a real steadying force for us all night. Helped stave off the grandpas' attempt at a push in the early third, knocking down a long jumper and grabbing several strong boards to get us started on a ridiculously explosive 41pt 3rd quarter. Had a great steal up top at the three point line and broke out for the fullcourt layup +1. And just generally was there all night for us with the right play at the right time.
Cousins ( B ) -- bit of a loose game seemingly constantly distracted by either KG, the refs, or both. And yet at this point just far bigger and more talented than anybody the C's throw out there on their frontline and was frequently creating at will. I'll give you one guess what the limiting facotr was in this one for him. One. This time all three of his first half fouls were on the offensive side of the ball as he continues to exhaustively exploreevery single way to accumulate an unnecessary foul that is possible under NBA rules. If nothing else by the time he is done with his study in 2017 or so his knowledge should be so comprehensive that he should never commit another foul for the remainder of his career. Alas, as of right now he is still an undisiplined kid, and he picked them up getting over exuberant scrapping for rebounds, slamming inside on drives. Got a technical on a bogus call with Garnett , then went back the other way and took a major risk compeltely faking a flop to get a call against KG. Wasn't happy with the 4th foul either, and was seen exhorting the crowd to make noise about it. Just in general way way overconcerned with the refs and was playing them more than the Cs. And stilll the thing is at this point that he can be distracted and still be so much better than anybody else he is sill going to put 20pts in 25 min. One minor point of concern is that once again he just wasn't dominant on the glass. adn after a dominant first half of the year, he just hasn't been special on the glass this month -- in February he averaged 12.3rebs in 30.2min/gm. So far in March its 9.3 in 30.2min.
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Bench
Honeycutt ( B- ) -- in in the first quarter backing up Salmons, and came up with a good hustle play breaking up a Boston break. Nice job leading the break as well. Minutes were limited by the general excellence of the starters and a bit hard to assess this, but other than one quick shot from the perimeter that was conduct unbecoming a rookie roleplayer, looked like he belonged
Greene ( B ) -- had a short but impressive stint which was hopefully limited more by JTs excellence than Donte apparently managing to offend Smart's family heritage midgame. The large number of minutes for Outlaw throws this into doubt however. In any case, for a few minutes int he first half it was the Donte Greene show as he did a great job with a defensive reobund and leading the break before dropping it off for a layup, finishing on the break, and knocking down a three. Some defense as well.
Hayes ( C+ ) -- some more hapless offense as the Celtics (think it was Stiemsma) kind of disdainfully swatted out the stubby little guy's flips. Please do not ask me why he insists on taking them. Was active and passing well in his second stint in the ealry 4th, but we rapidly lost momentum and soon went back to the starters up front.
Fredette ( C ) -- Pretty good job on Allen staying with him, but no chance when switched on Pierce on defense, and not involved on the other end. So pulled up and randomly chucked up a 28 foot three that fell for his only shot. Had a couple of his solid passes for assists, but multiple bad pass turnovers finished his night in a hurry. May have had words with Smart too, not sure. In any case we called timeout immediately, Jimmer knew what was what and was angry either at himself or the Coach or both.
Outlaw ( B+ ) -- one of his best games for us, Which of course wouldn't require much, but he was legitimately helpful. Came in for Honeycutt in the 2nd and hit a jumper and a three. Missed a three but nice hustle pay sneaking in behind Rondo for a steal. Some strong atheltic rebounds s well, which is oe of the many things he has not done this year. I have no diea whatever happened to this guy, so I have no idea if this one will lead anywwhere. But at least for a night was a positive contributor.
Whiteside ( INC ) -- in for the final 3 minutes of garbagetime, but did not do anything during it
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In any case, who cares. As a team we are rebounding. I want one more big guy with skill and we are settled at the PF/C position. Bravo, JT!
