Ah well. Back to reality. But still a nice effort against maybe the best team in the league right now. Unless of course the next team to come into Arco is the best team in the league right now.
We lost. Rules haven't changed even though its been a week or so. Theme for this one will be: Funny Women. Not the ones who need sitcom laughtracks to tell you when they are supposed to be funny. Not ones who bray loudly inplace of comedy. But the small handful of truly funny women who break the "women don't do comedy" mold with actual wit, timing and a flavor all their own they bring to everything.
Official Boxscore
Casspi ( C ) -- hit the three to start the game, but was having immediate problems on the other end with Pierce. Seemed a bit overwhelemd, there were multiple early fumbles and he got blocked and stripped before he gave way to Donte. Finally settled in and got his second jujmper in the mid 2nd. More importantly he provided some solid boardwaork and hustle, and was able to handle a stint next to Donte at SG. Never did get the offense going though, and missed the easy flip in the lane to start the fourth. Hit one more three out of the timeout at the 5:30 mark, whcih could have been critical as it broke a Celtics run and bourhgt us back into the picture, but then he quick shot one the next posession that had no chance, and was never heard from again.
Betty White -- I thought where better to start than with the comedic grand dame herself, who has amazingly kept going an going and despite 60 years of playing ditzes she is still sharp as a tack at age 89. All things pass, but its going to suck when its her time.
Dalembert ( B ) -- got off to a great start to this one as he and Tyreke played inspired ball in the early going and carried their struggling teammates until they settled in. Came up with multiple big blocks inside to set the defensive tone, and those are always better in front of a full house willing to roar its approval. Added a steal, and finished a sneaky quick alley oop from Reke. But there were some signs of what would eventually pull this grade down inthe early going, as he seemed to be forcing too many low percentage shots in the paint, often with nobody else near the hoop to rebound. Swooped in for a big dunk in the early 3rd...until KG came up with a spectacular dunk at the rim. And with us struggling badly, things begant to get ugly with Sammy's offense -- Beno of course continues to feed him like he's Shaq in his prime, but it seems in this oen as if everybody was doing it this one in "hey vet save us!" panicked fashion. And Dalembet just kept taking, and missing, tough post moves that he had no business forcing up. Continued into the third, when at one point we insisted on going to him three straight times in there, and he came up empty each time. Unfortunately being dumb is part of being a younf team too. But Sammy ain't young. Anyway, we has some spectacular tone setting defense -- 5blks and 2 stls, although the rebounding was only middling (7), combined with some real crappy offense after the half. So I kinda split the difference, an then added a half gade bump as it seemd to me that the weak finsih to the game was going to leave me with grades entirely too low for a generally very competitive game against one of the league's best.
Anna Faris -- and so it seemed to me that the natural followup to the great old lady of ditzhood, was the modern heir to the throne, who has used her hilarious brand of physical ditziness to accomplish the almost impossible for a female comedian, and actualy become an A list actress for whom movies are made. Not only that, but somewhere along the line she got hot, although I still prefer her as a brunette.
Cousins ( B- ) -- another one of those tale of two halves games. In the first Celtics game a month ago for one of the few tiems this year I thought DeMarcus might have actually been intimidated, going against the absoilutely massive Shaq, who he no doubt grew up watching, and finding that there is absolutely no way you can back that behemoth down in the post. And coming off two monster games, you could tell that the Celtics game plan was heavily centered on makign DeMarcus uncomfortabel as mutipe guys dove in to swipe at the ball every time he touched it. Whatever it was this time out, we got very little out of DeMarcus int he first half of this one, and he got pulled within 5 minutes, sat for a few minutes, returned, and settled for some long jumpers, and they weren't falling. Did join int he spirit of the occasion, and played some of his better help defense, omig up wiht anpair of blocks on his own and consitently challenging. Best play fo the half was a nifty high/low pass to Pooh sneaking in there on a back cut. Started to play in front of Shaq in the third and get deflections and rebounds (althoguh he needed to be better than the 6 he grabbed tonight as we started our two best rebounders, they both played big minutes, and only combined for 13rebs as we got beat on the glass). Was seeing a lot of people from up high with his passing after half, but a lot of the resulting passes and shots were dangerous stuff. Woke up with his own offense late in the quarter in what seemed like a beautiful competitve response. Finally got his first smooth jumper in the late 3rd, folowed it with a tough drive and layup, and then stepped out and hit a wide open three off the kick. Not something I normally approve of of course, but we were dead int eh water otherwise, and there was nobody wihtin 10 feet of him. And hte thing was that his outburst came jsut as the Celtics had passed us and were trying to open up a lead and make the young team quit. And DeMarcus wasn't going to let that happen and singlehandedly dueled with them down the stretch of the quarter. Continued being our main offensive weapon through the 4th, but was forcing some things, both with the shot and the pass, and while the light switch was definitely in the "On" position, never dominated. DeMarcus got back up to his 20pts, and he was unqestionably ourt best player from the moment of his awakening to the end of the game, unfortunately that moment did not take place until the latter half of the third quarter, and I can't forget that in this grade. If he'd come out in this one the way he came out in the last few...who knows what happens. Wait, I know. We win.
Janeane Garofalo -- I thought I would take a break from the ditzes with the queen of razor sharp tongued ascerbic wit. And yes, she's pretty too.
Udrih ( C ) -- Beno did some admirable stuff in this one -- he hustled, came up with several steals, helped on the glass, and in general showed his continuing willingness to be part of, and even contribute to, a young hustling team. ...and yet unfortunately that's not what's going to be remembered about his game. Waht's goign to be remembered is that he couldn't shot at all, missed his little chippies all night long, and scored 2 isolated in the final 22 minutes of the game. Was missing little early and getting attacked defensively the other way. Picked by Rondo in the open court as well and looked far from confident. Allen had littel trouble shooting over him. Was trying to help by hustling and getting on the boards, so it wasn't a complete disaster, but we definitely needed more. When he returned, it was still an offensive struggle, but he got a poke steal on Pierce, and managed some offensive productivity on a series of shaky drives into the paint that teetered right on the edge between tunvoers and getting to the line. Finally got his first hit right before the first half buzzer on a tough shot as we took the 9pt lead into the break. And got his only other one a few minutes of game time later, as a minute into the thrid he executed a wild full speed stop and spin layup. He popped up a few times later, getting several more steals and feeds ahead to Reke on the break, including one at the 1:00 mark that got us back to 6 and in position for another shouting position loss. But other than a smattering of assists in the 4th he was offensively absent as we just could not score. Committed a bad overdribbling TO in the final 3 minutes that kind of felt like a capper for his night, and yet I am not going to go down too far on the grade. The offensive struggles were frustrating and felt like the defining characteristic of his game tonight, but he did do those "other" things. And those "other" things are often the very things that define the split between good teams and the league's turds.
Wanda Sykes -- and speaking of sharp tongued, noone throws a better insult.
We lost. Rules haven't changed even though its been a week or so. Theme for this one will be: Funny Women. Not the ones who need sitcom laughtracks to tell you when they are supposed to be funny. Not ones who bray loudly inplace of comedy. But the small handful of truly funny women who break the "women don't do comedy" mold with actual wit, timing and a flavor all their own they bring to everything.
Official Boxscore
Casspi ( C ) -- hit the three to start the game, but was having immediate problems on the other end with Pierce. Seemed a bit overwhelemd, there were multiple early fumbles and he got blocked and stripped before he gave way to Donte. Finally settled in and got his second jujmper in the mid 2nd. More importantly he provided some solid boardwaork and hustle, and was able to handle a stint next to Donte at SG. Never did get the offense going though, and missed the easy flip in the lane to start the fourth. Hit one more three out of the timeout at the 5:30 mark, whcih could have been critical as it broke a Celtics run and bourhgt us back into the picture, but then he quick shot one the next posession that had no chance, and was never heard from again.
Betty White -- I thought where better to start than with the comedic grand dame herself, who has amazingly kept going an going and despite 60 years of playing ditzes she is still sharp as a tack at age 89. All things pass, but its going to suck when its her time.
Dalembert ( B ) -- got off to a great start to this one as he and Tyreke played inspired ball in the early going and carried their struggling teammates until they settled in. Came up with multiple big blocks inside to set the defensive tone, and those are always better in front of a full house willing to roar its approval. Added a steal, and finished a sneaky quick alley oop from Reke. But there were some signs of what would eventually pull this grade down inthe early going, as he seemed to be forcing too many low percentage shots in the paint, often with nobody else near the hoop to rebound. Swooped in for a big dunk in the early 3rd...until KG came up with a spectacular dunk at the rim. And with us struggling badly, things begant to get ugly with Sammy's offense -- Beno of course continues to feed him like he's Shaq in his prime, but it seems in this oen as if everybody was doing it this one in "hey vet save us!" panicked fashion. And Dalembet just kept taking, and missing, tough post moves that he had no business forcing up. Continued into the third, when at one point we insisted on going to him three straight times in there, and he came up empty each time. Unfortunately being dumb is part of being a younf team too. But Sammy ain't young. Anyway, we has some spectacular tone setting defense -- 5blks and 2 stls, although the rebounding was only middling (7), combined with some real crappy offense after the half. So I kinda split the difference, an then added a half gade bump as it seemd to me that the weak finsih to the game was going to leave me with grades entirely too low for a generally very competitive game against one of the league's best.
Anna Faris -- and so it seemed to me that the natural followup to the great old lady of ditzhood, was the modern heir to the throne, who has used her hilarious brand of physical ditziness to accomplish the almost impossible for a female comedian, and actualy become an A list actress for whom movies are made. Not only that, but somewhere along the line she got hot, although I still prefer her as a brunette.
Cousins ( B- ) -- another one of those tale of two halves games. In the first Celtics game a month ago for one of the few tiems this year I thought DeMarcus might have actually been intimidated, going against the absoilutely massive Shaq, who he no doubt grew up watching, and finding that there is absolutely no way you can back that behemoth down in the post. And coming off two monster games, you could tell that the Celtics game plan was heavily centered on makign DeMarcus uncomfortabel as mutipe guys dove in to swipe at the ball every time he touched it. Whatever it was this time out, we got very little out of DeMarcus int he first half of this one, and he got pulled within 5 minutes, sat for a few minutes, returned, and settled for some long jumpers, and they weren't falling. Did join int he spirit of the occasion, and played some of his better help defense, omig up wiht anpair of blocks on his own and consitently challenging. Best play fo the half was a nifty high/low pass to Pooh sneaking in there on a back cut. Started to play in front of Shaq in the third and get deflections and rebounds (althoguh he needed to be better than the 6 he grabbed tonight as we started our two best rebounders, they both played big minutes, and only combined for 13rebs as we got beat on the glass). Was seeing a lot of people from up high with his passing after half, but a lot of the resulting passes and shots were dangerous stuff. Woke up with his own offense late in the quarter in what seemed like a beautiful competitve response. Finally got his first smooth jumper in the late 3rd, folowed it with a tough drive and layup, and then stepped out and hit a wide open three off the kick. Not something I normally approve of of course, but we were dead int eh water otherwise, and there was nobody wihtin 10 feet of him. And hte thing was that his outburst came jsut as the Celtics had passed us and were trying to open up a lead and make the young team quit. And DeMarcus wasn't going to let that happen and singlehandedly dueled with them down the stretch of the quarter. Continued being our main offensive weapon through the 4th, but was forcing some things, both with the shot and the pass, and while the light switch was definitely in the "On" position, never dominated. DeMarcus got back up to his 20pts, and he was unqestionably ourt best player from the moment of his awakening to the end of the game, unfortunately that moment did not take place until the latter half of the third quarter, and I can't forget that in this grade. If he'd come out in this one the way he came out in the last few...who knows what happens. Wait, I know. We win.
Janeane Garofalo -- I thought I would take a break from the ditzes with the queen of razor sharp tongued ascerbic wit. And yes, she's pretty too.
Udrih ( C ) -- Beno did some admirable stuff in this one -- he hustled, came up with several steals, helped on the glass, and in general showed his continuing willingness to be part of, and even contribute to, a young hustling team. ...and yet unfortunately that's not what's going to be remembered about his game. Waht's goign to be remembered is that he couldn't shot at all, missed his little chippies all night long, and scored 2 isolated in the final 22 minutes of the game. Was missing little early and getting attacked defensively the other way. Picked by Rondo in the open court as well and looked far from confident. Allen had littel trouble shooting over him. Was trying to help by hustling and getting on the boards, so it wasn't a complete disaster, but we definitely needed more. When he returned, it was still an offensive struggle, but he got a poke steal on Pierce, and managed some offensive productivity on a series of shaky drives into the paint that teetered right on the edge between tunvoers and getting to the line. Finally got his first hit right before the first half buzzer on a tough shot as we took the 9pt lead into the break. And got his only other one a few minutes of game time later, as a minute into the thrid he executed a wild full speed stop and spin layup. He popped up a few times later, getting several more steals and feeds ahead to Reke on the break, including one at the 1:00 mark that got us back to 6 and in position for another shouting position loss. But other than a smattering of assists in the 4th he was offensively absent as we just could not score. Committed a bad overdribbling TO in the final 3 minutes that kind of felt like a capper for his night, and yet I am not going to go down too far on the grade. The offensive struggles were frustrating and felt like the defining characteristic of his game tonight, but he did do those "other" things. And those "other" things are often the very things that define the split between good teams and the league's turds.
Wanda Sykes -- and speaking of sharp tongued, noone throws a better insult.
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