Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( F ) -- I have no idea what to say about this one -- puzzling puzzling game for Peja. Did absolutely nothing out there. Just looked like he was sleepwalking. Tried to get something going for a few minutes early, and then just totally disappeared. Not sure how to explain this one -- last few games I could say, good defensive teams, good defensive players (Eddie Jones, Prince, Posey) were the problem. But tonight? Just nothing at all anywhere. Is he physically ok? 6pts 1reb 1ast?? And his man lit him up too. Finally played some good defense on the second to last possession, but then got involved in a near game-losing play when he streaked downcourt and Kenny Thomas threw a mega-bonehead pass for the turnover with less than 15 seconds to go. And what was nearly as puzzling -- Rick left him out there for 37 minutes tonight. 37 wasted minutes. This is not an "F" for horrendous incompetence -- in many ways Peja was not actively hurting us for most of the night. Rather this is an "F" for complete and total irrelevance from a guy who's never susposed to be completely irrelvant.
Songaila ( C ) -- didn't do much early, got into foul trouble, and then had to watch as the hot-shooting Kenny Thomas took the rest of his minutes in the first half. A little better in the third, but still very very quiet and no help on the glass at all. With Thomas playing the far superior game, again have to ask how long until he loses the starting spot?
Skinner ( A ) -- got off to a dynamic start blocking shots, grabbing aggressive boards, and finishing inside. Had the Arco crowd on its feet. But slowed down conisderably therafter -- had 3 of his four blocks in the first, over half of his boards. And late in the game really thought Rick made a mistake by going with a lot of small ball lineups and leaving Skinner on the bench in favor of a Div II frontline of Thomas/Corliss/Peja. Lot of interior presence there.
Mobley ( B+ ) -- was silent in his first quarter back from injury, no points, and not able to contend with the superior athleticism of Corey Maggette. But came alive in the second quarter, and picked up the slack for Peja offensively from that point onward. Maybe just as significantly, maybe Cat caught a little of the Skinner spirit, becasue for the first time since his first few games with us (also against the Clippers) Cat came out and helped with a couple of blocked shots himself. Made a dumb turnover late, and then got quiet as Bibby bailed us out.
Bibby ( A+ ) -- another one of those superstar performances by Mike. Dominated the game in the first half, not only with his scoring, but by creating much of our offense with penetration. Faced with one of the worst PG rotations in the league, and just worked over the Clips' 1s. Was steady in the mid game, but it was once again his play down the stretch that saved the day. This was where the "super" to his star tonight emerged -- carried us offensively (when we weren't screwing around trying to force the ball to Corliss) and then of course hits ANOTHER last second game-winning shot.
Thomas ( B+ ) -- Dodged a bullet late courtesy of Mike Bibby. Again looked very good on offense -- very quick and again showed some pretty good passing ability -- not the spectacular stuff we've gotten in years past, but nice solid little dumpoffs etc., finding the open man. But did start to show the effects of being 6'7" (maybe) on the other side of the floor with the taller Clips shooting right over him. Did chip in with quick hands and feet to get steals however -- and in the final minute came up with a huge blocked shot. Boardwork was pretty good. Nearly had a disastrous finsih to the game when he grabbed what should have been the clinching (or near clinching) rebound with 11 seconds to go, and inexplicably threw a boneheaded court-length pass to a tightly covered Peja. The pass was intercepted, the Clippers scored, and thank god for Mike Bibby because that would have been a hard one to stomach. Again the better PF out there for us, but has been in the past too -- how long until he begins to get the starts?
Evans ( B- ) -- pretty quiet game for Mo, certainly compared to his last few. Hustled, but had some problems contending with Maggette's quickness. Offense was off and on. All of a sudden looked very much the backup to Cat's starter tonight.
Williamson ( A- ) -- Best game since his first game for us, and a real rarity for me because I'm going with a variety of an "A" despite a largely one-dimensional effort. Was undersized in there against the Clippers frontline but really attacked on the offensive end of the court with his quickness (relative to the 7-footers he was facing) and for stretches was THE dominant offensive player on the court. Too small of course, and so gave very little on the glass and was shot right over by the taller Clips on several occasions. Offense was so strong at times it was worth the tradeoff, but we got into real trouble late in the game when we decided to try to ride Nasty as our primary offensive weapon -- between he and Mobley we turned the ball over repeatedly in the final 5 minutes and got forced ugly shots when they did go up.
House ( C+ ) -- came in during the second quarter and was solid but quiet. Does seem to have gotten over the forced shot habit -- just running the team + picking his spots now, not forcing. Did not get a second half run, but that had more to do with Bibby and the 1000th tight game of the season than Eddie.
Adelman ( C ) -- well, we won. And there were some good things out of this one. Mike Bibby's continued emergence first among them. On the other hand, we were back to our old tricks after a couple of inspired defensive/rebounding efforts -- got pounded on the glass, let the Clippers shoot 55%+, and won again on a last second hit. At least our games are never boring. This is one of those rare games where I am significantly unhitching Rick's grade from the team grade because I asm not sure he didn't keep the Clippers in this one. First, he played Peja far far too many minutes on a night when he really didn't look like he wanted to be out there. Second, after FINALLY discovering an inside presence in Brian Skinner, tonight Rick benches him to go super-small ball with Peja/Corliss/Thomas (a 6'7" center?) which created mismatches on both ends of the floor but killed our interior presence and rebounding (which wasn't great to start with). And third, in the final few minutes Rick abruptly annoints Corliss the goto guy and we wasted several precious minutes trying to force the ball to him on offense. I like mismatches and hot players as much as anybody. I also dislike turnovers and forced shots by second tier players. Hey Rick, we've already got a guy who's pretty damn good in the clutch -- how about we use him instead of having him have to bail us out after we try to give the game away?
Songaila ( C ) -- didn't do much early, got into foul trouble, and then had to watch as the hot-shooting Kenny Thomas took the rest of his minutes in the first half. A little better in the third, but still very very quiet and no help on the glass at all. With Thomas playing the far superior game, again have to ask how long until he loses the starting spot?
Skinner ( A ) -- got off to a dynamic start blocking shots, grabbing aggressive boards, and finishing inside. Had the Arco crowd on its feet. But slowed down conisderably therafter -- had 3 of his four blocks in the first, over half of his boards. And late in the game really thought Rick made a mistake by going with a lot of small ball lineups and leaving Skinner on the bench in favor of a Div II frontline of Thomas/Corliss/Peja. Lot of interior presence there.
Mobley ( B+ ) -- was silent in his first quarter back from injury, no points, and not able to contend with the superior athleticism of Corey Maggette. But came alive in the second quarter, and picked up the slack for Peja offensively from that point onward. Maybe just as significantly, maybe Cat caught a little of the Skinner spirit, becasue for the first time since his first few games with us (also against the Clippers) Cat came out and helped with a couple of blocked shots himself. Made a dumb turnover late, and then got quiet as Bibby bailed us out.
Bibby ( A+ ) -- another one of those superstar performances by Mike. Dominated the game in the first half, not only with his scoring, but by creating much of our offense with penetration. Faced with one of the worst PG rotations in the league, and just worked over the Clips' 1s. Was steady in the mid game, but it was once again his play down the stretch that saved the day. This was where the "super" to his star tonight emerged -- carried us offensively (when we weren't screwing around trying to force the ball to Corliss) and then of course hits ANOTHER last second game-winning shot.
Thomas ( B+ ) -- Dodged a bullet late courtesy of Mike Bibby. Again looked very good on offense -- very quick and again showed some pretty good passing ability -- not the spectacular stuff we've gotten in years past, but nice solid little dumpoffs etc., finding the open man. But did start to show the effects of being 6'7" (maybe) on the other side of the floor with the taller Clips shooting right over him. Did chip in with quick hands and feet to get steals however -- and in the final minute came up with a huge blocked shot. Boardwork was pretty good. Nearly had a disastrous finsih to the game when he grabbed what should have been the clinching (or near clinching) rebound with 11 seconds to go, and inexplicably threw a boneheaded court-length pass to a tightly covered Peja. The pass was intercepted, the Clippers scored, and thank god for Mike Bibby because that would have been a hard one to stomach. Again the better PF out there for us, but has been in the past too -- how long until he begins to get the starts?
Evans ( B- ) -- pretty quiet game for Mo, certainly compared to his last few. Hustled, but had some problems contending with Maggette's quickness. Offense was off and on. All of a sudden looked very much the backup to Cat's starter tonight.
Williamson ( A- ) -- Best game since his first game for us, and a real rarity for me because I'm going with a variety of an "A" despite a largely one-dimensional effort. Was undersized in there against the Clippers frontline but really attacked on the offensive end of the court with his quickness (relative to the 7-footers he was facing) and for stretches was THE dominant offensive player on the court. Too small of course, and so gave very little on the glass and was shot right over by the taller Clips on several occasions. Offense was so strong at times it was worth the tradeoff, but we got into real trouble late in the game when we decided to try to ride Nasty as our primary offensive weapon -- between he and Mobley we turned the ball over repeatedly in the final 5 minutes and got forced ugly shots when they did go up.
House ( C+ ) -- came in during the second quarter and was solid but quiet. Does seem to have gotten over the forced shot habit -- just running the team + picking his spots now, not forcing. Did not get a second half run, but that had more to do with Bibby and the 1000th tight game of the season than Eddie.
Adelman ( C ) -- well, we won. And there were some good things out of this one. Mike Bibby's continued emergence first among them. On the other hand, we were back to our old tricks after a couple of inspired defensive/rebounding efforts -- got pounded on the glass, let the Clippers shoot 55%+, and won again on a last second hit. At least our games are never boring. This is one of those rare games where I am significantly unhitching Rick's grade from the team grade because I asm not sure he didn't keep the Clippers in this one. First, he played Peja far far too many minutes on a night when he really didn't look like he wanted to be out there. Second, after FINALLY discovering an inside presence in Brian Skinner, tonight Rick benches him to go super-small ball with Peja/Corliss/Thomas (a 6'7" center?) which created mismatches on both ends of the floor but killed our interior presence and rebounding (which wasn't great to start with). And third, in the final few minutes Rick abruptly annoints Corliss the goto guy and we wasted several precious minutes trying to force the ball to him on offense. I like mismatches and hot players as much as anybody. I also dislike turnovers and forced shots by second tier players. Hey Rick, we've already got a guy who's pretty damn good in the clutch -- how about we use him instead of having him have to bail us out after we try to give the game away?
