Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Okay.
This eventually turned out to be a variety of the grizzled vets teach the young bucks a thing or two about all the dirty little tricks you use in high level/playoff type basketball. There was an old Tom Cruise movie called Days of Thunder, with him playing a young cocky inexperienced Nascar driver (it was very much just him ripping off Top Gun and putting it in cars). So he's got great talent, but then he gets into a real race and the big bad guy (think Ice from Top Gun) starts bumping him and nudging him and forcing him up to the wall etc. and Cruise's composure disintegrates. He complains to his pit crew, and is informed that no son, that's rubbin', and rubbin' is racing.
Fast forward to us. We got a lesson tonight. I was proud of our composure for a half. But this one was played at a playoff level of physicality throughout and somewhere along the line various guys began to lose their heads. DeMarcus, who had a great feel for the type of game it was going to be in the first half, seemed very self aware and avoided foul trouble, started really forcing junk on offense after half, lost his focus, and was just throwing up crap. Reke and TWill started trying to do way too much with thier passes and turned it over again and again as the Clippers swarmed. And the wheels just fell off for the whole team until we gave up mentally and got incredibly lax in the 4th. Taken the right way, used the right way, this could be a real nice lesson for us for the future. Every young team has many beatdowns in its youthful past, even the ones that go on to be legendary. Still...can feel a rivalry potentially brewing with this Clippers team, and would ahve liked to have at least put a good scare into them.
Oh BTW, none of the above changes this fact: we will NEVER be a good team so long as we give up 109pts and let the other team shoot 49.4% against us. Ever. Everything above applies, but in the end the constant bleeding ulcer is the defense. Every night jsut aobut. No team in the NBA has to overcome so much to win a game, and we're a blowout waiting to happen eveytime we get slowed.
Had another theme idea prepared (pre-prepared this time), but this one of course necessitates Girls. Don't have many games left now, so must treasure these opportunities.
Boxscore
Garcia ( B- ) -- got the start in our latest flail at SF, and stepped up his game considerably and gave us a competitive start right up until the point Clubber Lang clunked him alongside the head in the early 4th and had him seeing little tweetie birds in the locker room. Was doing more than just spotting up for three from the early going and was finding seams to the hoop while all the defensive attention was elsewhere. Competitive and chippy, expecially in the third, and hit two big threes near the end of the quarter to keep us close -- in fact his three at the 2:24 mark had us as close as 1. Eight minutes later we were down 17 and the game was over. A minute into the 4th went t the ground on a scramble play and took what looked like a glancing blow from a forearm high on the forehead, but those who ever watch boxing know that sometimes those shots when they get somebody just right can be lights out, and so it was here. Went down, stayed down, and while Cisco's own floppy instincts sometimes give a boy who cried wolf feel to his injuries, this one was no joke. Word filtered down from the lockerrom that he had a concussion an obviously would not return.
Natasha Yi
Thompson ( F ) -- probably by far the biggest blow of the night for us was the complete disintegration of JTs game tonight, on a night when DeMarcus was already going to be under scrutiny because of the fine, and Chuck was unavailable because of apparent food poisoning. Just able to get absolutely nothing done on either end of the floor and racked up fouls on Griffin at a rate that would have made the rookie JT, who led the league in fouls, blush. A large percentage of Blake's 12-15 shooting was due to runouts on the break etc., but I'm not sure JT forced a single miss during his minutes other than by fouling. His single highlight was a nice job hitting the floor to save a ball in the mid 2nd. That was it. Got his 4th foul within 2 minutes of the beginning of the third quarter, and his 5th a couple minutes later and that was it. Donte Green was a far more competitive option for us at PF then JT. Think about that. Any of you who have ever played competitive sports at a decent level know this is the one you cannot have -- going into a tough situation as underdogs, already with little margin for error, you just can't have a teammate completely disintegrate on you. Mind you this is the same player who went 15pts 16rebs for us against this same team 48 hours ago.
Christian Milian
Cousins ( B- ) -- I was impresed with Boogie's first half composure given all the hoopla surrounding the event. Really seedm to get the situation adn the stage, and was playing as in control as we have seen him, giving the refs no hook to hang him with. At the very beginning of the game it looked like being in control might lead to passivity, as he just settled for the jumpers the Clippers were giving him, and only hit 1 of his first 4. But that was underestimating his focus , asd he relly dialed in and began to attack the rim, get fouled, and make defensive plays while keeping his feet and never even threatening to pick up fouls. Drew a charge on Griffin in the early 2nd as well for a cherry. Seemed to understand the type of game it would be and was consciously throwing his hands back to not give the refs any chance, and racked up 41 minutes in this one with only 3 fouls. He should consider playing wiht that focus every night. Unfortunately while he maintained his fouling discpline, somehow he seemed to lsoe hsi offensive focus after half, and you started to see thsoe ugly random shots, off balance, missing gimmes because of lack of gathering himself, occasional forces into the teeth of the defense etc. As in control as he was before half, after half lost the offensive thread and led to the ugly shooting night that unfortunately will give the Clipers bragging rights through the summer. Passes were just a little off too -- wasn't turning it over (which made him nearly unique on the team) but every pass seemed a little too high, a little too low, sometimes getting through but rarely able to set anybody up in rhythm for the shots. Huge rebounding night of course, but I'm not sure it wa the most impressive we've seen from him despite several of those one handed snatches he comes up with. He's just huge and one of the league's elite rebounders, and able to play 41 min without foul troublethe numbers racked on up.
Scottie Thompson
Evans ( C ) -- this was an odd game for Reke until the wheels fell off in the 4th. Even taken off the ball and played out of position, Reke is still a 17 5 and 5 type of player this season, yet tonight for most of the game the ony part of that line which was in evidence was the 17. Had no rebounds and no assists by half. With the passing in particular you could see a strategy fail on our part, as our whole team was bound and determined to get the ball to Cousins, and the Clippers, expecting nothing less, were sitting all over those passes leading to the majority of our 19 turnovers. On offense threatened to have a strong night and never quite got there. Had a number of really strong takes, including going behind the back on CP3, who he has always lit up in his younf career, at midcourt and racing in for a layup. But half those shots were rolling off -- this could easily have been an 8-10 shooting night with a different feel to the overall game. We were really having a defensive problem, as per usual, in the early going as everytime Reke went to the hoop the Clippers had Foye racing out the other way and nobody picked him up. Just kills me. I could cover those breakouts and somehow these guys hwo have 20 years of basketball behind them aren't getting the basics. Began to surge in the third as we needed somebody to step up, and helped lead our last big push to cut the lead down to 1. But started to have a real probelm with turnovers, just trying to do too much, to make passes that weren't there, to try to force homeruns. Went to the bench for a spell, but far from curing things when he came back with us falling apart he just kicked that trend into high gear with three just terrible turnovers as he and Williams I think combined for 5 of them befor the midpoint of the quarter, providing the primary rocket fuel for the Clipeprs open court explosion. Hard to figure this grade. The late implosion for this team just did not feel worthy of what had gone on for the first three quarters.
Candice Swanepoel -- became my new favorite South African yesterday with her plea for beach volleyball players at the Olympics in Brazil to respect Brazilian culture by continuing to play in their bikinis rather than the newly allowed coverups. You go girl.
This eventually turned out to be a variety of the grizzled vets teach the young bucks a thing or two about all the dirty little tricks you use in high level/playoff type basketball. There was an old Tom Cruise movie called Days of Thunder, with him playing a young cocky inexperienced Nascar driver (it was very much just him ripping off Top Gun and putting it in cars). So he's got great talent, but then he gets into a real race and the big bad guy (think Ice from Top Gun) starts bumping him and nudging him and forcing him up to the wall etc. and Cruise's composure disintegrates. He complains to his pit crew, and is informed that no son, that's rubbin', and rubbin' is racing.
Fast forward to us. We got a lesson tonight. I was proud of our composure for a half. But this one was played at a playoff level of physicality throughout and somewhere along the line various guys began to lose their heads. DeMarcus, who had a great feel for the type of game it was going to be in the first half, seemed very self aware and avoided foul trouble, started really forcing junk on offense after half, lost his focus, and was just throwing up crap. Reke and TWill started trying to do way too much with thier passes and turned it over again and again as the Clippers swarmed. And the wheels just fell off for the whole team until we gave up mentally and got incredibly lax in the 4th. Taken the right way, used the right way, this could be a real nice lesson for us for the future. Every young team has many beatdowns in its youthful past, even the ones that go on to be legendary. Still...can feel a rivalry potentially brewing with this Clippers team, and would ahve liked to have at least put a good scare into them.
Oh BTW, none of the above changes this fact: we will NEVER be a good team so long as we give up 109pts and let the other team shoot 49.4% against us. Ever. Everything above applies, but in the end the constant bleeding ulcer is the defense. Every night jsut aobut. No team in the NBA has to overcome so much to win a game, and we're a blowout waiting to happen eveytime we get slowed.
Had another theme idea prepared (pre-prepared this time), but this one of course necessitates Girls. Don't have many games left now, so must treasure these opportunities.
Boxscore
Garcia ( B- ) -- got the start in our latest flail at SF, and stepped up his game considerably and gave us a competitive start right up until the point Clubber Lang clunked him alongside the head in the early 4th and had him seeing little tweetie birds in the locker room. Was doing more than just spotting up for three from the early going and was finding seams to the hoop while all the defensive attention was elsewhere. Competitive and chippy, expecially in the third, and hit two big threes near the end of the quarter to keep us close -- in fact his three at the 2:24 mark had us as close as 1. Eight minutes later we were down 17 and the game was over. A minute into the 4th went t the ground on a scramble play and took what looked like a glancing blow from a forearm high on the forehead, but those who ever watch boxing know that sometimes those shots when they get somebody just right can be lights out, and so it was here. Went down, stayed down, and while Cisco's own floppy instincts sometimes give a boy who cried wolf feel to his injuries, this one was no joke. Word filtered down from the lockerrom that he had a concussion an obviously would not return.
Natasha Yi
Thompson ( F ) -- probably by far the biggest blow of the night for us was the complete disintegration of JTs game tonight, on a night when DeMarcus was already going to be under scrutiny because of the fine, and Chuck was unavailable because of apparent food poisoning. Just able to get absolutely nothing done on either end of the floor and racked up fouls on Griffin at a rate that would have made the rookie JT, who led the league in fouls, blush. A large percentage of Blake's 12-15 shooting was due to runouts on the break etc., but I'm not sure JT forced a single miss during his minutes other than by fouling. His single highlight was a nice job hitting the floor to save a ball in the mid 2nd. That was it. Got his 4th foul within 2 minutes of the beginning of the third quarter, and his 5th a couple minutes later and that was it. Donte Green was a far more competitive option for us at PF then JT. Think about that. Any of you who have ever played competitive sports at a decent level know this is the one you cannot have -- going into a tough situation as underdogs, already with little margin for error, you just can't have a teammate completely disintegrate on you. Mind you this is the same player who went 15pts 16rebs for us against this same team 48 hours ago.
Christian Milian
Cousins ( B- ) -- I was impresed with Boogie's first half composure given all the hoopla surrounding the event. Really seedm to get the situation adn the stage, and was playing as in control as we have seen him, giving the refs no hook to hang him with. At the very beginning of the game it looked like being in control might lead to passivity, as he just settled for the jumpers the Clippers were giving him, and only hit 1 of his first 4. But that was underestimating his focus , asd he relly dialed in and began to attack the rim, get fouled, and make defensive plays while keeping his feet and never even threatening to pick up fouls. Drew a charge on Griffin in the early 2nd as well for a cherry. Seemed to understand the type of game it would be and was consciously throwing his hands back to not give the refs any chance, and racked up 41 minutes in this one with only 3 fouls. He should consider playing wiht that focus every night. Unfortunately while he maintained his fouling discpline, somehow he seemed to lsoe hsi offensive focus after half, and you started to see thsoe ugly random shots, off balance, missing gimmes because of lack of gathering himself, occasional forces into the teeth of the defense etc. As in control as he was before half, after half lost the offensive thread and led to the ugly shooting night that unfortunately will give the Clipers bragging rights through the summer. Passes were just a little off too -- wasn't turning it over (which made him nearly unique on the team) but every pass seemed a little too high, a little too low, sometimes getting through but rarely able to set anybody up in rhythm for the shots. Huge rebounding night of course, but I'm not sure it wa the most impressive we've seen from him despite several of those one handed snatches he comes up with. He's just huge and one of the league's elite rebounders, and able to play 41 min without foul troublethe numbers racked on up.
Scottie Thompson
Evans ( C ) -- this was an odd game for Reke until the wheels fell off in the 4th. Even taken off the ball and played out of position, Reke is still a 17 5 and 5 type of player this season, yet tonight for most of the game the ony part of that line which was in evidence was the 17. Had no rebounds and no assists by half. With the passing in particular you could see a strategy fail on our part, as our whole team was bound and determined to get the ball to Cousins, and the Clippers, expecting nothing less, were sitting all over those passes leading to the majority of our 19 turnovers. On offense threatened to have a strong night and never quite got there. Had a number of really strong takes, including going behind the back on CP3, who he has always lit up in his younf career, at midcourt and racing in for a layup. But half those shots were rolling off -- this could easily have been an 8-10 shooting night with a different feel to the overall game. We were really having a defensive problem, as per usual, in the early going as everytime Reke went to the hoop the Clippers had Foye racing out the other way and nobody picked him up. Just kills me. I could cover those breakouts and somehow these guys hwo have 20 years of basketball behind them aren't getting the basics. Began to surge in the third as we needed somebody to step up, and helped lead our last big push to cut the lead down to 1. But started to have a real probelm with turnovers, just trying to do too much, to make passes that weren't there, to try to force homeruns. Went to the bench for a spell, but far from curing things when he came back with us falling apart he just kicked that trend into high gear with three just terrible turnovers as he and Williams I think combined for 5 of them befor the midpoint of the quarter, providing the primary rocket fuel for the Clipeprs open court explosion. Hard to figure this grade. The late implosion for this team just did not feel worthy of what had gone on for the first three quarters.
Candice Swanepoel -- became my new favorite South African yesterday with her plea for beach volleyball players at the Olympics in Brazil to respect Brazilian culture by continuing to play in their bikinis rather than the newly allowed coverups. You go girl.
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