Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Kings v. Clippers 12/29
Artest ( F ) -- actually very briefly a pretty good start offensively, and defensively had the relatively easy job of guarding Tim Thomas. But after Maggette subbed in in the late first, he went right at Ron and scored on three straight possessions. And therafter for the remainder of the half Ron really wasn't terribly effective on EITHER side of the ball. Right in front of Sterling too. Guess there goes any trade to the Clippers for anything more than Quinton Ross and a bucket of Cheetos. And Ron gave us absolutely nothing after half, although he of course did chip in several rushed shots as we slipped away. Just for the sake of argument I'm going to take Ron/Muss at their word and assume Ron's knee may have been hurting, but regardless this was seriously as bad as we've ever seen him. Completely ineffective on EITHER side of the floor, and frankly not even sure why he was in there late, other than possibly just to delay the eruption of Mt. Artest for another couple of days if possible.
Thomas ( C- ) -- slowish start, but along with constant doubles and triples was containing Brand, and kept him of the glass in the first half. But Brand started really lighting him up in the third on a long series of 15 foot side pops. Tough shot to stop unless you have great height/length, which KT does not. Kenny's stirring response was to get frustrated and get a technical. Thanks. Was not seen after the third as Muss randomly substituted in anybody and everybody according to an old Ms. Cleo astrology chart he found in a thrift store.
Miller ( B- ) -- fast start again offensively, both with his shooting and passing, and in the early going Brad Miller was controlling the action for us, running an offense that was actually humming, and setting Kevin in particular up for almost all of his hits on the night. But soon therafter it was back to the old classic pattern -- Brad doing well on offense, but getting worked over at the other end by Chris Kaman inside. In the second half maybe the worst thing that could have happened to Brad was Kaman getting into foul trouble, because Muss seemed to follow suit with Brad, and his minutes were shortened. Of course given that he didn't do much after the break, maybe that was a good thing. In any case, his first half minutes were one of only two bright spots to emerge from this game, and why we went away from it I do not know (although sometimes the answer to that one is simply that the other team adjusts, and Brad lacks the athleticism and one on one ability to beat those adjustments). But in any case not nearly enough.
Martin ( D ) -- and with Brad's fast start, so went Kevin, who was the beneficiary of the superior ball movement Brad brought with him. Was also geting a lot of calls early, which let him pick up points at the line. Cooled way off in the second quarter though, and was basically missing everything that wasn't a layup. Nor could he get it going therafter, and even the foul calls went away for him. By the 4th began to try to force tough layups, and missed those too. Muss benched him soon therafter, and he did not return until the final 2 minutes, which was too late to do anything. Pretty aggressive tonight, but it was not effective aggression. Somehow/someway the Clips seem to have his number this year, and there is no logical explanation for that that I can see. So good first quarter working with Brad gets what grade there is here, and then just a long ineffective struggle.
Bibby ( B ) -- The storyline here changed dramatically in the final 15 minutes. Another slow start found Mike basically doing NOTHING in the first half. We took the ball out of his hands and gave it to Brad, with good results. But Mike on the other hand just disappeared. 1-5, 4pts 0reb 0ast at the half. At least the Clippers PGs were equally invisible, but overall if you just tuned in you wouldn't have even known that basketball was supposed to be 5 on 5 rather than 4 on 4. Not so much hurting us as doing nothing to help. Just staying out of the way. But started the second half with a little burst of offense, ironically at almost exactly the same time that Shawn Livingston responded on the other end with a little burst of his own. And it was a sign of things to come, as Mike, as the last possessor of our institutional memory of Clippers ownage, tried to do the I-own-the-Clippers hero bit again, heated up in the late third with a pair of threes and several other hits, and took over the offense in the 4th, carrying us back into it and threatening to add yet another storied collpase to the long trail of Clippers disasters dating back 15 games. More or less singlehandedly tried to steal it from the Clips, and poured in 22pts in the second half. But then he added one more late turn, as with us still with a chance, down 8 with a minute to go, Mike took a fall in a scrum, and after having led us back to within miracle distance, suddenly decided to go off and get himself a T (following fellow geniuses KT and Muss) to help seal our fate. Bizarre for the very guy leading you back to go off and scuttle you. Also a very one dimensional effort. 26pts 0rebs 3ast. Pretty much just a guy trying to force himself to life offensively to pull off the Clipper defeat one more time. But underneath may not have really had it. Feel almost obligated to give this grade given the high point total, decent shooting percentage, and timeliness of the surge, but underneath I do not really have the warm and fuzzies about this effort.
Salmons ( C+ ) -- some pretty good first half minutes with several early hoops at the rim off of ball movement. Also did a better job on Maggette than did Ron. Tried to help after half, but just kept on missing FTs as we were slipping away.
Douby ( INC ) -- came in, missed a three, sat down.
Reef ( B+ ) -- nothing in there offensively in the first half, but was at least battling on the boards. In the second half was a significant step up from Kenny and able to draw some defensive attention and cause some damage inside and out. Unfortunately ended a streak of 8 points by once again deciding to clank an unwanted three pointer -- note to Reef: you aren't a three point shooter, thx.
Corliss ( B- ) -- came in and gave us a little offensive burst in the late 2nd quarter to help us close a little gap and go into the half only down 1. Did a solid job bodying Brand as well. Faked the incompetent James Singleton out of his his shoes in the early 4th, and had some moments in there. But really hung around too long in place of Brad given that a) he is too damn short to be playing center; and b) Brad was the only guy able to make our offense go tonight. Was not so upset about Corliss himself -- he played pretty well and did what he could. But his usage left just a tad to be desired.
Garcia ( INC ) -- got in for the first time in the late 3rd, but helped with some hustle and then by hitting a three to draw us within 11. That's what its come down to this season -- we draw within 11 of a 12-16 team going into the 4th quarter and we're doing well. Woot!
Muss ( D ) -- Muss, a bit of career advice -- as a general rule of thumb its not a good idea to go out and lay a big ole stinkin' turd right in front of your bosses (the entire Maloof clan was sitting on the sideline for this one). Game started off on a mildly promisng note -- we seemed to be intentionally running a familiar looking Miller-centric offense, and the old Princeton backcuts were back and resulting in easy layups for Martin, Salmons, Brad himself. It was working. But then the Clips adjusted, we did not, and there a long offensive lull which saw us fall behind and start to crumble. The crumbling accelerated in the third...AGAIN a lousy quarter for us. So pronounced this year. And this time even Kevin sucked it up in that quarter -- often his strongest. Meanwhile Muss once again was obviously casting about for answers, trying this guy or that guy, odd lineups, short stints, long stints. Just a constant search. And for what I do not even really know. Wish I did, but I still have no idea what Muss is trying to accomplish, so I don't even know when things have truly come together on the floor. One can presume however, that tonight was not it. Kind of reminded me of the Golden State game a few weeks back where we went to Ron inside early to good effect for about half a quarter, the Warriors adjusted, and that was it, we were done. Similar thing here -- Muss had the one good idea (use Brad to run the offense) that worked for half a quarter, the Clippers adjusted, and that was it. We were done. No apparent backup plan. No more cute ideas. No confidence or structure. Muss finally capped his lovely evening of random experimentation by picking up an oh so wise T in the 4th before going back over to the bench to sit there like a dejected kid (again Muss -- the boss is there, not a good look). Well, Muss looked like I felt. Except I really am helpless to effect events, whereas Muss is at least theoretically supposed to be in a position to do something about it. Except he never seems to do so. And so we get guys playing terribly playing big minutes, guying playing well ignored. Deep benchers inserted at random moments. All while yet another opponent pounds us inside, scored 100+, shoots nearly 50%. And now Muss has the honor of having found a way to lose to the Los Angeles Clippers, which I think we had all assumed was virtually impossible. Thx coach! Not sure how much extra time calling your bosses to report in buys you in the NBA, but Muss really does need to figure something out here at some point, or needs the front ofice to give him some help with some major moves. The Maloofs let a far more decorated coach go a few months ago while sitting on the sidelines grumbling and second guessing every move, and I think truly believed in their deluded little minds that the new guy was going to come in and show the creaky old guard how you drive an NBA team to a title. Silly as that may have been, disappointed and impetuous autocrats can be dangerous to your long term employment status.
Artest ( F ) -- actually very briefly a pretty good start offensively, and defensively had the relatively easy job of guarding Tim Thomas. But after Maggette subbed in in the late first, he went right at Ron and scored on three straight possessions. And therafter for the remainder of the half Ron really wasn't terribly effective on EITHER side of the ball. Right in front of Sterling too. Guess there goes any trade to the Clippers for anything more than Quinton Ross and a bucket of Cheetos. And Ron gave us absolutely nothing after half, although he of course did chip in several rushed shots as we slipped away. Just for the sake of argument I'm going to take Ron/Muss at their word and assume Ron's knee may have been hurting, but regardless this was seriously as bad as we've ever seen him. Completely ineffective on EITHER side of the floor, and frankly not even sure why he was in there late, other than possibly just to delay the eruption of Mt. Artest for another couple of days if possible.
Thomas ( C- ) -- slowish start, but along with constant doubles and triples was containing Brand, and kept him of the glass in the first half. But Brand started really lighting him up in the third on a long series of 15 foot side pops. Tough shot to stop unless you have great height/length, which KT does not. Kenny's stirring response was to get frustrated and get a technical. Thanks. Was not seen after the third as Muss randomly substituted in anybody and everybody according to an old Ms. Cleo astrology chart he found in a thrift store.
Miller ( B- ) -- fast start again offensively, both with his shooting and passing, and in the early going Brad Miller was controlling the action for us, running an offense that was actually humming, and setting Kevin in particular up for almost all of his hits on the night. But soon therafter it was back to the old classic pattern -- Brad doing well on offense, but getting worked over at the other end by Chris Kaman inside. In the second half maybe the worst thing that could have happened to Brad was Kaman getting into foul trouble, because Muss seemed to follow suit with Brad, and his minutes were shortened. Of course given that he didn't do much after the break, maybe that was a good thing. In any case, his first half minutes were one of only two bright spots to emerge from this game, and why we went away from it I do not know (although sometimes the answer to that one is simply that the other team adjusts, and Brad lacks the athleticism and one on one ability to beat those adjustments). But in any case not nearly enough.
Martin ( D ) -- and with Brad's fast start, so went Kevin, who was the beneficiary of the superior ball movement Brad brought with him. Was also geting a lot of calls early, which let him pick up points at the line. Cooled way off in the second quarter though, and was basically missing everything that wasn't a layup. Nor could he get it going therafter, and even the foul calls went away for him. By the 4th began to try to force tough layups, and missed those too. Muss benched him soon therafter, and he did not return until the final 2 minutes, which was too late to do anything. Pretty aggressive tonight, but it was not effective aggression. Somehow/someway the Clips seem to have his number this year, and there is no logical explanation for that that I can see. So good first quarter working with Brad gets what grade there is here, and then just a long ineffective struggle.
Bibby ( B ) -- The storyline here changed dramatically in the final 15 minutes. Another slow start found Mike basically doing NOTHING in the first half. We took the ball out of his hands and gave it to Brad, with good results. But Mike on the other hand just disappeared. 1-5, 4pts 0reb 0ast at the half. At least the Clippers PGs were equally invisible, but overall if you just tuned in you wouldn't have even known that basketball was supposed to be 5 on 5 rather than 4 on 4. Not so much hurting us as doing nothing to help. Just staying out of the way. But started the second half with a little burst of offense, ironically at almost exactly the same time that Shawn Livingston responded on the other end with a little burst of his own. And it was a sign of things to come, as Mike, as the last possessor of our institutional memory of Clippers ownage, tried to do the I-own-the-Clippers hero bit again, heated up in the late third with a pair of threes and several other hits, and took over the offense in the 4th, carrying us back into it and threatening to add yet another storied collpase to the long trail of Clippers disasters dating back 15 games. More or less singlehandedly tried to steal it from the Clips, and poured in 22pts in the second half. But then he added one more late turn, as with us still with a chance, down 8 with a minute to go, Mike took a fall in a scrum, and after having led us back to within miracle distance, suddenly decided to go off and get himself a T (following fellow geniuses KT and Muss) to help seal our fate. Bizarre for the very guy leading you back to go off and scuttle you. Also a very one dimensional effort. 26pts 0rebs 3ast. Pretty much just a guy trying to force himself to life offensively to pull off the Clipper defeat one more time. But underneath may not have really had it. Feel almost obligated to give this grade given the high point total, decent shooting percentage, and timeliness of the surge, but underneath I do not really have the warm and fuzzies about this effort.
Salmons ( C+ ) -- some pretty good first half minutes with several early hoops at the rim off of ball movement. Also did a better job on Maggette than did Ron. Tried to help after half, but just kept on missing FTs as we were slipping away.
Douby ( INC ) -- came in, missed a three, sat down.
Reef ( B+ ) -- nothing in there offensively in the first half, but was at least battling on the boards. In the second half was a significant step up from Kenny and able to draw some defensive attention and cause some damage inside and out. Unfortunately ended a streak of 8 points by once again deciding to clank an unwanted three pointer -- note to Reef: you aren't a three point shooter, thx.
Corliss ( B- ) -- came in and gave us a little offensive burst in the late 2nd quarter to help us close a little gap and go into the half only down 1. Did a solid job bodying Brand as well. Faked the incompetent James Singleton out of his his shoes in the early 4th, and had some moments in there. But really hung around too long in place of Brad given that a) he is too damn short to be playing center; and b) Brad was the only guy able to make our offense go tonight. Was not so upset about Corliss himself -- he played pretty well and did what he could. But his usage left just a tad to be desired.
Garcia ( INC ) -- got in for the first time in the late 3rd, but helped with some hustle and then by hitting a three to draw us within 11. That's what its come down to this season -- we draw within 11 of a 12-16 team going into the 4th quarter and we're doing well. Woot!
Muss ( D ) -- Muss, a bit of career advice -- as a general rule of thumb its not a good idea to go out and lay a big ole stinkin' turd right in front of your bosses (the entire Maloof clan was sitting on the sideline for this one). Game started off on a mildly promisng note -- we seemed to be intentionally running a familiar looking Miller-centric offense, and the old Princeton backcuts were back and resulting in easy layups for Martin, Salmons, Brad himself. It was working. But then the Clips adjusted, we did not, and there a long offensive lull which saw us fall behind and start to crumble. The crumbling accelerated in the third...AGAIN a lousy quarter for us. So pronounced this year. And this time even Kevin sucked it up in that quarter -- often his strongest. Meanwhile Muss once again was obviously casting about for answers, trying this guy or that guy, odd lineups, short stints, long stints. Just a constant search. And for what I do not even really know. Wish I did, but I still have no idea what Muss is trying to accomplish, so I don't even know when things have truly come together on the floor. One can presume however, that tonight was not it. Kind of reminded me of the Golden State game a few weeks back where we went to Ron inside early to good effect for about half a quarter, the Warriors adjusted, and that was it, we were done. Similar thing here -- Muss had the one good idea (use Brad to run the offense) that worked for half a quarter, the Clippers adjusted, and that was it. We were done. No apparent backup plan. No more cute ideas. No confidence or structure. Muss finally capped his lovely evening of random experimentation by picking up an oh so wise T in the 4th before going back over to the bench to sit there like a dejected kid (again Muss -- the boss is there, not a good look). Well, Muss looked like I felt. Except I really am helpless to effect events, whereas Muss is at least theoretically supposed to be in a position to do something about it. Except he never seems to do so. And so we get guys playing terribly playing big minutes, guying playing well ignored. Deep benchers inserted at random moments. All while yet another opponent pounds us inside, scored 100+, shoots nearly 50%. And now Muss has the honor of having found a way to lose to the Los Angeles Clippers, which I think we had all assumed was virtually impossible. Thx coach! Not sure how much extra time calling your bosses to report in buys you in the NBA, but Muss really does need to figure something out here at some point, or needs the front ofice to give him some help with some major moves. The Maloofs let a far more decorated coach go a few months ago while sitting on the sidelines grumbling and second guessing every move, and I think truly believed in their deluded little minds that the new guy was going to come in and show the creaky old guard how you drive an NBA team to a title. Silly as that may have been, disappointed and impetuous autocrats can be dangerous to your long term employment status.
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