Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( B- ) -- got off to another shaky start, but was actually being put into the high post position and doing a nice job distributing. Then on a play in which he almost made another turnover by bouncing the ball off his knee, he chased it down and recovered to hit a LONG 35ft three pointer that ignited him. Stole the ball and dunked the next possession and settled in. Played a solid game on both ends of the court for 3/4, fought pretty well on defense, and picked his spots on offense. Some good signs early from Peja -- rebounding was still weak, but he's starting to find his teammates in scoing position (as opposed to just giving it up passively), and he again showed a little of Reggie Miller in his game by screaming and kicking and basically flopping his way to the FT line. That's very annoying in an opponent, but makes guys much harder to guard. Never really a threat to take over the game, but gave us just enough offense to let our defensive hustle carry the day. Had him up in the A-/B+ range with about 15min to go in the game, but his grade really plummeted with his play from the late third onward -- James Posey in particular began to really really squeeze him, and Peja responded with a bunch of forced off balnce shots and bad turnovers.
Songaila ( B- ) -- nice solid first half in support of the Evans/Skinner hustle duo. Worked hard, was uncommonly strong on the glass for Darius, and still settled down to stroke his jumper. Started to attack the middle in the third, but less effective down there than he had been from the outside. Had a rough end to the third, when he and Bibby combined for some careless turnovers, and he was moved over to center alongside Corliss and Peja -- the Grizz started to dominate the middle with that alignment. And really looked like he was lacking confidence with his play in the 4th quarter
Skinner ( A ) -- the makings of a Sacto cult hero here. He is playing the game that Massenburg could only talk about last year and giving us the first active interior presence we've had since Keon. Got off to a tremendous start and set the tone for us in a remarkable first half where we, the Sacramento Kings, grabbed 17 offensive rebounds in a HALF. Slowed down a bit in the second half, but remained the strong and steady heart of our interior throughout the game. More than just a numbers things for him tonight -- Brian Skinner is not talented enough to get numbers to singlehandedly beat anybody. But tonight he did something more critical and along with Mo seemed to set a tone for the entire TEAM, and that's huge.
Evans ( A ) -- came out and proved that Sunday was not a fluke. Hit the boards HARD, and was extremely active on both sides of the floor. He and Skinner together in the starting lineup have changed the culture the last two games. Less effective in the second half than the first, and started to miss his shots, but still finished the game with 14 rebounds and numerous hustle plays. Now the question will be what happens when Brad and Cat get back?
Bibby ( A- ) -- This was a pretty quiet game for three-quarters -- the hustle guys were dominating the game, and Peja was chipping in points here and there, while Mike was just biding his time. But with the team dead in the water on offense, it was Mike who finally stepped up to unmire us after we had one of the coldest offensive streaks in recent Kings memory in the late 3rd to early 4th. We went FOREVER without a made FG, and then Mike decided enough was enough and hit three straight all by himself. Excellent leadership there -- but Mike was basically the only guy on the floor who hit anything for us for a whole QUARTER -- think it was Mike 10pts, rest of the Kings 1pt. Made a bad bad play in the last two minutes turning his head to allow the tying layup, but then turned right around to hit the monster clutch shot at the buzzer to win it. Grade shoots way way up for the fourth quarter -- not even so much that he was great the whole quarter, as that he was ALL we had. Without Mike we lose this game off a historically bad 4th quarter collapse. His team, his responsibility now, and he came through. Big ups.
Williamson ( C+ ) -- came in in that ugly Peja/Corliss forward tandem, and it worked well during the first half -- this was where the absence of both of the Grizz PFs really helped us tonight -- rather than Darius vs. Gasol and Corliss vs. Swift
we got Darius v. Cardinal and Corliss vs. Ryan Humphrey, who he was just too strong for. But in the second half an attempt to return to that lineup was disastrous -- Corliss could get nothing going, forced shots, turned the ball over, and on one play inexplicably tried to take Big Jake Tsakalidis one on one at the end of the third -- uh, Corliss, you may be the Big Nasty, but Big Jake has you by about 6 inches and 50lbs.
Martin ( B ) -- came off the bench and kept the ball rolling defensively and with his athleticism. Could not match Mo's great boardwork, but helped keep the energy high from that OG spot. In the second half we tried to bring him back in to give Mo another breather, but he was immediately victimized by the much stronger Posey in the post, and Rick brought Mo right back in.
Ostertag ( B+ ) -- some ragged moments, but basically came in and picked right up where Skinner left off blocking shots, doing all the dirty work. Did all of that, really contributed, and yet once again no second half run -- instead we elected to go with the super small Darius/Corliss/Peja at the end of the third, and it did not work at all.
House ( INC ) -- brief first half stint, did not do much. Was reinserted on the final play, but played no role.
Adelman ( B ) -- whew! Very happy to come out of this one with the win -- maybe a little karmic payback for all of the blown calls last month. Huge huge shot by Bibby, but I can see the Grizz's argument. Not sure myself after seeing the ball tipped on the inbound, but for once here we got the tough call. We won as the anti-Kings. Hustle hustle and hustle, but the shorthanded offense fell completely apart late in the game. Nonetheless all season long we've been clutch, and here it was one more time -- what is that, half a dozen last second hits this year? Pretty remarkable really. Brian Skinner and Mo Evans deserve huge credit here -- last two games those guys have tried to singlehandedly (ok, doublehandedly) turn around our entire softy culture. You can see tonight that that's not going to be enough by itself in the end, but if it can just bleed over to our offensive players we'll be in good shape. So why only the "B" here? Because as hard as we played throughout the game, we collapsed down the stretch, and I think Rick may have inadvertently had a hand in it. Our starting 5 were playing this game HARD, but Rick went with them almost the whole way in the second half again, and I think they just ran out of steam. It would be one thing if the bench sucked in the first half, but it didn't. Acquitted itself quite well in our best quarter of the night (the second). To not try to buy some more time with Tag and Martin didn't make much sense -- our two key players of the night were Skinner and Mo, but they were less effective late than they were early, and big big minutes may well have been a part of that. I'm sure Rick was thinking that he couldn't bring in Tag with the team struggling on offense, but he always thinks that. And maybe if he buys a few minutes with Tag or Martin, the main guys come back with more energy to score later once they return. Anyway...we won down three major players (although Memphis was in the same boat), so can only complain so much.
Songaila ( B- ) -- nice solid first half in support of the Evans/Skinner hustle duo. Worked hard, was uncommonly strong on the glass for Darius, and still settled down to stroke his jumper. Started to attack the middle in the third, but less effective down there than he had been from the outside. Had a rough end to the third, when he and Bibby combined for some careless turnovers, and he was moved over to center alongside Corliss and Peja -- the Grizz started to dominate the middle with that alignment. And really looked like he was lacking confidence with his play in the 4th quarter
Skinner ( A ) -- the makings of a Sacto cult hero here. He is playing the game that Massenburg could only talk about last year and giving us the first active interior presence we've had since Keon. Got off to a tremendous start and set the tone for us in a remarkable first half where we, the Sacramento Kings, grabbed 17 offensive rebounds in a HALF. Slowed down a bit in the second half, but remained the strong and steady heart of our interior throughout the game. More than just a numbers things for him tonight -- Brian Skinner is not talented enough to get numbers to singlehandedly beat anybody. But tonight he did something more critical and along with Mo seemed to set a tone for the entire TEAM, and that's huge.
Evans ( A ) -- came out and proved that Sunday was not a fluke. Hit the boards HARD, and was extremely active on both sides of the floor. He and Skinner together in the starting lineup have changed the culture the last two games. Less effective in the second half than the first, and started to miss his shots, but still finished the game with 14 rebounds and numerous hustle plays. Now the question will be what happens when Brad and Cat get back?
Bibby ( A- ) -- This was a pretty quiet game for three-quarters -- the hustle guys were dominating the game, and Peja was chipping in points here and there, while Mike was just biding his time. But with the team dead in the water on offense, it was Mike who finally stepped up to unmire us after we had one of the coldest offensive streaks in recent Kings memory in the late 3rd to early 4th. We went FOREVER without a made FG, and then Mike decided enough was enough and hit three straight all by himself. Excellent leadership there -- but Mike was basically the only guy on the floor who hit anything for us for a whole QUARTER -- think it was Mike 10pts, rest of the Kings 1pt. Made a bad bad play in the last two minutes turning his head to allow the tying layup, but then turned right around to hit the monster clutch shot at the buzzer to win it. Grade shoots way way up for the fourth quarter -- not even so much that he was great the whole quarter, as that he was ALL we had. Without Mike we lose this game off a historically bad 4th quarter collapse. His team, his responsibility now, and he came through. Big ups.
Williamson ( C+ ) -- came in in that ugly Peja/Corliss forward tandem, and it worked well during the first half -- this was where the absence of both of the Grizz PFs really helped us tonight -- rather than Darius vs. Gasol and Corliss vs. Swift
we got Darius v. Cardinal and Corliss vs. Ryan Humphrey, who he was just too strong for. But in the second half an attempt to return to that lineup was disastrous -- Corliss could get nothing going, forced shots, turned the ball over, and on one play inexplicably tried to take Big Jake Tsakalidis one on one at the end of the third -- uh, Corliss, you may be the Big Nasty, but Big Jake has you by about 6 inches and 50lbs.Martin ( B ) -- came off the bench and kept the ball rolling defensively and with his athleticism. Could not match Mo's great boardwork, but helped keep the energy high from that OG spot. In the second half we tried to bring him back in to give Mo another breather, but he was immediately victimized by the much stronger Posey in the post, and Rick brought Mo right back in.
Ostertag ( B+ ) -- some ragged moments, but basically came in and picked right up where Skinner left off blocking shots, doing all the dirty work. Did all of that, really contributed, and yet once again no second half run -- instead we elected to go with the super small Darius/Corliss/Peja at the end of the third, and it did not work at all.
House ( INC ) -- brief first half stint, did not do much. Was reinserted on the final play, but played no role.
Adelman ( B ) -- whew! Very happy to come out of this one with the win -- maybe a little karmic payback for all of the blown calls last month. Huge huge shot by Bibby, but I can see the Grizz's argument. Not sure myself after seeing the ball tipped on the inbound, but for once here we got the tough call. We won as the anti-Kings. Hustle hustle and hustle, but the shorthanded offense fell completely apart late in the game. Nonetheless all season long we've been clutch, and here it was one more time -- what is that, half a dozen last second hits this year? Pretty remarkable really. Brian Skinner and Mo Evans deserve huge credit here -- last two games those guys have tried to singlehandedly (ok, doublehandedly) turn around our entire softy culture. You can see tonight that that's not going to be enough by itself in the end, but if it can just bleed over to our offensive players we'll be in good shape. So why only the "B" here? Because as hard as we played throughout the game, we collapsed down the stretch, and I think Rick may have inadvertently had a hand in it. Our starting 5 were playing this game HARD, but Rick went with them almost the whole way in the second half again, and I think they just ran out of steam. It would be one thing if the bench sucked in the first half, but it didn't. Acquitted itself quite well in our best quarter of the night (the second). To not try to buy some more time with Tag and Martin didn't make much sense -- our two key players of the night were Skinner and Mo, but they were less effective late than they were early, and big big minutes may well have been a part of that. I'm sure Rick was thinking that he couldn't bring in Tag with the team struggling on offense, but he always thinks that. And maybe if he buys a few minutes with Tag or Martin, the main guys come back with more energy to score later once they return. Anyway...we won down three major players (although Memphis was in the same boat), so can only complain so much.
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