Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
The grades are skewed too high here -- not sure how to lower. This happens sometimes in freewheeling offensive games, even though objectively barely beating a bad opponent should not warrant marks like these. But the stats just look so pretty, you see? 
Garcia ( C+ ) -- with not only Salmons, but briefly, Ron, not ready to go to start this one, Cisco went from towel waving duty to starter, and even after Ron was patched up and returned, Cisco went on to his first significant minutes of the season. And did...ok. Not great, did not excel in any one area. But had a few moments, a made three, a block on defense, and some general activity. And while he made a few mistakes, they weren't really terrible ones that hurt us. So...welcome back to the rotation kid. Now let's see if you can hold it as Salmons gets healthy.
Thomas ( B- ) -- a solid game by Thomas that unfortunately petered off into irrelevancy down the stretch. For much of the game was on the glass and must have been happy to look around and see barely a single player who he had to look up to to have a conversation. Still didn't help him offensively where it was ugly aside from an assisted layup courtesy of Bibby. But he hustled around to pretty good effect on the glass, and also nabbed a couple of steals the same way. Unfortunately he was completely invisible in the final 15 minutes or so of the game when it looked like the Grizzlies were going to come steal this one from us, and I'm not sure I can recall either he or Reef stepping in once to stop dribble penetration the whole night.
Reef ( A ) -- wait wait -- I know this one since we were just talking about it the other day. First double double for Shareef since Dec '05. And maybe his most complete (although not necessarily best) game in literally years. Of course it helped that he looked like Shaq out there in a game between two teams that would be small in the NCAA, but he still put up a Sacto era high 13 rebs, and through three quarters was scoring if not at will, at least consistently Had a big first half against the Grizzlies undersized front line, with the only thing really slowing him down a B.S. call for his 3rd foul near the end of the half. Carried it over into the second half, when after a slow start he followed a little spurt from Kevin with one of his own to push us back to a little lead and set up the...well dogfight down the stretch is entirely too dramatic, but close enough. Good sign too that he was NOT ridiculously hot. This wasn't just a lucky streak thing. For the most part he wwas aggressive, and got his points this time from attacking, sometimes missing, sometimes being denied, but then coming back again and attacking some more. Did not do much in the late stages, and the interior defense was awful, but it was notable in this one that we felt like a different, and lesser, team this time out whenever Reef went to the bench for any stretch.
Martin ( A- ) -- was bombing away from the 3pt line along with Bobby in the early going, and maybe more significantly was also racking up assists as well. But Memphis started paying attention, and Kevin disappeared for a long stretch of the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Woke back up midway through the third though after shaking Mike Miller on the perimeter for a layup, and as it often does, that set Kevin off on a streak where he was dueling with Chucky Atkins of all people. Scored 7 pts in about a minute, and helped shake us out of the doldrums even while quieting back down himself. Finally reappeared again after a second silent stint when we drew up a three for him out of a timeout late int eh 4th, and added a half grade with a clutch three and FTs in the last two minutes. Kind of an on and off game, with spectacular bursts interspersed with long dry spells. In the end, 24 more on the board though.
Bibby ( A- ) -- big big night statistically left me in a bit of a quandry here. Was our leading scorer in the first half, opening up with a couple of threes and continuing to pepper in shots including a buzzer beating hoop at the end of the first half off of a Martin tip. Also had some nifty little old school floaters and flips down inside. However was also the primary victim in the third when Chucky Atkins (!) announced that it was Chucky's world, and we were all just living in it, sefishly gunning, but hitting everything he threw up and scoring 16 pts in less than 6 minutes to start the quarter. To his credit, as the quarter wore on Mike responded with his own hot shooting, and in the late third through early 4th he was in one of those can't miss zones, scoring from everywhere at will. Unfortunately he appearently continued to think he was int hat kind of zone as the game got tight down the stretch, and really threw up some bad shots down the stretch. Meanwhile Atkins went for 27 in a half -- that's Mr. Chucky Atkins to you -- and we damn enar lost a home game to the worst team recordwise in the NBA. So while it was hard to do so given a 30 and 10 night -- somrthing that probably less than 5% of NBA players EVER accomplish in their careers, the combination of the Atkins heroics and some real forces in the final two minutes here lowers this one a half grade from the otherwise obvious A.
Artest ( B ) -- meet our new 6th man! Missed the beginning of this one in alarming fashion -- suddenly coming down with back spasms And while you could not really tell after he was inserted late in the first quarter, there may have been a slight spark lacking this time out. Had a pretty good offensive mix of inside and outside but only sporadically exerted himself on that end of the floor. Finished with an unusually efficent 8-12, although a pair of missed FTs in the 4th could have hurt. And on the other end was unusually quiet. The game was just sloppy defensively for both sides, and at no point did anybody, Ron included, really step up and turn momentum ont hat end. Also lost several rebounds when he had them ripped right out of his hands. Efficient offensive effort, but one of those that displays the difference between just putting points on the board, no matter how efficiently, and an impact player, even if that guy only shoots 40% on a lot of nights. So solid effort, but not an impact game for a player of Ron's caliber.
Williamson ( C+ ) -- was active in a first half stint, if a bit sloppy, and with Salmons gone got himself basically a full bencher's minutes this time out. Was ready as always, scored well, but was almost too big in this silly smallballing game. Was outquicked, and had trouble on both the boards and defense.
Price ( C ) -- nothing awful, but we lost momentum with him in there at the point in the first half. Did score a hoop off a nice little curl. Got back inthe game at the end of the third, this time at OG I think, but again we got sloppy and stalled with him out there, and he was replaced fairly quickly by Martin.
Muss ( B ) -- So what do you get when you put two of the more inept offensive teams in the league together on one floor? A fast paced free flowing offensive shootout of course. Jeesh. Falls squarely into the "win is a win" category. Muss was faced with a potential challenge when before the game Ron suddenly hurt his back and it looked like we might have to go into this one without Ron, Brad, or Salmons. But he made it back out for the latter stages of the first, and was not obviously hobbled while playing heavy minutes. The game itself was, I dunno, kind of a scrimmage. Not much intensity, lots of pretty numbers, but unfortunately for both sides. It was good to see Cisco get another opportunity out there with Salmons oout and Ron ailing -- this might be his chance to reestablish himself in the rotation if Salmons misses a few more. Still be a problem with no real minutes at those positions and Salmons and he bringing similar things to the table, but you get the feeling getting Muss to trust him could be a big step. We started the game off well, but I'm not sure what Muss's halftime speech was, but it should be shelved. As should this particular brand of inattentive defense. Makes you wonder -- couldn't have just been not having the defensive captain entirely healthy could it? One would hope the falloff wouldn;t be this severe, especially not with him back on court. In any case the Grizz came into the game averaging 91ppg on 39% shooting, and scored 111 on 53% shooting tonight. Let's just chalk it up to a bad night, but tommorow should be an interesting test with us right back into the defensive fire against the master of run n gun himself. Mus earns soem extra credit here for a timeout play he drew up at about the 5 minute mark of the 4th, when remarkably we looked ot be in danger of losing this one. Drew up a three for Kevin, which he promptly drained to give us the lead.
Chucky Atkins ( F ) -- what the hell was that Chucky? I mean, WTF? Save it for the Lakers -- they traded you, not us.
Garcia ( C+ ) -- with not only Salmons, but briefly, Ron, not ready to go to start this one, Cisco went from towel waving duty to starter, and even after Ron was patched up and returned, Cisco went on to his first significant minutes of the season. And did...ok. Not great, did not excel in any one area. But had a few moments, a made three, a block on defense, and some general activity. And while he made a few mistakes, they weren't really terrible ones that hurt us. So...welcome back to the rotation kid. Now let's see if you can hold it as Salmons gets healthy.
Thomas ( B- ) -- a solid game by Thomas that unfortunately petered off into irrelevancy down the stretch. For much of the game was on the glass and must have been happy to look around and see barely a single player who he had to look up to to have a conversation. Still didn't help him offensively where it was ugly aside from an assisted layup courtesy of Bibby. But he hustled around to pretty good effect on the glass, and also nabbed a couple of steals the same way. Unfortunately he was completely invisible in the final 15 minutes or so of the game when it looked like the Grizzlies were going to come steal this one from us, and I'm not sure I can recall either he or Reef stepping in once to stop dribble penetration the whole night.
Reef ( A ) -- wait wait -- I know this one since we were just talking about it the other day. First double double for Shareef since Dec '05. And maybe his most complete (although not necessarily best) game in literally years. Of course it helped that he looked like Shaq out there in a game between two teams that would be small in the NCAA, but he still put up a Sacto era high 13 rebs, and through three quarters was scoring if not at will, at least consistently Had a big first half against the Grizzlies undersized front line, with the only thing really slowing him down a B.S. call for his 3rd foul near the end of the half. Carried it over into the second half, when after a slow start he followed a little spurt from Kevin with one of his own to push us back to a little lead and set up the...well dogfight down the stretch is entirely too dramatic, but close enough. Good sign too that he was NOT ridiculously hot. This wasn't just a lucky streak thing. For the most part he wwas aggressive, and got his points this time from attacking, sometimes missing, sometimes being denied, but then coming back again and attacking some more. Did not do much in the late stages, and the interior defense was awful, but it was notable in this one that we felt like a different, and lesser, team this time out whenever Reef went to the bench for any stretch.
Martin ( A- ) -- was bombing away from the 3pt line along with Bobby in the early going, and maybe more significantly was also racking up assists as well. But Memphis started paying attention, and Kevin disappeared for a long stretch of the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Woke back up midway through the third though after shaking Mike Miller on the perimeter for a layup, and as it often does, that set Kevin off on a streak where he was dueling with Chucky Atkins of all people. Scored 7 pts in about a minute, and helped shake us out of the doldrums even while quieting back down himself. Finally reappeared again after a second silent stint when we drew up a three for him out of a timeout late int eh 4th, and added a half grade with a clutch three and FTs in the last two minutes. Kind of an on and off game, with spectacular bursts interspersed with long dry spells. In the end, 24 more on the board though.
Bibby ( A- ) -- big big night statistically left me in a bit of a quandry here. Was our leading scorer in the first half, opening up with a couple of threes and continuing to pepper in shots including a buzzer beating hoop at the end of the first half off of a Martin tip. Also had some nifty little old school floaters and flips down inside. However was also the primary victim in the third when Chucky Atkins (!) announced that it was Chucky's world, and we were all just living in it, sefishly gunning, but hitting everything he threw up and scoring 16 pts in less than 6 minutes to start the quarter. To his credit, as the quarter wore on Mike responded with his own hot shooting, and in the late third through early 4th he was in one of those can't miss zones, scoring from everywhere at will. Unfortunately he appearently continued to think he was int hat kind of zone as the game got tight down the stretch, and really threw up some bad shots down the stretch. Meanwhile Atkins went for 27 in a half -- that's Mr. Chucky Atkins to you -- and we damn enar lost a home game to the worst team recordwise in the NBA. So while it was hard to do so given a 30 and 10 night -- somrthing that probably less than 5% of NBA players EVER accomplish in their careers, the combination of the Atkins heroics and some real forces in the final two minutes here lowers this one a half grade from the otherwise obvious A.
Artest ( B ) -- meet our new 6th man! Missed the beginning of this one in alarming fashion -- suddenly coming down with back spasms And while you could not really tell after he was inserted late in the first quarter, there may have been a slight spark lacking this time out. Had a pretty good offensive mix of inside and outside but only sporadically exerted himself on that end of the floor. Finished with an unusually efficent 8-12, although a pair of missed FTs in the 4th could have hurt. And on the other end was unusually quiet. The game was just sloppy defensively for both sides, and at no point did anybody, Ron included, really step up and turn momentum ont hat end. Also lost several rebounds when he had them ripped right out of his hands. Efficient offensive effort, but one of those that displays the difference between just putting points on the board, no matter how efficiently, and an impact player, even if that guy only shoots 40% on a lot of nights. So solid effort, but not an impact game for a player of Ron's caliber.
Williamson ( C+ ) -- was active in a first half stint, if a bit sloppy, and with Salmons gone got himself basically a full bencher's minutes this time out. Was ready as always, scored well, but was almost too big in this silly smallballing game. Was outquicked, and had trouble on both the boards and defense.
Price ( C ) -- nothing awful, but we lost momentum with him in there at the point in the first half. Did score a hoop off a nice little curl. Got back inthe game at the end of the third, this time at OG I think, but again we got sloppy and stalled with him out there, and he was replaced fairly quickly by Martin.
Muss ( B ) -- So what do you get when you put two of the more inept offensive teams in the league together on one floor? A fast paced free flowing offensive shootout of course. Jeesh. Falls squarely into the "win is a win" category. Muss was faced with a potential challenge when before the game Ron suddenly hurt his back and it looked like we might have to go into this one without Ron, Brad, or Salmons. But he made it back out for the latter stages of the first, and was not obviously hobbled while playing heavy minutes. The game itself was, I dunno, kind of a scrimmage. Not much intensity, lots of pretty numbers, but unfortunately for both sides. It was good to see Cisco get another opportunity out there with Salmons oout and Ron ailing -- this might be his chance to reestablish himself in the rotation if Salmons misses a few more. Still be a problem with no real minutes at those positions and Salmons and he bringing similar things to the table, but you get the feeling getting Muss to trust him could be a big step. We started the game off well, but I'm not sure what Muss's halftime speech was, but it should be shelved. As should this particular brand of inattentive defense. Makes you wonder -- couldn't have just been not having the defensive captain entirely healthy could it? One would hope the falloff wouldn;t be this severe, especially not with him back on court. In any case the Grizz came into the game averaging 91ppg on 39% shooting, and scored 111 on 53% shooting tonight. Let's just chalk it up to a bad night, but tommorow should be an interesting test with us right back into the defensive fire against the master of run n gun himself. Mus earns soem extra credit here for a timeout play he drew up at about the 5 minute mark of the 4th, when remarkably we looked ot be in danger of losing this one. Drew up a three for Kevin, which he promptly drained to give us the lead.
Chucky Atkins ( F ) -- what the hell was that Chucky? I mean, WTF? Save it for the Lakers -- they traded you, not us.
Last edited:
