The more things change, the more they stay the same...
Boxscore
Stats: 32min 19pts (7-17, 1-4, 4-4) 5reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Summary: started off pretty well as the one King able to cut through the daze, but ran out of seam quickly.
Gay ( C ) -- there were a few minutes of hope in this one early on, and in retrospect many of them were provided because Rudy showed up for a while. Even so it was a mixed bag of nice plays (hitting a streaking WCS with the nice pass for the dunk) and ugly ones (missing a layup off the bottom of the rim, Bricklayer style). Luckily the Grizz were every bit as uninspiring as predicted by, well, me, and it was enough for a bit. Rudy even did a respectable job on Zach Randolph for a while on defense. But like it was last time out against the Clippers, Rudy's early strong play did not last. Our offense, barely sputtering along to start, entirely broke down in the second quarter, then I think everybody got depressed and the defense went too. Everything became 1 on 1, Rudy's efficiency went, and he had no impact at all after the first quarter. Nothing's really changed there: still a #2, we just can't survive the loss of the #1. --Brick
Stats: 34min 9pts (3-4, 0-0, 3-6) 7reb 1ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Summary: as it was with Blake, minimum effectiveness a a man to man stopper.
Cauley Stein ( C ) -- After two very good games, Willie fell off a little tonight. He still played well, but I think he tried to do too much without Cuz being there. I think the pace that the Grizz force you into playing doesn't help either. So chalk it up as a learning experience. He ended up with 9 points on 3 of 4 shooting and 7 boards. I would have liked to see him board a little bit better, but too many times he was out guarding on the perimeter which took him away from the basket. His defense was good, but he was up against two crafty veterans in Gasol and Randolph (Gasol only in the first half). He got called for a quick foul in the first quarter, but managed to keep the fouls under control the rest of the game. As usual his scoring came on cuts and putbacks, and to be honest, his teammates didn't look for him often. It's becoming obvious that Willie's weakness is his foul shooting. He really struggled tonight, but then so did the rest of the team. But it's something he needs to improve. Otherwise it will be hack a Willie at the end of games. --Baja
Stats: 26min 11pts (5-6, 0-0, 1-2) 6reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Summary: mediocre and in foul trouble, played like he was just these guys' backup.
Koufos ( C ) -- Koufos was fairly solid throughout the game. Nothing spectacular, just your typical blue collar game. He ended up with 11 points and 6 boards. The Kings got killed on the boards all night long, and it didn't seem to matter who Memphis had on the floor. Defensively he was solid, but to no avail. Randolph and Wright just had their way all night long, along with both Green's, especially JalMychal Green, who seemed to be all over the court. He scored 12 points and grabbed 12 boards in 20 minutes. Memphis was hungry tonight after getting blown out by the Warriors. Koufos and company ran into a well oiled machine. They played well in the first quarter, but that was it, the rest of the game was all Memphis. Hard to fault Koufos who did about as good a job as you might expect. He made 5 of 6 shots, made some very nice passes and I believe he got a steal. The one part of his game that was below par tonight was his rebounding. All the Kings seemed a step slow in reacting to loose balls. We need a win tomorrow night. --Baja
Stats: 20min 2pts (1-5, 0-2, 0-0) 2reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Summary: well at least he's consistent. Coaches love consistent.
McLemore ( D ) -- Well, let the McLemore Hate commence. There's not much that's going to stop it after an 1-5 outing, and hey, that plus two turnovers does kind of suck (though it is hard to have a big offensive game when your team won't pass the ball to you). But outside of Courtney Lee losing Ben twice very early in the first quarter for two makes, Ben had a pretty nice night on defense. It wasn't Ben getting burned all night - he only allowed a total of 9 points (3 of those hopelessly attempting to defend a 3-on-1, and hell, at least he was back in transition unlike his four teammates, 2 on free throws during garbagetime) and only allowed two other shots (missed threes by Barnes Russ Smith) in his 20 minutes. And do you remember who got the assignment to slow down the hot Conley to start the second half? Ben. How many shots did Conley get off? Zero. On top of that he got back and stopped transition nicely on one play in the first and was pretty much the only guy playing in garbagetime (and even forced a turnover and should have had another dunk in transition had the passer not been fouled). And hell, if we want to go there, at least Ben didn't miss any free throws tonight. Don't forget that he made two nice passes to Koufos for layups as well. Fact of the matter is, Ben had basically nothing to do with this loss. Did he have a poor offensive game? Sure. Did he have a poor defensive game? Not at all, in fact it was quite good. But, as Slim has pointed out, he's going to get the lion's share of the blame for this loss and he doesn't remotely deserve it. --Capt.
Stats: 27min 5pts (2-10, 0-1, 1-4) 6reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Summary: if you got got caught thinking. well, took over for a half with Cuz out vs. the Clips, so maybe...hold that thought
Rondo ( D- ) -- was having to try to carry the offense early as nothing else was happening, but even though he got a couple of things to fall, he never was efficient. His free throw issues this time dovetailed with those of the rest of the team, and things got ugly from the stripe. Had one good play that started out badly, s he got blocked inside by Wright, but scrapped inside and stole the ball back, and then fed WCS coming down the lane. Was helping on the glass -- a welcome sight from such a little guard given that none of our other guards seem to want any part of that. But it ended up being maybe his biggest contribution as our offense looked putrid, and Conley was just escaping him with ease and going right arounf him on defense. --Brick
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