Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Artest ( A- ) -- good offensive start scoring inside and out while the rest of the team was flat, and again showed that he is just a far better defender than either Al Harrington (first half) or Joe Johnson (second half) are offenders. Basically a #1 defender against two guys who should be #3 options on offense. Midrange jumper looked good tonight, and created shots again by drawing doubles in the post and kicking it out. Just looked much more comfortable in the offense, frequently ran things for us, and rarely forced. Ron continues to be perhaps the hardest player I've ever had to grade for these threads because so much of his impact game to game, good or bad, is intangible and off the statsheet. Tonight was an impact game for him. Stats were good, but not overwhelming, but he completely locked up whoever he was on, and on the other end smoothly fit within and even ran the offense. Just was in control and confidently winning all the matchups.
Thomas ( C ) -- could see the energy was just not quite as good tonight. It came in fits and spurts, but he was often losing those hustle battles to get to the ball, and its not as if the Hawks were an overwhelmingly large team just playing above Kenny's head. Hung in there and provided a little moment here and there, but never got anything really going. And in the second half Harrington recovered from a sluggish start to really take it to him on the other end. Not a devastatingly bad outing and as always got a good number of boards, but certainly not one to write home about either.
Miller ( A ) -- started off the game passively settling for standstill
jumpers, with his only real early contribution being a three pointer at the end of the first quarter (often not the best sign for Brad's aggressiveness). But came alive in the second, in particular after ex-King Mike Woodson decided to aid his former team for old time's sake and sub in Eduardo Batista (who looks 6'8"ish) to play center. And Brad responded with actual big man play, scoring in the post with a real post move (half hook) and making several aggressive drives to the front of the rim. Nor did he lose the aggressiveness in the second half when he scored on a bunch of continuations as the Hawks showed their youth and lack of defensive mentality with slap and touch fouls. Really probably the player that separated the two teams after half. The Hawks' only semi-legit center (Pachulia) was saddled with major foul trouble, and basically nobody else that guarded Brad was over 6'9". And he recognized and used that body rather than settling for the jumper. Result = a big game in a big win for us.
Martin ( A- ) -- one of Kevin's best road games of the year. FAR more aggressive this time out, not just taking open shots, but creating and attacking. Had a great explosive drive off the right wing where he did the football cradle ala...trying to remember who always does that. Anyway, great aggressive drive seeing the seam and attacking it. In the first half was a bit careless on defense as his men were scoring easily on the other end. But Ron took care of that little problem full time after the half and Kevin continued to chip in points and rebounds -- came back and gave us a nice boost on the glass tonight. And this is all again why I will just draw that line: 4-7 on open threes and alley oops is 50%+ shooting. It is also irrelevant. But 7-13 while attacking and forcing the action is another animal together. And tonight we saw the sort of aggression we need out of Kevin every night.
Bibby ( B ) -- This was a grade that climbed dramatically down the stretch, to the point that I think it may even be a half tick too high. Mike was really running the team well early and made some great feeds on the break setting up Ron, Kevin, Brad. In the early going more important actually than his struggles to get his shot going, and that's rarely true of Mike. But until we hit the final quarter the shooting woes began to become an issue as Mike was clearly struggling and frustrated for long stretches. As he often does though, picked the right time of the game to finally step up and start hitting some shots, running off 8 points to help close the Hawks out down the stretch. The late rush carried this up from somewhere in the Cs, and statistically at least, looks good. Think in reality he had maybe a good first 8 minutes and a good last 8 minutes with a whole bunch of struggle between. But it was enough, and it was timely.
Bonzi ( C+ ) -- looked the rusty part, but again showed moments of the power potential of a Bonzi/Artest pairing, adn for the most part the two kept from stepping on each others' toes. Made some nice offensive moves and battled, but was struggling to finish. Certainly nowehere near the vintage Bonzi of early season, and by his standards not really a C+ either. But given the circumstances, came in and gave us some nice solid reserve minutes, and did not look bad out there. Maybe not ready to start, but able to contribute, and that right there is very welcome news as we go through the next few weeks sans Cisco.
Reef ( B- ) -- offensively quite aggressive and really oour only punch off the bench tonight. It was messy as he unable to get some things to fall but ended up at the line time and again. But effective. Was repeatedly left on doubles and got right to the front of the rim to draw fouls in what had to be a very flawed defensive scheme by the Hawks. I might leave Reef open for a jumper, but I'm not going to switch off of him and let him roll into the paint. Gave us nothing much on the glass again (1 rebound in 21min), and while he gave us points and helped get the Hawks in foul trouble, it certainly wasn't a thing of beauty. So B- I think. But does absolutely continue to show that he can have significant punch as a 6th man. Maybe something like Jamison a few years back. Not really a 6th man type game, but a significant scorer and longtime starter coming in against reserves.
Hart ( INC ) -- no Cisco meant we were back to Hart as the backup PG. At least for a few minutes in the first half. Played like...well, like Jason Hart. And we were so impressed we found other options and played Mike most of the way in the second half.
Adelman ( A ) -- Now this was good solid road win. Never had the shaky collapsing streak, didn't try to give the game away late. Certainly weren't dominant, but were solid all game and pulled away late as the superior team. We did get off to a very sluggish start with everybody just standing around, but an early timeout by Rick seemed to get everybody dialed back in and the energy was better therafter. Stuck with the 7 man rotation pretty much...but this time man #7 was none other than Bonzi Wells finally back from the forever groin injury. Game was really won by the starters though. None of them were first-class great, but 4 of the 5 had good games. Ron led, Brad stepped up against the small interior guys for the Hawks, and Kevin finally showed some aggression on the road. And I'm going to go ahead and give Rick the straight "A" here. It was a very good win for us, and Rick was coaching it throughout. Had the early settling timeout, and was directing a lot of the action throughout. Also never made what I would consider to be a questionable substitution or strategy decision. Let Ron smother Joe Johnson again in the second half, and just made solid, if standard rotations with Reef at the 4/5 and Bonzi at the 2/3. The only real question was what to do with the backup PG position, and Rick let Hart go for a few in the first half and then just pretty much had Mike run the show all the way down the stretch. Its possible all the minutes for Mike (he is 6th in the NBA in minutes this year) might catch up to us sooner or later. But you do what you have to do. And we did what we had to do -- which was win this one to make sure that this road trip at the very least will keep us hanging around even if we do not win another game, and could help us really get into the thick of things if we can keep it rolling.
Thomas ( C ) -- could see the energy was just not quite as good tonight. It came in fits and spurts, but he was often losing those hustle battles to get to the ball, and its not as if the Hawks were an overwhelmingly large team just playing above Kenny's head. Hung in there and provided a little moment here and there, but never got anything really going. And in the second half Harrington recovered from a sluggish start to really take it to him on the other end. Not a devastatingly bad outing and as always got a good number of boards, but certainly not one to write home about either.
Miller ( A ) -- started off the game passively settling for standstill
jumpers, with his only real early contribution being a three pointer at the end of the first quarter (often not the best sign for Brad's aggressiveness). But came alive in the second, in particular after ex-King Mike Woodson decided to aid his former team for old time's sake and sub in Eduardo Batista (who looks 6'8"ish) to play center. And Brad responded with actual big man play, scoring in the post with a real post move (half hook) and making several aggressive drives to the front of the rim. Nor did he lose the aggressiveness in the second half when he scored on a bunch of continuations as the Hawks showed their youth and lack of defensive mentality with slap and touch fouls. Really probably the player that separated the two teams after half. The Hawks' only semi-legit center (Pachulia) was saddled with major foul trouble, and basically nobody else that guarded Brad was over 6'9". And he recognized and used that body rather than settling for the jumper. Result = a big game in a big win for us.
Martin ( A- ) -- one of Kevin's best road games of the year. FAR more aggressive this time out, not just taking open shots, but creating and attacking. Had a great explosive drive off the right wing where he did the football cradle ala...trying to remember who always does that. Anyway, great aggressive drive seeing the seam and attacking it. In the first half was a bit careless on defense as his men were scoring easily on the other end. But Ron took care of that little problem full time after the half and Kevin continued to chip in points and rebounds -- came back and gave us a nice boost on the glass tonight. And this is all again why I will just draw that line: 4-7 on open threes and alley oops is 50%+ shooting. It is also irrelevant. But 7-13 while attacking and forcing the action is another animal together. And tonight we saw the sort of aggression we need out of Kevin every night.
Bibby ( B ) -- This was a grade that climbed dramatically down the stretch, to the point that I think it may even be a half tick too high. Mike was really running the team well early and made some great feeds on the break setting up Ron, Kevin, Brad. In the early going more important actually than his struggles to get his shot going, and that's rarely true of Mike. But until we hit the final quarter the shooting woes began to become an issue as Mike was clearly struggling and frustrated for long stretches. As he often does though, picked the right time of the game to finally step up and start hitting some shots, running off 8 points to help close the Hawks out down the stretch. The late rush carried this up from somewhere in the Cs, and statistically at least, looks good. Think in reality he had maybe a good first 8 minutes and a good last 8 minutes with a whole bunch of struggle between. But it was enough, and it was timely.
Bonzi ( C+ ) -- looked the rusty part, but again showed moments of the power potential of a Bonzi/Artest pairing, adn for the most part the two kept from stepping on each others' toes. Made some nice offensive moves and battled, but was struggling to finish. Certainly nowehere near the vintage Bonzi of early season, and by his standards not really a C+ either. But given the circumstances, came in and gave us some nice solid reserve minutes, and did not look bad out there. Maybe not ready to start, but able to contribute, and that right there is very welcome news as we go through the next few weeks sans Cisco.
Reef ( B- ) -- offensively quite aggressive and really oour only punch off the bench tonight. It was messy as he unable to get some things to fall but ended up at the line time and again. But effective. Was repeatedly left on doubles and got right to the front of the rim to draw fouls in what had to be a very flawed defensive scheme by the Hawks. I might leave Reef open for a jumper, but I'm not going to switch off of him and let him roll into the paint. Gave us nothing much on the glass again (1 rebound in 21min), and while he gave us points and helped get the Hawks in foul trouble, it certainly wasn't a thing of beauty. So B- I think. But does absolutely continue to show that he can have significant punch as a 6th man. Maybe something like Jamison a few years back. Not really a 6th man type game, but a significant scorer and longtime starter coming in against reserves.
Hart ( INC ) -- no Cisco meant we were back to Hart as the backup PG. At least for a few minutes in the first half. Played like...well, like Jason Hart. And we were so impressed we found other options and played Mike most of the way in the second half.
Adelman ( A ) -- Now this was good solid road win. Never had the shaky collapsing streak, didn't try to give the game away late. Certainly weren't dominant, but were solid all game and pulled away late as the superior team. We did get off to a very sluggish start with everybody just standing around, but an early timeout by Rick seemed to get everybody dialed back in and the energy was better therafter. Stuck with the 7 man rotation pretty much...but this time man #7 was none other than Bonzi Wells finally back from the forever groin injury. Game was really won by the starters though. None of them were first-class great, but 4 of the 5 had good games. Ron led, Brad stepped up against the small interior guys for the Hawks, and Kevin finally showed some aggression on the road. And I'm going to go ahead and give Rick the straight "A" here. It was a very good win for us, and Rick was coaching it throughout. Had the early settling timeout, and was directing a lot of the action throughout. Also never made what I would consider to be a questionable substitution or strategy decision. Let Ron smother Joe Johnson again in the second half, and just made solid, if standard rotations with Reef at the 4/5 and Bonzi at the 2/3. The only real question was what to do with the backup PG position, and Rick let Hart go for a few in the first half and then just pretty much had Mike run the show all the way down the stretch. Its possible all the minutes for Mike (he is 6th in the NBA in minutes this year) might catch up to us sooner or later. But you do what you have to do. And we did what we had to do -- which was win this one to make sure that this road trip at the very least will keep us hanging around even if we do not win another game, and could help us really get into the thick of things if we can keep it rolling.
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