Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Ah, another day, another ping pong ball. We're ok.
Nocioni ( B ) -- Solid first half as a starter, scoring, boarding, and making some nice drop off passes as well. Laid out Mo Evans with an "accidental" open court elbow, which amused me a lot more than it probably did Mo. Ended up playign quite abit of smallball PF wiht Westphal unable to find any of his backup 6'7" bigs who he liked on the night. Started the third hot, hitting his first two shots, one from 2, the other from 3. And then just disappeared. Both his minutes and his production, and it wasn;t clear whihc came first. Had 9pts and 5rebs at half. 14 and 5 three minutes into the third. Finished wiht 14 and 6.
Thompson ( A- ) -- good game playing over the top of the undersized Hawks frontline, but maybe not quite as good as the numbers by the end. Actually managed to reach the end though -- miraculously staying out of foul toruble for once. I even actually saw him intentionally avoiding a foul, just stepping out of the way of Josh Smith on the flying dunk. Took a hard foul in the second quarter when while up in the air going after a block he got his legs taken out from under him. Seemed ok afterwards however. Able to baord over the undersized Smith all night and consistent between the halves, with 12 and 5 before the break, and 10 and 7 after it. Had a fun weaving full court gallop and dropoff to Spencer in the third. Continued to show shaky touch around the paint, and had several of his shots blocked as well. Came back to bite him in the final seconds when he blew an offensive rebound follow at the 45 second mark after a Kevin miss.
Hawes ( C ) -- well, started out on the right note -- immediately went right at Horton in the post, and worked him down in there too, didn't just flip it up. But very oddly, while he got the start, that was the last thing he did wiht it in the first half. All of 2pts (those points) and 0 rebonds. It wasn't that Flutter was back...Spencer just did not get the ball, and was not involved m much on either end. Invisible trather than soft fluttering. Too many shooters/handlers -- with Kevin and Reke both chucking like mad tough for another offensive option to find room? Or a return to passivity? Played better after half, showed decent hustle, and really there weren't any true Flutter moments. No really imperssive moments either. Just a mediocre at best game, but not one that had you questioning why he bothered wearing a jockstrap.
Martin ( A-) -- started right off with a three and was still hot from the previous game -- actually something I have noticed is a common occurrence with him. However it was the one man offense again as nobody else was scoring in the early going. On the other end taken into the post by Joe Johnson again and again and physically punished by JJ's postups, but Johnson wasn't consistently hitting in there so it did not really hurt us. Was back on the defensive glass all night as well. Nothing spectacular, not sure if any of them were in traffic, but distinctly just back there helping again and again along the baseline (and despite 11 rebounds out of him, 9 on the defensive glass, we still lost the board battle. Jeesh -- some other guys have to look in the mirror after that.) What had seemed very easy in the early going gradually became less so -- scoring pace slowed in the second, and by the third he was missing far more than he made -- 6-8 from the field at half, 5-16 in the second half. Tried to get cute on a fastbreak and flip up an alley opp to Thompson, but got the pass blocked out to the perimeter. Had a very quiet 4th until the final minutes while being doubled and chased off the ball. Had a part to play in the final couple of minnutes however, missing a driving layup, and then at the 45 second mark coming up with a 3pt play out of the timeout...except he flubbed the FT to critically leave us still back 4pts instead of being within 3. Combined with Reke in a nice halfcourt trap the next time down the floor, but the Hawks finally beat it to score the sealing hoop. Another 40 minute night for Kevin, and given his history you have to wonder how long he is going to hold up at this pace. This actually felt B+y in a lot of ways, but I could not ignore the nice contribution on the glass, so A- seemed right.
Evans ( C ) -- well, some good some bad here, but at least the bad may have been a good learning experience for a rookie. Got two of his early shots blocked inside by the athletic Haws frontline. Needs to finish stronger instead of making big powerful drives and then flipping up weak stuff as a finish. Missed an obvious advantage with Noc posting up Bibby, and I saw Kevin get frustrated when Evans was dribbling at the top of the key and did not give up the ball when Kevin called for it. Came back in after returning for Kevin and earned most of this grade in an explosive stretch of play in which he was scoring inside and out, and creating for others as well. He immediately put in 2, one form inside, one from out, before getting carried away and getting a a third one blocked. Made a beautiful drive and dish to JT..which of course Jason blew but did get fouled on. Then drained another jumper, and a 3rd. When the jumper is falling like that he's almost unguardable. For about five minutes it was there. And then just as suddenly it wasn't any more. And of course the interesting thing was that the stretch of domination began without Kevin in there, and pretty much ended as soon as Kevin returned. So of course the question becomes can they do it at the same time? Got callerd for back to back carries at the end of the second quarter. Had some good defensive moments, able to stay in front of all the Hawks, who are lacking the little dart that might be able to get around him ala Parker. With Kevin taken out of things, the 4th would ahve been ancie time for Reke to step it back up, but results were spotty. Missed several jumpers down the stretch, and was reluctant to take the wide open three (he's shooting 1-9 from 3pt land so far this season, so maybe a wise hesitation). Hit 1 of 2 FTs at the 2:30 mark. Came up with an explosive slashing layup out of the timeout at the 2:00 mark to give us hope, but then forced the next one on our next possession and got it blocked again for the 4th block against him on the night. This ain't college kid, and don't listen to the little white haired dude's yammering about shotblocking not being important -- finish strong or you're going to be eating shots all year long.
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Thomas ( INC ) -- no, the positioning on this list is not an accident -- Kenny Thomas was the first man up off the bench now. KT as 6th man -- the nightmare grows. Early offensive rebound, and then the attempted follow...wow. They're going to need to put up plexiglass around the court to protect the audience like its hockey if he keeps getting time and puts up many more of those. Then he tried a spinning post move...where the ball spun but Kenny did not. I dunno -- for all the disaster KT has been, back when he was first acquired he was not completely incompetent on offense. But nowadays... And I don't entirely buy its rust either. The guy still practices right? Sometimes it looks like he's a weekend warrior who's been sitting home in his slippers drinking beer and watching Dancing With the Stars in between stints. Individual defense was fine, although he must have been frustrated to finally encounter a team where most of the frontline is only an inch or two taller than him rather than the normal 3 or 4 inches, and then get caught having to guard the only tall guy (Za Za). And in a game where we got pummeled in the paint again, of course nether KT nor any of the other 6'7" suspects off the bench have any ability to shut down the lane.
Casspi ( C- ) -- dissapointing followup to what I had labeled as a "possible breakout game" on Monday. Had to guard Crawford to start, and Jamaal was feeling it and lighting him up. Didn't fare much better against Johnson. And while his own offense was struggling along to a quiet 2-5FG for 5pts night, it was really the defense that kept him off the court and limited him to 15 minutes of playing time. Just couldn't find a good matchup and get a hold of the guys he was guarding this time out.
Udrih ( B ) -- strong off the bench again, albeit this time largely as a SG. IN fact so much playing the SG this time out, that at times he was out Martining Martin both with the sure shooting and the grabbing the ball and immediately trying to find space to aluunch his own shot. Maybe pressed too hard torying to show up the ole boss when matched against Bibby at the end of the 2nd quarter -- got so bad he even launched a heat check three(that failed of course like nearly all heat checks). Not controlling Crawford back the other way and struggled against Johnson as well, but prety much WAS our bench this time out, and gave us good punch in the role.
May ( INC ) -- some empty first half minutes as Westphal tried all of his undersized bigs off the bench tonight.
Brockman ( INC ) -- see above -- brief 2nd half insertion didn't accomplish much, except a couple of fouls
Mason ( INC ) -- box said he got 30 seconds somewhere in the first half. Didn't catch that. What I DID catch was the wow when suddenly out of nowhere Desmond gets inserted by Westphal in the final 6 minutes of a 1pt game, for defense. Wow. Allowed the Hawks to hide Bibby on him defensively and the game slipped from us during that stretch. Not that I am not in sympathy with Westpahl on the defense issue. While everyone was talking about what an entertaining game it was, much of the entertainment was because nobody was playing any defense, and we once agian are right down at the bottom of the league in early season defense. But does Desmond really have enough left to be that guy? Westphal has seemed to have unnatural coinfidence in him in that role, but it hasn't been working. And last night, out of nowhere it really didn't work.
Nocioni ( B ) -- Solid first half as a starter, scoring, boarding, and making some nice drop off passes as well. Laid out Mo Evans with an "accidental" open court elbow, which amused me a lot more than it probably did Mo. Ended up playign quite abit of smallball PF wiht Westphal unable to find any of his backup 6'7" bigs who he liked on the night. Started the third hot, hitting his first two shots, one from 2, the other from 3. And then just disappeared. Both his minutes and his production, and it wasn;t clear whihc came first. Had 9pts and 5rebs at half. 14 and 5 three minutes into the third. Finished wiht 14 and 6.
Thompson ( A- ) -- good game playing over the top of the undersized Hawks frontline, but maybe not quite as good as the numbers by the end. Actually managed to reach the end though -- miraculously staying out of foul toruble for once. I even actually saw him intentionally avoiding a foul, just stepping out of the way of Josh Smith on the flying dunk. Took a hard foul in the second quarter when while up in the air going after a block he got his legs taken out from under him. Seemed ok afterwards however. Able to baord over the undersized Smith all night and consistent between the halves, with 12 and 5 before the break, and 10 and 7 after it. Had a fun weaving full court gallop and dropoff to Spencer in the third. Continued to show shaky touch around the paint, and had several of his shots blocked as well. Came back to bite him in the final seconds when he blew an offensive rebound follow at the 45 second mark after a Kevin miss.
Hawes ( C ) -- well, started out on the right note -- immediately went right at Horton in the post, and worked him down in there too, didn't just flip it up. But very oddly, while he got the start, that was the last thing he did wiht it in the first half. All of 2pts (those points) and 0 rebonds. It wasn't that Flutter was back...Spencer just did not get the ball, and was not involved m much on either end. Invisible trather than soft fluttering. Too many shooters/handlers -- with Kevin and Reke both chucking like mad tough for another offensive option to find room? Or a return to passivity? Played better after half, showed decent hustle, and really there weren't any true Flutter moments. No really imperssive moments either. Just a mediocre at best game, but not one that had you questioning why he bothered wearing a jockstrap.
Martin ( A-) -- started right off with a three and was still hot from the previous game -- actually something I have noticed is a common occurrence with him. However it was the one man offense again as nobody else was scoring in the early going. On the other end taken into the post by Joe Johnson again and again and physically punished by JJ's postups, but Johnson wasn't consistently hitting in there so it did not really hurt us. Was back on the defensive glass all night as well. Nothing spectacular, not sure if any of them were in traffic, but distinctly just back there helping again and again along the baseline (and despite 11 rebounds out of him, 9 on the defensive glass, we still lost the board battle. Jeesh -- some other guys have to look in the mirror after that.) What had seemed very easy in the early going gradually became less so -- scoring pace slowed in the second, and by the third he was missing far more than he made -- 6-8 from the field at half, 5-16 in the second half. Tried to get cute on a fastbreak and flip up an alley opp to Thompson, but got the pass blocked out to the perimeter. Had a very quiet 4th until the final minutes while being doubled and chased off the ball. Had a part to play in the final couple of minnutes however, missing a driving layup, and then at the 45 second mark coming up with a 3pt play out of the timeout...except he flubbed the FT to critically leave us still back 4pts instead of being within 3. Combined with Reke in a nice halfcourt trap the next time down the floor, but the Hawks finally beat it to score the sealing hoop. Another 40 minute night for Kevin, and given his history you have to wonder how long he is going to hold up at this pace. This actually felt B+y in a lot of ways, but I could not ignore the nice contribution on the glass, so A- seemed right.
Evans ( C ) -- well, some good some bad here, but at least the bad may have been a good learning experience for a rookie. Got two of his early shots blocked inside by the athletic Haws frontline. Needs to finish stronger instead of making big powerful drives and then flipping up weak stuff as a finish. Missed an obvious advantage with Noc posting up Bibby, and I saw Kevin get frustrated when Evans was dribbling at the top of the key and did not give up the ball when Kevin called for it. Came back in after returning for Kevin and earned most of this grade in an explosive stretch of play in which he was scoring inside and out, and creating for others as well. He immediately put in 2, one form inside, one from out, before getting carried away and getting a a third one blocked. Made a beautiful drive and dish to JT..which of course Jason blew but did get fouled on. Then drained another jumper, and a 3rd. When the jumper is falling like that he's almost unguardable. For about five minutes it was there. And then just as suddenly it wasn't any more. And of course the interesting thing was that the stretch of domination began without Kevin in there, and pretty much ended as soon as Kevin returned. So of course the question becomes can they do it at the same time? Got callerd for back to back carries at the end of the second quarter. Had some good defensive moments, able to stay in front of all the Hawks, who are lacking the little dart that might be able to get around him ala Parker. With Kevin taken out of things, the 4th would ahve been ancie time for Reke to step it back up, but results were spotty. Missed several jumpers down the stretch, and was reluctant to take the wide open three (he's shooting 1-9 from 3pt land so far this season, so maybe a wise hesitation). Hit 1 of 2 FTs at the 2:30 mark. Came up with an explosive slashing layup out of the timeout at the 2:00 mark to give us hope, but then forced the next one on our next possession and got it blocked again for the 4th block against him on the night. This ain't college kid, and don't listen to the little white haired dude's yammering about shotblocking not being important -- finish strong or you're going to be eating shots all year long.
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Thomas ( INC ) -- no, the positioning on this list is not an accident -- Kenny Thomas was the first man up off the bench now. KT as 6th man -- the nightmare grows. Early offensive rebound, and then the attempted follow...wow. They're going to need to put up plexiglass around the court to protect the audience like its hockey if he keeps getting time and puts up many more of those. Then he tried a spinning post move...where the ball spun but Kenny did not. I dunno -- for all the disaster KT has been, back when he was first acquired he was not completely incompetent on offense. But nowadays... And I don't entirely buy its rust either. The guy still practices right? Sometimes it looks like he's a weekend warrior who's been sitting home in his slippers drinking beer and watching Dancing With the Stars in between stints. Individual defense was fine, although he must have been frustrated to finally encounter a team where most of the frontline is only an inch or two taller than him rather than the normal 3 or 4 inches, and then get caught having to guard the only tall guy (Za Za). And in a game where we got pummeled in the paint again, of course nether KT nor any of the other 6'7" suspects off the bench have any ability to shut down the lane.
Casspi ( C- ) -- dissapointing followup to what I had labeled as a "possible breakout game" on Monday. Had to guard Crawford to start, and Jamaal was feeling it and lighting him up. Didn't fare much better against Johnson. And while his own offense was struggling along to a quiet 2-5FG for 5pts night, it was really the defense that kept him off the court and limited him to 15 minutes of playing time. Just couldn't find a good matchup and get a hold of the guys he was guarding this time out.
Udrih ( B ) -- strong off the bench again, albeit this time largely as a SG. IN fact so much playing the SG this time out, that at times he was out Martining Martin both with the sure shooting and the grabbing the ball and immediately trying to find space to aluunch his own shot. Maybe pressed too hard torying to show up the ole boss when matched against Bibby at the end of the 2nd quarter -- got so bad he even launched a heat check three(that failed of course like nearly all heat checks). Not controlling Crawford back the other way and struggled against Johnson as well, but prety much WAS our bench this time out, and gave us good punch in the role.
May ( INC ) -- some empty first half minutes as Westphal tried all of his undersized bigs off the bench tonight.
Brockman ( INC ) -- see above -- brief 2nd half insertion didn't accomplish much, except a couple of fouls
Mason ( INC ) -- box said he got 30 seconds somewhere in the first half. Didn't catch that. What I DID catch was the wow when suddenly out of nowhere Desmond gets inserted by Westphal in the final 6 minutes of a 1pt game, for defense. Wow. Allowed the Hawks to hide Bibby on him defensively and the game slipped from us during that stretch. Not that I am not in sympathy with Westpahl on the defense issue. While everyone was talking about what an entertaining game it was, much of the entertainment was because nobody was playing any defense, and we once agian are right down at the bottom of the league in early season defense. But does Desmond really have enough left to be that guy? Westphal has seemed to have unnatural coinfidence in him in that role, but it hasn't been working. And last night, out of nowhere it really didn't work.
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Other than that it was a very encouraging game from my perspective. Way to go Kings!
