Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( C- ) -- started off the game very aggressive offensively, but then just kind of faded away and was totally irrelevant. Showed up here and there afterwards, but no extended stretches. There was more attention being paid to him, but didn't look to be THAT much, so not really sure what it was. On a positive note, moved the ball pretty well and one of his more solid boarding efforts of the season. Need more from him though if we are to compete with elite teams at this point.
Songaila ( C+ ) -- a little help here, a little help there from Darius, but not much of a game overall. Started off the game giving nothing on the boards but helping replace some of Brad's passing, but it was a brief burst. Struggled in the third and did not match Udonis Haslem's energy or boardwork. did a nice job of fronting Shaq when he got switched off onto him.
Skinner ( B+ ) -- solid numbers aside, did a pretty good job in there against Shaq. Shaq didn't appear to be really bringing it, but Brian did a nice job of staying in between him and the hoop and turning around to clean up the defensive glass. Also delivered a few hard fould on Shaq just to let him know that he wasn't going to be a pushover. Always nice to see our band of traveling softies get a little thuggish boost. About as much as I could have hoped for tonight given the obvious mismatch in the middle, but one consequence of guarding Shaq was Skinner had no time or energy to try to stop anybody else's penetration.
Mobley ( C ) -- got off to a reasonable offensive start, but did not notice him in any other aspect of the game. Saw him shaking his hand out there in the first quarter + wonder how the dislocated finger was feeling (although i will say, and just throwing this out there -- does anybody else get a bit of a Kobe Bryant feeling about Mobley and injuries? Bit of a drama queen maybe?) Gave us another burst of offense in the 4th when he was about the only guy doing anything out there for a long stretch, but wasn't remotely enough. Left the game late in the 4th with some sort of injury which we do NOT need. I find myself continually giving Cat "Cs" anymore even when he gets about his average in points. Not sure what to say about that -- I'm just not terribly satisified with his game right now, other than the clutch performances. Just seems to get numbers that have absolutely no impact whatsoever.
Bibby ( B ) -- a pretty solid game from Mike, and he was clearly our best player tonight. But not an impact performance at all, and just did not feel inspired (like the rest of the team). Pretty efficient offensively but made a couple of oddly careless turnovers. About the only King other than Skinner who showed any interest in getting inside + drawing fouls -- missed a couple more FTs and still does not look 100% comfortable there.
Ostertag ( C ) -- odd substitution pattern tonight with Tag -- rather than put him in early to check Shaq wiht size, we instead elected to match Skinnner with Shaq all night and brough Tag in to match up wiht the perimeter shooting Michael Doleac. Grabbed a few boards, did block a shot, but also made a couple of bad turnovers (one of them in garbagetime after the game was over).
House ( B- ) -- decent reserve minutes tonight, but no real impact.
Thomas ( C ) -- had good energy tonight, but didn't do much with it. Came in and missed a jumper, and then found a successful formula using his quickness to drive to the hoop. But when Miami brought in Christian Laettner, who has actually developed into a pretty decent defender, KT was repeatedly stripped as he kept on forcing things. And never did show up on the glass for us.
Williamson ( D- ) -- really did nothing at all out there tonight. Looked short and slow, and kept on forcing shots in amongst the trees that got sent back into his face. No help on the glass again either. This looks like an "F" statistically, but I just didn't feel like he was even significant enogh to the outcome to "earn" the lowest grade. Just wasted impotent minutes, but not the reason we lost.
Evans ( B- ) -- pretty good energy out there, and helped on the glass and defense in his minutes. Nothing spectacular here, but more effective than most of our guys tonight.
Martin ( INC ) -- couple of garbagetime minutes
Adelman ( C+ ) -- we just had no energy tongiht -- we were really kind of beat before we even walked on the floor. Long strange road trip, and I'm just not sure that we really beleive we can beat a team like Miami anymore. Coming home is desperately needed. Rick played just about everybody, but wasn't much spark off the bench either. Thomas looked like he had some energy, but he mostly just turned the ball over. More Mo might have been nice but right now we are dependant upon Cat and Peja as our #2 and #3 guns, and Rick is reluctant to pull those players even when they are flat. The move to start the undersized Skinner vs. Shaq rather than big ole Tag surprosed me, but worked out pretty well. Brian did a nice job in there and justified the move. Hard to tell whetehr it was Rick or not, but we did start the game with alittle burst of energy, and had another little burst to open the 3rd. But could not sustain, and in the third in particular Rick might have stuck with the ineffective starters over the ineffective reserves a little too long. Nonetheless, we basically had nobody play really well tongiht, but were in it heading into the 4th. That was when the Heat, who had been sleepwalking themsleves, finally woke up. Unfortunately we just went right on snoozing. Just a tough tough situation -- we are barely even a team right now, we're battered with injuries, and we walked onto the home court of a legit contender. Bad news.
Songaila ( C+ ) -- a little help here, a little help there from Darius, but not much of a game overall. Started off the game giving nothing on the boards but helping replace some of Brad's passing, but it was a brief burst. Struggled in the third and did not match Udonis Haslem's energy or boardwork. did a nice job of fronting Shaq when he got switched off onto him.
Skinner ( B+ ) -- solid numbers aside, did a pretty good job in there against Shaq. Shaq didn't appear to be really bringing it, but Brian did a nice job of staying in between him and the hoop and turning around to clean up the defensive glass. Also delivered a few hard fould on Shaq just to let him know that he wasn't going to be a pushover. Always nice to see our band of traveling softies get a little thuggish boost. About as much as I could have hoped for tonight given the obvious mismatch in the middle, but one consequence of guarding Shaq was Skinner had no time or energy to try to stop anybody else's penetration.
Mobley ( C ) -- got off to a reasonable offensive start, but did not notice him in any other aspect of the game. Saw him shaking his hand out there in the first quarter + wonder how the dislocated finger was feeling (although i will say, and just throwing this out there -- does anybody else get a bit of a Kobe Bryant feeling about Mobley and injuries? Bit of a drama queen maybe?) Gave us another burst of offense in the 4th when he was about the only guy doing anything out there for a long stretch, but wasn't remotely enough. Left the game late in the 4th with some sort of injury which we do NOT need. I find myself continually giving Cat "Cs" anymore even when he gets about his average in points. Not sure what to say about that -- I'm just not terribly satisified with his game right now, other than the clutch performances. Just seems to get numbers that have absolutely no impact whatsoever.
Bibby ( B ) -- a pretty solid game from Mike, and he was clearly our best player tonight. But not an impact performance at all, and just did not feel inspired (like the rest of the team). Pretty efficient offensively but made a couple of oddly careless turnovers. About the only King other than Skinner who showed any interest in getting inside + drawing fouls -- missed a couple more FTs and still does not look 100% comfortable there.
Ostertag ( C ) -- odd substitution pattern tonight with Tag -- rather than put him in early to check Shaq wiht size, we instead elected to match Skinnner with Shaq all night and brough Tag in to match up wiht the perimeter shooting Michael Doleac. Grabbed a few boards, did block a shot, but also made a couple of bad turnovers (one of them in garbagetime after the game was over).
House ( B- ) -- decent reserve minutes tonight, but no real impact.
Thomas ( C ) -- had good energy tonight, but didn't do much with it. Came in and missed a jumper, and then found a successful formula using his quickness to drive to the hoop. But when Miami brought in Christian Laettner, who has actually developed into a pretty decent defender, KT was repeatedly stripped as he kept on forcing things. And never did show up on the glass for us.
Williamson ( D- ) -- really did nothing at all out there tonight. Looked short and slow, and kept on forcing shots in amongst the trees that got sent back into his face. No help on the glass again either. This looks like an "F" statistically, but I just didn't feel like he was even significant enogh to the outcome to "earn" the lowest grade. Just wasted impotent minutes, but not the reason we lost.
Evans ( B- ) -- pretty good energy out there, and helped on the glass and defense in his minutes. Nothing spectacular here, but more effective than most of our guys tonight.
Martin ( INC ) -- couple of garbagetime minutes
Adelman ( C+ ) -- we just had no energy tongiht -- we were really kind of beat before we even walked on the floor. Long strange road trip, and I'm just not sure that we really beleive we can beat a team like Miami anymore. Coming home is desperately needed. Rick played just about everybody, but wasn't much spark off the bench either. Thomas looked like he had some energy, but he mostly just turned the ball over. More Mo might have been nice but right now we are dependant upon Cat and Peja as our #2 and #3 guns, and Rick is reluctant to pull those players even when they are flat. The move to start the undersized Skinner vs. Shaq rather than big ole Tag surprosed me, but worked out pretty well. Brian did a nice job in there and justified the move. Hard to tell whetehr it was Rick or not, but we did start the game with alittle burst of energy, and had another little burst to open the 3rd. But could not sustain, and in the third in particular Rick might have stuck with the ineffective starters over the ineffective reserves a little too long. Nonetheless, we basically had nobody play really well tongiht, but were in it heading into the 4th. That was when the Heat, who had been sleepwalking themsleves, finally woke up. Unfortunately we just went right on snoozing. Just a tough tough situation -- we are barely even a team right now, we're battered with injuries, and we walked onto the home court of a legit contender. Bad news.
Hopefully this is just an off night though, and not a sign of things to come.
