Peja ( F ) -- started off the game in embarassing fashion, missing his first three shots including two really embarrassing gimme layups that weren't even close. Got on the scoreboard with a pair of FTs, and then hit a three, but even that looked odd -- much slower release than normal, I would imagine because he was being careful and tryign to feel it all the way up. Just completely ineffective again. Briefly looked alive in the third, hitting back to back shots that looked closer to being in rhythm. But then completely collpased and disappeared for the remainder. Closed the night with an airballed three in the final minute. No idea why he was out there so long again. Reminiscient of the Webb situation after he returned in '04, except of course that this is a pinky sprain rather than career-threatening knee surgery. In either case, its the dark side of Rick's greatest strength -- creating a comfort zone for his players by showing complete confidence in them. Just no way a guy who is shooting that poorly, doing little else, and with a well publicized owie, needs to play 40min.
Reef ( D+ ) -- remarkable sequence in the early first quarter against Zo seemed to set the tone for the whole night. Reef started it off throwing down a powerful dunk just before Zo got there on the rotation, and as Zo fell down, Reef ended up standing over him. Posterized. Well, it was a nice play, but one of those that may have backfired. Zo played the rest of the game like a man possessed in there, and seemed to especially have it in for Reef, blocking TWO of Reef's dunk attempts on his way to a huge seven block night. Would not surprise me at all if it was the Zo pride kicking in. Meanwhile, Reef could never get anything consistent going in there, was harassed by Zo, and turned in one of those no rebound efforts that remind you of his SF roots. Ended up losing some of his second half minutes to Kenny Thomas, who was at least competing on the glass.
Miller ( A- ) -- for one night solved half of his center woes this season -- got chippee, got brawly, and finally gave us a rebounding night. Of course now it was his turn to find himself in there pretty much alone on the glass. Scored well as well, but the passing was a bit of a missed bag with Brad throwing a bad turnover for every nice dime. Unfortunately the other half of his woes were as bad as ever -- just can't shut down that lane. And there may be no answer there given his athletic deficiencies. Nonetheless perhaps our best tonight, and good to see him show that he is at least capable of outrebounding a one-kidneyed man.
Bonzi ( B+ ) -- started the game with a transition three point play, and was dynamic for the entire first quarter. But Wade got into a rhythm as he went along, got stronger and stronger, and began to win the matchup. As usual Bonzi did not give up though, and while the rebounding was not as dynamic this time out, Bonzi instead cranked up the help defense, came up with 4 steals (actually 5 -- Brad's was knocked into his hands by Bonzi) 3 blocks and had his hands on balls all night long. Another pain in the *** performance, and threw in a few nice finishes around the rim as well. But just not enough tonight, and for the second game in a row Bonzi was good, but his opponent was better
Bibby ( C+ ) -- Mike was....ok. Not great. Not terrible. Just ok. Made some nice passes and seemed to be playing more of the traditional PG role with Peja back and taking up the shots , but never really had a huge impact for any stretch of the game, and JWill got the better of him. Defensive effort was not bad, but Jason's lightning quickness still caused problems at times. Actually did better against him than Hart however (see below). So...shrug game. Had a few good looks late that coould have helped us, and helped his grade too. But just never able to hit enough to have a real impact.
Thomas ( B+ ) -- settling in a bit now as a solid if unspectacular reserve. Feisty and battled in there, frustrating Twoine and stealing some of Reef's minutes with his willingness to get on the glass.
Garcia ( C+ ) -- looked pretty good, competed well, and used his length. Modest results, but did not hurt us. Flashes of good defense mixed with sloppy plays and rookie learning experiences. Could be a B-.
Hart ( D+ ) -- had a reasonable first half running the offense, but while he was dropping down into his defensive stance on several occasions in there against JWill, he apparently forgot that its best to do so somewhere in the general vicinity of your opponent, otherwise they, like JWill did, will drain three pointers over your head. Thus our defenisve backup PG manages to combine zero points of his own with providing a spark to the opposing PG to have a 16 pt half (well over his season average). At least Hart showed a little ability to run the team and looked like he knew what he was doing on offense. Mostly.
Adelman ( C ) -- This game felt flat from the beginning. A big part of that was the crowd -- who were dead and apprehensive before the horn even sounded. Do not know if its just the state of the team, or whether it is the arena stuff too. But either way, they were dead, and muttering soon after the opening tip. We hung around in this one, but I really wasn't feeling us as a threat., Miami has kind of an ugly lineup right now, they are missing a their little 7'0" tall 350lb man in the middle, they are 3000 miles from home, and they still looked the better squad. Most of our runs weren't because we started playing great so much as Miami just missed a few shots. But we could never get over the hump. Never get closer than 4 or 5. And finally they just squeezed us down the stretch and we just kind of quietly expired. Rather depressing game in front of a depressed crowd. As for Rick, some significant questions for me which are reflected in his grade. Why do you play an injured and ineffective Peja 40min? Would could possibly be the point as he shoots 3-16 with the crowd turning hostile? I understand what Rick is trying to do settling into an 8 mna rotation, but that depends on the 5 starters all producing. Garcia has moved past Kevin at this point, and is doing ok but hardly lighting it up. Thomas is our only frontcourt reserve (thought it was a good move to give him some of Reef's minutes tonight). And therein was another question raised by others -- what about Skinner? On another night when the rim was wide open and we were being outhustled by a hyperactive 35yr old with one kidney, where was our own 6'9" 250lb enforcer type? Sigh. 7-9. Wonder if we'll actually allow this team to pay out the string if it looks to be a .500 squad? If not, if you're going to do something to give us a kick, wouldn't think it would be that far off.
Reef ( D+ ) -- remarkable sequence in the early first quarter against Zo seemed to set the tone for the whole night. Reef started it off throwing down a powerful dunk just before Zo got there on the rotation, and as Zo fell down, Reef ended up standing over him. Posterized. Well, it was a nice play, but one of those that may have backfired. Zo played the rest of the game like a man possessed in there, and seemed to especially have it in for Reef, blocking TWO of Reef's dunk attempts on his way to a huge seven block night. Would not surprise me at all if it was the Zo pride kicking in. Meanwhile, Reef could never get anything consistent going in there, was harassed by Zo, and turned in one of those no rebound efforts that remind you of his SF roots. Ended up losing some of his second half minutes to Kenny Thomas, who was at least competing on the glass.
Miller ( A- ) -- for one night solved half of his center woes this season -- got chippee, got brawly, and finally gave us a rebounding night. Of course now it was his turn to find himself in there pretty much alone on the glass. Scored well as well, but the passing was a bit of a missed bag with Brad throwing a bad turnover for every nice dime. Unfortunately the other half of his woes were as bad as ever -- just can't shut down that lane. And there may be no answer there given his athletic deficiencies. Nonetheless perhaps our best tonight, and good to see him show that he is at least capable of outrebounding a one-kidneyed man.
Bonzi ( B+ ) -- started the game with a transition three point play, and was dynamic for the entire first quarter. But Wade got into a rhythm as he went along, got stronger and stronger, and began to win the matchup. As usual Bonzi did not give up though, and while the rebounding was not as dynamic this time out, Bonzi instead cranked up the help defense, came up with 4 steals (actually 5 -- Brad's was knocked into his hands by Bonzi) 3 blocks and had his hands on balls all night long. Another pain in the *** performance, and threw in a few nice finishes around the rim as well. But just not enough tonight, and for the second game in a row Bonzi was good, but his opponent was better
Bibby ( C+ ) -- Mike was....ok. Not great. Not terrible. Just ok. Made some nice passes and seemed to be playing more of the traditional PG role with Peja back and taking up the shots , but never really had a huge impact for any stretch of the game, and JWill got the better of him. Defensive effort was not bad, but Jason's lightning quickness still caused problems at times. Actually did better against him than Hart however (see below). So...shrug game. Had a few good looks late that coould have helped us, and helped his grade too. But just never able to hit enough to have a real impact.
Thomas ( B+ ) -- settling in a bit now as a solid if unspectacular reserve. Feisty and battled in there, frustrating Twoine and stealing some of Reef's minutes with his willingness to get on the glass.
Garcia ( C+ ) -- looked pretty good, competed well, and used his length. Modest results, but did not hurt us. Flashes of good defense mixed with sloppy plays and rookie learning experiences. Could be a B-.
Hart ( D+ ) -- had a reasonable first half running the offense, but while he was dropping down into his defensive stance on several occasions in there against JWill, he apparently forgot that its best to do so somewhere in the general vicinity of your opponent, otherwise they, like JWill did, will drain three pointers over your head. Thus our defenisve backup PG manages to combine zero points of his own with providing a spark to the opposing PG to have a 16 pt half (well over his season average). At least Hart showed a little ability to run the team and looked like he knew what he was doing on offense. Mostly.
Adelman ( C ) -- This game felt flat from the beginning. A big part of that was the crowd -- who were dead and apprehensive before the horn even sounded. Do not know if its just the state of the team, or whether it is the arena stuff too. But either way, they were dead, and muttering soon after the opening tip. We hung around in this one, but I really wasn't feeling us as a threat., Miami has kind of an ugly lineup right now, they are missing a their little 7'0" tall 350lb man in the middle, they are 3000 miles from home, and they still looked the better squad. Most of our runs weren't because we started playing great so much as Miami just missed a few shots. But we could never get over the hump. Never get closer than 4 or 5. And finally they just squeezed us down the stretch and we just kind of quietly expired. Rather depressing game in front of a depressed crowd. As for Rick, some significant questions for me which are reflected in his grade. Why do you play an injured and ineffective Peja 40min? Would could possibly be the point as he shoots 3-16 with the crowd turning hostile? I understand what Rick is trying to do settling into an 8 mna rotation, but that depends on the 5 starters all producing. Garcia has moved past Kevin at this point, and is doing ok but hardly lighting it up. Thomas is our only frontcourt reserve (thought it was a good move to give him some of Reef's minutes tonight). And therein was another question raised by others -- what about Skinner? On another night when the rim was wide open and we were being outhustled by a hyperactive 35yr old with one kidney, where was our own 6'9" 250lb enforcer type? Sigh. 7-9. Wonder if we'll actually allow this team to pay out the string if it looks to be a .500 squad? If not, if you're going to do something to give us a kick, wouldn't think it would be that far off.
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