Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Garcia ( A- ) -- ok, for everybody desperately looking for a ray of sunshine, right here is your positive of the night. Don't blink or you may miss it. Maybe Cisco's best game as a pro. Started off a little shaky as Desmond Mason was taking it right at him with both quickness and strength in the first, and his shooting woes returned even though he was back in a college arena. But he began to settle in and came up with a couple of nice athletic help blocks in the 2nd. Seemed to get the hustle game going, and from that point onward he ran the floor making plays on both ends of the court. Never dominant or anything. But one of those good roleplayer games. Our best shotblocker of the night, most energetic player of the night, heck just best player of the night. Which of course is how you end up losing in such ugly fashion. But nonetheless with Kevin seeming to mysteriously fall back now, maybe its time for Cisco to step up and show some promise.
Thomas ( D+ ) -- KT boarded tonight, but that was absolutely it. All kinds of shaky decisionmaking, and missed shots from all over the floor. On defense, got matched against Rasual Butler in the second, and Butler really lit him up from outside. At the end of the first half threw an awful pass underneath our own basket -- a Basketball 101 no no. Pass was picked off, and a layup ensued. That sort of carelessness hurts. Grabbed a cluster of boards to open the third. But after that? Pretty much nothing.
Miller ( C+ ) -- was getting rebounded over by PJ to start the game, but began to pepper in outside jumpers in response and was about the only King even remotely hot from the floor. Really pissed me off at the very end of the first half -- got stripped down low trying to get off the final shot of the half, thought he was fouled, reached over and slapped the Hornets player who grabbed the ball in frustration, then flipped out and got himself a technical with 1.9 seconds to go in the half. Thanks Brad.
And in the second half just went into total whiny mode. Was repeatedly stripped and blocked in the post area and was just flipping out and complaining on every one. In between his sloppy mental game was our best (and only) scorer, and while he of course continued to be unable to stop anybody on defense, he did do a decent job filling up the stat sheet. Might have been our second best player tonight, but it was ugly.
Martin ( C ) -- another quiet start. Again have to ask...what's going on? These games are his chance to start + prove something. But just no real spark again tonight. Best thing he did on the night was dive back in on the glass. Along with Garcia, did most of our rebounding in the first quarter and it was either sad or amusing to see our SF and OG back there crashing the glass while the "bigs" were nowhere to be found. Finally peppered in a smattering of jumpers, but after that series of good games Kevin just seems to have...quit? I don't know. Last 4 games as our starter 2pts, 6pts, 5pts, 6pts, and undoing much of the goodwill he had built up as a starter there.
Bibby ( F ) -- came out firing on a night when he knew he had to score. Not that he was shooting that well, just that he was aggressive and was going to take those shots for better or worse. But really began to force and turn the ball over. Just looked horribly flat. Then compounded it by getting into foul trouble and had to sit at the end of the first half + we may have been better without him. Opened the third immediately getting his 4th foul on a play which got Rick off the bench for a technical. But Rick left him in there to play anyway -- really no hope unless he came alive. Which of course he never did. Just another ugly flat performance on a night when we really couldn't afford it.
Hart ( B- ) -- in the first half came in to "D" up Chris Paul, but Paul not only ignored him, but seemed to take it as a challenge to light him up. In the 4th began to score a little for us, including one mini-guard post of Speedy Claxton, and really probably ran the team better than Mike did tonight.
Williamson ( C- ) -- got some favorable looking matchups, but just never able to get anything really going and mixed good rugged takes with turnovers throughout. We could have used his scoring tonihgt too, but just not much there.
Skinner ( D ) -- came in in the second and really gave us nothing. Missed a point blank shot late in the half which hurt. And did not return to the game until it was really pretty much over. Maybe he still wasn't 100%, but once again here was that down outing after the good night in Memphis that will be an excuse to keep him on the bench. Some consistency from just ANYBODY would be nice about now.
Price ( D ) -- uhoh -- nothing against Ronnie, but you always know when his name appears here and it doesn't just say garbagetime, that Rick has gone to the bench desperately searching for a spark because we are flat. Wanted to like his floor game, where he got picked a couple of times but generally held his own and made some solid if not spectacular passes. But even after he found himself a regular spot in the rotation tonight as a backup OG/PG behind Martin, just could not hit his shots, and forced a load of them. Somehow I don't think throwing up a 1-10 night is the route to more PT. Also disappointed me with his reputed 40" vertical or whatever when he lost a late jump ball to 5'11" Speedy Claxton. Come on Ronnie, give me something to work with here.
Adelman ( C ) -- somehow appropriate that in this venue the biggest star in the game was likely Chris Paul, who was in college this time last year. Would have felt weird to see Kobe playing out there, but these teams? Yeah. Rick just did not have much to work with out there. Down three starters, and with one of the two he did have left giving him absolutely nothing...even back in our heyday this one would have been tough. But our lack of energy and intensity was just puzzling. It was only a three game trip. A short flight from our last game, and we had the day off. No real exuse to come out flat again, even though we were talent shy. Rotationwise, not sure what there is to really complain about. Our two best players played the most minutes. Rick made a gutsy call to leave Mike out on the floor in the 3rd with 4 fouls hoping he would somehow get it going, and then when it was obvious he wasn't coming to play tonight, Rick sat him for the rest of the game. Sifting through the garbage that was our boxscore tonight, I can't even find five guys I would want out on the floor. Of course the ugly game always impacts Rick's grade, but here are the cold hard facts: the team we fielded tonight was just not a good NBA team, nor even an average NBA team. It was a lottery team. And it played like it. 14-21 now. Four years ago we lost 21 games on the SEASON and finished 61-21. Good times.
Thomas ( D+ ) -- KT boarded tonight, but that was absolutely it. All kinds of shaky decisionmaking, and missed shots from all over the floor. On defense, got matched against Rasual Butler in the second, and Butler really lit him up from outside. At the end of the first half threw an awful pass underneath our own basket -- a Basketball 101 no no. Pass was picked off, and a layup ensued. That sort of carelessness hurts. Grabbed a cluster of boards to open the third. But after that? Pretty much nothing.
Miller ( C+ ) -- was getting rebounded over by PJ to start the game, but began to pepper in outside jumpers in response and was about the only King even remotely hot from the floor. Really pissed me off at the very end of the first half -- got stripped down low trying to get off the final shot of the half, thought he was fouled, reached over and slapped the Hornets player who grabbed the ball in frustration, then flipped out and got himself a technical with 1.9 seconds to go in the half. Thanks Brad.
And in the second half just went into total whiny mode. Was repeatedly stripped and blocked in the post area and was just flipping out and complaining on every one. In between his sloppy mental game was our best (and only) scorer, and while he of course continued to be unable to stop anybody on defense, he did do a decent job filling up the stat sheet. Might have been our second best player tonight, but it was ugly.Martin ( C ) -- another quiet start. Again have to ask...what's going on? These games are his chance to start + prove something. But just no real spark again tonight. Best thing he did on the night was dive back in on the glass. Along with Garcia, did most of our rebounding in the first quarter and it was either sad or amusing to see our SF and OG back there crashing the glass while the "bigs" were nowhere to be found. Finally peppered in a smattering of jumpers, but after that series of good games Kevin just seems to have...quit? I don't know. Last 4 games as our starter 2pts, 6pts, 5pts, 6pts, and undoing much of the goodwill he had built up as a starter there.
Bibby ( F ) -- came out firing on a night when he knew he had to score. Not that he was shooting that well, just that he was aggressive and was going to take those shots for better or worse. But really began to force and turn the ball over. Just looked horribly flat. Then compounded it by getting into foul trouble and had to sit at the end of the first half + we may have been better without him. Opened the third immediately getting his 4th foul on a play which got Rick off the bench for a technical. But Rick left him in there to play anyway -- really no hope unless he came alive. Which of course he never did. Just another ugly flat performance on a night when we really couldn't afford it.
Hart ( B- ) -- in the first half came in to "D" up Chris Paul, but Paul not only ignored him, but seemed to take it as a challenge to light him up. In the 4th began to score a little for us, including one mini-guard post of Speedy Claxton, and really probably ran the team better than Mike did tonight.
Williamson ( C- ) -- got some favorable looking matchups, but just never able to get anything really going and mixed good rugged takes with turnovers throughout. We could have used his scoring tonihgt too, but just not much there.
Skinner ( D ) -- came in in the second and really gave us nothing. Missed a point blank shot late in the half which hurt. And did not return to the game until it was really pretty much over. Maybe he still wasn't 100%, but once again here was that down outing after the good night in Memphis that will be an excuse to keep him on the bench. Some consistency from just ANYBODY would be nice about now.
Price ( D ) -- uhoh -- nothing against Ronnie, but you always know when his name appears here and it doesn't just say garbagetime, that Rick has gone to the bench desperately searching for a spark because we are flat. Wanted to like his floor game, where he got picked a couple of times but generally held his own and made some solid if not spectacular passes. But even after he found himself a regular spot in the rotation tonight as a backup OG/PG behind Martin, just could not hit his shots, and forced a load of them. Somehow I don't think throwing up a 1-10 night is the route to more PT. Also disappointed me with his reputed 40" vertical or whatever when he lost a late jump ball to 5'11" Speedy Claxton. Come on Ronnie, give me something to work with here.
Adelman ( C ) -- somehow appropriate that in this venue the biggest star in the game was likely Chris Paul, who was in college this time last year. Would have felt weird to see Kobe playing out there, but these teams? Yeah. Rick just did not have much to work with out there. Down three starters, and with one of the two he did have left giving him absolutely nothing...even back in our heyday this one would have been tough. But our lack of energy and intensity was just puzzling. It was only a three game trip. A short flight from our last game, and we had the day off. No real exuse to come out flat again, even though we were talent shy. Rotationwise, not sure what there is to really complain about. Our two best players played the most minutes. Rick made a gutsy call to leave Mike out on the floor in the 3rd with 4 fouls hoping he would somehow get it going, and then when it was obvious he wasn't coming to play tonight, Rick sat him for the rest of the game. Sifting through the garbage that was our boxscore tonight, I can't even find five guys I would want out on the floor. Of course the ugly game always impacts Rick's grade, but here are the cold hard facts: the team we fielded tonight was just not a good NBA team, nor even an average NBA team. It was a lottery team. And it played like it. 14-21 now. Four years ago we lost 21 games on the SEASON and finished 61-21. Good times.
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eek: ) and grabbed some boards...This is all I ask, Jason...PLEASE keep it up.
Should we call Detective Sonny Crocket and Miami Vice to look for them?
