Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well that was interesting. Terrible, great, and everything in between. Reke started off great, got terrible, then came back great to be the difference with a punsihing series fo drvies. DeMarcus started off terrible, turned into Wilt, and just King Konged the Hornets into submission with a monster 18pt 15 rebound second HALF. Marcus stayed out partying too late with his hometown buddies, started terrible, stayed terrible, and yet at the very end of the game got set up for maybe the backbreaking three and hit it. And the little guy, IT, again was mediocre before half, and yet again gave us a HUGE spark, probably the game determining spark, in the second half, teaming with Kong in the middle to give us spirit and bring us back from the dead.
If you have it saved don't watch the first half. I don't even know who those guys were. Pick it up in the third, you'll have more fun.
BTW, if you have not heard our coach speak before:
Bright guy, can really communicate, seems to get it (also knows how to not answer questions he doesn't ant to answer)
Boxscore
Salmons ( C ) -- ok, walking a middle path between either exaggerating the good or the bad here, basically John sucked in the early going with the rest of the team. Hit back to back threes and woke up briefly from his slumber in the middle of the third, and then resumed snoring and eventually was replaced. You can see the vast gap in the type of energy he brought to the proceedings in his statline, going from a 14pt 3reb 6ast 5stl jack of all trades outing last game, to a 10pt 1reb 0ast 0stl this time. Was missing wide open threes and looking sluggish from the start -- and of course as John normally trudges around looking like his girl left him, his grandmother died, he's got a toothache, and the dog ate his homework all on the same day, to say he was especially sluggish should convey a picture. Got that three though in the mid third, and briefly it got him going. Hit a second one. Got a 2ptr. Got his hands on a few balls on defense. But ran out of the mojo within a few minutes once word filtered down that his pet goldfish, Goldilocks, had also gone belly up during halftime, and we played the stretch run in smallball mode with Reke/Thornton and IT all out there. Nonetheless, that 8pt little kick he gave us in the third came at an important time, and may have been just enough contribution to keep us breathing and eventually tip things our way.
Thompson ( D ) -- and after the long string of strong play from Jason, all of sudden he regreesed three years in the space of 48 minutes. Or really in the space of 17, as that was all that his play and his foul situation allowed. Ineffective early at anything basically, and quickly in foul trouble as well as JT's version of the malaise hanging over the whole team in the early going was more lack of focus than lack of effort. Quickly got his 4th foul in the early 3rd with an offensive foul. (As an aside, while it was not Jason's fault, I was annoyed to see how often we made room for Jason to post by clearing DeMarcus up to the 3pt line). Sar out the entire 4th and watched DeMarcus get just enough saavy contributions from Hayes playing the wingman in JT's place to pull it out.
Cousins ( A ) -- so another huge game from DeMarcus, but I can't + it simply because what this was was a HUGE second half. But in the first half he largely joined in the teamwide woes. He and Reke probably had the most first half moments, as it should be, but they were still largely off and struggling. With DeMarcus, like Thompson, it was not so much lack of energy as lack of focus//brains in the early going. I don't know, maybe our guys thought this one would be easy or something. But for whatever reason DeMarcus came out active but loose and looking unfocused. Was really struggling again Kaman's size again, and just not getting it done on the glass at all, especially on the defensive end where the Hornets got second shot after second shot. Got into it with the refs as well, and just looked unsettled for the entire half. Then the second half rolled around and the big guy was suddenly all business. Nice hook to start the quarter ( although probably should have kicked it out to Thornton for the open three). And started absolutely doing yeoman's work on the boards in the early third, overwhelming them with size and strength. The offense followed, coming from points all over the floor. The 18 foot jumper is looking great right now, he was around the rim, came up with a spectacular up and under +1 drive, and just in general played the half at a superstar big man level. People around here flinch at that superstar label, but you know what? You are all weenies.
You could see the s-word potential on this kid from the very first summer league game. But he's learning and maturing at a ridiculous pace now, and going through stretches where he is as dominant as any big man in the league a month into his second season. Some numbers of note: in his 2nd year Dwight averaged 15.8pts 12.5reb, in his 3rd (his age 21 year) it was 17.6pts 12.3reb. Cousins is up to 15.5pts 11.6reb and seemingly getting stronger by the week. In the last 2 weeks its been 18.2pts 13.8reb. In the last week its 19.5pts 14.8reb. Notice a pattern?
Thornton ( D ) -- putrid [pyoo-trid] Part of Speech: adjective Definition: rotten, stinking Synonyms: bad, contaminated, corrupt, decayed, decomposed, fetid, foul, high, malodorous, moldered, nidorous, noisome, off, putrefied, rancid, rank, reeking, rotting, smelly, spoiled, strong, tainted, whiffy... Back home in front of friends an family, but I'd be willing to bet there was more extra pressure on him to try to show the Hornets brass something. Well he did. He showed them that Marco Bellinelli > Marcus Thornton
...at least on this day. Was missing his early shots, kncoked down a pair, then resumed missing. Defense was terrible early to boot. Looked like he really forced a few 1 on 1 things too that were out of the ordinary even for him. Unlike Reke and Cousins, who both had poor stretches but recovered, Marcus never did. Added some dumb fouls on Bellinelli in the thrid. Finally finally in the mid 4th got out on the break and got fouled. Even then only split the pair. Earned his gentleman's D when finally, after a fugly struggle all night, with the game in the balanceat the 3:30 mark Reke drove the baseline looking for him and hit him with the pass for a wide open three, and Marcus drained it to give us the three point lead. There was nobody in the building more relieved than Marcus, except maybe his mom.
Evans ( B- ) -- thank god for Reke in that first quarter. This game of his could clearly be separated into little chapters. In the early minutes he was caught flat like the rest of the team. But he was the first guy to wake up, and as the Hornets began to push out to a double digit lead he was working really hard and got very aggressive pushing hard on the breaks trying to spark a flatlined group. Kind of singlehandedly kept us breathing, as we were so flat, and the Hornets were playing so smartly at that point, that they could have had us down 20 despite our prohibitive talent advantage. But when he returned in the mid 2nd, started forcing ineffectively. Turnovers and wild shots. Have seen this before with him. Can do everything right, but when things begin to fall apart (or in this case they were never not apart) he presses and makes mistakes. Having problems trying to guard Ariza's size as well. Was right on his hip, but could nt intimidate the shots when they came the way he can on smaller guys. Started having those problems finishing inside, and picked up his third and fourth fouls back to back in the mid 3rd and went to the bench frustrated. The time out did wonders for him though, as he returned in the early 4th completely refreshed and exploded for back to back drives, one of them a +1 to give us the kick we needed to get us within 2. Threw up an odd and completely unnecessary and ill timed three point attempt, but either he or Smart decided that was kinda stupid, so he went right back to dominating the Hornets to the rim with great long stepping drives, and it was his joining the party with 11 4th quarter points that pushed the Cuz and IT act over the top as we punched out the win.
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Bench
Hayes ( B- ) -- quietly had a nice little roleplayer game full of saavy and the "little things" . Had a nice pass from up top to a cutting Salmons to start the 2nd, for Jhn's only points of the first half. Had a good streth on the glass there as well, which is something that he ha not been able to do much of since the injury. Was really battling Kaman, but just giving up too much size to truly stop him. Seemed to figure something out though, as was much more effective defensively after half, and other than a stupid attempt to drive past Kaman resulting in an easy block (Chuck unfortunately feels compelled to try to force something up once or twice a game despite being less skilled offensively than I am), helped us get this win with saavy little plays and boards in the 4th. Ntohign amazing, but at least a contributor.
Fredette ( C+ ) -- surprisingly the first little off the bench, and got off to a good start, hitting Reke on a cut along the baseline, hitting a little pullup where he avoided the overpenetration mistake, and then knocked down a three that was guess what, set up by Reke for the catch and shoot. That's his early NBA career sweet spot. Was looking pretty good, but it never ignited any further, and the Grizzlies began to realize who was out there and attack him on defense. Monster issue for him right now -- he's wearing a big red bullseye on his back and getting chased from games, as he did here. Still he did not look bad at all on one end of the court, and showed no appreciable ill effects from the 2 game benching. Did not return after half.
Garcia ( INC ) -- came in during the first half and only made things worse, airballing another three (I think that's three already this season? Come on Cisco!), triggering a Hornets break as they took the airball and went the other way for the +1 finish -- a 6 point swing of incompetence.
Thomas ( A ) -- hit a three and found Cousisn for a layup to beat the halftime buzzer, but no real impact in his first half minutes again. But in what has gone beyond pattern now gave us a huge boost in the latter stages of the 3rd and 4th, teaming with DeMarcus to fight and scrap and pump energy into dead looking legs the team over. Hit jumpers, set up Cousins, got on the floor, on one play shot the passing lane on a soft pass and raced out on the break. it was his push in place of Reke that kept us in position to steal this, and after Reke returned, IT helped him finish the Hornets off with two big threes, including possibly the backbreaker at the 2:15 mark. Meant so much to our chances in this one, and continues to come from such an unliely looking source, that I am going full A here.
Outlaw ( INC ) -- Very pure effort by Outlaw. As in pure suck focusing on the very worst and very most annoying thing he does: again came in and immediately refused to shoot off the catch, instead dribbling a few dribbles and thowing up a brick. Then did it AGAIN... and shuffled hsi feet and turned it over. You can't even call it just infuriating. Its just ridiculous. Catch and shhot! Catch and bleeping shoot! Its not that hard!
If you have it saved don't watch the first half. I don't even know who those guys were. Pick it up in the third, you'll have more fun.
BTW, if you have not heard our coach speak before:
Boxscore
Salmons ( C ) -- ok, walking a middle path between either exaggerating the good or the bad here, basically John sucked in the early going with the rest of the team. Hit back to back threes and woke up briefly from his slumber in the middle of the third, and then resumed snoring and eventually was replaced. You can see the vast gap in the type of energy he brought to the proceedings in his statline, going from a 14pt 3reb 6ast 5stl jack of all trades outing last game, to a 10pt 1reb 0ast 0stl this time. Was missing wide open threes and looking sluggish from the start -- and of course as John normally trudges around looking like his girl left him, his grandmother died, he's got a toothache, and the dog ate his homework all on the same day, to say he was especially sluggish should convey a picture. Got that three though in the mid third, and briefly it got him going. Hit a second one. Got a 2ptr. Got his hands on a few balls on defense. But ran out of the mojo within a few minutes once word filtered down that his pet goldfish, Goldilocks, had also gone belly up during halftime, and we played the stretch run in smallball mode with Reke/Thornton and IT all out there. Nonetheless, that 8pt little kick he gave us in the third came at an important time, and may have been just enough contribution to keep us breathing and eventually tip things our way.
Thompson ( D ) -- and after the long string of strong play from Jason, all of sudden he regreesed three years in the space of 48 minutes. Or really in the space of 17, as that was all that his play and his foul situation allowed. Ineffective early at anything basically, and quickly in foul trouble as well as JT's version of the malaise hanging over the whole team in the early going was more lack of focus than lack of effort. Quickly got his 4th foul in the early 3rd with an offensive foul. (As an aside, while it was not Jason's fault, I was annoyed to see how often we made room for Jason to post by clearing DeMarcus up to the 3pt line). Sar out the entire 4th and watched DeMarcus get just enough saavy contributions from Hayes playing the wingman in JT's place to pull it out.
Cousins ( A ) -- so another huge game from DeMarcus, but I can't + it simply because what this was was a HUGE second half. But in the first half he largely joined in the teamwide woes. He and Reke probably had the most first half moments, as it should be, but they were still largely off and struggling. With DeMarcus, like Thompson, it was not so much lack of energy as lack of focus//brains in the early going. I don't know, maybe our guys thought this one would be easy or something. But for whatever reason DeMarcus came out active but loose and looking unfocused. Was really struggling again Kaman's size again, and just not getting it done on the glass at all, especially on the defensive end where the Hornets got second shot after second shot. Got into it with the refs as well, and just looked unsettled for the entire half. Then the second half rolled around and the big guy was suddenly all business. Nice hook to start the quarter ( although probably should have kicked it out to Thornton for the open three). And started absolutely doing yeoman's work on the boards in the early third, overwhelming them with size and strength. The offense followed, coming from points all over the floor. The 18 foot jumper is looking great right now, he was around the rim, came up with a spectacular up and under +1 drive, and just in general played the half at a superstar big man level. People around here flinch at that superstar label, but you know what? You are all weenies.
You could see the s-word potential on this kid from the very first summer league game. But he's learning and maturing at a ridiculous pace now, and going through stretches where he is as dominant as any big man in the league a month into his second season. Some numbers of note: in his 2nd year Dwight averaged 15.8pts 12.5reb, in his 3rd (his age 21 year) it was 17.6pts 12.3reb. Cousins is up to 15.5pts 11.6reb and seemingly getting stronger by the week. In the last 2 weeks its been 18.2pts 13.8reb. In the last week its 19.5pts 14.8reb. Notice a pattern?Thornton ( D ) -- putrid [pyoo-trid] Part of Speech: adjective Definition: rotten, stinking Synonyms: bad, contaminated, corrupt, decayed, decomposed, fetid, foul, high, malodorous, moldered, nidorous, noisome, off, putrefied, rancid, rank, reeking, rotting, smelly, spoiled, strong, tainted, whiffy... Back home in front of friends an family, but I'd be willing to bet there was more extra pressure on him to try to show the Hornets brass something. Well he did. He showed them that Marco Bellinelli > Marcus Thornton
...at least on this day. Was missing his early shots, kncoked down a pair, then resumed missing. Defense was terrible early to boot. Looked like he really forced a few 1 on 1 things too that were out of the ordinary even for him. Unlike Reke and Cousins, who both had poor stretches but recovered, Marcus never did. Added some dumb fouls on Bellinelli in the thrid. Finally finally in the mid 4th got out on the break and got fouled. Even then only split the pair. Earned his gentleman's D when finally, after a fugly struggle all night, with the game in the balanceat the 3:30 mark Reke drove the baseline looking for him and hit him with the pass for a wide open three, and Marcus drained it to give us the three point lead. There was nobody in the building more relieved than Marcus, except maybe his mom. Evans ( B- ) -- thank god for Reke in that first quarter. This game of his could clearly be separated into little chapters. In the early minutes he was caught flat like the rest of the team. But he was the first guy to wake up, and as the Hornets began to push out to a double digit lead he was working really hard and got very aggressive pushing hard on the breaks trying to spark a flatlined group. Kind of singlehandedly kept us breathing, as we were so flat, and the Hornets were playing so smartly at that point, that they could have had us down 20 despite our prohibitive talent advantage. But when he returned in the mid 2nd, started forcing ineffectively. Turnovers and wild shots. Have seen this before with him. Can do everything right, but when things begin to fall apart (or in this case they were never not apart) he presses and makes mistakes. Having problems trying to guard Ariza's size as well. Was right on his hip, but could nt intimidate the shots when they came the way he can on smaller guys. Started having those problems finishing inside, and picked up his third and fourth fouls back to back in the mid 3rd and went to the bench frustrated. The time out did wonders for him though, as he returned in the early 4th completely refreshed and exploded for back to back drives, one of them a +1 to give us the kick we needed to get us within 2. Threw up an odd and completely unnecessary and ill timed three point attempt, but either he or Smart decided that was kinda stupid, so he went right back to dominating the Hornets to the rim with great long stepping drives, and it was his joining the party with 11 4th quarter points that pushed the Cuz and IT act over the top as we punched out the win.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bench
Hayes ( B- ) -- quietly had a nice little roleplayer game full of saavy and the "little things" . Had a nice pass from up top to a cutting Salmons to start the 2nd, for Jhn's only points of the first half. Had a good streth on the glass there as well, which is something that he ha not been able to do much of since the injury. Was really battling Kaman, but just giving up too much size to truly stop him. Seemed to figure something out though, as was much more effective defensively after half, and other than a stupid attempt to drive past Kaman resulting in an easy block (Chuck unfortunately feels compelled to try to force something up once or twice a game despite being less skilled offensively than I am), helped us get this win with saavy little plays and boards in the 4th. Ntohign amazing, but at least a contributor.
Fredette ( C+ ) -- surprisingly the first little off the bench, and got off to a good start, hitting Reke on a cut along the baseline, hitting a little pullup where he avoided the overpenetration mistake, and then knocked down a three that was guess what, set up by Reke for the catch and shoot. That's his early NBA career sweet spot. Was looking pretty good, but it never ignited any further, and the Grizzlies began to realize who was out there and attack him on defense. Monster issue for him right now -- he's wearing a big red bullseye on his back and getting chased from games, as he did here. Still he did not look bad at all on one end of the court, and showed no appreciable ill effects from the 2 game benching. Did not return after half.
Garcia ( INC ) -- came in during the first half and only made things worse, airballing another three (I think that's three already this season? Come on Cisco!), triggering a Hornets break as they took the airball and went the other way for the +1 finish -- a 6 point swing of incompetence.
Thomas ( A ) -- hit a three and found Cousisn for a layup to beat the halftime buzzer, but no real impact in his first half minutes again. But in what has gone beyond pattern now gave us a huge boost in the latter stages of the 3rd and 4th, teaming with DeMarcus to fight and scrap and pump energy into dead looking legs the team over. Hit jumpers, set up Cousins, got on the floor, on one play shot the passing lane on a soft pass and raced out on the break. it was his push in place of Reke that kept us in position to steal this, and after Reke returned, IT helped him finish the Hornets off with two big threes, including possibly the backbreaker at the 2:15 mark. Meant so much to our chances in this one, and continues to come from such an unliely looking source, that I am going full A here.
Outlaw ( INC ) -- Very pure effort by Outlaw. As in pure suck focusing on the very worst and very most annoying thing he does: again came in and immediately refused to shoot off the catch, instead dribbling a few dribbles and thowing up a brick. Then did it AGAIN... and shuffled hsi feet and turned it over. You can't even call it just infuriating. Its just ridiculous. Catch and shhot! Catch and bleeping shoot! Its not that hard!
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