Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well, at least when we lose we lose colorfully. 
What a disastrous finish. Not sure I've ever seen 0-20 in a quarter before, let alone the 4th.
Artest ( A- ) -- almost felt sorry for Ron out there tonight. He was by so far our best player you would have thought you were watching the Kobes. And then disaster may have struck. Got off to the dynamic start flying around on both ends of the court, throwing down a monster jam on AK-47, getting his hands on a ton of balls that were not quite steals, but at least disruptions. Quieted down as the half went on, but stepped back up to hit the halftime buzzer beater in Kirilenko's face to put us up 6 at the break. In the third kept on hitting big shots to beat the buzzer and keep the Jazz at bay. But then everything fell apart for us, and the biggest blow may have come with Ron. Went up on a big drive and got hammered by the Tag/AK47 combo and went down clutching his right side/abdomen. Not to be deterred, came back a few seconds later for the repeat, and came down clutching the side again. Tried to stay out there, but was clearly laboring + in pain. Actually had to leave the court for the lockerroom but came back a minute or two later asking Rick to put him back in the game. Rick made the right call and played it safe. But this one scares me like the Bonzi injury. Ron Artest does not leave the court for a bruised pinky. If it was enough to chase him to the lockerroom...well, everybody keep as many appendages as you have crossed, because that could be the season right there. Good game for Ron, but was a lone warrior out there. It is appreciated. Now please don't be long-term injured, and please don't give up on the other 11 putzes we saddled you with tonight. They'll come around. I hope.
Thomas ( D ) -- grabbed some athletic offensive boards early, but that was about the extent of his contributions. Missed his open jumpers around the perimeter, and in the second half even the rebounding went away. Of course provided no interior defensive presence at all, and made some dumb turnovers.
Reef ( C ) -- got the start once again, and again turned in a minorly effective offensive performance, no rebounding, and no interior defense, as our starting center. Was having problems with Memo at the other end early, and outmuscled by Tag late. Peppered a shot in here and there, but never any runs. A bit better than his last couple of outings, but pretty ineffectual once again. Guess he can at least say that there were others who were worse.
Bonzi ( D- ) -- Bonzi continues to look all kinds of rusty. This time it was no fewer than 6 turnovers in the first half, and 9 for the game, almost all of the get stripped, fumble the ball variety. Also still completely unable to find a comfort zone with his shot, from anywhere in the field or the line. Just scrapping, scraping, powering inside, but the ball was going all over the place and rarely where he wanted it to. Still, as always, showed up on the boards and hustle categories, and that effort is all that saves him from the F here. Because it was it was an ineffective/ugly hustle game to say the least.
Bibby ( D- ) -- just still completely out of rhythm in the new offensive balance. Missed open shots and challenged shots, made a few plays with his passing, but ineffective without the ball in his hands again. Got a couple of passing lane steals, but otherwise unable to contain any of the Jazz All-NBDL PGs. Despite an ugly effort, there was a chance for Mike to redeem himself late. With Bonzi gone, Mike was clearly the guy we needed to be able to step up and bail us out, but he had nothing and was just too far gone. Did finish with 15pts, and his lone three at one point looked like it might be the backbreaker for the Jazz in the late third. But was not to be, and the game turned ugly soon therafter. Two bad nights in a row without Brad and the ball going elsewhere. Mike has to make some adjustments here because Ron needs a wingman badly -- assuming Ron is even going to be able to bounce back from the injury.
Garcia ( C+ ) -- was pretty invisible out there, missing his only open shot and doing little else offensively, but in the second quarter did come up with back to back blocks on the break for a brief highlight. For the second game in a row Rick went with Cisco and Artest as sort of a combo backup PG rather than going to Hart (is he healthy?) or Price, and got reasonable results. His second half stint got cut short as the wheels came off for us again (that phrase once more) and Rick panicked and threw the starters back onto the floor to try desperately to stop the bleeding.
Martin ( C+ ) -- scored well off the bench again in the second quarter, both inside and out. Watch his feet on the outside shot -- the former drivemaster has become a deadly spot up shooter if you let him stand out there with his feet set. But if you run at him and he has to move left or right, the percentage drops precipitously. 4th quarter was a bit of an adventure. Early on was involved in perhaps THE mometum switching play in the 4th when he went flying out on the break for a surefire layup, but was caught up to and blocked by a Flying Ostertag (watch out below!), which seemed to inspire Utah to go on a huge run. It may also have ben our last best chance to actually hit a FG that period. Ended up playing much of the rest of the way in place of the injured Artest, but was actually having a number of problmes wiht Tag in there. Not sure if he just forgot what he could do so quickly after last year or what, but the big guy blocked him again, deterred another drive and forced an ugly shot, generally got in Kevin's head. Finished up by taking advanatage of Tag being off the floor to attack Memo and get to the line in the last minute. Overall, an ok effort. But certainly not able to do anything to help save us late (nor would you really expect him to be the guy to do so).
Skinner ( C+ ) -- not much statistically, but we went on a tough defensive run with him in there in the first half. Just a larger, more physical presence than Reef, and outbattled Tag in the first half. Minutes in the second half were less effective as he came in in plae of Kenny (who got in foul trouble) and played alongside Reef. And with the offense in complete collapse, Rick went back to the better offensive forwards, to no avail of course.
Corliss ( INC ) -- almost forgot he played in the first half. Helped us during our strongest defensive stretch, and hit a jumper on a nice feed from Artest.
Adelman ( ) -- coming
Tag ( F ) -- Maybe we should title this one Hick Trek VIII -- The Revenge of Tag. The big galoot came back to bite us -- making perhaps the game turning block on Kevin in the early 4th and then playing big (really big) all the way down the stretch and combining with Kirilenko to lock down the lane. In Kingsland sucha performance would have automatically landed him a place on the pine for the next two weeks. Bad hick! Bad bad hick!
What a disastrous finish. Not sure I've ever seen 0-20 in a quarter before, let alone the 4th. Artest ( A- ) -- almost felt sorry for Ron out there tonight. He was by so far our best player you would have thought you were watching the Kobes. And then disaster may have struck. Got off to the dynamic start flying around on both ends of the court, throwing down a monster jam on AK-47, getting his hands on a ton of balls that were not quite steals, but at least disruptions. Quieted down as the half went on, but stepped back up to hit the halftime buzzer beater in Kirilenko's face to put us up 6 at the break. In the third kept on hitting big shots to beat the buzzer and keep the Jazz at bay. But then everything fell apart for us, and the biggest blow may have come with Ron. Went up on a big drive and got hammered by the Tag/AK47 combo and went down clutching his right side/abdomen. Not to be deterred, came back a few seconds later for the repeat, and came down clutching the side again. Tried to stay out there, but was clearly laboring + in pain. Actually had to leave the court for the lockerroom but came back a minute or two later asking Rick to put him back in the game. Rick made the right call and played it safe. But this one scares me like the Bonzi injury. Ron Artest does not leave the court for a bruised pinky. If it was enough to chase him to the lockerroom...well, everybody keep as many appendages as you have crossed, because that could be the season right there. Good game for Ron, but was a lone warrior out there. It is appreciated. Now please don't be long-term injured, and please don't give up on the other 11 putzes we saddled you with tonight. They'll come around. I hope.
Thomas ( D ) -- grabbed some athletic offensive boards early, but that was about the extent of his contributions. Missed his open jumpers around the perimeter, and in the second half even the rebounding went away. Of course provided no interior defensive presence at all, and made some dumb turnovers.
Reef ( C ) -- got the start once again, and again turned in a minorly effective offensive performance, no rebounding, and no interior defense, as our starting center. Was having problems with Memo at the other end early, and outmuscled by Tag late. Peppered a shot in here and there, but never any runs. A bit better than his last couple of outings, but pretty ineffectual once again. Guess he can at least say that there were others who were worse.
Bonzi ( D- ) -- Bonzi continues to look all kinds of rusty. This time it was no fewer than 6 turnovers in the first half, and 9 for the game, almost all of the get stripped, fumble the ball variety. Also still completely unable to find a comfort zone with his shot, from anywhere in the field or the line. Just scrapping, scraping, powering inside, but the ball was going all over the place and rarely where he wanted it to. Still, as always, showed up on the boards and hustle categories, and that effort is all that saves him from the F here. Because it was it was an ineffective/ugly hustle game to say the least.
Bibby ( D- ) -- just still completely out of rhythm in the new offensive balance. Missed open shots and challenged shots, made a few plays with his passing, but ineffective without the ball in his hands again. Got a couple of passing lane steals, but otherwise unable to contain any of the Jazz All-NBDL PGs. Despite an ugly effort, there was a chance for Mike to redeem himself late. With Bonzi gone, Mike was clearly the guy we needed to be able to step up and bail us out, but he had nothing and was just too far gone. Did finish with 15pts, and his lone three at one point looked like it might be the backbreaker for the Jazz in the late third. But was not to be, and the game turned ugly soon therafter. Two bad nights in a row without Brad and the ball going elsewhere. Mike has to make some adjustments here because Ron needs a wingman badly -- assuming Ron is even going to be able to bounce back from the injury.
Garcia ( C+ ) -- was pretty invisible out there, missing his only open shot and doing little else offensively, but in the second quarter did come up with back to back blocks on the break for a brief highlight. For the second game in a row Rick went with Cisco and Artest as sort of a combo backup PG rather than going to Hart (is he healthy?) or Price, and got reasonable results. His second half stint got cut short as the wheels came off for us again (that phrase once more) and Rick panicked and threw the starters back onto the floor to try desperately to stop the bleeding.
Martin ( C+ ) -- scored well off the bench again in the second quarter, both inside and out. Watch his feet on the outside shot -- the former drivemaster has become a deadly spot up shooter if you let him stand out there with his feet set. But if you run at him and he has to move left or right, the percentage drops precipitously. 4th quarter was a bit of an adventure. Early on was involved in perhaps THE mometum switching play in the 4th when he went flying out on the break for a surefire layup, but was caught up to and blocked by a Flying Ostertag (watch out below!), which seemed to inspire Utah to go on a huge run. It may also have ben our last best chance to actually hit a FG that period. Ended up playing much of the rest of the way in place of the injured Artest, but was actually having a number of problmes wiht Tag in there. Not sure if he just forgot what he could do so quickly after last year or what, but the big guy blocked him again, deterred another drive and forced an ugly shot, generally got in Kevin's head. Finished up by taking advanatage of Tag being off the floor to attack Memo and get to the line in the last minute. Overall, an ok effort. But certainly not able to do anything to help save us late (nor would you really expect him to be the guy to do so).
Skinner ( C+ ) -- not much statistically, but we went on a tough defensive run with him in there in the first half. Just a larger, more physical presence than Reef, and outbattled Tag in the first half. Minutes in the second half were less effective as he came in in plae of Kenny (who got in foul trouble) and played alongside Reef. And with the offense in complete collapse, Rick went back to the better offensive forwards, to no avail of course.
Corliss ( INC ) -- almost forgot he played in the first half. Helped us during our strongest defensive stretch, and hit a jumper on a nice feed from Artest.
Adelman ( ) -- coming
Tag ( F ) -- Maybe we should title this one Hick Trek VIII -- The Revenge of Tag. The big galoot came back to bite us -- making perhaps the game turning block on Kevin in the early 4th and then playing big (really big) all the way down the stretch and combining with Kirilenko to lock down the lane. In Kingsland sucha performance would have automatically landed him a place on the pine for the next two weeks. Bad hick! Bad bad hick!
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