Williamson ( C+ ) -- got the start and came out immediately trying to post fellow tough guy Matt Harpring. But got called for an offensive foul on our second possession (he scored on the first) and just abruptly stopped. Had real defensive problems on the other end of the floor as Harpring carried the Jazz tonight. Had no rebounds in the first half, but came out wth more focus in the 2nd and finished with an ok 5. Not a terrible effort, and on this night actually the 2nd best starter. But only because the rest of the starters (sans Bibby) sucked.
Thomas ( D ) -- very very quiet all night. Hit a jumper here and there on offense, but other than one possession where Kenny grabbed two of his three rebounds of the night, just no aggression, no real energy. And on defense was just simply too small and just got worked over by Mehmet Okur inside and out. Size issues aside, KT has generally been pretty consistent for us and normally finds ways to get his numbers. Not tonight. Just invisible and overmatched, and this wasn't Amare he was matched against either.
Skinner ( D- ) -- totally ineffective game for Brian. Just nothing. Was completely univolved on offense -- didn't even take a shot. Turned it over the few times he touched it. But the disappointing part was for the second game in a row gave us absolutely nothing on the other side of the floor either. Jazz just pummeled us inside while he was in there, and its not like he was even having to guard his own man (Jaron Collins was as incompetent as Brian tonight). Added insult to injury with an embarrassing airballed free throw in the 3rd quarter.
Mobley ( F ) -- One game after narrowly avoiding the dreaded "F" for some slight (very slight) defense on Steve Nash, Cat comes back to "earn" it tonight. What the hell happened? He's always been inconsistent, but these last couple of nights he has looked totally disinterested. I mean there is almost nothing to talk about it was so bad. Bad early. Bad late. Beaten up on defense. 2-15 on offense. This has to be down there somewhere really low on his career totem poll. We had no OG tonight.
Bibby ( B ) -- excellent first half when he was more or less playing 1 on 5 out there -- was drawing tons of fouls and singlehandedly getting the Jazz PGs in serious foul trouble. But might have been a little TOO much 1 on 5 as we never did get any sort of team offense going. It was just Mike, and then the rest of our guys standing around like stones or occassionally throwing up an ugly brick. Play fell off in the second half as I think he got tired, and he began to force more and more bad shots to go along with his hits. Sat out for a surprisingly long time in the 4th when we were still in striking range -- even more surprising given that House stunk as well. And after he returned at about the 4 1/2 minute mark he had cooled off and just wasn't able to do much of anything to carry us home. Could not contain Keith McLeod down the stretch.
Songaila ( A- ) -- gave us a really strong burst off the bench tonight. Started out in fairly passive jump shooting mode. But got more and more aggressive as the game went on and attacked the rim. Managed to avoid fouling out, and gave one of his better efforts on the boards. On the negative side, had a couple of bad turnovers, was repeatedly stripped and blocked inside, and was about as much of a revolving door inside as the rest of our non-Tag big men. Strong effort, but not a game turner.
Ostertag ( A ) -- great 2nd quarter stint from Tag, who came close to singlehandedly turning the game for us. He was literally our ONLY interior defense tonight, and during his stints the middle was closed to the Jazz. Blocked shots, grabbed boards, played like a big man, emphasis on BIG. When he was pulled from the game with about 5 minutes to go I slapped my head. Why? Exactly what spark had we gotten from ANYBODY else tonight? Anyway, still just Tag. But Tag doing what Tag can do, and what we desperately need somebody to do. Protect the middle. Alter the game defensively.
House ( D- ) -- in the mid 2nd quarter, Eddie broke out for an easy unchalleneged breakaway layup...and blew it. And I'm not sure he ever got over that miss. Was just off, out of rhythm. One of his uglier offensive games in some time, and combined with Mo and Martin for a nifty 1-14 from our perimeter bench guys.
Evans ( C+ ) -- quiet first half, but gave us a little hustle in his 4th quarter stint on the boards, and took advantage of the Jazz being in the penalty to get some cheapies at the line. Certainly nothing special here, but helped a little for a few minutes late.
Martin ( D ) -- one of those 11 minutes of nothing efforts for Kevin. Not sure what it is, but there are games out there when his minutes are just totally wasted. Not so much terrible, as just not even in the game. Zero points. Zero rebounds. Zero assists. Nothing. Looks quick enough, but nothing happened from it. On his best opportunity of the night committed his old over-penetration error, which I was kind of hoping he had left behind. Mildly competitive on defense against the nobodies-in-particular that the Jazz call a bench.
Adelman ( C- ) -- This was a bad game...that may inadvertently have gotten us exactly the playoff seeding we wanted to get. Some good, some bad for Rick. A better effort than his team, but not a very good one IMHO. On the positive side, went deep into the bench early, and again late looking for a spark. And seemed somewhat more conscious than he has been of matching up sizewise rather than playing midget ball. Found Tag, and used him. Had Corliss at SF, not PF. Even think he had Thomas there at SF for a bit. On the negative side, seemed slow making adjustments. KT was getting pummeled all game long by Mehmet Okur -- why was he still guarding him late? Why was he guarding him at all? The other main Jazz big men are all totally incompetent, why leave an undersized KT to get pummeled by the one big man weapon on the Jazz? Was also slow to call his timeouts as usual, although since we continued to hang in there (partially courtesy of the Jazz just not being very good) I suspose it never really jumped up and bit us. FINALLY started experimenting with a zone late in the game -- and a zone seems like a very logical defense to be using ALL game when your interior is butter soft and you are playing a team which can't shoot. Nor did he stick with the zone when he finally started experimenting. Tried it here and there, and then forgot about it. And then his late game substitution decisions annoyed me: a) with Tag being literally our entire interior defense tonight, Rick pulls him from the game with 5 minutes to go, because...well, it was Tag, and he's had his 8 minutes, and therefore Rick's little mental schedule said Tag NEEDED to be pulled, regardless of how the game was going; and b) Mike, who had carried us all night long, sat on the bench for a long stretch there in the 4th and did not return until 4 minutes were left. Fine if we had anybody else scoring, or if Eddie is hot, but neither was the case. It was Mike or nobody, and Rick chose nobody. Nor did Mike ever get going after returning to the game either. Could be taken either way -- either he was already tiring and was not going to be effective anyway and so Rick was smart to hold him out in an attempt to let him just try to carry us for a couple of minutes. Or he sat too long, got cold, and was ineffective BECAUSE of the long rest. In either case, if you're serious about winning this one, Mike had to be on the floor more than he was. He was it for us tonight offensively.
Thomas ( D ) -- very very quiet all night. Hit a jumper here and there on offense, but other than one possession where Kenny grabbed two of his three rebounds of the night, just no aggression, no real energy. And on defense was just simply too small and just got worked over by Mehmet Okur inside and out. Size issues aside, KT has generally been pretty consistent for us and normally finds ways to get his numbers. Not tonight. Just invisible and overmatched, and this wasn't Amare he was matched against either.
Skinner ( D- ) -- totally ineffective game for Brian. Just nothing. Was completely univolved on offense -- didn't even take a shot. Turned it over the few times he touched it. But the disappointing part was for the second game in a row gave us absolutely nothing on the other side of the floor either. Jazz just pummeled us inside while he was in there, and its not like he was even having to guard his own man (Jaron Collins was as incompetent as Brian tonight). Added insult to injury with an embarrassing airballed free throw in the 3rd quarter.
Mobley ( F ) -- One game after narrowly avoiding the dreaded "F" for some slight (very slight) defense on Steve Nash, Cat comes back to "earn" it tonight. What the hell happened? He's always been inconsistent, but these last couple of nights he has looked totally disinterested. I mean there is almost nothing to talk about it was so bad. Bad early. Bad late. Beaten up on defense. 2-15 on offense. This has to be down there somewhere really low on his career totem poll. We had no OG tonight.
Bibby ( B ) -- excellent first half when he was more or less playing 1 on 5 out there -- was drawing tons of fouls and singlehandedly getting the Jazz PGs in serious foul trouble. But might have been a little TOO much 1 on 5 as we never did get any sort of team offense going. It was just Mike, and then the rest of our guys standing around like stones or occassionally throwing up an ugly brick. Play fell off in the second half as I think he got tired, and he began to force more and more bad shots to go along with his hits. Sat out for a surprisingly long time in the 4th when we were still in striking range -- even more surprising given that House stunk as well. And after he returned at about the 4 1/2 minute mark he had cooled off and just wasn't able to do much of anything to carry us home. Could not contain Keith McLeod down the stretch.
Songaila ( A- ) -- gave us a really strong burst off the bench tonight. Started out in fairly passive jump shooting mode. But got more and more aggressive as the game went on and attacked the rim. Managed to avoid fouling out, and gave one of his better efforts on the boards. On the negative side, had a couple of bad turnovers, was repeatedly stripped and blocked inside, and was about as much of a revolving door inside as the rest of our non-Tag big men. Strong effort, but not a game turner.
Ostertag ( A ) -- great 2nd quarter stint from Tag, who came close to singlehandedly turning the game for us. He was literally our ONLY interior defense tonight, and during his stints the middle was closed to the Jazz. Blocked shots, grabbed boards, played like a big man, emphasis on BIG. When he was pulled from the game with about 5 minutes to go I slapped my head. Why? Exactly what spark had we gotten from ANYBODY else tonight? Anyway, still just Tag. But Tag doing what Tag can do, and what we desperately need somebody to do. Protect the middle. Alter the game defensively.
House ( D- ) -- in the mid 2nd quarter, Eddie broke out for an easy unchalleneged breakaway layup...and blew it. And I'm not sure he ever got over that miss. Was just off, out of rhythm. One of his uglier offensive games in some time, and combined with Mo and Martin for a nifty 1-14 from our perimeter bench guys.
Evans ( C+ ) -- quiet first half, but gave us a little hustle in his 4th quarter stint on the boards, and took advantage of the Jazz being in the penalty to get some cheapies at the line. Certainly nothing special here, but helped a little for a few minutes late.
Martin ( D ) -- one of those 11 minutes of nothing efforts for Kevin. Not sure what it is, but there are games out there when his minutes are just totally wasted. Not so much terrible, as just not even in the game. Zero points. Zero rebounds. Zero assists. Nothing. Looks quick enough, but nothing happened from it. On his best opportunity of the night committed his old over-penetration error, which I was kind of hoping he had left behind. Mildly competitive on defense against the nobodies-in-particular that the Jazz call a bench.
Adelman ( C- ) -- This was a bad game...that may inadvertently have gotten us exactly the playoff seeding we wanted to get. Some good, some bad for Rick. A better effort than his team, but not a very good one IMHO. On the positive side, went deep into the bench early, and again late looking for a spark. And seemed somewhat more conscious than he has been of matching up sizewise rather than playing midget ball. Found Tag, and used him. Had Corliss at SF, not PF. Even think he had Thomas there at SF for a bit. On the negative side, seemed slow making adjustments. KT was getting pummeled all game long by Mehmet Okur -- why was he still guarding him late? Why was he guarding him at all? The other main Jazz big men are all totally incompetent, why leave an undersized KT to get pummeled by the one big man weapon on the Jazz? Was also slow to call his timeouts as usual, although since we continued to hang in there (partially courtesy of the Jazz just not being very good) I suspose it never really jumped up and bit us. FINALLY started experimenting with a zone late in the game -- and a zone seems like a very logical defense to be using ALL game when your interior is butter soft and you are playing a team which can't shoot. Nor did he stick with the zone when he finally started experimenting. Tried it here and there, and then forgot about it. And then his late game substitution decisions annoyed me: a) with Tag being literally our entire interior defense tonight, Rick pulls him from the game with 5 minutes to go, because...well, it was Tag, and he's had his 8 minutes, and therefore Rick's little mental schedule said Tag NEEDED to be pulled, regardless of how the game was going; and b) Mike, who had carried us all night long, sat on the bench for a long stretch there in the 4th and did not return until 4 minutes were left. Fine if we had anybody else scoring, or if Eddie is hot, but neither was the case. It was Mike or nobody, and Rick chose nobody. Nor did Mike ever get going after returning to the game either. Could be taken either way -- either he was already tiring and was not going to be effective anyway and so Rick was smart to hold him out in an attempt to let him just try to carry us for a couple of minutes. Or he sat too long, got cold, and was ineffective BECAUSE of the long rest. In either case, if you're serious about winning this one, Mike had to be on the floor more than he was. He was it for us tonight offensively.
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