Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Woot!
Nocioni ( B- ) -- most of his offensive contribution on the night consisted of spotting up for open threes, but our ability to hit those threes played a key role on the night (we hit 11-19 from beyond the arc). Made several scrappy hustle plays which fit both with his own well know tendency to hard nosed play as well as our own on the night, and drew several fouls with plays that we shall be ncie and not call flops, but ratehr perhaps "exagegrations". But he might have taken it too far in the middle 4th when he started racking up fouls guarding Ronnie Brewer, who is not one of the Jazz's big weapons, and giving the Jazz extra points as they tried to run us down. Left a bad taste by making a terrible forced shot at the 2:00 mark got us into trouble as we just could not close the deal. Was obviously looking for the foul on it, but ala Kevin, at hat point of the game you have to take a shot that has an actual chance rather than relying on the refs.
Thompson ( B ) -- this is a tough one to grade because Jason continues to do so much wrong, and yet so much right. Played a pretty weak first half, racking up 20 minutes of playing time and finishing with 4 pts and 3rebs as the Jazz's burly PFs pushed him away from the hoop. Avoided major foul trouble, but continued to pick up unnecessary ones, including committing an offensive foul getting out of control trying to lead a semi-break rather than finding a guard. One thing he was doing well from the beginning of the game, and that he has done well for much of the early season, was pass. Both on kickouts and hitting guys on the cut from the post position (the thing that Spencer should be doing if he would get his *** down in the post where he belongs). After the slow first half, came on to dominate the glass in the early third, and was doing a nice job on Boozer defensively after half too, just using his size to loom over him and make getting up shots difficult. Continues to blow chippee assists left and right for Tyreke including a big one down the stretch that opened the door a little wider for the Jazz. But came up big int he final minute, first with a nice pass to the slashing Beno for a layup, then with a key offensive rebond to help seal it. Padded his points with several sets of FTs after the game was decided in the final 15 seconds, but this was baically a single digit scoring night for him. So...Jason Thompson. One weak half, one strong half. Continued offensive incompetence, but yet developing as a passer. Hustles on the boards yet outrebounded 17-11 by his man...and I finally call the overall mix a B. All kinds of flawas, but an important part of the hustling gang who won this behind Reke's big game.
Hawes ( C- ) -- and so the mystery of Spencer Hawes's third season continues. Started off guarding Boozer and was into quick foul trouble without having accomplished much of anything. And with everybody else attacking in the second quarter Spencer wanted to join the party...and so just had to fade out and chuck a bricked Flutter three. Mixed bag of a second half that still left him with pretty anemic numbers. Tried to post AK47 to start the second half, and went right at his body as you have to, but could not finsih. Misplayed a pick and roll at the other end resulting ina an open hit for Andrei. Later had a nice hard take off the pick and roll leading to a 3pt play over Boozer, but also took too long to make a move trying to break a zone, resulting in a TO. Along with Jason did a good job defensively against Boozer in the second half using his size advantage, but also let Okur get open for back to back threes in the final two minutes -- a no no at any point against Okur, but especially in the position that we were in where nothing but a barrage of threes could beat us. Fortunately Memo's toe was on the line on one of them. Finsihed up wiht a disappointing 7pts and 4rebs in 30 minutes, and if it wasn't Flutter soft, it was still plenty spongy. Just did not seem terribly involved as the rest of the team was having fun around him.
Udrih ( B+ ) -- played a decent first quarter, but never returned in the first half as we went to a tough guy lineup in the 2nd quarter that clawed all the way back from 15pts down. But after half played such an important role in our upset bid that I am not sure he sat down once. And far from looking out of place in a group of hustling players led by a physical rookie jsut running people over, Beno actually joined in. Caught him on one play actually hustling for a board on the defensive glass and taking it all the way for one of his little pullups. Had a major role to play in the 4th, both good and bad, as the Jazz put the squeeze on our offense and we started to crumble. Made a nice pass to an open Hawes under the hoop to finally break a 4 minute FG drought for us, but also made several shot clock mistakes to help our collapse as we weren't always even getting shots off. In the end it was Beno hitting both of our last two shots including the sealer. The first one was on a cut taking a nice pass from Jason, while the 2nd was on his own breaking down the defense while the Jazz scrambled to create a turnover wiht the game all but out of reach. I would agree with the people who say that they are seeing a new Beno so far this season. After his first year in Sacto I thought he had shown pretty good leadership given his unsettled situation, but last year was an out of shape, lazy, defenseless finger-pointing disaster for him, and us. So far this year though there has been much better energy and leadership than anything he gave us last season.
Evans ( A ) -- /Queue gush: now of course this was the big one, not only the big one for the night but potentially another important one for us as Kings fans. Because our rook just flat out went off out there, and its the way he goes about it that is so eye opening. This game inspired a lot of emotions in people I am sure, but for me it was mostly amusement. I spent most of the second and third quarters just laughing because there was simply absolutely nothing the Jazz could do to stop the onslaught. In the post, off the drive, critically tonight hitting a decent percentage of his jumpers? Reke brought the ball down the court, and you would see him just dip his head a bit, and you can just see here it comes, and bam, just left Deron in the dust play after play. Completely wrecked the Jazz defense as the interior guys had to scramble play after play. Kid goes in there hard and fast. And so the Jazz put in Ronnie Price, we remember Ronnie Price -- great athlete, tough defender, and Reke just takes him down in the post and flat beats him up. Chased him from the game he beat him so bad. The kid is a matchup nightmare. In the early going he was still struggling with efficiency, hit and miss with his jumpers, and got called for palming again -- obviously a point of emphasis for him with the refs. But he was aggressive and you sensed there was a chance for something big there -- he showed no hesitation on the jumpers, hit an early three, and outmuscled a strong opponent in Ronnie Brewer. And then he began to really punish the Jazz in the second quarter (were Havoc not such a good nickname I might suggest The Punisher for his style of play), attacking and attacking, posting up, drawing fouls (he fixed his FT woes for this one as well, hitting 16-19), and got back to back open court steals and dunks off of Jazz turnovers up top (part of a great defensive stint by the pairing of Reke and new King Ime Udoka in the second). Perhaps just as important his post work was creating all kinds of open shots for Kings in the same way that a Tim Duncan or Dwight Howard's does -- the Jazz could not handle him in the post and were having to run people at him, and Reke showed he knows how to play that better than most bigs, instantly snapping crosscourt passes to all the Kings left open around the perimeter. There was a great sequence there in the second half when he initiated a pass to Hawes in the post, who quickly snapped a pass to a cutting Thompson for the foul. Got hit in the face near the end of the third + had to go into the locker room to get his mouth patched up. Was slowed in the 4th, but don't think it was the injury. Think it was largely inexperience, by both the Reke and hte Kings as a whole. The Jazz suddenly bore down, paid Reke a lot of attention, and our offense collapsed into a long ugly series of one on one plays and 24 second violations. Reke still contributed several hoops/FTs and an assist, but that iron grip he had on the game during the explosive 2nd and 3rd quarters wasn't there anymore, and it was left up to our middling backup PG and our fumblethumby PF (Reke again was cheated of several assist by Jason's inability to finsih nice setups at the rim) to seal it in the final minute. And that was enough there for me to not go with the "+" to the A. 32 and 7 is a big game for anyone, let alone a 20yr old rook in his 6th game playing against one of the league's best at his position. But I think he's still got another gear. Which is scary. Should be fun finding out if I'm right. /End gush.
Nocioni ( B- ) -- most of his offensive contribution on the night consisted of spotting up for open threes, but our ability to hit those threes played a key role on the night (we hit 11-19 from beyond the arc). Made several scrappy hustle plays which fit both with his own well know tendency to hard nosed play as well as our own on the night, and drew several fouls with plays that we shall be ncie and not call flops, but ratehr perhaps "exagegrations". But he might have taken it too far in the middle 4th when he started racking up fouls guarding Ronnie Brewer, who is not one of the Jazz's big weapons, and giving the Jazz extra points as they tried to run us down. Left a bad taste by making a terrible forced shot at the 2:00 mark got us into trouble as we just could not close the deal. Was obviously looking for the foul on it, but ala Kevin, at hat point of the game you have to take a shot that has an actual chance rather than relying on the refs.
Thompson ( B ) -- this is a tough one to grade because Jason continues to do so much wrong, and yet so much right. Played a pretty weak first half, racking up 20 minutes of playing time and finishing with 4 pts and 3rebs as the Jazz's burly PFs pushed him away from the hoop. Avoided major foul trouble, but continued to pick up unnecessary ones, including committing an offensive foul getting out of control trying to lead a semi-break rather than finding a guard. One thing he was doing well from the beginning of the game, and that he has done well for much of the early season, was pass. Both on kickouts and hitting guys on the cut from the post position (the thing that Spencer should be doing if he would get his *** down in the post where he belongs). After the slow first half, came on to dominate the glass in the early third, and was doing a nice job on Boozer defensively after half too, just using his size to loom over him and make getting up shots difficult. Continues to blow chippee assists left and right for Tyreke including a big one down the stretch that opened the door a little wider for the Jazz. But came up big int he final minute, first with a nice pass to the slashing Beno for a layup, then with a key offensive rebond to help seal it. Padded his points with several sets of FTs after the game was decided in the final 15 seconds, but this was baically a single digit scoring night for him. So...Jason Thompson. One weak half, one strong half. Continued offensive incompetence, but yet developing as a passer. Hustles on the boards yet outrebounded 17-11 by his man...and I finally call the overall mix a B. All kinds of flawas, but an important part of the hustling gang who won this behind Reke's big game.
Hawes ( C- ) -- and so the mystery of Spencer Hawes's third season continues. Started off guarding Boozer and was into quick foul trouble without having accomplished much of anything. And with everybody else attacking in the second quarter Spencer wanted to join the party...and so just had to fade out and chuck a bricked Flutter three. Mixed bag of a second half that still left him with pretty anemic numbers. Tried to post AK47 to start the second half, and went right at his body as you have to, but could not finsih. Misplayed a pick and roll at the other end resulting ina an open hit for Andrei. Later had a nice hard take off the pick and roll leading to a 3pt play over Boozer, but also took too long to make a move trying to break a zone, resulting in a TO. Along with Jason did a good job defensively against Boozer in the second half using his size advantage, but also let Okur get open for back to back threes in the final two minutes -- a no no at any point against Okur, but especially in the position that we were in where nothing but a barrage of threes could beat us. Fortunately Memo's toe was on the line on one of them. Finsihed up wiht a disappointing 7pts and 4rebs in 30 minutes, and if it wasn't Flutter soft, it was still plenty spongy. Just did not seem terribly involved as the rest of the team was having fun around him.
Udrih ( B+ ) -- played a decent first quarter, but never returned in the first half as we went to a tough guy lineup in the 2nd quarter that clawed all the way back from 15pts down. But after half played such an important role in our upset bid that I am not sure he sat down once. And far from looking out of place in a group of hustling players led by a physical rookie jsut running people over, Beno actually joined in. Caught him on one play actually hustling for a board on the defensive glass and taking it all the way for one of his little pullups. Had a major role to play in the 4th, both good and bad, as the Jazz put the squeeze on our offense and we started to crumble. Made a nice pass to an open Hawes under the hoop to finally break a 4 minute FG drought for us, but also made several shot clock mistakes to help our collapse as we weren't always even getting shots off. In the end it was Beno hitting both of our last two shots including the sealer. The first one was on a cut taking a nice pass from Jason, while the 2nd was on his own breaking down the defense while the Jazz scrambled to create a turnover wiht the game all but out of reach. I would agree with the people who say that they are seeing a new Beno so far this season. After his first year in Sacto I thought he had shown pretty good leadership given his unsettled situation, but last year was an out of shape, lazy, defenseless finger-pointing disaster for him, and us. So far this year though there has been much better energy and leadership than anything he gave us last season.
Evans ( A ) -- /Queue gush: now of course this was the big one, not only the big one for the night but potentially another important one for us as Kings fans. Because our rook just flat out went off out there, and its the way he goes about it that is so eye opening. This game inspired a lot of emotions in people I am sure, but for me it was mostly amusement. I spent most of the second and third quarters just laughing because there was simply absolutely nothing the Jazz could do to stop the onslaught. In the post, off the drive, critically tonight hitting a decent percentage of his jumpers? Reke brought the ball down the court, and you would see him just dip his head a bit, and you can just see here it comes, and bam, just left Deron in the dust play after play. Completely wrecked the Jazz defense as the interior guys had to scramble play after play. Kid goes in there hard and fast. And so the Jazz put in Ronnie Price, we remember Ronnie Price -- great athlete, tough defender, and Reke just takes him down in the post and flat beats him up. Chased him from the game he beat him so bad. The kid is a matchup nightmare. In the early going he was still struggling with efficiency, hit and miss with his jumpers, and got called for palming again -- obviously a point of emphasis for him with the refs. But he was aggressive and you sensed there was a chance for something big there -- he showed no hesitation on the jumpers, hit an early three, and outmuscled a strong opponent in Ronnie Brewer. And then he began to really punish the Jazz in the second quarter (were Havoc not such a good nickname I might suggest The Punisher for his style of play), attacking and attacking, posting up, drawing fouls (he fixed his FT woes for this one as well, hitting 16-19), and got back to back open court steals and dunks off of Jazz turnovers up top (part of a great defensive stint by the pairing of Reke and new King Ime Udoka in the second). Perhaps just as important his post work was creating all kinds of open shots for Kings in the same way that a Tim Duncan or Dwight Howard's does -- the Jazz could not handle him in the post and were having to run people at him, and Reke showed he knows how to play that better than most bigs, instantly snapping crosscourt passes to all the Kings left open around the perimeter. There was a great sequence there in the second half when he initiated a pass to Hawes in the post, who quickly snapped a pass to a cutting Thompson for the foul. Got hit in the face near the end of the third + had to go into the locker room to get his mouth patched up. Was slowed in the 4th, but don't think it was the injury. Think it was largely inexperience, by both the Reke and hte Kings as a whole. The Jazz suddenly bore down, paid Reke a lot of attention, and our offense collapsed into a long ugly series of one on one plays and 24 second violations. Reke still contributed several hoops/FTs and an assist, but that iron grip he had on the game during the explosive 2nd and 3rd quarters wasn't there anymore, and it was left up to our middling backup PG and our fumblethumby PF (Reke again was cheated of several assist by Jason's inability to finsih nice setups at the rim) to seal it in the final minute. And that was enough there for me to not go with the "+" to the A. 32 and 7 is a big game for anyone, let alone a 20yr old rook in his 6th game playing against one of the league's best at his position. But I think he's still got another gear. Which is scary. Should be fun finding out if I'm right. /End gush.
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(my favorite King)
