Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Happy Turkey Day! Well kinda.
Mama mia.
Artest ( B- ) -- got off to a strong start on both sides of the ball, including making a great steal from Deron Williams after we had choked on a fast break. Scored efficiently, and at halftime was part of a three headed monster along with Kevin and Mike that the Jazz didn't seem to have an answer for. But then things took a turn. And oh boy did they. First Ron got hurt -- at the end of the first half he limped to the lockerroom holding his lower back. And lest he be accused of overdramatizing an injury this time, he was still in the lockerroom to start the second half as well. And when he came back he had nowhere near the impact. Initially in the third he was merely taking a back seat as Kevin continued his ultra-efficient attack, and Ronnie Price just exploded for the finest minutes of his young career. But the defensive impact was obviously already gone. And then in the 4th things followed a familiar pattern. We started to fall apart -- wasn't Ron who CAUSED us to start falling apart, but we started to sputter anyway. And then Ron tried to bail us out again on offense. And so one more time he went through the same thing where he started forcing shots in the 4th and helped ensure our demise in the process. Still got us a few points in the process, and still deserves some grade for being major factor in us getting our big lead in the first place. The injury also mitigates somewhat. But damn Ron, a little trust (of course given the other late performances detailed below, not sure trust in who).
Thomas ( D+ ) -- moved the ball well in the first half, and at one point actually had half of our first half assists with 5. On the flipside wasn't doing much else, and was the primary defender in there on Carlos Boozer, who worked us over every bit as as badly as feared. Worse than was feared by this observer actually. Before the game I said we would be alright in there against Boozer as long as Kenny could keep him off the glass -- well, he got squashed 13-4. And along the way Boozer, who is not overwhelmingly tall, finsihed over, around, and through Kenny and any other Kings big as if he were actually a 7 footer like Duncan. In fact Boozer's numbers ended up looking very much like Duncan's the other night (32pts 13reb 5ast 2blk on 14-20 shooting). Meanwhile, you barely knew Kenny was out there. For the second game in a row gets a modified D grade rather than an F, as while he was doing little positive we were not not so much hurt by KT doing anything terrible himself, as we were very much hurt as the man he was supposed to be guarding went absolutely wild pummeling us inside.
Reef ( C ) -- could get nothing going in the first half on offense (1-6 FGs at half), but did help us control the glass in the early going. And with Ron, Kevin and Mike all flowing on the offensive end, a lack of scoring from Reef seemed a mere footnote. But this was yet another one of those things that changed in the second half, and not for the better for the team. In the third Reef began to wake up on offense, or at least try to -- unfortunately in the process he may have been hurting us by forcing his offense while Kevin and Ronnie simply couldn't miss. Well Reef was the opposite -- could not hit. And then in a cruel bit of irony in the 4th Reef finally DID start to hit, but we got bizarrely one dimensional, threw it to him every time, and as he either hit the shot or turned it over (for some reason he refused to give it up out of the doubles) everything else ground to a halt. And so ironically, the better Reef scored, the worse we got as our flow disappeared. Not sure whether that paradox is so much Reef's fault as the coaching staff's apparent change of gameplan, but either way it was quite distinct. Earns some points back for a solid job on Mehmet Okur -- Memo just could not shoot tonight (until it came time to hit the backbreaker of course), but Reef had a part in that while challenging him repeatedly and making it hard. On the other hand the Utah Jazz recorded, get this, an absolutely obscene 72 points in the paint as once again our bigs were completely unable to slow or stop anyone from attacking inside. Not all Reef obviously, but as our big minute "center" if only by default, much of that does land at his doorstep. It was a layup drill, a postup drill, a dunk drill, and any and every other kind of drill you can imagine and there was absolutely no resistance. Throw in the Jazz's complete domination of the glass inside after half, and you have another game where we just got manhandled inside while our bigs were overwhelmed.
Martin ( B+ ) -- it was a heck of a three quarters for the kid. He just could not miss, and was able to get his shots without much of a problem against anybody the Jazz trotted out there to try to defend him. Ironically even while it was all working and he was doing everything right and barely making a mistake, he was being upstaged by breakout performances by Cisco and Price. But amidst the injuries, it was Kevin who was flowing along, hitting almost every shot he took, and making it look effortless. I was absolutely sure I was giving him an A. And then...well then the wheels came off this train just as they did everywhere else. I think it may have started with us increasingly forcing the ball into Reef down inside. It just seemed everything ground to a halt when that happened, and our hot kids were forgotten about. And by the time that we remembered them, Kevin was a different player. Kevin actually got his shots in the 4th -- 5 of them in fact, which may have been more than he got in any other quarter. The problem was that he could no longer hit them. And so Kevin goes 0-5 down the stretch, Ron is forcing up bad shots, and meanwhile the Jazz are dumping nearly 40 points on us in the 4th quarter in our own building. That, ladies and gents, would be an ick.
Bibby ( B ) -- got off to a hot start as everything was working for us in the first quarter. Mike was hitting, Ron was all over the place, Kevin basically hit every shot he took...it was grand. But...and how many "buts" can there be in one game? In any case, BUT, stop me if you've heard this before, the worm turned (anybody know what the heck that phrase means BTW??). And in Mike's case the twirling nightcrawler took the form of yet another injury to pile onto his and our burgeoning lists -- this time as he banged knees with one of the Jazz to close the first half and had to limp to the lockerroom. He came back out to start the third and tried to make a go of it, but looked significantly hobbled, could not hit a shot or move fluidly, and was just unable to go after the first couple of minutes. Lord I hope that's not something that lingers. In any case, losing Mike can't but hurt when you lose control of a game late, but it should be noted that Ronnie Price played exceptionally well in his stead in the third and helped us grab our largest lead of the game. And of course what really killed us more than anything was a complete defensive and rebounding collapse after half -- not exactly things Mike is known for contributing. Grade here is slanted toward his strong first half rather than his brief 0-3 cameo in the second half when he clearly wasn't physically able to go. In any case, get well Mike. Please?
Salmons ( C- ) -- perhaps rusty, perhaps still hobbled, but either way was missing shots, and missing them badly in a first half stint. And although he helped a little on the glass it wasn't enough to earn him any minutes at all after half. Almost an incomplete.
Williamson ( C ) -- this is an extraordinarily hard one to grade. Statistically a brownout, and with none of the markers you normally expect from Corliss Williamson. No offense at all. No boardwork. And yet...when you watched him out there in the first half he looked generally solid. A half step slow at times, but made several good defensive rotations to pick up blocks, set picks, tried with mixed success to body people, and while it was not really because of him, during his first 12 minutes we played our best defense of the game and extended our lead. When he returned in the 4th quarter however the lack of any thing tangible on the glass or through the net hurt us though, and he certainly wasn't stopping anybody inside anymore than any of our other out of position small forwards.
Garcia ( B+ ) -- things got off to a promising start for Cisco in this one, as he actually played a major factor in the second quarter by almost singelhandedly staving off the first of Utah's several pushes to get back into it. Was playing good solid defense early and made a critical contribution by pumping in 9 quick pts in his second court minutes on 2 threes and 3 FTS just as the Jazz had started to close it. It may not have been as special as all that really -- it was really just three shot attempts, 2 hits and a fortuitous foul, but it made a major impact at the time, and you could see Cisco's confidence soaring, which is of course both good and bad for him. Led him to make a few hyperactive positive plays, and of course led him to make a couple of dumb ones as well. In any case, a very positive first half contribution, and when Ron wasn't able to go to open up the second half with the back issues, the door of opportunity seemed to be opening wide for Cisco. Started the second half, and after forcing an unwise three, immediately made a nice drive and dish and seemed poised to show Muss what he could do with minutes. Only those minutes never came. Cisco got quiet, Ron finally made it back onto court and subbed in for Cisco a few minutes into the quarter, and Cisco was never seen again in this one.
Taylor ( C- ) -- got some first half minutes for the first time in 5 games, and while he did pretty much nothing of note, at least he didn't hurt us while he was out there. That's where I am with Mo right now -- 0pts 0rebs but not a disaster. Yay!
Price ( A- ) -- 10th man to touch the floor tonight, but came right in in the second quarter and made an impact with defense, showing the ability to stay with Deron Williams, and capping things by hitting a three. Got an early call in the second half with Mike unable to go after the first few minutes of the third, and was dynamic. Rained threes, made a spectacular John Starksesque baseline dunk over Carlos Boozer, and then feeling it, drained a buzzer beating three to finish the quarter of his life. But...and there's that nasty word again...but...he just disappeared in the 4th, along with most of the rest of the team, and as our offense floundered, Ronnie rarely touched the ball let alone controlled things as a PG. Meanwhile Deron Williams came on strong on the other side and led his team as they raced up and down the court and carved us up in a disastrous 4th quarter. So great 3rd quarter for Ronnie. Tremendous dunk. But in the end I really really wish we had had Mike back to try and steady the ship as we floundered down the stretch.
Mama mia.
Artest ( B- ) -- got off to a strong start on both sides of the ball, including making a great steal from Deron Williams after we had choked on a fast break. Scored efficiently, and at halftime was part of a three headed monster along with Kevin and Mike that the Jazz didn't seem to have an answer for. But then things took a turn. And oh boy did they. First Ron got hurt -- at the end of the first half he limped to the lockerroom holding his lower back. And lest he be accused of overdramatizing an injury this time, he was still in the lockerroom to start the second half as well. And when he came back he had nowhere near the impact. Initially in the third he was merely taking a back seat as Kevin continued his ultra-efficient attack, and Ronnie Price just exploded for the finest minutes of his young career. But the defensive impact was obviously already gone. And then in the 4th things followed a familiar pattern. We started to fall apart -- wasn't Ron who CAUSED us to start falling apart, but we started to sputter anyway. And then Ron tried to bail us out again on offense. And so one more time he went through the same thing where he started forcing shots in the 4th and helped ensure our demise in the process. Still got us a few points in the process, and still deserves some grade for being major factor in us getting our big lead in the first place. The injury also mitigates somewhat. But damn Ron, a little trust (of course given the other late performances detailed below, not sure trust in who).
Thomas ( D+ ) -- moved the ball well in the first half, and at one point actually had half of our first half assists with 5. On the flipside wasn't doing much else, and was the primary defender in there on Carlos Boozer, who worked us over every bit as as badly as feared. Worse than was feared by this observer actually. Before the game I said we would be alright in there against Boozer as long as Kenny could keep him off the glass -- well, he got squashed 13-4. And along the way Boozer, who is not overwhelmingly tall, finsihed over, around, and through Kenny and any other Kings big as if he were actually a 7 footer like Duncan. In fact Boozer's numbers ended up looking very much like Duncan's the other night (32pts 13reb 5ast 2blk on 14-20 shooting). Meanwhile, you barely knew Kenny was out there. For the second game in a row gets a modified D grade rather than an F, as while he was doing little positive we were not not so much hurt by KT doing anything terrible himself, as we were very much hurt as the man he was supposed to be guarding went absolutely wild pummeling us inside.
Reef ( C ) -- could get nothing going in the first half on offense (1-6 FGs at half), but did help us control the glass in the early going. And with Ron, Kevin and Mike all flowing on the offensive end, a lack of scoring from Reef seemed a mere footnote. But this was yet another one of those things that changed in the second half, and not for the better for the team. In the third Reef began to wake up on offense, or at least try to -- unfortunately in the process he may have been hurting us by forcing his offense while Kevin and Ronnie simply couldn't miss. Well Reef was the opposite -- could not hit. And then in a cruel bit of irony in the 4th Reef finally DID start to hit, but we got bizarrely one dimensional, threw it to him every time, and as he either hit the shot or turned it over (for some reason he refused to give it up out of the doubles) everything else ground to a halt. And so ironically, the better Reef scored, the worse we got as our flow disappeared. Not sure whether that paradox is so much Reef's fault as the coaching staff's apparent change of gameplan, but either way it was quite distinct. Earns some points back for a solid job on Mehmet Okur -- Memo just could not shoot tonight (until it came time to hit the backbreaker of course), but Reef had a part in that while challenging him repeatedly and making it hard. On the other hand the Utah Jazz recorded, get this, an absolutely obscene 72 points in the paint as once again our bigs were completely unable to slow or stop anyone from attacking inside. Not all Reef obviously, but as our big minute "center" if only by default, much of that does land at his doorstep. It was a layup drill, a postup drill, a dunk drill, and any and every other kind of drill you can imagine and there was absolutely no resistance. Throw in the Jazz's complete domination of the glass inside after half, and you have another game where we just got manhandled inside while our bigs were overwhelmed.
Martin ( B+ ) -- it was a heck of a three quarters for the kid. He just could not miss, and was able to get his shots without much of a problem against anybody the Jazz trotted out there to try to defend him. Ironically even while it was all working and he was doing everything right and barely making a mistake, he was being upstaged by breakout performances by Cisco and Price. But amidst the injuries, it was Kevin who was flowing along, hitting almost every shot he took, and making it look effortless. I was absolutely sure I was giving him an A. And then...well then the wheels came off this train just as they did everywhere else. I think it may have started with us increasingly forcing the ball into Reef down inside. It just seemed everything ground to a halt when that happened, and our hot kids were forgotten about. And by the time that we remembered them, Kevin was a different player. Kevin actually got his shots in the 4th -- 5 of them in fact, which may have been more than he got in any other quarter. The problem was that he could no longer hit them. And so Kevin goes 0-5 down the stretch, Ron is forcing up bad shots, and meanwhile the Jazz are dumping nearly 40 points on us in the 4th quarter in our own building. That, ladies and gents, would be an ick.
Bibby ( B ) -- got off to a hot start as everything was working for us in the first quarter. Mike was hitting, Ron was all over the place, Kevin basically hit every shot he took...it was grand. But...and how many "buts" can there be in one game? In any case, BUT, stop me if you've heard this before, the worm turned (anybody know what the heck that phrase means BTW??). And in Mike's case the twirling nightcrawler took the form of yet another injury to pile onto his and our burgeoning lists -- this time as he banged knees with one of the Jazz to close the first half and had to limp to the lockerroom. He came back out to start the third and tried to make a go of it, but looked significantly hobbled, could not hit a shot or move fluidly, and was just unable to go after the first couple of minutes. Lord I hope that's not something that lingers. In any case, losing Mike can't but hurt when you lose control of a game late, but it should be noted that Ronnie Price played exceptionally well in his stead in the third and helped us grab our largest lead of the game. And of course what really killed us more than anything was a complete defensive and rebounding collapse after half -- not exactly things Mike is known for contributing. Grade here is slanted toward his strong first half rather than his brief 0-3 cameo in the second half when he clearly wasn't physically able to go. In any case, get well Mike. Please?
Salmons ( C- ) -- perhaps rusty, perhaps still hobbled, but either way was missing shots, and missing them badly in a first half stint. And although he helped a little on the glass it wasn't enough to earn him any minutes at all after half. Almost an incomplete.
Williamson ( C ) -- this is an extraordinarily hard one to grade. Statistically a brownout, and with none of the markers you normally expect from Corliss Williamson. No offense at all. No boardwork. And yet...when you watched him out there in the first half he looked generally solid. A half step slow at times, but made several good defensive rotations to pick up blocks, set picks, tried with mixed success to body people, and while it was not really because of him, during his first 12 minutes we played our best defense of the game and extended our lead. When he returned in the 4th quarter however the lack of any thing tangible on the glass or through the net hurt us though, and he certainly wasn't stopping anybody inside anymore than any of our other out of position small forwards.
Garcia ( B+ ) -- things got off to a promising start for Cisco in this one, as he actually played a major factor in the second quarter by almost singelhandedly staving off the first of Utah's several pushes to get back into it. Was playing good solid defense early and made a critical contribution by pumping in 9 quick pts in his second court minutes on 2 threes and 3 FTS just as the Jazz had started to close it. It may not have been as special as all that really -- it was really just three shot attempts, 2 hits and a fortuitous foul, but it made a major impact at the time, and you could see Cisco's confidence soaring, which is of course both good and bad for him. Led him to make a few hyperactive positive plays, and of course led him to make a couple of dumb ones as well. In any case, a very positive first half contribution, and when Ron wasn't able to go to open up the second half with the back issues, the door of opportunity seemed to be opening wide for Cisco. Started the second half, and after forcing an unwise three, immediately made a nice drive and dish and seemed poised to show Muss what he could do with minutes. Only those minutes never came. Cisco got quiet, Ron finally made it back onto court and subbed in for Cisco a few minutes into the quarter, and Cisco was never seen again in this one.
Taylor ( C- ) -- got some first half minutes for the first time in 5 games, and while he did pretty much nothing of note, at least he didn't hurt us while he was out there. That's where I am with Mo right now -- 0pts 0rebs but not a disaster. Yay!
Price ( A- ) -- 10th man to touch the floor tonight, but came right in in the second quarter and made an impact with defense, showing the ability to stay with Deron Williams, and capping things by hitting a three. Got an early call in the second half with Mike unable to go after the first few minutes of the third, and was dynamic. Rained threes, made a spectacular John Starksesque baseline dunk over Carlos Boozer, and then feeling it, drained a buzzer beating three to finish the quarter of his life. But...and there's that nasty word again...but...he just disappeared in the 4th, along with most of the rest of the team, and as our offense floundered, Ronnie rarely touched the ball let alone controlled things as a PG. Meanwhile Deron Williams came on strong on the other side and led his team as they raced up and down the court and carved us up in a disastrous 4th quarter. So great 3rd quarter for Ronnie. Tremendous dunk. But in the end I really really wish we had had Mike back to try and steady the ship as we floundered down the stretch.
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