Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!
Peja ( A- ) -- started out slow and obviously being frustrated by very physical defense by Matt Harpring. But fought through it, and was working his way into a solid game by the end of the third. The fourth quarter was just his though. After Webber went to the bench following a dominant third, Peja stepped right up and said I can do that too. Christie found him for a couple of those patented easy feeds around the hoop, the long bomb was suddenly there after he'd been missing open ones earlier (including a bank shot!), and the team recognized and looked for him on nearly every trip. Rebounding was not an issue either way tonight -- played hard and did not wuss out. Almost as good to see as the hot shooting late.
Webber ( B+ ) -- struggled through an ugly ugly first half. Was not moving well laterally, was pressing. Getting his butt handed to him by Carlos Boozer. Had a few moments of brilliance mixed in, but generally just an ugly half. And toward the end of the half he got frustrated, lost his cool, started arguing calls, got into a pushing match with Harpring. Just ugly. But maybe the frustration lit a fire under him, because he came out in the third a new player. Got a couple of easy dunks early, and he was off and running. Started really feeling it and throwing up shots that normally you would have said were ill advised, but was just hitting everything. Turnarounds, dunks, bank shots -- you name it, it was going in. Forceful surge really broke the game open for us -- Jazz had no answer, and Boozer got very quiet (Webb was doing better on that side of the floor as well). Handed the baton off to Peja in the 4th to finish it off. Cautionary note: only grabbed 5 rebounds again. Got to get back on the glass Webb! First half was putrid enough that this would not normally earn the "+", but Webb's revival was really the turning point of the game, so gets credit for being the gamebreaker.
Miller ( B+ ) -- kind of lost amongst the ups and downs of the other guys was just a solid steady effort by Brad. Struggled early with the outside shot, but drove to the basket, drew fouls, scrapped and clawed with the Jazz scrappers. Had some of his normal problems -- could not shut down the middle on defense, had some guys go over for boards. But kept on battling and actually did a better job of keeping his cool than some of his teammates (a rarity). By the end he had the double double and had made and received a lot of nice passes as our passing game belatedly kicked into gear.
Christie ( B ) -- had bursts of energy here and there, but not really able to sustain throughout. Did a nice job working with Peja with his passing, had a couple of nice steals, and was the first King to hit an open three. Not an outstanding effort, and lost minutes to the kids off the bench, but a solid contribution.
Bibby ( A- ) -- started slow and got into early foul trouble trying unsuccessfully to slow down the penetration of Keith McLeod. But returned in the second to play solid aggerssive ball, and at times had flashes of that ridiculous superstar game he had in Milwaulkee a few weeks back. by that I mean that he was in full control of the offense, was seeing the whole floor with his passes, was hustling on both ends of the floor, and in general looked very aggressive and confident.
Ostertag ( C ) -- poor Tag. Returns to his old stomping grounds and gets booed. And Tag is one of those guys who I don't think is going to respond well to that. Think he's mroe likely to feel bad and slide into a funk than to get mad and come out firing. Thrives on praise, not abuse. Don't know whether that had anythign to do with a middling scruffy performance, but certainly was not one of Tag's impact games. Took a hard fall just before being taken out, but think he was ok even though he never returned.
Songaila ( C+ ) -- nothing really spectacular in his stints. In the first half came in and did a better job than Webber on Boozer, and made modest contributions of his own. In the second half, wasn't terribly effective against Boozer on defense. Did get a little involved in the passing game, which is rare for him.
Evans ( B ) -- no human should be able to fly that high -- amazing athlete. Weird sequence in the first half where Evans came in, didn't look really focused, committed a couple of quick fouls, and was pulled almost instantly in favor of...Kevin Martin of all people. Returned in the second half for a longer stint and gave us a shot inthe arm with that amazing athleticism. Any ball in the air anywhere around the rim is in serious danger when he's on the floor. Made a terrible turnover where it looked like he intentionally passed it to the Jazz palyer.
Martin ( B+ ) -- there ya go kid! A Martin sighting, and not garbagetime either. Came in early in the second quarter and gave us a real lift. Played within himself -- neither pressed too much as he has been doing in the regular season, nor passed up open shots the way he did in preseason. Took the shots he should have, didn't force the ones he shouldn't. Also played strong defense for the most part and an early block he made keyed a fast break and seemed to light a little fire for us. Second half stint was not as effective as the first. In the end, its still just 6 points in 19 minutes -- nothing earth-shattering. But could be a very important 19 minutes for Kevin because it showed he can be a contributor if called upon.
Barnes ( C- ) -- whew, short first half stint where Matt teetered right on the edge of disaster but managed to pull back each time. One of those where he just looked right on the border of being out of control. In the end, did not really hurt us, but certainly didn't do anything to increase his standing as a dependable option.
Adelman ( B+ ) -- we came out sluggish again, which gets to be annoying, and Rick's response was to go early and often to his bench. While the bench wasn't sparkling, most of the guys there did provide energy of one sort or another, and they stopped the bleeding. But in the end it was the horses that came to life and carried us away from the Jazz. It was simply too easy for the Jazz to drive right to the front of the rim on us, time and time again. But Rick tried our only answer to that this time out, and he didn't do much. Funny thing in a game where we played 10 mne -- but 4 of our 5 starters STILL approached 40 minutes.
Peja ( A- ) -- started out slow and obviously being frustrated by very physical defense by Matt Harpring. But fought through it, and was working his way into a solid game by the end of the third. The fourth quarter was just his though. After Webber went to the bench following a dominant third, Peja stepped right up and said I can do that too. Christie found him for a couple of those patented easy feeds around the hoop, the long bomb was suddenly there after he'd been missing open ones earlier (including a bank shot!), and the team recognized and looked for him on nearly every trip. Rebounding was not an issue either way tonight -- played hard and did not wuss out. Almost as good to see as the hot shooting late.
Webber ( B+ ) -- struggled through an ugly ugly first half. Was not moving well laterally, was pressing. Getting his butt handed to him by Carlos Boozer. Had a few moments of brilliance mixed in, but generally just an ugly half. And toward the end of the half he got frustrated, lost his cool, started arguing calls, got into a pushing match with Harpring. Just ugly. But maybe the frustration lit a fire under him, because he came out in the third a new player. Got a couple of easy dunks early, and he was off and running. Started really feeling it and throwing up shots that normally you would have said were ill advised, but was just hitting everything. Turnarounds, dunks, bank shots -- you name it, it was going in. Forceful surge really broke the game open for us -- Jazz had no answer, and Boozer got very quiet (Webb was doing better on that side of the floor as well). Handed the baton off to Peja in the 4th to finish it off. Cautionary note: only grabbed 5 rebounds again. Got to get back on the glass Webb! First half was putrid enough that this would not normally earn the "+", but Webb's revival was really the turning point of the game, so gets credit for being the gamebreaker.
Miller ( B+ ) -- kind of lost amongst the ups and downs of the other guys was just a solid steady effort by Brad. Struggled early with the outside shot, but drove to the basket, drew fouls, scrapped and clawed with the Jazz scrappers. Had some of his normal problems -- could not shut down the middle on defense, had some guys go over for boards. But kept on battling and actually did a better job of keeping his cool than some of his teammates (a rarity). By the end he had the double double and had made and received a lot of nice passes as our passing game belatedly kicked into gear.
Christie ( B ) -- had bursts of energy here and there, but not really able to sustain throughout. Did a nice job working with Peja with his passing, had a couple of nice steals, and was the first King to hit an open three. Not an outstanding effort, and lost minutes to the kids off the bench, but a solid contribution.
Bibby ( A- ) -- started slow and got into early foul trouble trying unsuccessfully to slow down the penetration of Keith McLeod. But returned in the second to play solid aggerssive ball, and at times had flashes of that ridiculous superstar game he had in Milwaulkee a few weeks back. by that I mean that he was in full control of the offense, was seeing the whole floor with his passes, was hustling on both ends of the floor, and in general looked very aggressive and confident.
Ostertag ( C ) -- poor Tag. Returns to his old stomping grounds and gets booed. And Tag is one of those guys who I don't think is going to respond well to that. Think he's mroe likely to feel bad and slide into a funk than to get mad and come out firing. Thrives on praise, not abuse. Don't know whether that had anythign to do with a middling scruffy performance, but certainly was not one of Tag's impact games. Took a hard fall just before being taken out, but think he was ok even though he never returned.
Songaila ( C+ ) -- nothing really spectacular in his stints. In the first half came in and did a better job than Webber on Boozer, and made modest contributions of his own. In the second half, wasn't terribly effective against Boozer on defense. Did get a little involved in the passing game, which is rare for him.
Evans ( B ) -- no human should be able to fly that high -- amazing athlete. Weird sequence in the first half where Evans came in, didn't look really focused, committed a couple of quick fouls, and was pulled almost instantly in favor of...Kevin Martin of all people. Returned in the second half for a longer stint and gave us a shot inthe arm with that amazing athleticism. Any ball in the air anywhere around the rim is in serious danger when he's on the floor. Made a terrible turnover where it looked like he intentionally passed it to the Jazz palyer.
Martin ( B+ ) -- there ya go kid! A Martin sighting, and not garbagetime either. Came in early in the second quarter and gave us a real lift. Played within himself -- neither pressed too much as he has been doing in the regular season, nor passed up open shots the way he did in preseason. Took the shots he should have, didn't force the ones he shouldn't. Also played strong defense for the most part and an early block he made keyed a fast break and seemed to light a little fire for us. Second half stint was not as effective as the first. In the end, its still just 6 points in 19 minutes -- nothing earth-shattering. But could be a very important 19 minutes for Kevin because it showed he can be a contributor if called upon.
Barnes ( C- ) -- whew, short first half stint where Matt teetered right on the edge of disaster but managed to pull back each time. One of those where he just looked right on the border of being out of control. In the end, did not really hurt us, but certainly didn't do anything to increase his standing as a dependable option.
Adelman ( B+ ) -- we came out sluggish again, which gets to be annoying, and Rick's response was to go early and often to his bench. While the bench wasn't sparkling, most of the guys there did provide energy of one sort or another, and they stopped the bleeding. But in the end it was the horses that came to life and carried us away from the Jazz. It was simply too easy for the Jazz to drive right to the front of the rim on us, time and time again. But Rick tried our only answer to that this time out, and he didn't do much. Funny thing in a game where we played 10 mne -- but 4 of our 5 starters STILL approached 40 minutes.
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