Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Whew!
We're kind of in playoff crunchtime now -- I don't know how long we can keep up the pretense of being in the hunt, but its kind of a given that we can't give away many of these easier ones at home.
For those like myself stuck with the Jazz feed, this was apparently the Kings feed intro:
Boxscore
Evans ( D+ ) -- a couple of good passes to Thornton cutting behind all the attention Reke was drawing, but otherwise looked uncomfortable out there and struggled in just enough out of rhythm points to be mildly productive. Offensive positioning as a "SF" has him out of his comfort zones on the elbows and either just feeding Cousins in the post on the left side, or way around on the rightside with only half the court to work with because of the baseline. Also as a SF has him spotting up for corner threes. Everybody shudder now. Most effective when he was able to bring the ball back around to the top of the key where he could go either left or right, and actually seemed to be getting it going a little bit in the third before another of those odd little spastic coaching moves Smart has been prone to of late, as Reke was left on the bench nearly the entire 4th in favor of John Salmons, back from the IR to the cheers of two penguins in Antartica. By the time he finally got back in in the final two minutes, seemed to clearly be feeling the pressure to do something, almost turning it over, and then throwing up a bricked three against the clock.
Thompson ( B ) -- another roleplayer's paradise game, providing backline support for Cousins, filling in when the big guy was out, hitting the offensive boards, and outperforming Milsap by just keeping it simple. Actually did not do as well againt Favors, who was too active and mobile for JT in spurts. But Favors was nice enough to miss some chippees, Jason did not for once, and he capped his night with a big dunk out on the break inside of three minutes to go to ut us up 6.
Kingsflix has sort of fallen off with puttting out too many of the good plays after games, so gonna supply a few random vids of my own.
Cousins ( A- ) -- had to shake my head at the TNT dufuses calling for DeMarcus to go for 28 and 10, simply because Boogie can grab 10rebs in a half and was back to beasting to kick of the second half of the season. Too mobile for Big Al early and going right around him, had a beastly possession in the early 2nd grabbing multiple boards and lose balls, getting stripped, grabbing them again, and finally getting fouled out of pure persistence. Alaremed briefly when he pulled up for a three in the late 2nd --let's call it an allstar hangover and not see anymore of that. Was dominating the third, but three quick fouls in the quarter could have doomed us. Fortunately Reke was able to step it up, IT woke up, and Thronton closed the quarter with a one man rush. By the time Cousins returned in the mid 4th he got to watch first Salmons an then IT have trouble getting it to him in the post. He chipped in with a pair of hoops down the stretch, but a bizarre and potentially game losing technical (for getting into it with Devin Harris) called on him at the 2:20 mark kind of tarnished the effort a bit -- what a time and what a call. Other than taking a somewhat questionable charge at the 15 second mark, was not a factor in the final two minutes after the call as it was all little guys. There's really not any "minus" to this A as DeMarcus was simply the best player on the floor by a lot. But he did self limit himself with the fouls, and then the dumb late technical again, and in general as good *** this was he's still got another gear somewhere out there.
See what I mean? That's a pretty good play. But the one and only play kingsflix chooses to put out from the whole game? You kingsflix guys! Get with it!
Thornton ( B- ) -- bit of a deceptive statline to this one. All of his early scoring was on off the ball movement scoring on backcuts and the like. Whenever he spotted up or took a shot from the outside it was offline and it really was the sort of offensive first half that many lesser SGs could have put together. On top of that, prety sure he was the guy that Josh Howard was having a throwback night over for the most part. Was quiet again in the third, until the very end of the quarter when he abrutply did that snap awake thing he deos, running the break for 5 quick points to close the quarter, including a +1 at the buzzer that put us in good position headed into the final quarter. Missed the easy drawn up gimme out of the quarter break however, and then fell victim to the same coaching brain fart as did Reke, as our high scoring backcourt sat and watched our twin fork in the back veteran SFs get all the stretch minutes until less than 2 minutes were left. But when he finally did get back in was the guy who sealed the win up with a big big rebound at the 25 second mark with us up 2 and then by hitting 5 of 6 FTs down the stretch to take his 16 oint night and abruptly make it a 21pt outing. Still, icing the game has to count for something gradewise even if overall this was not as good as the numbers, and part of the statisitical restrictionnws Smart's minuts limit.
Thomas ( B ) -- got off to the real slow start to this one, and you had to wonder if the little guy's clock had struck midnight. Hit 1 of 2 early threes, but the second was an airball from the corner as we continue to have dificulty with Reke, IT and Jimmer all being used to having the ball up top, not down in the corners. Outplayed in an ineffective first half by Harris, who had one of is better games of the year against IT. But as has been his pattern, began to finally get a little something going in the third, and after we lost DeMarcus to foul trouble in particular his game picked up. Possibly having the lane cleared helped, as he sudenly looked quicker and got right to the rim on several occasions. But more than that it was again just a surge of confidence as he stepped forward to direct things to such a degree that smart actually kept Reke and thronotn on the bench almost the entire 4th while it was themighty mite, Cousins, JT, and a couple of our bench corpses gettng the minutes. So bad first half, good second half second half trumps, but counterbalanced by too many turnovers and a strong matching performance by Harris....B.
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Bench
Hickson ( ) -- first guy off the bench to watch Favors after he was tearing up JT. Match of athleticism. And didn't do a bad job out there. Only offense was a tough 1 on 1 finish on the break in the second. But was on the boards and made a nice pass to a backdooring MT.
Salmons ( ) -- 2nd off of the bench as of course a big key to Kings victory is getting John in there as early as possible. But he didn't embarrass himself this time. So that was something. Well..here is a nightmare scenario for you: John Salmons bringing it u. And yet that was what we had to do as Jimmer again jsut was unable to handle pressure on his dribble. So there came John, walking it across the line, backing in, making sure at least to get the ball over halfcourt with no adventures. Had one jumper along the baseline early and then out of noweher given the bulk of the 4th quarter minutes over Reke/Thornton. As the game got very very tight I openly wondered if Smart was willing to lose a game with that strategy, and all the questions that would ensue. Right on queue it turned out a) he wasn't as he brought both guys back. And b) Salmons hit a jumper with less than 2 minute sot go, saving Samart's behind in the process and maybe giving himself some confidence. Had more to say on the glass this time out than usual as well.
Garcia ( ) -- much needed pair of threes in the early second as the bench was struggling as normal. Pretty much the only shot he'll take anymore as he's settled in as the pure roleplayer: 2-5FG, 2-5 from 3pt land. But it was hustle and defense that found him still on the floor stealing minutes from Reke and Thornton as the game got late.
Fredette ( ) -- came in, missed a drive and again looked overwhelmed as a ballhandler as he was stripped and harassed. Got bad enough we just started having Salmons bring the ball up over halfcourt for him. Remains a serious concern as becoming a true point remains the keys tot eh kindgdom for him, and being able to bring the ball over halfcourt on your own is generally a PGish skill. Had a little burst before leaving when he hit a three and delivered a nice drive and dish. That was it thoguh, and did not return after half.
Hayes ( ) -- still missing easy chippees and starting Jazz breaks with it. Alarmed with a drive in the early 4th, but finished it with a nice pass to a trailing JT.
We're kind of in playoff crunchtime now -- I don't know how long we can keep up the pretense of being in the hunt, but its kind of a given that we can't give away many of these easier ones at home.
For those like myself stuck with the Jazz feed, this was apparently the Kings feed intro:
Boxscore
Evans ( D+ ) -- a couple of good passes to Thornton cutting behind all the attention Reke was drawing, but otherwise looked uncomfortable out there and struggled in just enough out of rhythm points to be mildly productive. Offensive positioning as a "SF" has him out of his comfort zones on the elbows and either just feeding Cousins in the post on the left side, or way around on the rightside with only half the court to work with because of the baseline. Also as a SF has him spotting up for corner threes. Everybody shudder now. Most effective when he was able to bring the ball back around to the top of the key where he could go either left or right, and actually seemed to be getting it going a little bit in the third before another of those odd little spastic coaching moves Smart has been prone to of late, as Reke was left on the bench nearly the entire 4th in favor of John Salmons, back from the IR to the cheers of two penguins in Antartica. By the time he finally got back in in the final two minutes, seemed to clearly be feeling the pressure to do something, almost turning it over, and then throwing up a bricked three against the clock.
Thompson ( B ) -- another roleplayer's paradise game, providing backline support for Cousins, filling in when the big guy was out, hitting the offensive boards, and outperforming Milsap by just keeping it simple. Actually did not do as well againt Favors, who was too active and mobile for JT in spurts. But Favors was nice enough to miss some chippees, Jason did not for once, and he capped his night with a big dunk out on the break inside of three minutes to go to ut us up 6.
Cousins ( A- ) -- had to shake my head at the TNT dufuses calling for DeMarcus to go for 28 and 10, simply because Boogie can grab 10rebs in a half and was back to beasting to kick of the second half of the season. Too mobile for Big Al early and going right around him, had a beastly possession in the early 2nd grabbing multiple boards and lose balls, getting stripped, grabbing them again, and finally getting fouled out of pure persistence. Alaremed briefly when he pulled up for a three in the late 2nd --let's call it an allstar hangover and not see anymore of that. Was dominating the third, but three quick fouls in the quarter could have doomed us. Fortunately Reke was able to step it up, IT woke up, and Thronton closed the quarter with a one man rush. By the time Cousins returned in the mid 4th he got to watch first Salmons an then IT have trouble getting it to him in the post. He chipped in with a pair of hoops down the stretch, but a bizarre and potentially game losing technical (for getting into it with Devin Harris) called on him at the 2:20 mark kind of tarnished the effort a bit -- what a time and what a call. Other than taking a somewhat questionable charge at the 15 second mark, was not a factor in the final two minutes after the call as it was all little guys. There's really not any "minus" to this A as DeMarcus was simply the best player on the floor by a lot. But he did self limit himself with the fouls, and then the dumb late technical again, and in general as good *** this was he's still got another gear somewhere out there.
Thornton ( B- ) -- bit of a deceptive statline to this one. All of his early scoring was on off the ball movement scoring on backcuts and the like. Whenever he spotted up or took a shot from the outside it was offline and it really was the sort of offensive first half that many lesser SGs could have put together. On top of that, prety sure he was the guy that Josh Howard was having a throwback night over for the most part. Was quiet again in the third, until the very end of the quarter when he abrutply did that snap awake thing he deos, running the break for 5 quick points to close the quarter, including a +1 at the buzzer that put us in good position headed into the final quarter. Missed the easy drawn up gimme out of the quarter break however, and then fell victim to the same coaching brain fart as did Reke, as our high scoring backcourt sat and watched our twin fork in the back veteran SFs get all the stretch minutes until less than 2 minutes were left. But when he finally did get back in was the guy who sealed the win up with a big big rebound at the 25 second mark with us up 2 and then by hitting 5 of 6 FTs down the stretch to take his 16 oint night and abruptly make it a 21pt outing. Still, icing the game has to count for something gradewise even if overall this was not as good as the numbers, and part of the statisitical restrictionnws Smart's minuts limit.
Thomas ( B ) -- got off to the real slow start to this one, and you had to wonder if the little guy's clock had struck midnight. Hit 1 of 2 early threes, but the second was an airball from the corner as we continue to have dificulty with Reke, IT and Jimmer all being used to having the ball up top, not down in the corners. Outplayed in an ineffective first half by Harris, who had one of is better games of the year against IT. But as has been his pattern, began to finally get a little something going in the third, and after we lost DeMarcus to foul trouble in particular his game picked up. Possibly having the lane cleared helped, as he sudenly looked quicker and got right to the rim on several occasions. But more than that it was again just a surge of confidence as he stepped forward to direct things to such a degree that smart actually kept Reke and thronotn on the bench almost the entire 4th while it was themighty mite, Cousins, JT, and a couple of our bench corpses gettng the minutes. So bad first half, good second half second half trumps, but counterbalanced by too many turnovers and a strong matching performance by Harris....B.
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Bench
Hickson ( ) -- first guy off the bench to watch Favors after he was tearing up JT. Match of athleticism. And didn't do a bad job out there. Only offense was a tough 1 on 1 finish on the break in the second. But was on the boards and made a nice pass to a backdooring MT.
Salmons ( ) -- 2nd off of the bench as of course a big key to Kings victory is getting John in there as early as possible. But he didn't embarrass himself this time. So that was something. Well..here is a nightmare scenario for you: John Salmons bringing it u. And yet that was what we had to do as Jimmer again jsut was unable to handle pressure on his dribble. So there came John, walking it across the line, backing in, making sure at least to get the ball over halfcourt with no adventures. Had one jumper along the baseline early and then out of noweher given the bulk of the 4th quarter minutes over Reke/Thornton. As the game got very very tight I openly wondered if Smart was willing to lose a game with that strategy, and all the questions that would ensue. Right on queue it turned out a) he wasn't as he brought both guys back. And b) Salmons hit a jumper with less than 2 minute sot go, saving Samart's behind in the process and maybe giving himself some confidence. Had more to say on the glass this time out than usual as well.
Garcia ( ) -- much needed pair of threes in the early second as the bench was struggling as normal. Pretty much the only shot he'll take anymore as he's settled in as the pure roleplayer: 2-5FG, 2-5 from 3pt land. But it was hustle and defense that found him still on the floor stealing minutes from Reke and Thornton as the game got late.
Fredette ( ) -- came in, missed a drive and again looked overwhelmed as a ballhandler as he was stripped and harassed. Got bad enough we just started having Salmons bring the ball up over halfcourt for him. Remains a serious concern as becoming a true point remains the keys tot eh kindgdom for him, and being able to bring the ball over halfcourt on your own is generally a PGish skill. Had a little burst before leaving when he hit a three and delivered a nice drive and dish. That was it thoguh, and did not return after half.
Hayes ( ) -- still missing easy chippees and starting Jazz breaks with it. Alarmed with a drive in the early 4th, but finished it with a nice pass to a trailing JT.
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