Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Boxscore
Nocioni ( B- ) -- came out hot from the outside, knocking down three from deep in the first few minutes, and just about everybody was looking for him spotting up off the pass. Was rarely heard from thereafter -- think he had 8 popints inthe first 5 minutes, finished with 10 overall, and just fell in love with the three point line after his initial success (hit his first two, missed his last 5). As an oldster minutes were limited with the long stretch of 20pt margins after half. Irrelevant for most of the night, but ahalf grade bump here for helping set the tone early.
Thompson ( C ) -- you would think that in this game of all games Jason would have a prohibitive advantage inside and just pummel the Knicks, but it was not so. Despite being routinely guarded by the likes of Danilo Gallinari (a SF) and Wilson Chandler (a swingman) in the early going he struggled off to a 1-6 start and continued looking out of sorts the way he did on the road trip with muliple little gnats swarming aorund him whenever he got the ball. Had a missed tip, a couple of blown assists of course, and also of course, got into foul trouble. Was in and out after that and did eventually end up with a solid night on the glass, but was never any real factor and is clearly slumping.
Hawes ( B+ ) -- this was a strange and borderline ridiculous game for Spencer. As it was in Houston, he saw another 6'9" PF guarding him backed by a troupe of midget...excuse me, I mean "little people"...and suddenly got brave. Pummeled the Knicks inside throughout the first quarter, converting on several passes from Tyreke inside in the early going, adding a really nifty spinning dropoff pass to JT as well (that JT of course blew), faked a three and drove for a layup, driving aroudn 5'9" Nate Robinson in the process, hooks, tips, you name it. By the end of the quarter had 13 points on 6-7 shooting and was just killing them. And then in ahead scratching development...that was just about it. Not because Spencer slowed down. But because his coach shut him down. All I can presume is that it was Westphal getting caught up in the smallball matchup thing, or mayeb the game just got out of control so fast that he did not feel it was necessary, but Spencer went from looking completely unstoppable out there against a midget team to highly paid spectator without any noticeable reason why. Maybe it was the defense on Lee who was scoring back the other way on his way to a big game? In any case, started off the third with what is becoming a tradition -- the second half celebratory three point chuck (this one he hit), and was out of the game for good not long therafter. Finished the night with 16pts on 7-8 shooting in 18 minutes. Odd.
Greene ( A+ ) -- now I rarely give out A+s, and I even more rarely give them out to non-star players aginst this level of opponent. But this was a pretty ridiculous game by Donte. He just lit up the arena on the way to his career game. Started off with an even bigger size advantage at the 2 then our frontcourt guys had over the mini-ballers, and used it to get off to the hot start. Back in to start the second and immediately bailed us out with a long long three against the clock, really got fired up and started blocking shots like mad on defense, one time getting Al Harrington no fewer than 3 times on one possesion.
It was all the defensive promise of a 6'11" athelte realized for a night (and Donte making good on his determination to be one of our best defenders). Made a huge hustle play diving down on a posting Knick, slapping the ball away, and then diving on the floor to secure it. Started off the third killing little Nate both inside and out, blowing by him for a big dunk, and then draining a three over the mite's head, forcing a quick NY TO that had D'Antoni threatening to rupture an artery while yelling at Nate. Used his size and ahtleticism for a series of spectacualr dunks and blocks in the third, but the key to his scoring was maybe the one thing out of al of this that he's not guaranteed to duplicate: our oft off target marksman was bombing threes from all over the court and having a good time doing it. Drafting Reke was probably the franchise turner. Getting that star to build everything around. But Donte's sudden emergence as another huge young athletic nightmare who plays both ends of the court could really kick things into gear. In 3 starts this season he is averaging 20.3pts on 24-37 shooting.Evans ( B- ) -- in which I continue to hand out bizarrely low grades for games that might be career games for most players. Tonight all Reke did was threaten a 20-10-10 triple double and finish with a hohum 19pts 11rebs 7ast. But you watched, and it was a struggle. How many players in the NBA could you say that about? 10? 12? Was facing all kinds of double team pressure early on, and was pressing too much against it. Had a number of assists, but also tried to force things that weren't really possible. Also continued his recent habit of taking too long on those postups of the little guards, getting called for a 5 second call and coming close once or twice more (did actualy look a little like Barkley on the back down). Came back in after his first break and forced a 1 on 1 airballed 3. Started to get on the defensive glass and set people up for open shots with all the attention he was drawing, but there wer a number of missed conversions. Finally scored on a post where he pinned Duhon and held him off until Donte found him. Dropped a nifty bounce pass to Brockman for a layup before calling for the ball...so he could airball a second three. In the third began by draining a J over Nate, then quickshot and bricked a second one. In fact most of his 11 misses tonight were missed attempts to punish the Knicks defense for colapsing three guys into the paint against him. The jumper just was not there, and Reke was getting alittle frustrated. Once he develops that shot its going to be comical watching teams try to deal with him. Thought he may have been a little too conscious of his streak of 20pt games and potential triple double late. Maybe the coach too as we left him in for a long stretch of the smei-garbagetime, althoguh as a rookie of course that's also called development. So 19-11-7, but it had warts damnit. So ho-hum. Just another night for super rook.
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