Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
And our theme tonight should please more than a few: Really Really BIG Bugs
Artest ( B ) -- good scoring first half, and had some moments on defense. Only took one or two forced shots, and set people up pretty well. Continued in a similar vein after half. A few tough makes aorund the hoop, just enough harassment on Kobe to slow him down, and one or two forced shots in our shaky 4th. A key little note here: gave us nothing on the glass on a night when we got pounded once again there. Not grade A Ron, but good enough Ron with Mike doing his usual flashback bit against the Lakers.
GIANT WATER BUG (TOE BITER)
Thomas ( C ) -- converted on several nice inside passes in the ball moving first quarter, not much else, although was not overwhelmed by the Lakers bigs this time. Did little after half and as usual of late watched the last 15 minutes of the game from the bench. For those few solid takes in the first half felt like givng him a "+" here, but Kenny is really out there to do one thing, rebound, and he did not again tonight as we got creamed on the glass.
RHINOCEROUS BEETLE
Miller ( C+ ) -- adequate first half, although missed several rebounds he should have had. Finally hit his first shot to give us our biggest lead of the half at 18 a minute before the break. Threw a couple of bad passes late, but also had a good board or two, and may have provided just enough interior resistance to keep the Lakers bigs from finishing cleanly around the hoop. Maybe. Also found Kevin for a couple of good passes as usual. In any case, not a good game, but not a terrible one.
GIANT WETA
Martin ( B ) -- strong first quarter playing a part in our passing/shooting display before halftime, and was using his quickness to create for others as much as himself. Only scored 5pts in the third, but they came all at once in a key little burst as after the Lakers had cut the lead to 11. Largely quiet after half though. Some points heer and there, but nothing major. Was able to pretty much have his average game against Kobe, and Kobe had his average one the other way (albeit more against Ron and Salmons). That's still big edge Kobe, but it was enough and mostly all you can ask for in that matchup.
GOLIATH BEETLE
Artest ( B ) -- good scoring first half, and had some moments on defense. Only took one or two forced shots, and set people up pretty well. Continued in a similar vein after half. A few tough makes aorund the hoop, just enough harassment on Kobe to slow him down, and one or two forced shots in our shaky 4th. A key little note here: gave us nothing on the glass on a night when we got pounded once again there. Not grade A Ron, but good enough Ron with Mike doing his usual flashback bit against the Lakers.
GIANT WATER BUG (TOE BITER)
Thomas ( C ) -- converted on several nice inside passes in the ball moving first quarter, not much else, although was not overwhelmed by the Lakers bigs this time. Did little after half and as usual of late watched the last 15 minutes of the game from the bench. For those few solid takes in the first half felt like givng him a "+" here, but Kenny is really out there to do one thing, rebound, and he did not again tonight as we got creamed on the glass.
RHINOCEROUS BEETLE
Miller ( C+ ) -- adequate first half, although missed several rebounds he should have had. Finally hit his first shot to give us our biggest lead of the half at 18 a minute before the break. Threw a couple of bad passes late, but also had a good board or two, and may have provided just enough interior resistance to keep the Lakers bigs from finishing cleanly around the hoop. Maybe. Also found Kevin for a couple of good passes as usual. In any case, not a good game, but not a terrible one.
GIANT WETA
Martin ( B ) -- strong first quarter playing a part in our passing/shooting display before halftime, and was using his quickness to create for others as much as himself. Only scored 5pts in the third, but they came all at once in a key little burst as after the Lakers had cut the lead to 11. Largely quiet after half though. Some points heer and there, but nothing major. Was able to pretty much have his average game against Kobe, and Kobe had his average one the other way (albeit more against Ron and Salmons). That's still big edge Kobe, but it was enough and mostly all you can ask for in that matchup.
GOLIATH BEETLE
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We came out with a very strong offensive first quarter, seemingly keeping the momentum from the Charlotte game right on rolling. The ball moved very well, and while many of these teams seem to be floundering in the long season doldrums, we on the other hand our just hitting our 37 win 14th pick in the draft no hope stride. But hey, at least if we're going to be stuck in our slow sad slide to oblivion, we still beat the Lakers, right? Muss made a good timeout call in the early third to break Lakers momentum out of halftime (we took back our KoolAid after recent aberrations where other teams had obviously pilfered it), and called a set play to get Kevin a score and stop the bleeding. Also made a good sub to match Artest's 4th quarter substitution with Kobe's. But on the other hand he again displayed too much confidence in a bench not worthy of it, and late in the game nearly got us in trouble pinning our best player ot the bench until it was almost too late, and he was nicely iced. 
They got DEMOLISHED on the boards, 44-25. But despite Muss's terrible rebounding, they won the game because of the turnover differential. Or, you could say, that Muss, with his excellent coaching overcame his rebounding deficiencies.
