Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Ah, finally we are back.
The Kings have a 4 game playoff season this year before going home mid-April. Game 1 had that atmosphere and was a lot more fun than the final score indicates. A loss with honor? Who knows. The bottom line in the end was that they had a closer, and we did not.
Ron Artest ( B- ) : 40min 23pts (10-23 FG, 0-4 3pt, 3-3 FT) 5rebs 2ast 1stl 2blk 1TO
Obviously way way hyped up, maybe too hyped up to start, and picked up two quick fouls. But Reggie left him in deep into the first quarter, and Ron avoided that third. Was less physically aggressive thereafter but continued to score well. Threw up some tough and impossible forced shots that nonetheless went in. Of course when you see that you have to wince a little, because sooner or later that junk isn't going to fall, and if Ron is in a junk tossing zone and determined to throw it up it will eventually get ugly. More on that later. Was generally winning the one on one matchup with Odom for the first three quarters, and only sporadically guarding Kobe (Kevin and Salmons also had him in platoon duty -- the big Lakers frontline leaving nobody for Kevin to guard other than Kobe much of the time). Things finally caught up to us down in the final quarter though. Ron continued forcing up major junk down the stretch as he tried to play the hero, but with the Lakers defense turned up, much of it had no chance. That was not going to stop him from trying anyway though, and particularly as things got desperate down the stretch he and Brad took turns blowing our possessions -- Brad at least looking to pass and simply finding nobody, Ron never thinking of the pass at all and launching off balance three pointer after off balance three pointer. Meanwhile on the other end we put our all world defender on their all world offender (in more ways than one) full time, and it did not go well. Not so much Ron making mistakes as Kobe Bryant just being brilliant in closing it out. There were a couple of possessions where Ron, with some hustling Mikki Moore help,did everything right on defense against Kobe, and still the shots fell. There were also a couple of possessions where we let him get isolated against Kobe one on one, and Kobe was just in a zone and too quick for him. Blew right by him and found our interior defense soft as always (lost in the hoopla we let another team score 100+ against us). Ron clearly wanted this one, for himself or us who knows. Played a good game, and an inspired game for about three quarters. But then the downside of Ron reared its ugly head, and Kobe went to work showing him how it was done.
Mikki Moore ( A- ) -- 26min 6pts (3-4 FG, 0-0 3pt, 0-0 FT) 13rebs 3ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Had a quiet first half aside from one follow dunk. Otherwise our perennially overenthused cheerleader type was oddly invisible in a game where everybody else was hyped up. Changed after half however as Mikki made a major contribution in the third by really owning the glass, coming up with 7 or 8 rebounds in the quarter. And defensive rebounds too rather than his normal I rebound on offense only to score stuff -- he was holding the Lakers to one and done on the defensive end and helping hang onto that lead headed into the 4th. After the big surge got quiet down the stretch again. But of course its tough to do much when your coach has you subbed out to go smallball for much of the quarter. Boardwork faded back off, but late in the game was showing real hustle on defense in trying to help out on Kobe around the perimeter (once Kobe got inside was another issue). I could have B+'d this, but Mikki Moore just gave us 13 rebounds in 26 minutes in what qualifies as a big game for us this season. It should be noted that the Lakers just let Luke Walton guard him while Odom took Ron and Gasol took Brad/Hawes. Why waste a perfectly good big on a guy who is just looking to crash inside for the occasional free dunk?
Brad Miller ( B- ) -- 34min 14pts (5-11 FG, 0-0 3pt, 4-5 FT) 12reb 4ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Was off to a fast start settign up Kevin but quieted quickly and then sat for a long time there while Spencer gobbled up first half minutes, and when he returned he did little before the break. Struggled to life in the third, repeatedly getting to the rim, blowing the first layup, then grabbing his own board and finishing. Must have happened three times in the quarter -- no lift and the first one was always blocked/altered, but the sluggish Lakers never had that second man to come take it away so Brad would get the ball back and finish. Lost his cool late late in the quarter and poped Gasol on one play (Gasol ironically getting the T for retaliating). Things got chippy, and of course soon it was Brad himself getting a T and going into argeu mode. Reggie actually showed some wisdom this time and got him out of there for a while to cool down. Returned for the stretch run and was big on the glass against the softness of Gasol, but things fell apart in the late going. He and Ron controlled almost all of our possessions late, and they almost all came up empty. Ron...was just selfish. For Brad the problme was the opposite -- we were either giving it to Ron and letting him do his thing, or we were goign to run our offense through Brad. But the Lakers defensive intensity skyrocketed, and Kobe in particular just compeltely shut down Kevin. And so Brad was left standing out there with the ball and nobody to pass to and the result were a series of ugly forced desperation shots against the buzzer, shot clock violations, turnovers, and general ugliness. Aginst the intense pressue Brad just could not create anything himself. Defensively...well, his man dropped 31 on us, and Kobe owned the lane against us late.
Kevin Martin ( B ) -- 36min 23pts (8-17 FG, 1-3 3pt, 6-6 FT) 3reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Playing in front of his family who had flown in from Ohio, for 3/4 of this basketball game, Kevin Martin was a better basketball player than Kobe Bryant. Then it came winning time, and Kobe suddenly reminded us the way things are. In many ways it was a classic game disaplying exactly what these two players are. In the early going Kevin was scoring a lot of points, and doing it efficently. And it was almost all off of off the ball movement. Brad was finding him repeatedly, but several other Kings chipped in. And it clearly had Kobe, who can be an excellent defender, frustrated. He knew what was coming, but just kept on making mistakes and was obviously mad at himself. Meanwhile for Kobe it was a struggle. He was guarded by various different Kings, and was just off. Could not get the finishes, and if it had continued on that way, the Lakers probably lose this one. Kevin himself did nothin special on defense against him, but was not terrible, and only had one of his defensive lapses in the early going where he fell for a fake, got blown by, and just stood there as Kobe rushed into the lane. The pattern continued into the third, with Kevin doing almost all of his damage off off the ball movement and at various times it looking like we were on the verge of blwoing this one open. You can always tell the diofference between a tough top team and a team like Miami though -- they don't go away. And so they hung around, hung around, and then the 4th quarter struck, and it was time for Kobe to get serious. Kevin sat out for a good spell to start the 4th getting rest for the stretch run, but when he returned all of a sudden Kevin was compeltely smothered, and while he maybe deserved a pair of FTs at one point there in the quarter when he got out-flopped by Derek Fisher in a truly epic confrontation, Kobe was just right up inside his shirt and determined he was not going to score. And sure enough, Kevin disappeared. 23 points through three quarters. Zero when it mattered. And meanwhile Kobe was destroying us on the other end too. That was not Kevin's fault -- we were trying to slow the Kobe express with Ron for the most part. But it did underscore the vast gap there -- on one side Kobe nearly singlehandedly beat us on offense while simultaneously completely taking away our leading scorer. On the other Kevin was unable to free himself or create for himself, and was hiding away on Luke Walton on defense. Kevin still deserves a solid grade for this -- he got his offensive average vs. the best the game has to offer. And for 3/4 his off the ball game was a major factor and frustrating the Lakers. But it was a one dimesnional effort -- as mentioned truly a classic Kevin game really. All off the ball, not much defense, rebounding, assists, creating etc. A distilled version of Kevin's strengths and weaknesses. And of course as the Lakers blew us away down the stretch Kevin had no answers against a fired up Kobe Bryant.
The Kings have a 4 game playoff season this year before going home mid-April. Game 1 had that atmosphere and was a lot more fun than the final score indicates. A loss with honor? Who knows. The bottom line in the end was that they had a closer, and we did not.
Ron Artest ( B- ) : 40min 23pts (10-23 FG, 0-4 3pt, 3-3 FT) 5rebs 2ast 1stl 2blk 1TO
Obviously way way hyped up, maybe too hyped up to start, and picked up two quick fouls. But Reggie left him in deep into the first quarter, and Ron avoided that third. Was less physically aggressive thereafter but continued to score well. Threw up some tough and impossible forced shots that nonetheless went in. Of course when you see that you have to wince a little, because sooner or later that junk isn't going to fall, and if Ron is in a junk tossing zone and determined to throw it up it will eventually get ugly. More on that later. Was generally winning the one on one matchup with Odom for the first three quarters, and only sporadically guarding Kobe (Kevin and Salmons also had him in platoon duty -- the big Lakers frontline leaving nobody for Kevin to guard other than Kobe much of the time). Things finally caught up to us down in the final quarter though. Ron continued forcing up major junk down the stretch as he tried to play the hero, but with the Lakers defense turned up, much of it had no chance. That was not going to stop him from trying anyway though, and particularly as things got desperate down the stretch he and Brad took turns blowing our possessions -- Brad at least looking to pass and simply finding nobody, Ron never thinking of the pass at all and launching off balance three pointer after off balance three pointer. Meanwhile on the other end we put our all world defender on their all world offender (in more ways than one) full time, and it did not go well. Not so much Ron making mistakes as Kobe Bryant just being brilliant in closing it out. There were a couple of possessions where Ron, with some hustling Mikki Moore help,did everything right on defense against Kobe, and still the shots fell. There were also a couple of possessions where we let him get isolated against Kobe one on one, and Kobe was just in a zone and too quick for him. Blew right by him and found our interior defense soft as always (lost in the hoopla we let another team score 100+ against us). Ron clearly wanted this one, for himself or us who knows. Played a good game, and an inspired game for about three quarters. But then the downside of Ron reared its ugly head, and Kobe went to work showing him how it was done.
Mikki Moore ( A- ) -- 26min 6pts (3-4 FG, 0-0 3pt, 0-0 FT) 13rebs 3ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Had a quiet first half aside from one follow dunk. Otherwise our perennially overenthused cheerleader type was oddly invisible in a game where everybody else was hyped up. Changed after half however as Mikki made a major contribution in the third by really owning the glass, coming up with 7 or 8 rebounds in the quarter. And defensive rebounds too rather than his normal I rebound on offense only to score stuff -- he was holding the Lakers to one and done on the defensive end and helping hang onto that lead headed into the 4th. After the big surge got quiet down the stretch again. But of course its tough to do much when your coach has you subbed out to go smallball for much of the quarter. Boardwork faded back off, but late in the game was showing real hustle on defense in trying to help out on Kobe around the perimeter (once Kobe got inside was another issue). I could have B+'d this, but Mikki Moore just gave us 13 rebounds in 26 minutes in what qualifies as a big game for us this season. It should be noted that the Lakers just let Luke Walton guard him while Odom took Ron and Gasol took Brad/Hawes. Why waste a perfectly good big on a guy who is just looking to crash inside for the occasional free dunk?
Brad Miller ( B- ) -- 34min 14pts (5-11 FG, 0-0 3pt, 4-5 FT) 12reb 4ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Was off to a fast start settign up Kevin but quieted quickly and then sat for a long time there while Spencer gobbled up first half minutes, and when he returned he did little before the break. Struggled to life in the third, repeatedly getting to the rim, blowing the first layup, then grabbing his own board and finishing. Must have happened three times in the quarter -- no lift and the first one was always blocked/altered, but the sluggish Lakers never had that second man to come take it away so Brad would get the ball back and finish. Lost his cool late late in the quarter and poped Gasol on one play (Gasol ironically getting the T for retaliating). Things got chippy, and of course soon it was Brad himself getting a T and going into argeu mode. Reggie actually showed some wisdom this time and got him out of there for a while to cool down. Returned for the stretch run and was big on the glass against the softness of Gasol, but things fell apart in the late going. He and Ron controlled almost all of our possessions late, and they almost all came up empty. Ron...was just selfish. For Brad the problme was the opposite -- we were either giving it to Ron and letting him do his thing, or we were goign to run our offense through Brad. But the Lakers defensive intensity skyrocketed, and Kobe in particular just compeltely shut down Kevin. And so Brad was left standing out there with the ball and nobody to pass to and the result were a series of ugly forced desperation shots against the buzzer, shot clock violations, turnovers, and general ugliness. Aginst the intense pressue Brad just could not create anything himself. Defensively...well, his man dropped 31 on us, and Kobe owned the lane against us late.
Kevin Martin ( B ) -- 36min 23pts (8-17 FG, 1-3 3pt, 6-6 FT) 3reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Playing in front of his family who had flown in from Ohio, for 3/4 of this basketball game, Kevin Martin was a better basketball player than Kobe Bryant. Then it came winning time, and Kobe suddenly reminded us the way things are. In many ways it was a classic game disaplying exactly what these two players are. In the early going Kevin was scoring a lot of points, and doing it efficently. And it was almost all off of off the ball movement. Brad was finding him repeatedly, but several other Kings chipped in. And it clearly had Kobe, who can be an excellent defender, frustrated. He knew what was coming, but just kept on making mistakes and was obviously mad at himself. Meanwhile for Kobe it was a struggle. He was guarded by various different Kings, and was just off. Could not get the finishes, and if it had continued on that way, the Lakers probably lose this one. Kevin himself did nothin special on defense against him, but was not terrible, and only had one of his defensive lapses in the early going where he fell for a fake, got blown by, and just stood there as Kobe rushed into the lane. The pattern continued into the third, with Kevin doing almost all of his damage off off the ball movement and at various times it looking like we were on the verge of blwoing this one open. You can always tell the diofference between a tough top team and a team like Miami though -- they don't go away. And so they hung around, hung around, and then the 4th quarter struck, and it was time for Kobe to get serious. Kevin sat out for a good spell to start the 4th getting rest for the stretch run, but when he returned all of a sudden Kevin was compeltely smothered, and while he maybe deserved a pair of FTs at one point there in the quarter when he got out-flopped by Derek Fisher in a truly epic confrontation, Kobe was just right up inside his shirt and determined he was not going to score. And sure enough, Kevin disappeared. 23 points through three quarters. Zero when it mattered. And meanwhile Kobe was destroying us on the other end too. That was not Kevin's fault -- we were trying to slow the Kobe express with Ron for the most part. But it did underscore the vast gap there -- on one side Kobe nearly singlehandedly beat us on offense while simultaneously completely taking away our leading scorer. On the other Kevin was unable to free himself or create for himself, and was hiding away on Luke Walton on defense. Kevin still deserves a solid grade for this -- he got his offensive average vs. the best the game has to offer. And for 3/4 his off the ball game was a major factor and frustrating the Lakers. But it was a one dimesnional effort -- as mentioned truly a classic Kevin game really. All off the ball, not much defense, rebounding, assists, creating etc. A distilled version of Kevin's strengths and weaknesses. And of course as the Lakers blew us away down the stretch Kevin had no answers against a fired up Kobe Bryant.
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