Artest ( B- ) -- very slow offensive start, and was having some turnover problems as we again saw the Lakers going to a press in the second quarter when Bibby was out and Ron/Garcia were handling the ball. Defense was strong, of course, but Kobe was still scoring pretty efficiently and creating shots for others. Finally woke up offensively in the last few minutes of the half, and dragged us back into it with a couple of threes and a post. Was doing a nice job on the glass this time out, but had so many unnecessary turnovers. Played big down the stretch, but was unable to hit the big threes (forced them again) in the final minute we needed. Spent much of the game looking clearly frustrated with himself and the team. Did enough to keep Kobe from going off, but not able to force him into inefficiency or bad decisions. Generally competitive, but turnovers and general raggedness hold down this grade.
Thomas ( F ) -- very very flat start, and lost most of his second quarter minutes to other guys as we looked for a spark. Picked up an entirely unnecessary technical at the end of the third that fortunately did not hurt us as Kobe missed the T. Gave him half as many technicals as he had boards in this one.
Made one, and only one, good play all night -- when in the early 4th he made a very quick rotation to get in front of an Odom drive and draw the charge. Just remarkably invisible and inept performance from a guy who has been double doubling his way through the league for the last few months. Bad timing.
Miller ( C ) -- barely there in the first half. Some all around statistical contributions, but effectiveness was limited. Threw away some terrible passes, did not rebound, worked over by Kwame. Made some dumb fouls in the late third. Came back with some stout defensive plays and rebounds during our final push in the final 6 min, but overall not nearly as effective as the solid looking numbers tonight.
Martin ( INC ) -- missed a few, made a few, early. Lakers seemed to be daring him to take the three, perhaps foolishly. Lost a lot of his second quarter minutes with Bonzi and Ron being effective pounding down inside + did not look terribly happy about it. Apparently the injured thigh was bothering him again and kept him out almost the entire second half? As quickly as he was pulled in the third it might have been one of those "see if he can go on it" type of things, and then when he couldn't, yank him. Did not look obviously hobbled though. Anyway...quiet outing while he was out there, and started the game again with that ugly defensive assignment against Brian Cook. Probably some sort of C for the time he was on the floor, but with the injury limiting him to 10min, going to go with an Inc.
Bibby ( D- ) -- slow + sloppy start, neither able to shoot/finish himself, nor able to contain Smush Parker. Finally got a three before half. Then in the early third took what looked to be a knee in his calf from Smush, and was severely hobbled and had to come out. Returned at the end of the quarter and looked ok, but then got into a ridiculous chippy foulfest with Sasha Vujacic once again. Sasha Vujacic! I have no idea what Mike's deal is with that scrub, but its been going on all year and its ridiculous. Takes Mike right out of his game, gets into his head. Saved from the F this time out because of the injury, but frankly he was no worse after it than before. Just a game lacking composure or spark.
Wells ( B+ ) -- a slow start as he was being forced out on the perimeter. But began to pick it up in the mid-2nd as we went to him down inside as a goto guy, and in the darkest part of the game for us it was Bonzi who was keeping us even remotely in touch with the Lakers. Reinserted quickly in the third for the ineffective/injured Martin, and continued to be sporadically effective inside. Came up with a big defensvie steal on Kobe in the last minute, but for naught. Scrappy game rather than a dominant one, but may have been the most consistently effective King this time out.
Reef ( B+ ) -- picked up two quick fouls and only got a handful of first half minutes with the foul trouble. Got a couple of inside hoops during his minutes, but nothing terribly exciting. But after being reinserted in the late third was much more effective than either Brad or Kenny, and was able to give us a consistent scorer inside. Rest of his game was just a shrug, but gave us a nice boost this time out.
Potapenko ( INC ) -- got the surprise minutes early when Reef picked up two quick ones. Dribbled one in on a little half hook.
Garcia ( C- ) -- not terribly effective in his first half minutes again. He's back, but he's not BACK yet as an energetic sparkplug. Minutes opened up for him with Bibby's injury but did little. Holding his grade up here a bit because he's still working back from injury, but really gave us nothing this time out.
Adelman ( B- ) -- this...did not go well. But in this case Rick was better than the team. Coached this one to win and made what were for him some relatively rapid shifts to the bench wiht various guys ineffective, in foul trouble, injured. Dug deep early after we got off to the embarrassing start, at one point fielding a Potapenko, Brad, Ron, Bonzi, Garcia combo, and seemed to have a definite gameplan to attack the Lakers inside with Bonzi and to a lesser degree Artest (leading to us scoring an impressive 42pts in the paint -- unfortunately slightly less impressive were the Lakers scoring 46 down there ). Do have to wonder about the lingering aftereffects of the Sonics game, and the big minutes Ron, Mike, and Brad logged as we got off to a terrible start and of those guys only Ron had any spark. We didn't actually lose this one by that much and theoretically had an outside shot to steal it at the end. But that was really more the Lakers sucking on their own than anything we did (I am increasingly thinking that it would be great for the Kings if we could clone Phil Jackson 28 times and have him coach ALL of the teams in the NBA, insert Luke Walton (who would also have to be cloned) and sit smugly on his *** as we made runs). Can't bounce this grade any higher in a "big" game (hey, everything is relative) where our guys did not show up -- always theoretically on the coach. But ingame the strategy looked solid, if executed poorly, and the substitutions for the most part benefitted us.
Thomas ( F ) -- very very flat start, and lost most of his second quarter minutes to other guys as we looked for a spark. Picked up an entirely unnecessary technical at the end of the third that fortunately did not hurt us as Kobe missed the T. Gave him half as many technicals as he had boards in this one.
Made one, and only one, good play all night -- when in the early 4th he made a very quick rotation to get in front of an Odom drive and draw the charge. Just remarkably invisible and inept performance from a guy who has been double doubling his way through the league for the last few months. Bad timing.Miller ( C ) -- barely there in the first half. Some all around statistical contributions, but effectiveness was limited. Threw away some terrible passes, did not rebound, worked over by Kwame. Made some dumb fouls in the late third. Came back with some stout defensive plays and rebounds during our final push in the final 6 min, but overall not nearly as effective as the solid looking numbers tonight.
Martin ( INC ) -- missed a few, made a few, early. Lakers seemed to be daring him to take the three, perhaps foolishly. Lost a lot of his second quarter minutes with Bonzi and Ron being effective pounding down inside + did not look terribly happy about it. Apparently the injured thigh was bothering him again and kept him out almost the entire second half? As quickly as he was pulled in the third it might have been one of those "see if he can go on it" type of things, and then when he couldn't, yank him. Did not look obviously hobbled though. Anyway...quiet outing while he was out there, and started the game again with that ugly defensive assignment against Brian Cook. Probably some sort of C for the time he was on the floor, but with the injury limiting him to 10min, going to go with an Inc.
Bibby ( D- ) -- slow + sloppy start, neither able to shoot/finish himself, nor able to contain Smush Parker. Finally got a three before half. Then in the early third took what looked to be a knee in his calf from Smush, and was severely hobbled and had to come out. Returned at the end of the quarter and looked ok, but then got into a ridiculous chippy foulfest with Sasha Vujacic once again. Sasha Vujacic! I have no idea what Mike's deal is with that scrub, but its been going on all year and its ridiculous. Takes Mike right out of his game, gets into his head. Saved from the F this time out because of the injury, but frankly he was no worse after it than before. Just a game lacking composure or spark.
Wells ( B+ ) -- a slow start as he was being forced out on the perimeter. But began to pick it up in the mid-2nd as we went to him down inside as a goto guy, and in the darkest part of the game for us it was Bonzi who was keeping us even remotely in touch with the Lakers. Reinserted quickly in the third for the ineffective/injured Martin, and continued to be sporadically effective inside. Came up with a big defensvie steal on Kobe in the last minute, but for naught. Scrappy game rather than a dominant one, but may have been the most consistently effective King this time out.
Reef ( B+ ) -- picked up two quick fouls and only got a handful of first half minutes with the foul trouble. Got a couple of inside hoops during his minutes, but nothing terribly exciting. But after being reinserted in the late third was much more effective than either Brad or Kenny, and was able to give us a consistent scorer inside. Rest of his game was just a shrug, but gave us a nice boost this time out.
Potapenko ( INC ) -- got the surprise minutes early when Reef picked up two quick ones. Dribbled one in on a little half hook.
Garcia ( C- ) -- not terribly effective in his first half minutes again. He's back, but he's not BACK yet as an energetic sparkplug. Minutes opened up for him with Bibby's injury but did little. Holding his grade up here a bit because he's still working back from injury, but really gave us nothing this time out.
Adelman ( B- ) -- this...did not go well. But in this case Rick was better than the team. Coached this one to win and made what were for him some relatively rapid shifts to the bench wiht various guys ineffective, in foul trouble, injured. Dug deep early after we got off to the embarrassing start, at one point fielding a Potapenko, Brad, Ron, Bonzi, Garcia combo, and seemed to have a definite gameplan to attack the Lakers inside with Bonzi and to a lesser degree Artest (leading to us scoring an impressive 42pts in the paint -- unfortunately slightly less impressive were the Lakers scoring 46 down there
). Do have to wonder about the lingering aftereffects of the Sonics game, and the big minutes Ron, Mike, and Brad logged as we got off to a terrible start and of those guys only Ron had any spark. We didn't actually lose this one by that much and theoretically had an outside shot to steal it at the end. But that was really more the Lakers sucking on their own than anything we did (I am increasingly thinking that it would be great for the Kings if we could clone Phil Jackson 28 times and have him coach ALL of the teams in the NBA, insert Luke Walton (who would also have to be cloned) and sit smugly on his *** as we made runs). Can't bounce this grade any higher in a "big" game (hey, everything is relative) where our guys did not show up -- always theoretically on the coach. But ingame the strategy looked solid, if executed poorly, and the substitutions for the most part benefitted us.
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