Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
This team is giving me a frigging heart attack! 
Peja ( B- ) -- Hard game to grade -- terrible shooting night, but found a way to put up points. Started out the game on fire -- Webb and Christie set him up repeatedly and he had 8 points before most of the Laker fans even deigned to get into their seats. But disappeared soon therafter, and barely hit another shot all game long. Settled for a long stream of three pointers at one point, but thankfully got smart in the third quarter and started mixing things up and getting to the line with a true Reggie Miller-like game. Not getting fouled on the shots, but coming off the picks hard and throwing his arms and body around to draw the foul on the hapless defender -- single handedly knocked Caron Butler out of the game with fouls. Finally hit another FG in the dying minutes of the game on a drive to the hoop, and came up with a huge steal in the last minute off a loose ball leading to FTs on the other end. Now officially has to be called the worst 6'9" rebounder in the league. Grabbed three tonight, and on one of them had the audacity to let out a yell.
Webb ( B+ ) -- very smooth in control game through three quarters tonight. Was a man on the boards, and thank god, because without him we would have been lucky to have 20 rebs tonight. Made a simply beautiful court lengh pass to Doug Christie in the third. Was attacking the inside, and then mixed things up in the third with a series of made jumpers. Unfortuantely in the 4th quarter went ice cold and was being leaned on to a huge degree by the struggling team to score. Still getting good looking inside shots, but no longer falling. Whole team went ice cold, and he could not bail us out. Team just absolutely stopped moving and left it to Webb to shoot the ball time and again. Still, in the end we're talking about 22pts 16rebs 7ast. But lost his A though in the final qaurter.
Miller ( C+ ) -- really struggled from the opening tip. Was getting worked by Chris Mihm. But after Mihm went out, still unable to get anything going against any of the Lakers. Couldn't even take advantage of Brian Cook. Battled back in the 4th quarter though, belatedly getting on the boards and providing some nice step out defensive help on the perimeter. Almost wanted to bump him up to a B- just based on his strong play down the stretch. But he was just miserable for such a long period of time that I couldn't do it for 6 minutes of good play.
Christie ( B- ) -- started out the game sloppy, and got his shot blocked on back to back drives resulting in easy fastbreak opportunities for the Lakers. Offensive contributions were ok, but modest. And defensively never at any point had Kobe remotely under control. Had an adventuresome final two minutes -- hit a big three with less than 2 minutes to go, got called for a critical flagrant foul, and then came back to double kobe, force the ball out of his hands, and create turnovers and bad shots for the Lakers.
Bibby ( C+ ) -- Was playing a generally poor game, but came up big down the stretch -- pulled a mega-flop on Chucky Atkins in the last few minutes that must have made Vlade smile, and then hit a giant three pointer in the last minute immediately after one from Doug.
BJax ( B ) -- played an excellent first half (when he was actually the guy pulling the ball back and settling the offesne at times), and then sat out for a very long time in the seocnd half. When he came back he was off and on. greta drive, followed by a couple of poor decisions. Kobe's presence all game long made big minutes for Bobby tough -- hard to gvaurd Kobe with a 6'1" guard.
Songaila ( B+ ) -- came in and again gave us a strong effort. Better in the second qaurter when he chipped in 8pts than the 4th. Was probably a better option for the Lakers perimeter oriented big men than Miller at times. Spent a lot of time chasing around on the perimeter, but again didn't give us much ont he boards.
Barnes ( B ) -- provided his trademark hustle, as well unfortunately as a couple of his trademark overagressive mistakes. Stroked a couple of smooth jumpers within the offense, and gave us a nice boost on the boards in the first half. Tried his best to stay with Kobe, but Kobe was too good tonight.
Adelman ( B+ ) -- whew! That's four straight 4th quarter victories. You could see our athleticism problems all night long, but when it mattered most, we out executed them. Was glad to see us fianlly going to the hard double teams in the late game to get the ball out of Kobe's hands, but tonight it really didn't matter. Doug, Barnes, Peja, Bobby all took turns at guarding kobe in this one. None could slow him down (thought Peja might have doen the best job with double team help). Short bench again, but the addition of the minutes for Barnes really helped this time out with our athleticism problems.
Officials: ( F ) -- there were a couple of simply awful calls in the 4th quarter that were just blatantly bad. Bennet Salvatore was just ridiculous. Entirely blew a clear breakaway foul committed to stop a Bobby Jackson layup, and then called a flagrant foul on Doug Christie with 1 minute to go! Almost decided the game.
Peja ( B- ) -- Hard game to grade -- terrible shooting night, but found a way to put up points. Started out the game on fire -- Webb and Christie set him up repeatedly and he had 8 points before most of the Laker fans even deigned to get into their seats. But disappeared soon therafter, and barely hit another shot all game long. Settled for a long stream of three pointers at one point, but thankfully got smart in the third quarter and started mixing things up and getting to the line with a true Reggie Miller-like game. Not getting fouled on the shots, but coming off the picks hard and throwing his arms and body around to draw the foul on the hapless defender -- single handedly knocked Caron Butler out of the game with fouls. Finally hit another FG in the dying minutes of the game on a drive to the hoop, and came up with a huge steal in the last minute off a loose ball leading to FTs on the other end. Now officially has to be called the worst 6'9" rebounder in the league. Grabbed three tonight, and on one of them had the audacity to let out a yell.
Webb ( B+ ) -- very smooth in control game through three quarters tonight. Was a man on the boards, and thank god, because without him we would have been lucky to have 20 rebs tonight. Made a simply beautiful court lengh pass to Doug Christie in the third. Was attacking the inside, and then mixed things up in the third with a series of made jumpers. Unfortuantely in the 4th quarter went ice cold and was being leaned on to a huge degree by the struggling team to score. Still getting good looking inside shots, but no longer falling. Whole team went ice cold, and he could not bail us out. Team just absolutely stopped moving and left it to Webb to shoot the ball time and again. Still, in the end we're talking about 22pts 16rebs 7ast. But lost his A though in the final qaurter.
Miller ( C+ ) -- really struggled from the opening tip. Was getting worked by Chris Mihm. But after Mihm went out, still unable to get anything going against any of the Lakers. Couldn't even take advantage of Brian Cook. Battled back in the 4th quarter though, belatedly getting on the boards and providing some nice step out defensive help on the perimeter. Almost wanted to bump him up to a B- just based on his strong play down the stretch. But he was just miserable for such a long period of time that I couldn't do it for 6 minutes of good play.
Christie ( B- ) -- started out the game sloppy, and got his shot blocked on back to back drives resulting in easy fastbreak opportunities for the Lakers. Offensive contributions were ok, but modest. And defensively never at any point had Kobe remotely under control. Had an adventuresome final two minutes -- hit a big three with less than 2 minutes to go, got called for a critical flagrant foul, and then came back to double kobe, force the ball out of his hands, and create turnovers and bad shots for the Lakers.
Bibby ( C+ ) -- Was playing a generally poor game, but came up big down the stretch -- pulled a mega-flop on Chucky Atkins in the last few minutes that must have made Vlade smile, and then hit a giant three pointer in the last minute immediately after one from Doug.
BJax ( B ) -- played an excellent first half (when he was actually the guy pulling the ball back and settling the offesne at times), and then sat out for a very long time in the seocnd half. When he came back he was off and on. greta drive, followed by a couple of poor decisions. Kobe's presence all game long made big minutes for Bobby tough -- hard to gvaurd Kobe with a 6'1" guard.
Songaila ( B+ ) -- came in and again gave us a strong effort. Better in the second qaurter when he chipped in 8pts than the 4th. Was probably a better option for the Lakers perimeter oriented big men than Miller at times. Spent a lot of time chasing around on the perimeter, but again didn't give us much ont he boards.
Barnes ( B ) -- provided his trademark hustle, as well unfortunately as a couple of his trademark overagressive mistakes. Stroked a couple of smooth jumpers within the offense, and gave us a nice boost on the boards in the first half. Tried his best to stay with Kobe, but Kobe was too good tonight.
Adelman ( B+ ) -- whew! That's four straight 4th quarter victories. You could see our athleticism problems all night long, but when it mattered most, we out executed them. Was glad to see us fianlly going to the hard double teams in the late game to get the ball out of Kobe's hands, but tonight it really didn't matter. Doug, Barnes, Peja, Bobby all took turns at guarding kobe in this one. None could slow him down (thought Peja might have doen the best job with double team help). Short bench again, but the addition of the minutes for Barnes really helped this time out with our athleticism problems.
Officials: ( F ) -- there were a couple of simply awful calls in the 4th quarter that were just blatantly bad. Bennet Salvatore was just ridiculous. Entirely blew a clear breakaway foul committed to stop a Bobby Jackson layup, and then called a flagrant foul on Doug Christie with 1 minute to go! Almost decided the game.
