Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
First of all, welcome the Consortium back from their little late season vacation.
Secondly, its really too damn bad Mike D'Antoni has been allowed by Dr. Buss's idiot son to come in and turn these Lakers/Kings "showdowns" into silly run 'n gun junkball exhibitions. I felt rather more fear that we'd play into their hands and let such a stupidly built team beat us again than exhilaration at doing what everybody else has done all season long to them. How do you crush out the hopes and dreams of a crew of randomly matched scrubs representing a fanbase actively rooting for them to lose?
Anyway, maybe best to ignore the ignoble depths to which the rivalry has currently sunk, and just focus onkey developments. And of course the biggest two keys were #1: Cuz got entirely taken out of this game by the refs, and still put up 20-10...in 21min, including a number of the sealing plays at the end of the game as a quiet f u to the refs. And then maybe in part because of that Ray went off and had himself another career night.
Now let's get 2 negative notes out of the way first. First, this was the absolute perfect game for our rookie guards to show well because D'Idiot was coaching, and he intentionally wants to make the game all about guards running and chucking. They are the second worst defensive team in the league (to Philly, who just lost 26 in a row). Its all open court. Its junk. The second thing of course is that Ray took 22 shots, notched 5 assists, and we flat scream about that when IT does it. Well... Now, that said, Ray is more than just settling in out there, he looks flat comfortable as a scorer. On offense its still mostly dump it to Cuz and semi-open court, but I don't know if we have more than that in the playbook really, and if we ever did, we probably excised it with IT our there. And Ray was able to dart about and really put up an IT statline. Somebody a few games ago asked if the Ray/Ben draft could turn out like the IT/Jimmer draft. You do have to wonder, although Ben has physical tools that Jimmer never will. Ray though has the moxy.
So "beat LA" may not have quite the luster right now, but there was still stuff to watch, and I would imagine this was exactly what they were looking for when Isaiah suddenly came down with his "injury" last week.
Your Consoritum Graders tonight:
Bricklayer
Uncia03
MassacheusettsKingsFan
Henkel
Boxscore
Stats: 43min 30pts (12-24, 1-2, 6-7) 5reb 4ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Gay ( A- ) -- Rudy had a poor start to this one, shooting only 1-5 in the first quarter, but I liked the Kings strategy. Due to Rudy’s size advantage over both Bazemore and Meeks, the Kings tried to get the ball to Rudy in good positions close to the basket, but he just wasn’t converting, so while the numbers didn’t look pretty in that first quarter I thought that if they stuck with it he’d be able to turn it around. He did, and from the second quarter on he poured in points from all over the court. He had 3 or 4 dunks, he had multiple close range jumpers, and he was converting some of those earlier deep position attempts with either layups or trips to the free throw line. And I’ll give him a little more credit for the offense tonight than I normally would because Isaiah Thomas was out once again, and DeMarcus Cousins was dealing with foul trouble all game long. With all of that being said, Rudy wasn’t as efficient as he could have been tonight. There were certainly forces, and a couple attempts at drawing fouls that didn’t work, so it wasn’t perfect. Again, though, in this game against the D’Antoni Lakers, offensive numbers get a little funky. He was good on that end tonight. I was a lot less impressed with his defensive effort. There were just too many possessions that he didn’t play defense with any sort of urgency or smarts. He got beat on a back door screen, left shooters open from the perimeter, and failed to get back on defense too often for my liking. Of course, that is how this terrible Lakers team wants to play, but Rudy wasn’t very good on defense tonight and it wasn’t because he was guarding All-Star level talent, he just wasn’t committed to playing that side of the ball. And I’m not putting the entire teams lack of defense on Rudy, but he was one of many players who didn’t put forth their best effort on that end. So this was a case of good (and much needed) offense and lackluster defense on a night where the Kings beat the Lakers. A- feels appropriate.--Mass
Stats: 17min 3pts (1-3, 0-0, 1-2) 2reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Evans ( C- ) -- surprisingly ineffective outing by Reggie, as you would have expected him to dominate the smallballers. Sometimes pulled away from the hoop by Ryan Kelly, but not consistently enough to explain the difference, and Kelly actually outrebounded him. had several loose plays, gambling for a steal and leaving the rim open, rumbling and bumbling pretty much fullcourt, missing the layup but wrestling it back and laying it in. Was briefly left in for Cousins as a smallball center, but it still did to get him going, and with JT playing solidly again, the minutes went Jason's way instead. Maybe still grumpy about the emo league office stealing 15 grand from his pocket for that nothing down in New Orleans. I know somebody steals 15 grand from me I'm showing up at their front door with a baseball bat. --Brick
Stats: 21min 20pts (8-14, 0-0, 4-6) 10reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Cousins ( B+ ) -- This had all the makings of a big night for Cousins. As he was coming into this one with the momentum of a recent dominating performance, while facing off against one of the least intimating front courts in the league. And when he was on the floor, doing all his damage in a meager 21 minutes, everything went as expected. Unfortunately struggled with foul trouble once again. He contributed one bad foul, reaching in for the steal in the early going, while the other calls against him range from questionable to complete nonsense. Started things off with a couple of nice passes out of the post as the Lakers were looking to send help every time he set up down low. Despite being over matched Hill actually did a admirable job in the early going as he managed to challenge Cousins on a couple of drive. These minor victories faded as the quarter progressed and Cousins got down to exploiting his strength advantage. He ran the floor hard, establishing excellent post position for the easy basket. Then managed to corral a offensive board and putback to go along with a easy a one off of nice set up inside by McCallum. As the quarter was winding down he picked up his second foul on a bad call. He clearly had position as he set up for the offensive board. Barely made contact with his off arm on Bazemore, but apparently that was enough to draw the foul. Played well in the early going, a good thing considering it would be his longest stretch in this one. Saw almost no time in the second as he quickly picked up his third foul closing out on Young in transition on the long jumper. Had his minutes limited in the third by foul trouble as well. Did manage to have a impact as he continued to be aggressive down low while throwing in a sweet little fading mid range jumper. Picked up his fourth trying to protect the rim in transition. Appeared to do a pretty good job from my angle, but alas was once again forced to sit with about six minutes left in the third. Sat until well into the fourth as Malone didn't seem overly compelled to put this one away. Considering all the factors involved it's not surprising. The team was looking to feed him down low to close this one out. Got the hook shot to go after over powering Hill in the post. Then quickly came back and drew the foul on another post up opportunity. Had a spectacular play as he stole the rebound from Hill and took it the length of the court while being challenged by a couple of Lakers, finishing it off with a nice shovel pass to Outlaw for the lay-in. Managed one last trip to line as Hill was forced to foul after Cousins escaped the double team by spinning and driving the baseline. It wasn't a perfect finish, but was too much to handle down low as he and Gay teamed up to closed this one out. A tough game to grade. He was engaged and productive every minute he was on the court and I'm giving him a pass on the foul trouble tonight. Regardless his impact was limited, which kept me from going any higher. --Henkel
Stats: 45min 12pts (5-11, 1-4, 1-1) 4reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
McLemore ( C ) -- you would expect a running scramble game to exactly cater to an athletic rookie, and for about 18 minutes of this one things went as expected. Got right off to the good start to this one with maybe his two most "useable" plays in the future as Cuz immediately hit him out of a double for a feet set three, and then he followed with an aggressivish contested two pointer of a sort he rarely has shown. But that was it, 3min into the game, for the forceful jumpshooting (at least accurate jumpshooting) portion of his evening. he got one more little open jumper to go in the early 2nd, and then that entirely disappeared. From then on out it was a mixture of runouts, including one he finished with a nice forceful +1 drive, and unsuccessful runouts, as he got blocked multiple times around the rim trying to finish. Defensively was fine early, but Meeks began to get going after half, and Ben eventually lost the matchup again. Pulled Hill out of the air by his arm on a play with about 5min to go. With everything that gets called "flagrant"nowadays I was half surprised he didn't get tagged for one. think he had 10 of his 12 points by half. 8 of his 12 within seconds of the beginning of the 2nd quarter. Then played another half hour as a ghost as the same C/SF/PG trifecta that has haunted his entire rookie season once again took over. For a brief spell again looked good. Just never seems to sustain.--Brick
Stats: 46min 27pts (12-22, 1-6, 2-4) 4reb 5ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
McCallum ( A- ) -- Ray is in one of those late season grooves which is usually reserved for guys finishing the end of a contract and hoping to squeeze a lot more money from a GM in the off-season. Except Ray isn’t playing for money right now, but rather for the opportunity for a lot more playing time next season. He has now strung together 2 and a half really strong games of basketball, played a ton of minutes, and demonstrated to the fans the reason why the FO said they were high on this kid. Here is one of the most important things to consider with this grade. At the 2:30 mark of the 1st quarter both Rudy and Cousins left the floor with the game tied 18-18. For the next 5 minutes Ray played with-out those two guys and scored 10 points, had 2 assists and a missed assist opportunity, and when Rudy came back in, the Kings had a 6 point lead. I was expecting the Kings to falter in those minutes, but Ray carried the team. And due to Cousins' limited minutes, it was Ray who stepped it up, along-side Rudy, to get the victory tonight. One of the best things I saw tonight was that he made his shots at the rim. Yay! To this point I’ve been unable to grasp his inability to finish at the rim. In his limited minutes through-out the season he’s shown the ability to get to the rim at a fairly decent clip and a complete inability to actually finish with a bucket or a foul. He was helped tremendously in this one due to the midget line-up the Laker’s played, and he did what he was supposed to do by getting right to the rim and finishing at a very high rate. He got his shot blocked a couple of times and had two terrible attempts at the rim in the last minute of the 3rd quarter, but by and large he attacked and finished with high efficiency. When grading Ray, to me he had an A+ type of 1st half scoring 17 points, with 4 assists, and 5 passes that should have led to assists, and only 1 turn-over, while really stepping up when Cousins and Rudy were not on the floor. The 2nd half he was not nearly as effective, and it could just be the minutes catching up to him. He had 10 points on 9 shots, only 1 assist, 3 passes that should have led to assists, and 2 turn-overs…though I only saw one, so I don’t know where that 2nd one came from. And it was the 4th quarter in particular where he was almost invisible. He played the entire 4th quarter and took 3 shots, had no assists, and only 1 pass that could have even been an assist, so I’m guessing that he was starting to run out of gas as he wasn’t nearly as active the latter part of the game.
When grading IT, I’ve usually counted up the times where he’s basically just taken it up the court and put up a shot with-out getting anyone involved. I did the same with Ray, and Ray had more than I would have liked, especially in the 2nd quarter. He had 1 in the 1st quarter, 4 in the 2nd quarter, and one on the last shot of the 3rd quarter on a horrible take to the basket. Lastly we have his ridiculously high number of shot attempts in this game. 22 is just way too many shots for him. He did take a desperation shot to beat the shot clock one time, but he also took all 3 shots to end the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd quarters, and he took two poor shots in the last minute of the 3rd quarter. But even with the extremely high number of shots, there is one mitigating factor that has to be considered. And that was the number of shot attempts he took in three different situations. When he was on the court with both Cousins and Rudy he only took 5 shots. When it was just him and Rudy out there he took 11 shots, and he took 6 shots when he was all by himself. So it looks as if he is playing the role of 3rd fiddle to Cousins and Rudy, which is what you’d want, since he doesn’t have anywhere near the offensive skills that they do. The only other concern in watching him was his disappearance in the 4th quarter, but I am going to chalk that up to him being tired as he’s never played these sorts of minutes before. The final thing I want to mention is his defense. As has been the case in the past, he played very good defense for most of this game. I know it looks like a throw-away line at the end of the grade, but he did hustle and scrap on the defensive end all game long. He didn’t win every battle, but he worked hard on that end all night and was effective for the majority of the game against all the guys he ended matching up with. So strong game by Ray, with a huge 1st half and an OK 2nd half. He took a lot of shots, but the majority of them were at the rim where he finished with good efficiency. Let’s hope that Cousins can play more than 21 minutes in the next game so that Ray will not end up taking so many shots.--Uncia
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