Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
I hate bullies. Was shy as a kid and a target myself for a few of my early elementary school years, except that I was a big kid, and my dad was an old street brawler who didn't exactly preach turn the other cheek. Result was a lot of trips to the principal's office until people got the idea that the worm had turned.
Well tonight was our worm turning moment. With the thing that robs it of fun being that basically we just found an even smaller/weaker kid to go pick on. Still, with a whole season of pent up futility, today finally we were the smacker rather than the smackee. Reke was brilliant. Cuz and JT just piled up stats. But it was all too easy. Feel bad for Cats fans. That was just pathetic. And hopeless. Got in argument with a Cats fan before the season started, trying to tell him his team had no talent. He didn't listen. Well I'm not exaggerating when I say that our bench, our sad sad bench, is actually competitive with what the Cats have to throw out on the floor as starters. Just sad.
Boxscore
Outlaw ( B- ) -- got a ball out on the break and finished, and then got a second hoop slashing as Travis Outlaw was our best player in the early going. Travis Outlaw. In fact we just ran the Outlaw offense early letting the great man carry us on his skinny shoulders, and he responded. Very active, got a tip follow, saved a ball headed out of bounds for an assist to Reke on the break. For about 4 or 5 minutes this was Travis Outlaw as The Man. Unfortuately there was still 42 mintues to go in the game, and Travis quickly returned to his normal level of production, which is to say I am noit sure he had a point, rebound, or assist the rest of the game. Still, he was good for a few minutes. When a guy is shooting .327 on the season and coming off an 0-6 night, that's something, right?
Thompson ( A ) -- you know, I pondered marking this grade, and Reke's and Boogie's down because this was jsut all too easy and level of competition and stuff. But fact is that I don't mark up when we are playing the Thunder and yuo can only whip whoever you are playing, and Jason did that tio a sillt tune of 14pts on 6-8 shooting, 11rebs 7ast and 5stls. And a patridge in a pear tree. And yes, it really awas as easy as that sounds. There may never have been a worse pseudo-NBA team than the one we faced last night. So Jason started off with some nice moves inside early as he was not afraid at all of Muellens and just aggressively attacked the rim with no fear of reprisal. But on the other end for a while Muellens was scoring right back at him with jumpers of his own. that faded off though, and after half Jason's play was nearly perfect as far as decisionmaking. Just looked like he was in another league than the Cats guys (and maybe he/we should be) as he piled up numbers across the board, was able to make plays with no worries about defensive pressure, and finally started just having fun with it as with us up 30 he took a d-board and just raced out fullcourt for a +1 -- one of several of our guys to realize that was possible tonight.
Cousins ( A- ) -- you know, this might be the least impressive 29-10 game DeMarcus Cousins ever has. And that's not because he wasn't good -- he was. Its because it was both easy and unnecessary. Cuz just chugging along scoring here and there and here again without any serious opposition, and without it mattering to a preordained outcome. Played too long too, as for some reason Smart ran him deep into the 4th despite a 30pt shellacking we were putting on the Cats. Actually got off to a bit of shaky start, as he missed two easy shots to start the game. and at one point was only 1-6 from the field. But started the 2nd with a big power dunk and began to get pretty much whatever he wanted in there. Never horrible efficient, but jsut kept on pounding away inside, with the occasional nearly unmoelsed drive, and puttig a real lie to Bismark Biyombo as a major NBA defneder/shotblocker at this point. Had one big huge negative come out of this one, and that happened when Boogie got called for a ticky technical foul in the early 2nd. Now I have been warnign for soe time now that he was pickign up too many technicals arguing, and that he ws approaching the automatic Barkley/Rasheed suspecnsin cutoiff, where if you get over 16 technicals in a normal season, you get suspended for each extra one. Well, the number is 13 in this shortened season, and this technical was the one that put Boogie over, with all fo 2 games left in the season. So Boogie is going to be suspended for next game against OKC, and while this one looked very minor, Cuz has nobody to blame but his own petulant self for being in this position. Did do something smart going up and having a lengthy conversation with one of the officals during the halftime. Have to establish a personal relationship if you want to complain like Kobe. So, anyway, by the mid 4th had worked his way into 29pts 10reb on 11-21 shooting, with a smattering of spectacular plays. Ho hum. A-. Too bad we only get to see him one more time this year now.
Evans ( A+ ) -- like JT, I pondered not ading the "+" here because this was all too easy. But until the Bobcats are actually contracted out of the league, these were still NBA players Reke was toying with, so the + remains. And it really was just toying. And it really was a "+" effort as he played nearly flawless ball. Normally that would be an exaggeration. Not tonight. He missed 1 shot. He had no turnovers. He smothered Gerald Henderson on defense from the beginning of the game, which pretty much finished the Cats chacne to score any points in this one right there. Stripped him clean and went fullcourt for the breakaway early, and it was never a competition afterwards. And on the other end of the court took on all comers, solving the usage problem he has been having by just blasting right to the hoop or finding open teammates almost everytime he had the ball. As is often the case, his bigget opponent may hae been his coach, who after Reke picked up his second foul 9 minutes into this one benched him for the remainder of the half, not that he was needed in what felt like a scrimmage Was back for the third and picked right back up where he had left off, blowing past everybody the Cats put on him and sitting on an 8-8 night when the unthnkable happened, and Biyombo actually got on over to block one of his drives. Was able to find people on the few occasions when his driving lanes were cutoff, and calling him off after only 25min of action with 33pts 3rebs and 3ast on 10-11 shooting was probably mercy by Smart. Just entirely out of the league of the Cats guys tonight.
Thomas ( B- ) -- solid start in all ways, making some good passes ahead in the break, spotting up for threes, and helping on the defenisve glass. Quiet after half and probably let Walker do too much of what he wanted to do, but in this game obviosuly it did not matter.
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Bench
Williams ( B- ) -- only got first half minutes, as we were up impossibly far after half, and I guess we felt we didn't need him for the garbagetime and would go deeper bench instead. Did have a spectacular play with a huge leaping follow of his own miss as another guy for whom it was all too easy against the Cats.
Fredette ( C ) -- passing up shots early, but able to get a couple of hoops in the late 2nd against fellow rookie Kemba. Became the only King to struggle on the night when he came off the bench in the 4th, airballed his first shot, and gunned away while mostly missing down the stretch.
Hayes ( C ) -- not much in the long first half bench minutes, but picked up a couple of the numerous balls the Bobcats left lying around in the paint. This is a C jsut for a lack of anything happeneing, rather than for anything bad happening.
Garcia ( C ) -- did nothing in the first half but pass around the perimeter. Finally got a jumper in the deep garbagetime Like Chuck I'm jsut going to call this a C. Did nothing out there, but stayed out of the way and we absolutely did not need him to do anymore.
Greene ( B- ) -- in and missed a finish around the rim, then got out on the break and got called for the offensive foul. But after settling hit a jumper when he couldn't find anyone to pass to and got an alley oop from Jimmer late in the half. Not sure why he did not get back in until less than 2 minutes were left as we ran JT almost to the end. In fact really from a strategic organizational perspective I might have argued for taking JT out early just in case it saves us a few dollars at the negotiating table this summer. But whateveer. Donte score 8pts in 11min, and if it wasn't as exciting as all that, it was still another guy having few probs vs. the Cats.
Honeycutt ( C ) -- in and immediately backed too far off Moon and had a jumper stuck in his face. Got a block a few times later but mostly a quiet long garbagetime stint.
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