Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Garcia ( C ) -- in the first half made an impact with his hustle game, and continues to show a knack for open court fast break shot blocks where he can get extended. But fell back into offensive punchlessness, and was really invisible in the second half. Still ended up playing an amazing full 48 minutes as Rick just said screw it, we need this one, and ran the starters straight into the ground. Did do a decent job defensively against Grant Hill, and actually got his feet set on one open three pointer, and drained it. But everything else, challenged, forced, and missed. As usual had a few bad turnovers on passes he should never have thrown. Gets himself into bad spots with nowhere to go a lot of times. Minor scrapper type effort tonight.
Thomas ( C+ ) -- not surprisingly lost the battle in there against the big kid, but did manage to occasionally counterpunch with quickness. Unfortunately that kind of mano a mano focus may have hurt us in the mid-4th when Kenny kept on forcing it against the bad matchup, was inefficient, picked up a technical, and broke our momentum there for a bit. Came through late in the game with a couple of key defensive rebounds though. 11 and 6 does not compare well to 18 and 19, and I certainly had as many questions as ever about Kenny's decisionmaking, but to be fair he was not always guarding Howard, and he made enough scattered contributions to keep it from being a complete wipeout.
Miller ( A ) -- Giant numbers, but not sure if it was quite as impressive as all of that. Sort of just slugged his way to his points on the night until a semi-flurry of points late. Nothing great or amazing, but with Bibby hurting heaved up a three pointer with 2 minutes to go and got to the line on a couple of fouls (the latter one intentional) + knocked down the FTs. Racked up 7 assists, and while most of the assists were off the 2 man game setting up Bibby, and while of course that is meant to be a minimalizing statement since he really wasn't running the offense for the whole team, looked at another way he was the primary assistman for our star of the night. Reboundingwise hung in there and battled against everyone but Howard. 21pts 12rebs 7ast is a HUGE statistical game. But it didn't really feel dominant or even very close to it. He was really just the wingman to Bibby, and had his hands full inside with Howard. Did not shrink or shirk his duty this time out though, and the stats alone, not to mention the late points, are worth the grade.
Martin ( A ) -- came back home and had a big game for the first time in a couple of weeks. Got me thinking, and sure enough: Kevin home FG% this year: .457, road FG%: .407. Able to use his athleticism to find the seams in the porous Orlando defense and involved in a number of big collisions as he went crashing into the Magic's bigs around the rim. Came up with his career rebounding high, and had a great one in the last two minutes where he managed to outbattle Howard in there (and keep him from getting 20). Hit 4 big clutch FTs as he, along with the rest of the team, simply would not give the Magic the miss at the line they needed to have a chance to tie us up. Played offense so inexplicably different than he has been the last week or two that I don't even pretend to understand. Today was just basically running and jumping and crashing toward the rim. Complete 180 from what he's been doing. And with far more aggressiveness too (of course it is more natural). Now part of it may have been that the Magic suck defensively (a common thread in many of Kevin's big athletic games). But even so, the difference should not be THIS much. In any case, whatever. Played a great game. A critical third wheel supporting Mike and Brad.
Bibby ( A+ ) -- okay, and here was the Mike "on" game again. Really on. "A", "F", "A", "F"...getting whiplash trying to keep track of things. In any case, Mike took advantage of the Magic missing their PGs to have another one of those big can't miss, free + loose games. Started to come on strong in the second quarter and got even hotter in the third when he just kept on getting to the exact same spots on the floor for shot after shot and the Magic apparently oblivious to the fact he was on fire. Briefly pondered withholding the "+" here because this was pretty much a one-dimensional shooting performance. It wasn't really Mike running the team and putting up huge numbers, it was him just sort of calling his own number and getting into a scorching rhythm. Made a few nice feeds to Martin in particular in the open court, but in the halfcourt actually had some problems getting the team into its offense. And of course Nelson was scoring back at him at a high rate too, although Mike did not always have the defensive responsibility. But I just had to go with the extra tick as Mike more or less singlehandedly won this one for us, and by the very end had set his career scoring high. Took a pair of hard falls at about the 3 minute mark, one trying to draw a foul (he did not), and then the other on the rebound of the wild miss he threw up trying to draw the whistle. And he got up looking very sore (scary moment to say the least). Interrupted Mike's inexorable march toward his career high, and for a while there thought he might not make it. Ended up bricking a pair of free throws after the injury while looking very very uncomfortable. But the Magic finally gave the career mark as a parting gift, as with 1 second left to go in the game they fouled Mike in desperation trying to extend the game, and gave him a chance to hit the two sealers just before the game was over. So A+ it was, and I guess this is what it takes for us to even beat the bad teams anymore -- a career night from one of the guys who are left.
Hart ( C+ ) -- hit one semi-desperation jumper in the second quarter. About the extent of his contributions. Spent most of his time playing alongside Mike (who played 46min
) rather than in place of him, so did not have the deadening effect on the offense he does as a PG. Been a major trend here recently by Rick. Really is playing Mike and Jason together more than one at a time. Maybe a recognition of Jason's limitations as a point. Or maybe looking for that old Bobby/House dynamic. Either way, Jason is playing better with primary playmaking responsibilites shifted elsewhere. But of course at the cost of us not really having a main backup PG. Mike can't play 46min every night to get us a win.
Williamson ( C ) -- with KT in early foul trouoble Corliss got the call at PF to play...6'11" I-can-touch-the-rim-with-my-forehead super-soph Dwight Howard. Stats say Corliss grabbed a number of rebounds, but the ones he got were uncontested, while the Magic's big frontline (6'11" Howard, 6'11" Battie and 6'10" Hedo at one point) spent most of his minutes playing pattycake off the glass. Not really Corliss's fault. He simply cannot contend with that sort of length, nor should he have to. Threw up an airball as his lone offensive contribution. Fared better when he got a few mintues against Hedo.
Skinner ( C+ ) -- hustled to very modest effect. Lone points came on a surprise giveup jumper form the top of the key after he (and we) ran out of options. Not much anywhere else either. Certainly agree and understand the carping about Brian being a FAR better match for the big Magic frontline physically, and Dwight Howard in particular of course. But not as if he was tearing it up tonight. Like the rest of the bench, did not play a single minute after half.
Adelman ( B- ) -- Hey hey...a game that we actually WON with free throw shooting! New trick...about 4 years too late though. Had three guys hit double figures in FTs made, and all of them hit clutch ones down the final minute when we could easily have let this get away if our guys had missed any. This one was interesting from a coaching perspective. First of all, let's get this out of the way, Rick did not substitute ANYBODY in the second half. NO substitutions. Not sure I've ever seen that. All 5 starters just played the entire 24min. Does take the whole question about substitution patterns, loss of momentum, weak bench etc. totally out of the equation I guess. Just don't ever take anybody out!
A sign of...innovation? Or desperation? Or just a recognition of the importance of beating this team on our home floor after the terrible week we've had? Anyway, even the few substitutions we did make (all in the first half) were interesting. First of all of course we ran into one of the true big man studs in the league right now, and for the next decade, in Dwight Howard. 6'11", athletic as all hell, mashes boards. Just a terrible matchup for us. And yet after 6'7" mighty mite KT got done trying to bite his knees, Rick's response is to bring in...Corliss? Corliss Williamson on Dwight Howard Rick? Really?? Note also that Corliss got exactly zero minutes at SF, where we decide to run Cisco the full 48! Despite modest contributions. Hart's time was also interesting, as he continues to see as much or more time playing alongside Mike as he does replacing him, resulting in Mike himself playing 46min in this one. In any case, desperate tactics that in the end resulted in victory. Although its just as likely that the victory and tactics were separate events. One things for sure -- we can't play the starters that many minutes EVERY night. And despite getting a career night from Mike, it also seems doubtful we played well enough to beat a good team tonight. Which is a little frightening actually. Near triple double from Brad, career scoring night form Mike, maybe career ngiht from Kevin, and yet you get down to it we barely snuck by a bad team missing its best player on our home court. And that by playing the main guys until they dropped. Not sure where you go from that. Had a hard time deciding whether to credit or debit Rick for the no substitution gimick. So split the difference. Gave him a bonus for the win. And a minus for the moments when I thought the substitution pattern was particularly silly. And there we go.
Brian Hill ( A+ ) -- Wow appreciated Brian's assist in this one as he stubbornly refused to double the ball out of Mike's hands no matter how many times he used exactly the same move on the left side of the court to get an open look. Also helped us by going small, leaving Dwight Howard to kill us inside more or less singlehandedly, but falling into our own smallball trap with Pat Garrity and Hedo Turkoglu racking up PF minutes, helping us stay in it on the glass. Welcome back to the league Brian! May you stay for a long time. Just not for my team.
Thomas ( C+ ) -- not surprisingly lost the battle in there against the big kid, but did manage to occasionally counterpunch with quickness. Unfortunately that kind of mano a mano focus may have hurt us in the mid-4th when Kenny kept on forcing it against the bad matchup, was inefficient, picked up a technical, and broke our momentum there for a bit. Came through late in the game with a couple of key defensive rebounds though. 11 and 6 does not compare well to 18 and 19, and I certainly had as many questions as ever about Kenny's decisionmaking, but to be fair he was not always guarding Howard, and he made enough scattered contributions to keep it from being a complete wipeout.
Miller ( A ) -- Giant numbers, but not sure if it was quite as impressive as all of that. Sort of just slugged his way to his points on the night until a semi-flurry of points late. Nothing great or amazing, but with Bibby hurting heaved up a three pointer with 2 minutes to go and got to the line on a couple of fouls (the latter one intentional) + knocked down the FTs. Racked up 7 assists, and while most of the assists were off the 2 man game setting up Bibby, and while of course that is meant to be a minimalizing statement since he really wasn't running the offense for the whole team, looked at another way he was the primary assistman for our star of the night. Reboundingwise hung in there and battled against everyone but Howard. 21pts 12rebs 7ast is a HUGE statistical game. But it didn't really feel dominant or even very close to it. He was really just the wingman to Bibby, and had his hands full inside with Howard. Did not shrink or shirk his duty this time out though, and the stats alone, not to mention the late points, are worth the grade.
Martin ( A ) -- came back home and had a big game for the first time in a couple of weeks. Got me thinking, and sure enough: Kevin home FG% this year: .457, road FG%: .407. Able to use his athleticism to find the seams in the porous Orlando defense and involved in a number of big collisions as he went crashing into the Magic's bigs around the rim. Came up with his career rebounding high, and had a great one in the last two minutes where he managed to outbattle Howard in there (and keep him from getting 20). Hit 4 big clutch FTs as he, along with the rest of the team, simply would not give the Magic the miss at the line they needed to have a chance to tie us up. Played offense so inexplicably different than he has been the last week or two that I don't even pretend to understand. Today was just basically running and jumping and crashing toward the rim. Complete 180 from what he's been doing. And with far more aggressiveness too (of course it is more natural). Now part of it may have been that the Magic suck defensively (a common thread in many of Kevin's big athletic games). But even so, the difference should not be THIS much. In any case, whatever. Played a great game. A critical third wheel supporting Mike and Brad.
Bibby ( A+ ) -- okay, and here was the Mike "on" game again. Really on. "A", "F", "A", "F"...getting whiplash trying to keep track of things. In any case, Mike took advantage of the Magic missing their PGs to have another one of those big can't miss, free + loose games. Started to come on strong in the second quarter and got even hotter in the third when he just kept on getting to the exact same spots on the floor for shot after shot and the Magic apparently oblivious to the fact he was on fire. Briefly pondered withholding the "+" here because this was pretty much a one-dimensional shooting performance. It wasn't really Mike running the team and putting up huge numbers, it was him just sort of calling his own number and getting into a scorching rhythm. Made a few nice feeds to Martin in particular in the open court, but in the halfcourt actually had some problems getting the team into its offense. And of course Nelson was scoring back at him at a high rate too, although Mike did not always have the defensive responsibility. But I just had to go with the extra tick as Mike more or less singlehandedly won this one for us, and by the very end had set his career scoring high. Took a pair of hard falls at about the 3 minute mark, one trying to draw a foul (he did not), and then the other on the rebound of the wild miss he threw up trying to draw the whistle. And he got up looking very sore (scary moment to say the least). Interrupted Mike's inexorable march toward his career high, and for a while there thought he might not make it. Ended up bricking a pair of free throws after the injury while looking very very uncomfortable. But the Magic finally gave the career mark as a parting gift, as with 1 second left to go in the game they fouled Mike in desperation trying to extend the game, and gave him a chance to hit the two sealers just before the game was over. So A+ it was, and I guess this is what it takes for us to even beat the bad teams anymore -- a career night from one of the guys who are left.
Hart ( C+ ) -- hit one semi-desperation jumper in the second quarter. About the extent of his contributions. Spent most of his time playing alongside Mike (who played 46min
) rather than in place of him, so did not have the deadening effect on the offense he does as a PG. Been a major trend here recently by Rick. Really is playing Mike and Jason together more than one at a time. Maybe a recognition of Jason's limitations as a point. Or maybe looking for that old Bobby/House dynamic. Either way, Jason is playing better with primary playmaking responsibilites shifted elsewhere. But of course at the cost of us not really having a main backup PG. Mike can't play 46min every night to get us a win.Williamson ( C ) -- with KT in early foul trouoble Corliss got the call at PF to play...6'11" I-can-touch-the-rim-with-my-forehead super-soph Dwight Howard.
Stats say Corliss grabbed a number of rebounds, but the ones he got were uncontested, while the Magic's big frontline (6'11" Howard, 6'11" Battie and 6'10" Hedo at one point) spent most of his minutes playing pattycake off the glass. Not really Corliss's fault. He simply cannot contend with that sort of length, nor should he have to. Threw up an airball as his lone offensive contribution. Fared better when he got a few mintues against Hedo.Skinner ( C+ ) -- hustled to very modest effect. Lone points came on a surprise giveup jumper form the top of the key after he (and we) ran out of options. Not much anywhere else either. Certainly agree and understand the carping about Brian being a FAR better match for the big Magic frontline physically, and Dwight Howard in particular of course. But not as if he was tearing it up tonight. Like the rest of the bench, did not play a single minute after half.
Adelman ( B- ) -- Hey hey...a game that we actually WON with free throw shooting! New trick...about 4 years too late though. Had three guys hit double figures in FTs made, and all of them hit clutch ones down the final minute when we could easily have let this get away if our guys had missed any. This one was interesting from a coaching perspective. First of all, let's get this out of the way, Rick did not substitute ANYBODY in the second half. NO substitutions. Not sure I've ever seen that. All 5 starters just played the entire 24min. Does take the whole question about substitution patterns, loss of momentum, weak bench etc. totally out of the equation I guess. Just don't ever take anybody out!
A sign of...innovation? Or desperation? Or just a recognition of the importance of beating this team on our home floor after the terrible week we've had? Anyway, even the few substitutions we did make (all in the first half) were interesting. First of all of course we ran into one of the true big man studs in the league right now, and for the next decade, in Dwight Howard. 6'11", athletic as all hell, mashes boards. Just a terrible matchup for us. And yet after 6'7" mighty mite KT got done trying to bite his knees, Rick's response is to bring in...Corliss? Corliss Williamson on Dwight Howard Rick? Really?? Note also that Corliss got exactly zero minutes at SF, where we decide to run Cisco the full 48! Despite modest contributions. Hart's time was also interesting, as he continues to see as much or more time playing alongside Mike as he does replacing him, resulting in Mike himself playing 46min in this one. In any case, desperate tactics that in the end resulted in victory. Although its just as likely that the victory and tactics were separate events. One things for sure -- we can't play the starters that many minutes EVERY night. And despite getting a career night from Mike, it also seems doubtful we played well enough to beat a good team tonight. Which is a little frightening actually. Near triple double from Brad, career scoring night form Mike, maybe career ngiht from Kevin, and yet you get down to it we barely snuck by a bad team missing its best player on our home court. And that by playing the main guys until they dropped. Not sure where you go from that. Had a hard time deciding whether to credit or debit Rick for the no substitution gimick. So split the difference. Gave him a bonus for the win. And a minus for the moments when I thought the substitution pattern was particularly silly. And there we go. Brian Hill ( A+ ) -- Wow appreciated Brian's assist in this one as he stubbornly refused to double the ball out of Mike's hands no matter how many times he used exactly the same move on the left side of the court to get an open look. Also helped us by going small, leaving Dwight Howard to kill us inside more or less singlehandedly, but falling into our own smallball trap with Pat Garrity and Hedo Turkoglu racking up PF minutes, helping us stay in it on the glass. Welcome back to the league Brian! May you stay for a long time. Just not for my team.
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