Peja ( A- ) -- about as good of a return as we could have hoped for from Peja. Did a nice job finding seams and picking his spots in the defense, and critically, found ways to draw fouls and get to the line. A little Reggie Miller in his performance tonight with a lot of flying legs and hips looking for contact -- stuff you hate to see against you, but love from your own guy. Threw a bad bad pass in the last two minutes that was picked off by Jameer Nelson who got fouled by Bobby for a breakaway foul (1 shot + posession) and got us in trouble. Played respectable defense, although Hill didn't seem to really notice him out there. Another one dimensional effort from Peja on the glass on a night when we desperately needed the help, but did grab the big one with 4 seconds to go to set up a last second chance at a tie...which Peja then missed. A hit would have done wonders for his confidence and status but was not to be. Based on his career thus far Peja is NOT the guy I want taking that shot, but I think convincing him that he CAN be that guy is important enough to this franchise that it was worth the chance in a regular season game.
Songaila ( B ) -- got off to a rough start looking just very very undersized in there against super-rook Dwight Howard (how come we can't ever get our hands on a young athletic freak like that?). But worked his way into the game and began to contribute in the solid ways he is able to -- hitting open jumpers, picking up loose balls, hustling. Ended up our best rebounder, which tells you all you need to know about our boardwork.
Skinner ( B- ) -- struggled in the first half -- looked undersized in there against all the 6'11" bodies the Magic were rotating through the paint. Recovered to give us a nice boost in the third quarter with both inside post work and another welcome burst of shotblocking (roughly the only defense we played all night). Boardwork was subpar as the taller Magic big men just snatched board after board before it ever got down to Brian's level. Missed a late driving layup that we could have really used after the Magic blatantly disrepected his jumper and backed a good 8 feet off of him into the paint -- the downside of having a non-shooting big man out there.
Mobley ( D+ ) -- wow. Was hoping for a much more inspired effort from Mobley in his return matchup with his old pal Stevie Franchise. Finally did hit a few clutch shots down the stretch -- remains his saving grace that even on his bad nights he is making them when it matters. Of course, like tonight, if he had just given us a better game before the stretch run then the clutch shots might have mattered rather than just being footnotes. Struggles weren't only on offense -- also frequently drew the defensive assignment on Francis, and if he's ever played the guy one on one before, you'd never know it from how easily he got beat.
Bibby ( B- ) -- got his points, but it was a struggle all the way. A shot here, a shot there, but took a lot of shots (26) to get his points and struggled from deep all night long. Also was largely ineffective containing mini-dart Jameer Nelson at the other end of the floor (ironically did a better defensive job against superstar Steve Francis than the rook). Our offense has changed so much that Mike was virtually the only creater out there for us tonight, and racked up nearly half our assists. Hit a big clutch three at the 30 second mark to give us one last gasp, but we could not complete the comeback. 26 and 10 and I'm giving him a B-? Kind of felt like that to me, but I suspose I could be argued into a B.
Thomas ( B ) -- another game where Kenny came right in with a dynamic start, and then quickly quieted down. I was surprised that Darius got the start, and equally surprised that Kenny got so few minutes off of three straight double figure boardwork games. Certainly could have used the extra rebounding from SOMEBODY. Anyway, while in there had good energy and also made a nifty interior pass, but was pretty much just ignored by the big front line players for the Magic.
Williamson ( B- ) -- aggressive as always, and with Peja back interestingly got a big chunk of his minutes as an undersized PF NEXT TO Peja.
That is obviously not the best rebounding or interior defensing frontline, and the Magic big guys chewed us up while it was out there. On the other side of the court continued to show a nice ability to take big guys off the dribble -- not sure I want to see much more of Peja/Corliss together out there, but Corliss is showing that he still has offensive options even against guys too big to post.
Evans ( C- ) -- only got a brief stint, was ineffective against Francis, didn't do much else, and was gone. Might be a sign that he's out of the rotation now with all the new more experienced guys?
House ( INC ) -- short little stint where he did not help. Out of the rotation too? Not sure.
Adelman ( B ) -- Rick surprised by giving Darius the start again -- I had expected that with the way KT has played, and Darius' struggles in the first couple of games after the new guys arrived, that he would never get the starting spot back. But I suppose that Rick wanted to try to get somebody out there who at least knew the offense. Tried an unconventional pairing of Peja and Corliss on the frontline, and while it was effective offensively our interior was even more wide open than it was the rest of the game while they were together. Defense got TORCHED. Again tried to mix in a little zone, again did not matter. Rick had a couple of problems: 1) Mike is absolutely 100% critical at this point because he is virtually the only passer who knows the offense for us -- its his show, but his defense sucks; and 2) we were just simply too small up front to contend with all of the 6'11" athletes the Magic ran at us. Cato, Howard and Battie combined for 33 rebs against us -- as much as our whole TEAM! 3) we never did find anybody to contend with Francis. Mobley did not come up with an inspired effort, Bibby made one nice play (a block) and otherwise was a nonfactor, Evans came in briefly and could not handle him (would have actually liked to see us try that for a little longer) -- in fact the only guy who showed well against him was Peja once on a switch. So, down to 2-3 on this most ragged of roadtrips, and a toughie coming up against Miami. If we can pull off what would be an upset over the Heat, its still an ok trip given everything going on, but I really don't want to drop the last three and then come home to face the World Champs at Arco for a first game back while we're still getting introduced.
Songaila ( B ) -- got off to a rough start looking just very very undersized in there against super-rook Dwight Howard (how come we can't ever get our hands on a young athletic freak like that?). But worked his way into the game and began to contribute in the solid ways he is able to -- hitting open jumpers, picking up loose balls, hustling. Ended up our best rebounder, which tells you all you need to know about our boardwork.
Skinner ( B- ) -- struggled in the first half -- looked undersized in there against all the 6'11" bodies the Magic were rotating through the paint. Recovered to give us a nice boost in the third quarter with both inside post work and another welcome burst of shotblocking (roughly the only defense we played all night). Boardwork was subpar as the taller Magic big men just snatched board after board before it ever got down to Brian's level. Missed a late driving layup that we could have really used after the Magic blatantly disrepected his jumper and backed a good 8 feet off of him into the paint -- the downside of having a non-shooting big man out there.
Mobley ( D+ ) -- wow. Was hoping for a much more inspired effort from Mobley in his return matchup with his old pal Stevie Franchise. Finally did hit a few clutch shots down the stretch -- remains his saving grace that even on his bad nights he is making them when it matters. Of course, like tonight, if he had just given us a better game before the stretch run then the clutch shots might have mattered rather than just being footnotes. Struggles weren't only on offense -- also frequently drew the defensive assignment on Francis, and if he's ever played the guy one on one before, you'd never know it from how easily he got beat.
Bibby ( B- ) -- got his points, but it was a struggle all the way. A shot here, a shot there, but took a lot of shots (26) to get his points and struggled from deep all night long. Also was largely ineffective containing mini-dart Jameer Nelson at the other end of the floor (ironically did a better defensive job against superstar Steve Francis than the rook). Our offense has changed so much that Mike was virtually the only creater out there for us tonight, and racked up nearly half our assists. Hit a big clutch three at the 30 second mark to give us one last gasp, but we could not complete the comeback. 26 and 10 and I'm giving him a B-? Kind of felt like that to me, but I suspose I could be argued into a B.
Thomas ( B ) -- another game where Kenny came right in with a dynamic start, and then quickly quieted down. I was surprised that Darius got the start, and equally surprised that Kenny got so few minutes off of three straight double figure boardwork games. Certainly could have used the extra rebounding from SOMEBODY. Anyway, while in there had good energy and also made a nifty interior pass, but was pretty much just ignored by the big front line players for the Magic.
Williamson ( B- ) -- aggressive as always, and with Peja back interestingly got a big chunk of his minutes as an undersized PF NEXT TO Peja.
That is obviously not the best rebounding or interior defensing frontline, and the Magic big guys chewed us up while it was out there. On the other side of the court continued to show a nice ability to take big guys off the dribble -- not sure I want to see much more of Peja/Corliss together out there, but Corliss is showing that he still has offensive options even against guys too big to post.Evans ( C- ) -- only got a brief stint, was ineffective against Francis, didn't do much else, and was gone. Might be a sign that he's out of the rotation now with all the new more experienced guys?
House ( INC ) -- short little stint where he did not help. Out of the rotation too? Not sure.
Adelman ( B ) -- Rick surprised by giving Darius the start again -- I had expected that with the way KT has played, and Darius' struggles in the first couple of games after the new guys arrived, that he would never get the starting spot back. But I suppose that Rick wanted to try to get somebody out there who at least knew the offense. Tried an unconventional pairing of Peja and Corliss on the frontline, and while it was effective offensively our interior was even more wide open than it was the rest of the game while they were together. Defense got TORCHED. Again tried to mix in a little zone, again did not matter. Rick had a couple of problems: 1) Mike is absolutely 100% critical at this point because he is virtually the only passer who knows the offense for us -- its his show, but his defense sucks; and 2) we were just simply too small up front to contend with all of the 6'11" athletes the Magic ran at us. Cato, Howard and Battie combined for 33 rebs against us -- as much as our whole TEAM! 3) we never did find anybody to contend with Francis. Mobley did not come up with an inspired effort, Bibby made one nice play (a block) and otherwise was a nonfactor, Evans came in briefly and could not handle him (would have actually liked to see us try that for a little longer) -- in fact the only guy who showed well against him was Peja once on a switch. So, down to 2-3 on this most ragged of roadtrips, and a toughie coming up against Miami. If we can pull off what would be an upset over the Heat, its still an ok trip given everything going on, but I really don't want to drop the last three and then come home to face the World Champs at Arco for a first game back while we're still getting introduced.
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