Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( A- ) -- lot of points tonight, and efficient, and that was a direct result of him not having to work nearly as hard for his offense -- no pressure on our passers and Peja simply ran the break and ran to his spots for open shot and layup after open shot and layup. Looked much more like a traditional Peja effort. Unfortunately traditional in some other ways as well as again did nothing else but score. No boardwork, few passes, and this time out was matched point by point by Grant Hill as well. Gave us the points we needed with relative ease, and the Magic never looked like they had any idea or plan on how to slow him down.
Songaila ( B ) -- good start for Darius both with the jumper, which remains money if you're like the Magic and don't bother to even have a guy within 10ft of him out there, and with his passing, where he briefly filled the shoes of our missing frontcourt assistmen. But was quiet when he returned in the third, and Thomas took back over and played a strong enough game to keep Darius on the bench the rest of the way. At this point his starting job is in name only -- he is getting what my brother used to call "Iavaroni starts", a reference to the old 80's Utah Jazz forward Marc Iavaroni who used to start for years in front of Thurl Bailey + only get about 18 minutes of playing time to Thurl's 30+. Thurl was the real starter, but because he came off the bench on paper he won several 6th Man of the Year awards despite being 2nd or 3rd on the team in minutes every year.
Skinner ( A- ) -- another strong first quarter for Brian, and I think that I really have to alter my grade scale for him a bit now. Does not make sense for him to be some sort of "A" almost every single night. This time did not seem bothered at all by the Magic's superior length, and threw in what is now his traditional double double with 3-4 blocks. Just played his game in there, and the Magic starting duo of Cato and Howard were just awful and put no pressure on him at all to play outside his comfort zone.
Mobley ( D+ ) -- invisible offensive effort for Cat, but did have something to do with the sloppy ugly game Francis put together on the other side of the floor. Also got down in a defensive stance and used his quickness to his advantage checking Hedo and Hill on several possessions. Not really sure why tonight, but largely escewed the drive and the perimeter and was back in the post again. Had some success at times, but also made the decision to post up 6'10" Hedo Turkoglu which was just a giant ???? Suddenly got prominent down the stretch after the game was already decided -- not sure what he was trying to prove. Despite the "D+" grade did not hurt us out there so much as just kind of wasted minutes -- bore some similarity with Peja's 6pt game in its silent ineffectivness, although Cat did shoot better by the end.
Bibby ( B ) -- got blown by on one end by Jameer Nelson, but on the other went pretty much wherever he wanted in the face of the rookie's non-existent defense, and was able to set up his teammates at will. Showed nothing at all with his own offense until the 4th when he exploded to lead us out of the offensive morass which we had fallen into after half. Made all the difference as we opened up the double digit lead once more and held it the rest of the way. Looks like he was just laying in wait all game, and took it over more or less at will. Neither a great nor a terrible effort, but his timing was impeccable. Started off the game dishing to get his teammates involved, played a sloppy quiet third. Then broke out the offense to finidh the Magic. Overall got the feeling he might have quietly been in control of the game all along.
Thomas ( A ) -- had another one of his great 2nd quarters in relief of Darius. This time his size didn't matter, and it was his quickness and our favored 18ft PF jumper that ruled the day. Was covering ground to get to rebounds, beating his man off the dribble. Also distributed the ball well -- not directing our offense but just moving well and seeing guys flash open at the last second + having the wherewithal to hit them with the pass. In fact by the end his overall numbers were very impressive and looked something like the man he replaced: 16pts 11rebs 7ast. Does continue to show a penchant for making dumb turnovers in our own end of the court -- did not hurt us tonight against an inferior opponent, but not something you want to see come playoff time.
Evans ( B+ ) -- made a real impact in his short stints in place of Cat. Hit his shots, checked Francis pretty effectively, and came up with a number of loose balls for steals. In fact one of those games where you wish we said screw the rotation and rewarded the hot player rather than the starter with the additional minutes. But I suspose against a weak EC team at home its not a big deal -- we won either way.
Williamson ( C ) -- ehh...couple of quiet stints where Corliss did not do much. Hit a shot, then came back and had one hit on him. Made a good pass, then turned around and made a turnover. Never mattered in the least.
House ( C- ) -- hit a shot, but had at least as many problems containing Jameer Nelson in his time on the floor as Bibby did.
Adleman ( B ) -- well, these are the sorts of games that we really need to win to stay in the playoff race, and today we did just that. Not a great game, nor an inspiring one. Just a win. Orlando made one run at us, but really not much fight from the Magic and they just handed the game to us on the backs of turnover after turnover and tons of missed easy shots. They did seem to briefly confuse us with a 2-1-2 zone they broke out, but they went away from it fairl quickly and thereafter never seemed to have much of a plan on defense. The complaint here would just be the big big minutes logged by our starters (other than the Darius/Thomas platoon) to beat an inferior opponent at home. Big part of that of course is our season long inability to finish anybody off -- no blowouts R Us. But beyond that, we really need Bobby back so that we will have the confidence to play without Mike, Corliss is a former 6th man of the year (bogus BTW -- that was Bobby again) who in theory should keep Peja under 40min, Mo outplayed Cat tonight and could have gotten more min, and of course the whole Tag for Skinner issue, although I am less worried about Brian's minutes than I am our three offensive weapons. Anyway, a relatively easy victory over a fairly easy opponent at home, and it keeps our position in the playoff pecking order, but I'd just rather not see such big numbers next to our starters' names in order to accomplish it.
Songaila ( B ) -- good start for Darius both with the jumper, which remains money if you're like the Magic and don't bother to even have a guy within 10ft of him out there, and with his passing, where he briefly filled the shoes of our missing frontcourt assistmen. But was quiet when he returned in the third, and Thomas took back over and played a strong enough game to keep Darius on the bench the rest of the way. At this point his starting job is in name only -- he is getting what my brother used to call "Iavaroni starts", a reference to the old 80's Utah Jazz forward Marc Iavaroni who used to start for years in front of Thurl Bailey + only get about 18 minutes of playing time to Thurl's 30+. Thurl was the real starter, but because he came off the bench on paper he won several 6th Man of the Year awards despite being 2nd or 3rd on the team in minutes every year.
Skinner ( A- ) -- another strong first quarter for Brian, and I think that I really have to alter my grade scale for him a bit now. Does not make sense for him to be some sort of "A" almost every single night. This time did not seem bothered at all by the Magic's superior length, and threw in what is now his traditional double double with 3-4 blocks. Just played his game in there, and the Magic starting duo of Cato and Howard were just awful and put no pressure on him at all to play outside his comfort zone.
Mobley ( D+ ) -- invisible offensive effort for Cat, but did have something to do with the sloppy ugly game Francis put together on the other side of the floor. Also got down in a defensive stance and used his quickness to his advantage checking Hedo and Hill on several possessions. Not really sure why tonight, but largely escewed the drive and the perimeter and was back in the post again. Had some success at times, but also made the decision to post up 6'10" Hedo Turkoglu which was just a giant ???? Suddenly got prominent down the stretch after the game was already decided -- not sure what he was trying to prove. Despite the "D+" grade did not hurt us out there so much as just kind of wasted minutes -- bore some similarity with Peja's 6pt game in its silent ineffectivness, although Cat did shoot better by the end.
Bibby ( B ) -- got blown by on one end by Jameer Nelson, but on the other went pretty much wherever he wanted in the face of the rookie's non-existent defense, and was able to set up his teammates at will. Showed nothing at all with his own offense until the 4th when he exploded to lead us out of the offensive morass which we had fallen into after half. Made all the difference as we opened up the double digit lead once more and held it the rest of the way. Looks like he was just laying in wait all game, and took it over more or less at will. Neither a great nor a terrible effort, but his timing was impeccable. Started off the game dishing to get his teammates involved, played a sloppy quiet third. Then broke out the offense to finidh the Magic. Overall got the feeling he might have quietly been in control of the game all along.
Thomas ( A ) -- had another one of his great 2nd quarters in relief of Darius. This time his size didn't matter, and it was his quickness and our favored 18ft PF jumper that ruled the day. Was covering ground to get to rebounds, beating his man off the dribble. Also distributed the ball well -- not directing our offense but just moving well and seeing guys flash open at the last second + having the wherewithal to hit them with the pass. In fact by the end his overall numbers were very impressive and looked something like the man he replaced: 16pts 11rebs 7ast. Does continue to show a penchant for making dumb turnovers in our own end of the court -- did not hurt us tonight against an inferior opponent, but not something you want to see come playoff time.
Evans ( B+ ) -- made a real impact in his short stints in place of Cat. Hit his shots, checked Francis pretty effectively, and came up with a number of loose balls for steals. In fact one of those games where you wish we said screw the rotation and rewarded the hot player rather than the starter with the additional minutes. But I suspose against a weak EC team at home its not a big deal -- we won either way.
Williamson ( C ) -- ehh...couple of quiet stints where Corliss did not do much. Hit a shot, then came back and had one hit on him. Made a good pass, then turned around and made a turnover. Never mattered in the least.
House ( C- ) -- hit a shot, but had at least as many problems containing Jameer Nelson in his time on the floor as Bibby did.
Adleman ( B ) -- well, these are the sorts of games that we really need to win to stay in the playoff race, and today we did just that. Not a great game, nor an inspiring one. Just a win. Orlando made one run at us, but really not much fight from the Magic and they just handed the game to us on the backs of turnover after turnover and tons of missed easy shots. They did seem to briefly confuse us with a 2-1-2 zone they broke out, but they went away from it fairl quickly and thereafter never seemed to have much of a plan on defense. The complaint here would just be the big big minutes logged by our starters (other than the Darius/Thomas platoon) to beat an inferior opponent at home. Big part of that of course is our season long inability to finish anybody off -- no blowouts R Us. But beyond that, we really need Bobby back so that we will have the confidence to play without Mike, Corliss is a former 6th man of the year (bogus BTW -- that was Bobby again) who in theory should keep Peja under 40min, Mo outplayed Cat tonight and could have gotten more min, and of course the whole Tag for Skinner issue, although I am less worried about Brian's minutes than I am our three offensive weapons. Anyway, a relatively easy victory over a fairly easy opponent at home, and it keeps our position in the playoff pecking order, but I'd just rather not see such big numbers next to our starters' names in order to accomplish it.
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