Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Artest ( B ) -- quiet start, but went on a run in the 2nd quarter to finish with a solid half. Defensively, was around, but not really obviously having a major effect on things (with the Mavs various injuries Ron was actually matched up half the time with the immortal Josh Powell). Went on a nice burst in the 4th scoring on the one end, and severely harassing Dirk on the other. Made an uncommon defensive mistake when with us up by 4 and less than a minute to go, he fouled Jason Terry at the hoop, but not hard enough to stop the continuation, letting the Mavs crawl within 1. This was a solid game for Ron, and with the job he was doing on Dirk at times in the 4th perhaps a bit more.
Thomas ( B- ) -- got off to one of his 6'7" starts repeatedly getting blocked inside by the Mavericks interior defenders. And was quiet and ineffective for most of a 10pt 6reb night. Not a great game, but came up huge in the final minute with two jumpers -- the first of which was shaky as can be and hit every part of the rim before finally falling, and the second of which was money. Also grabbed the icing rebound (and FTs) a few seconds later although...let's just say it was a bit iffy (looked like Artest fouled Dirk AND Kenny traveled). But that's life. Given the timeliness of his shots felt obligated to give him some sort of B...but may be a bit of a stretch given that he had all of 4pts 5rebs in this one with 45 seconds to go.
Miller ( A- ) -- kind of quietly worked his way into a solid scoring first half. Did however fail to convert on the alley oop Kevin decided to throw him in the 2nd quarter.
In the second half offensively was only sporadically effective, but was muscling in there on the glass and hustle board. And while he was otherwise silent in the 4th quarter, he did hit a big one from the elbow to help us pull it out. Not 100% sold on this A-, but we beat the Mavs and Brad put up strong numbers across the board as we did so.
Martin ( B- ) -- Had a good first half, and in particular 2nd quarter, and was scoring in more sophisticated ways than the alley oop, and repeatedly created space with his leaping ability to go up for midrange jumpers and turnarounds. Very quiet second half again as the Mavs kept someone in his vicinity at all times. Similar numbers to last game, but a somewhat better, more solid outing than last time out.
Bibby ( C ) -- quiet start as the battle between he and his former Arizona backcourt mate Terry fizzled from the get go. Of course that also meant that on the other end Terry was really struggling until the final two minutes, but its unclear how much of that you can really attribute to Mike. In the 3rd Mike missed open look after open look as the Mavs fought their way back into it. In fact the best thing Mike did on the night was crash back in there to give us some help on the boards -- it was a tough, scrappy, playoff type game, and balls were being knocked around and free all over the place. With Kenny having an off night on the galss, we needed everybody we could get in there battling.
Wells ( C ) -- tough one to grade. Came in really battling inside. Was repeatedly on the block and down inside, and while the shotblockers in there got his shots repeatedly, Bonzi stuck with, grabbed offensive boards, went up again. All over the glass. In the second half quieter and not nearly as effective. Committed a couple of questionable fouls, and then missed both FTs to ice it with 17 seconds to go. Fortunately we held on or he would have been REALLY unhappy with himself. Still think it drops this down half a grade.
Reef ( C+ ) -- came in and immediately had to bang around with 7'1" 270lb Erick Dampier, and then got to try to score on 7'1" 280lb Desagna Diop. Eventually got some hoops using his superior mobility and outside shooting. But only sporadically effective, not much on the glass, and an ok 8pt 3reb effort.
Adelman ( A- ) -- This one was intense, playoff like, and encouragingly won on defense. So much so that I think our highest grade on the night would really go to the disembodied "team defense" ratehr than any individual. The Mavs are a VASTLY improved defensive bunch, and you could see it tonight as they completely smothered us as we got close to their rim -- something that was their absolute Achilles heel for just about the entie Nellie/Cuban era. But we played defense too, and a number of possessions the Mavs simply had NOBODY open (to be fair the Mavs were missing some major guys). However for some reason we seemed slow to recognize the presence of the shotblockers for the Mavs, and spent a lot of the game futilely slamming in there only to have the ball sent back out in our faces. Not sure about the offensive playbook -- seemed like we were still working off the circa 2003 Mav book where you just tried to attack them at the rim all the time -- inbcluding what I considered a silly play call in the 4th oout of a timeout where we apparently intentionally sent Brad of the 2" vertical rolling to the hoop to get swatted. Note to coaching staff -- Bradley and Nellie are gone. Times have changed. Regardless, we opened up a 12pt lead just before half, and if we had just covered Dirk on the Mavs' final possession could have gone into the break up by double digits (alas we did not and Dirk hit a three). Rick took a very good timeout early in the third after the Mavs had come out and really popped us in the nose hard and closed the gap to 1. So I guess F for Rick's halftime speech, but A for the timeout and whatever he said there, because we stabilized and fought back and it was a tight game the rest of the way, although tight wiht us always with the slight edge -- the Mavs were permanently playing catchup. Big win obviously, and its possible here we can even start to take a look at that #6 position rtaher than #8. #8 is dubious comfort as it likeoly means the Spurs and a quick exit. #7 and #5 are likely the Suns and Mavs and longshots as well. But #6...#6 is the soft spot and gets you in a first round matchup with a middling 45 win type Nuggets team. Its there now. And while we cannot have any slumps at all, its not out of the realm of possibility.
Refs ( A? ) -- not really sure what to say. I think I could be vaguely embarrassed after these last two. But I'll learn to live with it.
Rest of the League ( A ) -- we got a LOT of help tonight.
Webb ( A+ ) -- not only did he help us maybe slip into that magical 6th spot (the soft spot for a lower tier team) by beating Memphis, but he did it on a monster near triple double 31pt 10reb 9ast block the game-winning shot night.
Thomas ( B- ) -- got off to one of his 6'7" starts repeatedly getting blocked inside by the Mavericks interior defenders. And was quiet and ineffective for most of a 10pt 6reb night. Not a great game, but came up huge in the final minute with two jumpers -- the first of which was shaky as can be and hit every part of the rim before finally falling, and the second of which was money. Also grabbed the icing rebound (and FTs) a few seconds later although...let's just say it was a bit iffy (looked like Artest fouled Dirk AND Kenny traveled). But that's life. Given the timeliness of his shots felt obligated to give him some sort of B...but may be a bit of a stretch given that he had all of 4pts 5rebs in this one with 45 seconds to go.
Miller ( A- ) -- kind of quietly worked his way into a solid scoring first half. Did however fail to convert on the alley oop Kevin decided to throw him in the 2nd quarter.
In the second half offensively was only sporadically effective, but was muscling in there on the glass and hustle board. And while he was otherwise silent in the 4th quarter, he did hit a big one from the elbow to help us pull it out. Not 100% sold on this A-, but we beat the Mavs and Brad put up strong numbers across the board as we did so. Martin ( B- ) -- Had a good first half, and in particular 2nd quarter, and was scoring in more sophisticated ways than the alley oop, and repeatedly created space with his leaping ability to go up for midrange jumpers and turnarounds. Very quiet second half again as the Mavs kept someone in his vicinity at all times. Similar numbers to last game, but a somewhat better, more solid outing than last time out.
Bibby ( C ) -- quiet start as the battle between he and his former Arizona backcourt mate Terry fizzled from the get go. Of course that also meant that on the other end Terry was really struggling until the final two minutes, but its unclear how much of that you can really attribute to Mike. In the 3rd Mike missed open look after open look as the Mavs fought their way back into it. In fact the best thing Mike did on the night was crash back in there to give us some help on the boards -- it was a tough, scrappy, playoff type game, and balls were being knocked around and free all over the place. With Kenny having an off night on the galss, we needed everybody we could get in there battling.
Wells ( C ) -- tough one to grade. Came in really battling inside. Was repeatedly on the block and down inside, and while the shotblockers in there got his shots repeatedly, Bonzi stuck with, grabbed offensive boards, went up again. All over the glass. In the second half quieter and not nearly as effective. Committed a couple of questionable fouls, and then missed both FTs to ice it with 17 seconds to go. Fortunately we held on or he would have been REALLY unhappy with himself. Still think it drops this down half a grade.
Reef ( C+ ) -- came in and immediately had to bang around with 7'1" 270lb Erick Dampier, and then got to try to score on 7'1" 280lb Desagna Diop. Eventually got some hoops using his superior mobility and outside shooting. But only sporadically effective, not much on the glass, and an ok 8pt 3reb effort.
Adelman ( A- ) -- This one was intense, playoff like, and encouragingly won on defense. So much so that I think our highest grade on the night would really go to the disembodied "team defense" ratehr than any individual. The Mavs are a VASTLY improved defensive bunch, and you could see it tonight as they completely smothered us as we got close to their rim -- something that was their absolute Achilles heel for just about the entie Nellie/Cuban era. But we played defense too, and a number of possessions the Mavs simply had NOBODY open (to be fair the Mavs were missing some major guys). However for some reason we seemed slow to recognize the presence of the shotblockers for the Mavs, and spent a lot of the game futilely slamming in there only to have the ball sent back out in our faces. Not sure about the offensive playbook -- seemed like we were still working off the circa 2003 Mav book where you just tried to attack them at the rim all the time -- inbcluding what I considered a silly play call in the 4th oout of a timeout where we apparently intentionally sent Brad of the 2" vertical rolling to the hoop to get swatted. Note to coaching staff -- Bradley and Nellie are gone. Times have changed. Regardless, we opened up a 12pt lead just before half, and if we had just covered Dirk on the Mavs' final possession could have gone into the break up by double digits (alas we did not and Dirk hit a three). Rick took a very good timeout early in the third after the Mavs had come out and really popped us in the nose hard and closed the gap to 1. So I guess F for Rick's halftime speech, but A for the timeout and whatever he said there, because we stabilized and fought back and it was a tight game the rest of the way, although tight wiht us always with the slight edge -- the Mavs were permanently playing catchup. Big win obviously, and its possible here we can even start to take a look at that #6 position rtaher than #8. #8 is dubious comfort as it likeoly means the Spurs and a quick exit. #7 and #5 are likely the Suns and Mavs and longshots as well. But #6...#6 is the soft spot and gets you in a first round matchup with a middling 45 win type Nuggets team. Its there now. And while we cannot have any slumps at all, its not out of the realm of possibility.
Refs ( A? ) -- not really sure what to say. I think I could be vaguely embarrassed after these last two. But I'll learn to live with it.
Rest of the League ( A ) -- we got a LOT of help tonight.
Webb ( A+ ) -- not only did he help us maybe slip into that magical 6th spot (the soft spot for a lower tier team) by beating Memphis, but he did it on a monster near triple double 31pt 10reb 9ast block the game-winning shot night.
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