Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Hangovers suck, and we played like we had one. In a game almost too unremarkable to grade -- just give out the teamwide C and go -- I will press on because I am a trooper.
Casspi ( B+ ) -- well here at least was one player who wasn't mediocre, and hasn't been through this entire stretch of tough games -- Omri over his last 5 games is now up to 18.4pts 8.4reb per game. But I think even in this case there was a little luster lacking -- everybody was just sort of out of rhythm. Splashed in his first three again, got a fastbreak attempt stripped by Kidd, then scored off one of those selifsh posessions where he took the board and never passed it, dribbling around until he could finally hoist a jumpshot. Stepped out of bounds on a three trying to avoid a flying defender. Mixed in several more threes in the second, and got on the defensive glass (all 11 of his boards were defensive) to help us limit the Mavs to one and done. Very solid 11pt 5reb first half. Good block on Marion in mid third, and while Marion isn't what he once was, he could get nothing going against Omri. Got quiet offensively in the 2nd half until late in the game when you could almost say it was over -- almost, not quite. We lingered around 8-15 pts behind for a long spell, but never really made a move. Then in the final mintes Omri upped this statline considerably -- spalshed in a three courtesy of Evans postup to get us back to 11. Kept on playing down the stretch and shot and scrapped us back to within 9 at the 1:00 mark -- relaly don't think he likes to lose. Kicked the ball to Donte for a three to get us within 6 at the 30 second mark and sort of fuzzily thinking of another miracle. After the Mavs hit both FTs on the inten tional foul, scored a layup on the alley oop from Sergio to get us back within 6 again at the 28 sec mark. But missed the three at the 6 second mark that would have got us within 3 and despite the late scramble we were never really in a good position to actually pull it off. I had a slight question on the grade here just because of the numebrs -- 22pts 11reb 4ast from your SF really should be an A of some sort. But if you watched the game, it didn't feel quite that good. More solid, clawing, than dominant or brilliant. And a bunch of the numbers came in a rush in the last couple of minutes after the game was semi-over and the Mavs may have relaxed a bit (many of their starters were sitting). So despite the great numbers, going to go B+ here. As an aside, many people over the years have been upset and/or confused in my mocking guys for being "just a shooter", whether it be Peja, Kevin, or whoever. Well right now Omri is showing how it should be done and is more valuable than any mere "just a shooter". He shoots. But he also competes, scraps, goes inside, boards, defends and backs down from nobody. Now THAT'S a "shooter" worthy of the hype.
Thompson ( B- ) -- well, a solid bounceback game. At least a return to normal Jason Thompson numbers if not exactly a huge make up for it explosion. Started this one off hitting a jumper, so at least you knew it wasn't going to be back to back shutouts, then a scoop layup and had our first 4 pts. Tipped in a Spencer miss, but started gunninng and missing a little after that. In the early second blew by Gooden for a drive to the hoop. Got a dunk courtesy of Reke at end of half. Had about 1000 balls slapped away inside as the Mavs quick hands and JTs perennial lack of clever made him easy prey. Quiet in the early third, and after a quiet first half Dirk started to come to life and light him up the other way. And then...JT just kind of faded away. Had 13 and 7 at half. Finished with 15 and 10 and a lot of empty minutes after half.
Hawes ( C ) -- ok...everybody better sit down now. In a truly shocking development Spencer did not follow up his 30pt night with a second 30pt night! I know, I know. Shocking. For a little while there it seemed like the confidence, if not the competence, from last game was going to bleed over. Splashed in a three after Dirk left him to go double on Reke v. Barea, calmy stroked a post move against Dampier. Missed a long jumper that triggered a Mavs leakout, but recovered back to block the layup attempt by Gooden that resulted. Used his passing skills + we ran some offense through him. But like JT was getting a lot of balls slapped away inside, and as the pressure picked up, Flutter started to return (although thankfully not Soggy Waffles) and he started to rush and drift offensively. Started the third with an airballed corner three that may have been partially blocked (actually I see only 1 3ptr credited in the boxscore, so maybe it was jsut inside the line?), then Dirk came back down and scored right in his face, and then Spencer turned it over. Whetehr Westphal just figured out this was the way it was going to be, or whether he just decided that as the Mavs turned more to the Kings own longtime star PF Drew Gooden that he could afford to go smaller, Spencer's night was kept short. Otherwise of course he probably would have had back to bakc 30pt nights. Still averaging 19.5pts 7.5rebs this decade though. No longer HOF numbers, but still borderline All Star stuff.
Udrih ( C- ) -- hit his first jumper, but was in quick foul trouble trying
to stay with quick little Barea. Blew the end of the first quarter play again, throwing a bad pass Trying to feed Reke in the post, but in a wild sequence Donte stole it right back and got it into Reke for the layup anyway. Able to mix in a couple of scattered drives to the hoop in the second, but seemed disrupted by Barea's quickness, which is not the way you would hope that macthup would go. Had a turnover trying to feed JT in the early third, leading to a Kidd fastbreak as as we fell back behind. Just scoring -- able to notch all of 1 assist runnign the team a night after notching a career high in assists. Of course this time had to share duties with Reke, but even when he was running the show not able to create anything.
Evans ( C ) -- back....but not quite back. Started slowly, seeming to just ease his way into things, began to pick it up in the middle game and be forceful, and then just kind of faded away down the stretch, undone by rust perhaps as it was one of those nights when everything was rolling off the rim. Started off this one by going in and snatching a d-board from Dampier, followed that with a great steal oln Kidd. But mostly took it easy on offense in the early going, content to pass whenever the extra presure came and not really forcing the issue. Got a layup off the scramble play to close the first. Started turning oin the aggression and the effectiveness down the stretch of the second as we tried to get back into it. Good rebound and pass ahead to JT for the dunk and foul to get us within 5 near the end of third. Post move and continuation foul off a little basleine inbounds play got us back within 10. Then a beautiful coast to coast drive for the layup and contination at the 4:30 mark of third, but missed FT. Made a couple of mistakes leaving JKidd at the three point line, but seemed to have momentum and was playing a solid all around game again with 5reb 6ast and 0TO. But then just largely disappeared late. Everything, jumper or layup, started rolling off. Set Casspi up for one last three late, and then just sat for the final 4 minutes of...well semi-garbagetime until we tried to make it not. So welcome back, but not the shot in the arm we probably needed after the Lakers game.
Casspi ( B+ ) -- well here at least was one player who wasn't mediocre, and hasn't been through this entire stretch of tough games -- Omri over his last 5 games is now up to 18.4pts 8.4reb per game. But I think even in this case there was a little luster lacking -- everybody was just sort of out of rhythm. Splashed in his first three again, got a fastbreak attempt stripped by Kidd, then scored off one of those selifsh posessions where he took the board and never passed it, dribbling around until he could finally hoist a jumpshot. Stepped out of bounds on a three trying to avoid a flying defender. Mixed in several more threes in the second, and got on the defensive glass (all 11 of his boards were defensive) to help us limit the Mavs to one and done. Very solid 11pt 5reb first half. Good block on Marion in mid third, and while Marion isn't what he once was, he could get nothing going against Omri. Got quiet offensively in the 2nd half until late in the game when you could almost say it was over -- almost, not quite. We lingered around 8-15 pts behind for a long spell, but never really made a move. Then in the final mintes Omri upped this statline considerably -- spalshed in a three courtesy of Evans postup to get us back to 11. Kept on playing down the stretch and shot and scrapped us back to within 9 at the 1:00 mark -- relaly don't think he likes to lose. Kicked the ball to Donte for a three to get us within 6 at the 30 second mark and sort of fuzzily thinking of another miracle. After the Mavs hit both FTs on the inten tional foul, scored a layup on the alley oop from Sergio to get us back within 6 again at the 28 sec mark. But missed the three at the 6 second mark that would have got us within 3 and despite the late scramble we were never really in a good position to actually pull it off. I had a slight question on the grade here just because of the numebrs -- 22pts 11reb 4ast from your SF really should be an A of some sort. But if you watched the game, it didn't feel quite that good. More solid, clawing, than dominant or brilliant. And a bunch of the numbers came in a rush in the last couple of minutes after the game was semi-over and the Mavs may have relaxed a bit (many of their starters were sitting). So despite the great numbers, going to go B+ here. As an aside, many people over the years have been upset and/or confused in my mocking guys for being "just a shooter", whether it be Peja, Kevin, or whoever. Well right now Omri is showing how it should be done and is more valuable than any mere "just a shooter". He shoots. But he also competes, scraps, goes inside, boards, defends and backs down from nobody. Now THAT'S a "shooter" worthy of the hype.
Thompson ( B- ) -- well, a solid bounceback game. At least a return to normal Jason Thompson numbers if not exactly a huge make up for it explosion. Started this one off hitting a jumper, so at least you knew it wasn't going to be back to back shutouts, then a scoop layup and had our first 4 pts. Tipped in a Spencer miss, but started gunninng and missing a little after that. In the early second blew by Gooden for a drive to the hoop. Got a dunk courtesy of Reke at end of half. Had about 1000 balls slapped away inside as the Mavs quick hands and JTs perennial lack of clever made him easy prey. Quiet in the early third, and after a quiet first half Dirk started to come to life and light him up the other way. And then...JT just kind of faded away. Had 13 and 7 at half. Finished with 15 and 10 and a lot of empty minutes after half.
Hawes ( C ) -- ok...everybody better sit down now. In a truly shocking development Spencer did not follow up his 30pt night with a second 30pt night! I know, I know. Shocking. For a little while there it seemed like the confidence, if not the competence, from last game was going to bleed over. Splashed in a three after Dirk left him to go double on Reke v. Barea, calmy stroked a post move against Dampier. Missed a long jumper that triggered a Mavs leakout, but recovered back to block the layup attempt by Gooden that resulted. Used his passing skills + we ran some offense through him. But like JT was getting a lot of balls slapped away inside, and as the pressure picked up, Flutter started to return (although thankfully not Soggy Waffles) and he started to rush and drift offensively. Started the third with an airballed corner three that may have been partially blocked (actually I see only 1 3ptr credited in the boxscore, so maybe it was jsut inside the line?), then Dirk came back down and scored right in his face, and then Spencer turned it over. Whetehr Westphal just figured out this was the way it was going to be, or whether he just decided that as the Mavs turned more to the Kings own longtime star PF Drew Gooden that he could afford to go smaller, Spencer's night was kept short. Otherwise of course he probably would have had back to bakc 30pt nights. Still averaging 19.5pts 7.5rebs this decade though. No longer HOF numbers, but still borderline All Star stuff.
Udrih ( C- ) -- hit his first jumper, but was in quick foul trouble trying
to stay with quick little Barea. Blew the end of the first quarter play again, throwing a bad pass Trying to feed Reke in the post, but in a wild sequence Donte stole it right back and got it into Reke for the layup anyway. Able to mix in a couple of scattered drives to the hoop in the second, but seemed disrupted by Barea's quickness, which is not the way you would hope that macthup would go. Had a turnover trying to feed JT in the early third, leading to a Kidd fastbreak as as we fell back behind. Just scoring -- able to notch all of 1 assist runnign the team a night after notching a career high in assists. Of course this time had to share duties with Reke, but even when he was running the show not able to create anything.
Evans ( C ) -- back....but not quite back. Started slowly, seeming to just ease his way into things, began to pick it up in the middle game and be forceful, and then just kind of faded away down the stretch, undone by rust perhaps as it was one of those nights when everything was rolling off the rim. Started off this one by going in and snatching a d-board from Dampier, followed that with a great steal oln Kidd. But mostly took it easy on offense in the early going, content to pass whenever the extra presure came and not really forcing the issue. Got a layup off the scramble play to close the first. Started turning oin the aggression and the effectiveness down the stretch of the second as we tried to get back into it. Good rebound and pass ahead to JT for the dunk and foul to get us within 5 near the end of third. Post move and continuation foul off a little basleine inbounds play got us back within 10. Then a beautiful coast to coast drive for the layup and contination at the 4:30 mark of third, but missed FT. Made a couple of mistakes leaving JKidd at the three point line, but seemed to have momentum and was playing a solid all around game again with 5reb 6ast and 0TO. But then just largely disappeared late. Everything, jumper or layup, started rolling off. Set Casspi up for one last three late, and then just sat for the final 4 minutes of...well semi-garbagetime until we tried to make it not. So welcome back, but not the shot in the arm we probably needed after the Lakers game.
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