Grades v. Mavs 2/29

[Bricklayer]

Better.

Ron Artest ( B- ) : 41min 22pts (10-23 FG, 0-2 3pt, 2-2 FT) 7rebs 2ast 2stl 2blk 3TO
Was forcing shots in the early going, and missing. Was guarded strength on strength a lot and could not do much with it. Didn't get anything going until he was reinserted against the Dallas scrubs in the second quarter. Also was having no luck guarding Dirk in that first half. Came out firing in the third though, and carried our offense throughout the ealry part of the quarter. Mostly with his own shots, but also creating a few for teammates. Quieted back down after the hot streak though, and was not much of a factor in the 4th with Dirk again getting the better of him, on both ends of the court if you can believe it.

Mikki Moore ( A- ) -- 27min 9pts (4-8 FG, 0-0 3pt, 1-3 FT) 12rebs 1ast 1stl 2blk 1TO
Played a strong game this time out, and actually imitated a big man for much of the night. In other words grabbed a lot of those nasty rebound things (albeit a lot of them on offense -- was still getting beat on the defensive glass), and rather than running around looking to flop under somebody to draw a whistle, was meeting them up high and challenging and blocking shots. While Dirk generally kicked our butt, he actually kicked Ron's worse than he kicked Mikki's tonight.

Brad Miller ( C+ ) -- 38min 10pts (4-8 FG, 1-1 3pt, 1-1 FT) 9reb 24st 1stl 1blk 4TO
Got off to a good start to this one, then disappeared for a long long time. Popped back up to work a cut and serve up a big dunk courtesy of a nice Kevin feed from the perimeter, and then crawled back into the hole. Started to get a little chippy in the second half as the game got physical. The Mavs start a pair of 7 footers, including a very mobile one, and other than that brief stretch at the start Brad never looked comfortable. Was not dominated and put up solid numbers, but had little impact on this one, was out rebounded by Dampier and out everything else'd by Dirk.

Kevin Martin ( B+ ) -- 39min 25pts (5-11 FG, 2-4 3pt, 13-13 FT) 5reb 5ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
In some ways a bounceback game, in some ways not. Got most of his numbers late and from the line, which was both the good and the bad of it. Did not shoot well again, and missed a number of makeable shots, but still scored decently in the first half, albeit largely as an afterthought behind Beno and Ron. Was fading off to another poor grade in the third with Ron carrying us, but hung in there better this time and began to set up camp at the FT line. Stayed more active, and just as importantly away from pouty face, and actually got more active in the 4th this time. Felt like the numbers were a bit deceptive -- game did not feel like a 25pt outing. But badly outplayed Jason Terry, who was just on drugs or something, and the constant foul drawing made him a tough cover for the Mavs, especially now that they do not have the quickness of Deveon Harris anymore.

 

[Bricklayer]

Beno Udrih ( A ) -- 40min 25pts (10-16 FG, 0-1 3pt, 5-6 FT) 5rebs 5ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Huge huge start dominating first quarter play from the point, albeit mostly as a scorer, until JKidd turned on the jets to close the first quarter and erased the entire lead Beno had built up in less than 2 minutes. Returned in the second and it was right back to the ridiculousness and a 19pt first half that saw him attacking fearlessly and throwing up...well, ok admittedly throwing up some absoalute garbage that could easily have landed him in 1-11 you are an idiot land on another night. But not this night. Not sure what burr got into his saddle, but he was celarly all fired up for this one. Maybe Kidd dissed his mother or something. Of course you knew, or should have, that it was not going to last after half. And it didn't. But even though his pace slowed, and Kidd came on to have another huge near triple double, Beno still had some spectacular flashes and never abcked away fromthe challenge. So after two straight crap games for Beno come two straight excellent ones. Only 24 more games in his audition remaining, so he has to try to string together as many of thse has he can. Could literally be worth millions to him here to bounce a ball well for the next 6 weeks.

John Salmons ( D- ) -- 21min 6pts (2-6 FG, 1-1 3pt, 1-2FT) 1reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
And just as soon as John finally gave us a halfway decent game, it was rihg back into the dumps. Lifeless effort, and it could have even looked worse statistically -- you should have seen how barely the three pointer he made slid over the iron. No legs, and half an inch shorter its a 1-6 3pt 1reb 1ast effort. In any case, he hit that shot though, went inside and got smushed a few more tiems. Did not rebound. Did not create. Worse thing John Salmons ever did was show everybody how good he could be, because it only makes the suck that much more inexplicable.

Francisco Garcia ( C- ) -- 17min 7pts (3-9 FG, 1-3 3pt, 0-0FT) 2reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 0TO
And so that hot streak out of the All Star break is now fading into distant memory again as just anothr one fo those odd little blurbs that compose Cisco's career. Missed his first two shots before the Mavs made a mistake and left him open in his favoirite corner for a three. Did not build to anything though, and Cisco went right back to missing. In fact looked tenative and scared to shoot late in the game, and along with Salmons continued struggled we were losing ground whenever our backup swingmen were in this time out.

Anthony Johnson ( INC ) -- 8min 0pts (0-0 FG, 0-0 3pt, 0-0FT) 0reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Look at that statline. Sorry, it gives me almost nothing to grade on. He was out there. he made a nice pass. I generally felt better about him on court than the compelte lack of numbers might indicate. But a grade for that? I see no point.

 

[Bricklayer]

Spenser Hawes ( C ) -- 9min 2pts (1-2 FG, 0-0 3pt, 0-0 FT) 2rebs 1ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
you know, did very little out there, but did do one thing, that even though it resulkted in nothing, looked good. On one play in the early 4th functioned as a true post passer ala Vlade. Standing tall in there, holding the ball high, takign his time for once, and looking, left and right for cutters or guys popping open before finally seeing that he was going to have to take care of business himself, and then dropping in a solid post move. Missed the shot. But it was classic passing big man stuff. No substitute for actually contributing, but jsut one of those signs for the future you can glean from young guys playing that you cannot from old vets on the court. AHEM. REGGIE, YOU CATCH THAT?

Reggie Theus ( ) --
Big start for us, and it all went away in under two mnutes as Dallas finiished the first quarter on a huge rush. then the pattern repeated itself near the end of the third. Truly remarkable ends to the 1st and 3rd quarters, and really largely due to Jason Kidd digging down deep and finding one extra spurt in those old legs to close them out. Still a considerably better effort forus. With the question being are we getting past the infighting, or is everybody just playing for themselves at this point.