Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
The Grades Thread...Er, Whatever edition.
P.S. Congrats to coach Adelman on the Rockets tying their franchise record tonight with 15 straight wins. Yao who? Note: Rick won Coach of the Month for an undefeated February. If they holds this together down the stretch...COY possibilities loom. Which would be ironic.
Ron Artest ( A- ) : 39min 32pts (12-22 FG, 4-6 3pt, 4-4 FT) 3rebs 2ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Carried us in the first quarter with 11 points. No assists -- he wasn't going to pass unless you put a gun to his head. And even that may not have worked since he doessn't keep anything important up there. Very one dimensional night for Ron. Strange. Basically he morphed into Michael Redd. It was all jump shots, very little work inside, no passing, no rebounding. But the jumper was pure and he kept on draining it from all over th court again and again and again. Holds onto the A- because for all the one dimensionality, the selfishness, the mouth diarrhea, the completely delusional I-am-too-big-of-a-wuss-to-deal-with-reality playoff rants, he was one of two Kings (Beno) who was there all night this time out. He's playing for all the wrong reasons, taking another team down the drain with his idiocy, but he's still playing.
Mikki Moore ( C) -- 33min 4pts (2-5 FG, 0-0 3pt, 0-0 FT) 8rebs 0ast 1stl 1blk 3TO
Thx Reg -- I know how much we have all been chanting for more 30+min nights out of 33yr old Mikki Moore as we careen toward a rebuild (of course we careened toward a rebuild last season too but the fornt office had no stomach for it so who knows). But at least once every 7 or 8 games Mikki actually deserves those 30+min. Not tonight. Tonight Mikki came out of the gate as part fo the teamwide sleepwalk, on one play in the first quarter disaster snagging a defensive rebound and then standing dead still in the lane in a trance wiht the ball at his hip until JWill ran up behind him, took the ball, and ran off to drop another three on us. After the Heat panicked over the possibility of walking away with an unintended vitory, Mikki was better. But never more than adequate. Had a dunk to open the 4th, got his fair share of boards after the break. Gave us 4pts in 33 minutes. Meanwhile 24yr old Shelden Williams, the #5 pick in the draft last year? 25 seconds on the night. Anyone else half expecting our coach to reach forward during one of his press conferences to unzip his Reggie skin and reveal himself to be Muss in disguise back for a last laugh?
Brad Miller ( B- ) -- 40min 14pts (5-12 FG, 1-2 3pt, 3-4 FT) 9reb 7ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
The numbers might argue for a better grade here, but tonight Brad was a folower, not a leader, and after a solid start to the first quarter when he was able to work inside, he disappeared for a long long time until forced back into the game by our hot players. A result of the Heat collape, not a cause of it. Poor game most of the night until the 4th, when he got set up for a three, and lumbered in for a big ole dunk. Took a hard spill on his keister in the first half, and may have contributed to the lackluster effort. Not exactly sure where the 7 assists came from, as Brad was hardly cutting up the defense with his passes, but scoring on the Heat was so easy after the break that I suppose there was ample opportunity for an asssist nearly every time you handed the ball off to somebody else.
Kevin Martin ( B+ ) -- 38min 29pts (6-12 FG, 3-4 3pt, 14-17 FT) 4reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 4TO
Off to another terrible start to this one, and looked like maybe just a delayed A/F pattern again after the back to back bad games, then good game in Dallas, then back to the struggle. Was in full on slump shoulders depressed woe is me mode, and the defense. Oh lord did the defense suck tonight. Not even an effort, even after he got it going offensively. Would defend a guy for basically one bounce, and then the guy was past him and Kevin was mostly concerned about how to leak out and pad his offensive stats. Let the rest of the peons worry about the actual stopping of people. Obviously picked up the offensive game tremendously atfer half. But it was another of those ugly FT fests. Seems to be emerging as his default when he does not have it, or the legs are gone (frequently looked winded out there). Just run around looking for bumps and whistles without worrying about getting clean makeable looks. Obviously posed a major problem for the Heat after the break, and in the third in particular when Kevin had 18 points I think. Was quiet late, and that kind of fit in here. Even in scoring 29 points never felt like the was scorching hot so much as just forcing the action. And when the offense shifted elsewhere that was ok too. Kevin had found a way to get the points we needed. Defense, only playing for a half, apparent feuding/pouting over his role (here's a scary thoguht: what if Kevin wasn't physically tired last year so much as just feuding with Muss during his ugly final months? And now is doing the same with Theus? Wouldn't Kevin Martin as prima donna coach killer be the icing on the cake? Fortunately just as likely its Kevin being paired with an impossible teammate in Ron Ron that is an issue.)
P.S. Congrats to coach Adelman on the Rockets tying their franchise record tonight with 15 straight wins. Yao who? Note: Rick won Coach of the Month for an undefeated February. If they holds this together down the stretch...COY possibilities loom. Which would be ironic.

Ron Artest ( A- ) : 39min 32pts (12-22 FG, 4-6 3pt, 4-4 FT) 3rebs 2ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Carried us in the first quarter with 11 points. No assists -- he wasn't going to pass unless you put a gun to his head. And even that may not have worked since he doessn't keep anything important up there. Very one dimensional night for Ron. Strange. Basically he morphed into Michael Redd. It was all jump shots, very little work inside, no passing, no rebounding. But the jumper was pure and he kept on draining it from all over th court again and again and again. Holds onto the A- because for all the one dimensionality, the selfishness, the mouth diarrhea, the completely delusional I-am-too-big-of-a-wuss-to-deal-with-reality playoff rants, he was one of two Kings (Beno) who was there all night this time out. He's playing for all the wrong reasons, taking another team down the drain with his idiocy, but he's still playing.

Mikki Moore ( C) -- 33min 4pts (2-5 FG, 0-0 3pt, 0-0 FT) 8rebs 0ast 1stl 1blk 3TO
Thx Reg -- I know how much we have all been chanting for more 30+min nights out of 33yr old Mikki Moore as we careen toward a rebuild (of course we careened toward a rebuild last season too but the fornt office had no stomach for it so who knows). But at least once every 7 or 8 games Mikki actually deserves those 30+min. Not tonight. Tonight Mikki came out of the gate as part fo the teamwide sleepwalk, on one play in the first quarter disaster snagging a defensive rebound and then standing dead still in the lane in a trance wiht the ball at his hip until JWill ran up behind him, took the ball, and ran off to drop another three on us. After the Heat panicked over the possibility of walking away with an unintended vitory, Mikki was better. But never more than adequate. Had a dunk to open the 4th, got his fair share of boards after the break. Gave us 4pts in 33 minutes. Meanwhile 24yr old Shelden Williams, the #5 pick in the draft last year? 25 seconds on the night. Anyone else half expecting our coach to reach forward during one of his press conferences to unzip his Reggie skin and reveal himself to be Muss in disguise back for a last laugh?

Brad Miller ( B- ) -- 40min 14pts (5-12 FG, 1-2 3pt, 3-4 FT) 9reb 7ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
The numbers might argue for a better grade here, but tonight Brad was a folower, not a leader, and after a solid start to the first quarter when he was able to work inside, he disappeared for a long long time until forced back into the game by our hot players. A result of the Heat collape, not a cause of it. Poor game most of the night until the 4th, when he got set up for a three, and lumbered in for a big ole dunk. Took a hard spill on his keister in the first half, and may have contributed to the lackluster effort. Not exactly sure where the 7 assists came from, as Brad was hardly cutting up the defense with his passes, but scoring on the Heat was so easy after the break that I suppose there was ample opportunity for an asssist nearly every time you handed the ball off to somebody else.

Kevin Martin ( B+ ) -- 38min 29pts (6-12 FG, 3-4 3pt, 14-17 FT) 4reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 4TO
Off to another terrible start to this one, and looked like maybe just a delayed A/F pattern again after the back to back bad games, then good game in Dallas, then back to the struggle. Was in full on slump shoulders depressed woe is me mode, and the defense. Oh lord did the defense suck tonight. Not even an effort, even after he got it going offensively. Would defend a guy for basically one bounce, and then the guy was past him and Kevin was mostly concerned about how to leak out and pad his offensive stats. Let the rest of the peons worry about the actual stopping of people. Obviously picked up the offensive game tremendously atfer half. But it was another of those ugly FT fests. Seems to be emerging as his default when he does not have it, or the legs are gone (frequently looked winded out there). Just run around looking for bumps and whistles without worrying about getting clean makeable looks. Obviously posed a major problem for the Heat after the break, and in the third in particular when Kevin had 18 points I think. Was quiet late, and that kind of fit in here. Even in scoring 29 points never felt like the was scorching hot so much as just forcing the action. And when the offense shifted elsewhere that was ok too. Kevin had found a way to get the points we needed. Defense, only playing for a half, apparent feuding/pouting over his role (here's a scary thoguht: what if Kevin wasn't physically tired last year so much as just feuding with Muss during his ugly final months? And now is doing the same with Theus? Wouldn't Kevin Martin as prima donna coach killer be the icing on the cake? Fortunately just as likely its Kevin being paired with an impossible teammate in Ron Ron that is an issue.)
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