Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Uh-Oh!
Barnes ( B- ) -- not much statistically again, but combined with Evans to make things tough on Vince Carter on the other end. Had the hustle in high gear but gave us very little on offense or the glass once again. But accomplished his main job of harassing Vince, so not a bad effort.
Webber ( D ) -- this road trip has been such a struggle for Chris. Opened the game and hit his first two shots, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But that was pretty much it. Started to struggle and was never able to pull out of it. Never forced a long string of shots -- pretty much just a shot here and a shot there, but nothing fell. Did finally mix in a little inside work, but never looked comfortable or confident doing so. Overall game was...modest. As much as anything just looked dispirited and tired once again. Not sure he's feeling well physically. In any case, has to be thanking the higher power of his choice that this trip is over.
Miller ( D- ) -- first the good -- Brad started off the game playing impressive help defense and helped set an early tone with 3 blocked shots. Now the bad -- everything else. Made a few good passes early, but basically no offense, and on the other end of the floor spent most of the night letting yet another center have a career night against him. Just totally ineffective out there. Guess he's due, might even say entitled after playing very well for a month. But it was a devastating time for him to go AWOL for us. The burst of help defense saves him from the F -- the one thing I wish we could see more of from him.
Mobley ( C+ ) -- one of those nights where Cat pretty much got his numbers, but had very little impact. Had spots of shaky decisionmaking again, but they did not define his effort. He was just kind of there tongiht. Got his 16pts, added in a few boards and assists, but we got neither better nor worse when he entered the game or left it.
Bibby ( B+ ) -- was our lone shining light tonight, and even so was not brilliant. Think it probably says something about how well Mike has been scoring recently that he can shoot 10-17 and score 25 and its a good effort, but not a great one for him. Mostly concerned with his own shot tonight rather than distribution. Drew the world's easiest defensive assignment in Jacque Vaughn (who cannot shoot a lick) and at least did not make him look like a star. Did make a bad bad play at the end of the first half -- kind of the stretch where everything started to slide south on us. We had the ball up 5 with a chance to take the final shot, and Mike let Vaughn pick him clean + score at the other end. Then moments later trying to get up the last shot, Webb picked up an offensive foul. Just such a badly mucked up way to end the half. Misplayed about as bad as you can do it.
House ( C ) -- did his House thing -- came in firing and hit his first shot. Also in the first half showed a little ability to run our offense. Think he's getting more comfortable. But did nothing at all in a second half stint + we lost ground in the 4th with Bibby out of the lineup (to be fair we promptly lost more once Mike returned).
Evans ( B ) -- played a dynamic first half, but while the energy was still there in the second half, effectiveness tailed off badly. Was the other half of the double team we laid on Vince, and like Matt did a very nice job of it. In the first half was also a force offensively, but in the second was as ineffective as everybody else.
Songaila ( B ) -- played a nice efficient game tonight, but like so many Kings this time out just did not matter. Still should probably have received more minutes with both Brad and Chris having miserable nights. Showed quick hands on defense, and while he didn't exactly bring bakc memories of Rodman, he actually grabbed a board here and there as well.
Adelman ( D ) -- this is a bit of the team grade, but more than that too. Rick seemed to have caught the dispirited mood from the team tonight. Everybody looked tired, including the coach. We flat ran out of energy in the second half and you would have thought Rick might have tried everybody on the bench, but Tag and Bradley remained pinned to the pine. Admittedly they do not bring much offense, which is what we really needed tonight, but like the team as a whole it just did not feel to me like Rick was fighting and clawing for this one and trying everything he could. Time to sound some alarms -- what walked off the floor at the end of the game tonight was a beaten team. Heads down. Fight gone. Whatever else may have been said about this squad this season, we've rarely seen that. Might be as simple as exhaustion on the second half of a back to back. But it may be much more. This All-Star break is desperately needed. May give us a chance to salvage this. Nonetheless I'm sure Geoff Petrie is going to be having a very thoughtful weekend. He's the king of calm, but you have to squint really hard to see championship mettle out on the floor right now. Of course its not enough for us to be ravaged by injuries, not enough for us to have a series of blown calls scuttle us repeatedly in the last few weeks, no, we have to go add a flu epidemic to the mix.
Barnes ( B- ) -- not much statistically again, but combined with Evans to make things tough on Vince Carter on the other end. Had the hustle in high gear but gave us very little on offense or the glass once again. But accomplished his main job of harassing Vince, so not a bad effort.
Webber ( D ) -- this road trip has been such a struggle for Chris. Opened the game and hit his first two shots, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But that was pretty much it. Started to struggle and was never able to pull out of it. Never forced a long string of shots -- pretty much just a shot here and a shot there, but nothing fell. Did finally mix in a little inside work, but never looked comfortable or confident doing so. Overall game was...modest. As much as anything just looked dispirited and tired once again. Not sure he's feeling well physically. In any case, has to be thanking the higher power of his choice that this trip is over.
Miller ( D- ) -- first the good -- Brad started off the game playing impressive help defense and helped set an early tone with 3 blocked shots. Now the bad -- everything else. Made a few good passes early, but basically no offense, and on the other end of the floor spent most of the night letting yet another center have a career night against him. Just totally ineffective out there. Guess he's due, might even say entitled after playing very well for a month. But it was a devastating time for him to go AWOL for us. The burst of help defense saves him from the F -- the one thing I wish we could see more of from him.
Mobley ( C+ ) -- one of those nights where Cat pretty much got his numbers, but had very little impact. Had spots of shaky decisionmaking again, but they did not define his effort. He was just kind of there tongiht. Got his 16pts, added in a few boards and assists, but we got neither better nor worse when he entered the game or left it.
Bibby ( B+ ) -- was our lone shining light tonight, and even so was not brilliant. Think it probably says something about how well Mike has been scoring recently that he can shoot 10-17 and score 25 and its a good effort, but not a great one for him. Mostly concerned with his own shot tonight rather than distribution. Drew the world's easiest defensive assignment in Jacque Vaughn (who cannot shoot a lick) and at least did not make him look like a star. Did make a bad bad play at the end of the first half -- kind of the stretch where everything started to slide south on us. We had the ball up 5 with a chance to take the final shot, and Mike let Vaughn pick him clean + score at the other end. Then moments later trying to get up the last shot, Webb picked up an offensive foul. Just such a badly mucked up way to end the half. Misplayed about as bad as you can do it.
House ( C ) -- did his House thing -- came in firing and hit his first shot. Also in the first half showed a little ability to run our offense. Think he's getting more comfortable. But did nothing at all in a second half stint + we lost ground in the 4th with Bibby out of the lineup (to be fair we promptly lost more once Mike returned).
Evans ( B ) -- played a dynamic first half, but while the energy was still there in the second half, effectiveness tailed off badly. Was the other half of the double team we laid on Vince, and like Matt did a very nice job of it. In the first half was also a force offensively, but in the second was as ineffective as everybody else.
Songaila ( B ) -- played a nice efficient game tonight, but like so many Kings this time out just did not matter. Still should probably have received more minutes with both Brad and Chris having miserable nights. Showed quick hands on defense, and while he didn't exactly bring bakc memories of Rodman, he actually grabbed a board here and there as well.
Adelman ( D ) -- this is a bit of the team grade, but more than that too. Rick seemed to have caught the dispirited mood from the team tonight. Everybody looked tired, including the coach. We flat ran out of energy in the second half and you would have thought Rick might have tried everybody on the bench, but Tag and Bradley remained pinned to the pine. Admittedly they do not bring much offense, which is what we really needed tonight, but like the team as a whole it just did not feel to me like Rick was fighting and clawing for this one and trying everything he could. Time to sound some alarms -- what walked off the floor at the end of the game tonight was a beaten team. Heads down. Fight gone. Whatever else may have been said about this squad this season, we've rarely seen that. Might be as simple as exhaustion on the second half of a back to back. But it may be much more. This All-Star break is desperately needed. May give us a chance to salvage this. Nonetheless I'm sure Geoff Petrie is going to be having a very thoughtful weekend. He's the king of calm, but you have to squint really hard to see championship mettle out on the floor right now. Of course its not enough for us to be ravaged by injuries, not enough for us to have a series of blown calls scuttle us repeatedly in the last few weeks, no, we have to go add a flu epidemic to the mix.
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Maybe him and his buddy, Steve can go hang out this weekend. 
