Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Artest ( C ) -- Still a tough guy to grade. Good sign that this team has shown some ability here in recent games to win with Ron not having a good game. He's infused them with confidence and spirit but doesn't need to lead every charge on the court. Nothing statistically this game, but he did some subtly nice things out there -- initiated some of or offense, picked his spots, and began to get his hands on a lot of balls in the third, repeatedly disrupting the Nets on what should have been easy attempts. Made things tough on Carter sometimes, but also got beat off the dribble several times. Could go with a C+ here just for holding down his spot and competing, but Ron's capable of more.
Thomas ( B- ) -- ok early -- worked up a huge Patrick Ewing type dripping sweat, but only on marginal effectiveness. Picked it up after half as the Nets whole defense became distorted chasing after Bibby opening up all kinds of looks for guys like Kenny. And he knocked them down and along with the similarly open Miller helped us build the lead to commanding levels.
Miller ( A- ) -- quiet start, but eventually settled in to hit some jumpers, and in the second half Brad picked up where Mike left off and just hit everything. Did not have much of a night on the glass despite the Nets smallballing, and did not run the offense this time out so much as just move to the open spot and knock down shots. But his refusal to miss really made it impossible for the Nets to make up any ground on us in the second half.
Martin ( D+ ) -- we missed Kevin's second straight good road game yesterday and got to watch this one instead. A poor game really. Made some contributions in other areas but did could get nothing going offensively. Did not shoot, or hit. And had some defensive breakdowns as well, and Jefferson physically overpowered him on several occasions. Poor night and would have lost his minutes were not for the Nets going smallball, but 7rebs and 5ast helped and so gets a versatility bump.
Bibby ( A ) -- came out scorching in one of those Bibby 30+ pt rolls he gets on -- could just see the confidence flowing from maybe the second shot on and poured it on in maybe the deciding burst just before half to finish with 23 first half points on 9-11 shooting.
And no, the defense was not great and on several occassions he just committed silly no effort giveup fouls. But really now. Mattered not at all. Fell way way off after half with the Nets focusing thier defense on him and running an extra man at him at every opportunity. But actually switched gears nicely and began dishing out assists, in particular to the main recipients of the distorted defense, Brad and Kenny. Given the much weaker 2nd half I floated this grade between and A- and an A, and went with the higher grade since we won, and Mike's huge burst was really the separator that the Nets never recoveved from.
Reef ( B- ) -- not the explosion you might have hoped for against the team that snubbed him, but a solid energetic start and got his points. Lost most of his second half minutes with Brad having a near perfect shooting night and the Nets going to a smallball lineup which caused us to insert Bonzi as a PF.
Bonzi ( A ) -- and just like that, Bonzi is back. Would say he is looking better all the time, but that would imply there was further to go. And other than the extra weight tonight it looked like the same ole Bonzi who was carrying us early in the year. Owned the glass for us as a guard, powered inside on offense, and got his hands on balls for steals. With the Nets going to a ridiculous desperation 4-guard smallball lineup in the third, Bonzi was even reinserted as a PF to matchup. Be interesting to see how the minutes thing starts playing out now with Kevin, Bonzi, Ron and Cisco.
Hart ( INC ) -- scored well in garbagetime
Monia ( INC ) -- garbagetime, first minutes for the kid, looked pretty smooth on the break and with the shot, but nothing spectacular and not enoough to really tell much
Price ( INC ) -- garbagetime, had a couple of assists
Potapenko ( INC ) -- garbagetime, still looked a little lost out there, but tried to play his simple game, setting screens and rumbling around
Adelman ( B+ ) -- some interesting rotation questions that hopefully won't become distractions down the stretch. First of course, is Bonzi coming on strong behind Kevin. Second was Reef getting squeezed for minutes in this game -- a game where I'm sure he wanted to come back and play well. And finally of course is where do Cisco's minutes come from when he returns with Reef and Bonzi already huge minute vets. We went most of the way with that seven man rotation once more, but this time with some interesting developments. First was the return of the Bonzi Wells we saw for the first few months of the season -- a physical force at OG demanding big minutes this time out. The second was Rick's response to the Nets smallballing us...and really the reason for the lower grade here, Rick once again responded to smallball by....going smallball himself of course. Worked pretty well, but...as usual, have to wonder why you just don't put a low post guy like Reef into the game and pound the smallballers into dust. Anyway, game was over by the early 4th, and while as usual it took Rick a few more minutes than it should, eventually we thew in our true garbagetime lineup and got our first look at Monia, and first real one at Potapenko. This was a confident victory, and while the Nets certainly displayed their own mediocrity, we didn't win because they were bad so much as because we were good. That's a promising sign going forward.
Thomas ( B- ) -- ok early -- worked up a huge Patrick Ewing type dripping sweat, but only on marginal effectiveness. Picked it up after half as the Nets whole defense became distorted chasing after Bibby opening up all kinds of looks for guys like Kenny. And he knocked them down and along with the similarly open Miller helped us build the lead to commanding levels.
Miller ( A- ) -- quiet start, but eventually settled in to hit some jumpers, and in the second half Brad picked up where Mike left off and just hit everything. Did not have much of a night on the glass despite the Nets smallballing, and did not run the offense this time out so much as just move to the open spot and knock down shots. But his refusal to miss really made it impossible for the Nets to make up any ground on us in the second half.
Martin ( D+ ) -- we missed Kevin's second straight good road game yesterday and got to watch this one instead. A poor game really. Made some contributions in other areas but did could get nothing going offensively. Did not shoot, or hit. And had some defensive breakdowns as well, and Jefferson physically overpowered him on several occasions. Poor night and would have lost his minutes were not for the Nets going smallball, but 7rebs and 5ast helped and so gets a versatility bump.
Bibby ( A ) -- came out scorching in one of those Bibby 30+ pt rolls he gets on -- could just see the confidence flowing from maybe the second shot on and poured it on in maybe the deciding burst just before half to finish with 23 first half points on 9-11 shooting.
And no, the defense was not great and on several occassions he just committed silly no effort giveup fouls. But really now. Mattered not at all. Fell way way off after half with the Nets focusing thier defense on him and running an extra man at him at every opportunity. But actually switched gears nicely and began dishing out assists, in particular to the main recipients of the distorted defense, Brad and Kenny. Given the much weaker 2nd half I floated this grade between and A- and an A, and went with the higher grade since we won, and Mike's huge burst was really the separator that the Nets never recoveved from.Reef ( B- ) -- not the explosion you might have hoped for against the team that snubbed him, but a solid energetic start and got his points. Lost most of his second half minutes with Brad having a near perfect shooting night and the Nets going to a smallball lineup which caused us to insert Bonzi as a PF.
Bonzi ( A ) -- and just like that, Bonzi is back. Would say he is looking better all the time, but that would imply there was further to go. And other than the extra weight tonight it looked like the same ole Bonzi who was carrying us early in the year. Owned the glass for us as a guard, powered inside on offense, and got his hands on balls for steals. With the Nets going to a ridiculous desperation 4-guard smallball lineup in the third, Bonzi was even reinserted as a PF to matchup. Be interesting to see how the minutes thing starts playing out now with Kevin, Bonzi, Ron and Cisco.
Hart ( INC ) -- scored well in garbagetime
Monia ( INC ) -- garbagetime, first minutes for the kid, looked pretty smooth on the break and with the shot, but nothing spectacular and not enoough to really tell much
Price ( INC ) -- garbagetime, had a couple of assists
Potapenko ( INC ) -- garbagetime, still looked a little lost out there, but tried to play his simple game, setting screens and rumbling around
Adelman ( B+ ) -- some interesting rotation questions that hopefully won't become distractions down the stretch. First of course, is Bonzi coming on strong behind Kevin. Second was Reef getting squeezed for minutes in this game -- a game where I'm sure he wanted to come back and play well. And finally of course is where do Cisco's minutes come from when he returns with Reef and Bonzi already huge minute vets. We went most of the way with that seven man rotation once more, but this time with some interesting developments. First was the return of the Bonzi Wells we saw for the first few months of the season -- a physical force at OG demanding big minutes this time out. The second was Rick's response to the Nets smallballing us...and really the reason for the lower grade here, Rick once again responded to smallball by....going smallball himself of course. Worked pretty well, but...as usual, have to wonder why you just don't put a low post guy like Reef into the game and pound the smallballers into dust. Anyway, game was over by the early 4th, and while as usual it took Rick a few more minutes than it should, eventually we thew in our true garbagetime lineup and got our first look at Monia, and first real one at Potapenko. This was a confident victory, and while the Nets certainly displayed their own mediocrity, we didn't win because they were bad so much as because we were good. That's a promising sign going forward.
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