Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Cisco ( B- ) -- solid enough I suppose, passed well and settled in + stayed out of the way. Did not force shots. Got in foul trouble on ticky tack fouls and with Martin playing so well off the bench lost his minutes tonight.
Reef ( B- ) -- in the first half was active as expected, but not dominant. Was taking and hitting the elbow jumper in rhythm, but only spotty inside. In the second half just sort of passively slipped back while others did the bulk of the lifting. A few aggressive posts here and there, but not much really. A grand total of 7 shots. Somewhat suprisingly on a night that you would have thought would have been his night, he was just a support player.
Miller ( A ) -- great first half, not only with the passing once more, but scoring as well. Not much defense as the Nets centers scored back at him at will, and amazingly even on his big nights, not getting many boards. Not as much in the second half, but continued to control the offense from the high post and pick the Nets apart. If we had lost, or this been a real dogfight, defensive issues (the Nets centers combined for 18-26 for 40pts
) would have pulled this down to an A-. But with a relatively easy win, got to go with the straight A for a center who gives you 20-10, with the 10 being assists. In fact if he just gets his sizable butt on the glass, would have had a big triple double tonight.
Bonzi ( A ) -- kind of a slow start, but the grade kept on climbing and climbing until I finally just said screw it, this has to be an "A" again -- 23pts 9rebs 6stls. Battled in there against Richard Jefferson early, but struggled with his shot. But kept on banging and thrashing his way to scrappy points at the line, and in the decisive third really cranked it up. Is beginning to put his stamp on this team. Steals, boards, aggressive drives and dunks. Maybe a half step off of dominant, but surely a real pain in the Nets *** and helped key our run to open the game up and usher the Nets out of town.
Bibby ( A- ) -- shot well but put up almost a quiet 25 with Bonzi, Kevin, Brad having the more spectacular nights. Playing off the ball as much as he ever has right now with Brad as the point and gave us that 3pt shooting we otherwise might be missing without Peja. Defense was reasonably solid as well. Did everything he was supposed to and on many nights would be one of the stories, but tonight was just not the main impact guy.
Martin ( A ) -- came up with his career game tonight, and much of it was nothing more than just finally putting away the passive baby boy routine and just attacking. Sometimes it can be just that easy if you have the talent. Rarely hesistated as he has been doing, used his athleticism to get to the rim repeatedly through the Nets wide open lane, and turned around and gave us a nice boost off the glass as well. In fact Bonzi/Kevin grabbed more rebounds than all of our Cs/PFs combined. Important bounce back game for him -- with Cisco showing well a couple of more bad ones may have landed Kevin back on the deep bench. This one should definitely keep the door wide open for him regardless of Peja's availability as we run into some weaker opponents at home that might provide a lot of minutes for the benchers to shine.
Thomas ( C ) -- aggressive offensively again in the first half, but now the rebounding disappeared to compensate. Nothing in the second half.
Hart ( C ) -- was on the court, but barely noticeable. Almost wanted to call this an incomplete for lack of interesting things to say or grade him on. Fact is that all that kept us from having another terrible bench outing was the superb play of Martin.
Skinner ( INC ) -- garbagetime
Price ( INC ) -- garbagetime
Adelman ( B ) -- Not much defense was played in this one. As expected Peja and Vince had a weenie-off, and neither decided to tough it out tonight. Hurt the Nets more than it hurt us as we not only have more spare scorers, but also finally got a big game out of Kevin off the bench. Nets centers were killing us, but not all of it was in the paint and a lot of jumpers were mixed in. In fact we were actually winning the battle inside and aggressively attacked the Nets soft interior defense at every turn. Gave somebody else a taste of the softy-pie we've had to taste all too often this season. Also won the rebounding battle behind big efforts from our OGs once again. Tonight the OGs being plural and including Kevin to go along with Bonzi. Rick did not do much of real note this time out, unless it was he who issued the directive to test the Nets interior defense at every turn (they are as soft as we are in there). He went with the short bench once again, and while the other guys gave him little to work with, when he discovered Kevin was going to give him a game he was not at all stingy with the minutes and basically payed him in place of Cisco. Bodes well for Kevin, who really has not given Rick much reason to have confidence in him on the court yet this season, but still seems to be on Rick's good side and is getting every opportunity. This was a good solid win marred only by more weak defense, and was perhaps a little bigger than the socre indicates since the Nets made a late run after the game was more or less over. Was the one we needed with two pathetic and hopefully sure-win opponents coming to Arco next. Win those two, and we are back to .500.
Reef ( B- ) -- in the first half was active as expected, but not dominant. Was taking and hitting the elbow jumper in rhythm, but only spotty inside. In the second half just sort of passively slipped back while others did the bulk of the lifting. A few aggressive posts here and there, but not much really. A grand total of 7 shots. Somewhat suprisingly on a night that you would have thought would have been his night, he was just a support player.
Miller ( A ) -- great first half, not only with the passing once more, but scoring as well. Not much defense as the Nets centers scored back at him at will, and amazingly even on his big nights, not getting many boards. Not as much in the second half, but continued to control the offense from the high post and pick the Nets apart. If we had lost, or this been a real dogfight, defensive issues (the Nets centers combined for 18-26 for 40pts
) would have pulled this down to an A-. But with a relatively easy win, got to go with the straight A for a center who gives you 20-10, with the 10 being assists. In fact if he just gets his sizable butt on the glass, would have had a big triple double tonight.Bonzi ( A ) -- kind of a slow start, but the grade kept on climbing and climbing until I finally just said screw it, this has to be an "A" again -- 23pts 9rebs 6stls. Battled in there against Richard Jefferson early, but struggled with his shot. But kept on banging and thrashing his way to scrappy points at the line, and in the decisive third really cranked it up. Is beginning to put his stamp on this team. Steals, boards, aggressive drives and dunks. Maybe a half step off of dominant, but surely a real pain in the Nets *** and helped key our run to open the game up and usher the Nets out of town.
Bibby ( A- ) -- shot well but put up almost a quiet 25 with Bonzi, Kevin, Brad having the more spectacular nights. Playing off the ball as much as he ever has right now with Brad as the point and gave us that 3pt shooting we otherwise might be missing without Peja. Defense was reasonably solid as well. Did everything he was supposed to and on many nights would be one of the stories, but tonight was just not the main impact guy.
Martin ( A ) -- came up with his career game tonight, and much of it was nothing more than just finally putting away the passive baby boy routine and just attacking. Sometimes it can be just that easy if you have the talent. Rarely hesistated as he has been doing, used his athleticism to get to the rim repeatedly through the Nets wide open lane, and turned around and gave us a nice boost off the glass as well. In fact Bonzi/Kevin grabbed more rebounds than all of our Cs/PFs combined. Important bounce back game for him -- with Cisco showing well a couple of more bad ones may have landed Kevin back on the deep bench. This one should definitely keep the door wide open for him regardless of Peja's availability as we run into some weaker opponents at home that might provide a lot of minutes for the benchers to shine.
Thomas ( C ) -- aggressive offensively again in the first half, but now the rebounding disappeared to compensate. Nothing in the second half.
Hart ( C ) -- was on the court, but barely noticeable. Almost wanted to call this an incomplete for lack of interesting things to say or grade him on. Fact is that all that kept us from having another terrible bench outing was the superb play of Martin.
Skinner ( INC ) -- garbagetime
Price ( INC ) -- garbagetime
Adelman ( B ) -- Not much defense was played in this one. As expected Peja and Vince had a weenie-off, and neither decided to tough it out tonight. Hurt the Nets more than it hurt us as we not only have more spare scorers, but also finally got a big game out of Kevin off the bench. Nets centers were killing us, but not all of it was in the paint and a lot of jumpers were mixed in. In fact we were actually winning the battle inside and aggressively attacked the Nets soft interior defense at every turn. Gave somebody else a taste of the softy-pie we've had to taste all too often this season. Also won the rebounding battle behind big efforts from our OGs once again. Tonight the OGs being plural and including Kevin to go along with Bonzi. Rick did not do much of real note this time out, unless it was he who issued the directive to test the Nets interior defense at every turn (they are as soft as we are in there). He went with the short bench once again, and while the other guys gave him little to work with, when he discovered Kevin was going to give him a game he was not at all stingy with the minutes and basically payed him in place of Cisco. Bodes well for Kevin, who really has not given Rick much reason to have confidence in him on the court yet this season, but still seems to be on Rick's good side and is getting every opportunity. This was a good solid win marred only by more weak defense, and was perhaps a little bigger than the socre indicates since the Nets made a late run after the game was more or less over. Was the one we needed with two pathetic and hopefully sure-win opponents coming to Arco next. Win those two, and we are back to .500.
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