Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Wow...that was pretty sweet. And this was our WINNABLE game in this stretch.
On a happier note, this will be the first theme grades of the year.
The Thanksgiving Edition
Thompson ( D ) -- seems to be regressing these last couple of games, as is Reggie's use of him. Started off playing too fast again, and back into major early foul trouble (had 3 in the first 4 mintes). We were trying to take advnatage of his mismatch against Bobby Simmons down inside too, but Jason wasn't able to stay in control, and ultimately the quickness/saavy/skill of the more natural SF won out against the size and youthful exuberance of JT. Lost almost all his minutes to the decrepit BJax/Mikki combo, which is going to get on my nerves.
Thanksgiving: A Primer For Our Foreign Friends -- Thanksgiving is a major holiday in the United States, perhaps second to only Christmas in popularity (observant members of various religious sets might beg to differ). It pretty much officially kicks off the "Holiday Season" in the United States, which stretches from Thanksgiving to New Years, and is typified by that great American staple: gross excess. On Thankgiving, that excess centers around pigging out on as much food as humanly possible, and specifically, on turkey. Which in this case is not a citizen of the country Turkey (normally, unless you have a big family to feed), but rather a large, mostly flightless bird native to the Americas that had the supreme misfortune of grabbing the attention of the earliest European settlers on this continent. The other great staple of Thanksgiving in the last 50 years is American Football, a sport which nobody outside of North America understands, but that is almost a religion here. More on that later.
Moore ( C ) -- oh boy let me tell you just how pleased I was to see Mikki back in the starting lineup. Let me first say that Mikki is a nice enough man, and nice enough player in a minor roleplayer sort of way. But he's nobody's (credible) starter, adn let's all hope -- fervently -- that this was just Reggie's response to the quickness and perimeter game of the Nets' "power" forwards. Otherwise Spencer, and especially Jason, are doomed once Cisco and Kevin come back. Did little out there to justify the compliment either. Nothing much in the first half against Yi, and then was getting lit up by Ryan Anderson of all people. Never got anything going offensively, mostly restricting himself to little missed jumpers. Lost most of his late minutes (an odd substitution in OT aside) to Spencer.
Thanksgiving: A Brief History -- Traditionally the first Thanksgiving has been portrayed as occuring in Plymouth Massachusetts in 1621. There was indeed a celebration at that time, basically of not starving to death. But there were a whole host of various Thanksgiving celebrations in the New World throughout the early years. The Spanish held one in Florida in 1565, basically to celebrate actually making it across the ocean. Some conquistador ordered his expedition to party in celebration of finding the very exciting El Paso Texas in 1598. The Plymoth colony itself held a more organized Thanksgiving in 1623, when they again wanted to celebrate not starving (you have to understand that these were still basically Europeans, and therefore of course not possessed yet of our Amercian rugged independence and knack for killing things. They also wore funny hats.). And so on. Some were spontaneous, largely relgious celebrations, where the thanks being given centered around "Oh Lord, thank you that my *** is still here". Some were basically extensions of the various harvest festivals that dated back thousands of years. Things did not get really organized until 1863, when Lincoln declared a day of celebration that the Civil War was going well for the last Thursday of November, and it was celebrated every year subsequently by Presidential decree. Finally the modern variant of Thanksgiving celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November can pretty much be dated to 1941, when Congress settled a dispute between states adhering to Lincoln's last Thursday of November date for Thanksgiving, and F.D.R.'s second-to-last Thursday of November date, by splitting the difference and just saying it would be the 4th Thursday, regardless of whether that ended up being the last or second to last. Note: Canada also has a Thanksgiving Day. But they celebrate it at the wrong time of the year (2nd week of October) and like ice skat..er..hockey more than football, and so do not count.
Miller ( B- ) -- And this is of course an interesting one. Didn't have to worry about Brad passing up shots in the early going oin this one...but maybe you wished he was as he was off, and having your center chunking up a series of soft little 18 foot bricks mixed with three pointers ain't much of an offense. Picked it up in the 3rd quarter, and was effective in limiting the Nets to one shot with his boardwork. At one point even looked poised to be something of a hero (you will notice his goat candidacy above) after he hit a three to go ahead in the final minutes. One of a pair of back to back threes with Hawes actually, which...maybe its better it didn't work out. they need no further encouragement (amazingly they managed to combine for 9 threes again). Of course this gets interesting for what happened in OT, as Brad committed an unforgiveable sin that had me tempted to jsut slap a petulant F up here. And hey? Why not? If Brad can be petulant and get paid millions of dollars, why can't I? So its OT, its a 1 point game, Brad thinks he gets fouled....what do you think happens? Do you thinnk he takes one for the team? Do you think he sucks it up? Or do you think he whines, cries and complains like an infant until the refs finally T him up and cost us a point. In OT. And for what? What a mental weakling. Anyway, briefly made a play for redemption by actually going down into the post and hitting a half hook over Lopez (an actual post move over an actual post player), but then came back in the final seconds to choke 1 of 2 FTs and put us in danger of imminent defeat. Given the point he had already given away on the technical, it was if he had choked both. So strong numbers, lots of three point chucks, and a pair of ugly goat horns. The technical was just offensive though, so big minus.
So Why Do They Call It A Turkey? -- Well, basically because we are stupid. Or at least our ancestors were. The "Turks" were an ancient people that hung out with the Huns and Mongols in the giant Central Asian barbarian factory, and joined in their hobby of periodically traveling across the world to sack, pillage, burn, and generally be mean to anybody who had the audacity to be civilized. The Huns got the Romans, the Mongols got China, and the Turks (one branch) got the Byzantine Empire. The heart of the Byzantine Empire was Anatolia/Asia Minor, and so when the Turks got done being mean to the Byzantines that is where they settled down. Since the Turks now lived there, eventually it became "Turkey". So now how does that relate to our very North American bird? Well as mentioned, the first settlers were idiots. They arrived in America, thought they had reached Asia, saw a big bird, mistook the big bird for a guineafowl (a bird found in Turkey), and promptly named it a "turkey". Only missed it by about 12,000 miles. Bright huh?
Salmons ( A- ) -- tough on the "-" here -- this was John's career best night, at least statistically (might have been his career high minutes too, so somewhat exaggerated). But still had a big big night. Pretty much WAS our offense for the first quarter and half of this one. Not the best player in our offense. The offense. At one point had 16 points while the rest of the team had 12. Was battling back and forth with Carter from the beginning. Never did really get a hold of him defensively, but Carter can be like that. Gets his shots off, they just either go in or not. But John was matching and even getting the better of it before Carter went down with injury. And it wasn't just the drives that were effective, it was the jumper. Hit 4 of 5 threes tonight, and they were right in the defender's face. Normally John is a wide open, from the shorter corners three point shooter. Tonight at least 3 of the 4 came from the elbows with the defender right in his face. Very impressive. And so after 38pts 7rebs on 11-19 shooting (although notably zero assists) and a career high, how do we get the "minus"? Well, welcome to John Salmons, the goat edition, part...well, I've lost count of what part it is. But its a lot. This time our single best player may have been the single biggest reason we lost this one, as when needed he choked 2 of 4 FTs in the final seconds of regulation after the Nets intentionally fouled, opening the door for the Nets to tie. Then he gets stripped on our last second attempt to win it. Then he comes back in OT in the final seconds and AGAIN misses 1 of 2, combining with Brad to give the game to the Nets on a golden platter. Which is very generous and in the Thanksgiving spirit, but not healthy for one's grade. So minus it is. But still a big night.
World's Largest Turkey? -- According to the Guiness Book, 86 pounds. Mess with that bird, you may be the one ending up on the table.
On a happier note, this will be the first theme grades of the year.
The Thanksgiving Edition
Thompson ( D ) -- seems to be regressing these last couple of games, as is Reggie's use of him. Started off playing too fast again, and back into major early foul trouble (had 3 in the first 4 mintes). We were trying to take advnatage of his mismatch against Bobby Simmons down inside too, but Jason wasn't able to stay in control, and ultimately the quickness/saavy/skill of the more natural SF won out against the size and youthful exuberance of JT. Lost almost all his minutes to the decrepit BJax/Mikki combo, which is going to get on my nerves.
Thanksgiving: A Primer For Our Foreign Friends -- Thanksgiving is a major holiday in the United States, perhaps second to only Christmas in popularity (observant members of various religious sets might beg to differ). It pretty much officially kicks off the "Holiday Season" in the United States, which stretches from Thanksgiving to New Years, and is typified by that great American staple: gross excess. On Thankgiving, that excess centers around pigging out on as much food as humanly possible, and specifically, on turkey. Which in this case is not a citizen of the country Turkey (normally, unless you have a big family to feed), but rather a large, mostly flightless bird native to the Americas that had the supreme misfortune of grabbing the attention of the earliest European settlers on this continent. The other great staple of Thanksgiving in the last 50 years is American Football, a sport which nobody outside of North America understands, but that is almost a religion here. More on that later.
Moore ( C ) -- oh boy let me tell you just how pleased I was to see Mikki back in the starting lineup. Let me first say that Mikki is a nice enough man, and nice enough player in a minor roleplayer sort of way. But he's nobody's (credible) starter, adn let's all hope -- fervently -- that this was just Reggie's response to the quickness and perimeter game of the Nets' "power" forwards. Otherwise Spencer, and especially Jason, are doomed once Cisco and Kevin come back. Did little out there to justify the compliment either. Nothing much in the first half against Yi, and then was getting lit up by Ryan Anderson of all people. Never got anything going offensively, mostly restricting himself to little missed jumpers. Lost most of his late minutes (an odd substitution in OT aside) to Spencer.
Thanksgiving: A Brief History -- Traditionally the first Thanksgiving has been portrayed as occuring in Plymouth Massachusetts in 1621. There was indeed a celebration at that time, basically of not starving to death. But there were a whole host of various Thanksgiving celebrations in the New World throughout the early years. The Spanish held one in Florida in 1565, basically to celebrate actually making it across the ocean. Some conquistador ordered his expedition to party in celebration of finding the very exciting El Paso Texas in 1598. The Plymoth colony itself held a more organized Thanksgiving in 1623, when they again wanted to celebrate not starving (you have to understand that these were still basically Europeans, and therefore of course not possessed yet of our Amercian rugged independence and knack for killing things. They also wore funny hats.). And so on. Some were spontaneous, largely relgious celebrations, where the thanks being given centered around "Oh Lord, thank you that my *** is still here". Some were basically extensions of the various harvest festivals that dated back thousands of years. Things did not get really organized until 1863, when Lincoln declared a day of celebration that the Civil War was going well for the last Thursday of November, and it was celebrated every year subsequently by Presidential decree. Finally the modern variant of Thanksgiving celebrated on the 4th Thursday of November can pretty much be dated to 1941, when Congress settled a dispute between states adhering to Lincoln's last Thursday of November date for Thanksgiving, and F.D.R.'s second-to-last Thursday of November date, by splitting the difference and just saying it would be the 4th Thursday, regardless of whether that ended up being the last or second to last. Note: Canada also has a Thanksgiving Day. But they celebrate it at the wrong time of the year (2nd week of October) and like ice skat..er..hockey more than football, and so do not count.
Miller ( B- ) -- And this is of course an interesting one. Didn't have to worry about Brad passing up shots in the early going oin this one...but maybe you wished he was as he was off, and having your center chunking up a series of soft little 18 foot bricks mixed with three pointers ain't much of an offense. Picked it up in the 3rd quarter, and was effective in limiting the Nets to one shot with his boardwork. At one point even looked poised to be something of a hero (you will notice his goat candidacy above) after he hit a three to go ahead in the final minutes. One of a pair of back to back threes with Hawes actually, which...maybe its better it didn't work out. they need no further encouragement (amazingly they managed to combine for 9 threes again). Of course this gets interesting for what happened in OT, as Brad committed an unforgiveable sin that had me tempted to jsut slap a petulant F up here. And hey? Why not? If Brad can be petulant and get paid millions of dollars, why can't I? So its OT, its a 1 point game, Brad thinks he gets fouled....what do you think happens? Do you thinnk he takes one for the team? Do you think he sucks it up? Or do you think he whines, cries and complains like an infant until the refs finally T him up and cost us a point. In OT. And for what? What a mental weakling. Anyway, briefly made a play for redemption by actually going down into the post and hitting a half hook over Lopez (an actual post move over an actual post player), but then came back in the final seconds to choke 1 of 2 FTs and put us in danger of imminent defeat. Given the point he had already given away on the technical, it was if he had choked both. So strong numbers, lots of three point chucks, and a pair of ugly goat horns. The technical was just offensive though, so big minus.
So Why Do They Call It A Turkey? -- Well, basically because we are stupid. Or at least our ancestors were. The "Turks" were an ancient people that hung out with the Huns and Mongols in the giant Central Asian barbarian factory, and joined in their hobby of periodically traveling across the world to sack, pillage, burn, and generally be mean to anybody who had the audacity to be civilized. The Huns got the Romans, the Mongols got China, and the Turks (one branch) got the Byzantine Empire. The heart of the Byzantine Empire was Anatolia/Asia Minor, and so when the Turks got done being mean to the Byzantines that is where they settled down. Since the Turks now lived there, eventually it became "Turkey". So now how does that relate to our very North American bird? Well as mentioned, the first settlers were idiots. They arrived in America, thought they had reached Asia, saw a big bird, mistook the big bird for a guineafowl (a bird found in Turkey), and promptly named it a "turkey". Only missed it by about 12,000 miles. Bright huh?
Salmons ( A- ) -- tough on the "-" here -- this was John's career best night, at least statistically (might have been his career high minutes too, so somewhat exaggerated). But still had a big big night. Pretty much WAS our offense for the first quarter and half of this one. Not the best player in our offense. The offense. At one point had 16 points while the rest of the team had 12. Was battling back and forth with Carter from the beginning. Never did really get a hold of him defensively, but Carter can be like that. Gets his shots off, they just either go in or not. But John was matching and even getting the better of it before Carter went down with injury. And it wasn't just the drives that were effective, it was the jumper. Hit 4 of 5 threes tonight, and they were right in the defender's face. Normally John is a wide open, from the shorter corners three point shooter. Tonight at least 3 of the 4 came from the elbows with the defender right in his face. Very impressive. And so after 38pts 7rebs on 11-19 shooting (although notably zero assists) and a career high, how do we get the "minus"? Well, welcome to John Salmons, the goat edition, part...well, I've lost count of what part it is. But its a lot. This time our single best player may have been the single biggest reason we lost this one, as when needed he choked 2 of 4 FTs in the final seconds of regulation after the Nets intentionally fouled, opening the door for the Nets to tie. Then he gets stripped on our last second attempt to win it. Then he comes back in OT in the final seconds and AGAIN misses 1 of 2, combining with Brad to give the game to the Nets on a golden platter. Which is very generous and in the Thanksgiving spirit, but not healthy for one's grade. So minus it is. But still a big night.
World's Largest Turkey? -- According to the Guiness Book, 86 pounds. Mess with that bird, you may be the one ending up on the table.
Last edited:
