Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
A tale of four horsemen...
Artest ( B- ) -- while officially one of those "Four Horsemen" (we had four 20-pt scorers tonight do virtually all of our scoring -- got 8pts out of the rest of the team combined), this was not really that great a game for Ron. Was off to an aggressive start, some good, some forces, and then just abruptly shut down and was not heard from for the rest of the half. Was playing terribly in the third, forcing up just absolute junk, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the shot locked in, and he drained 4 straight shots and suddenly had a 10 pt quarter in about 4 minutes. Then he disappeared again and except for a couple of posessions using his bulk in late, pretty much called it a night. As far as making others better, Ron set up Cisco for several of his bombs tonight, but otherwise was pretty selfish and mostly just concerend wiht his own offense. On defense it was mixed bag -- Ron, and basically everybody, did well against Carter, but nobody ever really got a good grasp on Jefferson, who other than turning it over every thrid possession, dominated play. Got a couple of blocks down inside, but for another game on this roadtrip Ron did not show well on the glass. And so one of the four horsemen, a 20pt night, but not a great night by Ron Artest standards.
Moore ( C ) -- reminded the Nets of a few of the things he does in the first half -- follow layup, 18ft jumper -- and some of what he does not (2reb) on his way to a middling first half. Really should have stepped up and formed more of an impediment to Jason Kidd on the final play of the half as Kidd drove 60 feet in 3 seconds for a layup, and Mikki as the last line of defense just sort of politely hopped out of the way. Was quiet after halftime on both ends, although I think did somewhat disrupt Sean Williams (who put on a helluva shotblocking display BTW) just by his superior height and length.
Miller ( B+ ) -- The second fo the four horsemen..some scrappiness on the glass in the early going, which was fortunate because he was all alone in there, but was simply no match athletically for Sean Wiliams inside in the early going as the jumping jack blocked or disrupted anything wihtin 15 feet of the hoop. Finally found a way to get some points in the late second by venturing way out to the perimeter for threes and drives, and it opene up the floor for him for the rest of the game. Not terribly bigmany, but making use of the versatility. Had a better night playing Raef LaFrentz than he normally does -- hit 2 of 3 three pointers this time out, on nice feeds from Salmons and....forgot who else. The numbers were there again tonight for the third night in a row, but watchign this game this was not at the same level as the others. He fought on the glass and it was a very solid 10 -- in traffic, blocking out, fighting for them. But offensively it just sort of happened -- whereas in the last two Brad was hitting everything he shot and was very tough to guard for long stretches, in this one most of his success came when the Nets had to overreact to others, not Brad. And he was never very involved in the passing game and did not have much impact there. So another strong game, one of our four guys tonight. But not the best of them.
Salmons ( A ) -- coming off of a sluggish roadtrip so far, all John did was turn in a career game. Big enough that I actually pondered a "+" to this grade, which maybe gets handed out half a dozen times a season to anybody. Big big first half outperforming the Nets' star wings. Off to a very active start, and able to get basically anywhere he wanted to go on the court on the drive or break. Did not slow down later either, and the thing was that his outside jumper was just ridiculous all night, making the drive that much tougher to stop for a team without a stopper at those positons. The only thing that looked remotely shaky were his FTs. And in a bit of a rarity for John, broke the tunnel vision and repeatedly set up other Kings with all the attention he was drawing himself, including the draw and kick assist for the backbreaking Cisco three in the final minute. Just one of those nights where anything and everything was working and this was John's game, and John's victory, all the way.
Artest ( B- ) -- while officially one of those "Four Horsemen" (we had four 20-pt scorers tonight do virtually all of our scoring -- got 8pts out of the rest of the team combined), this was not really that great a game for Ron. Was off to an aggressive start, some good, some forces, and then just abruptly shut down and was not heard from for the rest of the half. Was playing terribly in the third, forcing up just absolute junk, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the shot locked in, and he drained 4 straight shots and suddenly had a 10 pt quarter in about 4 minutes. Then he disappeared again and except for a couple of posessions using his bulk in late, pretty much called it a night. As far as making others better, Ron set up Cisco for several of his bombs tonight, but otherwise was pretty selfish and mostly just concerend wiht his own offense. On defense it was mixed bag -- Ron, and basically everybody, did well against Carter, but nobody ever really got a good grasp on Jefferson, who other than turning it over every thrid possession, dominated play. Got a couple of blocks down inside, but for another game on this roadtrip Ron did not show well on the glass. And so one of the four horsemen, a 20pt night, but not a great night by Ron Artest standards.
Moore ( C ) -- reminded the Nets of a few of the things he does in the first half -- follow layup, 18ft jumper -- and some of what he does not (2reb) on his way to a middling first half. Really should have stepped up and formed more of an impediment to Jason Kidd on the final play of the half as Kidd drove 60 feet in 3 seconds for a layup, and Mikki as the last line of defense just sort of politely hopped out of the way. Was quiet after halftime on both ends, although I think did somewhat disrupt Sean Williams (who put on a helluva shotblocking display BTW) just by his superior height and length.
Miller ( B+ ) -- The second fo the four horsemen..some scrappiness on the glass in the early going, which was fortunate because he was all alone in there, but was simply no match athletically for Sean Wiliams inside in the early going as the jumping jack blocked or disrupted anything wihtin 15 feet of the hoop. Finally found a way to get some points in the late second by venturing way out to the perimeter for threes and drives, and it opene up the floor for him for the rest of the game. Not terribly bigmany, but making use of the versatility. Had a better night playing Raef LaFrentz than he normally does -- hit 2 of 3 three pointers this time out, on nice feeds from Salmons and....forgot who else. The numbers were there again tonight for the third night in a row, but watchign this game this was not at the same level as the others. He fought on the glass and it was a very solid 10 -- in traffic, blocking out, fighting for them. But offensively it just sort of happened -- whereas in the last two Brad was hitting everything he shot and was very tough to guard for long stretches, in this one most of his success came when the Nets had to overreact to others, not Brad. And he was never very involved in the passing game and did not have much impact there. So another strong game, one of our four guys tonight. But not the best of them.
Salmons ( A ) -- coming off of a sluggish roadtrip so far, all John did was turn in a career game. Big enough that I actually pondered a "+" to this grade, which maybe gets handed out half a dozen times a season to anybody. Big big first half outperforming the Nets' star wings. Off to a very active start, and able to get basically anywhere he wanted to go on the court on the drive or break. Did not slow down later either, and the thing was that his outside jumper was just ridiculous all night, making the drive that much tougher to stop for a team without a stopper at those positons. The only thing that looked remotely shaky were his FTs. And in a bit of a rarity for John, broke the tunnel vision and repeatedly set up other Kings with all the attention he was drawing himself, including the draw and kick assist for the backbreaking Cisco three in the final minute. Just one of those nights where anything and everything was working and this was John's game, and John's victory, all the way.
Last edited:
