Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Season's Greetings!
And a little gift for you, like the one we gave the Nuggets tonight: Gift
(already tested it on a friend, and had it proclaimed "cutems")
Artest ( A ) -- briefly pondered the "-" to this A on the grounds that a) this was one of those games where the guy who carried you all game grew silent in the 4th when you needed him most; b) got three point happy, accounting for virtually all of his misses -- you are 8-9 from inside the stripe Ron! Take it inside!; and c) for the first time I can remember, Ron did not shut down Melo, and even got beat by him for a critical hoop in the midst of our final minute chokefest. However, Ron was really REALLY good for the great majority of the night, damn near put up a triple double, shot efficiently, had 4 steals which felt like more, and generally dominated play...until it really mattered. So this is one of those times where I am thinking full "A" regardless. Came out of the gate firing on all cylinders and scoring at will. Slowed somewhat when the Nuggets matched Najera agianst him but was still the best player on the court for most of the night. When we had died off in the third, it was Ron who stepped back up to reignite us, at least for a while, and he hit a big three at the end of the third to push it back to a 10pt lead. Had Melo under control early, but almost as much through persistence as any brilliance, Melo eventually took off. Top game from Ron, but could not close the deal.
Moore ( B- ) -- active defensively and had two blocks early, but ended up spending a lot of time on the bench in the first half as the Nuggets went smallball against us. Picked it up in the third, blocked Melo on the break, had a throw down, and of course an overblown look-at-me squeal afterward. Not much on the glass on a night we got pounded in there, and late in the game was getting beat and making mistakes inside -- missing shots, offensive fouls, going into the post thinking he's Kareem etc. Throwback game for Mikki defensively -- when he was very young he used to block shots occasionally. Otherwise a pot on average Mikki game -- 11pts 5rebs against nobody in particular (the Nuggets were wihtout either of their PFs, Nene or Kenyon, and it was smallball or Najera all night.
Miller ( B+ ) -- early passing, and scored solidly from all parts of the floor. Looked very comfrortable all night, and while Camby was causing a lot of problems for the rest of the Kings, Brad seemed to largely ignore him. Which is not to say Brad beat him -- indeed Camby was the better player tonight and messed us up with his shotblocking. But it is to say that Brad and Camby seemed ot be on two different courts for much of the night, with Brad operating pretty freely and rarely directly confronting Camby, and Camby doing the same on the other end. Was our #2 scorer, but unfortunately like our #1 scorer disappeared in the 4th quarter. And in Brad's particular case had the additional aggravating factor of being one of the primary two choke artists (Beno the other) in the final seconds when he stepped to the line for 2 FTs to put us back up three, and choked them both, thus setting up Kleiza's gamewining shot, and completeing our collapse.
Salmons ( C ) -- and if Brad looked comfortable all night, John looked exactly the opposite. Out of rhythm, out of sorts, out of comfort on his way to a 5-17 shooting performance. In the early going hit a three, but then started forcing some other things, including an attempt to lay it up right in Camby's face, which just doesn't work. A major problem again for John tonight, as big shotblockers have been disrupting his tot he rim game with some frequency of late. But had a closing burst at the end of the second quarter, where he scored 5 pts in about 10 seconds on back to back fast breaks to finish with a respectable half. And while he wasn't doing anythign truly remarkable on the other end, it must be noted that Iverson was sucking right back the other direction, and John was, if not shutting him down, ertainly staying in the area to make him uncomfortable. Continued to have problems going inside in the second half -- had a LOT of blocks against him this game -- and at the end of the game Iverson sparked and got loose just in time to win it for the Nuggets.
And a little gift for you, like the one we gave the Nuggets tonight: Gift
(already tested it on a friend, and had it proclaimed "cutems")
Artest ( A ) -- briefly pondered the "-" to this A on the grounds that a) this was one of those games where the guy who carried you all game grew silent in the 4th when you needed him most; b) got three point happy, accounting for virtually all of his misses -- you are 8-9 from inside the stripe Ron! Take it inside!; and c) for the first time I can remember, Ron did not shut down Melo, and even got beat by him for a critical hoop in the midst of our final minute chokefest. However, Ron was really REALLY good for the great majority of the night, damn near put up a triple double, shot efficiently, had 4 steals which felt like more, and generally dominated play...until it really mattered. So this is one of those times where I am thinking full "A" regardless. Came out of the gate firing on all cylinders and scoring at will. Slowed somewhat when the Nuggets matched Najera agianst him but was still the best player on the court for most of the night. When we had died off in the third, it was Ron who stepped back up to reignite us, at least for a while, and he hit a big three at the end of the third to push it back to a 10pt lead. Had Melo under control early, but almost as much through persistence as any brilliance, Melo eventually took off. Top game from Ron, but could not close the deal.
Moore ( B- ) -- active defensively and had two blocks early, but ended up spending a lot of time on the bench in the first half as the Nuggets went smallball against us. Picked it up in the third, blocked Melo on the break, had a throw down, and of course an overblown look-at-me squeal afterward. Not much on the glass on a night we got pounded in there, and late in the game was getting beat and making mistakes inside -- missing shots, offensive fouls, going into the post thinking he's Kareem etc. Throwback game for Mikki defensively -- when he was very young he used to block shots occasionally. Otherwise a pot on average Mikki game -- 11pts 5rebs against nobody in particular (the Nuggets were wihtout either of their PFs, Nene or Kenyon, and it was smallball or Najera all night.
Miller ( B+ ) -- early passing, and scored solidly from all parts of the floor. Looked very comfrortable all night, and while Camby was causing a lot of problems for the rest of the Kings, Brad seemed to largely ignore him. Which is not to say Brad beat him -- indeed Camby was the better player tonight and messed us up with his shotblocking. But it is to say that Brad and Camby seemed ot be on two different courts for much of the night, with Brad operating pretty freely and rarely directly confronting Camby, and Camby doing the same on the other end. Was our #2 scorer, but unfortunately like our #1 scorer disappeared in the 4th quarter. And in Brad's particular case had the additional aggravating factor of being one of the primary two choke artists (Beno the other) in the final seconds when he stepped to the line for 2 FTs to put us back up three, and choked them both, thus setting up Kleiza's gamewining shot, and completeing our collapse.
Salmons ( C ) -- and if Brad looked comfortable all night, John looked exactly the opposite. Out of rhythm, out of sorts, out of comfort on his way to a 5-17 shooting performance. In the early going hit a three, but then started forcing some other things, including an attempt to lay it up right in Camby's face, which just doesn't work. A major problem again for John tonight, as big shotblockers have been disrupting his tot he rim game with some frequency of late. But had a closing burst at the end of the second quarter, where he scored 5 pts in about 10 seconds on back to back fast breaks to finish with a respectable half. And while he wasn't doing anythign truly remarkable on the other end, it must be noted that Iverson was sucking right back the other direction, and John was, if not shutting him down, ertainly staying in the area to make him uncomfortable. Continued to have problems going inside in the second half -- had a LOT of blocks against him this game -- and at the end of the game Iverson sparked and got loose just in time to win it for the Nuggets.
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