Boxscore
Stats: 36min 16pts (6-11, 1-1, 3-4) 10reb 4ast 4stl 3blk 2TO
Summary:what offense we got out of him was often forced tunnel vision isos, but legit work on the glass and effort (with mistakes) on D
Gay ( ) --
Stats: 13min 0pts (0-2, 0-0, 0-0) 3reb 0ast 0stl 3blk 0TO
Summary:limited productivity as usual, but came up with 3 huge inspiring blocks to goose our energy
Acy ( B ) -- part of this grade is that I really don't expect much out of Quincy as a starter. But part of it too is that the one thing he did do -- come up with those three huge blocks -- is kind of exactly why he is there in the first place. He's small and weak for the position. He is not terribly skilled. But he has passion and he can get off the ground, and so while Faried generally owned the matchup, 3 times, twice in the first half and once in the 3rd, Acy came up with BIG blocks to help energize the team. Wasn't doing enough else to justify more minutes, but basically did his job as a boost of energy to keep us from sluggish starts.
Stats: 36min 39pts (14-24, 2-2, 9-12) 9reb 2ast 1stl 2blk 3TO
Summary:really wanted this one, spectacular takes throughout, one rough patch int eh 4th, then carried us home on both sides of ball
Cousins ( A ) -- well I'm sure there was something to complain about here because its what we do -- hey, he did not break double figures in boards, the wretch! -- but he beat the hell out of every Nugget they threw in front of him again. He had a number of truly spectacular drives and posts in this one, and in the early going was incredibly efficient as everything fell. Then he came out in the third and blitzed the Nuggets with threes and jumpers, and if we weren't the Kings, the commanding lead we built should have been enough to carry us on home. But no, not our franchise. By the time Cuz returned in the 4th the lead was almost gone, and for the first few minutes of his stint he started missing bunnies too. But in the final minutes not only did he carry us offensively, but he made two huge defensive plays in the final minute, first up top straight picking a PG (DJ Augustin) ala Tyreke and rumbling the other way, getting to the line, and hitting both FTs. Then after a play when he may have made a defensive mistake (of sorts, Denver's center Jokic hit a three to cut the lead to 1, and somehow Collison ended up setting a moving screen on Boogie keeping him from even challenging), he came back on the final defensive play of the game and again stole the ball (potentially a foul) when they tried to pass it to Darrel Arthur under the hoop. He wanted the win badly. As usual we needed everything he could give to make it happen.
Stats: 13min 7pts (3-4, 1-2, 0-0) 1reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Summary:started the game with one notably active and obvious defensive possession up top vs. Mudiay, hit a few useful shots in early 3rd
McLemore ( C+ ) -- on the very first play of the game Ben came out and defended the hell out of Mudiay up top like he was trying to prove a point. That did not last however, and soon his first stint devolved into sloppiness as he forced things his talent would not allow and repeatedly turned it over. He still got the 3rd quarter start, and actually hit a couple of good shots for us in his second stint, but never returned. My best explanation for why is that the Nuggets were running almost a 2-PG set with Augustin and Barton, and Ben, who had been checking Mudiay, was maybe not seen as a good defensive match for either.
Stats: 31min 4pts (2-6, 0-1, 0-0) 5reb 12ast 1stl 1blk 4TO
Summary: not terribly effective on the night on either end, and some shaky shoot/pass decisionmaking
Rondo ( C ) -- accumulated assists as the game went on, but you barely noticed he was out there half the time, and when you did it was when he made a too risky pass or a dubious attempt at a flip finish inside rather than kicking it out. Got beat repeatedly by Augustin too in the late going when things got tight. After a near 24pt triple double vs. the same team 4 nights before, who knows? Just shy of actively hurting us, but we got no push from any of our guards.
Bench
Stats: 23min 10pts (4-7, 0-0, 2-2) 5reb 1ast 1stl 2blk 0TO
Cauley-Stein ( ) --
Stats: 32min 9pts (3-7, 0-2, 3-4) 4reb 5ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Collison ( ) --
Stats: 23min 14pts (4-6, 2-4, 4-6) 9reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Casspi ( B- ) -- despite the good numbers I was never fully convinced he was really helping us out there. Seeemed sluggish and got beat repeatedly on D. On the other hand in his first half stint he finally got the shooting stroke going agains knocked down several threes and had a big +/-. That faded after half though, and a key to pulling this one out may have been when Karl finally decided to reinsert Willie in the 4th to restore our defense.
Stats: 12min 6pts (3-4, 0-0, 0-0) 4reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 0TO
Koufos ( B ) -- actually gave us a solid game in limited minutes behind Cuz. Was efficient with his little hook, and did not have the defensive issues he did last time out. We needed Cuz, always need Cuz, but Kosta tried to buy us time.
Stats: 20min 9pts (4-12, 1-3, 0-0) 0reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Belinelli ( ) --
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