Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( D ) -- decently active start, but led nowhere. Focus was not there, and was turning the ball over. And on defense...wow. Breaking point came in the third quarter when Stephen Jackson just went insane. And Peja gave him a huge assist by just completely ignoring him as he rocked our world with a ridiculous barrage of bombs from downtown. And Rick was STEAMED. Really disgusted. Immediately called a timeout, and at the next whistle all of a sudden Peja and Mike and Kevin were on the bench, never to return. Such an embarrassing little streak I almost dropped this into an F. But ignoring the defense (as Peja himself was) Peja was more not good than godawful, so will go with the yummy D. Woot. 
Thomas ( B- ) -- forgettable start. Nothing on the glass, embarassed himself trying to take it at J.O'Neal's chest a few times (did get bailed out on a B.S. foul call one time). Heart of a lion, brain of a barnacle sort of stuff as usual. But started off the second quarter with a burst against rookie Danny Granger, actually forcing the Pacers to call a timeout and get a real PF back in there against him. And as things completely fell apart, Kenny stayed in the game for a stretch as the only starter doing anything. For a stretch there our only offense was have Kenny cut, throw the ball in to him at the rim, and have him try to lay it in. Worked a number of times too. I almost hesitate to give him this grade given the garbage nature of the night, but I guess at least he did SOMETHING out there.
Miller ( D+ ) -- was doing a good job on the glass early, even against guys who are better boarders. But then completely stopped. Somehow managed to rack up 35min on this ugly night, and in the last 30 managed to grab one big ole sexy rebound. Exciting stuff. On offense he threw in a make here and there, but they were never comfortable. Unlike our friendly neighbors to the south, Indiana actually plays defense and rudely refused to let Brad just stand out there and shoot wide open jumpers from his favorite spots on the floor. Imagine that. Was less putrid than many of his mates, but really had no impact and as usual ended up playing a spectator to a parade of Pacers tearing down boards and exploding to the rim.
Martin ( F ) -- in the very early going made some almost but not quite hustle plays, but not much effect. Had a couple of calls go against him and then just totally completely disappeared. I mean, to such a degree I'm not even sure how to grade him. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he on the court? Was he in the building? If you told me he had stayed in the lockerroom at halftime on an extended bathroom break, I might have believed you. On a night when we were desperate for energy, one of the guys you might have thought would have it must have stayed up too late watching cheesy sci-fi channel movies or something, because he was just sleepwalking.
Bibby ( F ) -- my goodness. Just awful. One night its great, then awful, then great, then awful. Just have no idea what Mike's going to give you right now. There was this ever so brief moment in the first quarter where Mike was actually able to move his feet well enough to stay in front of Anthony Johnson (who is not exactly a dart), and I thought, whoa, maybe Mike's coming to play. Err...no. Looked almost ill out there, and terribly out of synch. Could not hit anything, and almost all of his shots were forced and off balance. Nothing in rhythm, and did I mention he looked ill? Maybe his world was spinning because that was the way he was playing PG. No control of the game at all as everybody just started hucking and chucking as things fell apart. Was making me sick too.
Hart ( C- ) -- first half actually came in and was solid. Hit his shots. But after being reinserted in the mid-third for the totally ineffective Mike, was back to the evil Hart -- forced shots and turned it over time and again. Had the occasional good defensive possession, but otherwise, last 15 minutes were pretty bad. Going to balance this grade between the pretty good early stint when it mattered and the not so pretty good bulk of the game. Common thread would be he continues to show no patience and terrible shot selection, but when he's hitting them, you live with it. When he's not...
Garcia ( C ) -- had one possession in the 2nd quarter where he grabbed two offensive rebounds to try to give us a shot in the arm with a brief burst of energy, but otherwise nothing in his first half stint. And in the second half he basically managed to play 18 straight minutes of garbagetime. Would be good for his development if he had shown much. But instead he kind of alternated one good play with two bad, and was making a case for earning himself a new nickname as the Human Turnover (or maybe just HTO
). As per usual, could not shoot, and its very much in his head now as one possession he will randomly dribble down and chuck up a terrible giveup shot, and the next he will pass up an open shot he has no confidence in making. In any case, did at least show energy moving up and down the court, and at the very end of the game combined with Ronnie Price for back to back steals and breakaways in a last, utterly futile, show of defiance. But did not help matters other than by playing like he might at least have cared.
Skinner ( B ) -- hey hey! Rick was paying attention and slipped Brian into the normal rotation in the early 2nd. (Actually, just remembered that Corliss was missing, so maybe Rick's hand was forced). In any case, Brian showed ok energy but limited effectiveness while the game was still on. And even though he returned very early in the 2nd half, 6 minutes into the third, by the time he got back on court the game was over. He might have been the best King tonight, and ever so briefly changed the momentum of a completely humiliating pull-down-your-pants-in-the-middle-of-Wal-Mart spanking by doing nothing more than contesting a few shots and running down defensive rebounds along the baseline (a skill apparently never encountered before by any other Sacramento King). But as with everything else tonight, it led nowhere, and while Brian continued to show decently the rest of the game, and he and Sampson together likely outrebounded the Pacers scrubs (including poor old Scot Pollard, who just looks finished), it was just irrelevant stuff with no effect on the scoreboard.
Price ( C+ ) -- got an early call at the end of the 2nd quarter as Rick dipped deep into the bench desperately looking for energy. It did not work, and Ronnie really was not heard from again until the very end of garbagetime when he went on a brief mini-run with a steal and a dunk. Nice burst, but even Ronnie just did not have any real spark tonight.
Sampson ( B- ) -- got his longest run of the season for all the wrong reasons. Game was totally and completely over by the 4th, and the two Rick's both cleared their benches. Jamaal grabbed some boards in there, although few of the difficult variety. Also hit a nice turnaround jumper from the right baseline late. He did fine, but no real argument for or against more PT based on this outing.
Adelman ( D ) -- This was ugly from the get go. We got off to a very sluggish start in which Rick surprisingly did not make any substitutions. And that was our good quarter. Down by 4 at the end of one, we were down by 21 by half, and Rick got so desperate looking for energy from someone, anyone, that he just threw Ronnie Price into the mix at the end of the half hoping against hope he could somehow spark the entire rest of the team. Wow. And within 6 minutes of the 2nd half getting underway, this one was officially over. We went from 4 down to 33(!) down in the space of 18 minutes. Nicely done. Rick had finally seen enough after Stephen Jackson was left open to drain three straight threes on us without anyone in white so much as putting up a whimper. So he just flat out pulled Peja, Bibby & Martin and said enough was enough. No energy, no life. No hope. And brought in Hart, Skinner and Garcia looking for, and briefly finding, hustle and boardwork. Pacers were caught napping expecting us just to give it to them and we cut the lead all the way down to a nip and tuck 27. woot! But then it was back to the slaughter, although we impressively took it to them over the final 18 minutes and managed to hold the lead right around the 30 mark rather than allowing them to stretch it to 66. Besides the mass benching in the third, which was VERY well deserved, and besides the aside of noting that Skinner was in the normal rotation tonight and acquitted himself well, albeit possibly only because Corliss was not with the team for some reason, this "effort" defies coaching analysis. There was absolutely nothing Rick did, or could have done, that would have had any significant effect on this outcome. This game was lost before we ever stepped on the floor. You would have thought we were on the road for the 4th game in 5 nights with all the energy and effort we managed to muster as a lovely sendoff gift for the fans at Arco. The team was completely unready to compete tonight. But I went ahead and bumped Rick's grade simply because, haters be damned, Rick was about the ONLY guy on the Kings side who I was sure DID care. That, and I liked the mass benching. Would have given him a + to go with it if he'd just walked down the sideline and given every single member of the Kings a good hard slap. Know I wanted to.
Thomas ( B- ) -- forgettable start. Nothing on the glass, embarassed himself trying to take it at J.O'Neal's chest a few times (did get bailed out on a B.S. foul call one time). Heart of a lion, brain of a barnacle sort of stuff as usual. But started off the second quarter with a burst against rookie Danny Granger, actually forcing the Pacers to call a timeout and get a real PF back in there against him. And as things completely fell apart, Kenny stayed in the game for a stretch as the only starter doing anything. For a stretch there our only offense was have Kenny cut, throw the ball in to him at the rim, and have him try to lay it in. Worked a number of times too. I almost hesitate to give him this grade given the garbage nature of the night, but I guess at least he did SOMETHING out there.
Miller ( D+ ) -- was doing a good job on the glass early, even against guys who are better boarders. But then completely stopped. Somehow managed to rack up 35min on this ugly night, and in the last 30 managed to grab one big ole sexy rebound. Exciting stuff. On offense he threw in a make here and there, but they were never comfortable. Unlike our friendly neighbors to the south, Indiana actually plays defense and rudely refused to let Brad just stand out there and shoot wide open jumpers from his favorite spots on the floor. Imagine that. Was less putrid than many of his mates, but really had no impact and as usual ended up playing a spectator to a parade of Pacers tearing down boards and exploding to the rim.
Martin ( F ) -- in the very early going made some almost but not quite hustle plays, but not much effect. Had a couple of calls go against him and then just totally completely disappeared. I mean, to such a degree I'm not even sure how to grade him. Where was he? What was he doing? Was he on the court? Was he in the building? If you told me he had stayed in the lockerroom at halftime on an extended bathroom break, I might have believed you. On a night when we were desperate for energy, one of the guys you might have thought would have it must have stayed up too late watching cheesy sci-fi channel movies or something, because he was just sleepwalking.
Bibby ( F ) -- my goodness. Just awful. One night its great, then awful, then great, then awful. Just have no idea what Mike's going to give you right now. There was this ever so brief moment in the first quarter where Mike was actually able to move his feet well enough to stay in front of Anthony Johnson (who is not exactly a dart), and I thought, whoa, maybe Mike's coming to play. Err...no. Looked almost ill out there, and terribly out of synch. Could not hit anything, and almost all of his shots were forced and off balance. Nothing in rhythm, and did I mention he looked ill? Maybe his world was spinning because that was the way he was playing PG. No control of the game at all as everybody just started hucking and chucking as things fell apart. Was making me sick too.
Hart ( C- ) -- first half actually came in and was solid. Hit his shots. But after being reinserted in the mid-third for the totally ineffective Mike, was back to the evil Hart -- forced shots and turned it over time and again. Had the occasional good defensive possession, but otherwise, last 15 minutes were pretty bad. Going to balance this grade between the pretty good early stint when it mattered and the not so pretty good bulk of the game. Common thread would be he continues to show no patience and terrible shot selection, but when he's hitting them, you live with it. When he's not...
Garcia ( C ) -- had one possession in the 2nd quarter where he grabbed two offensive rebounds to try to give us a shot in the arm with a brief burst of energy, but otherwise nothing in his first half stint. And in the second half he basically managed to play 18 straight minutes of garbagetime. Would be good for his development if he had shown much. But instead he kind of alternated one good play with two bad, and was making a case for earning himself a new nickname as the Human Turnover (or maybe just HTO
). As per usual, could not shoot, and its very much in his head now as one possession he will randomly dribble down and chuck up a terrible giveup shot, and the next he will pass up an open shot he has no confidence in making. In any case, did at least show energy moving up and down the court, and at the very end of the game combined with Ronnie Price for back to back steals and breakaways in a last, utterly futile, show of defiance. But did not help matters other than by playing like he might at least have cared.Skinner ( B ) -- hey hey! Rick was paying attention and slipped Brian into the normal rotation in the early 2nd. (Actually, just remembered that Corliss was missing, so maybe Rick's hand was forced). In any case, Brian showed ok energy but limited effectiveness while the game was still on. And even though he returned very early in the 2nd half, 6 minutes into the third, by the time he got back on court the game was over. He might have been the best King tonight, and ever so briefly changed the momentum of a completely humiliating pull-down-your-pants-in-the-middle-of-Wal-Mart spanking by doing nothing more than contesting a few shots and running down defensive rebounds along the baseline (a skill apparently never encountered before by any other Sacramento King). But as with everything else tonight, it led nowhere, and while Brian continued to show decently the rest of the game, and he and Sampson together likely outrebounded the Pacers scrubs (including poor old Scot Pollard, who just looks finished), it was just irrelevant stuff with no effect on the scoreboard.
Price ( C+ ) -- got an early call at the end of the 2nd quarter as Rick dipped deep into the bench desperately looking for energy. It did not work, and Ronnie really was not heard from again until the very end of garbagetime when he went on a brief mini-run with a steal and a dunk. Nice burst, but even Ronnie just did not have any real spark tonight.
Sampson ( B- ) -- got his longest run of the season for all the wrong reasons. Game was totally and completely over by the 4th, and the two Rick's both cleared their benches. Jamaal grabbed some boards in there, although few of the difficult variety. Also hit a nice turnaround jumper from the right baseline late. He did fine, but no real argument for or against more PT based on this outing.
Adelman ( D ) -- This was ugly from the get go. We got off to a very sluggish start in which Rick surprisingly did not make any substitutions. And that was our good quarter. Down by 4 at the end of one, we were down by 21 by half, and Rick got so desperate looking for energy from someone, anyone, that he just threw Ronnie Price into the mix at the end of the half hoping against hope he could somehow spark the entire rest of the team. Wow. And within 6 minutes of the 2nd half getting underway, this one was officially over. We went from 4 down to 33(!) down in the space of 18 minutes. Nicely done. Rick had finally seen enough after Stephen Jackson was left open to drain three straight threes on us without anyone in white so much as putting up a whimper. So he just flat out pulled Peja, Bibby & Martin and said enough was enough. No energy, no life. No hope. And brought in Hart, Skinner and Garcia looking for, and briefly finding, hustle and boardwork. Pacers were caught napping expecting us just to give it to them and we cut the lead all the way down to a nip and tuck 27. woot! But then it was back to the slaughter, although we impressively took it to them over the final 18 minutes and managed to hold the lead right around the 30 mark rather than allowing them to stretch it to 66. Besides the mass benching in the third, which was VERY well deserved, and besides the aside of noting that Skinner was in the normal rotation tonight and acquitted himself well, albeit possibly only because Corliss was not with the team for some reason, this "effort" defies coaching analysis. There was absolutely nothing Rick did, or could have done, that would have had any significant effect on this outcome. This game was lost before we ever stepped on the floor. You would have thought we were on the road for the 4th game in 5 nights with all the energy and effort we managed to muster as a lovely sendoff gift for the fans at Arco. The team was completely unready to compete tonight. But I went ahead and bumped Rick's grade simply because, haters be damned, Rick was about the ONLY guy on the Kings side who I was sure DID care. That, and I liked the mass benching. Would have given him a + to go with it if he'd just walked down the sideline and given every single member of the Kings a good hard slap. Know I wanted to.
Last edited:
