Peja ( D ) -- at the end of the first half, the numbers looked pretty good, especially in comparison to the rest of the team. But if you watched it, was that really a good half for Peja? No, not really. Most of his points came inside when every once in a while one of hsi teammates would wake up and make a nice pass. But on the perimeter he was heavily harassed, not so much just by Prince, but by attentive Detroit defense -- always somebdoy running at him, clapping their hands, doubles, soft doubles, never really free and had him constantly looking distracted + throwing up some real ugly chucks at times. And in the second half what little life he had shown disappeared completely and he kind of left the arena with his tail between his legs. Tells you all you need to know, that in the final few minutes I noticed Tayshaun switched off over onto Bibby several times rather than Peja so as to guard the actual dangerous player. Had an ok 3 rebounds in the first half, but in the second was repeatedly beat for offensive boards by various Pistons. Defense on Prince was spotty. Sometimes strong, sometimes not there, and of course was a non factor once the ball went inside. I wasn't sure at the beginning of the year, but now its official that you can add Prince to the list of guys, that let's face it, are better on defense than Peja is on offense.
Thomas ( B- ) -- got off to a very slow start, but in the latter half of the second quarter at least began helping on the defensive glass, and was pretty much it for us on the boards tonight. Had problems with Big Ben powering through him for layups at the rim, and could not contain him ont he glass late in the game either. Just too big. Had difficulties with the other Pistons big men shooting over him as well, but fared better in that regards than did Corliss or Darius. Overall looked undersized against the size/athleticism/toughness of the Pistons front line, but tough enough to hang in there on the boards and was our most legitimate "big" man of the night.
Songaila ( D+ ) -- hustled his way to some early points, but generally looked undersized, understrengthed, and terribly pasty in there against the long Pistons PFs. Got badly victimized by Mcdyess and Sheed in the post, and began picking up fouls as the game went along. Never was able to show at all on the glass. Fouled out at an unfortunate point, giving the ball back to the Pistons when we had a chance to cut the lead to 5 or 6. But I didn't mind the foul itself -- he turned into a pick to flatten Lindsey Hunter. Kings could use more of that. Just earlier in the game rather than as a turnover in the final 5 minutes while we're trying to catch up. Overall Darius's limitations were on full display tonight, while his strengths rarely were a factor. Think he only hit one jumper all night, and the only pass I recall was a terrible turnover that had no chance.
Mobley ( D ) -- made a few nice passes in the first half, but generally very very quiet. Came to life briefly in the late second and early third, and might have been the best/most forceful offensive option we had for those minutes, as he worked almost exclusively in the post against Rip Hamilton and caused a few problems doing so. But then he just abruptly disappeared, never to be heard from again. On the other end of the floor, pretty invisible. Rip had a big game, and while it wasn't because Cat was terrible on defense, he certainly didn't do much of anything to impede him. The total yang to the yin of the Philly game. Uninspired, and uninspiring.
Bibby ( B+ ) -- grade kept on creeping up as the game went along. This was nowhere near the dominant Bibby performances of last month, but it was the closest he's been in a long while. We were dead in the water, and Mike really stepped forward to try to carry us back into it int he second half. Still a bit of a struggle throughout, and he was having to work very hard for everything. But at least he showed. May have really benefitted from chauncey Billups being an idiot and getting himself thrown out, as Mike's resurgence pretty much coincided with Chauncey's meltdown, and the resulting insertion of Lindsey Hunter. Not only carried what little offense we had, but also was uncommonly pesky on defense, repeatedly reaching in to poke balls away up top. Scrappy hardworking effort actually felt lackluster enough to maybe be a "B". But as our only hope tonight, thought he deserved a little extra sugar.
Evans ( C+ ) -- pretty active in a game when nobody else was for us, but not consistently effective. Was in there fighting for a lot of boards and loose balls, but seemed to lose most of those battles. Given the games Cat and Peja had, I wouldn't have minded seeing some more time for Mo, not that he was great himself.
Williamson ( C+ ) -- Unfiortunately put up small forward numbers on a night when he was playing a lot of center -- must have felt like college for him. College in the land of the giants.
Scored decently, and was one of our few even reasonably effective players on that end of the floor. But on the other end of the floor was vicitimized along with Darius by the much taller/longer Sheed and McDyess who just killed us inside. Not really Corliss' fault -- he can NOT play center or even effective defensive PF. But that's where he lined up. And while he was in his men crushed him on the glass and in the post.
House ( INC ) -- interesting -- had a very brief first half stint, did nothing in it, and sat on the bench until the final minute of the game. Felt very much like 2-3 weeks ago before House started playing well and we decided to try to get Mike some rest. Like his recent solid performances did not matter. Of course Mike was the only guy keeping us in this one, so maybe the solution is that simple.
Ostertag ( C ) -- was briefly able to give us a little big man work, but unable to sustain. And where McDyess and Sheed were pummeling our mini-frontline in the post before Tag entered the game, after he came in they just stepped out and started knocking down 15 footers out of reach of his long arms. Made some subtle difference in the Pistons attack, as they stayed out on he perimeter while he was in there. Wish he had gotten some more minutes, and earlier, so we could have seen what he might have been able to contribute. I'm sure the excuse this time was we weren't scoring so we couldn't sub in a non-scorer, but it never seems to occur to Rick that if we aren't scoring anyway, maybe we should try to stop the OTHER guys from scoring as well?
Martin ( INC ) -- garbagetime
Daniels ( INC ) -- garbagetime
Billups ( B+ ) -- gave us our most hopeful moment of the game but randomly getting his *** thrown out of the game at the end of the first half. Thanks for being an idiot, see ya later! Since it led to nothing special, and Hunter palyed pretty well for Lindesy Hunter, only gets the B+ ratehr than the A.
Heard ( B ) -- really pisses me off. If Gar Heard is an NBA coach, then so am I, so where the hell is my $500,000 salary? Shaky command of the game at best. Made an idiotic move mysteriously inserting the decrepit Elden Campbell into the game with 2 minutes to go in the first half, signifciantly aiding our brief comeback. Unfortunately learned his lesson and wised up in the second. Maybe Larry gave him a call at halftime to inform him that if he continued to be a jackass he would be out of work tommorow.
Adelman ( D ) -- ugly lackluster game in which our only burst of life was pretty much handed to us by Detroit, and we did nothing with it. Was hoping that the finish of the second quarter would carry over to a more inspired second half, but no such luck. Back to being flat again. And I have two words for you: Small Ball!!! It appears Tag's fumbleitis last game has pinned him back to the bench -- the problem with Rick's doghouse is that its like herpes -- it comes back very easily. So not only did we not start Tag with Skinner out, we didn't even PLAY him until 10 seconds were left in the third quarter. Darius = starting center, and basically CORLISS was the backup center! And the not surprising result is that we got dominated inside yet one more time. Oh yay! On offense (yes we actually did play it a little) we were getting nothing in the halfcourt -- seemed like all of our scores were off of fastbreaks and scramble plays. And aside from Mike, and maybe a little bit from Corliss wanting to say hi to his old team, there was not a single inspired effort from the whole team. And that includes Rick. Not only starting a small ball lineup against a toughguy frontline. But also playing the totally ineffective Mobley and Peja 40 and 38 minutes respectively and choosing to go even SMALLER off the bench by bringing in Corliss to be our third "big man" rather than Tag. It was embarassing out there as the Pistons OG and SF could have eatenn dinner off of the tops of our "PF and C"'s heads. Combined with the utterly flat performances out of the gate, and then again in the third, not one for Rick's scrapbook.
Thomas ( B- ) -- got off to a very slow start, but in the latter half of the second quarter at least began helping on the defensive glass, and was pretty much it for us on the boards tonight. Had problems with Big Ben powering through him for layups at the rim, and could not contain him ont he glass late in the game either. Just too big. Had difficulties with the other Pistons big men shooting over him as well, but fared better in that regards than did Corliss or Darius. Overall looked undersized against the size/athleticism/toughness of the Pistons front line, but tough enough to hang in there on the boards and was our most legitimate "big" man of the night.
Songaila ( D+ ) -- hustled his way to some early points, but generally looked undersized, understrengthed, and terribly pasty in there against the long Pistons PFs. Got badly victimized by Mcdyess and Sheed in the post, and began picking up fouls as the game went along. Never was able to show at all on the glass. Fouled out at an unfortunate point, giving the ball back to the Pistons when we had a chance to cut the lead to 5 or 6. But I didn't mind the foul itself -- he turned into a pick to flatten Lindsey Hunter. Kings could use more of that. Just earlier in the game rather than as a turnover in the final 5 minutes while we're trying to catch up. Overall Darius's limitations were on full display tonight, while his strengths rarely were a factor. Think he only hit one jumper all night, and the only pass I recall was a terrible turnover that had no chance.
Mobley ( D ) -- made a few nice passes in the first half, but generally very very quiet. Came to life briefly in the late second and early third, and might have been the best/most forceful offensive option we had for those minutes, as he worked almost exclusively in the post against Rip Hamilton and caused a few problems doing so. But then he just abruptly disappeared, never to be heard from again. On the other end of the floor, pretty invisible. Rip had a big game, and while it wasn't because Cat was terrible on defense, he certainly didn't do much of anything to impede him. The total yang to the yin of the Philly game. Uninspired, and uninspiring.
Bibby ( B+ ) -- grade kept on creeping up as the game went along. This was nowhere near the dominant Bibby performances of last month, but it was the closest he's been in a long while. We were dead in the water, and Mike really stepped forward to try to carry us back into it int he second half. Still a bit of a struggle throughout, and he was having to work very hard for everything. But at least he showed. May have really benefitted from chauncey Billups being an idiot and getting himself thrown out, as Mike's resurgence pretty much coincided with Chauncey's meltdown, and the resulting insertion of Lindsey Hunter. Not only carried what little offense we had, but also was uncommonly pesky on defense, repeatedly reaching in to poke balls away up top. Scrappy hardworking effort actually felt lackluster enough to maybe be a "B". But as our only hope tonight, thought he deserved a little extra sugar.
Evans ( C+ ) -- pretty active in a game when nobody else was for us, but not consistently effective. Was in there fighting for a lot of boards and loose balls, but seemed to lose most of those battles. Given the games Cat and Peja had, I wouldn't have minded seeing some more time for Mo, not that he was great himself.
Williamson ( C+ ) -- Unfiortunately put up small forward numbers on a night when he was playing a lot of center -- must have felt like college for him. College in the land of the giants.
Scored decently, and was one of our few even reasonably effective players on that end of the floor. But on the other end of the floor was vicitimized along with Darius by the much taller/longer Sheed and McDyess who just killed us inside. Not really Corliss' fault -- he can NOT play center or even effective defensive PF. But that's where he lined up. And while he was in his men crushed him on the glass and in the post.House ( INC ) -- interesting -- had a very brief first half stint, did nothing in it, and sat on the bench until the final minute of the game. Felt very much like 2-3 weeks ago before House started playing well and we decided to try to get Mike some rest. Like his recent solid performances did not matter. Of course Mike was the only guy keeping us in this one, so maybe the solution is that simple.
Ostertag ( C ) -- was briefly able to give us a little big man work, but unable to sustain. And where McDyess and Sheed were pummeling our mini-frontline in the post before Tag entered the game, after he came in they just stepped out and started knocking down 15 footers out of reach of his long arms. Made some subtle difference in the Pistons attack, as they stayed out on he perimeter while he was in there. Wish he had gotten some more minutes, and earlier, so we could have seen what he might have been able to contribute. I'm sure the excuse this time was we weren't scoring so we couldn't sub in a non-scorer, but it never seems to occur to Rick that if we aren't scoring anyway, maybe we should try to stop the OTHER guys from scoring as well?
Martin ( INC ) -- garbagetime
Daniels ( INC ) -- garbagetime
Billups ( B+ ) -- gave us our most hopeful moment of the game but randomly getting his *** thrown out of the game at the end of the first half. Thanks for being an idiot, see ya later! Since it led to nothing special, and Hunter palyed pretty well for Lindesy Hunter, only gets the B+ ratehr than the A.
Heard ( B ) -- really pisses me off. If Gar Heard is an NBA coach, then so am I, so where the hell is my $500,000 salary? Shaky command of the game at best. Made an idiotic move mysteriously inserting the decrepit Elden Campbell into the game with 2 minutes to go in the first half, signifciantly aiding our brief comeback. Unfortunately learned his lesson and wised up in the second. Maybe Larry gave him a call at halftime to inform him that if he continued to be a jackass he would be out of work tommorow.
Adelman ( D ) -- ugly lackluster game in which our only burst of life was pretty much handed to us by Detroit, and we did nothing with it. Was hoping that the finish of the second quarter would carry over to a more inspired second half, but no such luck. Back to being flat again. And I have two words for you: Small Ball!!! It appears Tag's fumbleitis last game has pinned him back to the bench -- the problem with Rick's doghouse is that its like herpes -- it comes back very easily. So not only did we not start Tag with Skinner out, we didn't even PLAY him until 10 seconds were left in the third quarter. Darius = starting center, and basically CORLISS was the backup center!
And the not surprising result is that we got dominated inside yet one more time. Oh yay! On offense (yes we actually did play it a little) we were getting nothing in the halfcourt -- seemed like all of our scores were off of fastbreaks and scramble plays. And aside from Mike, and maybe a little bit from Corliss wanting to say hi to his old team, there was not a single inspired effort from the whole team. And that includes Rick. Not only starting a small ball lineup against a toughguy frontline. But also playing the totally ineffective Mobley and Peja 40 and 38 minutes respectively and choosing to go even SMALLER off the bench by bringing in Corliss to be our third "big man" rather than Tag. It was embarassing out there as the Pistons OG and SF could have eatenn dinner off of the tops of our "PF and C"'s heads. Combined with the utterly flat performances out of the gate, and then again in the third, not one for Rick's scrapbook.
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