[Grades] Grades v. Pistons 1/1/2013

[Kingster]

Geez I wish Garcia and Hayes were better. They are the type of personalities that if they led by example and vocally the team would be better off than it is now. Right now you have leaders who aren't very good at their jobs.

Thomas is pretty good and he is the leader.

 

[gatoradeSD]

A PG coming up the floor, surveying the defense, going through play checkdowns, and finally passing it off to start a play, in crunchtime no less, is entirely a different thing froma guy wasting those seconds trying to get his own shot off. As you know well of course. Doesn't mean that Brooks is terribly good at that, but he was merely performing his job.

Because here is the alternate explanation for the Jimmer "immense scrutiny not applies to andybody else": its applies to everybody else. But everybody else doesn't have a following willing to dispute any perceived slight to the object of their affection. If I had made a similar remark about Marcus Thornton, suffice it to say the current discusssion is not being had. I didn't see people leaping to Travis Outlaw's defense. Or Aaron Brooks'. But no, not Jimmer!!

Sometimes it can be like trying to tell a 14yr old girl that Justin Bieber has bad breath.

all Im gonna say is without Jimmer on the floor at the end, we lose by more than 10. Not sure how you criticize the only guy making shots...

 

[ppine]

I did not see the whole Detroit game due to the Rose Bowl, but I did have one strong positive impression. On a night when the Kings shot poorly, got outrebounded and had a sluggish offense, they closed the gap at the end, and had a chance to win in the final couple of minutes. That is a positive step and deserves some recognition more than who got how many minutes. I agree that Smart leaves second team players on the floor too long. Last night's subs were hard to understand.

The NBA plays a lot of games and many teams sort of coast along until the fourth quarter. Teams do it to the Kings all the time. Last night the Kings almost did it to the Pistons and that gives me a glimmer of hope. It is hard to say why we all still care about this team.

 

[jcwkings]

I went back and relooked at 12 of the 18 second half minutes Jimmer got. The final 6:19 of the third quarter, from when he entered the game until the end fo the quarter. And then the final 6 minutes of the game. I would have done the intervening 6 minutes as well, but I had time issue of muy own. I mapped out everytime Jimmer touched the ball, how long he had it, and the end result.

here's what we got:

Third quarter
6:19 Jimmer enters
5:47-5:40 (7 seconds) jimmer gets the ball, dribbles aroudn for 7 seconds. we TO
5:22-5:18 (4 seconds) jimmer advances the ball on the break and passes to Cuz. Cuz scores.
4:37-4:37 (1 second) offensvie rebound follow, mises shot, we get off foul
3:06-3:04 (2 seconds) passes, we miss shot
:47-:46 (1 seconds) shoots, Cuz tip slam follow

Fourth quarter (second half of it)
6:22 = when I started mapping again
5:38-5:36 (2 seconds) shoots+hits three
4:59-4:55 (4 seconds) drivbes and fouled+hits 2 FTs
3:07-3:07 (1 second) catch and shoot three
-------------------------------------<--- beyond this point we score 4 pts. 1 forced FG, 2 forced FTs.
2:37-2:31 (6 seconds) series of moves for tough flip in trafic, hits
1:51-1:43 (8 seconds) dribbles aroudn in circles looking for opening, foreced to pass, we get 24sec violation
5:38-5:36 (3 seconds) drive and tough floater in traffic, ignored JT ont he pass

Now, we had exactly 1 assist in the final 6 minutes, and that was Brooks hitting Jimmer for that 3ptr at 3:07. Otherwise the passing dried up. Our playing style changed. And when I say Jimmer went into hero mode its because he did. He did the same thing a couple of weeks back during Isaiah's big second half. Look at his possessions for the rest of the half, and make them or miss them they are quick hitters. Quick decisions. Catch and shoots, whatever. Now you watch his possessions down the stretch and all of a sudden it changes. All of a sudden he catches the ball, and its not a quick hitter. Its not a shot if open a pass if not. Intead its Jimmer as hero, dribbling around looking for a way to force something up. Hit or miss its low percentage ball stopping. And it contributes, does not solely cause, but contributes to the entire offense falling out of rhythm.

Not about Jimmer vs. world or Jimmer vs. detractors. About Jimmer vs. himself. There was good Jimmer knocking down shots in rhythm as soon as he caught the ball. And then there was bad Jimmer, dribbling around like a chicken with its head cut off looking for ways to hear the roar of the crowd. Same jersey, different game and effect on the team. And of course the timing of the appearance of headless Jimmer was not accidental. Hero ball. Trying to win it himself. His first possession of the second half looked like that. His last 3 all looked like that (ignoring the desperation duck and under three at the buzzer). None of the stuff inbetween did. Small sample size of course, but for what its worth we scored on 5 of 7 possessions when good Jimmer made quick decisions to shoot or pass. We only scored on 1 of 4 where bad Jimmer was looking for himself, and that score was on a tough tough shot.

Wow this is beyond unnecessary and pathetic. Jimmer was a key reason we even were in the game. I hope you do the same thing on a night when cousins is throwing up garbage fadeaway jumpers and is getting his weak flips to the rim blocked left and right.