[Grades] Grades v. Pistons 11/11/2015

[notoriousBEN3]

No disrespect to Anderson, i think he did a solid job defensively and he did hit a nice 3, but lack of wing scoring looked like such a glaring weakness to me last night. We were really sharing the ball well, Rondo was amazing at setting guys up, but we need more balanced scoring and some wing threats to really keep the D from crowding the paint.

It's such a shame Ben hasn't taken the step forward like a lot of us had hoped. He has the size, the defensive potential, and the 3 point stroke to be exactly what we need, but he clearly just isn't putting it together right now. It seems like we really need a 3 pt threat playing next to Rondo. It's another threat for him to dish to when he has the ball in his hands. It makes a lot of sense to me that he had his best years with the Celtic's playing next to Ray Allen (and of course the other offensive threats on the C's back in the day).

Personally, i'm pulling for Ben. I don't know what needs to change for him to make that leap, but getting him to play the role we need him to play would really help this team take a major step forward.

 

[VF21]

I had to pull this out so I could give it its own like:

Stats: 48min 14pts (6-16, 1-2, 1-2) 11reb 15ast 3stl 0blk 5TO
Summary: And there it was. Why we brought him here. A third star and floor general to control the game.
Rondo ( A+ ) -- I should leave it right there. Just one brilliant display of skill. Second triple-double within a week!!! Rajon was playing his second consecutive 48 minute game and you just could not see any sign of stress on his face. I liked his overall demeanor displaying ice cold reading of the situation all the way down. Rajon is simply a world class passer. His 5 TO's are actually not his fault. He just passes the ball so cleverly that his teammates are not alert enough to catch them. In the second quarter, Rudy missed an alley-oop pass that would have made it a top highlite-reeler. Rajon makes a lot of bounce, no-look and behind the back passes that requires the players to be in focus every second. One of the behind the back passes, to WCS, was lost because of Rajon, because a Pistons player (Drummond, I believe) got his hands in between. Omri missed an easy layup when he was sure that Rajon is going to score (the one that would have given him the double-double). DMC and WCS are getting the grip of it and Willie tipped in a real beauty in the beginning of the game. Kosta Koufos is still the odd man out and needs the ball straight into his lap to catch it. He can't deal with Rondo's bounce passes, pity. Rajon's court view and understanding of the game situation are fantastic. So, passing is definitively his bread and butter. However, he seems to be able to penetrate to the hoop at will and score without being deflected. His acceleration just opens the defense so easily. His not a great shooter, but he does hit the 3-pointer. The unsung story, however, is his rebounding. He is short and not atletic, but seems to always anticipate the point where he grabs the rebound. In a team with DMC and Kosta, he and Omri shared the top rebound score (11)! Rajon had a major part in this win and I believe that he will be the one to get all the Kings involved. --Kingston

There's a reason I called him "Rajon TERMINATOR Rondo" in the "any questions" thread. Rondo has ice-water in his veins when things need to get cooled down. He did his job, made sure others were in the right spot to do their jobs, and helped keep our franchise player on track. He sees the court with the eyes of a cyborg and he processes information at unbelievable speed.

Rajon Rondo may well end up being the best acquisition this franchise has made in the last decade. (Not including draft picks.) I knew the potential was there and I never bought into the idea that we would be seeing anyone other than the Rondo who was so amazing in Boston BUT even I didn't think he'd be this good. This guy is the ultimate Robin.

 

[celtics33]

I had to pull this out so I could give it its own like:



There's a reason I called him "Rajon TERMINATOR Rondo" in the "any questions" thread. Rondo has ice-water in his veins when things need to get cooled down. He did his job, made sure others were in the right spot to do their jobs, and helped keep our franchise player on track. He sees the court with the eyes of a cyborg and he processes information at unbelievable speed.

Rajon Rondo may well end up being the best acquisition this franchise has made in the last decade. (Not including draft picks.) I knew the potential was there and I never bought into the idea that we would be seeing anyone other than the Rondo who was so amazing in Boston BUT even I didn't think he'd be this good. This guy is the ultimate Robin.

More to come, VF... trust me... way more.

 

[jalfa]

happy to see that I wasn't the only one not mad at Anderson. thought that his defense, specifically in the first half, was excellent. there's no real need for him to contribute offensively, as long as we have the rest of the team is clicking and if he keeps doing as good a job of bottling up players on the other end (Jackson really couldn't get off a shot against him in the first half), I'm fine with him as the short-term answer at SG.

 

[dude12]

happy to see that I wasn't the only one not mad at Anderson. thought that his defense, specifically in the first half, was excellent. there's no real need for him to contribute offensively, as long as we have the rest of the team is clicking and if he keeps doing as good a job of bottling up players on the other end (Jackson really couldn't get off a shot against him in the first half), I'm fine with him as the short-term answer at PG.

Yep....Karl said the key was to stop Drummond and Jackson. Anderson worked his tail off and was key in Jackson having a below standard game. Offensively, he needs to take that 3 that he passed up several times. Defensively though, he put in work.

 

[Iced Espresso]

Not sure what you were watching. Look, I hardly think that Anderson is any kind of long term answer, but last night in the first quarter he switched onto Reggie Jackson and Jackson couldn't get a shot off. So he did a great job defensively on Jackson. Offensively, he's pretty much a zero at this point, but you have to give him credit for what he does right.

Well the fella who called him garbage may need the better view than myself. I said I'd have to examine his defense closer before I made such a claim.

 

[Livinthedream]

Well the fella who called him garbage may need the better view than myself. I said I'd have to examine his defense closer before I made such a claim.

Ok. That fella says Anderson is really good. Glad we picked him up. Solidifies the team.

 

[Iced Espresso]

Ok. That fella says Anderson is really good. Glad we picked him up. Solidifies the team.

LOL. apparently you watched the game well enough to call him garbage, but saying I would have to closely watch his defensive play = I don't know what game I was watching, so sure he's really good, steal of the off season.

 

[jcwkings]

I thought Anderson and our interior bigs were key in stopping Jackson. WCS switching and Cuz and Koufos contesting inside.

 

[Livinthedream]

LOL. apparently you watched the game well enough to call him garbage, but saying I would have to closely watch his defensive play = I don't know what game I was watching, so sure he's really good, steal of the off season.

I respect the fact that you want to look it over again. No problems with that or how you interpret it.

I didn't record the game, so I am going from memory. What I saw out of Reggie Jackson was that he was trying to run a pick and roll play several times at the top of the key. It was being set up because Anderson was trying to fight over the top of the screen, but the screener wasn't rolling. Jackson was getting frustrated with that. Anderson wasn't definitely staying with Jackson, but he wasn't shutting him down. Detroit wasn't executing the play as Jackson wanted it. I can say that part of the poor execution on the pick and roll was also the result of how the Kings play defense. They collapse everyone into the paint on a drive. So there was a lot of traffic. Detroit changed their strategy to a drive and kick instead. Which is when Tolliver started hitting his threes. Jackson got by Anderson and any other Kings defender whenever he felt like it. It's not a knock on Anderson, because that is what Jackson does.

My garbage comment was a general one. It wasn't to say you didn't see what you saw or to challenge you necessarily. I said this because in the off season, it was pretty much stated that we needed a SG who could score about 14ppg and shoot 38% from three and play some defense. This was absolutely critical in a lot of peoples minds. We are now starting Anderson who is shooting 28% overall, averaging 3ppg and is an average defender. I'm not giving him a pass on that at all and accepting that it's ok. It's not. I'm not going to debate the other guard because his career here is done. Anderson is what we have and his performances are not acceptable as I see it.

 

[King Baller]

Look at Anderson's game this way. Because he was able to defend Reggie Jackson it allowed Rondo to defend Caldwell-Pope which used less energy IMO. This allowed Rondo to focus on the Offensive end which is what everyone is praising.

This brings to mind Rondo's comment of "not playing defense" the last couple of years that everyone jumped on to use to bash Rondo earlier this season. What Rondo meant is that in Boston Avery Bradley checked the other teams biggest guard threat. In this game Anderson played the Bradley role.

 

[pshn80]

Another small Anderson matter is that he was part of a 5 man team that held the Pistons in check long enough to allow the Kings to build a significant lead. And in the off season Anderson was not the end-all pick at SG, Bellinelli was. Anderson is doing just what we picked him for. So let's see how it goes.

 

[Livinthedream]

Anderson only played 17 min. We still managed to hold off Detroit for the rest of the game. Jackson was still their leading scorer. The whole Detroit team shot poorly on the 4th game of a 6 game road trip. Make of it what you will. But it sounds like we're excusing Anderson's poor play. Looking for any glimmer of hope that he's the guy we need. But like I've said before, Cousins and Gay make this thing go. They don't go off against Detroit and score like they did along with Rondo's triple double, Anderson's D isn't saving us and neither is his 3ppg.

Anderson may even have a good scoring game against the lowly Nets, but he's going to have to show a little more on a consistent basis before I start giving him credit for locking down a team.

 

[pshn80]

Anderson only played 17 min. We still managed to hold off Detroit for the rest of the game. Jackson was still their leading scorer. The whole Detroit team shot poorly on the 4th game of a 6 game road trip. Make of it what you will. But it sounds like we're excusing Anderson's poor play. Looking for any glimmer of hope that he's the guy we need. But like I've said before, Cousins and Gay make this thing go. They don't go off against Detroit and score like they did along with Rondo's triple double, Anderson's D isn't saving us and neither is his 3ppg.

Anderson may even have a good scoring game against the lowly Nets, but he's going to have to show a little more on a consistent basis before I start giving him credit for locking down a team.

We won the game and tha gos along way Anderson and the rest.