Grades v. Pistons 11/18

[Bricklayer]

So in lieu of anything topical tonight, going to go with a theme suggested last season by someone: Famous TV/Movie Cars

Pretty exciting huh?

Artest ( B- ) -- kind of fell asleep on Prince in the first quarter, and Tay smoothly racked up a dozen points. Hit a couple of open threes coutesy of Cisco and Beno in the second, and took real advanatge of Sheed when Flip mysteriously went to that matchup, and stayed with it, for a long stretch in the second quarter. Defended the post well, and took Sheed off the dribble, but of course gave nothing on the glass. Nothing much in the third, and got a little gambly in there on defense late, sacrificing position to go for steals on several occasions and letting guys get past him. Helped save our bacon with a big defensive play in the final minute defending the break after we had turned it over yet again and were trying to let the Pistons right back in it. Continues to be an important cog for running our offense now, as he can pass once he draws attention rather than just out on the break or whatnot. Nowehere near a top end game for Ron, but gets the half grade bump for that big save at the end.

KITT -- you know the best part of this annoying talking tin can from the 80's Knight Rider series? It give me an excuse to also post this pic of its driver:

Enjoy!

Moore ( A- ) -- hit a couple of open jumpers in the early going, and later on got a pair of atheltic dunks off of nice feeds from Beno. Also grabbed a lot of rebounds tonight, including a series of swoops to the offensive glass against the flat footed Pistons. I'm not even sure I remember a major fumble by him. So there you have it -- you have just seen high end Mikki Moore in action. Awe-inspiring is it not?

The General Lee -- you know the best part about posting a pic of this muscle car from the Dukes of Hazard is? It gives me a chance to post THIS pic:

Hey, you know how this works -- any excuse, to post a pic of a pretty girl, right? Oh, ok. I'll stop. Maybe.

 

[Bricklayer]

Miller ( B+ ) -- hit Kevin for several early layups, and his feeds were the largest source for Kevin's offense tongiht. Was missing his own shots though, including blowing several layups. Battled inside, but to little effect. Finally got some shots to go late in the game, and finished with a respectable 15 pts (respectable if you ignore the 3-11 it took to get them). could nto stop Sheed inside, but had no problems wiht the vastly undersized Jason Maxiel, who is stubby even for a PF and played a terrible game.

Herbie -- here's a question for you: How come nobody has made a movie called Herbie Must Die yet?

Martin ( C+ ) -- started the game very aggressive, working well with Brad early, and was really gunning. Did better on his open shots than when he tried to beat his guy one on one. Finsihed with 7 first quarter shots, and two more trips to the line. But began to struggle and grow quiet in the second. Had a nifty midair ctach and hit on an off target alley opp type pass from Beno in the third. Can only do that with major hangtime. But, it was another quiet quarter, and he just started missing everything down the stretch unitl stepping up to hit a single contested three with about 4-5 minutes to go. Missed a wide open one am minue or two later. And again the question about whether maybe the legs go in the late game with all the minutes he plays. Did do some other things out there, making some good passes and quietly grabbing rebounds. Might want to ask Reggie why a h had a possibly tired off guard play a ton of minutes again (43) on a night when he shot 6-17. And of those 6-17, 3 were perfect layup setups by Brad, adn 1 was the alley oop type pass from Beno. So that's what? 2-13 on the rest? In any case, first game under 20 of the young season for Kevin, and Rip seemed to know how to guard him (liekly because of the similarities in game). Saves some grade by doing some other things for us, and by us winning without much from him after the first. Not as big a let down as if we needed him for the vitory and he came up empty.

Black Interceptor -- from the Road Warrior. When I was like 17 I used to think this car looked soooo cool.

Udrih ( A ) -- mild statistical first half, but another one where he was a stabilizing force for us. Not a great individual defender maybe, but you can tell he's been well coached -- always popping up in the right place, anticipating the other team's plays. Continues to play a true PG, trying to set people up. Was the unquestioned leader of a major third quarter charge for us, hitting all his shots for something like a 14 point quarter, and creating for others as we tied it back up and then pushed out to the lead. Slowed down in the 4th, and had a bad TO late that did not come back to bite us. Nonetheless likely had something approaching his career game (was 2pts off his career scoring night), was the key player during the stretch which put us in position to win this, and largely outplayed (an admittedly hobbled) Chauncey Billups. His reward? Steve Nash. Healthy. Twice in a row. Have fun Beno.

The Batmobile I -- from the classic TV series

Cisco ( B ) -- came in during the second and immediately led us out on the break to both good and bad effect. Carried the ball on our final possession of the quarter and allowed the Pistons to get one more hoop back the other way. Mixed in good Cisco with bad Cisco, hitting a tough shot in the lane in traffic and drawing the foul, then coming back the other way to foul a three point shooter. Came in in the 4th and knocked down two wide open threes after the Pistons zone mysteriously rotated entirely away form him. I could have hit those shots. No idea what they were thinking, but it cost them and boosted Cisco's grade up nicely.

The Batmobile II -- from the original movies. Cool looking, but a gimmick fest.

 

[Bricklayer]

Salmons ( C ) -- did absolutely nothing for 47 minutes of this one, and maybe back to the bench, back to inconsistent. But was suddenly brought in for ball handling purposes in the final minute after we were starting to throw the ball oall over the arena again, and scored back to back layups with the Pistons overplaying us to help stave off any possible repeat of the Knicks collapse.

The Batmobile III -- from the new movies. NOW we're talking. No more cute 'n kitschy. You have a story about a dark vigilante? Cool, let's give him a friggin' tank to roar around in, compelte with rocket launchers.

Hawes ( C+ ) -- was around the ball on defense and the glass, but didn't ever get to it. Got to the foul line in the second quarter against the Pisotns scrubs. Taken advantage of by Sheed in the post, but was more ineffective in there than disastrous. Hit a side jumper as well, but thankfuly this time looked to pass when the ball came to him up above the three point line, and did not even look at the rim.

Gran Torino -- Strarsky & Hutch's old car, for those decrepit enough to either remember the TV series, or unfortunate enough to have caught the sad movie remake of a few years ago.

Williams ( INC ) -- kind of a surprise substitution for our final possession of the first quarter, because it was an offensive possession. No minutes basically.

Back to the Future's Tricked Out Delorean -- never never never understood the fascination with Back to the Future, and that comes form somebody who always liked Michael J. Fox.

Reggie ( ) -- coming...

 

[Bricklayer]

Clean Grades:

Spoiler

Artest ( B- ) -- kind of fell asleep on Prince in the first quarter, and Tay smoothly racked up a dozen points. Hit a couple of open threes coutesy of Cisco and Beno in the second, and took real advanatge of Sheed when Flip mysteriously went to that matchup, and stayed with it, for a long stretch in the second quarter. Defended the post well, and took Sheed off the dribble, but of course gave nothing on the glass. Nothing much in the third, and got a little gambly in there on defense late, sacrificing position to go for steals on several occasions and letting guys get past him. Helped save our bacon with a big defensive play in the final minute defending the break after we had turned it over yet again and were trying to let the Pistons right back in it. Continues to be an important cog for running our offense now, as he can pass once he draws attention rather than just out on the break or whatnot. Nowehere near a top end game for Ron, but gets the half grade bump for that big save at the end.

Moore ( A- ) -- hit a couple of open jumpers in the early going, and later on got a pair of atheltic dunks off of nice feeds from Beno. Also grabbed a lot of rebounds tonight, including a series of swoops to the offensive glass against the flat footed Pistons. I'm not even sure I remember a major fumble by him. So there you have it -- you have just seen high end Mikki Moore in action. Awe-inspiring is it not?

Miller ( B+ ) -- hit Kevin for several early layups, and his feeds were the largest source for Kevin's offense tongiht. Was missing his own shots though, including blowing several layups. Battled inside, but to little effect. Finally got some shots to go late in the game, and finished with a respectable 15 pts (respectable if you ignore the 3-11 it took to get them). could nto stop Sheed inside, but had no problems wiht the vastly undersized Jason Maxiel, who is stubby even for a PF and played a terrible game.

Martin ( C+ ) -- started the game very aggressive, working well with Brad early, and was really gunning. Did better on his open shots than when he tried to beat his guy one on one. Finsihed with 7 first quarter shots, and two more trips to the line. But began to struggle and grow quiet in the second. Had a nifty midair ctach and hit on an off target alley opp type pass from Beno in the third. Can only do that with major hangtime. But, it was another quiet quarter, and he just started missing everything down the stretch unitl stepping up to hit a single contested three with about 4-5 minutes to go. Missed a wide open one am minue or two later. And again the question about whether maybe the legs go in the late game with all the minutes he plays. Did do some other things out there, making some good passes and quietly grabbing rebounds. Might want to ask Reggie why a h had a possibly tired off guard play a ton of minutes again (43) on a night when he shot 6-17. And of those 6-17, 3 were perfect layup setups by Brad, adn 1 was the alley oop type pass from Beno. So that's what? 2-13 on the rest? In any case, first game under 20 of the young season for Kevin, and Rip seemed to know how to guard him (liekly because of the similarities in game). Saves some grade by doing some other things for us, and by us winning without much from him after the first. Not as big a let down as if we needed him for the vitory and he came up empty.

Udrih ( A ) -- mild statistical first half, but another one where he was a stabilizing force for us. Not a great individual defender maybe, but you can tell he's been well coached -- always popping up in the right place, anticipating the other team's plays. Continues to play a true PG, trying to set people up. Was the unquestioned leader of a major third quarter charge for us, hitting all his shots for something like a 14 point quarter, and creating for others as we tied it back up and then pushed out to the lead. Slowed down in the 4th, and had a bad TO late that did not come back to bite us. Nonetheless likely had something approaching his career game (was 2pts off his career scoring night), was the key player during the stretch which put us in position to win this, and largely outplayed (an admittedly hobbled) Chauncey Billups. His reward? Steve Nash. Healthy. Twice in a row. Have fun Beno.

Cisco ( B ) -- came in during the second and immediately led us out on the break to both good and bad effect. Carried the ball on our final possession of the quarter and allowed the Pistons to get one more hoop back the other way. Mixed in good Cisco with bad Cisco, hitting a tough shot in the lane in traffic and drawing the foul, then coming back the other way to foul a three point shooter. Came in in the 4th and knocked down two wide open threes after the Pistons zone mysteriously rotated entirely away form him. I could have hit those shots. No idea what they were thinking.

Salmons ( C ) -- did absolutely nothing for 27 minutes of this one, and maybe back to the bench, back to inconsistent. But was suddenly brought in for ball handling purposes in the final minute after we were starting to throw the ball oall over the arena again, and scored back to back layups with the Pistons overplaying us to help stave off any possible repeat of the Knicks collapse.

Hawes ( C ) -- was around the ball on defense and the glass, but didn't ever get to it. Got to the foul line in the second quarter against the Pisotns scrubs. Taken advantage of by Sheed in the post, but was more ineffective in there than disastrous. Hit a side jumper as well, but thankfuly this time looked to pass when the ball came to him up above the three point line, and did not even look at the rim.

Williams ( INC ) -- kind of a surprise substitution for our final possession of the first quarter, because it was an offensive possession. No minutes basically.

 

[6th]

Last time I was consistently 1/2 grade high from Brick's grades other than a couple of grades that we agreed upon. Let's see how close I am this time.

Udrih....A...how can you not reward this kid with an A. He did a bit of everything besides leading in scoring. 23/4/6/1/0

Martin...A-...I was considering a B for Kevin, but his relentless chasing after the ball had his rebounding #'s within 1 of the frontcourt. 19/8/4/0/0

Moore...A-...Clearly Mikki's best game as a King. He was just everywhere tonight and filled every stat column. His defensive effort was also noteworthy. 10/9/1/1/1

Artest...A...Definitely the leader of the team tonight. All the guys seemed to take their defensive cues from Ron. Late block really shut down Detroit. 16/3/5/1/2

Miller...A-...What an effort by Brad tonight. While his shot was not falling, his effort everywhere else was outstanding. When his shot began to fall, he was that much more valuable to us. 15/9/4/0/0

Garcia...B-...I can't imagine how Garcia gets more than this. He negates his good plays immediately by committing boneheaded errors. He moved into the B category simply because of outstanding play down the stretch. 10/4/1/0/0

Salmons...C...John pulled a D to a C with his clutch play when we needed it to seal the game. He came up big at the end after having no affect on the game prior to that point. 6/0/1/0/0

Hawes...C...I like this kid, and more time on the court will start bringing the grade up. Effort was there. 6/2/0/0/1

 

[coolhandluke]

Woo hoo! I get placeholder #3.

Wait a sec. What is the placeholder for? I feel like the Kings with their MLE signings.

 

[Greenspan 101]

This team is getting better each night it seems.

 

[Bricklayer]

Last time I was consistently 1/2 grade high from Brick's grades other than a couple of grades that we agreed upon. Let's see how close I am this time.

Um...let's just say I wouldn't hand out 5 A's if we beat the Spurs in their building, in Game 7 of the WCF, by 50pts.

 

[6th]

Um...let's just say I wouldn't hand out 5 A's if we beat the Spurs in their building, in Game 7 of the WCF, by 50pts.

True, but my homerism should have be about 1/2 grade high. That means I expect to see some B+'s from you for about 3 of them.

 

[Gary]

Udrih: A-... Near perfect game from our PG that nobody else wanted. He seems capable of hitting that elbow jumper, and seems to be able to dribble than stop and pop which is a good thing to have.

Martin: B-... Martin's game was a bit off tonight, but he did do something I like.. KEEP SHOOTING. He is our #1 option, and he should be taking the most shots each game. Marting so far is taking 4 more shots than last year, and averaging 8 more points!

Artest: B-... Excellent as usual on defense, but his offensive game was a bit stagnant tonight. Rebounding was a bit off, but still a decent all around game.

Moore: B... Moore's best game as a King imo. He was rebounding the ball pretty well, and setting screens for Udrih. My only problem is that Moore needs to do this EVERY NIGHT. We need the PF that averages 9-10 boards a game..

Miller: B-... Miller had some excellent passes this game. If he didn't have the 4 assists, and another 3 or so nice passes that lead to baskets than his grade would have dropped. I expect these type of rebounding numbers from Miller, but I expect his FG% to be around 50% too. 3-11 isn't cutting it.

The Bench: (Salmons/Garcia/Hawes) C+... The 26 points was nice, but the rebounding, and assist numbers were a bit low.

Theus: A... Hear me out. Theus can coach. His substitution pattern is just friggin amazing. He puts Moore in for defense because Miller has the 5 fouls, than puts Miller back in for offense if there is a dead ball. Theus has been amazing with what he has had. I love the guy already, and I love his sub pattern. Great job tonight coach!


One thing I want to see in the future... When a player sees Hawes with his back to the defender wanting the ball in the low post the player needs to GET THE BALL TO HAWES!! None of this black hole crap w/ Artest, and Garcia.

I have noticed in watching the games that Artest, and Garcia are always looking for their own shot. Stick Martin, Salmons, Miller, Udrih, and Hawes in the game and you see his touches go WAY up. When you sub Artest for Salmons, and Garcia for Udrih all of a sudden Hawes does not touch the ball.

Hawes from what I have seen so far is a capable passer so We should have the ball going through him more and more as the season goes on. (hopefully).. The way wing players get open is when you pass to the post and they all converge on him when he pump fakes or turns to drive.

 

[VF21]

Um...let's just say I wouldn't hand out 5 A's if we beat the Spurs in their building, in Game 7 of the WCF, by 50pts.

Ah, come on. I personally think if the above ever came to pass you would go absolutely giddy and give everyone A's...

 

[SDKing]

If this is how Moore supposedly played all last year, then I can see why GP signed him. If this is the kind of production he's capable of on a nightly basis, I'll be thrilled.

 

[acisking]

If this is how Moore supposedly played all last year, then I can see why GP signed him. If this is the kind of production he's capable of on a nightly basis, I'll be thrilled.

Well offensively he did this all of last year. The thing is that was because Vince Carter looked for him out of almost every double team and Kidd just loved throwing lobs to Moore. But nevertheless he had several games where he had around 20 points with just one or two misses on the whole night. And he even showed pretty decent range as well.

As for the rebounding, shot-blocking, etc.....forget it - that part is a fluke. He is at best a very high energy player who actually has some scoring touch/finishing ability. But a defender/rebounder he will never be. I think Bricklayer did a good job in giving Moore an A for his effort tonight because this is essentially him at his best....there really isn't much more you could really expect him to do.

 

[Warhawk]

Mad props to Brick for a cool theme yet again.

Glad you included the latest Batmobile - that thing rocks, my good man.

Unfortunately you get bumped down to a B+ with your neglect to take advantage of the best reason to have the General Lee in your list - the opportunity to have both Daisy Dukes in the thread!

For your consideration (not sure who James is):

No reason to forget the original as well....

 

[Bricklayer]

I am shocked and appalled that you would post a picture like that. I would NEVER do something like that.


Really.


You have been a bad, bad boy.

 

[treewoman]

I'd rather see a million girls than that very frightening picture of Hasseloff - good thing I am seeing this in the morning or I'd have had nightmares! Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

 

[Jerryaki]

brick, i thought you'd post a red-headed lindsay lohan pic after the herbie one. you know, when she used to be attractive.