Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( D- ) -- no energy, no nothing tonight. Just kind of wandered around out there. Missed almost everything, including even a pair of FTs. At least did not compound his exhausted I have all the energy of an octagenarian on oxygen game with stupidity as did Webber. But that's faint praise. Neither guy gave us anything. With Bobby already out, that's your three most potent offensive weapons basically out of commission. In the final minutes got reinserted despite his lethargy to try to slow down Jalen Rose, who was just working over our young OGs, and showed a little energy in doing so. His grade here does raise a question for me of what exactly is an F game for Peja at this point -- when he combines a lack of hustle and boardwork with terrible shooting and no points, what exactly is left? Guess he just did not seem involved involved enough to pin the main blame on.
Webber ( D- ) -- this was the nightmare game. Second game of a back to back, and Webb had NOTHING. Worse yet, he compounded having nothing by playing a stupid stupid offensive game. One of those "well, I have nothing, guess I'll just chuck up another jumper" games. And EVERYTHING was a foot short and off the front of the rim. As usual did a few good things here and there, but not remotely enough to make up for the struggles. Rick made a nearly inexplicable coaching move to return he and the rest of the stuggling starters to the game with 4 minutes to go after our bench had clawed us back into it. And of course Webb stepped right up and hit a jumper. Nonetheless when he fouled out a minute later I was relieved -- our best chance of winning was without him on the floor tonight.
Miller ( A- ) -- big rebounding numbers, and one of only two starters to even make it through customs. Worked hard and kept us in it with his boardwork, but truth be told the grade here is because I feel obligated to give a guy with that many rebounds some kind of A. Really maybe only a B+ in my mind. Just not a consistently a huge impact game. Did help lead our late comeback, not only with boardwork, but also by finally shooting the damn ball. Because that is becoming an annoying problem. Our main guns had absolutely nothing, and Brad simply refused to step up and take shots to help out until late in the game when it was almost already decided. Nonetheless when most of your main guns are taking the night off, and a guy steps up and gives you 19 rebounds while hitting 2/3 of his shots, that's an A of some sort right?
Christie ( C- ) -- our third AWOL starter of the night, but more survivable than having your two leading scorers missing in action. Again not able to sustain any sort of energy, and missed open shots he needed to make. Tried to help down the stretch by drawing a few fouls and hitting some free throws.
Bibby ( A- ) -- Mike tried to bail us out tonight. He really did. Seemed to sense form the beginning of the game that he was almost alone out there, and was very forceful on offense from the start. Was hustling up and down the court on both ends. He was far from perfect -- was forcing, forcing, forcing and made a lot of mistakes along the way. Also continues to mysteriously miss critical FTs for us as he has done all season. May have killed us tonight. Nonetheless Mike was the sole and only reason we even hung in this one. He was the star tonight.
Songaila ( B- ) -- hustled hard but just kept on screwing up. Easily our best PF option tonight (well, we never got to see how Tag and Miller would have worked together because Rick refused to try the big guy again), but kind of a mess. Continues to show good chemistry with Miller. Blew a layup in the final seconds to finish us off.
Evans ( B ) -- looked out of rhythm in a first stint, but gave us a big boost in the second with the game seemingly over -- bunch of nice hustle plays and energy to try to pull us back into it. Got exposed a bit on defense by Rose -- Evans is only 6'5" and neither he nor Martin could deal with a 6'8" swingman on the blocks.
Martin ( C ) -- nope. Not tonight. Struggled in a lot of ways. Missed FTs, turned the ball over at a critical time, not strong enough to handle Jalen Rose on defense. But despite those drawbacks actually showed some things we have not seen before -- at times we were actually running the offense through him in the post. And he made some good passes in that role. Did not really work tonight, but might be a good portent for the future -- kind of played the game of a primary offensive weapon. Unfortunately without much more effectiveness than our true offensive weapons.
Adelman ( D ) -- Did one thing right all night -- deserves credit for going to a zone defense after seeing how little energy we had -- slowed the Raptors up and at times made their offense almost as ugly as ours. But his substitutions tonight were just awful. We had absolutely zero energy and Rick just did not do enough to combat it. No energy, and we don't even TRY Tag or Barnes? Then did something at the end of the game that was so bad, and so...Rick, that I almost gave him an F despite the zone move. We had fallen completely out of the game by the end of the third, and we finally mercifully pulled the Webber/Peja/Christie trio out of the game. Brad and Mike and our reserves brought us back with hustle, got us within four, and then Rick goes BACK to the same trio of guys who were so amazingly flat all game! I mean, come on! On some nights that's a tight call. Not tonight. Tonight it was jsut dumb.
Webber ( D- ) -- this was the nightmare game. Second game of a back to back, and Webb had NOTHING. Worse yet, he compounded having nothing by playing a stupid stupid offensive game. One of those "well, I have nothing, guess I'll just chuck up another jumper" games. And EVERYTHING was a foot short and off the front of the rim. As usual did a few good things here and there, but not remotely enough to make up for the struggles. Rick made a nearly inexplicable coaching move to return he and the rest of the stuggling starters to the game with 4 minutes to go after our bench had clawed us back into it. And of course Webb stepped right up and hit a jumper. Nonetheless when he fouled out a minute later I was relieved -- our best chance of winning was without him on the floor tonight.
Miller ( A- ) -- big rebounding numbers, and one of only two starters to even make it through customs. Worked hard and kept us in it with his boardwork, but truth be told the grade here is because I feel obligated to give a guy with that many rebounds some kind of A. Really maybe only a B+ in my mind. Just not a consistently a huge impact game. Did help lead our late comeback, not only with boardwork, but also by finally shooting the damn ball. Because that is becoming an annoying problem. Our main guns had absolutely nothing, and Brad simply refused to step up and take shots to help out until late in the game when it was almost already decided. Nonetheless when most of your main guns are taking the night off, and a guy steps up and gives you 19 rebounds while hitting 2/3 of his shots, that's an A of some sort right?
Christie ( C- ) -- our third AWOL starter of the night, but more survivable than having your two leading scorers missing in action. Again not able to sustain any sort of energy, and missed open shots he needed to make. Tried to help down the stretch by drawing a few fouls and hitting some free throws.
Bibby ( A- ) -- Mike tried to bail us out tonight. He really did. Seemed to sense form the beginning of the game that he was almost alone out there, and was very forceful on offense from the start. Was hustling up and down the court on both ends. He was far from perfect -- was forcing, forcing, forcing and made a lot of mistakes along the way. Also continues to mysteriously miss critical FTs for us as he has done all season. May have killed us tonight. Nonetheless Mike was the sole and only reason we even hung in this one. He was the star tonight.
Songaila ( B- ) -- hustled hard but just kept on screwing up. Easily our best PF option tonight (well, we never got to see how Tag and Miller would have worked together because Rick refused to try the big guy again), but kind of a mess. Continues to show good chemistry with Miller. Blew a layup in the final seconds to finish us off.
Evans ( B ) -- looked out of rhythm in a first stint, but gave us a big boost in the second with the game seemingly over -- bunch of nice hustle plays and energy to try to pull us back into it. Got exposed a bit on defense by Rose -- Evans is only 6'5" and neither he nor Martin could deal with a 6'8" swingman on the blocks.
Martin ( C ) -- nope. Not tonight. Struggled in a lot of ways. Missed FTs, turned the ball over at a critical time, not strong enough to handle Jalen Rose on defense. But despite those drawbacks actually showed some things we have not seen before -- at times we were actually running the offense through him in the post. And he made some good passes in that role. Did not really work tonight, but might be a good portent for the future -- kind of played the game of a primary offensive weapon. Unfortunately without much more effectiveness than our true offensive weapons.
Adelman ( D ) -- Did one thing right all night -- deserves credit for going to a zone defense after seeing how little energy we had -- slowed the Raptors up and at times made their offense almost as ugly as ours. But his substitutions tonight were just awful. We had absolutely zero energy and Rick just did not do enough to combat it. No energy, and we don't even TRY Tag or Barnes? Then did something at the end of the game that was so bad, and so...Rick, that I almost gave him an F despite the zone move. We had fallen completely out of the game by the end of the third, and we finally mercifully pulled the Webber/Peja/Christie trio out of the game. Brad and Mike and our reserves brought us back with hustle, got us within four, and then Rick goes BACK to the same trio of guys who were so amazingly flat all game! I mean, come on! On some nights that's a tight call. Not tonight. Tonight it was jsut dumb.
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