Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Ron Artest ( B+ ) : 36min 19pts (8-15 FG, 1-4 3pt, 2-2 FT) 10rebs 5ast 4stl 0blk 2TO
Had himself kind of a quiet big first quarter, finishing with something like 7pts 5rebs 3stls but not really overshadowing the game. And really for the entire game mostly stayed out of the way this time, never really overdominating the ball, but also never really dominating action. With the lack of size and strength on the Raptors frontline, Ron was able to repeatedly wade into the offensive glass battles and either get the ball or cause the Raptors to fumble it (including on the play that kind of sealed it in the final 30 seconds after Kevin missed a FT but Ron muscled in there to knock it out off a Raptor). Followed that by muscling his way in for a layup to put us up 6. Defense was strong as usual, althoguh he did get best a couple of times down the stretch. Funny thing here -- rock solid numbers, and Ron staying out of the way sounds like a great thing on paper. And yet his game lacked spark, as did we in barely nudging a team missing its star and spiraling (2-8 since Bosh went down).
Mikki Moore ( A- ) -- 33min 17pts (7-8 FG, 0-0 3pt, 3-3 FT) 7rebs 0ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Operated easily in there without Bosh and racked up efficient numbers around the hoop. And evidence would seem to suggest that Mikki was actually maybe the guy the Raptors were having the hardest time matching up agianst. Beno eventually cooled, Ron was on court while we blew various leads. But the only thing stopping Mikki in the first half was spending minutes on the bench. Less effective in the second half, and part of that may have been the unfortunate foul trouble for the uber-soft and just terrible Andrea Bargnani. Super-scrub Kris Humphries began to get more minutes and had some effect muscling Mikki's stick figure physique around the paint. I will freely admit btw that this game does not deserve this many good grades -- it was a drab struggle for us against a bad team. But individually a number of our guys were solid or more by their own standards, so I'll just leave this note and move on.
Brad Miller ( B- ) -- 42min 14pts (6-12 FG, 0-1 3pt, 1-2 FT) 11reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 3TO
Nothing again in the early going, because, you now, he was matched against the mighty Rasho Nesterovic, so what could you expect? Forced to play more miutes than it looked like he wanted to with Spencer going down with a foot strain. Again showed more life in the third, and maybe he's just like that old engine that takes time to warm up on a cold day. Started draining jumpshots late in the game, which partially made up for getting worked over by Rasho Nesterovic on the other end. No, wait, it didn't. There are people on this board that could hold Rasho to single digits. Brad let him go for a season high 20 in Brad's return to his make-a-scrub-look-like-a-superhero ways. Another "solid number" guy, but Iw as not amused by either the lack of intensity early, or the lack of defense all game. Even his points were just passive little jumpshots. His game of course. But nothing to dispel the appearance of the intensity not being there again.
Kevin Martin ( A- ) -- 43min 32pts (9-21 FG, 2-3 3pt, 12-15 FT) 8reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 5TO
Aggressive looking for his shot early, but only on and off as far as actually making them. Was clearly forcing the action, and really did not get much going until after half when, after an inefficient sloppy game (5-13 4 TOs), he was largely responsible for the reappearance of our 3rd quyarter lead with a series of three point plays -- an "and 1" and then two threes. After the burst, he was largely quiet again, shipping in here and there but mayeb only having 4 or 5 more points until the final 30 seconds when he considerably padded the scoring stats as the Raptors had to foul repeatedly to extend the game. Kevin actually missed a couple of them to keep the door slightly ajar, but still took a 26 point night and turned it into 32. In fact given the early struggle, turnovers, and poor shooting (9-21) this would have been a B+ if it was just scoring. But this time out he also helped on the glass, and even made some nice passes to set guys up (Ron and Brad in particular). So up to an A- despite the rough edges to this one.
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