Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Ahem.
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
There is a reason I have and will continue to go to bat for DeMarcus Cousins.
Highlights:
Had the Raptors telecast so did not get to hear this during the game, but was amused by the final Grant comment in the video: "he continues his unbelievable play since the last suspension." Never a great sign when people are having to distinguish which suspension thay are referring to. 
Boxscore
Stats: 35min 20pts (7-14, 1-4, 5-7) 2reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Salmons ( B+ ) -- you know, the truth is that my notes for the first half of this game were not positive for John. He was stuggling, forcing his own shots, which normally means midrange jumprrs, off his dribble, in traffic, which is just trash unless you make them, and he wasn't. When he returned for the first time he forced up a terrble shot, but it went down, and thereafter he was able to get a couple more baskets in the open court to make the statline look better than I really thought his first half game was. Then he wasn't doing much in the third either, and yet was munching serissu minutes because the combination was working in amajor way -- mostly jsut Cuz and JT pummeling the Raps inside with minor support from the perimeter types, but hey, we won the quarter 28-10 so why risk messing up the chemsitry? But after Cuz went ot the bench John suddenly stepped forward and shoen for about 5 minutes that helped deciede the game. I thoughta n important moment came at the end of the third when with us up 16 in the final minute, and rather than the Raps scoring a few times to cut it to 12, John got to the line repeatedly himself and pushed the lead back to 19 going into the 4th. And in the early minutes of the 4th he took advantage of the Raps trying a tinyball lineup and scored over them repeatedly, carrying the offense while Cuz was out and stabilizing a bench crew that was anything but stable otherwise. I'm still not sure this was as stong as the numbers make it seem, but as it was wiht several players, at a critical time, John stepped forward and got the bulk of his production exactly when we needed it. Immensely ironic that if JT has settled in as glue vet #1, John Salmons, the Stinky Fish who just killed our offensive chemistry in the early part of last season, may have clearly emerged as glue roleplayer #2.
Stats: 30min 14pts (7-11, 0-0, 0-0) 6reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Thompson ( B+ ) -- and if I felt that Salmons' numbers might have somewhat outstripped his 48minute game, Jason's on the other hand don't do it full service. His minutes were somewhat limited tonight as a gift to TRob (which thankfully he took some advnatge of) rather than a comment on Jason's play. While Cousins dominated in flashy fashion, there was Thompson providing the steady weakside rebounding and short easy baskets as a perfect complement. When cousins was out, he was good for a little post play or two to tide us over. Sat out way too long in the second quarter given the non-production of the backups, but when he finally got back in once the third foul on Cuz came, hit the little baseline jumper to give us back the lead going into half. Just kjept on backing in for easy little hooks as the Raps didn't have an answer for him anymore than they did Cousins -- even found himself being guarded by Landry Fields at times! Fields being the Knicks starting SG a couple of seasons ago you remember. With Robinson having his moments, JT did not get to pair with Cuz in the late going to continue their rampage on the inside, but while there were some wobbly moments, we never quite went into enoguh freefall to get Smart's attention and rush JT back in.
Stats: 33min 31pts (11-18, 0-0, 9-12) 20reb 4ast 2stl 0blk 4TO
Cousins ( A+ ) -- played an ok game....by Wilt Chamberlain standards. Probably the best game of his career. The *** kicking started early, and basically never let up. There was never a real lull. I was briefly concerned the refs were going to steal it from him when lurking foul touble and a ridiculous technical foul for literally nothing that I could see cropped up at the end fo the first quarter. But somehow DeMarcus has just gone zen on us, and it barely caused a ripple in his game. He chased starting center Aaron Gray (who's getting completely jobbed in my little poll btw -- homers!) in 7 minutes. It took him 9 minutes to foul out main backup Amir Johnson. This is about as close to helpless as you are going to see an NBA team, as the Raptors simply had nobody who had even a hope of contending with what Boogie brought to this one. He was off to a lightning start , scoring, rebounding, getting open court steals (as a center) before the game was 6 minutes old. He was doing it all. As soon as he returned to steady our awful reserves in the 2nd he immediately got a dunk on the pick and roll. I again winced when he picked up his third foul just before half trying to take a charge -- equal parts of dumbness there by Cuz for trying it and Smart for leaving him out there (although actually I myself would probably have left him out there for another possession or two the way he was playing). But again, it made no difference in his game. In fact when he returned in the third is when he REALLY opened up the can of whoopass, completely dominating the game as we blew them out, seeming to snatch every board, powering through Raptors, and never seeming selfish doing it. Was maybe one bad shot the whole game when he forced a sloppy attempt on the break off his dribble over Fields. About the worst you could say about this one was he threw a couple of bad passes, but come on. This was an epic game for DeMarcus and I was again glad to see him reach the 30-20 milestone after he again was inserted to keep our reserves from blowing the game for us, same way I was glad about the triple double. Milestones to store in his memory and help him mark and realize just what he is capable of acheiving if he stays straight.
Stats: 23min 3pts (1-7, 1-5, 0-0) 2reb 2ast 2stl 3blk 0TO
Garcia ( C ) -- let's just say appreciation for this game might best be described as an acquired taste. Reason being that he was just missing EVERYTHING. Open looks, his normal spot up threes. Just bricking them left and right. And yet he has a big positive +/- next to his name. Well..of course that was almsot entirely due to Cousins, but nontheless, despite playing designated bricker for most of his time out there, Cisco had some strong moments out there during some of our best runs. The reason of course being that there are in fact two sides of the ball, and while Cisco only managed a single made shot, a three late in our decisive third quarter, he was very strong with that other roleplayer staple: help defense. Got several saving blocks inside, steals, and helped DeRozan to an altogther ineffective game. So, did he suck offensively and take the wind out of our sails by brickng wide open shots many members fo thsi board could hit? Sure. But did he hustle and roleplayer it just providing that little bit of inviisble glue that can turn big games by stars into big wins? Sure as well.
Stats: 31min 11pts (4-6, 0-1, 3-4) 3reb 6ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( B- ) -- scored over a few times in the early going by Calderon, but near the end of the quarter grabbed a couple of strong rebounds, and got a score on the runout to close the quarter out and give us the lead back. Gave us a little burst of pace near the end of the half that helped snap us out of our second quarter doldrums. Largely did not notice him in the third when we blew the thing open, but that was a good thing. Were no stretches of overly active offense to disrupt things. Raps did get a ton of offense out of their PGs though, and was ineffective guarding the 3pt shot. A grade here where there was no reason to go any higher, but also none to go any lower. Mostly stayed in the background, but that was exactly the right wya to play it.
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
There is a reason I have and will continue to go to bat for DeMarcus Cousins.
Highlights:
Boxscore
Stats: 35min 20pts (7-14, 1-4, 5-7) 2reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Salmons ( B+ ) -- you know, the truth is that my notes for the first half of this game were not positive for John. He was stuggling, forcing his own shots, which normally means midrange jumprrs, off his dribble, in traffic, which is just trash unless you make them, and he wasn't. When he returned for the first time he forced up a terrble shot, but it went down, and thereafter he was able to get a couple more baskets in the open court to make the statline look better than I really thought his first half game was. Then he wasn't doing much in the third either, and yet was munching serissu minutes because the combination was working in amajor way -- mostly jsut Cuz and JT pummeling the Raps inside with minor support from the perimeter types, but hey, we won the quarter 28-10 so why risk messing up the chemsitry? But after Cuz went ot the bench John suddenly stepped forward and shoen for about 5 minutes that helped deciede the game. I thoughta n important moment came at the end of the third when with us up 16 in the final minute, and rather than the Raps scoring a few times to cut it to 12, John got to the line repeatedly himself and pushed the lead back to 19 going into the 4th. And in the early minutes of the 4th he took advantage of the Raps trying a tinyball lineup and scored over them repeatedly, carrying the offense while Cuz was out and stabilizing a bench crew that was anything but stable otherwise. I'm still not sure this was as stong as the numbers make it seem, but as it was wiht several players, at a critical time, John stepped forward and got the bulk of his production exactly when we needed it. Immensely ironic that if JT has settled in as glue vet #1, John Salmons, the Stinky Fish who just killed our offensive chemistry in the early part of last season, may have clearly emerged as glue roleplayer #2.
Stats: 30min 14pts (7-11, 0-0, 0-0) 6reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Thompson ( B+ ) -- and if I felt that Salmons' numbers might have somewhat outstripped his 48minute game, Jason's on the other hand don't do it full service. His minutes were somewhat limited tonight as a gift to TRob (which thankfully he took some advnatge of) rather than a comment on Jason's play. While Cousins dominated in flashy fashion, there was Thompson providing the steady weakside rebounding and short easy baskets as a perfect complement. When cousins was out, he was good for a little post play or two to tide us over. Sat out way too long in the second quarter given the non-production of the backups, but when he finally got back in once the third foul on Cuz came, hit the little baseline jumper to give us back the lead going into half. Just kjept on backing in for easy little hooks as the Raps didn't have an answer for him anymore than they did Cousins -- even found himself being guarded by Landry Fields at times! Fields being the Knicks starting SG a couple of seasons ago you remember. With Robinson having his moments, JT did not get to pair with Cuz in the late going to continue their rampage on the inside, but while there were some wobbly moments, we never quite went into enoguh freefall to get Smart's attention and rush JT back in.
Stats: 33min 31pts (11-18, 0-0, 9-12) 20reb 4ast 2stl 0blk 4TO
Cousins ( A+ ) -- played an ok game....by Wilt Chamberlain standards. Probably the best game of his career. The *** kicking started early, and basically never let up. There was never a real lull. I was briefly concerned the refs were going to steal it from him when lurking foul touble and a ridiculous technical foul for literally nothing that I could see cropped up at the end fo the first quarter. But somehow DeMarcus has just gone zen on us, and it barely caused a ripple in his game. He chased starting center Aaron Gray (who's getting completely jobbed in my little poll btw -- homers!) in 7 minutes. It took him 9 minutes to foul out main backup Amir Johnson. This is about as close to helpless as you are going to see an NBA team, as the Raptors simply had nobody who had even a hope of contending with what Boogie brought to this one. He was off to a lightning start , scoring, rebounding, getting open court steals (as a center) before the game was 6 minutes old. He was doing it all. As soon as he returned to steady our awful reserves in the 2nd he immediately got a dunk on the pick and roll. I again winced when he picked up his third foul just before half trying to take a charge -- equal parts of dumbness there by Cuz for trying it and Smart for leaving him out there (although actually I myself would probably have left him out there for another possession or two the way he was playing). But again, it made no difference in his game. In fact when he returned in the third is when he REALLY opened up the can of whoopass, completely dominating the game as we blew them out, seeming to snatch every board, powering through Raptors, and never seeming selfish doing it. Was maybe one bad shot the whole game when he forced a sloppy attempt on the break off his dribble over Fields. About the worst you could say about this one was he threw a couple of bad passes, but come on. This was an epic game for DeMarcus and I was again glad to see him reach the 30-20 milestone after he again was inserted to keep our reserves from blowing the game for us, same way I was glad about the triple double. Milestones to store in his memory and help him mark and realize just what he is capable of acheiving if he stays straight.
Stats: 23min 3pts (1-7, 1-5, 0-0) 2reb 2ast 2stl 3blk 0TO
Garcia ( C ) -- let's just say appreciation for this game might best be described as an acquired taste. Reason being that he was just missing EVERYTHING. Open looks, his normal spot up threes. Just bricking them left and right. And yet he has a big positive +/- next to his name. Well..of course that was almsot entirely due to Cousins, but nontheless, despite playing designated bricker for most of his time out there, Cisco had some strong moments out there during some of our best runs. The reason of course being that there are in fact two sides of the ball, and while Cisco only managed a single made shot, a three late in our decisive third quarter, he was very strong with that other roleplayer staple: help defense. Got several saving blocks inside, steals, and helped DeRozan to an altogther ineffective game. So, did he suck offensively and take the wind out of our sails by brickng wide open shots many members fo thsi board could hit? Sure. But did he hustle and roleplayer it just providing that little bit of inviisble glue that can turn big games by stars into big wins? Sure as well.
Stats: 31min 11pts (4-6, 0-1, 3-4) 3reb 6ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( B- ) -- scored over a few times in the early going by Calderon, but near the end of the quarter grabbed a couple of strong rebounds, and got a score on the runout to close the quarter out and give us the lead back. Gave us a little burst of pace near the end of the half that helped snap us out of our second quarter doldrums. Largely did not notice him in the third when we blew the thing open, but that was a good thing. Were no stretches of overly active offense to disrupt things. Raps did get a ton of offense out of their PGs though, and was ineffective guarding the 3pt shot. A grade here where there was no reason to go any higher, but also none to go any lower. Mostly stayed in the background, but that was exactly the right wya to play it.
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