Ah yes -- The Oblivion Bowl. If you didn't like this, you don't like watching paint dry:
Peja ( D- ) -- Think we've found another Peja stopper.
Was being smothered all night by 6'1" David Wesley. And as usual had no answer for being guarded by a midget. Did do a solid job on the defensive glass, although it was mostly just hanging around the glass stuff than anything dynamic. Offense was so ridiculously absent that he ended up on the bench for the entire 4th quarter. Peja Stojakovic, erstwhile 24ppg scorer --3pts on 1-5 shooting being guarded by a 6'1" 35yr old PG. Even missed a free throw. Sigh.
Thomas ( B ) -- solid first half carried over into the early 3rd, where his quickness and simple NBA ability distinguished him from many he was matched against. But got into foul trouble near the end of the quarter, and the defensive pairing of Thomas and Miller were getting worked inside by Juwann Howard and Deke. And so with Corliss playing well, we swapped out our 6'7" PF for an even smaller 6'5" one down the stretch run. Short night. But fairly effective.
Miller ( C- ) -- another slow first half, and unable to check 84yr old Ditkembe Mutumbo off the glass. Finally got a little something going in the 3rd, and eventually worked his way into a remarkably ugly double double. Capped off a bad evening making some really bad plays down the last minute. Airballed an open jumper, blew another shot from inside, committed a dumb foul. 11pts 11rebs sounds pretty decent....unless you were actually forced to watch the game. Still unfortunately a step up from his recent outings.
Martin ( D+ ) -- invisible first half again. Not sure where the spark is right now. But opened up the third quarter with a three pointer (oddest part about his disappearance is that the only thing the former driveaholic is doing right now is shooting threes, which he never used to be able to hit). Immediately followed that up with a nice drive and dish to an open Bibby. Then politely disappeared once again. Of course when he finally did attempt a drive he ended up throwing up a hilarious moon ball almost vertically trying to get it over Mt. Mutumbo. Did not work. And for the second night in a row Jason Hart came in to steal his late minutes in an all minature backcourt to go with our miniature frontcourt. Guess Rick is mixing it up. Althought its probably no shocker mixing it up for him means playing smaller and smaller players. Probably would put in Coachie if they could activate him.
Bibby ( C+ ) -- came out aggressive and comfortable against the Rockets. Not hot, but going right at his various defenders. Game was off the dribble tonight where he was attacking, attacking. Got most of his points at the line as he really wasn't on at all from the perimeter. Might have run out of gas there in the second half as he started missing and seemed to only come up with sporadic bursts of energy. Far from Mike's best night, as the 5-16 attests. But was a presence the Rockets' guards had to deal with all night, and put pressure on their defense wiht his ability to break down their defense off the dribble.
Williamson ( A- ) -- Woohoo! If ever there was evidence that we have returned to 1998, here it was. Ever the pro, Corliss just keeps on chugging and was back to being an ugly leading scorer for a bad team -- just like the good ole days. Came in and was initially forcing the offense unsuccessfully. But began to warm up, and with Deke on the bench, Yao and Swift both out with injuries, the setting was perfect for a minature post player to have a good offensive night. Punctuated things with a poor man's Webber move -- faking the hand off pass on the wing then when his man stepped out, spinning for a power drive and dunk. Also was stepping in there to take charges on defense. Got a compliment as Deke has to be reinserted to loom over him and stop the post work. Of course that also meant he was playing center. Came back in for KT with Kenny in foul trouble and ended up playing the entire 4th quarter. Started missing down the stretch though, and took a big fall with 1:30 to go. Not much on the glass, but on an ugly ugly night of basketball, his offense was critical. Just anybody who could put the ball in the hoop was infinitely valuable.
Garcia ( B ) -- came in off the bench and out of nowhere hit back to back threes! In fact shot looked on for the whole evening. Might be literally the first time we've been able to say that since he started cashing obscenely large paychecks for bouncing a ball. And capped it off by hitting another big three in the last couple of minutes to stretch the lead to 8. May have doubled his number of made threes on the season in one night. Real key was that aside from one force, he was just taking the shots in rhythm, rather than trying to create garbage that just won't work agianst NBAers (not that there were many on the court tonight). Awful team obviously, and so not much of a test. But one of things where even though he wasn't playing anybody, just the mere fact of being in an NBA game and making a few shots may give him a burst of confidence going forward as he runs into the big leaguers down the road. Interestingly, for whatever reason while the shot was on, the hustle game was not at the same level as it has been at times this season. Brought an A shooting game, but overall rounded game was not necessarily his best.
Hart ( C+ ) --one or two good moments, one or two bad, in the first half. But for the second night in a row abruptly found himself closing out this one as an OG (or at least alongside Mike) with Kevin having a quiet night. Made more sense tonight with all the small guards the Rockets play, and with them going to a late press to try to rattle us. And his performance was...well, Jason Hart. The numbers: 5pts 3rebs 1ast in 29min? Garbage. But the game was better than that I think. Was able to bother various of the Rockets inexperienced ballhandlers with his defense, and even though he is wild and dumb with the ball, his ballhandling still helped keep the Rockets from really squeezing us with their pressure. Also came up with a few hustle plays down in the paint to help out our sad little frontline. Overall one of those games of statistical nothingness where the guy still managed to make a contribution just by effort.
Adelman ( B- ) -- Well...we won. Er...that's the positive. I guess. A few notes: Rather than go to Sampson, Rick did exactly what I feared he would -- went to the midget ball frontline of Thomas & Corliss. But I guess given the way we were being exterminated on the glass by the Rockets 7'2" center of indeterminate age, what did we have to lose. Seems to be loosening the rotations a bit, and went with the hot hands down the stretch in place fo three of the five starters. Called a timeout with 5:30 to go and was PISSED after we tried to blow a 13 pt lead in less than 2 minutes (it was down to 6). Quite obviously wanted this one bad. And just as obviously, he was right. Have no idea where this whole mess is going, but losing to this team in this condition would have been embarrassing. Heck, even beating them was mildly embarrassing.
Additional Grade (A++) -- for the most entertaining moment of the night when the PA announcer played the cavalry bugle charge and we got a single drunken voice warbling "Charge" from the crowd.
Peja ( D- ) -- Think we've found another Peja stopper.
Was being smothered all night by 6'1" David Wesley. And as usual had no answer for being guarded by a midget. Did do a solid job on the defensive glass, although it was mostly just hanging around the glass stuff than anything dynamic. Offense was so ridiculously absent that he ended up on the bench for the entire 4th quarter. Peja Stojakovic, erstwhile 24ppg scorer --3pts on 1-5 shooting being guarded by a 6'1" 35yr old PG. Even missed a free throw. Sigh.Thomas ( B ) -- solid first half carried over into the early 3rd, where his quickness and simple NBA ability distinguished him from many he was matched against. But got into foul trouble near the end of the quarter, and the defensive pairing of Thomas and Miller were getting worked inside by Juwann Howard and Deke. And so with Corliss playing well, we swapped out our 6'7" PF for an even smaller 6'5" one down the stretch run. Short night. But fairly effective.
Miller ( C- ) -- another slow first half, and unable to check 84yr old Ditkembe Mutumbo off the glass. Finally got a little something going in the 3rd, and eventually worked his way into a remarkably ugly double double. Capped off a bad evening making some really bad plays down the last minute. Airballed an open jumper, blew another shot from inside, committed a dumb foul. 11pts 11rebs sounds pretty decent....unless you were actually forced to watch the game. Still unfortunately a step up from his recent outings.
Martin ( D+ ) -- invisible first half again. Not sure where the spark is right now. But opened up the third quarter with a three pointer (oddest part about his disappearance is that the only thing the former driveaholic is doing right now is shooting threes, which he never used to be able to hit). Immediately followed that up with a nice drive and dish to an open Bibby. Then politely disappeared once again. Of course when he finally did attempt a drive he ended up throwing up a hilarious moon ball almost vertically trying to get it over Mt. Mutumbo. Did not work. And for the second night in a row Jason Hart came in to steal his late minutes in an all minature backcourt to go with our miniature frontcourt. Guess Rick is mixing it up. Althought its probably no shocker mixing it up for him means playing smaller and smaller players. Probably would put in Coachie if they could activate him.
Bibby ( C+ ) -- came out aggressive and comfortable against the Rockets. Not hot, but going right at his various defenders. Game was off the dribble tonight where he was attacking, attacking. Got most of his points at the line as he really wasn't on at all from the perimeter. Might have run out of gas there in the second half as he started missing and seemed to only come up with sporadic bursts of energy. Far from Mike's best night, as the 5-16 attests. But was a presence the Rockets' guards had to deal with all night, and put pressure on their defense wiht his ability to break down their defense off the dribble.
Williamson ( A- ) -- Woohoo! If ever there was evidence that we have returned to 1998, here it was. Ever the pro, Corliss just keeps on chugging and was back to being an ugly leading scorer for a bad team -- just like the good ole days. Came in and was initially forcing the offense unsuccessfully. But began to warm up, and with Deke on the bench, Yao and Swift both out with injuries, the setting was perfect for a minature post player to have a good offensive night. Punctuated things with a poor man's Webber move -- faking the hand off pass on the wing then when his man stepped out, spinning for a power drive and dunk. Also was stepping in there to take charges on defense. Got a compliment as Deke has to be reinserted to loom over him and stop the post work. Of course that also meant he was playing center.
Came back in for KT with Kenny in foul trouble and ended up playing the entire 4th quarter. Started missing down the stretch though, and took a big fall with 1:30 to go. Not much on the glass, but on an ugly ugly night of basketball, his offense was critical. Just anybody who could put the ball in the hoop was infinitely valuable.Garcia ( B ) -- came in off the bench and out of nowhere hit back to back threes! In fact shot looked on for the whole evening. Might be literally the first time we've been able to say that since he started cashing obscenely large paychecks for bouncing a ball. And capped it off by hitting another big three in the last couple of minutes to stretch the lead to 8. May have doubled his number of made threes on the season in one night. Real key was that aside from one force, he was just taking the shots in rhythm, rather than trying to create garbage that just won't work agianst NBAers (not that there were many on the court tonight). Awful team obviously, and so not much of a test. But one of things where even though he wasn't playing anybody, just the mere fact of being in an NBA game and making a few shots may give him a burst of confidence going forward as he runs into the big leaguers down the road. Interestingly, for whatever reason while the shot was on, the hustle game was not at the same level as it has been at times this season. Brought an A shooting game, but overall rounded game was not necessarily his best.
Hart ( C+ ) --one or two good moments, one or two bad, in the first half. But for the second night in a row abruptly found himself closing out this one as an OG (or at least alongside Mike) with Kevin having a quiet night. Made more sense tonight with all the small guards the Rockets play, and with them going to a late press to try to rattle us. And his performance was...well, Jason Hart. The numbers: 5pts 3rebs 1ast in 29min? Garbage. But the game was better than that I think. Was able to bother various of the Rockets inexperienced ballhandlers with his defense, and even though he is wild and dumb with the ball, his ballhandling still helped keep the Rockets from really squeezing us with their pressure. Also came up with a few hustle plays down in the paint to help out our sad little frontline. Overall one of those games of statistical nothingness where the guy still managed to make a contribution just by effort.
Adelman ( B- ) -- Well...we won. Er...that's the positive. I guess. A few notes: Rather than go to Sampson, Rick did exactly what I feared he would -- went to the midget ball frontline of Thomas & Corliss. But I guess given the way we were being exterminated on the glass by the Rockets 7'2" center of indeterminate age, what did we have to lose. Seems to be loosening the rotations a bit, and went with the hot hands down the stretch in place fo three of the five starters. Called a timeout with 5:30 to go and was PISSED after we tried to blow a 13 pt lead in less than 2 minutes (it was down to 6). Quite obviously wanted this one bad. And just as obviously, he was right. Have no idea where this whole mess is going, but losing to this team in this condition would have been embarrassing. Heck, even beating them was mildly embarrassing.
Additional Grade (A++) -- for the most entertaining moment of the night when the PA announcer played the cavalry bugle charge and we got a single drunken voice warbling "Charge" from the crowd.
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