Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Artest ( A ) -- funny thing about this grade -- 3/4 of the way through this one Ron was really not having that great a game. He had had his moments, but they had largely been dependent on matchups. He had completely schooled Luis Scola, mostly drawn fouls against fellow stubby Chuck Hayes, and actually struggled to get much going against the former Bump to his Thump in Bonzi Wells who matched him muscle for muscle. So Ron was on his way to a productive night, but nothing more, as we were about to get put away. He had played a good defensive game against TMac, but he had also got caught on Yao picks up top a lot -- that's a lot of body to try to have to slide around a lot of body -- and really McGrady looked quite out of it no matter who was guarding him. But of course events of the 4th totally changed the story that would be told about this game. Ron completely carried us, along with Justin, down the stretch of this oen, and we were in Ron Artest heaven. No cute pretty little scoringfest was this. This was a grind it out walk it up slug it out possession war. And the Rockets did a lot to try to help Ron be a hero -- our defensive was cranked up, but they missed shot after after to keep us in it. And meanwhile you had Ron in full want to show off for Rick or play a good team or whatever it is that motivates him mode, and he was just attacking constantly. Went nuts down the stretch and was in taking all comers mode. Played some great defense on TMac as well, who pretty much looked like he was playign scared there by the end and almost refused to keep on shooting. Ron hurt his own cause though by choking two FTs with a couple of minutes left -- would have been enough to make the difference. And that along wiht the fact we came up short made the A without "+" here the right way to go I think. Huge quarter being unstoppable, and it was the right quarter, not a meaningless first quarter burst. But it was not enough, and he shot himself, and us, in the foot along the way. So "merely" and A. Hope the other teams around the league took notice.
Moore ( C ) -- dwarfed in there and too small to either stop Yao, or get around him to rebounds. Was losing minutes to Justin, who was easily the best of our bigs, before getting a late call to give Justin a breather befor ethe stretch run. Had a layup blocked by Battier late that really helped the Rockets cause (was that Mikki? -- stats are calling him 3-3 for the game).
Miller ( C- ) -- his counterpunch advantage against Yao was taken away by Rick puitting McGrady on him, and rather than rebound or defend he chose to pioneer the I'll cry to the refs every single time down the floor method of defense. May have worked too, because after the refs finally got sick of the contant whining and T'd him up, they quickly called Yao for a pair of fouls that took him out of the game. Struggled on through the second half. Every once in a while he'd hit a jumper, otherwise his contributions were limited. And yet coming out of the timeout for our last second shot, it was Brad Miller, our 7'0" center, having a crappy game, who was given the responsibility to hit the three pointer to win it for us. Thx Reg. Missed the shot not surprisingly. Of course it might have helped if he had just shot the damn ball rather than trying to jump into the guy and draw the foul. Drawing the foul has become a Kings sickness -- wonder how many shots we miss a game because we are so busy flopping around trying to trick the refs rather than just focusing on putting the ball in the hoop? And on the final play of the game too -- reminds me of Kevin trying to do the same thing earlier this year. The refs aren't going to call that. They shouldn't call that. And Brad took a low percentage situation and turned it into a nearly impossible only can hit the shot through blind luck situation.
Martin ( D ) -- well well, ain't this an interesting and alarming pattern. Sure enough F,A,F,A...well not quite F, but not good. And really if you get down to it, even in the two good games Kevin has had in the stretch, he basically had two good first halves, and then disappeared/or was benched by the end. So maybe 2 good halves in the last 10, and yes, this would be a slump. Perhaps a well timed All Star break here for Kevin. At least tonight you could say there was some excuse with a good defender in Battier keeping him from most of his freebies on off the ball movement, and a giant roadblock behind him to alter a lot of the stuff Kevin tried to do toward the hoop. Had a modestly effective first half and made some good passes to set up teammates early, but the numbers were a little funny -- it was not a good half or an impact half, and Kevin was struggling to finish inside, but he was still struggling along toward a 20pt night and maybe a high C type grade. Almost completely ineffective in the third however as the Rockets threatened to chase us out of the building (again), and Reggie again just made the move to go wtih Salmons (completely ineffective himself) for the entire 4th once again rather than worry about trying to drag Kevin out of his malaise. Again have to wonder how that is going over.
Moore ( C ) -- dwarfed in there and too small to either stop Yao, or get around him to rebounds. Was losing minutes to Justin, who was easily the best of our bigs, before getting a late call to give Justin a breather befor ethe stretch run. Had a layup blocked by Battier late that really helped the Rockets cause (was that Mikki? -- stats are calling him 3-3 for the game).
Miller ( C- ) -- his counterpunch advantage against Yao was taken away by Rick puitting McGrady on him, and rather than rebound or defend he chose to pioneer the I'll cry to the refs every single time down the floor method of defense. May have worked too, because after the refs finally got sick of the contant whining and T'd him up, they quickly called Yao for a pair of fouls that took him out of the game. Struggled on through the second half. Every once in a while he'd hit a jumper, otherwise his contributions were limited. And yet coming out of the timeout for our last second shot, it was Brad Miller, our 7'0" center, having a crappy game, who was given the responsibility to hit the three pointer to win it for us. Thx Reg. Missed the shot not surprisingly. Of course it might have helped if he had just shot the damn ball rather than trying to jump into the guy and draw the foul. Drawing the foul has become a Kings sickness -- wonder how many shots we miss a game because we are so busy flopping around trying to trick the refs rather than just focusing on putting the ball in the hoop? And on the final play of the game too -- reminds me of Kevin trying to do the same thing earlier this year. The refs aren't going to call that. They shouldn't call that. And Brad took a low percentage situation and turned it into a nearly impossible only can hit the shot through blind luck situation.
Martin ( D ) -- well well, ain't this an interesting and alarming pattern. Sure enough F,A,F,A...well not quite F, but not good. And really if you get down to it, even in the two good games Kevin has had in the stretch, he basically had two good first halves, and then disappeared/or was benched by the end. So maybe 2 good halves in the last 10, and yes, this would be a slump. Perhaps a well timed All Star break here for Kevin. At least tonight you could say there was some excuse with a good defender in Battier keeping him from most of his freebies on off the ball movement, and a giant roadblock behind him to alter a lot of the stuff Kevin tried to do toward the hoop. Had a modestly effective first half and made some good passes to set up teammates early, but the numbers were a little funny -- it was not a good half or an impact half, and Kevin was struggling to finish inside, but he was still struggling along toward a 20pt night and maybe a high C type grade. Almost completely ineffective in the third however as the Rockets threatened to chase us out of the building (again), and Reggie again just made the move to go wtih Salmons (completely ineffective himself) for the entire 4th once again rather than worry about trying to drag Kevin out of his malaise. Again have to wonder how that is going over.
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That was just mean. Predictably Bonzi instantly posted him and hit the cutter when we had to double. Quincy then came back the other way and nearly airballed a three. Was back for a brief cameo in at the end of the third and immediately found himself guarding and posted up by Shane Battier. Tough night to weigh as much as one of the Olsen twins.
