Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Nocioni ( B- ) -- in the early going was spotting up for threes very effectively, but was struggling otherwise. Missing his interior shots, turning it over, and watching noted non-scorer Shane Battier go off for nearly triple his season scoring average (had 23, season average = 8.3). Joined our rebounding party and came up with some tough ones along the defensive baseline. Not much of an offensive factor all game, but then was reinserted late for the stretch run, and it was Noc who hit the big shots down the stretch to open it up for us before Reke iced it.
Thompson ( A ) -- ok, let's get the disclaimer out of the way first: this was another minature frontline Jason was facing, in fact we've faced just about all of the smallest frontlines in the league in the last week to ten days. Now, with that said, grade tonight = A. Part of that is that of course that this was his career game scoring wise. Part of it is that to close the scoring in the game he finally converted on a Reke assist -- of course Reke nearly jut threw it in the hoop for him wiht an alley oop, but hey, little steps. But most of it really stems from an absolutely manic frist half on the offensive glass. Now as a rule I consider offensive boards a bit overrated -- the great teams normally control the glass on the defensive end as part of their defensive prowess. But in the first half what Jason was doing on the offensive glass had a huge impact in basically breaking the defense of the Rockets. JT's legs were really alive tonight and combined with being taller than anyone on the Rockets' roster he was jsut able to play tip ball off the offensive glass over everybody's head leading a huge, embarrassing even, rebound margin in the early going -- at one point we had outrebounded the Rockets 29-9.
There were some miscues because fo the rampant aggression -- once Reke drove the lane setting up a nifty over the shoulder dump to Jason for what should have been an easy dunk, but Jason was so focused on getting to the glass for the offesnive rbound (he had a number off Reke misses) that he wasn't even looking for the ball (of course fumbling away yet another Reke assist in the process). But miscues and the normal flailing effect aside, the wild aggressin resulted ina first half with no fewer than 7 offensive rebounds -- yes 7. Can't keep that energy up forever though, and in the third it was not there at same level and Coach Adelman had obviously notified somebody on his side that they might want to consider boxing out. JT ended up with no rebounds at all in the third, and only 2 more totla in the game (both also offensive to finish with an odd looking 9 off reb 2def reb night -- big energy on one side, but our guards and SFs were doing a better job of picking up long rebounds off of Rockets threes on the defensive glass). With the rebounding dominance over, could have faded off here to an "A-", but switched gears in the second half and began to come up wiht a series of nice scores off of inside moves, short jumeprs, and other structured offense after the hustle points dried up. And of course finished things there at the end with our exclamation point inside the last minute on the alley oop from Reke. Sure, maybe only 14 fans were in the building, but they went wild + it was nice to see some leigitmate excitement in the old barn again.Hawes ( D ) -- ugh. And yet if you did not get to watch this game understand that that "ugh" was all set to be an UGH!!! until the final 5 minutes of the game. A "D" is harsh, but this was sitting as a big, fat Flutter in the house "F" until the stretch. Started off the game getting worked on both ends, a pattern which persisted for about 42 of the 48 minutes of the game. Got stripped one on end, let Scola back him down on the other, and then got worked by Haews, then Scola again, then had another turnover as Ariza stripped him, and at 7'0" tall flummoxed by the muscle defense of 6'6" Chuck Hayes. We had a lot of guys playing well, and Spencer..well he did come back with a great from behind foul/block on Scola from off of a scramble play -- and reall ythe only sign of life for most of the night was Spencer's willingness to foul people attacking the hoop. That's not actually a bad thing -- you always need somebody willing to smack somebody attacking your rim, even if he is a wuss.
Just in general had a really poor first half getting the ball stripped, and having guys go right at him on defense. So poor in fact that he again foudn himself riding pine watching 6'7" midget hustlers like KT and Brockman take his minutes. Came out in the third and far from regrouping at halftime just did his Flutter thing and ran away to the perimeter to chuck up a series of bricked jumpers (and yes, a bad looking three). Was 1-7 at one point despite being 3 inches taller than the tallest Rocket opponent, and 6 inches taller than his primary defender. Grade, night, and whatever tatters of manhood he has left were saved when Westphal decided to reinsert him for the final stretch run. Nice move by the coach to try to get something from him and restore some confidence. Of course if he had continues to Flutter it might well have lost the game for us, but Spencer finally pulled it together and gave us enough in the final minutes that he was not a weakpoint, and made some plays for us. Got a layup off a nice Thompson pass, grabbed a d-board and got fouled -- in fact I think had most of his boards in the final 5 minutes, was sitting on 4 entering that stretch, and made a nice pass back to Thompson...which JT was unable to convert of course because he is the great blackhole where assists go to die. So...still a crap game. But he gave us a little when we needed it most and while I don't pretend to understand the passivity and softness issues he clearly deals with, maybe he can jsut build off that solid finish rather than the forgettable first 3 1/2 quarters.Udrih ( B+ ) -- the Beno revival continues...this time Reke clearly started off the game playing point from the start and Beno did little in the early going while Reke was putting on a show., but when Evans went to the bench Beno once again did well filling in, just poured in 3prts on the way to a 4-5 3pt shoot 16 pt first half. Even started feeling it and really quick shooting, which when you are hot you will somteimes, but...it was BENO UDRIH, and when he cooled off you had Beno Udrih quickshooting up bricks and not sure how I felt about that. In any case continued to fill a role really as this scrappy team's designated sweet shooter, aggressively dribbling to his spots and splashing in jumpers. Made a saavy play in the late third, jumping in the air and having nowhere to pass the ball, so threw it in midair off the back oif the nearest Rocket, grabbed the ball back, and hit a little jumper. defense became a concern late in this one -- Brooks was really not much a factor back the other way early, but in the third began to run around Beno at will and score inside. And while Beno was doing the better job running the team in the 4th (than Reke), he was getting whipped the other way by Lowry time and again as the little Bobby Jackson like guard blew into the lane again and again off penetationa nd broke down our defense. So, another 20pt night for Beno -- on the season thus far? Shooting 53% from the field. Since Kevin went down he and Reke have combined for 40ppg.
Evans ( B ) -- absolutely exploded out of the gate to this one and looked like he wanted to win ROY of the year all in one night. Raced off to a fast start blowing by Ariza, lasering a pass to Noc, spotting up for a three (and hitting), just blew Asriza again and then another three...it was spectacular stuff. Was on the glass as well, grabbing those d-boards and starting the break ala Magic Johnson back in the day (there, I said it, but I am NOT comparing th two other than to say Reke's strength on the d-glass allows him to do the same thing and not have to wait for an outlet pass). Hit his first 5 shots adn was dominating play before he finally got picked in the backcourt by Ariza. Now problem was that Ariza was Reke's man on defense, and he was almost equalling the fireworks, spalshing down back to back threes in Reke's face (those two at least weren't really bad defense so much as a talelr man shooting over a shorter one) and pouring on points on the break, off of steals, and at the three point line whenever we foolishly doubled off of him. He had 18 points in the first quarter+, and while onyl ahandful of those could really be accounted for by shoddy defense on Reke's part, it still was sobering. Meanwhile Reke came down off his high (with a little Rocket help as the lane becamee a mass of red jersied bodies clogging things up). He missed the three at the first quarter buzzer, and really got a little 3pt happy after he hit those first two -- still not his shot. Exploded toward the rack a few times in the early second a little out of control and missing the layups (which actually during that half effectively became assists to Jaosn who was all over the o-glass). Nonetheless in the early going showed a lot of PG looking stuff -- drove and kicked, pick and rolls, dump off passes etc. Seemed to have an oddly hard time staying in front of Ariza at times -- was reaching and guessing wrong, and I'm not sure why as Ariza is not that shifty. Think maybe he was too focused on trying to come up with spectacular steals and bouncing himself out of postion trying to guess on the ball. Quiet and not really effective in the early third. Rockets started doubling him in the 4th, which is pretty amazing respect to show a guy in his 9th game. Showed the ice in the veins again stepping up to drain a big shot to put us up 7 at the 1:30 mark, then came down the next possession and showed he can get lucky too -- dribbled the clock down. lost his balance and almost fell on his posterior up top, keeping the ball alive ala one of the Globetrotters, before with the clock ready to expire throwing up a shot he missed so bad it that it went in off the bank. Not actually a good play, but crowd loved it as a capper. Missed 2 mostly irrelevant FTs on an intentional foul along the baseline, and then made the exclamation point alley oop to Thompson to close things off, and must have nearly fainted when Jason actually converted it. Scoring scale is going up for the rook already. 20pts 6rebs 4ast is a good line, but most of the production was in the huge frirst quarter burst and I was actually leaning toward B- until he stepped back up for the final two minutes.
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). Came on in the second half to provide an important role, helping pick up the rebounding slack when our other boarders fell off in the third, and for once he was looking the opposing team's mini-frontline right in the eye and banging aroudn wiht them on the glass with no physical inferiority. We came out to start the 4th quarter with an offensive play apparently designed specifically for KT (fire Westphal!), as two quick passes led to us hitting him along the baseline for the layup. Filled in for the incompetent Hawes for much of the 4th, before we got our two young bigs out there together for the stretch run. Grabbed 7 boards in his 19 minutes, and fought and scrabbled well along the defensive baseline as we controlled things there. Second best big for the night. And so...KT restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
