Well, another loss. But a loss with honor I suppose. If there can be honor in letting everybody score 110 on you.
Something mysterious about our starting lineup though -- no matter who is placed in it, they are guaranteed to suck, and suck hard. Am wondering if the league ever thought to mandate whether a team had to start people or not? Maybe can just skip that whole part against the Warriors tomorrow.
Boxscore
Stats: 18min 2pts (0-4, 0-3, 2-2) 5reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Summary: Sure, he's being played out of position a bit. Still, gotta do better than this.. Curry may have already taken his minutes.
Anderson ( D ) -- my only significant notes on Anderson were on a sequence where he was repeatedly slow to get out on Thornton on defense, and Marcus drained several threes in his face , then Anderson came back down the other way and return fire, and missed it badly. Impeded Harden a few times. Not too many as you can tell from the final tallies. Don't specifically remember the 5 rebounds, but its something he can do some of, and something you need when your old coach is playing tinyball and the center and "power forward" are dead legged. Expectations too low and not enough negative stuff to slap on an F, but obviously did nothing, and with the bench guards all better, could be yet another early season jumble vs. the Warriors.
Stats: 26min 15pts (5-15, 1-2, 4-6) 5reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Summary: Maybe he's got post partum now? Missed chippee after chippee again, before barely sputtering to life down the stretch.
Gay ( D- ) -- really unacceptable play by Rudy since Cuz went down. This is precisely when he's been needed most, and he's given us nothing, and hence very little chance to sneak out with one of these. Was completely dead and invisible for the first 6 minutes of this one. Karl had to a call a timeout and run a play in order for him to get his first hoop with a little jumper. And then just nothing. Missed gimme after gimme inside. Got into foul trouble with only 2pts 2rebs and would continue missing until the mid third, when he finally barrelled Ariza right over to get the finish. It wasn't until the 4th when he gave us anything at all. in fact we were better without him almost the entire game. made enough plays during our big stretch run to avoid the F here, but not by much. Surprised Harden in the open court for a steal and quick dunk. Hit a feet set three at the 6min mark. Still wasn't "The Man" we needed him to be, but was at least contributing. but it came after 3+ quarters of energy sapping nothing.
Stats: 25min 6pts (3-7, 0-0, 0-0) 7reb 0ast 1stl 1blk 1TO
Summary: One night later, and the shoe was on the other foot at center with Koufos showing little touch or energy, and WCS having impact off the bench.
Koufos ( D ) -- one night after a strong consistent effort on both ends in Phoenix that earned him the game ball, Kosta came out in this with an alarmingly dead and lost starting crew and was reduced to what kindly might be referred to as a "big body". He wasn't playing anybody either. Clint Cappella. Long, skinny backup C, nothing Kosta hasn't seen 100 times before. The blowing layup thing is getting old pretty quick, and he and Rudy started off the game blowing gimme after gimme in there. if that had been the only problem it would just be a wart, but he just lacked energy. Even had problem s keeping Chuck Hayes from sneaking in behind him for hoops. Chuck was almost out of the league a week ago. Fumbled and failed to grab a key rebound at the 1:30 mark, and the Rockets scored to make the comeback even more unlikely and put us down 9. Quickly getting the little jumper from Curry down at the other end no more than canceled the mistake, leaving us still down 7 with 1:30 to play. WCS clearly has some magic special stuff to his defensive game. But he's too scrawny for a starting C. Kosta will look better once Cuz is back and Kosta is the backup C.
Stats: 23min 5pts (2-10, 0-5, 1-2) 1reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Summary: just simply cannot get into a groove. Clearly not getting the shots he's comfortable with, and did nothing else.
Belinelli ( F ) -- fell into the starting SG abyss. Hit one early shot and then just down down down spiraling, just hoping after a while. For the first time the shooting slump had him looking desperate. With such a dead/distracted starting unit, very little of the smart ball movement plays he is capable of either. Just an all around faceplant. At least Harden did not light it up early, but that had nothing to do with Beli, who wasn't even consistently checking him. Until Bels snaps out of this awful slump, this position remains unfilled.
Stats: 24min 12pts (6-14, 0-2, 0-0) 8reb 5ast 3stl 0blk 4TO
Summary: the best of the starters, but not a do it alone player. Forced to shoot too much, and not sure when even SGs got too quick for him to guard.
Rondo ( C+ ) -- this was not a strong game for Rondo, but anybody trying to peg him for the starters struggles here went looking in exactly the wrong place, as he was the only one of the starting 5 out there at least trying to do something. Trying perhaps being the operative word as his tries had a part in our so bad it was not funny at all 19-4 early game deficit. He picked up multiple loose looking turnovers trying to feed Koufos inside in the early going, and as has been the case in the early season, was being dared to shoot again and again, and ended up taking too many of them. But its not like he was gunning all of them up -- there are still multiple times a game when he passed up wide open shots to quickly swing it. Has to be distracting having that thrown in your face all the time. Created some assists and really helped on the boards, including a couple snatched form big guys, but lack of finishing ability was another wart. Finally got some offense going late in the half, got a jumper and layup., but it was never a comfortable dynamic. probably lost a 4th quarter stint when Seth Curry came in and unexpectedly hit a couple of big shots as we did our nightly take the 4th quarter lead from a contender, then fall back and fail thing. Clearly needs Cuz out there, and non-post partum Rudy, to take offensive pressure off him. With a starting lineup that shot 10-36 other than himself, and worse than that until late in the game, Rondo as goto scorer in a lineup is going to be an inefficient look at best.
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