Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Apparently Grant must be stealing my stuff, as I had already planned for tonight's theme: Great Kings Sex Symbols Over the Years
Artest ( A- ) -- and yet another big game from the guy who has been the difference maker in the early season. Big start with a couple of steals/breakaway dunks and a block on Yao, but missing his jumpers. Very very active, but one of those about the Ron Ron starts where you actually had to hope he would back off at some point. Came back in in the second and immediately sparked us on a 9-0 that saw us take the lead. Continued to make our sad bigs better by hitting them on cuts to the hoop -- the only one of our perimeter players with the ability to consistently keep his head up and make those quick passes in there. Per usual, had the other team scrambling to find a defensive matchup for him, with Hayes (strong enough, but not quick/clever enough), Bonzi (kind of a poor man's Ron and somewhat effective late), Battier (mostly concerned with Kevin and his own sucking), and TMac (not a great defender) all taking turns. Did lose control of TMac on defense in the late third and fourth, but that's going to happen sometimes with one of the truly great scorers. When TMac gets hot, he's a Hall of Famer and better than any defender you throw at him. Ron did back off the ball domination late, but began to force a little in the 4th against Bonzi with the two brahma bulls banging around inside. For the first 2/3 of this game Ron was bordering on A+ type of dominance, but got quiet latre wiht Bonzi on him at the same time that TMac starting scorching us on the other end, and so gets ticked down.
Peja sans shirt -- let's lead off with the granddaddy of all Kings beefcake pictures. Here ya go once again ladies. You can thank me later.
Moore ( D ) -- back to the Mikki we know and, um, love. Spent a lot of the early game "guarding" Yao, and...er... Did better in the second quarter, although by that time he was getting a lot of help. And combined with his invisibility on the glass and inability to hit a jumper, did nto last long in the second half. We got good minutes out of Hawes and were able to smallball at PF where the Rockets really aren't big at all once you get past Yao.
Vlade in a Speedo -- and damn near as sexy as Peja -- note the tall guy in the backrow. Now picture a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth. There ya go. Brilliantly staged picture too -- what are the odds of Vlade finding eight guys where he may actually have the best body?
Miller ( C ) -- in the early going dominated insided by Yao, and was often being guarded by a SF at the other end, which of course completely neuitralized him. Came back in in the second quarter along with Ron and was part of our 9-0 run to get back into it. But then suffered one of his classic Brad meltdowns at the end of the second quarter -- it is perfectly clear at this point that no, he really won't ever learn. Fouled Yao. Complained, got a T, kept on whining until Reggie had to pull him so that the fool wouldn't get himself tossed. And all of this with 45 seconds to go until the half. You couldn't hold your water for 45 seconds? Most toddlers can do that. In any case returned for an unremarkable second half. Unremarkable perhaps except for the fact that he actully lost some of him minutes to Hawes, who finally gave us that big man game we have been looking for. Overall stats were not bad -- an average 12pt 7reb type outing...unfortunately while his counterpart went 29 and 11. Remember a few years ago when there were debates on this board about who had the better center?
Reggie -- and damn if we aren't a unique franchise. Let's ignore for a moment that we have never even had a winning season with any coach but the guy who just passed through town today -- how many teams can claim the honor of having an oiled up beefcake picture of its coach? Woohoo! See, now if Muss had done one of these, he might still be here.
Martin ( B ) -- invisible start, not getting the ball, and being guarded attentively. Got a continuation in the late second, but missed a wide open corner three at the first half buzzer that would have put us up going into half. But rebounded in the third -- and once again, that is his quarter. Had 5pts at half, but added 14 in the third quarter on a variety of open jumpers and open court finishes. Cooled a bit as Battier took up the duties again, including a couple of blocks at the rim on Kevin's drives, but the coaching staff may have played the biggest cooler in this one. Kevin ended up sitting for a long stretch rihgt through the heart of the 4th -- the time in fact hat we built and maintained a 6-10pt lead that the rockets could never overcome. Finally came back in with about 4 minutes left after I was worried there for a while he was going to be forgotten about for the whole quarter. Came back to get blocked on a drive by Battier, and get the lumber laid on him by Bonzi on the drive., Missed one of the two there, but the game was largely out of reach by that point. Another 40% shooting effort, but after the bad first half, he had a good second half that gave Ron the support guy he needed. Mostly just scoring, but another 25+ effort and as usual happened pretty quickly. Never a matchup of McGrady and Kevin, as Battier took Kevin and Ron took TMac, so you can't really compare their stats. It should be noted that the various players kevin did guard did little. it should also be noted that that had very little to do with Kevin, and much to do with the Rocket's season long search for somebody, anybody, to step up as a third gun.
Kevin -- but of course the problem with the above is that then your current golden boy decides he wants to compete, and, well, this is what you get...
Artest ( A- ) -- and yet another big game from the guy who has been the difference maker in the early season. Big start with a couple of steals/breakaway dunks and a block on Yao, but missing his jumpers. Very very active, but one of those about the Ron Ron starts where you actually had to hope he would back off at some point. Came back in in the second and immediately sparked us on a 9-0 that saw us take the lead. Continued to make our sad bigs better by hitting them on cuts to the hoop -- the only one of our perimeter players with the ability to consistently keep his head up and make those quick passes in there. Per usual, had the other team scrambling to find a defensive matchup for him, with Hayes (strong enough, but not quick/clever enough), Bonzi (kind of a poor man's Ron and somewhat effective late), Battier (mostly concerned with Kevin and his own sucking), and TMac (not a great defender) all taking turns. Did lose control of TMac on defense in the late third and fourth, but that's going to happen sometimes with one of the truly great scorers. When TMac gets hot, he's a Hall of Famer and better than any defender you throw at him. Ron did back off the ball domination late, but began to force a little in the 4th against Bonzi with the two brahma bulls banging around inside. For the first 2/3 of this game Ron was bordering on A+ type of dominance, but got quiet latre wiht Bonzi on him at the same time that TMac starting scorching us on the other end, and so gets ticked down.
Peja sans shirt -- let's lead off with the granddaddy of all Kings beefcake pictures. Here ya go once again ladies. You can thank me later.
Moore ( D ) -- back to the Mikki we know and, um, love. Spent a lot of the early game "guarding" Yao, and...er... Did better in the second quarter, although by that time he was getting a lot of help. And combined with his invisibility on the glass and inability to hit a jumper, did nto last long in the second half. We got good minutes out of Hawes and were able to smallball at PF where the Rockets really aren't big at all once you get past Yao.
Vlade in a Speedo -- and damn near as sexy as Peja -- note the tall guy in the backrow. Now picture a cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth. There ya go. Brilliantly staged picture too -- what are the odds of Vlade finding eight guys where he may actually have the best body?
Miller ( C ) -- in the early going dominated insided by Yao, and was often being guarded by a SF at the other end, which of course completely neuitralized him. Came back in in the second quarter along with Ron and was part of our 9-0 run to get back into it. But then suffered one of his classic Brad meltdowns at the end of the second quarter -- it is perfectly clear at this point that no, he really won't ever learn. Fouled Yao. Complained, got a T, kept on whining until Reggie had to pull him so that the fool wouldn't get himself tossed. And all of this with 45 seconds to go until the half. You couldn't hold your water for 45 seconds? Most toddlers can do that. In any case returned for an unremarkable second half. Unremarkable perhaps except for the fact that he actully lost some of him minutes to Hawes, who finally gave us that big man game we have been looking for. Overall stats were not bad -- an average 12pt 7reb type outing...unfortunately while his counterpart went 29 and 11. Remember a few years ago when there were debates on this board about who had the better center?
Reggie -- and damn if we aren't a unique franchise. Let's ignore for a moment that we have never even had a winning season with any coach but the guy who just passed through town today -- how many teams can claim the honor of having an oiled up beefcake picture of its coach? Woohoo! See, now if Muss had done one of these, he might still be here.
Martin ( B ) -- invisible start, not getting the ball, and being guarded attentively. Got a continuation in the late second, but missed a wide open corner three at the first half buzzer that would have put us up going into half. But rebounded in the third -- and once again, that is his quarter. Had 5pts at half, but added 14 in the third quarter on a variety of open jumpers and open court finishes. Cooled a bit as Battier took up the duties again, including a couple of blocks at the rim on Kevin's drives, but the coaching staff may have played the biggest cooler in this one. Kevin ended up sitting for a long stretch rihgt through the heart of the 4th -- the time in fact hat we built and maintained a 6-10pt lead that the rockets could never overcome. Finally came back in with about 4 minutes left after I was worried there for a while he was going to be forgotten about for the whole quarter. Came back to get blocked on a drive by Battier, and get the lumber laid on him by Bonzi on the drive., Missed one of the two there, but the game was largely out of reach by that point. Another 40% shooting effort, but after the bad first half, he had a good second half that gave Ron the support guy he needed. Mostly just scoring, but another 25+ effort and as usual happened pretty quickly. Never a matchup of McGrady and Kevin, as Battier took Kevin and Ron took TMac, so you can't really compare their stats. It should be noted that the various players kevin did guard did little. it should also be noted that that had very little to do with Kevin, and much to do with the Rocket's season long search for somebody, anybody, to step up as a third gun.
Kevin -- but of course the problem with the above is that then your current golden boy decides he wants to compete, and, well, this is what you get...
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