Grades v. Rockets 4/12/10

[Bricklayer]

Started off a party, took an ugly turn, but in the end we got what we needed out of this one and will probably be looking back gratefully towards it on draft day.

Theme = yeah, last chance, so let's go ahead and have one for the Kings Dancers -- can't be easy trying to play pep squad for a 25 win team in front of a half filled arena.

Boxscore

Nocioni ( B ) -- some selfish one on one work per normal, but was hitting his threes this time out, and took advantage when the Rockets got tired of Reke scoring at will over Kevin and tried to hide him on defense against Noc. Hit an early three,then bricked several shots before blatantly fouling Ariza...then getting a technical arguing it? I mean there was nothign to argue, it really was an indisputable call. Knocked down another open three. Then a selfish drive got the foul on Kevin as he tried to flop. Added a strong post move late in the half. After half benefitted for a while with Kevin switched off onto him on defense, but as we stuttered on offense got selfish and started missing. Defense on Ariza just kept on getting worse, although many of his threes came off off ball rotation up top as our "defense" scrambled.

Gina

Landry ( B ) -- sort of another day another dollar game for Carl. Good but not great scoring punch inside, including a number of offensive follows, no rebounding other than those offensive follows, and outperformed his old mates on the Rockets frontline. In the second got a technical for getting an elbow up aroudn Jordan Hill's head (you would have to think inadvertently), but got fouled on the play himself too and got the FTs back the other way. In the third missed a three on the kickout when Reke got doubled -- which was fine once as it was sort of bang bang scrambling play, but scared me when our announcers gleefully announced he had been working on them. Carl Landry as non rebounding non shotblocking three point shooting "power" forward can still earn his way off my team. Leave the weenie shots for guys too scrawny to do anything else. Hit a jumper and a post move has we dueled to stay close in the later going, but also airballed a side pop and missd a little hook down the stretch as we fell off. Note that none of the Rockets bigs did anythig back the other way against him.

Laura

Thompson ( B- ) -- had the advantage, and disadvantage of playing against a total non-entity in Chuck Hayes, the Rockets 6'5" starting "center"/defensive specialist. And ended up putting up Hayes like numbers himself. Never did get anything going on offense, missing both inside and out, but all game long gave us good work ont he defensive glass -- Hayes wouldn't let him near the o-boards but he was in there finishing off defensive possessions for us whihc is the more imprtant task. .missed the side jumper, ran over Brooks on the break. Made a coupe of bad passes down the stretch that hurt us as we were losing ground, but also notched 4 assists on the night.

Carly

Udrih ( C+ ) -- there were a lot of things to like about Beno's game tonight -- started off draining those little pullups, dropped in several niftry slices ot the hoop, including a nifrty little between the legs dribble at full speed that was spoiled when he fumbled the ball for a travel. Late int he game came up wiht a couple of good steals up top, one of which he finished fullcourt for the +1, the other whihc he kind of wasted making a shaky pass to Landry. inished things with an alley oop to Donte on the break. And then there was the thing to be absolutely horrified by on the night: defense. Or the complete and utter lack thereof. Just copletely pantsed by Kevin out there, never offering a whiff of resistance even when he did stay with him. And then late in the game blown up by Lowry as well. I could have seen myself maybe talking myself into a B+ or some sort of grade for the offense, but this really was an instance where the defensive side was so miserable -- embarrassing almost -- that it became a major factor in why we lost the game, not to mention why we got embarrassed by our old teammate.

Althea

 

[Bricklayer]

Evans ( C+ ) -- it was kind of too bad the way this one worked out -- he got the historic season 20-5-5 mark with a game to spare, did it in front of the home fans, but it started out looking like he was going to be able to pull it off in historic memorable fahsion. Coach Adelman must still have a soft spot for Sacto, because he started the game guarding Reke with Kevin, and it predictably was a complete slaughter. In fact it felt liekthe good old days wiht Kevin being responsible for about 90% of the early points out there for BOHTH teams. Reke bullied him on the drive, bullied him in the post, banged inside and grabbed offensive rebs when he missed the initial shot, and was off to ahuge first half, or I guess I should say first 21 minutes. Because that is when this game turned. Reke was sitting on 22 points in the first 21 minutes -- dominating the game and the crowd was cheering every hit as the countdown kicked in. And then it finally got to him. Quotes in the game story next day confrirm it -- he got nervous. And frankly I don't think we, as a coaching staff or fans, were helping. Everytime he touched the ball people were screaming for the shot. Every drawn up play was to get him another shot at making history. And he just could not get it done. He missed his final three shots of the first half, including a wild attempt at the buzzer, and looked flustered doing so as the game took on more the flavor of an All Star game where everybody just wants to see a particular player score (or an end of the game with a popular deep bencher). Then came out in the third looking less flustered, but still just not able to get anything to fall as now eveything began to roll off the rim again. Missed 8 straight shots dating back to the point where he hit 22 and looked poised to score 40. Sat down near the end of the third after running over Ariza for an offensive foul and looking thoroughly out of rhythm and shaking his head ruefully. Finally FINALLY got the points he needed on a pair of FTs after retunring in the 4th. And talk about pressure -- if it weren't Reke I would have expected a choke. Celebrated with a nice open court steal picking off a Kevin pass, and then the dropoff to Greene for a duink on the break. But that was it -- got tied up for a jumpball on a later drive, and finsihed trying to split a double team and losing the ball, setting the Rockets out on the break. We took him out soon therafter for the curtain call, not so much for this game, but just to an amzing rookie season. Setting the record aside, deserves some grade here for the amazing first half performance. But obviously the second half was just a mess, and one that I think everyone is just glad to have over. Now let's just go play some basketball.

Katie

Brockman ( INC ) -- came in, went high to make a catch, then went up for a +1 finish. Got beat by a quick Scola spin, and let Jeffries slip inside him for an offensive rebond, but made hustle plays both times to recover and deny them hoops. Was back for the garbagetime.

Lynsi

Garcia ( D ) -- Now I want to say that last time we faced these guys Cisco's defense on Kevin was amajor factor for us. But tonight he was totally inefective. Knocked down one little jumper in the second. Never did have any real impact defnsively, unless it just be to not be quite the revolving door that Beno was. Very little to grab hold of here.

Ari

Greene ( B ) -- strong game off the bench in his season closer. Didn't really start that way as he sandwiched a single first half three in between various miscues and jsut wasn't having the defensive effect you would hope (indeed has not really in some months -- a rededication is in order). Added a runnign pullup to close the third quarter scoring, but did most of his damage int he 4th. Missed a three, but then drained one from the corner as we were still hanging around. Traveled on the drive. But then got an open court steal and ran the break for the alley oop from Beno. Then ran thebreak agin to get he dunk from Reke. Added a pullup along the baseline with less than two minutes to go, and got fouled on the three point shot. Nifty criossover on the drive but missed the finish in desperation time.

Jeannie

 

[Bricklayer]

Casspi ( C- ) -- And while Donte finished up strong at home, unfortunately Omri really did not. Tried to work inside with mixed results, but got completely toasted by Kevin when he asked to guard him late in the first half. Best thing he did was make some unselfish passes, notching three assists on the night. As with Beno, the poor defnse jsut has to chase this down several notches.

And of course can't have one of these without Jenn.

May ( INC ) -- hit one little jumper in the early 4th, otherwise nothing.

And the rest of the SKDT for those who like their dance teams in seedy alleys

 

[Kingsguy881]

Lin and 20-5-5? Perfection. Too bad Reke was 0-10 in the second half. The pressure will do him good once we are in the playoffs though. Get that jumper Reke and the sky truly is the limit.

 

[mac]

Rick Adelman did us a huge favour by putting Martin on Tyreke for the first half.

 

[LWP777]

Everybody should get an A for tanking the last 5 minutes and losing the game.