Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
My goodness, watching our games is nothing but an adventure.
Two quotes:
1) "the Kings are just faster, stronger, longer" (paraphrased) -- the Rockets announcers. Its maybe the brightest part of a very bright future for this team if we can keep it together. Matchup nightmares in the same way so many of the great teams of the past have been matchup nightmares (the old Celts or Lakers, the various Texas Twin Towers teams, the current Lakers, just about any team with Shaq etc.).
2) "you guys are frickin' idiots!!!" -- Bricklayer to team on TV, after we tried to explore new depths in finding ways to choke this away. There is not a shred of exaggeration when I say that we damn near fouled THREE 3pt shooters in the final minute, the first two by our two most experienced players (Beno, Daly), and the third by Marcus, who got lucky when Kevin decided to pass at the last second rather than shoot. There is also not a shred of exaggeration when I say I suspect that would have been an NBA record.
Official Boxscore
Garcia ( D- ) -- ok, let's play a game of can you spot the hole/imminent FA signing: 3 bigs: 21-30FG 50pts 36reb 8ast; 3 guards: 21-40FG 49pts 9reb 9ast; 2 SFs: 2-13FG 5pts 1reb 1ast. Hit a single corner three from Reke late in the 1st, otherwise quiet to the point of invisibility in the early going, or late going for that matter. Bricked a three to start the third and a couple fo minutes later blew the short jumper after we came up with the steal in the backcourt, leading to his immedaite dismissal in favor of Donte (who was at least better than his numbers) Took a dumb 1 on 4 corner three with nobody underneath to board in the 4th to drop to 1-7 from the field. Did a solid job on Kevin in the 4th to avoid another F, as like Omri, Cisco has been given his chances to prove he can be a reliable starter, and just wracked us with wild incosistency.
Cousins ( B ) -- played a dominant first half...followed by an oddly invisible second half. Not awful. Just invisible. Got off to a strong start in all ways, on the glass, passing with minimal turnovers, and scoring inside and out as he was able to score through/past the much smaller Scola and Hayes almost at will. You could add Jordan Hill to that list as when he entered Cousins greeted him by just overpowering him on the right block with a strong +1 post move. Great pass to a backdoor cutting Donte to cap a long sequence of passing by us. Grabbed board after board as he gobbled up a dozen before the break. And then...I almost no notes on him for the frist 20 minutes of the 2nd half, because he basically didn't do anything. Not that he did bad things. His final statline remained very efficient, not as if he started forcing up bad shots and turnovers. But he just simply was not involved. Some of that was the Rockets focusing extra attenton on him...at which point Dalembert took over the interior butt whoopng duties. Some of that may have been us not being as patient about running the offense through him after half with the Rockets paying that extra attention. But a lot of it seemed to be him just taking his foot off the gas and coasting a bit, and with Jason coming on strong, he actually lost second half minutes after dominating before the break. Down the break he was shaky as everybody else, throwing a terrible pass at the 2:30 mark directly out of bounds when somebody apparently did not cut the way he had anticipate, then coming back and almsot turning it over again at the 2:00 mark, before diving on the floor to grab the loose ball and calling timeout.
Dalembert ( A- ) -- played a solid first half teaming with Cousins to pummel the Rockets inside, but overshadowed by his younger teammates dominance. Then as Cousins tired/disappeared/drew attention, took over the butt kicking himself after the break on his way to another big 21pt 15reb game. Got it done in various ways in the early going, cutting to the hoop and taking a pass from Reke for his first score, working a give and go, knocking down several long jumpers, and hitting a tough turnaround through traffic in the post. The drawback, and something that would cost him some minutes after half, was that he was not able to consistently challenge Scola around the perimeter (where he retreated when he got one look at our frontline). Came out in the third and made his presence felt from the start. Pummeled the Rockets on the offensive glass and just played right over Scola. Nice job blocking Martin on the break and actually avoiding getting called for the foul as Kevin went searching for it of course. Great block on Hill to trigger a fastbreak for Beno in the early 4th as well. Ended up having to sit out a long stretch of the 4th as we went with Jason as a better matchup against Scola on the perimeter, but was finally back in late after we started ou wobble down the stretch. Amazingly contributed to that wobble, fouling a three point shooter at the 21 second mark in one of those bizarre what the hell sorts of mistakes the likes of whcih we specialize in -- almost worth the "minus" on this grade by itself. Unlike most of his teamates got a chance to redeem himself, and did so, icing the game in the final 12 seconds by knocking down 3-4 of FTs to finally close the door.
Thornton ( B ) -- started off as a poor game, and one with a few red flags about how he was adjusting to third weaponhood, before he stepped forward in the clutch to save our collpapsing crew before they choked again. Off to another slow start, with his only hit in the first quarter a called play quick postup through Budinger. May be feeling the lack of featured role a bit more than the other guys have shown. Got fooled by Kevin when he pointed to an imaginary player behind Marcus, then quickly went baseline left, and in general did not do a good job containing him early. Not sure if his matchup here meant as much to him as it did to his fans. Seemed to be pressing a little on some of his drives. Split a double to get us a final drive just before the halftime break, but you could see him maybe getting antsy and forcing again in the early 3rd. Nor was he staying in front of Kevin again. Suddenly woke up for a little burst in the mid third with three quick hits, but then returned to looking out of control/overexcited forcing things. Threw a bad pass up top to Dalembert -- soft and telegraphed, leading to Kevin picking it off for a breakaway. But after the on and off play (and it was mostly off) saved our bacon late when we were seriously poised to blow a 12 point lead in the final 3 minutes with just idioitic play. So Marcus said enough stupidity (despite his own moment a minute later) and scored 7 points in the final 1:30, assisted Kevin in choking the ball out of bounds the other way and grabbed an important d-board. Of course damn near fouled a three point shooter himself (which would have been our THRID in the final minute) at the 12 second mark when he ran into Kevin and just got lucky Kevin was passing instead of shooting, but that breaks up the hero narrative and so will be minimized. I'm not going to go any higher than this for a game in which he struggled for 45 minutes, and especially given Kevin's production the other way. But there is little doubt without his late rush we'd all be talknig about how we choked another one, and HARD, instead of about winning 7 of the last 10.
Evans ( B- ) -- once again mixing passes and his own scores in the early going, but settled for a couple of long jumpers and threes as well, and really those shoukld be swung over to Thornton. Thronton's presence has really opened things up for Reke in the post against opposing PGs, and we repeatedly got good things out of his work over the Houston PGs inside. Was knocking down turnaroudn jumeprs over them, and finding cutters. But unlike the Utah game, there were a few forces mixed in here and there that kept this from ever feeling as smooth. Added his traditional airball as well when he whiffed a three against the clock in the early 3rd. Was running the breaks really well though -- set up JT for a dunk with a nice pass on the run, and hit Beno with a perfectly timed dumpoff as he has committed few of those selfish plays on the break since returning. Unfortunately was shaky as all the rest down the stretch here, kinda kicking things off by committing a bad turnover at the 3:45 mark leading to a clear path foul that let the Rockets abruptly close the gap from 12 points down to 7. Added a bad forced jumper at the 1:45 mark before wisely stepping back the rest of the way.
Bench
Udrih ( C+ ) -- in off the bench and immediately scored over by Kevin. Started the second taking a nice pass from JT for a little jumper. But really quiet thereafter, and his minutes felt almost like he was getting them because its our scheme to give them to him rather than because of any great productivity. Raced out for a coast to coast layup off a big Dalembert block in the early 4th, adn started hitting a few shots as the 4th went along. Took a a big charge at the 1:45 mark (that was not really the right call BTW) to save a hoop for us at a critical time. But then came back and AGAIN fouled a three pt shooter in the final minute to let Houston cut it to a 1 possesion game at the 38 second mark. What is that? THREE times this year Beno has done that in the final minute of a close game? I mean, WTH? Our late game chokes would be funny if it were happening to anybody else but us. Efficient but largely punchless game. Not bad, just low impact.
Thompson ( B ) -- got off to a nice start to this one in almost all ways -- doing a nice job on the glass, efficient offensively, and dropped a couple of nice passes to guys as he went almost the entire way in the 2nd quarter. On the other hand also threw one mysterious pass 10 feet over Donte's head into the stands. After half was again going well...until it came time to win things and his little brain just dribbled right out of his ear. Back to back finsihes inside as first Cousins and then Reke found him in there. Repeatedly knocked down long jumpers in the 4th. And then, well we started things off with the awful turnover out of the timeout at the 3:00 mark just throwing the ball to noone after Beno moved off his spot. Took a dumb forced shot in traffic that was blocked. And then threw another terrible inbounds pass at the 42 mark that Reke had no chance at, giving the Rockets yet another chance. The end of the game stuff was enoguh to knock the + right off this one.
Greene ( C ) -- anemic numbers, but felt he was better than the stats. Snuck backdoor and took the psss form DeMarcus for a quick layup for his only score. Took a bad contested three upon reentering in the thrid, but on the other end gave us a nice defensive lift on Kevin., who normally likes going against bigger guys, but seemed bothered by Donte's length.
Two quotes:
1) "the Kings are just faster, stronger, longer" (paraphrased) -- the Rockets announcers. Its maybe the brightest part of a very bright future for this team if we can keep it together. Matchup nightmares in the same way so many of the great teams of the past have been matchup nightmares (the old Celts or Lakers, the various Texas Twin Towers teams, the current Lakers, just about any team with Shaq etc.).
2) "you guys are frickin' idiots!!!" -- Bricklayer to team on TV, after we tried to explore new depths in finding ways to choke this away. There is not a shred of exaggeration when I say that we damn near fouled THREE 3pt shooters in the final minute, the first two by our two most experienced players (Beno, Daly), and the third by Marcus, who got lucky when Kevin decided to pass at the last second rather than shoot. There is also not a shred of exaggeration when I say I suspect that would have been an NBA record.
Official Boxscore
Garcia ( D- ) -- ok, let's play a game of can you spot the hole/imminent FA signing: 3 bigs: 21-30FG 50pts 36reb 8ast; 3 guards: 21-40FG 49pts 9reb 9ast; 2 SFs: 2-13FG 5pts 1reb 1ast. Hit a single corner three from Reke late in the 1st, otherwise quiet to the point of invisibility in the early going, or late going for that matter. Bricked a three to start the third and a couple fo minutes later blew the short jumper after we came up with the steal in the backcourt, leading to his immedaite dismissal in favor of Donte (who was at least better than his numbers) Took a dumb 1 on 4 corner three with nobody underneath to board in the 4th to drop to 1-7 from the field. Did a solid job on Kevin in the 4th to avoid another F, as like Omri, Cisco has been given his chances to prove he can be a reliable starter, and just wracked us with wild incosistency.
Cousins ( B ) -- played a dominant first half...followed by an oddly invisible second half. Not awful. Just invisible. Got off to a strong start in all ways, on the glass, passing with minimal turnovers, and scoring inside and out as he was able to score through/past the much smaller Scola and Hayes almost at will. You could add Jordan Hill to that list as when he entered Cousins greeted him by just overpowering him on the right block with a strong +1 post move. Great pass to a backdoor cutting Donte to cap a long sequence of passing by us. Grabbed board after board as he gobbled up a dozen before the break. And then...I almost no notes on him for the frist 20 minutes of the 2nd half, because he basically didn't do anything. Not that he did bad things. His final statline remained very efficient, not as if he started forcing up bad shots and turnovers. But he just simply was not involved. Some of that was the Rockets focusing extra attenton on him...at which point Dalembert took over the interior butt whoopng duties. Some of that may have been us not being as patient about running the offense through him after half with the Rockets paying that extra attention. But a lot of it seemed to be him just taking his foot off the gas and coasting a bit, and with Jason coming on strong, he actually lost second half minutes after dominating before the break. Down the break he was shaky as everybody else, throwing a terrible pass at the 2:30 mark directly out of bounds when somebody apparently did not cut the way he had anticipate, then coming back and almsot turning it over again at the 2:00 mark, before diving on the floor to grab the loose ball and calling timeout.
Dalembert ( A- ) -- played a solid first half teaming with Cousins to pummel the Rockets inside, but overshadowed by his younger teammates dominance. Then as Cousins tired/disappeared/drew attention, took over the butt kicking himself after the break on his way to another big 21pt 15reb game. Got it done in various ways in the early going, cutting to the hoop and taking a pass from Reke for his first score, working a give and go, knocking down several long jumpers, and hitting a tough turnaround through traffic in the post. The drawback, and something that would cost him some minutes after half, was that he was not able to consistently challenge Scola around the perimeter (where he retreated when he got one look at our frontline). Came out in the third and made his presence felt from the start. Pummeled the Rockets on the offensive glass and just played right over Scola. Nice job blocking Martin on the break and actually avoiding getting called for the foul as Kevin went searching for it of course. Great block on Hill to trigger a fastbreak for Beno in the early 4th as well. Ended up having to sit out a long stretch of the 4th as we went with Jason as a better matchup against Scola on the perimeter, but was finally back in late after we started ou wobble down the stretch. Amazingly contributed to that wobble, fouling a three point shooter at the 21 second mark in one of those bizarre what the hell sorts of mistakes the likes of whcih we specialize in -- almost worth the "minus" on this grade by itself. Unlike most of his teamates got a chance to redeem himself, and did so, icing the game in the final 12 seconds by knocking down 3-4 of FTs to finally close the door.
Thornton ( B ) -- started off as a poor game, and one with a few red flags about how he was adjusting to third weaponhood, before he stepped forward in the clutch to save our collpapsing crew before they choked again. Off to another slow start, with his only hit in the first quarter a called play quick postup through Budinger. May be feeling the lack of featured role a bit more than the other guys have shown. Got fooled by Kevin when he pointed to an imaginary player behind Marcus, then quickly went baseline left, and in general did not do a good job containing him early. Not sure if his matchup here meant as much to him as it did to his fans. Seemed to be pressing a little on some of his drives. Split a double to get us a final drive just before the halftime break, but you could see him maybe getting antsy and forcing again in the early 3rd. Nor was he staying in front of Kevin again. Suddenly woke up for a little burst in the mid third with three quick hits, but then returned to looking out of control/overexcited forcing things. Threw a bad pass up top to Dalembert -- soft and telegraphed, leading to Kevin picking it off for a breakaway. But after the on and off play (and it was mostly off) saved our bacon late when we were seriously poised to blow a 12 point lead in the final 3 minutes with just idioitic play. So Marcus said enough stupidity (despite his own moment a minute later) and scored 7 points in the final 1:30, assisted Kevin in choking the ball out of bounds the other way and grabbed an important d-board. Of course damn near fouled a three point shooter himself (which would have been our THRID in the final minute) at the 12 second mark when he ran into Kevin and just got lucky Kevin was passing instead of shooting, but that breaks up the hero narrative and so will be minimized. I'm not going to go any higher than this for a game in which he struggled for 45 minutes, and especially given Kevin's production the other way. But there is little doubt without his late rush we'd all be talknig about how we choked another one, and HARD, instead of about winning 7 of the last 10.
Evans ( B- ) -- once again mixing passes and his own scores in the early going, but settled for a couple of long jumpers and threes as well, and really those shoukld be swung over to Thornton. Thronton's presence has really opened things up for Reke in the post against opposing PGs, and we repeatedly got good things out of his work over the Houston PGs inside. Was knocking down turnaroudn jumeprs over them, and finding cutters. But unlike the Utah game, there were a few forces mixed in here and there that kept this from ever feeling as smooth. Added his traditional airball as well when he whiffed a three against the clock in the early 3rd. Was running the breaks really well though -- set up JT for a dunk with a nice pass on the run, and hit Beno with a perfectly timed dumpoff as he has committed few of those selfish plays on the break since returning. Unfortunately was shaky as all the rest down the stretch here, kinda kicking things off by committing a bad turnover at the 3:45 mark leading to a clear path foul that let the Rockets abruptly close the gap from 12 points down to 7. Added a bad forced jumper at the 1:45 mark before wisely stepping back the rest of the way.
Bench
Udrih ( C+ ) -- in off the bench and immediately scored over by Kevin. Started the second taking a nice pass from JT for a little jumper. But really quiet thereafter, and his minutes felt almost like he was getting them because its our scheme to give them to him rather than because of any great productivity. Raced out for a coast to coast layup off a big Dalembert block in the early 4th, adn started hitting a few shots as the 4th went along. Took a a big charge at the 1:45 mark (that was not really the right call BTW) to save a hoop for us at a critical time. But then came back and AGAIN fouled a three pt shooter in the final minute to let Houston cut it to a 1 possesion game at the 38 second mark. What is that? THREE times this year Beno has done that in the final minute of a close game? I mean, WTH? Our late game chokes would be funny if it were happening to anybody else but us. Efficient but largely punchless game. Not bad, just low impact.
Thompson ( B ) -- got off to a nice start to this one in almost all ways -- doing a nice job on the glass, efficient offensively, and dropped a couple of nice passes to guys as he went almost the entire way in the 2nd quarter. On the other hand also threw one mysterious pass 10 feet over Donte's head into the stands. After half was again going well...until it came time to win things and his little brain just dribbled right out of his ear. Back to back finsihes inside as first Cousins and then Reke found him in there. Repeatedly knocked down long jumpers in the 4th. And then, well we started things off with the awful turnover out of the timeout at the 3:00 mark just throwing the ball to noone after Beno moved off his spot. Took a dumb forced shot in traffic that was blocked. And then threw another terrible inbounds pass at the 42 mark that Reke had no chance at, giving the Rockets yet another chance. The end of the game stuff was enoguh to knock the + right off this one.
Greene ( C ) -- anemic numbers, but felt he was better than the stats. Snuck backdoor and took the psss form DeMarcus for a quick layup for his only score. Took a bad contested three upon reentering in the thrid, but on the other end gave us a nice defensive lift on Kevin., who normally likes going against bigger guys, but seemed bothered by Donte's length.
Last edited:
I like that. It is a good thing other teams didn't understand his potential to control himself or we wouldn't have gotten him. Also, I think the refs have loosened their willingness to call a tech just for a sour look on the face although I think Cuz has less sour looks than a lot of players. So much for that chapter in his book of life.
