Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( C ) --looked very rusty for the first three quarters. Or maybe just normal for him this year, I dunno. Hit a few open jumpers but seemed to be flinching a bit when the defense was in the area. But in the early 4th came up with something rare for him -- a 4th quarter scoring burst. Well, just back to back threes. But still likely one of his highest scoring 4ths of the season. Hit a layup late as well. Grabbed an adequate number of boards, and a few in traffic. Amidst all the "Peja is causing everyone else to suck" stuff is lost Peja's own game this time out -- lousy for 3/4, but decent in the 4th. Certainly did absolutely nothing to quash the trade rumors, but was not the worst King on the night, and was one of the few guys to actually show up when it mattered down the stretch. Which may be one of the only times you'll ever hear me say that about Mr. Three Quarters. But there it was.
Thomas ( B- ) -- got off to the quick start in grudge match two, but quieted down and eventually largely disappeared. Was expending a lot of energy early, and while generally outperformed by that washed up Webber guy, did manage to counterpunch here and there with his quickness. Grabbed some boards and was respectable in there offensively when he tried to score. Defensively of course...well Brad's not going to stop anybody, and KT can't stop anybody, and so the rim was open. Again. Also mysteriously lost Webb on a couple of slow motion cuts to the hoop leading to barely contested dunks.
Miller ( A ) -- got off to another huge start -- and really this time with minimal effort as he repeatedly got the open elbow jumper vs. Dalmebert, and just knocked them down. Kept on pouring it on in the 3rd, and for a while was even battling on the glass. But perhaps tired, and certainly drew more defensive attention, when we needed him most down the stretch. And so turned in a huge 36pt(!) performance through three quarters, and then gave us zero in the 4th as the Sixers pulled away. Asbolutely the only reason we were even in the game and huge numbers while carrying us. But loses the "+" as the Sixers' athletic centers began to really take it to him on the glass and in the paint as the game wore on, and his own open jumpers were largely taken away.
Martin ( D ) --got off to the slow start, and looked tentative at times -- maybe over-deferring again. Struggled to hit a shot from inside or out. Made a couple of hustle plays but that was about it. And despite getting the lion's share of the OG minutes completely disappeared in the second half. Would have barely known he was out there. Just a placeholder eating up minutes. Back down to earth with a thud. And have to wonder about the effect star players and over-deferring have on his mentality.
Bibby ( D- ) --sloppy start to this one, seemed to be having trouble with Webb in particular. On the other hand Iverson was absolutely terrible in the first half, and while its safe to say that A.I. is imminently capable of that all by himself, at least he wasn't getting easy layups on every drive, although by the end of the half was getting into the lane and breaking things down. The one thing Mike did do was rack up assists, although most of them were setups out of Mike's preferred two man game to Brad for that jumper. Offensively just no rhythm. Kept on missing and missing, easy shots and hard. And then Iverson started to arrive and things really became nightmarish. Avoids an F on a 4-20 night by dint of having something to do with Brad's big night.
Garcia ( B- ) -- came off the bench with energy and other than messing up a fastbreak minimized his mistakes. In the 4th started to turn off the brain a bit and do bright things like force shots and try to pickpocket Allen Iverson in the open court.
Still, overall a solid effort giving us some energy with fewer than his normal allotment of mistakes.
Hart ( F ) -- came in and was Jason Hart. Which as it has turned out this season is NOT a good thing. Impatient, forced shots, fouled people. Missed a pair of FTs in the midst of our second quarter meltdown. Gave us no little man option off the bench...well except for that other little man option named Price (who has no pedigree and may well be a scrub but couldn't do much worse). Gave us that one respectable performance last time out against Boston, but otherwise no idea why Jason still sees the floor.
Williamson ( D ) -- was the first PF off the bench but just too small. Tried to body Webb. But also fouled and was beaten by quickness. Just completely ineffective against his old team and the big Sixers frontline. As I recall in the first game vs. Philly last year Corliss put up big numbers -- but it was because we had him at SF schooling Korver with his preferred post-the-SF game, not at PF inside against Chris Webber and Samuel Dalembert.
Skinner ( B ) -- finally got into the game in the early 4th when Brad had picked up his 4th and we needed to give him a little blow. And Rick left Brian in there for a bit even after Brad returned to give energy and blocked shots. Did a solid job of it too -- as usual about the only interior physical presence we have. Brian sucked last time out against Boston, but still no idea what Rick was thinking trying the little man frontline rotation against this team rather than giving Brian the rotation minutes earlier. In any case that's discussed under coaching.
Price ( INC ) -- Garbagetime.
Sampson ( INC ) -- Garbagetime.
Adelman ( D ) -- it was just a little thing, just for a few minutes. But it certainly tainted this entire grade. In the 2nd quarter with the Kings with a healthy lead dwindling under a Sixers run, Rick decides to get Brad a little rest from the strain of carrying us. And so who does Rick bring in to match up against Chris Webber (20pts 16rebs) and Samuel Dalembert (20pts 14rebs)? None other than 6'5" Corliss Williamson. To stand in there alongside 6'7" Kenny Thomas as our frontline. Giving up 4-5 inches per position. And it went well as might be expected. That is if you're a Sixers fan. At least Rick had the good sense to call a timeout and change things after the Sixers ran off six quick points and grabbed every rebound, but the damage to this grade was done. 6'9" shotblocker/rebounder Brian Skinner was sitting on our bench. So was 6'11" shotblocker/rebounder Jamal Sampson. But our choice to match up against a big frontline that dropped 40pts 30rebs on us was 6'5" tweener forward Corliss Williamson. Bright. Other things of note, good and bad: 1) we ran a lot of Mike and Brad two man game to get Brad his big night = good; 2) the Peja crutch was back, with him returning, sucking for 3/4, and yet still getting 40min. = bad. He could be 0-20 and somehow Rick feels comfortable with him out on the floor. At least he came through somewhat down the stretch. 3) We finally went to Skinner in the 4th, and he responded with some good energetic play; = good, but too late; 4) Hart is still mysteriously ahead of Price = bad; 5) Rick used his timeouts well. Or at least where I would have. = good. Always gratifying when I mutter "we need a time out" and the coach immediately calls one. Gratifies my ego + makes me feel like I am playing a computer game.
Overall this was not as horrendous a job as people are making it out to be. But the small ball stuff is patently ridiculous (and people say they'd like to have Don Nelson 
). I remember the good ole days when Rick would willingly play Scot Pollard without blinking. I remember when he began to get a little uncomfortable with him for some reason in favor of Hedo style PF matchups. But it probably wasn't until the Darius era when this riduculous preference for undersized forwards as big men really began to rot away at us. And it needs to end now. Whether it means Rick, Geoff, or every single tweener forward on the roster being eliminated. Repeat after me Rick -- big men are nice. Big men are good. As was proven by the Sixers taking their big men and pounding us to dust inside.
Thomas ( B- ) -- got off to the quick start in grudge match two, but quieted down and eventually largely disappeared. Was expending a lot of energy early, and while generally outperformed by that washed up Webber guy, did manage to counterpunch here and there with his quickness. Grabbed some boards and was respectable in there offensively when he tried to score. Defensively of course...well Brad's not going to stop anybody, and KT can't stop anybody, and so the rim was open. Again. Also mysteriously lost Webb on a couple of slow motion cuts to the hoop leading to barely contested dunks.
Miller ( A ) -- got off to another huge start -- and really this time with minimal effort as he repeatedly got the open elbow jumper vs. Dalmebert, and just knocked them down. Kept on pouring it on in the 3rd, and for a while was even battling on the glass. But perhaps tired, and certainly drew more defensive attention, when we needed him most down the stretch. And so turned in a huge 36pt(!) performance through three quarters, and then gave us zero in the 4th as the Sixers pulled away. Asbolutely the only reason we were even in the game and huge numbers while carrying us. But loses the "+" as the Sixers' athletic centers began to really take it to him on the glass and in the paint as the game wore on, and his own open jumpers were largely taken away.
Martin ( D ) --got off to the slow start, and looked tentative at times -- maybe over-deferring again. Struggled to hit a shot from inside or out. Made a couple of hustle plays but that was about it. And despite getting the lion's share of the OG minutes completely disappeared in the second half. Would have barely known he was out there. Just a placeholder eating up minutes. Back down to earth with a thud. And have to wonder about the effect star players and over-deferring have on his mentality.
Bibby ( D- ) --sloppy start to this one, seemed to be having trouble with Webb in particular. On the other hand Iverson was absolutely terrible in the first half, and while its safe to say that A.I. is imminently capable of that all by himself, at least he wasn't getting easy layups on every drive, although by the end of the half was getting into the lane and breaking things down. The one thing Mike did do was rack up assists, although most of them were setups out of Mike's preferred two man game to Brad for that jumper. Offensively just no rhythm. Kept on missing and missing, easy shots and hard. And then Iverson started to arrive and things really became nightmarish. Avoids an F on a 4-20 night by dint of having something to do with Brad's big night.
Garcia ( B- ) -- came off the bench with energy and other than messing up a fastbreak minimized his mistakes. In the 4th started to turn off the brain a bit and do bright things like force shots and try to pickpocket Allen Iverson in the open court.
Still, overall a solid effort giving us some energy with fewer than his normal allotment of mistakes.Hart ( F ) -- came in and was Jason Hart. Which as it has turned out this season is NOT a good thing. Impatient, forced shots, fouled people. Missed a pair of FTs in the midst of our second quarter meltdown. Gave us no little man option off the bench...well except for that other little man option named Price (who has no pedigree and may well be a scrub but couldn't do much worse). Gave us that one respectable performance last time out against Boston, but otherwise no idea why Jason still sees the floor.
Williamson ( D ) -- was the first PF off the bench but just too small. Tried to body Webb. But also fouled and was beaten by quickness. Just completely ineffective against his old team and the big Sixers frontline. As I recall in the first game vs. Philly last year Corliss put up big numbers -- but it was because we had him at SF schooling Korver with his preferred post-the-SF game, not at PF inside against Chris Webber and Samuel Dalembert.
Skinner ( B ) -- finally got into the game in the early 4th when Brad had picked up his 4th and we needed to give him a little blow. And Rick left Brian in there for a bit even after Brad returned to give energy and blocked shots. Did a solid job of it too -- as usual about the only interior physical presence we have. Brian sucked last time out against Boston, but still no idea what Rick was thinking trying the little man frontline rotation against this team rather than giving Brian the rotation minutes earlier. In any case that's discussed under coaching.
Price ( INC ) -- Garbagetime.
Sampson ( INC ) -- Garbagetime.
Adelman ( D ) -- it was just a little thing, just for a few minutes. But it certainly tainted this entire grade. In the 2nd quarter with the Kings with a healthy lead dwindling under a Sixers run, Rick decides to get Brad a little rest from the strain of carrying us. And so who does Rick bring in to match up against Chris Webber (20pts 16rebs) and Samuel Dalembert (20pts 14rebs)? None other than 6'5" Corliss Williamson. To stand in there alongside 6'7" Kenny Thomas as our frontline. Giving up 4-5 inches per position. And it went well as might be expected. That is if you're a Sixers fan. At least Rick had the good sense to call a timeout and change things after the Sixers ran off six quick points and grabbed every rebound, but the damage to this grade was done. 6'9" shotblocker/rebounder Brian Skinner was sitting on our bench. So was 6'11" shotblocker/rebounder Jamal Sampson. But our choice to match up against a big frontline that dropped 40pts 30rebs on us was 6'5" tweener forward Corliss Williamson. Bright. Other things of note, good and bad: 1) we ran a lot of Mike and Brad two man game to get Brad his big night = good; 2) the Peja crutch was back, with him returning, sucking for 3/4, and yet still getting 40min. = bad. He could be 0-20 and somehow Rick feels comfortable with him out on the floor. At least he came through somewhat down the stretch. 3) We finally went to Skinner in the 4th, and he responded with some good energetic play; = good, but too late; 4) Hart is still mysteriously ahead of Price = bad; 5) Rick used his timeouts well. Or at least where I would have. = good. Always gratifying when I mutter "we need a time out" and the coach immediately calls one. Gratifies my ego + makes me feel like I am playing a computer game.
Overall this was not as horrendous a job as people are making it out to be. But the small ball stuff is patently ridiculous (and people say they'd like to have Don Nelson ). I remember the good ole days when Rick would willingly play Scot Pollard without blinking. I remember when he began to get a little uncomfortable with him for some reason in favor of Hedo style PF matchups. But it probably wasn't until the Darius era when this riduculous preference for undersized forwards as big men really began to rot away at us. And it needs to end now. Whether it means Rick, Geoff, or every single tweener forward on the roster being eliminated. Repeat after me Rick -- big men are nice. Big men are good. As was proven by the Sixers taking their big men and pounding us to dust inside.
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