Barnes ( A ) -- was a little confused as to exactly what Matt did wrong to land himself on the bench for much of the third and fourth quarter, but while he was in it was hustle hustle and hustle. Hit the glass, really motored around on defense. Also made some nice passes, only a few of which were actually converted by the recipients. Rick mysteriously benched him in the mid-third, and he didn't get back onto the floor until the final minutes, when Rick put him in as an undersized PF. 
Matt did well though in the role, grabbed a couple of tough boards and made a steal down the stretch.
Songaila ( B+ ) -- offense came in bursts for Darius, as did overall effectiveness. Started out the game getting his behind handed to him on the glass, but was solid therafter. 19 pts and 7rebs is a nice night for a fill in starter, but there were long stretches where he was invisible and he really never got dirty inside with the Sonics' bad boy duo (both a good and a bad thing). We tried to switch him over on Rashard Lewis occasionally to keep him from posting our smaller guards, and predicatbaly that didn't go so well.
Miller ( D+) -- not the way to celebrate your player of the week award. Passed well, and did a nice job on the glass in the first half. But was offensively irrelevant, didn't grab a single board after half, and once again, as in the earlier game in Seattle, the Seattle thugs got under his skin. A series of bad calls and chippy play in the third effectively took Brad out of the game, he got his traditional stupid technical, and he was on the bench or irrelevant therafter. No Webb, no Peja, no Bobby, no Mo, and basically no Brad after halftime = bye-bye game.
Mobley ( D+ ) -- ugly offensive game for Cat. Didn't look physically right and alternated between forcing up bad shots himself where he didn't even look for his teammates, and making shaking decisions when he did. He was oout there, but not really out there. Just a body wearing his jersey. Hit a couple of layups in the final desperate seconds, otherwise basically a 12pt effort on 3-13 shooting. Actually did a respectable job against Rashard Lewis on the defensive blocks, but was unable to make key stops against the much bigger player late. Not a good game, and on a night without our two studs we couldn't have that.
Bibby ( B ) -- this one never looked easy for Mike, but he came on strong down the stretch when we needed him. Started off the game forcing too many shots -- ball movement just wasn't there early. And got into major foul trouble against the penetration of Ridnour and Flip Murray -- one of those nights where his lateral movement looked suspect. Went to the bench in the early third after picking up some dumb fouls, and watched as Eddie House came in and gave us a real lift in his absence. Returned in the 4th to try to pull it out for us, but just could not find enough help. All you need to know is his main wingmen turned out to be Michael Bradley and Eddie House.
House ( A- ) -- and so Eddie finally earns his stripes for the Kings. On a night when we realy felt the absence of the big guns, Eddie stepped forward and gave us an offensive shot in the arm. Played some in the first half, then took over for Mike when he got into foul trouble in the third, and never left the floor again. Final stats say he hit less than 50% of his shots, but it didn't feel like it at times. We were actually looking for him nearly every time down the floor there in one stretch. Competed well on defense although to modest effect.
Martin ( D+ ) -- ok, now that I have gotten a better look at that jumper, force the drive Kevin force the drive! Well, today he did look at the hoop, and he did take the open jumper (although you could see he wasn't really comfortable doing so), but the results weren't very good. Even his first career three pointer came after he hesitated and took a giant step off to his right where apparently he was more comfortable from that range. Missed 4 more therafter, so it reamins an opne question whether he's really got that range or not. Can see a couple of problems -- basically uses a set shot (odd for a guy with hops) so maybe not enough lift for an NBA three? Also could maybe see why he hmisses the occasional free throw -- lot of movement when he brings the ball up above his head (so says the guywho's missed out on more than a few pickup games by missing the free throw to get in). Competed in other aspects, but the Sonics seemed too physical for him.
Ostertag ( B- ) -- was not quite sure what Tag did to deserve no minutes in the second half, but the Bradley experiment worked out so only so much you can complain. Basically was the only King other than Bradley to get in there and start really banging with the twin thugs and keep his cool doing so. Grabbed a couple of good strong boards. Also blew another layup -- may be 7'2" but fits right in with us there.
Bradley ( A- ) -- if you told me before the game that down the stretch we'd come, powered by the twin engines of Eddie House and Michael Bradley I would have had you arrested and thrown into a nice little white padded room. But there it was. Rick made a mysterious coaching maneuver in the third quarter with Brad in foul trouble and melting down, and Tag having competed well in the first half, Rick goes to his bench for Miller and come up with... Big Bad Michael Bradley! And then even more shockingly, the kid comes through big time! Hit shots, made passes, defended well, laid a flagrant foul on Danny Fortson, and fought on the boards. It was a good enough stint that when we pulled him at the 9 minute mark fo the 4th, I was actually wondering whether we could pull it out without him. Not perfect -- fumbled a couple of baords in front of the equally hustling Nick Collison, made some TOs. But certainly as much as anyone could expect to get out of M.B.
Daniels ( INC ) -- just a single minute in the first half.
Adelman ( B ) -- this was an ugly game for us. How the heck we got to 100 points is beyond me. Brad was bad. Mobley worse. But Rick went to the very end of the bench and came up with reinforcements in the form of Eddie House and Michael Bradley of all people. Rick made a couple of eye-opening coaching moves that...well, not the way I would have gone. First, in the third quarter the Sonics went twin thug on us, threw both Fortson and Evans out on the floor, frustrated Brad and took him out of the game. So logically you go to Tag right? Biggest guy on outr team and the one guy who had shown an ability to stand in there against the TTs? NO! Instead you decide to rech down to the very end of the bench for the guy who sucked on Sunday, Michael Bradley. Huh? But then of course Bradley plays great ball and Rick I'm sure is sitting over there going "knew it all the time". More likely explanation is that offensive minded as he is, he simply could not see himself putting in a non-offensive player when we were struggling on that end. Alternately, he may have fallen into the matchup fallacy. Anyway, odd move. And then after discovering House as a key offensive weapon, Rick again opens your eyes by going three guards against the Sonics, who just happen to have a 6'10" postup SF. There the excuse is probably a way to keep his two main guns in the backcourt on the floor while still keeping the hot House out there. But in the process, he sacrificed Matt Barnes who was only perhaps our best hustling hard nosed performer of the night. Then finally, with the ineffective Miller fouling out in the final four minutes, does he come back with Bradley? Maybe the ice cold Tag? No, he confronts the Sonics with Matt Barnes at PF and Darius at center. Small ball. Likely Rick's great matchup fallacy once again -- the Sonics had shooters, and so of course we react to them rather than the other way around. But again, Barnes comes in and does well (although we lost a couple of critical boards it was not his fault) and partially justifies the move. Now, in the end Rick is severely shorthanded, finds gems deep on the bench, has us in a position to win it with only two of our top 7 players on the court at the end of the game, and one of them hobbled. But he had me scrathing my head a lot.
Matt did well though in the role, grabbed a couple of tough boards and made a steal down the stretch.Songaila ( B+ ) -- offense came in bursts for Darius, as did overall effectiveness. Started out the game getting his behind handed to him on the glass, but was solid therafter. 19 pts and 7rebs is a nice night for a fill in starter, but there were long stretches where he was invisible and he really never got dirty inside with the Sonics' bad boy duo (both a good and a bad thing). We tried to switch him over on Rashard Lewis occasionally to keep him from posting our smaller guards, and predicatbaly that didn't go so well.
Miller ( D+) -- not the way to celebrate your player of the week award. Passed well, and did a nice job on the glass in the first half. But was offensively irrelevant, didn't grab a single board after half, and once again, as in the earlier game in Seattle, the Seattle thugs got under his skin. A series of bad calls and chippy play in the third effectively took Brad out of the game, he got his traditional stupid technical, and he was on the bench or irrelevant therafter. No Webb, no Peja, no Bobby, no Mo, and basically no Brad after halftime = bye-bye game.
Mobley ( D+ ) -- ugly offensive game for Cat. Didn't look physically right and alternated between forcing up bad shots himself where he didn't even look for his teammates, and making shaking decisions when he did. He was oout there, but not really out there. Just a body wearing his jersey. Hit a couple of layups in the final desperate seconds, otherwise basically a 12pt effort on 3-13 shooting. Actually did a respectable job against Rashard Lewis on the defensive blocks, but was unable to make key stops against the much bigger player late. Not a good game, and on a night without our two studs we couldn't have that.
Bibby ( B ) -- this one never looked easy for Mike, but he came on strong down the stretch when we needed him. Started off the game forcing too many shots -- ball movement just wasn't there early. And got into major foul trouble against the penetration of Ridnour and Flip Murray -- one of those nights where his lateral movement looked suspect. Went to the bench in the early third after picking up some dumb fouls, and watched as Eddie House came in and gave us a real lift in his absence. Returned in the 4th to try to pull it out for us, but just could not find enough help. All you need to know is his main wingmen turned out to be Michael Bradley and Eddie House.
House ( A- ) -- and so Eddie finally earns his stripes for the Kings. On a night when we realy felt the absence of the big guns, Eddie stepped forward and gave us an offensive shot in the arm. Played some in the first half, then took over for Mike when he got into foul trouble in the third, and never left the floor again. Final stats say he hit less than 50% of his shots, but it didn't feel like it at times. We were actually looking for him nearly every time down the floor there in one stretch. Competed well on defense although to modest effect.
Martin ( D+ ) -- ok, now that I have gotten a better look at that jumper, force the drive Kevin force the drive!
Well, today he did look at the hoop, and he did take the open jumper (although you could see he wasn't really comfortable doing so), but the results weren't very good. Even his first career three pointer came after he hesitated and took a giant step off to his right where apparently he was more comfortable from that range. Missed 4 more therafter, so it reamins an opne question whether he's really got that range or not. Can see a couple of problems -- basically uses a set shot (odd for a guy with hops) so maybe not enough lift for an NBA three? Also could maybe see why he hmisses the occasional free throw -- lot of movement when he brings the ball up above his head (so says the guywho's missed out on more than a few pickup games by missing the free throw to get in). Competed in other aspects, but the Sonics seemed too physical for him.Ostertag ( B- ) -- was not quite sure what Tag did to deserve no minutes in the second half, but the Bradley experiment worked out so only so much you can complain. Basically was the only King other than Bradley to get in there and start really banging with the twin thugs and keep his cool doing so. Grabbed a couple of good strong boards. Also blew another layup -- may be 7'2" but fits right in with us there.
Bradley ( A- ) -- if you told me before the game that down the stretch we'd come, powered by the twin engines of Eddie House and Michael Bradley I would have had you arrested and thrown into a nice little white padded room. But there it was. Rick made a mysterious coaching maneuver in the third quarter with Brad in foul trouble and melting down, and Tag having competed well in the first half, Rick goes to his bench for Miller and come up with... Big Bad Michael Bradley! And then even more shockingly, the kid comes through big time! Hit shots, made passes, defended well, laid a flagrant foul on Danny Fortson, and fought on the boards. It was a good enough stint that when we pulled him at the 9 minute mark fo the 4th, I was actually wondering whether we could pull it out without him.
Not perfect -- fumbled a couple of baords in front of the equally hustling Nick Collison, made some TOs. But certainly as much as anyone could expect to get out of M.B.Daniels ( INC ) -- just a single minute in the first half.
Adelman ( B ) -- this was an ugly game for us. How the heck we got to 100 points is beyond me. Brad was bad. Mobley worse. But Rick went to the very end of the bench and came up with reinforcements in the form of Eddie House and Michael Bradley of all people. Rick made a couple of eye-opening coaching moves that...well, not the way I would have gone. First, in the third quarter the Sonics went twin thug on us, threw both Fortson and Evans out on the floor, frustrated Brad and took him out of the game. So logically you go to Tag right? Biggest guy on outr team and the one guy who had shown an ability to stand in there against the TTs? NO! Instead you decide to rech down to the very end of the bench for the guy who sucked on Sunday, Michael Bradley. Huh? But then of course Bradley plays great ball and Rick I'm sure is sitting over there going "knew it all the time". More likely explanation is that offensive minded as he is, he simply could not see himself putting in a non-offensive player when we were struggling on that end. Alternately, he may have fallen into the matchup fallacy. Anyway, odd move. And then after discovering House as a key offensive weapon, Rick again opens your eyes by going three guards against the Sonics, who just happen to have a 6'10" postup SF. There the excuse is probably a way to keep his two main guns in the backcourt on the floor while still keeping the hot House out there. But in the process, he sacrificed Matt Barnes who was only perhaps our best hustling hard nosed performer of the night. Then finally, with the ineffective Miller fouling out in the final four minutes, does he come back with Bradley? Maybe the ice cold Tag? No, he confronts the Sonics with Matt Barnes at PF and Darius at center. Small ball. Likely Rick's great matchup fallacy once again -- the Sonics had shooters, and so of course we react to them rather than the other way around. But again, Barnes comes in and does well (although we lost a couple of critical boards it was not his fault) and partially justifies the move. Now, in the end Rick is severely shorthanded, finds gems deep on the bench, has us in a position to win it with only two of our top 7 players on the court at the end of the game, and one of them hobbled. But he had me scrathing my head a lot.
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