Peja ( D ) -- offensively came out and joined Bibby in the struggling department, missing easy shots, layups (once even being blocked by the rim) etc. On the other hand, was pretty aggressive early, scored what points he did on aggressive drives and cuts, and grabbed a number of rebounds. Finally hit a shot in rhythm near the end of the second quarter, but led nowhere. And was absolutely nowhere to be found in the second half as we fell apart. Just gone. And as Rick searched under every rock looking for help at the other positions, he mysteriously left Peja in there for too many minutes. Maybe desperately hoping he'd come up with a burst, I don't know. Seems to happen a lot -- Peja as safety blanket for Rick, even when the safety blanket is moth eaten and smelly. Finally took a seat at the end of the third with us down 26pts, and never returned. Reminiscient of last year's playoffs -- finally gave us a good rebounding game, but apparently at the expense of everything else.
Thomas ( C ) -- got the start again, and was ok. Actually very quiet for the most part early, but had one nice little burst in the late first quarter where he scored inside and out. His only real burst of the game. Came out in the early third and really battled with Evans physically, but lost the battle for the most part and was among the first group of starters to be pulled from the game for the duration. Effort was there and worked hard, but largely ineffective.
Miller ( D+ ) -- Got the start, and had flashes in the first half, but flashes only. Hit an outside shot, made one of those patented high post passes to a cutter that have been so absent since the Webb trade and Miller injury robbed us of our trademark. But invisible on the boards, and slowed down, but did not stop the James express. And in the third came out and disappointed by one more time doing the Brad temper thing -- one part of his game that I was not eager to see back. But it seems every single game he has played against the Sonics this year he has lost his cool. And this time, it ended his evening, and may have accelerated our demise. Picked up his 4th foul, picked up a technical, threw his headband, argued, lost his cool, and was out of the game. Not even important whether it was a good call or not. He ended his own night, and melted down right with the rest of the team (and may have even been the leader). Grade is shaky because I'm not sure what to have expected in his first game back as a starter. But the meltdown just sucked regardless.
Mobley ( D+ ) -- got off to a pretty good start, had a steal, helped on the glass, was playing pretty good defense on Allen. But that disappeared pretty quickly, and for the remainder of the first half he did nothing positive. In the thrid quarter was the only guy doing anything out there for us, but it was mostly one on one stuff -- not much potential to ignite anything. And was not contributing in any way but dribbling down court and chucking up a shot without a single pass. Even while hitting them was as much out of rhythm as any of the other guys -- not team ball at all. Took a seat in the late third, and watched as Bobby Jackson provided a big energetic boost in his place and helped bring us back.
Bibby ( C ) -- came out and immediately continued his struggle from the field, but was at least passing pretty well and setting people up. Finally hit a pair of shots late in the second that looked like the old Mike Bibby. But while his numbers revived, his impact was sporadic at best. Made things worse in the third quarter meltdown by following Brad down the path of personal destruction and losing his composure as the wheels fell off. When your floor leader loses his cool, what chance does the rest of the team have? 16pts and 8ast on 50% shooting certainly looks a lot better than Game 1, and it was. But it tells you something that even after we stormed all the way back to being down less than 10 with 2 minutes to go, Mike never got the call. Better game, and maybe even good enough if the rest of the team was playing well, but certainly not a strong one.
Ostertag ( D ) -- got the early rotation minutes behind Brad, and while he certainly didn't dominate he did at least once again pose that impediment in the paint. Problem was, one of those games where he seemed to be blocking the rim by fouling rather than blocking shots, and showed no particular ability to slow down the Jerome James express. He was more or less just big, and that was the sum of his contribution. Led Rick to experiment with an ugly midget lineup in the late 2nd quarter, and only saw the floor for a couple of minutes in the third quarter meltdown when he certainly did nothing to turn the tide and fumbled a couple of rebounds.
Jackson ( B- ) -- Had a fairly quiet first half, but was the primary engine of our attempt at a historic comeback in the 4th, and its great to see our impact 6th man back changing the game once again. Still nowhere near Bobby's best game, missed too many shots, made too many errors. But the energetic pop he brought to the game, as well as some excellent competitive defense on Ray Allen, almost saved a lost cause for us tonight.
Evans ( C ) -- came in late in the first in place of a struggling Peja, and struggled himself. Blew his shot opportunities, and may have been too eager to prove himself worthy of minutes in his first playoff game. Was one of the guys on the floor during our huge 4th quarter run, but it really wasn't because of anything in particular he did. He fit in with his hustle and energy, but still missed most of his shots and made only modest contributions across the board.
Songaila ( C+ ) -- very quiet in his first half minutes. I'm sure the idea of playing him rather than Skinner was to get offense, but we didn't. Nor did we get rebounding, passing, or much of anything else. Was not awful, just invisible. But hit a few jumpers late in the third and early 4th with the game seemingly out of reach, and started to score by effort alone in the garbage minutes -- was just playing harder than anybody else on the court. Got the comeback started, but then unfortunately got quiet for a very long stretch until finally reappearing on the map to...take his eye off the ball and make a careless turnover with less than two minutes to go that really hurt.
Williamson ( INC ) -- brought in late in the first half and immediately put in an unfair position having to try to check the 7'1" James as Rick decided to try to create a "matchup problem" (translated, a matchup problem for US). Corliss again fought hard and almost managed to match James' production -- almost. And of course the Sonics started attacking and driving the middle because there was nobody there anymore. Basically, he was overmatched but did his best given the untenable situation. Not unhappy with his effort there. Just unhappy he was even in that position.
Skinner ( B ) -- finally got his first minutes in the middle third in what seemed like either a desperation move, or a white flag by Rick. Either way it was clear that Brian was susposed to be out of the rotation tonight after getting pummeled in Game 1. But we were getting spanked out there, and so Rick just said screw it and inserted Brian and Darius in a last ditch effort to find somebody, anybody, who would give us a competitive game up front. And it worked. Better than Rick could have legitimately hoped for actually. We came roaring back with Bobby and House providing points from the perimeter, and Brian taking care of the dirty work inside. He still couldn't handle big Jerome James, but he helped us clean the defensive glass, and showed occasionally on defense against penetration (I say occasinally because we continued to have those bizarre breakdowns where guys waltz right to the rim untouched and without a hair on their pretty little heads disturbed). Not a great, dominant game. But a solid impact game in support of our late comeback.
House ( B ) -- got the call in the late 3rd in a desperation substition as the 12th man off the bench. Stood out simply by seeming to keep his composure, as most of the rest of the roster ahead of him seemed to be either panicking or quitting. Teamed with Bobby to supply effective guard play that keyed our comeback attempt. Did not blow me away, missed more shots than he made, but was solid and stable and intense and a lot of other things you wish the starters had been.
COACHING GRADE BELOW: (too many characters to post here apparently)
Thomas ( C ) -- got the start again, and was ok. Actually very quiet for the most part early, but had one nice little burst in the late first quarter where he scored inside and out. His only real burst of the game. Came out in the early third and really battled with Evans physically, but lost the battle for the most part and was among the first group of starters to be pulled from the game for the duration. Effort was there and worked hard, but largely ineffective.
Miller ( D+ ) -- Got the start, and had flashes in the first half, but flashes only. Hit an outside shot, made one of those patented high post passes to a cutter that have been so absent since the Webb trade and Miller injury robbed us of our trademark. But invisible on the boards, and slowed down, but did not stop the James express. And in the third came out and disappointed by one more time doing the Brad temper thing -- one part of his game that I was not eager to see back. But it seems every single game he has played against the Sonics this year he has lost his cool. And this time, it ended his evening, and may have accelerated our demise. Picked up his 4th foul, picked up a technical, threw his headband, argued, lost his cool, and was out of the game. Not even important whether it was a good call or not. He ended his own night, and melted down right with the rest of the team (and may have even been the leader). Grade is shaky because I'm not sure what to have expected in his first game back as a starter. But the meltdown just sucked regardless.
Mobley ( D+ ) -- got off to a pretty good start, had a steal, helped on the glass, was playing pretty good defense on Allen. But that disappeared pretty quickly, and for the remainder of the first half he did nothing positive. In the thrid quarter was the only guy doing anything out there for us, but it was mostly one on one stuff -- not much potential to ignite anything. And was not contributing in any way but dribbling down court and chucking up a shot without a single pass. Even while hitting them was as much out of rhythm as any of the other guys -- not team ball at all. Took a seat in the late third, and watched as Bobby Jackson provided a big energetic boost in his place and helped bring us back.
Bibby ( C ) -- came out and immediately continued his struggle from the field, but was at least passing pretty well and setting people up. Finally hit a pair of shots late in the second that looked like the old Mike Bibby. But while his numbers revived, his impact was sporadic at best. Made things worse in the third quarter meltdown by following Brad down the path of personal destruction and losing his composure as the wheels fell off. When your floor leader loses his cool, what chance does the rest of the team have? 16pts and 8ast on 50% shooting certainly looks a lot better than Game 1, and it was. But it tells you something that even after we stormed all the way back to being down less than 10 with 2 minutes to go, Mike never got the call. Better game, and maybe even good enough if the rest of the team was playing well, but certainly not a strong one.
Ostertag ( D ) -- got the early rotation minutes behind Brad, and while he certainly didn't dominate he did at least once again pose that impediment in the paint. Problem was, one of those games where he seemed to be blocking the rim by fouling rather than blocking shots, and showed no particular ability to slow down the Jerome James express. He was more or less just big, and that was the sum of his contribution. Led Rick to experiment with an ugly midget lineup in the late 2nd quarter, and only saw the floor for a couple of minutes in the third quarter meltdown when he certainly did nothing to turn the tide and fumbled a couple of rebounds.
Jackson ( B- ) -- Had a fairly quiet first half, but was the primary engine of our attempt at a historic comeback in the 4th, and its great to see our impact 6th man back changing the game once again. Still nowhere near Bobby's best game, missed too many shots, made too many errors. But the energetic pop he brought to the game, as well as some excellent competitive defense on Ray Allen, almost saved a lost cause for us tonight.
Evans ( C ) -- came in late in the first in place of a struggling Peja, and struggled himself. Blew his shot opportunities, and may have been too eager to prove himself worthy of minutes in his first playoff game. Was one of the guys on the floor during our huge 4th quarter run, but it really wasn't because of anything in particular he did. He fit in with his hustle and energy, but still missed most of his shots and made only modest contributions across the board.
Songaila ( C+ ) -- very quiet in his first half minutes. I'm sure the idea of playing him rather than Skinner was to get offense, but we didn't. Nor did we get rebounding, passing, or much of anything else. Was not awful, just invisible. But hit a few jumpers late in the third and early 4th with the game seemingly out of reach, and started to score by effort alone in the garbage minutes -- was just playing harder than anybody else on the court. Got the comeback started, but then unfortunately got quiet for a very long stretch until finally reappearing on the map to...take his eye off the ball and make a careless turnover with less than two minutes to go that really hurt.
Williamson ( INC ) -- brought in late in the first half and immediately put in an unfair position having to try to check the 7'1" James as Rick decided to try to create a "matchup problem" (translated, a matchup problem for US). Corliss again fought hard and almost managed to match James' production -- almost. And of course the Sonics started attacking and driving the middle because there was nobody there anymore. Basically, he was overmatched but did his best given the untenable situation. Not unhappy with his effort there. Just unhappy he was even in that position.
Skinner ( B ) -- finally got his first minutes in the middle third in what seemed like either a desperation move, or a white flag by Rick. Either way it was clear that Brian was susposed to be out of the rotation tonight after getting pummeled in Game 1. But we were getting spanked out there, and so Rick just said screw it and inserted Brian and Darius in a last ditch effort to find somebody, anybody, who would give us a competitive game up front. And it worked. Better than Rick could have legitimately hoped for actually. We came roaring back with Bobby and House providing points from the perimeter, and Brian taking care of the dirty work inside. He still couldn't handle big Jerome James, but he helped us clean the defensive glass, and showed occasionally on defense against penetration (I say occasinally because we continued to have those bizarre breakdowns where guys waltz right to the rim untouched and without a hair on their pretty little heads disturbed). Not a great, dominant game. But a solid impact game in support of our late comeback.
House ( B ) -- got the call in the late 3rd in a desperation substition as the 12th man off the bench. Stood out simply by seeming to keep his composure, as most of the rest of the roster ahead of him seemed to be either panicking or quitting. Teamed with Bobby to supply effective guard play that keyed our comeback attempt. Did not blow me away, missed more shots than he made, but was solid and stable and intense and a lot of other things you wish the starters had been.
COACHING GRADE BELOW: (too many characters to post here apparently)
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