Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well Reke made that final minute fun, but another L.
In looking to see if by any chance anybody had posted Reke's final two minutes explosion on youtube, I stumbled across this cool mix instead. So thought I might as well post it -- pretty much all the stuff you see going on in there is what happened again and again down the stretch of this game. Just needed another 20 seconds or so to make it something truly special:
[yt=Tyreke Evans Mix]I1KBp5jzIL4[/yt]
Boxscore
Casspi ( C ) -- back into the starting lineup and had a few moments, but not enough to guarantee that stays. Bricked an early three set up by Reke, which has kind of become a goto move for him of late. Picked up a loose ball and went out on the break, got blocked by Manu, but got the ball back and laid it in. Steal in the 2nd, almost lost it on a long dribble, then threw a pass out of Reke's range on the baseline that Tyreke somehow caught and laid in. Swooped in on the break and flipped the shot in over Duncan. Selfish play when he grabbed the d-reb dribble all the way up the court and shot his three with multiple defenders without even looking at anybody else. Does that sometimes, and my best guess at a translation is that its basically saying "I am not getting enough shots, so I AM going to take this one". Missed the open corner three set up by Hawes. Started off the 4th hitting a shot, then forced a shot and threw up three straight misses. Provided help on the boards with the frontline ineffective. Out there, but not a factor down the stretch.
Greene ( B ) -- got the start tonight at PF -- which, please don't listen to Jerry Reynolds, is NOT Donte's best spot, but which we could get away with with him matched up against ancient washed up Antonio McDyess (which makes me old and washed up BTW since when I was in college our Penn team was annually doing the March Madness thing and got knocked out in the first round one year in an epic OT battle against Antonio McDyess and Alabama (we had three future NBA guards on that team, but our bigs were classic Ivy League bigs -- 6'7" and groundbound, and McDyess was a ridiculous athlete back then)). In any case, Donte came out and played well -- better I think than the numbers suggest. Predictably by starting a SF at PF we got pummeled on the glass, but Donte was at least battling inside on the glass against McDyess early, then went outside and hit a jumper. Drew a 2nd foul on the old guy as he drove on McDyess. Stepped out and hit a three. Forced a turnaround move over Finley in the post. Began bringing the ball up late in the 2nd quarter and was solid in getting it across the line -- a wrinkle by Westphal perhaps to try to avoid the Reke/Kevin ball dominating backcourt of doom. Such a versatile played that he was essentially playing everything from PG to PF in one game. In the second half has a flying flying follow of a Marin miss. Nice drive and drop to Spencer at the 3:30 mark, but Spencer blew the layup. Missed a three at the 2:00 mark that we needed. Got the big alley oop from Reke at the 47 sec mark that truly woke the crowd and Pop to the possibility the Reke comeback might actually succeed. 12pts and critically only 3 rebs is not normally going to get you much of a grade as an alleged PF, especially not if it takes you 37 minutes to get there. But Donte was playing out of position, and really did play a much more solid game than the numbers indicate. He was intangible man, filled a lot of gaps, switched off to guard whoever needed to be guarded, and really it was a pretty good game.
Hawes ( B ) -- lost the battle against Duncan of course, but I really thoguht played a pretty good game -- and critically a confident game -- going against him. Very much looked like he belonged on the court with him, and really continued the improvement we've been seeing for weeks now (as an aside, as evident it is to me that Kevin's return disrupted our pack of guards and forwards, its only fair to note that Spencer's improvement began on the road trip, and more or less coincided with Kevin being back -- an old softy comfort zone from years past perhaps). Started with a nice turnaround off the glass on Duncan, and was haning in there on defense. Took Duncan off the dribble on the post move and spun for the up and under +1, but missed the FT. Missed an alley oop attempt, but recovered and laid it in. Quieted in the second, and critically was not on the glass on the same night we were starting a SF at PF -- he and Donte combined for 9 rebs in big minutes, which is just not goign to get it done for a PF/C combo. Dunk on a nice drive and dish by Greene. Hit a jumper, got the o-reb + finish on a Reke miss. Trying to work as Kevin's personal assist man again in the 3rd, but Kevin was missing everything. Fake and went right over over Blair -- Blair pummeled us badly, but most of that was against others. Spectacular spinning layup in the mid-4th. Went through a poor stretch that hurt us down the stretch: Caught the ball out of bounds at the 4:45 for a careless turnover that hurt our late chances, and missed an inside layup off a nice Donte pass at the 3:30 mark. Missed the jumper at the 3:15 mark out of the timeout down 13. But did recover to become part of the late Reke charge as he hit a jumper at the 1:10 mark to get it to 9. 18pts 6rebs 3blks, and it was a confident looking 18pts 6rebs 3blks. Looked like the game of somebody who could do it again and maybe is starting to figure it out.
Martin ( D ) -- got off to an unfortunate start with nothing in the first six minutes, then had to sit after he got a dose of his own medicine and picked up his second foul on a feather light touch foul. Back in to start the 2nd, drove but stripped by Blair. Finally got a hoop on a little baseline jumper. Tried to draw a foul again and airballed. But picked up steam therafter, beginning to knock down jumpers, and had a streak in the 2nd where he knocked down 4 in a row. Then started doing the foul drawing thing, but was missing his FTs. Splashed in a three courtesy of Reke to start the third. Then missed a pair. Finally got anoher one on the break near the end of the quarter, but it about the last positive contribution he would make. May have hit some sort of lowpoint when it sounded like he got booed after blowing a wide open layup on a perfect setup by Reke in the mid 4th. Did hit Hawes on the break for a spinning layup a minute later. Missed a three at the 2:45 mark with us down 10 and was just the picture of depression out there -- he does gray and gloomy well. I'm surprised they didn't have to mop up the court after he passed by, what with the cartoon raincloud hanging over his head drenching everything. Finished with a 15pt night on 6-17 shooting, but it was basically all in one quarter (the second, and the first minute of the third). Played a ton of minutes thereafter but just kept on missing and missing and getting more and more visibly dispirited. Its depressing even writing about it, so I'm just going to stop and give him the greyest of grades.
Evans ( A ) -- 30 seconds into the game hit an open three that so disturbed the Spurs that Pop caleld a timeout 30 seconds into the game to talk about it. Then tried another a minute later that actuallty came close but rattled out. Heat check I guess as of course that's still not his shot. Bigtime power drive on the left side +1 (its the one in the highlights packages), but missed the FT. Saved a wild pass from Omri with a long armed one handed snare, then somehow reached around and laid it in. Was helping on the d-glass all night long with the frontline ineffective there -- a welcome return after the rebounding has slacked off a bit in recent weeks. Dropped in an outside shot. Nifty drive down the left side to start the 4th. Missed a three on a kickout from Sergio. Drive and blocked by Blair. Beautiful pass to Kevin on a cut in the mid 4th that Kevin airballed on the layup to inspire a chorus of boos. Fouled on a tough take in the mid-4th, then got the d-board in front of Duncan and went the full length for the tough bang down the right side. Overaggressiuve 1 on 4 drive led to a scrappy turnover. Then things jsut got silly as Reke...well I was proud to see somebody down below mention McGrady's name becuas that tuly was what this was reminscient of -- a few years back TMac scored 13 pts in under a minute in the final minutes of a game to steal it form the Spurs. And Reke just exploded in an effort ot do the same. Started with a poke steal against Hill at the 1:45 mark -- same thing he got Arenas with -- then scooped it up and dunked it to get us back to 11. Then picked Mason and threw the alley oop to Greene to make it 7 with 47 seconds left. Blew by Duncan to make it 6 at the 30 second mark. Then anogther layup to make it 5. Then canned a three to make it 4 with 7 seconds to go. See where this was going? The Spurs were being run down. But unfortunately we just barely ran out of time. Hill refused to miss the FTs we needed him to choke, and after Reke picked up another assist on a pass to Noc for a three to make it, you guessed, 3 with 4 seconds to go, Hill iced it wiht a final pair of FTs. Jsut for kicks Reke came down and canned the closing three to make the margin 2 and have Pop laughing and shkaing his head as he left the court, but time was out. Oh for another 20 seconds of clock -- if we could somehow have pulled that out, if Hill would have missed those FTs, the Spurs flubbed an ibound pass, this would ahve been an epic comeback of he Chciago game level and maybe the sort of thing we need to jar us out these doldrums. Oh, and Reke BTW? Finished with a cool 32pts 7reb 8ast night. He's still 20. Just keep on telling yourself that, because long term view guy that I normally am, Reke's flashes of greatness just inspire me to be impatient. I want more. Now. I want to see him just tear the league up. And that's immensely unfair because he's already having as great a rookie year as anybody has had in a decade. Unfair or not, let's just give the kid the ball and let him go.
In looking to see if by any chance anybody had posted Reke's final two minutes explosion on youtube, I stumbled across this cool mix instead. So thought I might as well post it -- pretty much all the stuff you see going on in there is what happened again and again down the stretch of this game. Just needed another 20 seconds or so to make it something truly special:
[yt=Tyreke Evans Mix]I1KBp5jzIL4[/yt]
Boxscore
Casspi ( C ) -- back into the starting lineup and had a few moments, but not enough to guarantee that stays. Bricked an early three set up by Reke, which has kind of become a goto move for him of late. Picked up a loose ball and went out on the break, got blocked by Manu, but got the ball back and laid it in. Steal in the 2nd, almost lost it on a long dribble, then threw a pass out of Reke's range on the baseline that Tyreke somehow caught and laid in. Swooped in on the break and flipped the shot in over Duncan. Selfish play when he grabbed the d-reb dribble all the way up the court and shot his three with multiple defenders without even looking at anybody else. Does that sometimes, and my best guess at a translation is that its basically saying "I am not getting enough shots, so I AM going to take this one". Missed the open corner three set up by Hawes. Started off the 4th hitting a shot, then forced a shot and threw up three straight misses. Provided help on the boards with the frontline ineffective. Out there, but not a factor down the stretch.
Greene ( B ) -- got the start tonight at PF -- which, please don't listen to Jerry Reynolds, is NOT Donte's best spot, but which we could get away with with him matched up against ancient washed up Antonio McDyess (which makes me old and washed up BTW since when I was in college our Penn team was annually doing the March Madness thing and got knocked out in the first round one year in an epic OT battle against Antonio McDyess and Alabama (we had three future NBA guards on that team, but our bigs were classic Ivy League bigs -- 6'7" and groundbound, and McDyess was a ridiculous athlete back then)). In any case, Donte came out and played well -- better I think than the numbers suggest. Predictably by starting a SF at PF we got pummeled on the glass, but Donte was at least battling inside on the glass against McDyess early, then went outside and hit a jumper. Drew a 2nd foul on the old guy as he drove on McDyess. Stepped out and hit a three. Forced a turnaround move over Finley in the post. Began bringing the ball up late in the 2nd quarter and was solid in getting it across the line -- a wrinkle by Westphal perhaps to try to avoid the Reke/Kevin ball dominating backcourt of doom. Such a versatile played that he was essentially playing everything from PG to PF in one game. In the second half has a flying flying follow of a Marin miss. Nice drive and drop to Spencer at the 3:30 mark, but Spencer blew the layup. Missed a three at the 2:00 mark that we needed. Got the big alley oop from Reke at the 47 sec mark that truly woke the crowd and Pop to the possibility the Reke comeback might actually succeed. 12pts and critically only 3 rebs is not normally going to get you much of a grade as an alleged PF, especially not if it takes you 37 minutes to get there. But Donte was playing out of position, and really did play a much more solid game than the numbers indicate. He was intangible man, filled a lot of gaps, switched off to guard whoever needed to be guarded, and really it was a pretty good game.
Hawes ( B ) -- lost the battle against Duncan of course, but I really thoguht played a pretty good game -- and critically a confident game -- going against him. Very much looked like he belonged on the court with him, and really continued the improvement we've been seeing for weeks now (as an aside, as evident it is to me that Kevin's return disrupted our pack of guards and forwards, its only fair to note that Spencer's improvement began on the road trip, and more or less coincided with Kevin being back -- an old softy comfort zone from years past perhaps). Started with a nice turnaround off the glass on Duncan, and was haning in there on defense. Took Duncan off the dribble on the post move and spun for the up and under +1, but missed the FT. Missed an alley oop attempt, but recovered and laid it in. Quieted in the second, and critically was not on the glass on the same night we were starting a SF at PF -- he and Donte combined for 9 rebs in big minutes, which is just not goign to get it done for a PF/C combo. Dunk on a nice drive and dish by Greene. Hit a jumper, got the o-reb + finish on a Reke miss. Trying to work as Kevin's personal assist man again in the 3rd, but Kevin was missing everything. Fake and went right over over Blair -- Blair pummeled us badly, but most of that was against others. Spectacular spinning layup in the mid-4th. Went through a poor stretch that hurt us down the stretch: Caught the ball out of bounds at the 4:45 for a careless turnover that hurt our late chances, and missed an inside layup off a nice Donte pass at the 3:30 mark. Missed the jumper at the 3:15 mark out of the timeout down 13. But did recover to become part of the late Reke charge as he hit a jumper at the 1:10 mark to get it to 9. 18pts 6rebs 3blks, and it was a confident looking 18pts 6rebs 3blks. Looked like the game of somebody who could do it again and maybe is starting to figure it out.
Martin ( D ) -- got off to an unfortunate start with nothing in the first six minutes, then had to sit after he got a dose of his own medicine and picked up his second foul on a feather light touch foul. Back in to start the 2nd, drove but stripped by Blair. Finally got a hoop on a little baseline jumper. Tried to draw a foul again and airballed. But picked up steam therafter, beginning to knock down jumpers, and had a streak in the 2nd where he knocked down 4 in a row. Then started doing the foul drawing thing, but was missing his FTs. Splashed in a three courtesy of Reke to start the third. Then missed a pair. Finally got anoher one on the break near the end of the quarter, but it about the last positive contribution he would make. May have hit some sort of lowpoint when it sounded like he got booed after blowing a wide open layup on a perfect setup by Reke in the mid 4th. Did hit Hawes on the break for a spinning layup a minute later. Missed a three at the 2:45 mark with us down 10 and was just the picture of depression out there -- he does gray and gloomy well. I'm surprised they didn't have to mop up the court after he passed by, what with the cartoon raincloud hanging over his head drenching everything. Finished with a 15pt night on 6-17 shooting, but it was basically all in one quarter (the second, and the first minute of the third). Played a ton of minutes thereafter but just kept on missing and missing and getting more and more visibly dispirited. Its depressing even writing about it, so I'm just going to stop and give him the greyest of grades.
Evans ( A ) -- 30 seconds into the game hit an open three that so disturbed the Spurs that Pop caleld a timeout 30 seconds into the game to talk about it. Then tried another a minute later that actuallty came close but rattled out. Heat check I guess as of course that's still not his shot. Bigtime power drive on the left side +1 (its the one in the highlights packages), but missed the FT. Saved a wild pass from Omri with a long armed one handed snare, then somehow reached around and laid it in. Was helping on the d-glass all night long with the frontline ineffective there -- a welcome return after the rebounding has slacked off a bit in recent weeks. Dropped in an outside shot. Nifty drive down the left side to start the 4th. Missed a three on a kickout from Sergio. Drive and blocked by Blair. Beautiful pass to Kevin on a cut in the mid 4th that Kevin airballed on the layup to inspire a chorus of boos. Fouled on a tough take in the mid-4th, then got the d-board in front of Duncan and went the full length for the tough bang down the right side. Overaggressiuve 1 on 4 drive led to a scrappy turnover. Then things jsut got silly as Reke...well I was proud to see somebody down below mention McGrady's name becuas that tuly was what this was reminscient of -- a few years back TMac scored 13 pts in under a minute in the final minutes of a game to steal it form the Spurs. And Reke just exploded in an effort ot do the same. Started with a poke steal against Hill at the 1:45 mark -- same thing he got Arenas with -- then scooped it up and dunked it to get us back to 11. Then picked Mason and threw the alley oop to Greene to make it 7 with 47 seconds left. Blew by Duncan to make it 6 at the 30 second mark. Then anogther layup to make it 5. Then canned a three to make it 4 with 7 seconds to go. See where this was going? The Spurs were being run down. But unfortunately we just barely ran out of time. Hill refused to miss the FTs we needed him to choke, and after Reke picked up another assist on a pass to Noc for a three to make it, you guessed, 3 with 4 seconds to go, Hill iced it wiht a final pair of FTs. Jsut for kicks Reke came down and canned the closing three to make the margin 2 and have Pop laughing and shkaing his head as he left the court, but time was out. Oh for another 20 seconds of clock -- if we could somehow have pulled that out, if Hill would have missed those FTs, the Spurs flubbed an ibound pass, this would ahve been an epic comeback of he Chciago game level and maybe the sort of thing we need to jar us out these doldrums. Oh, and Reke BTW? Finished with a cool 32pts 7reb 8ast night. He's still 20. Just keep on telling yourself that, because long term view guy that I normally am, Reke's flashes of greatness just inspire me to be impatient. I want more. Now. I want to see him just tear the league up. And that's immensely unfair because he's already having as great a rookie year as anybody has had in a decade. Unfair or not, let's just give the kid the ball and let him go.
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