Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Bonzi ( A ) -- The first of our three horsemen. Stepped up bigtime, and was our tonesetter and engine for much of the night. Gave us exactly what we needed in the first half with a completely dominating effort inside. Was unstoppable on the way to a 19pt 6reb on 9-10 FGs first half. Spurs started to double him in the second half to take him away, and offensively his effectiveness and efficiency fell off. Stayed big on the glass though, and finished up with a huge 28pt 12reb game. Was not perfect: started to have some of his turnover problems in the face of the increased defensive pressure, and missed some important free throws, including one at the 20 second mark that would have put us up three, rather than two. Fouled out with 17 seconds to go, which ended up really hurting us as the game went to OT. Bigtime competitive response by Bonzi, and was the guy who filled that leadership void for us tonight as we clawed for the upset.
Thomas ( C+ ) -- was racing up and down the court in the early going and scoring on the break, but then made some turnovers and disappeared until the third period, when he stepped up and helped the cause with some aggressive play in the middle of the quarter as we had started to fade. For the remainder of regulation was in there grabbing aggressive offensive boards, but outmuscled for some key ones down the stretch and into overtime.
Miller ( D- ) -- started off the game aggressive at least, but displayed his lack of hops as Nazr came from behind to block him on back to back plays. And Brad responded by basically disappearing once more. Finally hit a three to close the first half, but otherwise another nothing effort, and was rewarded with a nice seat on the bench for the final 20 minutes of the game as Reef took over and played with passion. Gets this grade because hey, 7 and 3 from your former All-Star center is better than 4 and 1 right? At this rate by Game 7 he'll be a monster.
Martin ( A ) -- The second of our three horsemen. Merely turned in the career scoring game and stepped up and seized his opportunity once again. Came up with a big first half to provide Bonzi with a wingman, coming out with a nice little burst of energy, and managed to maintain and even excel despite quickly getting into foul trouble on the Parker matchup. After half may have even been more important, as the Spurs resorted to doubling Bonzi to take him out of it, had Bowen on Bibby, and we needed one of our other guys to step up. Kevin was that guy, and was aggressive right through the 3rd and early 4th until getting silent down the stretch of a tight game. Reemerged to hit the clutch FTs that put us up three with 15 seconds to go, and as it turned out guaranteed us OT.
Bibby ( D ) -- got Bowened for much of the night. While other Kings were going off, Mike was struggling with his shot. Did get to the line, and was helping set up the shots for Bonzi and Kevin. But was not in any way helping, and made things worse by several very prominent defensive failures. On the worst, and most damaging of which he got crunched on a Duncan screen to free up Brent Barry fro the game-tying three to doom us. Briefly stepped up to hit back to back jumpers in OT after a 1-13 regulation
, but then missed a shot, made a defensive mistake fouling Manu on a three, and made a completely unforced turnover at the 1:10 mark to give the ball right back to the Spurs after we'd gotten an absolute gift on an over and back call. Even an average game from Mike, we win this. But 3-16 shooting, 5 turnovers? We lose. gets the D for doing a few other things, gettign to the line at times, and for the Bowen excuse. Still a bad game with very memorable errors and failings.
Hart ( C ) -- entered early with Kevin in quick foul trouble, and while there was not much statistically, and the lead began to erode, he did compete well on defense against Parker. Got a lot of minutes late in the game and overtime with guys struggling, in foul trouble, disqualified. Many of them running alongside Mike in a mini-backcourt. And unfortunately in those key minutes pretty much performed like Jason Hart, which is to say not contributing much of anything.
Reef ( A ) -- the third of the three horsemen. Looked as good on offense as he has in years. Very aggressive off the bench in the first half, and after returning in the third quarter not only continued his aggression but picked up steam. Was a real force down the stretch and took over where Kevin had left off, after Kevin took over where Bonzi was left off. Was attacking and feeling it so much that he took it right at any and all comers on the frontline. Horry? No prob. Duncan? No prob. Had more mixed success against the big centers, but still a goto guy performance in the late game here. Did miss a couple of big shots, including a short jumper in OT that we needed to stay close. Rebounding started off terrible again, and had something like 2 in his first 24 minutes. But then a funny thing happened. The light went on, suddenly Reef realized that rebounding keys wins too, and he really got after it and rebounded like a man down the stretch. In many ways, like Kevin, this was his REAL playoff debut.
Cisco ( INC ) -- came in in the 2nd quarter to give Bonzi a brief rest, and came up with a nice block to help us keep momentum. Was spotted in for a possession or two during the remainder of the game, including guarding "Big Shot Bob" on the final possession of regulation. But got no more regular minutes ina anip and tuck game all the way. Clearly out of the rotation and not entirely trusted, as even with both Ron and Bonzi out of the game, Rick went with Hart instead.
Adelman ( A- ) -- What a game. And much to say. But I'll try to keep this brief. We lost this game. Probably lost whatever dreamer's chance we had at the series in the process. But we did ourselves proud. As you look forward to next season, these are the sorts of efforts you need to see to give the team a sense of unity moving forward. But of course now I am anticipating with dread the inevitable "we are better without Ron" talk beginning from the what have you done for me in the last 24 hours set. In general terms, Rick did GREAT this game. Just as he got an F last time because the team did not compete, now your shorthanded squad plays inspired ball, and the base grade has to be A. Modifiers would be a) the defensive scheme largely worked at stopping the Spurs from pounding us inside, for a half at least. But the collapsing defense was unfortunately inevitably giving up open threes all over the court, and appropiately it was a three pointer at the end of regulation which did us in. b) Rick kept a tight rotation as usual, but in this one only three guys really mattered anyway -- Bonzi, Kevin, and then finally Reef. For the second game in a row, Rick quickly got tired of Brad's passive thing and played him less than 30 minutes, and not at all after the third quarter. And with Ron out, it was Jason Hart, not Cisco who emerged as the extra rotation player (quite the falloff from Ron). c) In game, noticed Rick using a good early timeout in the second half as we came out flat and not ready to go. Reminscient of the one Rick called near the end of the regular season against...? to refocus us (but not nearly as effective this time). In addition, we did a nice job of milking the hot hands this time out. Finally, amongst the controversy over the final game tying shot in regulation, my own focus is on why was Mike Bibby even out there? On a game ending regulation play, you choose Mike as one of your 5 best defenders? Many people seem ready to jump off a bridge over this loss. I see it different. We were not expected to win. Had no right to win. And we gave it a heck of a shot. We did ourselves proud.
Thomas ( C+ ) -- was racing up and down the court in the early going and scoring on the break, but then made some turnovers and disappeared until the third period, when he stepped up and helped the cause with some aggressive play in the middle of the quarter as we had started to fade. For the remainder of regulation was in there grabbing aggressive offensive boards, but outmuscled for some key ones down the stretch and into overtime.
Miller ( D- ) -- started off the game aggressive at least, but displayed his lack of hops as Nazr came from behind to block him on back to back plays. And Brad responded by basically disappearing once more. Finally hit a three to close the first half, but otherwise another nothing effort, and was rewarded with a nice seat on the bench for the final 20 minutes of the game as Reef took over and played with passion. Gets this grade because hey, 7 and 3 from your former All-Star center is better than 4 and 1 right? At this rate by Game 7 he'll be a monster.
Martin ( A ) -- The second of our three horsemen. Merely turned in the career scoring game and stepped up and seized his opportunity once again. Came up with a big first half to provide Bonzi with a wingman, coming out with a nice little burst of energy, and managed to maintain and even excel despite quickly getting into foul trouble on the Parker matchup. After half may have even been more important, as the Spurs resorted to doubling Bonzi to take him out of it, had Bowen on Bibby, and we needed one of our other guys to step up. Kevin was that guy, and was aggressive right through the 3rd and early 4th until getting silent down the stretch of a tight game. Reemerged to hit the clutch FTs that put us up three with 15 seconds to go, and as it turned out guaranteed us OT.
Bibby ( D ) -- got Bowened for much of the night. While other Kings were going off, Mike was struggling with his shot. Did get to the line, and was helping set up the shots for Bonzi and Kevin. But was not in any way helping, and made things worse by several very prominent defensive failures. On the worst, and most damaging of which he got crunched on a Duncan screen to free up Brent Barry fro the game-tying three to doom us. Briefly stepped up to hit back to back jumpers in OT after a 1-13 regulation
, but then missed a shot, made a defensive mistake fouling Manu on a three, and made a completely unforced turnover at the 1:10 mark to give the ball right back to the Spurs after we'd gotten an absolute gift on an over and back call. Even an average game from Mike, we win this. But 3-16 shooting, 5 turnovers? We lose. gets the D for doing a few other things, gettign to the line at times, and for the Bowen excuse. Still a bad game with very memorable errors and failings.Hart ( C ) -- entered early with Kevin in quick foul trouble, and while there was not much statistically, and the lead began to erode, he did compete well on defense against Parker. Got a lot of minutes late in the game and overtime with guys struggling, in foul trouble, disqualified. Many of them running alongside Mike in a mini-backcourt. And unfortunately in those key minutes pretty much performed like Jason Hart, which is to say not contributing much of anything.
Reef ( A ) -- the third of the three horsemen. Looked as good on offense as he has in years. Very aggressive off the bench in the first half, and after returning in the third quarter not only continued his aggression but picked up steam. Was a real force down the stretch and took over where Kevin had left off, after Kevin took over where Bonzi was left off. Was attacking and feeling it so much that he took it right at any and all comers on the frontline. Horry? No prob. Duncan? No prob. Had more mixed success against the big centers, but still a goto guy performance in the late game here. Did miss a couple of big shots, including a short jumper in OT that we needed to stay close. Rebounding started off terrible again, and had something like 2 in his first 24 minutes. But then a funny thing happened. The light went on, suddenly Reef realized that rebounding keys wins too, and he really got after it and rebounded like a man down the stretch. In many ways, like Kevin, this was his REAL playoff debut.
Cisco ( INC ) -- came in in the 2nd quarter to give Bonzi a brief rest, and came up with a nice block to help us keep momentum. Was spotted in for a possession or two during the remainder of the game, including guarding "Big Shot Bob" on the final possession of regulation. But got no more regular minutes ina anip and tuck game all the way. Clearly out of the rotation and not entirely trusted, as even with both Ron and Bonzi out of the game, Rick went with Hart instead.
Adelman ( A- ) -- What a game. And much to say. But I'll try to keep this brief. We lost this game. Probably lost whatever dreamer's chance we had at the series in the process. But we did ourselves proud. As you look forward to next season, these are the sorts of efforts you need to see to give the team a sense of unity moving forward. But of course now I am anticipating with dread the inevitable "we are better without Ron" talk beginning from the what have you done for me in the last 24 hours set.
In general terms, Rick did GREAT this game. Just as he got an F last time because the team did not compete, now your shorthanded squad plays inspired ball, and the base grade has to be A. Modifiers would be a) the defensive scheme largely worked at stopping the Spurs from pounding us inside, for a half at least. But the collapsing defense was unfortunately inevitably giving up open threes all over the court, and appropiately it was a three pointer at the end of regulation which did us in. b) Rick kept a tight rotation as usual, but in this one only three guys really mattered anyway -- Bonzi, Kevin, and then finally Reef. For the second game in a row, Rick quickly got tired of Brad's passive thing and played him less than 30 minutes, and not at all after the third quarter. And with Ron out, it was Jason Hart, not Cisco who emerged as the extra rotation player (quite the falloff from Ron). c) In game, noticed Rick using a good early timeout in the second half as we came out flat and not ready to go. Reminscient of the one Rick called near the end of the regular season against...? to refocus us (but not nearly as effective this time). In addition, we did a nice job of milking the hot hands this time out. Finally, amongst the controversy over the final game tying shot in regulation, my own focus is on why was Mike Bibby even out there? On a game ending regulation play, you choose Mike as one of your 5 best defenders? Many people seem ready to jump off a bridge over this loss. I see it different. We were not expected to win. Had no right to win. And we gave it a heck of a shot. We did ourselves proud.
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Guess we're down to GGG's attendance.
