Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Corner turned?
Little sidenote here: at 6-10 we would actually only be half a game out of the #8 spot if we were in the East. As it is, we are 3 games back of our next opponent, Memphis, for the #8 spot, and have played the most road games in the Conference. Expecting playoffs would be nutty, but its certainly not too late to make a run if we can get it together.
Boxscore
Salmons ( C+ ) -- not involved early, which probably helped us, and that's not being snarky. Well...not entirely. Fact is that you could see that change in tone that has been evident for the last few games really setting in in this one, and to such a degree that John really got with the program too. Was pretty willing to pass around the perimeter, and was noticeably neither shooting nor stopping the ball. Finally hit a three in the late 3rd off a great ball movement sequence -- it was maybe John Salmons' first game as a willing roleplayer. Miracles never cease. Nonetheless, I could only go so high with a grade when the best things about the guy's game were the things he DIDN'T do, but he finally gave me something positive to grab hold of, when after scoring only 3pts on that one three pointer in his first 28 minutes he sudenly stepped up in crunchtime and came up with two huge jumpers to tie the game up at the 1:30 mark (the first one was called, not sure about the second). Thus the description of 7pts (3-7FG) 1reb 2ast in 30 minutes instead of pathetic becomes a willing roleplayer who hit a couple of big shots to help us come back and clinch the win.
Thompson ( B ) -- well, back to the wild fugly thing in the early going, with balls bouncing off his hands, blown layups, you knwo the drill. But you know what? That was ok because he was busting his behind out there as a hustle and glue guy, getting open for guys to drop him passes, and again displaying the superiority of having roleplayers playing next to your stars as opposed to competing gunners. Be an interesting little test after the failures this ummer if Geoff is going to recognize that this summer when JT is a restricted free agent. Slowed down after the big tone setting first quarter burst, but had several later game highlights including at an important point coming up with a sweeping hook across the lane in the mid third against Duncan, and being part of one of the smart simple plays we are finally making, when Reke coudl nto get an angle to hit Cousins in the post, so he quickly swung it to Jason up top near the FT stripe and Jason fired the pass into Cousins from the new angle before the defense could adjust. That's good veteran basketball. Finally hit some FTs as well.
Cousins ( B+ ) -- off to a strong start in every way to this one, including a couple of sweet open court drop off passes as our big man ran the breaks he was creating with those great hands on defense. Unfortunately fell victim to the old foul problem, as he pciked up an unnnecessary nothing on Ducan early, and then a reach in a few minutes later. Was smartly subbed back in when Reke had to rest in the 2nd quarter to try to stablize a smallballing bench crew who never gave us much this time out. Great hands and antipation led to 3 first half steals, and 4 for the game. Made a mental error at the end of the first half picking up his 3rd foul, then arguing long enough he got a technical foul. In the third agian made a dumb decision trying to dribble in the open court vs. 3 Spurs and getting stripped. But he never let the misadventures build. He screwed up, then went right back to manhandling the Spurs frontline, inclduing a giant man's man rebound and finish late in the 4th which had the Spurs frontline guys bailing out of there like extras in a Godzilla movie. Be ncie if he could get a little more help form his guards however, as the longer the game went on, the more he had to go get the ball off the glass if he wanted to shoot. Still, 17pts 13rebs 4stls in only 27min, and that's not even his A game. I predict he's going to have a game at some point this year which is just going to be truly eye-popping.
Thornton ( B- ) -- off to a fast star as a scorer, but interspersed with some shots where he never even looked around he made some nice passes. And in the first while he, Cousins and Reke were all rolling the Spurs simply could not hang with us. Began misfiring as the half wore on though, and despite the nice win it was another game where he (1-6) and we (5-21) once again could not shoot threes. Forced a dumb shot and got the offensive foul call in he final couple of minutes of the half -- his third just a minute before Cousins got his. After going quiet for a long stretch, gave us a burst out in the open court in the late 3rd, but wasn't a factor in the 4th. Did not get a good look at his shot to try to ice it with less than 10 seconds to go, and we had to make one more defensive stadn to pull it out.
Evans ( A+ ) -- I just had to plus this. This was Reke as bigtime star stuff here. Beautiful passing again early as he was really directing things -- its a GREAT sign when your young point guard is walking the ball up fist in the air calling out plays. That's floor general stuff. Even when he didn't get the assist he was beginning passing sequences resulting in good shot after good shot for us. For good measure he also added several big power drives bouncing through traffic, was a major factor on the defensive glass, and was doing a real nice job on Parker on defense in the first half. Hit the buzzer beating three to close a great first quarter you wish he could just bottle. Was getting his hands on a lot of balls on defense again, and was using those beautiful spin moves on his drives to draw attention and set up teammates rather than himself -- taking full advantage whenever the Spurs sagged off him or snet extra men his way. Came up with some brilliant takes down the stretch of the half just turning it on after Thornton and Cousins got their third fouls leaving Reke to carry us. It was really a potent blend of the faux Rubio pasing focus of the last few games with his high scoring offense back on line. The 2nd half was not as good as the first, but there was still a lot of good in it Lost a bit of control of Parker, and I thought our smallballing threw him, and us, off as it took him off the ball, and off of Parker on defense. Suddenly went through a shaky patch from the stripe in the late 3rd, and in the 4th while our smallball and reserves weren't getting anything done the mix seemed to get a little shot rather than pass heavy. But came up with some huge rebounds late in the game that just are a great sign of a young player taking responsibility for the team and doing whatever it takes to win, and then he capped it by knocking down the game winning jumper with less than a minute to go. Good form, the Spurs were so scared of the drive they gave him 5 feet of space, so he just drained it and we won the game. More of this please.
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Bench
Greene ( C ) -- off on his first three, but hit his second at a key point as we were starting to sputter. Not effective in a brief second half stint. Almost an incomplete as the first of our Bench Brickers of the night.
Hickson ( B- ) -- mixture of some great hustle plays very much in the spirit of the evening with some less than smart plays and shot choices that were not. In the early going came up with some very athletic o-boards and a hustle play out near the sidelines saving a ball by throwing it back over his head. Also saved a loose ball and beat the shotclock with a baseline drive and reverse layup. Missed a pair of FTs and took a few shots of the "I'm not quite getting this whole passing thing" type, and at times got pushed around on the defensive glass. But I was not unhappy with the overall effect because he again was hustling, and that makes up for a lot flaws.
Fredette ( D+ ) -- for a brief couple of minutes you saw a glimmer from Jimmer (TM) as he came in near the end of our early burst while everybody was going and Reke had the offense humming, and just as he seems to have absorbed and aomplified our struggles this season, he seemed to absorb and feed off of early confidence. Was moving decisively, hustling on defense, made a nice pass along the baseline, and stepped into an open three as a cherry on top of our run as the Kings bench jumped up. But then it came time to sub out Reke, the ball and respnsiblities shifted more towards Jimmer, and that confidence just bled away that quick and he was back to ineffective rookie aimlessly dribbling around, missing shots (including one flat out intimidated looking weak flip on the break when he appeared to suddenly have a post traumatic flashback to the the big, tall long armed monster men that have been haunting his nightmares and wanted no part of taking it in strong), and seeming to flinch everytime a defender attacked his dribble. Looked like that would be his only minutes of the game until he was abruptly given a chance in the mid 4th because Thomas could not hit the outside shot -- seemed a clear smallball coaching error by Smart in a close game as it should have been Cisco who was subbed in. And after a few minutes of ineffective play by Jimmer looking like he was just trying not to screw up, the Cisco move was in fact made just in time for the crunch minutes.
Garcia ( C- ) -- got off to a terrible start to this forcing back to back garbage shots and missing them. Cisco is now our version of a veteran leader, but he still to this day has bursts of I'm-a-dumbass-rookie in him. Finally out of a timeout that probably featured an interesting conversation with Smart, walked in for a layup, and got a steal inside. Was back in for the final minutes after Smart's Thomas/Fredette smallballing blew up in our faces, and grabbed one strong rebound, as he did the other night -- Cisco is one of the league's worst and wimpiest rebounders if you call him a SF, small, unathletic, and weak, but he has been showing here that when it matters he will go after them with vigor.
Thomas ( D+ ) -- brief ineffective first half stint paired with Jimmer in the +1 Mini Backcourt of Guaranteed Opponent Guard Glee as we lost ground. Was back in the 4th as Smart seemed to be making the classic error of coaching the last game over again today, going to a smallball backcourt taking the ball out of Reke's hands at a critical time, and then zoning up the Spurs when we had been beating them all game doing none of the above. Thomas brought the effort but was ineffective in any practical sense as his lack of shooting range was exploited. Repeatedly he was the man left open at the three point line in defensive rotation, and repeatedly he took that shot. Did not make a one, as he was 0-4 from the field, 0-4 from the three point stripe as he led our little guy bench quartet (Thomas. Jimmer, Cisco, Donte) in a dismal 3-16FG, 2-10 3pt performance. At least left on the right note as he created the deadball that saw him replaced by Jimmer when he hopped in front of Parker to take a charge. Nonetheless, can't grade here on pure effort or having a nice smile. In 13min tonight it was 0pts 0reb 0ast on 0-4 shooting and 4 fls. In other words: ouch.
Little sidenote here: at 6-10 we would actually only be half a game out of the #8 spot if we were in the East. As it is, we are 3 games back of our next opponent, Memphis, for the #8 spot, and have played the most road games in the Conference. Expecting playoffs would be nutty, but its certainly not too late to make a run if we can get it together.
Boxscore
Salmons ( C+ ) -- not involved early, which probably helped us, and that's not being snarky. Well...not entirely. Fact is that you could see that change in tone that has been evident for the last few games really setting in in this one, and to such a degree that John really got with the program too. Was pretty willing to pass around the perimeter, and was noticeably neither shooting nor stopping the ball. Finally hit a three in the late 3rd off a great ball movement sequence -- it was maybe John Salmons' first game as a willing roleplayer. Miracles never cease. Nonetheless, I could only go so high with a grade when the best things about the guy's game were the things he DIDN'T do, but he finally gave me something positive to grab hold of, when after scoring only 3pts on that one three pointer in his first 28 minutes he sudenly stepped up in crunchtime and came up with two huge jumpers to tie the game up at the 1:30 mark (the first one was called, not sure about the second). Thus the description of 7pts (3-7FG) 1reb 2ast in 30 minutes instead of pathetic becomes a willing roleplayer who hit a couple of big shots to help us come back and clinch the win.
Thompson ( B ) -- well, back to the wild fugly thing in the early going, with balls bouncing off his hands, blown layups, you knwo the drill. But you know what? That was ok because he was busting his behind out there as a hustle and glue guy, getting open for guys to drop him passes, and again displaying the superiority of having roleplayers playing next to your stars as opposed to competing gunners. Be an interesting little test after the failures this ummer if Geoff is going to recognize that this summer when JT is a restricted free agent. Slowed down after the big tone setting first quarter burst, but had several later game highlights including at an important point coming up with a sweeping hook across the lane in the mid third against Duncan, and being part of one of the smart simple plays we are finally making, when Reke coudl nto get an angle to hit Cousins in the post, so he quickly swung it to Jason up top near the FT stripe and Jason fired the pass into Cousins from the new angle before the defense could adjust. That's good veteran basketball. Finally hit some FTs as well.
Cousins ( B+ ) -- off to a strong start in every way to this one, including a couple of sweet open court drop off passes as our big man ran the breaks he was creating with those great hands on defense. Unfortunately fell victim to the old foul problem, as he pciked up an unnnecessary nothing on Ducan early, and then a reach in a few minutes later. Was smartly subbed back in when Reke had to rest in the 2nd quarter to try to stablize a smallballing bench crew who never gave us much this time out. Great hands and antipation led to 3 first half steals, and 4 for the game. Made a mental error at the end of the first half picking up his 3rd foul, then arguing long enough he got a technical foul. In the third agian made a dumb decision trying to dribble in the open court vs. 3 Spurs and getting stripped. But he never let the misadventures build. He screwed up, then went right back to manhandling the Spurs frontline, inclduing a giant man's man rebound and finish late in the 4th which had the Spurs frontline guys bailing out of there like extras in a Godzilla movie. Be ncie if he could get a little more help form his guards however, as the longer the game went on, the more he had to go get the ball off the glass if he wanted to shoot. Still, 17pts 13rebs 4stls in only 27min, and that's not even his A game. I predict he's going to have a game at some point this year which is just going to be truly eye-popping.
Thornton ( B- ) -- off to a fast star as a scorer, but interspersed with some shots where he never even looked around he made some nice passes. And in the first while he, Cousins and Reke were all rolling the Spurs simply could not hang with us. Began misfiring as the half wore on though, and despite the nice win it was another game where he (1-6) and we (5-21) once again could not shoot threes. Forced a dumb shot and got the offensive foul call in he final couple of minutes of the half -- his third just a minute before Cousins got his. After going quiet for a long stretch, gave us a burst out in the open court in the late 3rd, but wasn't a factor in the 4th. Did not get a good look at his shot to try to ice it with less than 10 seconds to go, and we had to make one more defensive stadn to pull it out.
Evans ( A+ ) -- I just had to plus this. This was Reke as bigtime star stuff here. Beautiful passing again early as he was really directing things -- its a GREAT sign when your young point guard is walking the ball up fist in the air calling out plays. That's floor general stuff. Even when he didn't get the assist he was beginning passing sequences resulting in good shot after good shot for us. For good measure he also added several big power drives bouncing through traffic, was a major factor on the defensive glass, and was doing a real nice job on Parker on defense in the first half. Hit the buzzer beating three to close a great first quarter you wish he could just bottle. Was getting his hands on a lot of balls on defense again, and was using those beautiful spin moves on his drives to draw attention and set up teammates rather than himself -- taking full advantage whenever the Spurs sagged off him or snet extra men his way. Came up with some brilliant takes down the stretch of the half just turning it on after Thornton and Cousins got their third fouls leaving Reke to carry us. It was really a potent blend of the faux Rubio pasing focus of the last few games with his high scoring offense back on line. The 2nd half was not as good as the first, but there was still a lot of good in it Lost a bit of control of Parker, and I thought our smallballing threw him, and us, off as it took him off the ball, and off of Parker on defense. Suddenly went through a shaky patch from the stripe in the late 3rd, and in the 4th while our smallball and reserves weren't getting anything done the mix seemed to get a little shot rather than pass heavy. But came up with some huge rebounds late in the game that just are a great sign of a young player taking responsibility for the team and doing whatever it takes to win, and then he capped it by knocking down the game winning jumper with less than a minute to go. Good form, the Spurs were so scared of the drive they gave him 5 feet of space, so he just drained it and we won the game. More of this please.
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Bench
Greene ( C ) -- off on his first three, but hit his second at a key point as we were starting to sputter. Not effective in a brief second half stint. Almost an incomplete as the first of our Bench Brickers of the night.
Hickson ( B- ) -- mixture of some great hustle plays very much in the spirit of the evening with some less than smart plays and shot choices that were not. In the early going came up with some very athletic o-boards and a hustle play out near the sidelines saving a ball by throwing it back over his head. Also saved a loose ball and beat the shotclock with a baseline drive and reverse layup. Missed a pair of FTs and took a few shots of the "I'm not quite getting this whole passing thing" type, and at times got pushed around on the defensive glass. But I was not unhappy with the overall effect because he again was hustling, and that makes up for a lot flaws.
Fredette ( D+ ) -- for a brief couple of minutes you saw a glimmer from Jimmer (TM) as he came in near the end of our early burst while everybody was going and Reke had the offense humming, and just as he seems to have absorbed and aomplified our struggles this season, he seemed to absorb and feed off of early confidence. Was moving decisively, hustling on defense, made a nice pass along the baseline, and stepped into an open three as a cherry on top of our run as the Kings bench jumped up. But then it came time to sub out Reke, the ball and respnsiblities shifted more towards Jimmer, and that confidence just bled away that quick and he was back to ineffective rookie aimlessly dribbling around, missing shots (including one flat out intimidated looking weak flip on the break when he appeared to suddenly have a post traumatic flashback to the the big, tall long armed monster men that have been haunting his nightmares and wanted no part of taking it in strong), and seeming to flinch everytime a defender attacked his dribble. Looked like that would be his only minutes of the game until he was abruptly given a chance in the mid 4th because Thomas could not hit the outside shot -- seemed a clear smallball coaching error by Smart in a close game as it should have been Cisco who was subbed in. And after a few minutes of ineffective play by Jimmer looking like he was just trying not to screw up, the Cisco move was in fact made just in time for the crunch minutes.
Garcia ( C- ) -- got off to a terrible start to this forcing back to back garbage shots and missing them. Cisco is now our version of a veteran leader, but he still to this day has bursts of I'm-a-dumbass-rookie in him. Finally out of a timeout that probably featured an interesting conversation with Smart, walked in for a layup, and got a steal inside. Was back in for the final minutes after Smart's Thomas/Fredette smallballing blew up in our faces, and grabbed one strong rebound, as he did the other night -- Cisco is one of the league's worst and wimpiest rebounders if you call him a SF, small, unathletic, and weak, but he has been showing here that when it matters he will go after them with vigor.
Thomas ( D+ ) -- brief ineffective first half stint paired with Jimmer in the +1 Mini Backcourt of Guaranteed Opponent Guard Glee as we lost ground. Was back in the 4th as Smart seemed to be making the classic error of coaching the last game over again today, going to a smallball backcourt taking the ball out of Reke's hands at a critical time, and then zoning up the Spurs when we had been beating them all game doing none of the above. Thomas brought the effort but was ineffective in any practical sense as his lack of shooting range was exploited. Repeatedly he was the man left open at the three point line in defensive rotation, and repeatedly he took that shot. Did not make a one, as he was 0-4 from the field, 0-4 from the three point stripe as he led our little guy bench quartet (Thomas. Jimmer, Cisco, Donte) in a dismal 3-16FG, 2-10 3pt performance. At least left on the right note as he created the deadball that saw him replaced by Jimmer when he hopped in front of Parker to take a charge. Nonetheless, can't grade here on pure effort or having a nice smile. In 13min tonight it was 0pts 0reb 0ast on 0-4 shooting and 4 fls. In other words: ouch.
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