Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well, nobody particularly has to hang their head on this one. And that's both the good and bad of it. We came out, played together, and competed. Almost everybody made a contribution of some sort. But...you never got the feeling this game was really in doubt. We played hard, but the Spurs kept us conveniently sitting out at about a 8-13pt deficit almost the entire game. We never could make a serious run, they always had an answer. I don't think they were toying with us, but the result did seem pretty preordained. And so watching the game was just a throwback to the last 8 years for us -- the well we'll probably lose but hey, it would be cool if we could somehow pull one out style of watching. Less stressful to be sure. but also just a less entertaining watch than we've gotten used to this year with all the tension of hoping and expecting to win, and wanting and needing it to happen.
Anyway, no real blame to throw around in this one. Our guys tried. Just sans Cuz on the road against the champs = just not good enough. Nothing more to it. Now its back home for the megahomestand of megahomestands (see my Home Sweet Home thread). And if we can just have all our personnel available, an opportunity to REALLY make some noise after a month of hellish matchups.
Boxscore
Stats: 35min 23pts (9-17, 1-2, 4-6) 8reb 8ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Gay ( A- ) -- Gay was coming back from injury that kept him out for a couple of games. However, this time he started without Cousins suffering from stomach virus. Therefore, the leadership was on him. Surprise starter at center was Ryan Hollins who so far had only occasional minutes here and there. Without hesitation Rudy was trusting Hollins finding him in the paint. Hollins reciprocated by putting the balls in. This combo was the backbone of the Kings offense most of the first quarter. The one (sloppy) pass Rudy tried to give Collison resulted in a TO and an easy basket in the other end. Collison playing somewhat low profile game, Gay was bringing up the ball and keeping the game under control. And, yes, coming out from the first quarter the game was tied at 14 points. Coming back in the second quarter, Gay had a few flashy moves scoring a great pass to Hollins leading to FTs. Leonard was causing problems to keep causing changes to keep Duncan. Gay started the third quarter trying to keep in from of Leonard. Copying Casspi, drawing fouls from uneasy shots. Nice passes, but nobody to capitalize on them finally making it by himself from a really difficult shot. Then a rainbow. Uncontrolled drive resulting in a present by getting the call to continue possession, but finally missing a bad shot. After a breather, Rudy came back shooting, passing and rebounding, seeing the whole floor. Clearly the dominating King on the floor. Now going also for his 3-pointers. All in all a very good game without the support from DMC. The Spurs 3-point shooting was hot tonight. Without that, the King would have pulled this home. The Kings small forwards did their part in the contest. I think Rudy earned his grade by his very balanced game. --Kingston
Stats: 30min 4pts (2-4, 0-0, 0-0) 9reb 1ast 0stl 2blk 2TO
Thompson ( C- ) -- JT played 30 minutes in last nights game, and it just didn't feel like he was on the floor for that many minutes. That usually means, that either you quietly played a very effective game, or, you were just a spectator while on the floor. In JT's case, it was a little of both. With Cousins out, it was a night where his teammates had to pick up the offensive void he left. So, it was a chance for JT to shine. Going into the game, JT was the only player on the team over 6'9" with the experience and somewhat proven track record of putting up big games when needed. I guess someone forgot to tell JT, because he played the game exactly the same way he would have, if Cousins had been on the floor. When he started the game by establishing position about 12 feet from the basket on the left elbow, and hitting a jumpshot, I thought OK, here we go. He followed that by playing excellent defense on the right baseline against Diaw, causing him to miss. So he was off to a good start. It was at that point that he pushed the button on his cloaking device, and slowly disappeared. Oh he had his moments here and there, like a couple of nice blocks. Or a pass to a cutting Gay for a layup. But for every positive, he contributed a negative. Like the lazy pass for a turnover near the end of the game, but with the game still wihin the reach of our finger tips. He did pull down 9 rebounds while scoring his usual 4 points. So it wasn't so much about what he did, but what he didn't do. On a night when the team needed a lot of help, especially on the offensive side of the ball, JT brought his lunch bucket, blue collar everyday game. And if I thought that was all he was capable of, I'd be OK with that. But we've all seen him have those big games from time to time, and I just didn't see the effort on his part to try and step up. I didn't see JT battling for position in the post and waving for the ball. I didn't see JT cutting to the basket when the Spurs defense collapsed on one of his teammates. I didn't see JT ahead of everyone running the floor on a break. On a night when we needed JT to step up and be a hero, sadly he deferred. It wasn't totally his fault. The team as a whole played very selfish basketball, with way too many isolation plays. Stauskas was on the floor for around 7 minutes, and only touched the ball once on the offensive end. And that was early in the clock. There was very little ball movement, quick shots, and driving into traffic without a plan. Sometimes JT, just doing the job expected of you isn't enough --Baja
Stats: 26min 15pts (5-7, 0-0, 5-6) 6reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Hollins ( A ) -- DeMarcus WHO??? The silver lining to this loss may have been our discovery of a GREAT trade chip in Cousins, as with Boogie Hollins around it no longer appears we need that pretender Cousins. Of course the new Boogie does things in a little more efficient manner as throughout the early going he smartly waited for the Spurs to foolishly shift their attention to Rudy or one of our other lesser talents, and then took advantage off the ball as he exploded for 8 first quarter points while outdueling that scrub Duncan. He quickly slipped an interior screen and got a dunk from Gay, added a post hook, took another pass from Gay for a dunk. and then a follow off an offensive board. He had 8 points before the Spurs could say Ryan Hollins future hall of famer, at which time we got a little full of ourselves and tried to intentionally post him up vs. Duncan, which oddly did not work. He was removed fairly early for Derrick Williams to go chase around Matt Bonner on the perimeter, as the Spurs decided if you can't beat Ryan Hollins, better ran away to the three point line like wusses. When he returned he was feisty, wrestling with Duncan (Duncan in fact should have been called for an offensive foul) challenging shots (not always intelligently, but he was active), doing a nice job boxing Duncan off the glass (typically I hate that excuse for why you don't grab boards yourself, but in this case it was obvious what he was focused on), and running the floor hard in BOTH directions, beating the Spurs down one way for a quick postup before they were ready, saving a sure basket with a chase down foul of Kawhi the other. When he fought for an o-reb and got fouled near the end of the half he had dumped in 13pts and poor Boogie had to be watching at home on his sickbed as he lost his starting job and thinking he was hallucinating. We started the second half as we often do with our center, trying to punch the other team right in the face until they say uncle. And so Ben came out of the lockerroom and set the Raging Ryno up for another inside hoop to get him to 15 points, only 4 off his career high, and probably well on his way to a 30pt night and All Star bid. But it was not to be. he turned it over trying to actually create for himself a minute later, finally got stopped at the rim by Duncan after he took another drop off pass from Rudy, and worst of all, had to fight both the Spurs desperate single teaming and his own coach, who oddly decided to limit his second half minutes and play lesser talents. Maybe that was a savvy directive from the front office to keep form having to pay Hollins max next summer, not sure. But it did seem an odd thing to do to probably our 2nd best player on the night. Now the question becomes, after struggling all year to find a tall guy to play behind Cousins, when you finally give the one you have a chance and he performs well, will he begin to get regular rotation minutes? Anyway, this was Ryan Hollins we are talking about, and this was one of the highest scoring nights of his career. He at least gave us a fighting chance.--Brick
Stats: 41min 14pts (6-9, 2-2, 0-0) 3reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 3TO
McLemore ( B- ) -- a game raising the question, how much is one really good quarter worth on a grading scale? Ben's first half was a pit. He came out and looked like he was trying rather too hard, trying to press the issue on the break but having ballhandling misadventures, charging into the defense and getting blocked, failing to catch passes cleanly, and missing the only jumpers he did take, and then just politely disappearing for the rest of the half. Defensively it wasn't a total disaster, but Green was bombing his threes, and Manu's low scoring output is deceptive, as he was doing exactly what he wanted to, getting in the paint repeatedly to breakdown our defense and set up teammates all night long. But one thing that has been consistent about Ben since his first summer league is that its all about confidence with him, and he is streaky and prone to explosive bursts once he starts feeling it. After half it was a couple of athletic finishes that got him going. One along the left baseline on the semi-break, and then after a nice steal up top a race out to a gliding finish at the rim. He still hadn't hit a jumper at that point, but the change in his demeanor resulting from just finally making some positive plays made all the difference. He drained his next long jumper, we rode the hot hand and called the play for him out of a timeout at the 3:30 mark of the quarter, and he smoothly pulled up around a screen to drain it, and then he added a second three in classic streak shooter fashion. And his burst had an impact on the scoreboard where the Spurs had pushed the lead out to 13 and we appeared to be teetering on the edge of being knocked out. Ben's burst pushed it back down into the 8pt area, and while we never really made a run at them, it kept the dream alive for another quarter. Defensively he played some good defense smothering Kawhi (still not seeing the superstar there despite the exaggerated claims, sorry), but was still having problems keeping Manu out of the paint. And then, poof. The streak was over. Not sure whether being crossed over by Manu did it, whether stepping out of bounds on his first play of the 4th was an indicator the streak was over, whether getting some rest broke the rhythm, or whatever. In the end he contributed one more play, hitting an open corner three on another Gay drive and kick (Rudy was the drive and kick PG we otherwise didn't have on the night) that again kept us lingering, but it was just an isolated play. The fireworks were relegated to a single quarter. So...what do you do with that? --Brick
Stats: 35min 15pts (5-12, 2-3, 3-4) 3reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 3TO
Collison ( C- ) -- well he was back...kinda. Tony Parker seemed to come out wanting to prove a point for some reason and just pretty much kicked Darren's butt in the early going. It was a struggle from the get go, and a struggle on defense that we could hardly afford, as Parker not only was beating him on drives around screens, but even felt confident he could post Collison up and overpower him inside. And the other direction we weren't getting so much of the steady hand of Collison as we were a frustrated Sessions-lite. The Spurs were keeping him out of the paint and he was forcing sometimes flat dumb stuff on the break, picking up blocks against him and turnovers. Finally got one of his little pullups to go, but even that led to another one forced up in traffic and missed as maybe he was feeling too much pressure to be that other gun with Boogie out. When he returned he was a little more settled, finally got the ball inside a little, and played some nice defense blocking a Parker shot inside, although the Spurs got it back, and scored on the paly anyway when Collison got screened by Duncan and Parker AGAIN blew into the paint. Watching those two play reminds me of the two old guys at the park who aren't the best or the quickest anymore, but who just have played with each other so long they whip the young whippersnappers just by knowing everything the other guy wants to do instinctively. As it was with Ben, the third may have been Collison's best quarter as he started heating up and hitting his little jumpers, and also finally began to get into Parker on defense for entire possessions. But he never was able to consistently create on offense, as Rudy was really our main creative force on the night, and in the 4th he began to struggle again against Parker. A series of bad possessions including back to back wild layup attempts by Gay and Collison did us in down the stretch as we had cut the lead to 8 again but could never get closer. Added a three in the final two minute with the game pretty much over. And kind of finished our last gasp when he got fouled on the break with 52 seconds to go, but again only split the FTs (have noticed a disturbing tendency to miss some in the crunchtime) to leave us 7pts/3 possession back rather than two. When the Spur went down the other way and again hit a three, that was that. --Brick
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