Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Sorry, got held up. I'll put them up in staggered sets.
Salmons ( A- ) -- off to a pretty good all around start, but it wasn't an impact first half. May have slowed Parker somewhat after being switched over onto him, but didn't lock him up. And otherwise was more solid than spectacular. But John came back and had a stretch in the early second half when he was easily the best thing we had going and was carrying us..carrying us to an 18 pt deficit, but not his fault. He was the one guy playing at that point. And came on with another spurt in the early 4th with some dynamic offensive play to push us right to the brink against the Spurs. But got quiet late, and hence the minus. Still a very strong game, and just about the only King to contribute in both halves.
Thomas ( B+ ) -- used his speed in the early going to score, and not sure what to say about his defense on Duncan because Duncan was just...well bad. And invisible. Same Duncan who lit Kenny up for 35 a couple of weeks ago. Odd. Kenny's doing? Eh... But in any case, this time Kenny was outscoring him at half and Tim just looked very flat. So has to go on Kenny's ledger at least to some degree. And Kenny also came out in the third very active on the glass -- maybe the most lively we have seen him this year. But slowed down thereafter as the Spurs pulled away, and with the effectiveness of the Miller/Corliss combo in the late game getting us back into things KT never returned. I'm wary of grade inflation for what turned out to be just another loss, so go B+ with a golden "?" over the effect on Duncan (who based on this one game could not score on either Kenny Thomas or Brad Miller and won't be headed to the HOF anytime soon).
Reef ( B+ ) -- good first quarter offensively -- was being guarded by Oberto, not Duncan, and made the Spurs pay a bit. Finished with a solid 9pt 4reb 1st half. Did little after half however and after Miller took over it sparked a moribund Kings offense, and so that was the last we saw of Reef. Again, B+. Similar reasoning. Played only half the game, but was effective int he early going. And finished wiht 11 and 4 on 5-7 shooting.
Martin ( A- ) -- Two very distinct halves. For about 2 1/2 quarters pretty much got his butt kicked out there and looked almost pouty -- it was reaching the point of alarm bells, not least for my various fanatsy teams. Was he this easy to figure out and shutdown? In any case, whether it was a sign of respect or merely because of no Ron, he was being smothered by Bowen on one end, and lit up by by Tony Parker at the other (although not all of that was his fault with a lot of it opportunistic, off of rotations etc.). In any case after Kevin got torced for 10 pts in about 5 minutes, we eventually Salmons switched over and things improved. Kevin was at least getting on the glass early, but things did look grim. However I was glad to see us come out of haltime and immediately try to get Kevin a shot. Was pretty minor, but he managed to draw a couple of fouls, and was at least a little more in the game. But the real turner that woke him up was courtesy of one Bradley Miller, who resurreected the Peja offense (off ball cuts) and high post passing of the Vlade/Webber era and hit Kevin with a series of laser passes. And from there on out, the game changed and Kevin was off and scoring. He didn't drop all of his points on Bowen -- as usual there were a number of leakouts and whatnot, but in the 3rd and 4th he was routinely making shots even with Bowen on his elbow, and the energy picked way way up. In a lot of ways his first real stint as a number one option. Or at least first effective one. Wasn't easy -- leak outs aside he had to work for his points. But he got them, and that was very promising. Not enough in the end, but something to pocket from the Texas sweep. Gets the minus for the poor first half and shaky defense, but if we pull this off I would have been hard pressed not to go with straight A.
Bibby ( D ) -- man, what an ugly game for Mike -- just looked completely off kilter and was just forcing up total garbage again and again. Not even close on it either. Finally warmed up in the late second quarter with a little 3-3 streak, and his offense was a breath of fresh air as he pulled us back close. But then cooled again and it was back to ugly. Also in the early going got the easiest defensive assignement on the floor checking Bruce Bowen, but kept on leaving him open in the corners for his favorite threes -- would have thought Mike would have learned something from last year's playoffs. In any case, Bruce Bowen of the 6ppg scoring average rained 23 on us, almost all of them from that one spot. Meanwhile Mike continued throwing up wild shots in the 4th helping to scuttle our comeback. Besides one nice pick and roll with Brad, it all looked scrappy. If we could just find the real Mike somewhere, maybe we could steal one of these someday.
Miller ( B+ ) -- grabbed a few boards in his first half minutes, but not much else, but it was his third quarter after replacing Reef that was finally exciting. It was vintage Adelman era Brad as he carved the Spurs up for about 6 minutes with his passing, and in the process got Kevin going with pinpoint passes inside for layups. Also played stout defense against Duncan in the 4th, although of course Duncan looked decidedly bland most of the night Was tempted to give him an A- as the player who really turned this one around for us I thought, but just didn't do enough after the burst there to truly justify it, and made some shaky plays down the stretch to knock it bakc half a grade. But it was an important B+. Without him, I'm not sure we avoid the blowout, not sure Kevin ever gets going, not sure we don't come home on the back of back to back spankings in Texas.
Price ( INC ) -- did little statistically in his short first half stint, but actually looked solid and competed
Garcia ( B- ) -- hit one in rhythm open three, did little else in the first half. Added some good hustle in the third to help us jerk and twitch back to life, but also made some dumb fouls to hurt our momentum.
Williamson ( B ) -- in the second quarter grabbed some boards, but mostly an ugly first stint full of turnovers. But in his second half stint joined Kevin in taking advantage of the Brad Miller sighting to help pull us back from the brink of blowout with active offense in the late third. Was active thereafter as we battled down the stretch, even got on the boards, but made mistakes down the stretch that helped finish us.
Salmons ( A- ) -- off to a pretty good all around start, but it wasn't an impact first half. May have slowed Parker somewhat after being switched over onto him, but didn't lock him up. And otherwise was more solid than spectacular. But John came back and had a stretch in the early second half when he was easily the best thing we had going and was carrying us..carrying us to an 18 pt deficit, but not his fault. He was the one guy playing at that point. And came on with another spurt in the early 4th with some dynamic offensive play to push us right to the brink against the Spurs. But got quiet late, and hence the minus. Still a very strong game, and just about the only King to contribute in both halves.
Thomas ( B+ ) -- used his speed in the early going to score, and not sure what to say about his defense on Duncan because Duncan was just...well bad. And invisible. Same Duncan who lit Kenny up for 35 a couple of weeks ago. Odd. Kenny's doing? Eh... But in any case, this time Kenny was outscoring him at half and Tim just looked very flat. So has to go on Kenny's ledger at least to some degree. And Kenny also came out in the third very active on the glass -- maybe the most lively we have seen him this year. But slowed down thereafter as the Spurs pulled away, and with the effectiveness of the Miller/Corliss combo in the late game getting us back into things KT never returned. I'm wary of grade inflation for what turned out to be just another loss, so go B+ with a golden "?" over the effect on Duncan (who based on this one game could not score on either Kenny Thomas or Brad Miller and won't be headed to the HOF anytime soon).
Reef ( B+ ) -- good first quarter offensively -- was being guarded by Oberto, not Duncan, and made the Spurs pay a bit. Finished with a solid 9pt 4reb 1st half. Did little after half however and after Miller took over it sparked a moribund Kings offense, and so that was the last we saw of Reef. Again, B+. Similar reasoning. Played only half the game, but was effective int he early going. And finished wiht 11 and 4 on 5-7 shooting.
Martin ( A- ) -- Two very distinct halves. For about 2 1/2 quarters pretty much got his butt kicked out there and looked almost pouty -- it was reaching the point of alarm bells, not least for my various fanatsy teams. Was he this easy to figure out and shutdown? In any case, whether it was a sign of respect or merely because of no Ron, he was being smothered by Bowen on one end, and lit up by by Tony Parker at the other (although not all of that was his fault with a lot of it opportunistic, off of rotations etc.). In any case after Kevin got torced for 10 pts in about 5 minutes, we eventually Salmons switched over and things improved. Kevin was at least getting on the glass early, but things did look grim. However I was glad to see us come out of haltime and immediately try to get Kevin a shot. Was pretty minor, but he managed to draw a couple of fouls, and was at least a little more in the game. But the real turner that woke him up was courtesy of one Bradley Miller, who resurreected the Peja offense (off ball cuts) and high post passing of the Vlade/Webber era and hit Kevin with a series of laser passes. And from there on out, the game changed and Kevin was off and scoring. He didn't drop all of his points on Bowen -- as usual there were a number of leakouts and whatnot, but in the 3rd and 4th he was routinely making shots even with Bowen on his elbow, and the energy picked way way up. In a lot of ways his first real stint as a number one option. Or at least first effective one. Wasn't easy -- leak outs aside he had to work for his points. But he got them, and that was very promising. Not enough in the end, but something to pocket from the Texas sweep. Gets the minus for the poor first half and shaky defense, but if we pull this off I would have been hard pressed not to go with straight A.
Bibby ( D ) -- man, what an ugly game for Mike -- just looked completely off kilter and was just forcing up total garbage again and again. Not even close on it either. Finally warmed up in the late second quarter with a little 3-3 streak, and his offense was a breath of fresh air as he pulled us back close. But then cooled again and it was back to ugly. Also in the early going got the easiest defensive assignement on the floor checking Bruce Bowen, but kept on leaving him open in the corners for his favorite threes -- would have thought Mike would have learned something from last year's playoffs. In any case, Bruce Bowen of the 6ppg scoring average rained 23 on us, almost all of them from that one spot. Meanwhile Mike continued throwing up wild shots in the 4th helping to scuttle our comeback. Besides one nice pick and roll with Brad, it all looked scrappy. If we could just find the real Mike somewhere, maybe we could steal one of these someday.
Miller ( B+ ) -- grabbed a few boards in his first half minutes, but not much else, but it was his third quarter after replacing Reef that was finally exciting. It was vintage Adelman era Brad as he carved the Spurs up for about 6 minutes with his passing, and in the process got Kevin going with pinpoint passes inside for layups. Also played stout defense against Duncan in the 4th, although of course Duncan looked decidedly bland most of the night Was tempted to give him an A- as the player who really turned this one around for us I thought, but just didn't do enough after the burst there to truly justify it, and made some shaky plays down the stretch to knock it bakc half a grade. But it was an important B+. Without him, I'm not sure we avoid the blowout, not sure Kevin ever gets going, not sure we don't come home on the back of back to back spankings in Texas.
Price ( INC ) -- did little statistically in his short first half stint, but actually looked solid and competed
Garcia ( B- ) -- hit one in rhythm open three, did little else in the first half. Added some good hustle in the third to help us jerk and twitch back to life, but also made some dumb fouls to hurt our momentum.
Williamson ( B ) -- in the second quarter grabbed some boards, but mostly an ugly first stint full of turnovers. But in his second half stint joined Kevin in taking advantage of the Brad Miller sighting to help pull us back from the brink of blowout with active offense in the late third. Was active thereafter as we battled down the stretch, even got on the boards, but made mistakes down the stretch that helped finish us.
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