Try not to faint dear reader(s?), but tonight we had a Kings game where we could not generate any offense, but for 3/4 some pretty darn good defense kept us in this game. That's a reversal unlikely to please the casual fan, but most welcome to anyone who understands the underlying sources of our 8 years in bball purgatory. We got good effort from the entire roster, and while the execution may have sucked, I am about as reasonably ok with this game as I could be with a 20pt blowout.
Nonetheless I shall take advantage of the technicality that we dropped this game by 20 to post some Girls.
P.S. Royce White did get in this game, for the final 1min of garbagetime. In other words he pretty much didn't.
P.P.S. The Grading Consortium has been given the fortnight off to go watch March Madness stuff, so just little ole me for the next few.
Boxscore
Stats: 32min 14pts (4-14, 1-3, 5-5) 5reb 3ast 0stl 2blk 4TO
Gay ( C- ) -- had a couple of good takes in the early going along the baseline, but they were already interspersed with forces against doubles and pressure. Not seeing the passes out of those situations, racking up turnovers and contested misses. Was out of sorts and making mistakes by the late half, walked, blew a Cousins assist, looking for more whistles and finishing the half 2-7. Hit a three in the early third from Cuz and then immediately next time down hoisted up a bricked heat check three off his dribble from the top of the circle. Final hit was a good +1 through Lenard and briefly it looked like maybe he would get something going and assert his will, but he continued missing both long jumpers and contested drives. Came up with several big blocks inside defending the rim however, as all game long the Kings were active defensively and dug in on that end of the floor. Just could not get a rhythm the other way and kept turning it over with poor decisionmaking. Finally and somewhat surprisingly, because there had been no indications, left the game relatively normally for rest (he had already played 32min) but did not return for the 4th stretch run as it was announced he had some sort of stomach thing., Don't know how to assess that as a factor in his performance. He looked neither weak nor peaked out there, just out of rhythm and frustrated.
Kaitlyn Leeb (sometimes Kaitlyn Wong) -- degree in psychology too.
Stats: 21min 2pts (1-3, 0-0, 0-2) 7reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Evans ( C ) -- despite the fairly normal looking numbers for him, Reggie had kind of an odd day by his standards. Tasked with guarding Duncan in his minutes, and really did a pretty respectable job of it. On the other hand despite the good looking board numbers, was actually having a hard time getting them to stick to his dingers, in particular on the defensive board, and fumbled them/allowed the Spurs to get an inordinate number of them over his back. Offensively it was back to traditionally Reggie Evans, which is to say everything was contested, got to the line once and missed both FTs etc. Got his one score on a good offensive tip follow in the early third., but for most of the night it was generally being impressed when Duncan could not score over him, and uncustomarily frustrated with his inability to corral boards for us.
Lauren Hanley -- who first got famous for dating a QB. The old cliche still works.
Stats: 37min 15pts (7-18, 0-0, 1-2) 13reb 5ast 2stl 5blk 3TO
Cousins ( B- ) -- there will likely be a split in how this game by Cousins will be perceived, and largely that split will come down to which side of the court to which you were paying more attention. Got off to a strong active start, scoring inside, was on the boards. But missing his jumper all night long, and not getting calls he wanted inside in a lot of traffic. And on the other end despite good activity from the start, was playing conservative defense against Splitter (a good thing IMO as he avoided foul trouble all night) and Splitter was having a real outlier of a game, getting around the hoop and hitting everything. It really was too bad about the offense not getting going, because Cousins was a major statstuffer in all other ways tonight. Consider that if he just hits 3 more shots we are talking about a 21pt 13reb 5ast 2ast 5blk night. Early on poked away a steal up top and rumbled down the other way, looking off Ben and finishing himself. Might call the play selfish if Cuz were a PG and Ben had hands composed of flesh not stone, as it was, Cuz duking was the safe play. Had an amazing full court drive through almost the entire Spurs team, but rather than get the offensive foul charging over the final defender, kicked it to Gay in the corner, who then proceeded to not only not take the three, but to dribble in and miss the shot in the paint There would be a similar play in the 4th, but this time it was IT who blew the assist, dribbled in and did not finish. Activity on defense only got better as the game went along this time, and was a major key in our defensive stubborness. Made a nice defensive stop on Parker in the open court. Started the 3rd snatching boards, but remained unable to finish inside with the Spurs swarming and blocking shots. Some excellent defense on Splitter on one possession, and was showing, recovering, picking up cutters and blocked 5 shots on the night. Getting his hands on a lot of balls, and came close to another 2 or 3 steals. But the big demerit continued as the jumper was not falling and he just kept taking them. Finally went on a little mini-run after returning in the 4th (he had actually entered the 4th with just 9 points). Finally hit one of those jumpers. Got a strong straight post move over Duncan that we just hadn't been able to line up before. Grabbed a d-board and hit a streaking Ben with the nice Kevin Love style pass ahead on the break. But they were more just individual plays than him really clicking into a major offensive rhythm. Regardless, I view the offensive issues here as more warts on a good game for him, as he led us in basically every category but scoring.
Anne Vyalitsyna -- who has been appearing in SI Swimsuit Issues since a time when we were actually talking playoffs at this time of year.
Stats: 26min 9pts (4-7, 1-4, 0-0) 4reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
McLemore ( B- ) -- was trying to figure out exactly what to do with this grade, but I think in the end this falls in with the smatterings of improved Ben games in the last couple of weeks. There are two components to that. Got off to a good start offensively with two early hits, and later after returning to the game hit another jumper. He still wasn't hitting his threes, because frankly he just can't -- has the 2nd lowest 3pt FG% (to Josh Smith) of anybody who's taken 200 or more 3s this year. But the second part of tonight was this oddity: at one point late in this game I think we actually subbed him back in for defense, because he was doing a much better job of chasing Spurs guards off screens than Outlaw (who was, to be fair, being used as a SF/PF up until this year, and hence has quickness issues on the perimeter). He even had a good hard foul denying Mills inside on the break and knocking him to the floor. The big thing holding him back this time was foul trouble. That's happened once or twice this season, but its still nothing you expect, and frankly I considered it almost a good sign -- Ben has rarely even been close enough to the men he has "guarded" this year to get a foul. But tonight he was hustling as part of the teamwide lockdown that held the Spurs to 38% shooting. Unfortunately when he picked up back to back tough fouls in the mid 2nd, all of a sudden he had 4 and was going to be limited the rest of the night. He managed to paly most of the 3rd before picking up his 5th, and then returned late in the game, again possibly for defense as Outlaw could not keep Bellinelli in front of him, and got that leakout bucket from Cuz to close his scoring. Its only 9pts 4rebs here. Barely anything to write home about. But it was a solid 9pts and 4rebs.
Samantha Barks-- who is likely the prettiest girl hailing from The Isle of Man (pop 80,000 or so).
Stats: 37min 18pts (7-17, 0-3, 4-7) 3reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 4TO
Thomas ( C ) -- was the third of our big three to struggle offensively in this one, and when you rely almost exclusively on three guys, and all three struggle... Had one little offensive push starting when he hit the go ahead pullup jumper in the mid first. Then closed the first quarter on a run with some of those high finishes off the glass. But when he returned to the game in the 2nd he was cold, and it was cold from everywhere, including at one point missing 3 of 4 FTs. Was having adventures with the ball as well, fumbles and sometimes just straight giveaways as we barely has an offense running against the Spurs. Now on the other hand, Tony Parker was never a major factor in this thing either, and despite IT's mediocrity tonight he did not get blown off the floor. Finally got a little movement, both ways, late in the game. Looked like he had ended a long fugly mess of a sequence to pull up and hit a three to close the 3rd with us within 9, but got waved off after they looked at the replay and determined he did not beat the buzzer. Still got a couple of things in the 4th, including a steal and breakout, but the defense finally failed then as well, as he was beaten repeatedly down the stretch as the Spurs put us away. What bolsters this grade is Parker's own lack of impact. IT wasn't notably smothering him or anything, but like I say, he did not lose this battle as much as you would have thought. However was unable to run much of an offense for us, unable to get into any scoring rhythm, and down the stretch lost control of his various men.
Zoe Kravitz-- daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet. Good bloodlines.
Nonetheless I shall take advantage of the technicality that we dropped this game by 20 to post some Girls.
P.S. Royce White did get in this game, for the final 1min of garbagetime. In other words he pretty much didn't.
P.P.S. The Grading Consortium has been given the fortnight off to go watch March Madness stuff, so just little ole me for the next few.
Boxscore
Stats: 32min 14pts (4-14, 1-3, 5-5) 5reb 3ast 0stl 2blk 4TO
Gay ( C- ) -- had a couple of good takes in the early going along the baseline, but they were already interspersed with forces against doubles and pressure. Not seeing the passes out of those situations, racking up turnovers and contested misses. Was out of sorts and making mistakes by the late half, walked, blew a Cousins assist, looking for more whistles and finishing the half 2-7. Hit a three in the early third from Cuz and then immediately next time down hoisted up a bricked heat check three off his dribble from the top of the circle. Final hit was a good +1 through Lenard and briefly it looked like maybe he would get something going and assert his will, but he continued missing both long jumpers and contested drives. Came up with several big blocks inside defending the rim however, as all game long the Kings were active defensively and dug in on that end of the floor. Just could not get a rhythm the other way and kept turning it over with poor decisionmaking. Finally and somewhat surprisingly, because there had been no indications, left the game relatively normally for rest (he had already played 32min) but did not return for the 4th stretch run as it was announced he had some sort of stomach thing., Don't know how to assess that as a factor in his performance. He looked neither weak nor peaked out there, just out of rhythm and frustrated.
Kaitlyn Leeb (sometimes Kaitlyn Wong) -- degree in psychology too.
Stats: 21min 2pts (1-3, 0-0, 0-2) 7reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Evans ( C ) -- despite the fairly normal looking numbers for him, Reggie had kind of an odd day by his standards. Tasked with guarding Duncan in his minutes, and really did a pretty respectable job of it. On the other hand despite the good looking board numbers, was actually having a hard time getting them to stick to his dingers, in particular on the defensive board, and fumbled them/allowed the Spurs to get an inordinate number of them over his back. Offensively it was back to traditionally Reggie Evans, which is to say everything was contested, got to the line once and missed both FTs etc. Got his one score on a good offensive tip follow in the early third., but for most of the night it was generally being impressed when Duncan could not score over him, and uncustomarily frustrated with his inability to corral boards for us.
Lauren Hanley -- who first got famous for dating a QB. The old cliche still works.
Stats: 37min 15pts (7-18, 0-0, 1-2) 13reb 5ast 2stl 5blk 3TO
Cousins ( B- ) -- there will likely be a split in how this game by Cousins will be perceived, and largely that split will come down to which side of the court to which you were paying more attention. Got off to a strong active start, scoring inside, was on the boards. But missing his jumper all night long, and not getting calls he wanted inside in a lot of traffic. And on the other end despite good activity from the start, was playing conservative defense against Splitter (a good thing IMO as he avoided foul trouble all night) and Splitter was having a real outlier of a game, getting around the hoop and hitting everything. It really was too bad about the offense not getting going, because Cousins was a major statstuffer in all other ways tonight. Consider that if he just hits 3 more shots we are talking about a 21pt 13reb 5ast 2ast 5blk night. Early on poked away a steal up top and rumbled down the other way, looking off Ben and finishing himself. Might call the play selfish if Cuz were a PG and Ben had hands composed of flesh not stone, as it was, Cuz duking was the safe play. Had an amazing full court drive through almost the entire Spurs team, but rather than get the offensive foul charging over the final defender, kicked it to Gay in the corner, who then proceeded to not only not take the three, but to dribble in and miss the shot in the paint There would be a similar play in the 4th, but this time it was IT who blew the assist, dribbled in and did not finish. Activity on defense only got better as the game went along this time, and was a major key in our defensive stubborness. Made a nice defensive stop on Parker in the open court. Started the 3rd snatching boards, but remained unable to finish inside with the Spurs swarming and blocking shots. Some excellent defense on Splitter on one possession, and was showing, recovering, picking up cutters and blocked 5 shots on the night. Getting his hands on a lot of balls, and came close to another 2 or 3 steals. But the big demerit continued as the jumper was not falling and he just kept taking them. Finally went on a little mini-run after returning in the 4th (he had actually entered the 4th with just 9 points). Finally hit one of those jumpers. Got a strong straight post move over Duncan that we just hadn't been able to line up before. Grabbed a d-board and hit a streaking Ben with the nice Kevin Love style pass ahead on the break. But they were more just individual plays than him really clicking into a major offensive rhythm. Regardless, I view the offensive issues here as more warts on a good game for him, as he led us in basically every category but scoring.
Anne Vyalitsyna -- who has been appearing in SI Swimsuit Issues since a time when we were actually talking playoffs at this time of year.
Stats: 26min 9pts (4-7, 1-4, 0-0) 4reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
McLemore ( B- ) -- was trying to figure out exactly what to do with this grade, but I think in the end this falls in with the smatterings of improved Ben games in the last couple of weeks. There are two components to that. Got off to a good start offensively with two early hits, and later after returning to the game hit another jumper. He still wasn't hitting his threes, because frankly he just can't -- has the 2nd lowest 3pt FG% (to Josh Smith) of anybody who's taken 200 or more 3s this year. But the second part of tonight was this oddity: at one point late in this game I think we actually subbed him back in for defense, because he was doing a much better job of chasing Spurs guards off screens than Outlaw (who was, to be fair, being used as a SF/PF up until this year, and hence has quickness issues on the perimeter). He even had a good hard foul denying Mills inside on the break and knocking him to the floor. The big thing holding him back this time was foul trouble. That's happened once or twice this season, but its still nothing you expect, and frankly I considered it almost a good sign -- Ben has rarely even been close enough to the men he has "guarded" this year to get a foul. But tonight he was hustling as part of the teamwide lockdown that held the Spurs to 38% shooting. Unfortunately when he picked up back to back tough fouls in the mid 2nd, all of a sudden he had 4 and was going to be limited the rest of the night. He managed to paly most of the 3rd before picking up his 5th, and then returned late in the game, again possibly for defense as Outlaw could not keep Bellinelli in front of him, and got that leakout bucket from Cuz to close his scoring. Its only 9pts 4rebs here. Barely anything to write home about. But it was a solid 9pts and 4rebs.
Samantha Barks-- who is likely the prettiest girl hailing from The Isle of Man (pop 80,000 or so).
Stats: 37min 18pts (7-17, 0-3, 4-7) 3reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 4TO
Thomas ( C ) -- was the third of our big three to struggle offensively in this one, and when you rely almost exclusively on three guys, and all three struggle... Had one little offensive push starting when he hit the go ahead pullup jumper in the mid first. Then closed the first quarter on a run with some of those high finishes off the glass. But when he returned to the game in the 2nd he was cold, and it was cold from everywhere, including at one point missing 3 of 4 FTs. Was having adventures with the ball as well, fumbles and sometimes just straight giveaways as we barely has an offense running against the Spurs. Now on the other hand, Tony Parker was never a major factor in this thing either, and despite IT's mediocrity tonight he did not get blown off the floor. Finally got a little movement, both ways, late in the game. Looked like he had ended a long fugly mess of a sequence to pull up and hit a three to close the 3rd with us within 9, but got waved off after they looked at the replay and determined he did not beat the buzzer. Still got a couple of things in the 4th, including a steal and breakout, but the defense finally failed then as well, as he was beaten repeatedly down the stretch as the Spurs put us away. What bolsters this grade is Parker's own lack of impact. IT wasn't notably smothering him or anything, but like I say, he did not lose this battle as much as you would have thought. However was unable to run much of an offense for us, unable to get into any scoring rhythm, and down the stretch lost control of his various men.
Zoe Kravitz-- daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet. Good bloodlines.
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