Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Please? Pretty please? With sugar on top?
Ok, the good: IT had maybe his career game; DeMarcus continued his Boogie Breakout Tour and is now averaging 28.3pts and 16.3rebs over his past 4 games.
The not so good: how far will Reke actually let you marginalize him before we actually do lose him to smallballitis? And defense. Oh my defense. Want to see some scary stats?
We allowed another 117pts against us this game. We're allowing about 107.6ppg since going small. Consider Smart's history as a head and assistant coach:
Kings since going small: 107.6ppg (30th in NBA)
Golden State 10-11: 105.7ppg (28th in NBA)
Golden State 09-10: 112.4ppg (30th in NBA)
Golden State 08-09: 112.3ppg (30th in NBA)
Golden State 07-08: 108.8ppg (30th in NBA)
Golden State 06-07: 106.7ppg (30th in NBA)
Is this what we have to look forward to??? If so we may be in the dying days of a tradition here, because I'm not going to waste my valuable time grading crap like that with a whole league of real basketball being played by teams that know what it takes to win. Of ALL the teams to pick to emulate, we pick the one with the worst overall record int he NBA over the past 15 years. Its black comedy.
Boxscore
Evans ( D ) -- quiet start by both Reke and the team, and given how badly he tore them up last time (23pts 11reb 7ast) at the PG spot, was just waiting until we cleared the debris out of the way and let him play over the ball against them again. Never happened. Spurs packed the middle, Reke had few touches, and almost none in his favorite attack positons up top. For the msot part played the role of perimeter assistman, setting IT up for no fewer then 4 first half three attempts, of which two fell. Not big enough to board against Leonard who won multiple rebounding battles with his length. Drained several smooth looking jumpers, but whenever he tried to go inside it was a swarm and turnovers or near turnovers reuslted. In an interesting development pulled in favor of Cisco for the final three minutes of the first half. I label that interesting. Could also be labeled unsettling. Got yanked again in the third, this time for Williams, and ended up playing only 29 min on the night. The unsettling part extends to Reke not looking amused or involved during a late timeout -- about as close to a complaint as you will see from him. Boogie would have just beaned the coach with a water bottle. Something very much the matter with this effort from some direction. Never involved, got 5 shots on the night, which is easily a season low -- and likely a career low for games he has started and not been injured in. We lost our second best player for a night, and in the last two games IT has taken 32 shots to Reke's 16. Only question now is where this goes from here.
Thompson ( B+ ) -- returned and picked up right were he left off before the ankle injury with hard dirty roleplayer work. Getting almsot boringly efficient from a grading sense. His performance hasn't wavered in weeks. Finsihed a perfectly run break where with two passes and only 1 dribble we covered the whole court and got the dunk. Right on the hoop all night long, and had several strong post moves over the shroter Diaw and Blair. And while it seems dubious that somebody could come in and snap their fingers and just fix everything, ever since Clifford Ray arrived in town to tutor our bigs Jason has shot 68.8%, made every flip and tip, not had a single spastic turnover or fumble that I can recall, and averaged a cool 17.2pts 12.5rebs. I guess that last stat represents the only whole tonight -- in 36 min Jason only grabbed a subpar 7rebs this time out. Otherwise gave us almsot exactly what we needed from the position. Again. Yawn.
Cousins ( B+ ) -- not as dominant as the last couple, but after a bit of a ragged 2-7 start, settled in and began to just take it to the ghost of Tim Duncan. As per usual, just could not stay out of foul trouble in the early going as the Spurs attacked the middle again and again and we just don't have anybody back there to stop it. May have been more directed thatn that too as Duncan seemed to be intentionally trying to get Cousins riled, likely looking for the mistake response. but Smart has been doing a good thing with that foul trouble in recent weeks, and rather than yanking DeMarcus directly out, he is leaving him in there to play through it and get ito a rhtyhm before finally taking him out. Worked again tonight as DemArcaus recovered fromt eh 2-7 start to go 9-17 the rest of the way. Wehn he came back in the 2nd started grabbing board after board, and while he finished with a more pedestrian 11, rather than the 17 or 18 type games he puts up, it was still just one less than Duannca and DEJaun Balir, a pretty good pair of rebounders, had combined. Debuted a new littel shot this game, with some sort of ugly little push thing from 12-15 feet that I am sure is designed to let him get up a shot without running people over and picking up offense fouls. Saw it at elast three times, only 1 of which went in again. Not sure I want to see anymore of it, although the way Boogie learns I'm sure it will rapidly get better. Wonder if Ray maybe helped him wiht that too. In any case, when not throwing up ugly little flips used his strength and great hands to work his way to a strong first half. And started the thrid draining multiple midrange jumpers as he started to get the better of Duncan. Sat out a long stretch of the late third and early 4th, and maybe too long as he did not half any foul trouble (had 2 at the time) and was having a big game. When he finally returned was never able to reacquire the same rhythm he had been in, and was not a big factor late. In fact became one of several Kings to make our typical late game errors when he committed a charge at the 2:30 mark with us down 7 and neeeding every possession.
Thornton ( C ) -- had a nice block in the open court to save a hoop off the opening tip but took a long time before he ever had any more impact on the game. Not getting many touches, and in the early going he reacted to that as we've seen him do before, by getting a little too anxious and overagressive in his eagerness to make something happen whenever he did get the ball. Finally got his second bucket of the half on a runout with 1:30 to go in the half. Turned it over again forcing a drive a few seconds later. Wasn't until the early third that he hit his first jumper of the game, but it loosened him up and the gears began to unstick. Added a flip and started to score, and while there were no extended hot streaks, there were several little bursts. Never did do much else this time than shoot/score however, and just when he had finally started rolling, auffered some sort of head/neck injury at the close of the 3rd and had to sit out the first half of the 4th. Like DeMarcus, never truly regained his rhythm after finlly returning, and it was not until Reke found him for a three with less than a minute to go that he finally had something to say again. Solidly efficient scoring game, but not much impact, and not much other than just some points.
Thomas ( A ) -- ok start, but very strong after half on his way to the big game as he considerably outperformed Tony Parker. Was modestly productive early, but early on was in fact too much IT vs. Parker, and the offense stalled as nobody else was involved. Set up for no fewer than 4 first half threes by Reke on his waying to gunning up 9 for the game, which has to be a career high. Half picked up in strength as it went along, but began to repeatedly get scored over the other way -- ironically not by Parker, but by everyone else. Started the 3rd with a missed three, but began to attack and find repeated seams along the sides of the defense as he was able to get to the rim repeatedly. Was the offense in the early 4th with the Big Three all benched, and notably after the early game defensive struggles, locked into Parker and never gave him a clear lane to the hoop. Notched 10 assists (10th came right at the buzzer) but whether it be looking for his own shot first or just the problems with team construction, his hyperinvolvement seemed to mean Evans and Thronton could never get into a rhythm.
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Bench
Fredette ( C+ ) -- off target chucked three to start. Started the 2nd running off a high screen for a layup then drained a three. Actually caused the Spurs to sub Parker back in to shut him down with quickness, but once they did that was it for Jimmer's night/productivty.
Greene ( C ) -- good defense at the 1st quarter buzzer against Manu, and Manu drained the shot anyway. Hot a key rhree in the mid 4th to cut the lead to one. Added a meaningless three at the closing buzzer, otherwise barely noticed he was out there.
Hayes ( C+ ) -- very quiet night, which can actually be a good thing when it mneans he took zero total shots. Had a strong rebound agaisnt fellow power stub DeJuan Blair, and a good high-low pass to JT in the early 4th.
Williams ( B+ ) -- made some contributions immediately again, scoriong over the top on a drive, and adding a drive and dish to Cisco -- this is clearly not an end of the bench 10 day contract scrub here. He's looking as good as any of our non-Reke SF platoon. Caused enough havoc defending a 3 on 1 that the Spurs turned it over. In in the late third for Reke and immediately fascilitatedt he break. Made a real defensive impact in the early 4th -- kind of a one man gang as holes opened up all over the court, and Williams was freelancing to knock balls away.
Garcia ( D+ ) -- subbed back in fior Reke for the final 3 minutes of the first half. Blocked Manu's last second shot at the halftime buzzer. Not stopping Neal in the early 4th, or anybody for that matter as he got burned for 8pts in 4 min.
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