Garcia ( A ) -- this was in the Bs, then up to an A-, and then finally the numbers demanded that it become a flat A. The hesitation just being that he collected a big chunk of his numbers in the extended garbagetime of the final 18 minutes of this one, and if he was an A, then KT and Kevin in particular might be A+s. Before the late push had been one of the weaker starters (everything is relative), but was still having a good support game. Made a few of his silly errors as usual, but this time swamped it with relatively in control aggression. Hit a mixture of shots from inside and out, got to the wide open rim a lot, and late in the game especially began racking up rebounds and follows. End result = a career night. Still had some spotty problems with his outside stroke (and hence a career night despite sub .500 shooting), still made errors, but 21pts 10rebs is absolutely nothing to sneeze at no matter when the numbers were racked up.
Thomas ( A ) -- got off to a shaky start as we were for some reason running a silly KT-centric offense at the beginning of the game -- led him to a 1-3 or 1-4 start with a turnover. And that was about the last thing he did wrong. Settled down, quit forcing, and worked his way into a nice first half dominating the Suns on the glass and alternating with Brad running the offense from the high post elbow. Then, after establishing the "other things" he began to find all kinds of openings in the porous (that's being kind) Suns defense and just took it to the rim again and again. Almost no jumpers. And really dominated for a long stretch in the third on the glass and inside. Had a feeling that this was the one game and team KT could really excel in/against -- against a team with no size who likes to play it fast paced and loose. And he did not disappoint. Obvious best game of the year for him, and maybe even of his career as a King (I remember him scoring 30+ for us last year, but also recall thinking he was being somewhat selfish in that one). Did all the little things for us (obviously did not have to contend with anyone inside) and THEN took easy smart shots at the rim. Actually briefly considered adding the "+" to this one, but the Suns were just making it too easy tonight.
Miller ( A ) -- got off to an ok start, made some nice passes to Martin on his cuts, and has been showing some ability to use rudimentary post moves to beat smaller defenders (the only type the Suns have) in recent weeks. But really blew up in the 2nd half against a variety of small ball garbage the Suns ran at him. Scored and boarded over PGs, OGs, SFs. Oh, and Pat Burke.
Also showed uncommon hustle on the glass in that half, blocked a few people out, competed for the night. Still was a weak point defensively, but one of the more remarkable developments of the night was that this time out Brad's teammates were doing what he should have been all year -- fouling people, grabbing them before they got shots off, defending the rim. And so the lane was closed even without much extra there from Brad himself, and his defensive woes were a nonfactor for the night. And on the other end a lot of guys had big numbers for us tonight, and they should owe Brad a thank you after the game for repeatedly hitting them on cuts to the hoop.
Martin ( A ) -- Just had a ridiculous night to give us a 4th A in the starting lineup. Got off to a great start, as he was picked up by Steve Nash and got a variety of open looks. And of course the free flowing up and down no defense game plays right to his strengths. Got to the hoop repeatedly for alley hoops and easy layins as the Suns seemed mystified by the simplest of cuts to the hoop and rotated as poorly as we have done this year. But the thing that separated this from the simple run at the rim game from last time out was that Kevin also had a ridiculously efficient perimeter shooting night. 4-5 from 3pt land? This was a kid who 12 months ago had an uglier jump shot than I do. Yet tonight it was no hesitation no matter which part of the arc he was beyond, and he has sped up that terrible windup thing he did enough now that he can get that shot off even with people in the general area to contest. Was not as big on the boards as last time out, but still chipped in a respectable 5. And did all of this with almost none of the stupid errors that plagued him as recently as a month ago, and none of the lost passivity that was plaguing him just a couple of games ago on the road trip. Very impressive outing. But next up comes the real test: Kevin, meet Kobe.
Bibby ( B ) -- was obviously stiff out there to begin this one, but there was nothing wrong with his shooting stroke early. The Suns weren't even staying within shouting distance, and so Mike said thank you very much and just drained them. But it was more than that as Mike seemed to loosen up as the game went along (and no doubt as he realized how easy it was going to be to score ), and began to play a nice all around game. Made some really rare (for him) defensive effort plays defending the fast break. Helped get the ball to the kids for open shots. And despite any physical limitations, was able to repeatedly break down the Suns defense with his little hippity-hop hesitation dribbles. Did start to miss, and made some loose plays along the way. But even though this was not a 42 point outing for him, and despite earning the lowest grade of the ridiculous starters, it was still a good solid outing from Mike gutting it out, helping the team in various ways (even defensively ) and then staying out of the way of the rest of the show.
Hart ( C+ ) -- got a good long run in the second quarter as one of only two benchers to get rotation minutes. And best thing that can be said is that he played defense and stayed out of the way as we built the lead while he was on the floor. Not because he was on the floor. Not despite him being on the floor. Just while he was on the floor. Got back into it after it was largely decided and obviously gave himself a green light. Hit a few, missed more. But the Suns were playing like dogs tonight and it just didn't matter who we put out there or how they were playing.
Williamson ( B- ) -- did not stand out, but made some solid contributions down the stretch of the 2nd quarter to help us keep rolling. Grabbed a few boards, got some points on the line. Struggled a bit after returning in garabetime. Turned it over, missed shots. Picked up an offensive foul for an illegal screen.
Skinner ( C+ ) -- not much after finally entering the game late in garbagetime (actually roughly the final 30 minutes of this game might be classified as garbagetime, so let's be more specific: he played the last 6-7 min of the game).
Price ( INC ) -- knocked in a three in garbagetime. Actually played as many minutes as Skinner, and enough normally for me to assign a grade, but he was completely invisible until he hit his shot with about a minute to go, and I'd sort of lost interest in a 30pt blowout. So incomplete seemed most fair.
Sampson ( INC ) -- garbagetime. One minute of garbagetime in a 30pt game. Rick...what could Jamaal POSSIBLY have done to let the Suns back in it if you had just played him the last 5-6 minutes? I mean really -- if you can't touch the floor in this one...
Adelman ( A+ ) -- Now THIS was a good win. Great win actually. And so this grade follows right along with the team grade. Did Rick REALLY do anything so amazing out there that HE should get an A+? No, of course not. No more than he does something so terrible in one of our ugly flameouts that he deserves an F. But one way or the other, we were ready this time out. Not only ready, but playing the game the way Rick envisions it. Unselfish, ball flowing. And just for an added twist came up with mysteriously impressive efforts on the defensive glass and defense. We played like we cared and got it. For a night at least. Now of course we were ably assisted by the Suns, who should just be embarrassed by their effort tonight. This was their own Indiana game, or maybe since it was on the road, like our season opening embarrassment in Oklahoma City. You could see how flat they were from the very beginning -- maybe taking us lightly. And because of it I was thinking if they just kept on sleepwalking we might have a chance to hang around and make a run at it late. But what I did not anticiapte was the ferocity with which we just stepped forward and took the game from them. You want to be lazy, play no defense, settle for jumpers, have no spark? Well here we come. Thing of beauty (when you're on the good side of it). In any case you could see this one was over early in the 3rd as the Suns were unable to even summon a simple pride response to make a run at us. The only teams we've beaten in the last month have been bad teams on bad streaks. But tonight we took it to a good one. A good one having a bad night. But that's the NBA. Best win in a long time. In fact the only downside to this one that I can think of is that it virtually guarantees that we're going to get blown out by the Lakers in a couple of days, because that's just what this team does. Up, down, and all around. This, however, was most definitely the "up".
Thomas ( A ) -- got off to a shaky start as we were for some reason running a silly KT-centric offense at the beginning of the game -- led him to a 1-3 or 1-4 start with a turnover. And that was about the last thing he did wrong. Settled down, quit forcing, and worked his way into a nice first half dominating the Suns on the glass and alternating with Brad running the offense from the high post elbow. Then, after establishing the "other things" he began to find all kinds of openings in the porous (that's being kind) Suns defense and just took it to the rim again and again. Almost no jumpers. And really dominated for a long stretch in the third on the glass and inside. Had a feeling that this was the one game and team KT could really excel in/against -- against a team with no size who likes to play it fast paced and loose. And he did not disappoint. Obvious best game of the year for him, and maybe even of his career as a King (I remember him scoring 30+ for us last year, but also recall thinking he was being somewhat selfish in that one). Did all the little things for us (obviously did not have to contend with anyone inside) and THEN took easy smart shots at the rim. Actually briefly considered adding the "+" to this one, but the Suns were just making it too easy tonight.
Miller ( A ) -- got off to an ok start, made some nice passes to Martin on his cuts, and has been showing some ability to use rudimentary post moves to beat smaller defenders (the only type the Suns have) in recent weeks. But really blew up in the 2nd half against a variety of small ball garbage the Suns ran at him. Scored and boarded over PGs, OGs, SFs. Oh, and Pat Burke.
Also showed uncommon hustle on the glass in that half, blocked a few people out, competed for the night. Still was a weak point defensively, but one of the more remarkable developments of the night was that this time out Brad's teammates were doing what he should have been all year -- fouling people, grabbing them before they got shots off, defending the rim. And so the lane was closed even without much extra there from Brad himself, and his defensive woes were a nonfactor for the night. And on the other end a lot of guys had big numbers for us tonight, and they should owe Brad a thank you after the game for repeatedly hitting them on cuts to the hoop. Martin ( A ) -- Just had a ridiculous night to give us a 4th A in the starting lineup.
Got off to a great start, as he was picked up by Steve Nash and got a variety of open looks. And of course the free flowing up and down no defense game plays right to his strengths. Got to the hoop repeatedly for alley hoops and easy layins as the Suns seemed mystified by the simplest of cuts to the hoop and rotated as poorly as we have done this year. But the thing that separated this from the simple run at the rim game from last time out was that Kevin also had a ridiculously efficient perimeter shooting night. 4-5 from 3pt land? This was a kid who 12 months ago had an uglier jump shot than I do. Yet tonight it was no hesitation no matter which part of the arc he was beyond, and he has sped up that terrible windup thing he did enough now that he can get that shot off even with people in the general area to contest. Was not as big on the boards as last time out, but still chipped in a respectable 5. And did all of this with almost none of the stupid errors that plagued him as recently as a month ago, and none of the lost passivity that was plaguing him just a couple of games ago on the road trip. Very impressive outing. But next up comes the real test: Kevin, meet Kobe. Bibby ( B ) -- was obviously stiff out there to begin this one, but there was nothing wrong with his shooting stroke early. The Suns weren't even staying within shouting distance, and so Mike said thank you very much and just drained them. But it was more than that as Mike seemed to loosen up as the game went along (and no doubt as he realized how easy it was going to be to score
), and began to play a nice all around game. Made some really rare (for him) defensive effort plays defending the fast break. Helped get the ball to the kids for open shots. And despite any physical limitations, was able to repeatedly break down the Suns defense with his little hippity-hop hesitation dribbles. Did start to miss, and made some loose plays along the way. But even though this was not a 42 point outing for him, and despite earning the lowest grade of the ridiculous starters, it was still a good solid outing from Mike gutting it out, helping the team in various ways (even defensively ) and then staying out of the way of the rest of the show.Hart ( C+ ) -- got a good long run in the second quarter as one of only two benchers to get rotation minutes. And best thing that can be said is that he played defense and stayed out of the way as we built the lead while he was on the floor. Not because he was on the floor. Not despite him being on the floor. Just while he was on the floor. Got back into it after it was largely decided and obviously gave himself a green light. Hit a few, missed more. But the Suns were playing like dogs tonight and it just didn't matter who we put out there or how they were playing.
Williamson ( B- ) -- did not stand out, but made some solid contributions down the stretch of the 2nd quarter to help us keep rolling. Grabbed a few boards, got some points on the line. Struggled a bit after returning in garabetime. Turned it over, missed shots. Picked up an offensive foul for an illegal screen.
Skinner ( C+ ) -- not much after finally entering the game late in garbagetime (actually roughly the final 30 minutes of this game might be classified as garbagetime, so let's be more specific: he played the last 6-7 min of the game).
Price ( INC ) -- knocked in a three in garbagetime. Actually played as many minutes as Skinner, and enough normally for me to assign a grade, but he was completely invisible until he hit his shot with about a minute to go, and I'd sort of lost interest in a 30pt blowout. So incomplete seemed most fair.
Sampson ( INC ) -- garbagetime. One minute of garbagetime in a 30pt game. Rick...what could Jamaal POSSIBLY have done to let the Suns back in it if you had just played him the last 5-6 minutes? I mean really -- if you can't touch the floor in this one...
Adelman ( A+ ) -- Now THIS was a good win. Great win actually. And so this grade follows right along with the team grade. Did Rick REALLY do anything so amazing out there that HE should get an A+? No, of course not. No more than he does something so terrible in one of our ugly flameouts that he deserves an F. But one way or the other, we were ready this time out. Not only ready, but playing the game the way Rick envisions it. Unselfish, ball flowing. And just for an added twist came up with mysteriously impressive efforts on the defensive glass and defense. We played like we cared and got it. For a night at least. Now of course we were ably assisted by the Suns, who should just be embarrassed by their effort tonight. This was their own Indiana game, or maybe since it was on the road, like our season opening embarrassment in Oklahoma City. You could see how flat they were from the very beginning -- maybe taking us lightly. And because of it I was thinking if they just kept on sleepwalking we might have a chance to hang around and make a run at it late. But what I did not anticiapte was the ferocity with which we just stepped forward and took the game from them. You want to be lazy, play no defense, settle for jumpers, have no spark? Well here we come. Thing of beauty (when you're on the good side of it). In any case you could see this one was over early in the 3rd as the Suns were unable to even summon a simple pride response to make a run at us. The only teams we've beaten in the last month have been bad teams on bad streaks. But tonight we took it to a good one. A good one having a bad night. But that's the NBA. Best win in a long time. In fact the only downside to this one that I can think of is that it virtually guarantees that we're going to get blown out by the Lakers in a couple of days, because that's just what this team does. Up, down, and all around. This, however, was most definitely the "up".
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