Played hard to be sure, but sometimes losing is winning and winning, losing.
Theme tonight: Heroic Last Stands
Salmons ( A- ) -- got off to another slow start in this one, although perhaps on further review it was him just blending into the background with all the other scorers in our starting lineup. Came on with a little surge late in the first quarter going to the hoop, and then with Kevin AWOL and then out for the rest of the game, Salmons had to step up and serve as gun #3. Played the role very well, and the Suns never really did close the lane to him defensively. Did not have much more luck trying to stay in front of Nash than he did in the last game, and truth be told his defense hasn't been what it was early in the year since before the All Star break. But with Kevin gone, John played a pivotal role in this one picking up the slack in points and shots as our #3 scorer.
BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE -- Note that I consider the above an egregious and rather silly bastardization of what really was one of the more remarkable last stands in recorded history (the problem being with last stands that history is often written by the victors, and thus the great majority are never recorded). In any case, all that needs be known is that 300 very brave/stupid men (with a little rarely mentioned help from some allies) really did march out and defy something like a quarter of a million enemies, and after amazingly holding them off for days, were betrayed and fought and died to the last man to give the rest of Greece the time to prepare. Quite possibly the most magnificent and famous last stand of all time -- the archetype that we still talk about 2500 years later.
Artest ( A- ) -- big start to Ron's retirement party basically taking Cisco's spot in the lineup from the last game as our power forward. Muscled his way into the rim, poked balls away on defense, the whole Ron package. Along with Corliss late, helped us actually control our defensive glass just by getting that wide body in there and blocking out. Until Mike's 3pt blitz reached the point of ridiculousness, Ron was actually having the stronger overall game and was maybe the primary reason for our strong start and resulting confidence. Drops down to a "-" in the end for slowly fading away and not being nearly the factor late. In fact about all he did do late in the game was chuck up an airball three pointer.
THE ALAMO -- and of course America's own great last stand (actually, technically they were "Texans" fighting for an independent Texas at the time). 200 now very famous men held fast in a crappy little fort for 13 days against an army at least 20 times that large. And the fort really is crappy too if you've ever visited it. Reminds me fo the forts I used to build when I was a kid out of sofa cushions and old boxes. As last stands have a tendency to do, their deaths inspired their comrades, and when Santa Ana was defeated and captured, it ws to cries of "Remember the Alamo".
Reef ( C ) -- forgotten man out there again as our reluctantly mandated "big" (roughly defined in Kingsland as anybody tall enough that Muss talks to their belly button...or worse). Had no impact whatsoever, but for the most part stayed out of the way. Was replaced and outminuted by the even smaller Corliss for the entire stretch run, and it was during that stretch that we got our only real impact from the center spot for the game.
IWO JIMA -- I chose to use the famous image here, but in this case I am going to take the somewhat unconventional tack and point to the other side -- the Japanese. And not just on Iwo Jima. On Okinawa, on Tarawa, on crappy little rock after crappy little rock. The latter half of the Pacific campaign became basically one long string of last stands for the Japanese as their soldiers, cut off and hopelessly outnumbered, were driven by their bushido code and "Yamato Damashi" (roughly "to the death!") to fight almost to the last man on island after island. It was brutal, and spawned legend for the victors. But for the defeated, it was one heroic if misguided last stand after another for the ideal of death before dishonor.
Martin ( INC ) -- quiet start bordering on passive offensively, but was again getting back to help on the glass. But then got poked in the eye in the early 2nd quarter, and while it did not look like much at the time, he never returned to the game.
BATTLE OF CAMERONE -- and likely one of the lesser known of these..unless you are French. Yes, French. Much maligned as uber wussies anymore, its easy to forget that the French wecre once of the world's great powers with a martial tradition equal to any. And of course perhaps the most famous of the French military services is the Foreign Legion. On April 30, 1863 they got a chance to display that they too could straddle that line between brave and stupid as well as any. In Mexico (yes, Mexico) a detachment of 65 legionnaires on recon duty suddenly found themselves confronted by three battalions of Mexican soldiers numbers somewhere in the range of 2000. They had no fort, no dug in defenses. The Mexicans demanded they surrender. The legionnaires make this list for telling them "bite me/us" and vowing to fight to the death. Which they did btw. They held a small inn for 4 hours until the Mexicans finally stormed through, and the final 5 men, completely out of amunition, amazed the Mexicans by mounting bayonets and charging the Mexican lines. Legend has that the last two soldiers, finally beaten down, agreed to surrender only if they were allowed to keep thier weapons, their flag, and their surviving lieutenant was given medical treatment. The Mexicans were so impressed by their nuttiness that not only did they agree, but in Mexico today there exists a monument to the bravery of these foreign soldiers at the site of the battle.
Theme tonight: Heroic Last Stands
Salmons ( A- ) -- got off to another slow start in this one, although perhaps on further review it was him just blending into the background with all the other scorers in our starting lineup. Came on with a little surge late in the first quarter going to the hoop, and then with Kevin AWOL and then out for the rest of the game, Salmons had to step up and serve as gun #3. Played the role very well, and the Suns never really did close the lane to him defensively. Did not have much more luck trying to stay in front of Nash than he did in the last game, and truth be told his defense hasn't been what it was early in the year since before the All Star break. But with Kevin gone, John played a pivotal role in this one picking up the slack in points and shots as our #3 scorer.
BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE -- Note that I consider the above an egregious and rather silly bastardization of what really was one of the more remarkable last stands in recorded history (the problem being with last stands that history is often written by the victors, and thus the great majority are never recorded). In any case, all that needs be known is that 300 very brave/stupid men (with a little rarely mentioned help from some allies) really did march out and defy something like a quarter of a million enemies, and after amazingly holding them off for days, were betrayed and fought and died to the last man to give the rest of Greece the time to prepare. Quite possibly the most magnificent and famous last stand of all time -- the archetype that we still talk about 2500 years later.
Artest ( A- ) -- big start to Ron's retirement party basically taking Cisco's spot in the lineup from the last game as our power forward. Muscled his way into the rim, poked balls away on defense, the whole Ron package. Along with Corliss late, helped us actually control our defensive glass just by getting that wide body in there and blocking out. Until Mike's 3pt blitz reached the point of ridiculousness, Ron was actually having the stronger overall game and was maybe the primary reason for our strong start and resulting confidence. Drops down to a "-" in the end for slowly fading away and not being nearly the factor late. In fact about all he did do late in the game was chuck up an airball three pointer.
THE ALAMO -- and of course America's own great last stand (actually, technically they were "Texans" fighting for an independent Texas at the time). 200 now very famous men held fast in a crappy little fort for 13 days against an army at least 20 times that large. And the fort really is crappy too if you've ever visited it. Reminds me fo the forts I used to build when I was a kid out of sofa cushions and old boxes. As last stands have a tendency to do, their deaths inspired their comrades, and when Santa Ana was defeated and captured, it ws to cries of "Remember the Alamo".
Reef ( C ) -- forgotten man out there again as our reluctantly mandated "big" (roughly defined in Kingsland as anybody tall enough that Muss talks to their belly button...or worse). Had no impact whatsoever, but for the most part stayed out of the way. Was replaced and outminuted by the even smaller Corliss for the entire stretch run, and it was during that stretch that we got our only real impact from the center spot for the game.
IWO JIMA -- I chose to use the famous image here, but in this case I am going to take the somewhat unconventional tack and point to the other side -- the Japanese. And not just on Iwo Jima. On Okinawa, on Tarawa, on crappy little rock after crappy little rock. The latter half of the Pacific campaign became basically one long string of last stands for the Japanese as their soldiers, cut off and hopelessly outnumbered, were driven by their bushido code and "Yamato Damashi" (roughly "to the death!") to fight almost to the last man on island after island. It was brutal, and spawned legend for the victors. But for the defeated, it was one heroic if misguided last stand after another for the ideal of death before dishonor.
Martin ( INC ) -- quiet start bordering on passive offensively, but was again getting back to help on the glass. But then got poked in the eye in the early 2nd quarter, and while it did not look like much at the time, he never returned to the game.
BATTLE OF CAMERONE -- and likely one of the lesser known of these..unless you are French. Yes, French. Much maligned as uber wussies anymore, its easy to forget that the French wecre once of the world's great powers with a martial tradition equal to any. And of course perhaps the most famous of the French military services is the Foreign Legion. On April 30, 1863 they got a chance to display that they too could straddle that line between brave and stupid as well as any. In Mexico (yes, Mexico) a detachment of 65 legionnaires on recon duty suddenly found themselves confronted by three battalions of Mexican soldiers numbers somewhere in the range of 2000. They had no fort, no dug in defenses. The Mexicans demanded they surrender. The legionnaires make this list for telling them "bite me/us" and vowing to fight to the death. Which they did btw. They held a small inn for 4 hours until the Mexicans finally stormed through, and the final 5 men, completely out of amunition, amazed the Mexicans by mounting bayonets and charging the Mexican lines. Legend has that the last two soldiers, finally beaten down, agreed to surrender only if they were allowed to keep thier weapons, their flag, and their surviving lieutenant was given medical treatment. The Mexicans were so impressed by their nuttiness that not only did they agree, but in Mexico today there exists a monument to the bravery of these foreign soldiers at the site of the battle.
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