Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( B+ ) -- by far the closest thing we've seen to the real Peja so far this year. Picked a great time to come alive -- both looking for and making his shots. Q Richardson was also rendered ineffective at the other end of the floor, although to be honest he really didn't ever seem to be in the game. Unfortunately it was also the old Peja on the boards too -- we just have to get more than 4 rebs from our 6'9" SF against a small-ball team -- even Nash went over him once to get the ball. Got quiet late -- most of his damage in the first three quarters.
Webb ( A ) -- a grade for the style of his contributions as much as the raw numbers. For a night at least, Kings fans got a taste of what its like to have Tim Duncan on their team -- the Suns made the mistake of trying to guard Webb with Shawn Marion, and he just destroyed the Suns in the post all night long. By the 3rd quarter he had distorted the entire Suns defense the way the great post players do, and they were doubling him off of Bibby -- bad idea. Started out the game playing very flatfooted -- playing the old man post game and even channeling Moses Malone on one possession (doing the miss the flatfooted layup off the backboard and grab your own miss thing). But his confidence seemed to swell as the game went along, he started moving better, elevating more, and mixing up the inside/outside game. Was also our sole and only rebounder, even though he was hardly dominant.
Miller ( C+ ) -- not his best effort. Kind of like his effrots agisnt Dallas last year (who these Suns resemble). Looked a little like a fish out of water. Wasn't sure when to shoot and when to pass, and got blocked on a number of drives. More troublingly, was ineffective on the baords despite having a significant size advantage in there. Not a terrible effort, but an unusually shaky one. Made a huge shot to stretch the lead back to 3 in the final minute and give us the winning margin.
Christie ( B+ ) -- gave us a big boost well beyond the numbers. Really been missing his energy and passing from the OG spot. Helped set the tone from the beginning, and seemed to infuse the team wth confidence. Choked a CRUCIAL FT with 13 seconds to go to open the door for Phoenix. Led to a wild sequence on the other side of the court with the Suns blowing several good looks.
Bibby ( B ) -- very good game from Mike on the offensive side of the ball. Benefitted immensely from the space opened up by Webb's post game. Also hit a big clutch shot in the last minute to hold off the Suns after a series of misses by Webb, Peja, Miller. Grade is dropped though because his counterpart lit us up and damn near beat us in the end. Nash can be impossible to contain when he's on, but he was rarely challenged tonight.
Bobby ( B ) -- started slow in the 2nd quarter -- at one point Phoenix was outscoring our bench 18-0! But he began to settle in as the quarter went along, and when he returned in the second half it was with some of the traditional Bobby hustle and swagger.
Songaila ( B ) -- looked overmatched in there against Stoudemire and Steven Hunter at times and missed several chippee shots he should have made. But he also never stopped hustling, and saved our butts on a number of occasions in the 4th quarter when he repeatedly came up with loose balls off of missed shots and bad Kings passes.
Barnes ( B- ) -- short stint at a critical time of the game in the 3rd/4th quarter. Came in threatening to be too wild for a tight and important game, but settled down and provided us with a steady reserve to get Peja a blow.
Adelman ( A- ) -- after a week of reports the sky was falling, he had the team ready to play like the Kings of old tonight. And some of his in game coahcing played a major part of that -- he kept the rotations very short -- almost playoff like, and relied almost exclusively on the vets who have defined this team for half a decade. Also from the very start of the game the gameplan was to attack Marion in the psot every time down the floor -- to punsih the Suns for playing small ball. Worked beautifuuly, and really defined the game. Gave him a "-" tick because I did not like the team we had on the floor for the second to last Suns possession -- we wanted to stop the three (we were up by three with 25secs to go) and so rick went smallball with Miller and Peja as a PF. Except that we were getting crushed on the baords all night, neither Peja nor Miller were rebounding worth a damn, and sure enough we ended up giving up the offensive rebound to the hyper-athletic Sun frontline setting up a nailbiter finish. Translated -- should have had Webb in the game there.
Webb ( A ) -- a grade for the style of his contributions as much as the raw numbers. For a night at least, Kings fans got a taste of what its like to have Tim Duncan on their team -- the Suns made the mistake of trying to guard Webb with Shawn Marion, and he just destroyed the Suns in the post all night long. By the 3rd quarter he had distorted the entire Suns defense the way the great post players do, and they were doubling him off of Bibby -- bad idea. Started out the game playing very flatfooted -- playing the old man post game and even channeling Moses Malone on one possession (doing the miss the flatfooted layup off the backboard and grab your own miss thing). But his confidence seemed to swell as the game went along, he started moving better, elevating more, and mixing up the inside/outside game. Was also our sole and only rebounder, even though he was hardly dominant.
Miller ( C+ ) -- not his best effort. Kind of like his effrots agisnt Dallas last year (who these Suns resemble). Looked a little like a fish out of water. Wasn't sure when to shoot and when to pass, and got blocked on a number of drives. More troublingly, was ineffective on the baords despite having a significant size advantage in there. Not a terrible effort, but an unusually shaky one. Made a huge shot to stretch the lead back to 3 in the final minute and give us the winning margin.
Christie ( B+ ) -- gave us a big boost well beyond the numbers. Really been missing his energy and passing from the OG spot. Helped set the tone from the beginning, and seemed to infuse the team wth confidence. Choked a CRUCIAL FT with 13 seconds to go to open the door for Phoenix. Led to a wild sequence on the other side of the court with the Suns blowing several good looks.
Bibby ( B ) -- very good game from Mike on the offensive side of the ball. Benefitted immensely from the space opened up by Webb's post game. Also hit a big clutch shot in the last minute to hold off the Suns after a series of misses by Webb, Peja, Miller. Grade is dropped though because his counterpart lit us up and damn near beat us in the end. Nash can be impossible to contain when he's on, but he was rarely challenged tonight.
Bobby ( B ) -- started slow in the 2nd quarter -- at one point Phoenix was outscoring our bench 18-0! But he began to settle in as the quarter went along, and when he returned in the second half it was with some of the traditional Bobby hustle and swagger.
Songaila ( B ) -- looked overmatched in there against Stoudemire and Steven Hunter at times and missed several chippee shots he should have made. But he also never stopped hustling, and saved our butts on a number of occasions in the 4th quarter when he repeatedly came up with loose balls off of missed shots and bad Kings passes.
Barnes ( B- ) -- short stint at a critical time of the game in the 3rd/4th quarter. Came in threatening to be too wild for a tight and important game, but settled down and provided us with a steady reserve to get Peja a blow.
Adelman ( A- ) -- after a week of reports the sky was falling, he had the team ready to play like the Kings of old tonight. And some of his in game coahcing played a major part of that -- he kept the rotations very short -- almost playoff like, and relied almost exclusively on the vets who have defined this team for half a decade. Also from the very start of the game the gameplan was to attack Marion in the psot every time down the floor -- to punsih the Suns for playing small ball. Worked beautifuuly, and really defined the game. Gave him a "-" tick because I did not like the team we had on the floor for the second to last Suns possession -- we wanted to stop the three (we were up by three with 25secs to go) and so rick went smallball with Miller and Peja as a PF. Except that we were getting crushed on the baords all night, neither Peja nor Miller were rebounding worth a damn, and sure enough we ended up giving up the offensive rebound to the hyper-athletic Sun frontline setting up a nailbiter finish. Translated -- should have had Webb in the game there.
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