Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Like going to a funeral and having a wedding break out..
Boogie was out there all alone this time...except he wasn't quite as our shorthanded and untalented bunch came out scrapping and moving the ball, and playing with heart we haven't seen for weeks. The lack of Rudy and DC was still going to bite us in the butt after the Suns simply decided that DeMarcus Cousins was NOT going to beat them and double teamed him even without the ball the entire 4th quarter. And suddenly the bright light shown on the scrubbies, and they wilted, turning every possession into Cuz forcing a shot into or over a wall, or somebody else bricking an open shot as their v-necks began to feel like nooses. And then this happened, and it was all rainbows and unicorns:
P.S. there was nothing pretty about this game. This game was 85-83. Anyone here think our wonderful 115-101 losses have been more fun? There's a lesson there for 3.0, but I doubt they are capable of absorbing it.
Boxscore
Stats: 20min 3pts (1-4, 1-2, 0-2) 5reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Casspi ( C+ ) -- the numbers weren't much, he's struggling to finish now, but I thought Omri was actually a really important guy for us tonight in the early going helping to establish that we were finally going to move the ball. After excellent ball movement on our very first possession, Omri capped it with a nice little drive and shovel pass for a Sessions layup. Then he snatched an aggressive d-board next time down, one of sevral. He was short on an early three and wasn't scoring, but he was roleplayering well, and the Suns forwards were comically inept the other way. Made a nice ball fake and three to start the third for his only score, but slipped into the background after that, missing flips and turning it over. Lost the 4th quarter minutes to Derrick Williams, for no defensible reason at all. Nothing much to see here except a playing style -- some grit, some passing -- that helped set a different tone for us, and one that was very much needed. --Brick
Stats: 29min 9pts (4-10, 0-0, 1-2) 5reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thompson ( B- ) -- was having some offensive effectiveness in the early going after the Suns loaded up the only big guys they had on Cuz, and so JT was flashing into the post to convert little hooks over tweener forwards. And he was working it the other way too, and made several good little hi low passes to Cuz underneath for layups. And with Markieff Morris putting the awe into awful, the Suns weren't punishing us at all for playing a real NBA frontline rather than matching their junkball. Certainly wasn't a perfect outing. He missed more shots than he hit. In the 4th with the whole world piling on Cousins, neither JT or the other scrubbies could do anything to punish that strategy. He had a couple of unnecesary turnovers trying those post passes one too many times, and he showed just how much of an art the taking a charge thing Cuz does really is as JT clumsily tried it himself, moved, got the timing of the falldown wrong, and got called for the foul himself. Nonetheless, on a night when there was very little talent out there around Cuz, JT was one of many roleplayers who chipped in with a little effort and minor contributions. --Brick
Stats: 37min 28pts (13-25, 0-0, 2-4) 12reb 2ast 0stl 2blk 6TO
Cousins ( A- ) -- During the final timeout, I remarked to my wife that I thought Cousins might try to outdo Anthony Davis' game winner. And while he may not have oudone it, I think he at least matched it with an ugly leaning jumper that took a huge bounce before falling in the basket. The game was a mixed bag of ugly and awesome for Cousins tonight. He started out getting some easy looks off good team ball movement and scored 10 points in the first quarter. To my mind, the most important part of the play in the first half was the ball movement. Cousins was assisted on four of his first five buckets; he really didn't have to expend much effort creating shots for himself. Defensively, he was doing a good job keeping Plumlee from getting anything going, but more important, he was locking up the paint, letting Jason Thompson stay home on Markieff Morris. He also got an extended break in the second quarter while the bench traded blows with the Suns. By that time, the good ball movement and disciplined play had subsided, and Cousins started forcing things against Plumlee, getting visibly frustrated with the refs did not call fouls. For the most part, it looked like Plumlee was playing good defense, so Cousins frustrations were probably not justified. All the same, he got a tech, turned the ball over a few times in the second, and did not have the same rhythm as he did in the first. The third quarter was better. The team was moving the ball well and Cousins had a few easy looks at jumpers in the high post, and punishing the Suns when they fronted him by going high-low. Cousins got just a short break in the fourth as the Kings lead was dwindling to single digits. Unfortunately, Cousins wasn't able to help much, as he just couldn't get much going in the fourth, going just one for six with an added turnover until the final minute of the game. With the Kings down two, Cousins spun off Plumlee and got a layin to tie the game. He then took a charge from Markieff Morris to get the ball back with 42 seconds left and hit McLemore on a beautiful cross-court pass only to see the rebound bounce over the backboard. Just a little bit less forcing it in the second and fourth and he would cut down on his turnovers and come out with an A+ game. --Hadlowe
Stats: 38min 13pts (4-12, 3-8, 2-2) 1reb 2ast 0stl 2blk 1TO
McLemore ( A- ) -- Ben had a really good start on both the offensive and defensive end. He hit three of his first five threes and collected thirteen points through the third quarter. He started to flag in the fourth quarter, missing all of his shots (including three from deep, one with 30 seconds left in a tie game) but in the end, I'd rather focus on his D in this game. He made at least one spectacular play - chasing down Dragic on a break and blocking his shot, then sprinting back down court into a big three ball. But while a lot of his defense was very good, the results were better. To wit: In the first quarter, eleven shots were attempted by Ben's man, a man Ben was switched on to, or a man Ben was helping on. The Suns missed all eleven. In my time charting shots I have never seen a quarter like that. It wasn't all Ben's D, as the Suns missed at least a handful of open shots, but for the most part he didn't make it easy on Phoenix. In the end, Ben allowed a total of 9 points on 24 shots. That's downright silly, and it comes up to a 0.188 TS%. By league average, you'd expect maybe 25 points or so on that many shots but Ben only allowed 9. We won by two. His fourth quarter shooting was disappointing, but he gets a very nice grade tonight. --Capt.
Stats: 32min 10pts (4-5, 0-0, 2-5) 7reb 6ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Sessions ( B ) -- I wouldn't have predicted a B for Ramon going into this game, based on how he's played this season, but I had to admit, he played well and under control for the most part. He scored 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting. His first basket was a chippy as he was standing right next to the basket and was the benefactor of the extra pass. His first turnover of the night, of which he had two, came when he drove the lane, left his feet, and kicked the ball back out to the top of the three point line. Unfortunately there was no one there to receive it. After driving and scoring on a finger roll, he replicated the drive to the basket and kick to the three point line. This time Casspi was there, and not to be out done, he threw it away. He played under control with only a couple of wild shots, on which he was fouled. He had 6 assists on the night, and would have had more if anyone could have made a shot. He didn't excessively dribble the ball, and made good entry passes. Defensively he was just OK. He had some difficulty staying in front of Thomas, and gave him a little too much space a couple of times, but he gave the effort, and early on, Thomas was passing more than shooting. Probably the best defensive play of the night on Thomas was made by Stauskas when he stayed with him on his drive to the basket and blocked his shot. Sessions did struggle guarding Thomas in the 4th quarter when Thomas started to go off. But hey, we won, we won. Yi Pi! --Baja
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