Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
There was no good reason why we lost this one, and that's the aggravating part of it. The other team is neither a great team nor played particularly well. We had the game in control and then...we just belw it. And it was us. Phoenix did nothing to inspire our blowing it. We just choked off a winnable game. Missed easy shots, resorting to 1 on 1 ball, rooks playing like rooks, the bench returning to its former impotence, and the coach just losing all control of the rotations. And it was STILL there for the taking. This was just one of those young losses that did not have to be.
Boxscore
Evans ( A- ) -- best showing by Reke since the Miami game. Got off to the slow start offensively and the jumpers just weren't falling (again), but pretty good work as a passer. Came up with a great spinning take overpowering Hill to close the half that was a sign of things to come. Got on a power drive run in the early third just bouncing bodies out of the way and dominating the quarter. Was working hard on defense too, stopping Hill and stoned Frye in the post on a switch as well. Could have easily be a 10ast night if not for our team's continuing can'tshootitis issues. A lot of nice little dropoff passes that guys weren't converting, and kickouts to Thornton and Jimmer for open threes similarly produced nothing. Back in late in the 4th and played well again. Just needed a few teammates to come along, but our second best player of the half might have been Travis Outlaw.
Greene ( C ) -- got the start at PF (of course) in what hopefully was just a matchup decision vs. Channing Frye rather than continuing devolution into the smallest team in the league. Looked good early in his role as designated Frye defender, and when the Suns repeatedly tried to post Frye on him in response theyfound they didn't have an advantage at all as Donte is just as big and strong as that embarrassing weenie of a big man. On the other end of the floor was giving us effort and running the floor, but like much of the team attention seemed to waver after half, began to try to do too much, forced some shots, made a couple of real bad pass attempts for turnovers, and pretty soon found himself done for the night. I suppose the miracle is that Jimmer wasn't his replacement the way the lineups are going.
Cousins ( C ) -- solid start, but his opponents were putting up even bigger numbers as his attention to detail on defense was not there. Not consistently running back in transition. Took a blow to the, er, upper thigh right before leaving for the first time. May have unmanned him as when he returned in the late 2nd seemed lackadaisical and unfocused, falling into that sort of casualy throw up junk mode. Poor shot selection continued to start the third and got into it with Frye of all people after Frye inadvertently clocked him with an elbow. Actually I think the turnng point for DeMarcus was that Frye clocked him with the elbow to the head, and then the refs called DeMarcus for the foul. That really stuck in his craw. So the next time down he whacked Frye with a meaty forearm to the upper chest on the drive for the flagrant foul. Pure retaliation since the refs didn't retaliate for him. I would not even mind so much - consider modern NBA players and fans to be tea sipping weenies who wouldn't last a minute against players from 20 years ago. But the problem was/is that DeMarcus WASN'T tough about it. It distracted him, and if it didn't throw him off his game, at the very least he never displayed any game thereafter (and even if he had the guards in the second half were far too busy chucking to give it to him). If he thugs Frye, and then proceeds to go gorilla on the Suns frontline then good for him. Tear them a new one big guy. He didn't. Had his double double by half, only made 1 shot after half and was considerably invisble. And we needed him not to be.
Thornton ( C ) -- got off to the strong start to this one not having to think and just firing whenever he felt leather hit his hands. Had something like 14 points by the time he went to the bench or the first time and was just scoring over the Suns so quick they had no answer. But unfortunately things were all downhill from there. Picked up back to back fouls late in the half got him up to 3. Unable to convert on several nice passes from Reke in the early third and just began missing everything from everywhere. Problem was that he was still in major gunning mode so he was missing everything from everywhere at the rate of a brick a minute. Finally forced a bad shot that went in in the early 4th, but then got he technical arguing for the foul too. Left the game soon therafter. Just kind of epitomized our struggles and frustration after half.
Thomas ( D ) -- started off ok with a nice finsih high off the glass past Gortat, and good fight inside when he got switched onto Markieff Morris. But didn't get much else accomplished, either as a passer or scorer, and was surprisingly unabel to shake Nash's defense. Poor high degree of difficulty drive to open the 3rd for us as he began to struggle again against an elite PG. Quit lookgin for teammates, started forcing shots and eventually got benched as Smart went looking for other answers. Back in in the 4th and it was no better -- got a selfish take knocked away, missed from 3pt land and inside. Finally got a little running drive to fall inside the 2:00 mark but then followed it with one last fumbled one on one take at the 1:20 mark for the blocked shot and turnvoer. Poor outing, but of more concern was not only the inability to create offense for others, but seemingly his focus on his own shot attempts. Trade deadline is coming up, and while I certainly don't expect us to trade IT, he may need to pick it back up to insure e don't go looking elsewhere for a starting PG.
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Bench
Thompson ( C+ ) -- more of a scorer in with the benchers in the first half and while he wasn't any more coordinated he did ok. Forgotten about for a long time after half as we were apparently SO scared by the likes of Channing Frye and Markieff Morris we were willing to get outrebounded by the Phoenix Suns just as long as they did not to shoot their threes. Finally got back in for the stretch run after smallball had run its course, and made a nice big to pass to Cousins for a dunk. But burned by maybe the thing that had him on the bench in the first place when he was nowhere within sight as Frye finally drained a killer three at the 2:30 mark.
Hayes ( B- ) --nothing inh is early minutes and was replaced pretty quickly by Cousins, but a couple of nice passes again in the 4th, one to a backcutting Thornton in the early 4th, but Marcus blew the layup. Another assist to Cisco out of the 4th quarter timeout. Added a hook too in a generaly solid showing.
Salmons ( C ) -- I hope soembody was with John last night and kept the sleeping pills and sharp objects away, because something truly awful happened to him that I'm sure has never happened before: John Salmons played in a basketball game and did not even get to shoot one time! Oh, the inhumanity! Played 19min too, so its not as if it was just a couple of minutes in garbagetime. Was doing his slow crabwalk PG thing again, but this time out it was more drab than solid, and he was spending a lot of time with his back to the play protecting his dribble. Got extended minutes, some back with the starters, because of Jimmer's defense and IT's struggles. Didn't hurt us, but we felt slow with him out there this time.
Garcia ( C ) -- this of course being Cisco, you knew he couldn't duplicate the big night two nghts in a row, so instead he settled back as a mostly irrelevant reserve who wasn't awful but was no more than a placeholder. Scored on a backcut out of the timeout in the mid-4th for his only bucket, really did nothing else of note in his minutes.
Fredette ( D ) -- minutes were surprisingly limited in the first half given the game he was coming off of, but we seemed determind to overplay IT and rather more scared of the defensive matchups than i thought we'd be. Nash of course. But Telfair? Shannon Brown too athletic I suppose too. In any case, only got a couple of minutes. In in the third and immediately showed what all those defensive concerns were about, as he got burned by Nash and could not stay in front of Telfair either. Missed his only shot attempt the other way on a perfect setup for an open three from the wing. Obviously did not build at all on a couple of pretty strong bench outings.
Outlaw ( B ) -- unusually not awful performance by Outlaw, althouhg had its ups and downs. Started off in classic Outlaw fashion, refusing the assist again, dribbling in, and...actually hit the slightly clsoer jumper. Still garbage, but went in. Great sequence to close the third as he made a perimeter block to stop the Suns last possession of the quarter and raced down the other way to beat the buzzer with the tip follow dunk after Thornton missed the layup. That was it for the offense as he got blocked on a tough shot to being the fourth and then missed the corner three where he actually accepted the catch and shoot. But he had one more excellent defensive play to go as he used his length to squish Markieff Morris in the post before leaving. He contribued at least. If you could just bottle nights like this, like Cisco's last game etc. we could actually have useful roleplayers on this team.
Boxscore
Evans ( A- ) -- best showing by Reke since the Miami game. Got off to the slow start offensively and the jumpers just weren't falling (again), but pretty good work as a passer. Came up with a great spinning take overpowering Hill to close the half that was a sign of things to come. Got on a power drive run in the early third just bouncing bodies out of the way and dominating the quarter. Was working hard on defense too, stopping Hill and stoned Frye in the post on a switch as well. Could have easily be a 10ast night if not for our team's continuing can'tshootitis issues. A lot of nice little dropoff passes that guys weren't converting, and kickouts to Thornton and Jimmer for open threes similarly produced nothing. Back in late in the 4th and played well again. Just needed a few teammates to come along, but our second best player of the half might have been Travis Outlaw.
Greene ( C ) -- got the start at PF (of course) in what hopefully was just a matchup decision vs. Channing Frye rather than continuing devolution into the smallest team in the league. Looked good early in his role as designated Frye defender, and when the Suns repeatedly tried to post Frye on him in response theyfound they didn't have an advantage at all as Donte is just as big and strong as that embarrassing weenie of a big man. On the other end of the floor was giving us effort and running the floor, but like much of the team attention seemed to waver after half, began to try to do too much, forced some shots, made a couple of real bad pass attempts for turnovers, and pretty soon found himself done for the night. I suppose the miracle is that Jimmer wasn't his replacement the way the lineups are going.
Cousins ( C ) -- solid start, but his opponents were putting up even bigger numbers as his attention to detail on defense was not there. Not consistently running back in transition. Took a blow to the, er, upper thigh right before leaving for the first time. May have unmanned him as when he returned in the late 2nd seemed lackadaisical and unfocused, falling into that sort of casualy throw up junk mode. Poor shot selection continued to start the third and got into it with Frye of all people after Frye inadvertently clocked him with an elbow. Actually I think the turnng point for DeMarcus was that Frye clocked him with the elbow to the head, and then the refs called DeMarcus for the foul. That really stuck in his craw. So the next time down he whacked Frye with a meaty forearm to the upper chest on the drive for the flagrant foul. Pure retaliation since the refs didn't retaliate for him. I would not even mind so much - consider modern NBA players and fans to be tea sipping weenies who wouldn't last a minute against players from 20 years ago. But the problem was/is that DeMarcus WASN'T tough about it. It distracted him, and if it didn't throw him off his game, at the very least he never displayed any game thereafter (and even if he had the guards in the second half were far too busy chucking to give it to him). If he thugs Frye, and then proceeds to go gorilla on the Suns frontline then good for him. Tear them a new one big guy. He didn't. Had his double double by half, only made 1 shot after half and was considerably invisble. And we needed him not to be.
Thornton ( C ) -- got off to the strong start to this one not having to think and just firing whenever he felt leather hit his hands. Had something like 14 points by the time he went to the bench or the first time and was just scoring over the Suns so quick they had no answer. But unfortunately things were all downhill from there. Picked up back to back fouls late in the half got him up to 3. Unable to convert on several nice passes from Reke in the early third and just began missing everything from everywhere. Problem was that he was still in major gunning mode so he was missing everything from everywhere at the rate of a brick a minute. Finally forced a bad shot that went in in the early 4th, but then got he technical arguing for the foul too. Left the game soon therafter. Just kind of epitomized our struggles and frustration after half.
Thomas ( D ) -- started off ok with a nice finsih high off the glass past Gortat, and good fight inside when he got switched onto Markieff Morris. But didn't get much else accomplished, either as a passer or scorer, and was surprisingly unabel to shake Nash's defense. Poor high degree of difficulty drive to open the 3rd for us as he began to struggle again against an elite PG. Quit lookgin for teammates, started forcing shots and eventually got benched as Smart went looking for other answers. Back in in the 4th and it was no better -- got a selfish take knocked away, missed from 3pt land and inside. Finally got a little running drive to fall inside the 2:00 mark but then followed it with one last fumbled one on one take at the 1:20 mark for the blocked shot and turnvoer. Poor outing, but of more concern was not only the inability to create offense for others, but seemingly his focus on his own shot attempts. Trade deadline is coming up, and while I certainly don't expect us to trade IT, he may need to pick it back up to insure e don't go looking elsewhere for a starting PG.
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Bench
Thompson ( C+ ) -- more of a scorer in with the benchers in the first half and while he wasn't any more coordinated he did ok. Forgotten about for a long time after half as we were apparently SO scared by the likes of Channing Frye and Markieff Morris we were willing to get outrebounded by the Phoenix Suns just as long as they did not to shoot their threes. Finally got back in for the stretch run after smallball had run its course, and made a nice big to pass to Cousins for a dunk. But burned by maybe the thing that had him on the bench in the first place when he was nowhere within sight as Frye finally drained a killer three at the 2:30 mark.
Hayes ( B- ) --nothing inh is early minutes and was replaced pretty quickly by Cousins, but a couple of nice passes again in the 4th, one to a backcutting Thornton in the early 4th, but Marcus blew the layup. Another assist to Cisco out of the 4th quarter timeout. Added a hook too in a generaly solid showing.
Salmons ( C ) -- I hope soembody was with John last night and kept the sleeping pills and sharp objects away, because something truly awful happened to him that I'm sure has never happened before: John Salmons played in a basketball game and did not even get to shoot one time! Oh, the inhumanity! Played 19min too, so its not as if it was just a couple of minutes in garbagetime. Was doing his slow crabwalk PG thing again, but this time out it was more drab than solid, and he was spending a lot of time with his back to the play protecting his dribble. Got extended minutes, some back with the starters, because of Jimmer's defense and IT's struggles. Didn't hurt us, but we felt slow with him out there this time.
Garcia ( C ) -- this of course being Cisco, you knew he couldn't duplicate the big night two nghts in a row, so instead he settled back as a mostly irrelevant reserve who wasn't awful but was no more than a placeholder. Scored on a backcut out of the timeout in the mid-4th for his only bucket, really did nothing else of note in his minutes.
Fredette ( D ) -- minutes were surprisingly limited in the first half given the game he was coming off of, but we seemed determind to overplay IT and rather more scared of the defensive matchups than i thought we'd be. Nash of course. But Telfair? Shannon Brown too athletic I suppose too. In any case, only got a couple of minutes. In in the third and immediately showed what all those defensive concerns were about, as he got burned by Nash and could not stay in front of Telfair either. Missed his only shot attempt the other way on a perfect setup for an open three from the wing. Obviously did not build at all on a couple of pretty strong bench outings.
Outlaw ( B ) -- unusually not awful performance by Outlaw, althouhg had its ups and downs. Started off in classic Outlaw fashion, refusing the assist again, dribbling in, and...actually hit the slightly clsoer jumper. Still garbage, but went in. Great sequence to close the third as he made a perimeter block to stop the Suns last possession of the quarter and raced down the other way to beat the buzzer with the tip follow dunk after Thornton missed the layup. That was it for the offense as he got blocked on a tough shot to being the fourth and then missed the corner three where he actually accepted the catch and shoot. But he had one more excellent defensive play to go as he used his length to squish Markieff Morris in the post before leaving. He contribued at least. If you could just bottle nights like this, like Cisco's last game etc. we could actually have useful roleplayers on this team.
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