Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Mama said there would be days like this...but she didn't say anything about how much it would suck on opening night.
Mason (D ) -- very little as a starter. Got his only hoop courtesy of a nice Kevin setup, while having no effect on Durant at all on defense. And the outside shot looked as awkward as ever.
Thompson (B-) -- started off the game active following up Kings misses, but was not defending well against Green, and once again quickly got into foul trouble. Picked up his third immediately after returning in the second quarter, and played all of 7 minutes in the first half. Began to dominate in the 4th against the Thunder scrubs, forcing them to eventually reinsert their main guys to ice it. The late activity was nice, but can't bump the grade any further for repeatign the foul trouble error he made all last season and missing the bulk of the game while it was still in question.
May ( C- ) -- one nice early take into Krstic's chest, but otherwise not much in the early going, and wasn't doing enough defensive work early against Krstic, allowing him deep position. And once Krstic caught the ball he had a 4 inch height advanatge and was having little problem scoring. Was active in his second stint in the late second quarter, and seemed to be engaged in a runnng conversation with Casspi taking and giving "advice". Got pulled after some shoddy defense to start the third quarter, and never returned. And get this, managed to grab a grand total of zero rebounds in 18 minutes of action..against noted board masher Nenad Krstic.
Martin (A-) -- started to do the foul drawing thing as the first quarter wore on, and was all we had going for much of the first half. Prolific scoring in the early second actually forced an OKC timeout to reset. Had a quickness edge on both Sefalosha and Harden and loves that situation. Was beating all his defenders with quickness and I was wondering how long it would take the Thunder to make the obvious switch of putting Westbrook onto him, while swappng somebody else onto Sergio as a non-scorer. They finally did in the final minute of the 2nd quarter, and the result was instantly a miss and then a forced pass. Why do I know about this but opposing coaches do not? Maybe I should hire out as a scout. On the other side Thefalosha is not an offensive player, and to his credit Kevin didn't make him into one, although I did catch him givng up on a rotation or two. May have done the get tired thing as he had 24 of those points in the first half and did little after the break then throw himself around looking for foul calls that weren't forthcoming. Set up several people with passes in the face of double team pressure. Was kind of the lone ray of light for the Kings until Omri came on in the second half. As an aside, had not checked the box when I assigned this grade, and did not realize the 2nd half shooting woes had reached 5-19 proportions -- a good argument could be made for a B+ on that basis but I'll stick with initial impressions.
Evans (D) -- NOT the start Reke wanted to get off to in the NBA. Started off the game looking semi-PGy, not creating many great looks, but moving the ball willingly up top. Added in a really nifty postup of Westbrook, but was struggling with efficiency. Was again penetrating but not finishing, missing his jumpers, and as he started to get frustrated, got a little sloppy, getting called for palming, an offensive foul, just clearly out of rhythm. Had a few flashes of niftiness here and there, played some good defense on the break but also was getting caught on picks up top vs. Westbrook. Just a poor game all around, and in the NBA rest for the wicked comes in the form of Chris Paul up next. Have fun kid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hawes (C-) -- came in and was immediately worked over by Krstic, but did deflect a shot by Etan Thomas to show some defensive backbone. Quickly went back to softish fluttering, throwing up a variety of half hearted junk, fadeways, a bricked three, just here and there stuff. Was back in for good a couple of minutes into the third after Westphal had seen enough of May. Eventually showed a little life in the late third, blocking a shot, getting a follow, and generally not playing like a weenie. Finally dropped a good post move laste in the 4th as well. But there was no sustained impact, and a lot of soft defense along the way to an impactless 8pt 6rebs in 35 minutes.
Casspi ( B+ ) -- got off to a slow start in his debut game, but got stronger and stronger as the game went along and had a big second half. Looked good on the catch and shoot with that jumper and had several strong takes to start the 4th quarter. Most of his contributions were offensive, and made several defensive mistakes. But overall it was a confident looking effort just taking shots wihtout hesitation, and mixing in drives when challenged.
Nocioni ( C ) -- had a couple of nice takes after coming in, but that was largely the extent of his effectiveness. did scrap for some boards, but got worked in the post by fellow tweener forward Green and I think he was reaping the nonbenefits of years of flopping on some calls, getting no benefit of the doubt from the refs. Had no impact on the game.
Rodriguez ( C ) -- came in ahead of Beno as the backup PG and very much did his best imitation of Sergio Rodriguez, making a few nice passes, forcing one he should nto have, and struggling on defense.
Brockman (INC) -- brought in in the middle second quarter in some desperation as Westphal tried to find somebody to get our rebounding under control. OKC immediately pummeled inside on the glass for a followup but things improved from there, with Peaches getting his first NBA hoop on a flying break and helping key an 8-0 run with his energy. Don't think he ever returned after that stint.
Greene ( INC ) -- was in and out of a couple of short stints where he did not do much, but did have the honor of getting to guard, and get quickly scored on, by Kevin Durant.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Westphal ( ) -- not how Coach wanted his return to the NBA to go either, but at least he did not throw a chair I suppose. Whatever offense he has installed, we didn't see it. And whatever focus on rebounding and defense he may have made in the preseason, we saw even less of it. Went deep in his bench early looking for some answers, but didn't find anything until it was to late to matter. Like some of our stubborn coaches in the past, insisted on playing our starters until the final minute of the game...but the difference is that our starters nowadays are also our kids, so the people who need the minutes were still for the most poart getting them (having Kevin in there instead of Donte aside). Still not feeling his decision to start May over Hawes, and after tonight, may not be able to give him the benefit of the doubt on starting Maosn over Casspi either. let's thrwo the best, and youngest, we've got out there and see what happens.
Mason (D ) -- very little as a starter. Got his only hoop courtesy of a nice Kevin setup, while having no effect on Durant at all on defense. And the outside shot looked as awkward as ever.
Thompson (B-) -- started off the game active following up Kings misses, but was not defending well against Green, and once again quickly got into foul trouble. Picked up his third immediately after returning in the second quarter, and played all of 7 minutes in the first half. Began to dominate in the 4th against the Thunder scrubs, forcing them to eventually reinsert their main guys to ice it. The late activity was nice, but can't bump the grade any further for repeatign the foul trouble error he made all last season and missing the bulk of the game while it was still in question.
May ( C- ) -- one nice early take into Krstic's chest, but otherwise not much in the early going, and wasn't doing enough defensive work early against Krstic, allowing him deep position. And once Krstic caught the ball he had a 4 inch height advanatge and was having little problem scoring. Was active in his second stint in the late second quarter, and seemed to be engaged in a runnng conversation with Casspi taking and giving "advice". Got pulled after some shoddy defense to start the third quarter, and never returned. And get this, managed to grab a grand total of zero rebounds in 18 minutes of action..against noted board masher Nenad Krstic.
Martin (A-) -- started to do the foul drawing thing as the first quarter wore on, and was all we had going for much of the first half. Prolific scoring in the early second actually forced an OKC timeout to reset. Had a quickness edge on both Sefalosha and Harden and loves that situation. Was beating all his defenders with quickness and I was wondering how long it would take the Thunder to make the obvious switch of putting Westbrook onto him, while swappng somebody else onto Sergio as a non-scorer. They finally did in the final minute of the 2nd quarter, and the result was instantly a miss and then a forced pass. Why do I know about this but opposing coaches do not? Maybe I should hire out as a scout. On the other side Thefalosha is not an offensive player, and to his credit Kevin didn't make him into one, although I did catch him givng up on a rotation or two. May have done the get tired thing as he had 24 of those points in the first half and did little after the break then throw himself around looking for foul calls that weren't forthcoming. Set up several people with passes in the face of double team pressure. Was kind of the lone ray of light for the Kings until Omri came on in the second half. As an aside, had not checked the box when I assigned this grade, and did not realize the 2nd half shooting woes had reached 5-19 proportions -- a good argument could be made for a B+ on that basis but I'll stick with initial impressions.
Evans (D) -- NOT the start Reke wanted to get off to in the NBA. Started off the game looking semi-PGy, not creating many great looks, but moving the ball willingly up top. Added in a really nifty postup of Westbrook, but was struggling with efficiency. Was again penetrating but not finishing, missing his jumpers, and as he started to get frustrated, got a little sloppy, getting called for palming, an offensive foul, just clearly out of rhythm. Had a few flashes of niftiness here and there, played some good defense on the break but also was getting caught on picks up top vs. Westbrook. Just a poor game all around, and in the NBA rest for the wicked comes in the form of Chris Paul up next. Have fun kid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hawes (C-) -- came in and was immediately worked over by Krstic, but did deflect a shot by Etan Thomas to show some defensive backbone. Quickly went back to softish fluttering, throwing up a variety of half hearted junk, fadeways, a bricked three, just here and there stuff. Was back in for good a couple of minutes into the third after Westphal had seen enough of May. Eventually showed a little life in the late third, blocking a shot, getting a follow, and generally not playing like a weenie. Finally dropped a good post move laste in the 4th as well. But there was no sustained impact, and a lot of soft defense along the way to an impactless 8pt 6rebs in 35 minutes.
Casspi ( B+ ) -- got off to a slow start in his debut game, but got stronger and stronger as the game went along and had a big second half. Looked good on the catch and shoot with that jumper and had several strong takes to start the 4th quarter. Most of his contributions were offensive, and made several defensive mistakes. But overall it was a confident looking effort just taking shots wihtout hesitation, and mixing in drives when challenged.
Nocioni ( C ) -- had a couple of nice takes after coming in, but that was largely the extent of his effectiveness. did scrap for some boards, but got worked in the post by fellow tweener forward Green and I think he was reaping the nonbenefits of years of flopping on some calls, getting no benefit of the doubt from the refs. Had no impact on the game.
Rodriguez ( C ) -- came in ahead of Beno as the backup PG and very much did his best imitation of Sergio Rodriguez, making a few nice passes, forcing one he should nto have, and struggling on defense.
Brockman (INC) -- brought in in the middle second quarter in some desperation as Westphal tried to find somebody to get our rebounding under control. OKC immediately pummeled inside on the glass for a followup but things improved from there, with Peaches getting his first NBA hoop on a flying break and helping key an 8-0 run with his energy. Don't think he ever returned after that stint.
Greene ( INC ) -- was in and out of a couple of short stints where he did not do much, but did have the honor of getting to guard, and get quickly scored on, by Kevin Durant.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Westphal ( ) -- not how Coach wanted his return to the NBA to go either, but at least he did not throw a chair I suppose. Whatever offense he has installed, we didn't see it. And whatever focus on rebounding and defense he may have made in the preseason, we saw even less of it. Went deep in his bench early looking for some answers, but didn't find anything until it was to late to matter. Like some of our stubborn coaches in the past, insisted on playing our starters until the final minute of the game...but the difference is that our starters nowadays are also our kids, so the people who need the minutes were still for the most poart getting them (having Kevin in there instead of Donte aside). Still not feeling his decision to start May over Hawes, and after tonight, may not be able to give him the benefit of the doubt on starting Maosn over Casspi either. let's thrwo the best, and youngest, we've got out there and see what happens.
Last edited:
So...we'll look forward(or not)to seeing the 'Fire Paul Westphal' thread immediately following the next game, eh?
