Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
An appropriate outing for an 10 win team playng an 11 win team. We may suck vis a vis the rest of the league, but these were our equals we were matched up wiht tonight.
Salmons ( B+ ) -- well here's another tough grade. What we have here is your basic near triple double...taking more than 48 minutes of playing time to achieve...featuring poor shooting...good rebounding (including acouple of key ones to help us pull it out)...good passing, but really only until half after which the passing stopped and the aforementioned poor shooting became more and more common, defensive struggles against the other team's leading scorer for a half, but struggles by that player not entirely related to the defense after half (in fact we had to go to a zone because we were getting beat man to man so much)...a possible mistake not blocking out the FT shooter on an intentionally missed FT that let the game go to OT...and then a game sealing pair of free throws in the final seconds of that OT. John was not terribly involved before the half, but did spread the ball around. Have to think at a certain point the rising assists and lack of early involvement of the past weeks is a gameplan by Natt that John is actually buying into...at least for a while. Because I am not buying that okay John now you take all of our late shots while Kevin runs away and hides in a corner is also part of the offical plan. Was even basically our PG out there at times, with he and Cisco actually running the team more often than our putative starter (Brown). Same pattern of shifting responsibilities again and again now, as once again he suddenly started to bring the offense in the late 3rd and gradually took over. It was ugly though, and there was a point in the 4th when John and Cisco were combining to shoot us out of it, if you want to call what they were doing shooting (not to mention several of John's patented charge into 5 guys TOs). On the other end Durant scored over and around him at will the other way in the first half, but began to struggle as the game got late and we switched up our defensive schemes. And despite the good rebounding night, may also have been the player who failed to block out Jeff Green on a missed FT at the end of regulation, allowing Green to tie it up and send it ot OT. Got some partial redemption in the end, with John getting to put the cherry on top with a pair of sealing FTs to make the lead 4 in the final final seconds (the final OT seconds, not the final regulations seconds). So, taking into account who we were playing, the extra OT tacked onto the game...went B+.
Thompson ( B- ) -- ok first quarter before getting into foul trouble, came back to missed a big dunk late in the half. Was just starting to get the hustle boarding going when he sent himself ot the bench with fouls for the bulk of the game. Got into quick, massive, and fatal (to his minutes) foul trouble in the early 3rd when he picked up his 5th for running over Collison. Note to Natt: not the guy you should leave in with 4. Too foul prone, too active and likely to pick up loose ball and offensive fouls. Major problem was he could not stay with Green on defense. After sitting out for something like 12-015 minutes while we smallballed, and Sheldon did himself proud, Jason was back and helped down the stretch with some inside finishes before finally fouling out with 3 seconds to go in regulation as we intentionally fouled. With both he and Cisco fouled out, Beno and Brad not in uniform, things looked grim (or looked chipper depending on if you wanted us to win or lose this one). But you have to remember who we were playing, and it all worked out ok.
Hawes ( B- ) -- looked active in the early going, but didn't get much accomplished and was outplayed by Collison. Even airballed a shot and badly short armed one a little later. Was a tad late a couple of times trying to fly over and prevent Durant dunks. Had been mostly a struggle, but then came up with an 8pt burst to close the 2nd quarter, getting a dunk +1 courtesy of Salmons, missing the FT, grabbing the O-rebound and dunking it for a 4pt trip, then canning two wide open (and I do mean WIDE open) jumpers with Jeff Green apparently having been too busy playing his Wii to read the scouting reports on Spencer. Had a few moments of working well with Jason inside in the early third, especially with his passing, but Jason's foul trouble ended that. Active play at the end of regulation got us to the line and saved a possesion for us, but did not block out on the Green game tying shot at the buzzer -- either he or Salmons missed there and Ot was the result. This was an erratic effort, and most of his statistical contributions were all made in about 4 minuts of the second quarter. But there were flashes, a good play here or there, and more like the sorts of games we were gettign from Spencer under Reggie than the type we have been seeing the last few months.
Martin ( A- ) -- On the day Kevin went from young player to in his prime player (he turned 26) he got off to the scorching start against a Thunder team that apparently decided to just let him get whatever he wanted. You would think Scottie Brooks would know better. Westbrook was on him a lot of the time, and let's just say his quickness is used mostly for offensive purposes. Was still a facor in the third, but disappeared in the 4th as it became, for better or worse, the Salmons and Cisco show chucking up shots. But reappeared for a key three point play that seemed to lock it up for us before the FT blockout blunder. Missed another big shot down the stretch, but was bailed out by a nice Spencer tip out on the play so we could retain possession. 37 points as our main gun, albeit on 11-24 shooting as Kevin continues to struggle to shoot over 50% (he has only hit 50% only once in his last 10 games). And one of those classic smooth scoring games where Kevin forgets to do the other things even when the scoring fell off. Played 49 minutes, gave us 37pts, but just 2reb and 1ast.
Brown ( D- ) -- was looking ok in the early going as a starter, and was being helped by Westbrook blowing easy shot after easy shot. Later in the quarter got his jersey partially torn off as Westbrook flew by him on one play, and maybe it was his lucky jersey or something, because things went south. Not that he had been having much impact to that point, but he was quickly in foul trouble, then on the bench, could not contain Westbrook (nobody could), and watched Salmons and Cisco run the point for much of the night, and the elder Bobby close it out for us (and win the game). A rare opportunity to prove himself as a starter went by the wayside in fairly ugly fashion (their rookie starting point guard gave them 34pts 6rebs 8ast, our rookie starting PG gave us 2pts 1reb 1ast), and he did not look happy about it as he was sent to the bench to stay.
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Moore ( INC ) -- longer 2nd quarter stint here with Brad out, but did no more with it and again did not return. Just went incomplete on this one rather than try to quantify another one of these unquantifiable 0pt 1reb type efforts. I would graphically describe the 1 rebound for you just to give you something tangible to hold onto, if I even remembered it.
Cisco ( B ) -- had an immediate impact after entering. Hit a three late in the first, then another three and a fastbreak run out as Cisco picked right up where Kevin left off as the Thunder apparently weren't going to guard ANY of the guys playing that position. In quickly in the 3rd as we smallballed in response to Jason's foul trouble. Helped in a lot of ways, was basically running the point at times, got boards, blocks, steals...but was really gunning, and bricking (2-8 from 3pt land, none after the first) down the stretch. Competed better against Durant on defense after half but could not stay in front of Westbrook at all and finally fouled out with 2:30 to go in the face of the relentlessly attacking little twit. You know you have some grade infaltion going on when I hand out this many good grades for an OT victory over one of the worst teams in basketball, on our home court, while we again gave up an atrocious number of points.
Jackson ( B+ ) -- made some early difference as an assistman as neither team was playing defense. Seemed poised to lead a minrun at the end that was going to win it for us, but we tried hard to lose this one. So he waited instead until the overtime to play the hero. Which I would describe in much greater detail had League Pass not flubbed the OT feed. In any case, gave one of those inspiring down the stretch bursts, stepped forward while others wilted, and may have cost us a draft spot. The little jerk.
Williams ( A- ) -- an unexpected boost here without which the Kings would not have won the game. Made an immediate impact upon entereing with his physical, if fumblethumbed, play. Made a nice outlet pass off of a d-rebound to give Cisco a hoop, had another assist to Kevin after he returned, tried to protect the rim, and in general delivered a solid 2nd quarter stint. Back in at the end of the third and again made an impact banging people inside but did fumble a defensive rebound off of a missed FT leading to a thunder bucket. Almost played the hero at the buzzer too getting an open three point shot for the win...but rimmed out (obviously not his shot, but it would have been the appropriate capper). Still did himself proud given the opportunity.
Salmons ( B+ ) -- well here's another tough grade. What we have here is your basic near triple double...taking more than 48 minutes of playing time to achieve...featuring poor shooting...good rebounding (including acouple of key ones to help us pull it out)...good passing, but really only until half after which the passing stopped and the aforementioned poor shooting became more and more common, defensive struggles against the other team's leading scorer for a half, but struggles by that player not entirely related to the defense after half (in fact we had to go to a zone because we were getting beat man to man so much)...a possible mistake not blocking out the FT shooter on an intentionally missed FT that let the game go to OT...and then a game sealing pair of free throws in the final seconds of that OT. John was not terribly involved before the half, but did spread the ball around. Have to think at a certain point the rising assists and lack of early involvement of the past weeks is a gameplan by Natt that John is actually buying into...at least for a while. Because I am not buying that okay John now you take all of our late shots while Kevin runs away and hides in a corner is also part of the offical plan. Was even basically our PG out there at times, with he and Cisco actually running the team more often than our putative starter (Brown). Same pattern of shifting responsibilities again and again now, as once again he suddenly started to bring the offense in the late 3rd and gradually took over. It was ugly though, and there was a point in the 4th when John and Cisco were combining to shoot us out of it, if you want to call what they were doing shooting (not to mention several of John's patented charge into 5 guys TOs). On the other end Durant scored over and around him at will the other way in the first half, but began to struggle as the game got late and we switched up our defensive schemes. And despite the good rebounding night, may also have been the player who failed to block out Jeff Green on a missed FT at the end of regulation, allowing Green to tie it up and send it ot OT. Got some partial redemption in the end, with John getting to put the cherry on top with a pair of sealing FTs to make the lead 4 in the final final seconds (the final OT seconds, not the final regulations seconds). So, taking into account who we were playing, the extra OT tacked onto the game...went B+.
Thompson ( B- ) -- ok first quarter before getting into foul trouble, came back to missed a big dunk late in the half. Was just starting to get the hustle boarding going when he sent himself ot the bench with fouls for the bulk of the game. Got into quick, massive, and fatal (to his minutes) foul trouble in the early 3rd when he picked up his 5th for running over Collison. Note to Natt: not the guy you should leave in with 4. Too foul prone, too active and likely to pick up loose ball and offensive fouls. Major problem was he could not stay with Green on defense. After sitting out for something like 12-015 minutes while we smallballed, and Sheldon did himself proud, Jason was back and helped down the stretch with some inside finishes before finally fouling out with 3 seconds to go in regulation as we intentionally fouled. With both he and Cisco fouled out, Beno and Brad not in uniform, things looked grim (or looked chipper depending on if you wanted us to win or lose this one). But you have to remember who we were playing, and it all worked out ok.
Hawes ( B- ) -- looked active in the early going, but didn't get much accomplished and was outplayed by Collison. Even airballed a shot and badly short armed one a little later. Was a tad late a couple of times trying to fly over and prevent Durant dunks. Had been mostly a struggle, but then came up with an 8pt burst to close the 2nd quarter, getting a dunk +1 courtesy of Salmons, missing the FT, grabbing the O-rebound and dunking it for a 4pt trip, then canning two wide open (and I do mean WIDE open) jumpers with Jeff Green apparently having been too busy playing his Wii to read the scouting reports on Spencer. Had a few moments of working well with Jason inside in the early third, especially with his passing, but Jason's foul trouble ended that. Active play at the end of regulation got us to the line and saved a possesion for us, but did not block out on the Green game tying shot at the buzzer -- either he or Salmons missed there and Ot was the result. This was an erratic effort, and most of his statistical contributions were all made in about 4 minuts of the second quarter. But there were flashes, a good play here or there, and more like the sorts of games we were gettign from Spencer under Reggie than the type we have been seeing the last few months.
Martin ( A- ) -- On the day Kevin went from young player to in his prime player (he turned 26) he got off to the scorching start against a Thunder team that apparently decided to just let him get whatever he wanted. You would think Scottie Brooks would know better. Westbrook was on him a lot of the time, and let's just say his quickness is used mostly for offensive purposes. Was still a facor in the third, but disappeared in the 4th as it became, for better or worse, the Salmons and Cisco show chucking up shots. But reappeared for a key three point play that seemed to lock it up for us before the FT blockout blunder. Missed another big shot down the stretch, but was bailed out by a nice Spencer tip out on the play so we could retain possession. 37 points as our main gun, albeit on 11-24 shooting as Kevin continues to struggle to shoot over 50% (he has only hit 50% only once in his last 10 games). And one of those classic smooth scoring games where Kevin forgets to do the other things even when the scoring fell off. Played 49 minutes, gave us 37pts, but just 2reb and 1ast.
Brown ( D- ) -- was looking ok in the early going as a starter, and was being helped by Westbrook blowing easy shot after easy shot. Later in the quarter got his jersey partially torn off as Westbrook flew by him on one play, and maybe it was his lucky jersey or something, because things went south. Not that he had been having much impact to that point, but he was quickly in foul trouble, then on the bench, could not contain Westbrook (nobody could), and watched Salmons and Cisco run the point for much of the night, and the elder Bobby close it out for us (and win the game). A rare opportunity to prove himself as a starter went by the wayside in fairly ugly fashion (their rookie starting point guard gave them 34pts 6rebs 8ast, our rookie starting PG gave us 2pts 1reb 1ast), and he did not look happy about it as he was sent to the bench to stay.
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Moore ( INC ) -- longer 2nd quarter stint here with Brad out, but did no more with it and again did not return. Just went incomplete on this one rather than try to quantify another one of these unquantifiable 0pt 1reb type efforts. I would graphically describe the 1 rebound for you just to give you something tangible to hold onto, if I even remembered it.
Cisco ( B ) -- had an immediate impact after entering. Hit a three late in the first, then another three and a fastbreak run out as Cisco picked right up where Kevin left off as the Thunder apparently weren't going to guard ANY of the guys playing that position. In quickly in the 3rd as we smallballed in response to Jason's foul trouble. Helped in a lot of ways, was basically running the point at times, got boards, blocks, steals...but was really gunning, and bricking (2-8 from 3pt land, none after the first) down the stretch. Competed better against Durant on defense after half but could not stay in front of Westbrook at all and finally fouled out with 2:30 to go in the face of the relentlessly attacking little twit. You know you have some grade infaltion going on when I hand out this many good grades for an OT victory over one of the worst teams in basketball, on our home court, while we again gave up an atrocious number of points.
Jackson ( B+ ) -- made some early difference as an assistman as neither team was playing defense. Seemed poised to lead a minrun at the end that was going to win it for us, but we tried hard to lose this one. So he waited instead until the overtime to play the hero. Which I would describe in much greater detail had League Pass not flubbed the OT feed. In any case, gave one of those inspiring down the stretch bursts, stepped forward while others wilted, and may have cost us a draft spot. The little jerk.
Williams ( A- ) -- an unexpected boost here without which the Kings would not have won the game. Made an immediate impact upon entereing with his physical, if fumblethumbed, play. Made a nice outlet pass off of a d-rebound to give Cisco a hoop, had another assist to Kevin after he returned, tried to protect the rim, and in general delivered a solid 2nd quarter stint. Back in at the end of the third and again made an impact banging people inside but did fumble a defensive rebound off of a missed FT leading to a thunder bucket. Almost played the hero at the buzzer too getting an open three point shot for the win...but rimmed out (obviously not his shot, but it would have been the appropriate capper). Still did himself proud given the opportunity.
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