Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Lovely.
John Salmons ( B- ) -- 27min 15pts (6-11 FG, 1-1 3pt, 2-2FT) 7reb 1ast 3stl 0blk 3TO
The numbers here say John deserves some grade, and the perfromance itself does so as well...for one quarter. That quarter being the third where it was John, not Kevin, who did the one-man carry us thing. Of course the first problme is that for most of the night he was just terrible, repeatedly denied inside, and clearly still "not a part of the offense" despite starting and likely being a #2 option. And in the second half of the season, whether its teams just figuring our his game, or him just losing all feel, he has repeatedly just charged right ito the teeth of 3, 4, sometimes even 5 guys and tried to force up junk. Along the way of course ignoring all the other Kings that just have to be open when you are surrounded by that many guys. Decided to grace us with his presence after half (and yes, if you can't tell my previous distaste for Salmons' only play when I feel like it pouting has returned in full force), and largely led the 3rd quarter comeback by occasionally playing defense and then rushing to the rim on the other side. Which brings us to problem #2 -- John and Kevin were complete black holes tonight. They got their points without inspiring even a millisecond of team play or heart. In the third all John did was take the ball and charge at the opposing hoop. He scored -- that set him apart form the other Kings. But he did not pass, did not get anybody else involved, did not inspire. And he finished his night dropping back down in a 1 on 1 there is nobody else on the court stance and having the ball just taken right out from under his nose by Rashard McCants as he dangled it there looking for his next hoop. The numbers here could have been even bigger if Reggie had played him more minutes (he sat the enitre 4th). But it is not at all clear that all the numbers in the world in this particular style would have led to victory over maybe the worst team in the NBA (we have now lost to both claimants to that throne in the last couple of weeks). This is what the notorious "numbers guy on a bad team" syndrome looks like.
Mikki Moore ( D- ) -- 29min 6pts (3-6 FG, 0-0 3pt, 0-0 FT) 2rebs 2ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Sadly despite the utterly pathetic statline here, I don't think you could really question Mikki's effort this time out. His competence sure. Focus, yeah. But he was probably still trying. And after we got his pathetic behind off of the court he was up off that bench and waving a mean towel for the rest of the game. In fact I bumped him up from an F just for the Mateen homage. On the court he had a couple of early dunks, but was otherwise completely overpowered in there, fumbled balls, and as usual of course thinks that is because he is always fouled on every play. In the dead silent arena its amusing to hear him screaming "and 1" after every single layup attempt. Not so amusing was the begging for calls leading him to pick up a technical in the early 2nd period. Even less amusing was watching him play nearly 30 minutes, grab all of 2 rebounds, and get lit up by Ryan Gomes.
Brad Miller ( F ) -- 25min 0pts (0-3 FG, 0-1 3pt, 0-0 FT) 8reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 1TO
You know thaose guys who just aren't playing hard who Reggie was talking about? Exhibit A is right here. These last couple of games it looks like Brad has just quit on us after his bounceback year. Proved no match for Jefferson in the early going and completely snored his way though the game until finally mercifully landing over on the bench to catch a few winks. Kind of accidentally grabbed a few rebounds, but there was nothing else. In the very early going he may have helped get Kevin off and running with a couple of passes, but it was so lost in the blizzard of poo that followed that I could care less. Incompetence sucks. Not even appearing to try is something else.
An early grade:
Kevin Martin ( A+* ) -- 42min 48pts (12-23 FG, 2-5 3pt, 22-24 FT) 6reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Well here obviously was the story of the night for us, at least individually, and what we have here is not only a career high, but an Arco record for points in regulation (there were also some FT records set, but I generally consider big FT numbers unsavroy no matter who is getting them and so ignore). And given the enormity of all that, there is just no way to go with anything other than an A+. If this wasn't, what would be? But you will note I asterisked it, and that was for a couple of reasons, but the primary one being simply it came in an awful, demoralizing loss to maybe the worst team in the NBA, on our home floor. Quite possibly the ugliest loss of the season for us, and so the gloss which normally results in a "+" is almost impossible to generate here, and were things a little less extreme, let's say 40pts rather than 48, I would probably just go with a flat A. In fact I don't think I've ever plussed an A in a game like this before -- a "+" just does not fit based on this game. But then again Kevin's game did not fit with our "team" tonight either -- as in he actually played one. Moved well in the early going and showed no ill effects from whatever that Kobe inspired owie was supposed to be. Did have some sort of simple tape wrap around the base of his thumb in the early going, but eventually removed it. From the very beginning of the game was very aggressive in trying to get up shots, but not very efficient to start. Was denied several times around the rim on drives, missed open jumpers etc.. On the other hand finished on a number of spectacular continuations, and drew fouls. And more fouls. And more fouls. Was getting burned on defense per usual by McCants and Brewer, but obviously nowhere near as badly as he was burning his opponents back the other way. Much less of a factor in the third, when pretty much all he got going was the FT shooting parade while Salmons handled the one man team angle. But rather than fading completely off bounced back up in the early 4th (with Salmons out), and again was the offense with a tip follow on the break, a short jumper, and even including a 4pt play. Was taken out for a little over minute of the stretch "run" as Reggie tried to get him a quick breather, but came back to complete the huge offensive night. A little note about that, and some more of the shakiness here on the grade -- but I'm not sure the last 4-6 points of Kevin's night were quite...right? Or let's say really about the game. Reggie is always prone to dumb stoppages late in games and never-say-die displays even after its obvious that we are in fact dead. But this felt suspiciously like we were just trying to pad Kevin's total even with the game over. Intentionally fouling down 8-10 points with 30 seconds to go, and then even though obviously the only way you can gain ground is to hit threes, just throwing it to Kevin so he could get fouled or drive for uncontested layups (the Wolves no longer caring if we scored 2 pointers). Anyway, I think Kevin already had his career high, or just about, by the time that stuff started, so largely just a hmmm... moment. The larger questions would be what did this game mean for the Kings? Kevin scores 48...and we respond with perhaps our most embarrassing loss of a season full of them. So too much Kevin? It is worth noting that along with Kevin's 48 points came a grand total of 1 assist. You can compare that to a couple of nights ago when LeBron dropped 50, and had 10 assists to go along with it. In this one nobody else got going at all. Kevin had half of our first half points (and only slightly less than half our points in the game) and used approximately 33 possessions/shots on the game (23 shots + another 10 or so trips to the line). For comparison next on the Kings was Salmons with 12, and then Beno with 11. Truly a one man show. And worse yet, it felt like it was designed to be, or the players out there wanted it to be. They seemed all too content to just pass the ball to Kevin and then just stand there like lumps. Kevin was almost the only guy playing out there for us, and that is no more a winning formula for us than those nights when he was the only guy not playing. In any case, a huge night for Kevin. But not really a feel good one, which is too bad. There have been lesser (statistical) nights that are probably considerably higher up on his mantlepiece. If you could ever score 48 and not matter at all, this would have been the game.
John Salmons ( B- ) -- 27min 15pts (6-11 FG, 1-1 3pt, 2-2FT) 7reb 1ast 3stl 0blk 3TO
The numbers here say John deserves some grade, and the perfromance itself does so as well...for one quarter. That quarter being the third where it was John, not Kevin, who did the one-man carry us thing. Of course the first problme is that for most of the night he was just terrible, repeatedly denied inside, and clearly still "not a part of the offense" despite starting and likely being a #2 option. And in the second half of the season, whether its teams just figuring our his game, or him just losing all feel, he has repeatedly just charged right ito the teeth of 3, 4, sometimes even 5 guys and tried to force up junk. Along the way of course ignoring all the other Kings that just have to be open when you are surrounded by that many guys. Decided to grace us with his presence after half (and yes, if you can't tell my previous distaste for Salmons' only play when I feel like it pouting has returned in full force), and largely led the 3rd quarter comeback by occasionally playing defense and then rushing to the rim on the other side. Which brings us to problem #2 -- John and Kevin were complete black holes tonight. They got their points without inspiring even a millisecond of team play or heart. In the third all John did was take the ball and charge at the opposing hoop. He scored -- that set him apart form the other Kings. But he did not pass, did not get anybody else involved, did not inspire. And he finished his night dropping back down in a 1 on 1 there is nobody else on the court stance and having the ball just taken right out from under his nose by Rashard McCants as he dangled it there looking for his next hoop. The numbers here could have been even bigger if Reggie had played him more minutes (he sat the enitre 4th). But it is not at all clear that all the numbers in the world in this particular style would have led to victory over maybe the worst team in the NBA (we have now lost to both claimants to that throne in the last couple of weeks). This is what the notorious "numbers guy on a bad team" syndrome looks like.
Mikki Moore ( D- ) -- 29min 6pts (3-6 FG, 0-0 3pt, 0-0 FT) 2rebs 2ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Sadly despite the utterly pathetic statline here, I don't think you could really question Mikki's effort this time out. His competence sure. Focus, yeah. But he was probably still trying. And after we got his pathetic behind off of the court he was up off that bench and waving a mean towel for the rest of the game. In fact I bumped him up from an F just for the Mateen homage. On the court he had a couple of early dunks, but was otherwise completely overpowered in there, fumbled balls, and as usual of course thinks that is because he is always fouled on every play. In the dead silent arena its amusing to hear him screaming "and 1" after every single layup attempt. Not so amusing was the begging for calls leading him to pick up a technical in the early 2nd period. Even less amusing was watching him play nearly 30 minutes, grab all of 2 rebounds, and get lit up by Ryan Gomes.
Brad Miller ( F ) -- 25min 0pts (0-3 FG, 0-1 3pt, 0-0 FT) 8reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 1TO
You know thaose guys who just aren't playing hard who Reggie was talking about? Exhibit A is right here. These last couple of games it looks like Brad has just quit on us after his bounceback year. Proved no match for Jefferson in the early going and completely snored his way though the game until finally mercifully landing over on the bench to catch a few winks. Kind of accidentally grabbed a few rebounds, but there was nothing else. In the very early going he may have helped get Kevin off and running with a couple of passes, but it was so lost in the blizzard of poo that followed that I could care less. Incompetence sucks. Not even appearing to try is something else.
An early grade:
Kevin Martin ( A+* ) -- 42min 48pts (12-23 FG, 2-5 3pt, 22-24 FT) 6reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Well here obviously was the story of the night for us, at least individually, and what we have here is not only a career high, but an Arco record for points in regulation (there were also some FT records set, but I generally consider big FT numbers unsavroy no matter who is getting them and so ignore). And given the enormity of all that, there is just no way to go with anything other than an A+. If this wasn't, what would be? But you will note I asterisked it, and that was for a couple of reasons, but the primary one being simply it came in an awful, demoralizing loss to maybe the worst team in the NBA, on our home floor. Quite possibly the ugliest loss of the season for us, and so the gloss which normally results in a "+" is almost impossible to generate here, and were things a little less extreme, let's say 40pts rather than 48, I would probably just go with a flat A. In fact I don't think I've ever plussed an A in a game like this before -- a "+" just does not fit based on this game. But then again Kevin's game did not fit with our "team" tonight either -- as in he actually played one. Moved well in the early going and showed no ill effects from whatever that Kobe inspired owie was supposed to be. Did have some sort of simple tape wrap around the base of his thumb in the early going, but eventually removed it. From the very beginning of the game was very aggressive in trying to get up shots, but not very efficient to start. Was denied several times around the rim on drives, missed open jumpers etc.. On the other hand finished on a number of spectacular continuations, and drew fouls. And more fouls. And more fouls. Was getting burned on defense per usual by McCants and Brewer, but obviously nowhere near as badly as he was burning his opponents back the other way. Much less of a factor in the third, when pretty much all he got going was the FT shooting parade while Salmons handled the one man team angle. But rather than fading completely off bounced back up in the early 4th (with Salmons out), and again was the offense with a tip follow on the break, a short jumper, and even including a 4pt play. Was taken out for a little over minute of the stretch "run" as Reggie tried to get him a quick breather, but came back to complete the huge offensive night. A little note about that, and some more of the shakiness here on the grade -- but I'm not sure the last 4-6 points of Kevin's night were quite...right? Or let's say really about the game. Reggie is always prone to dumb stoppages late in games and never-say-die displays even after its obvious that we are in fact dead. But this felt suspiciously like we were just trying to pad Kevin's total even with the game over. Intentionally fouling down 8-10 points with 30 seconds to go, and then even though obviously the only way you can gain ground is to hit threes, just throwing it to Kevin so he could get fouled or drive for uncontested layups (the Wolves no longer caring if we scored 2 pointers). Anyway, I think Kevin already had his career high, or just about, by the time that stuff started, so largely just a hmmm... moment. The larger questions would be what did this game mean for the Kings? Kevin scores 48...and we respond with perhaps our most embarrassing loss of a season full of them. So too much Kevin? It is worth noting that along with Kevin's 48 points came a grand total of 1 assist. You can compare that to a couple of nights ago when LeBron dropped 50, and had 10 assists to go along with it. In this one nobody else got going at all. Kevin had half of our first half points (and only slightly less than half our points in the game) and used approximately 33 possessions/shots on the game (23 shots + another 10 or so trips to the line). For comparison next on the Kings was Salmons with 12, and then Beno with 11. Truly a one man show. And worse yet, it felt like it was designed to be, or the players out there wanted it to be. They seemed all too content to just pass the ball to Kevin and then just stand there like lumps. Kevin was almost the only guy playing out there for us, and that is no more a winning formula for us than those nights when he was the only guy not playing. In any case, a huge night for Kevin. But not really a feel good one, which is too bad. There have been lesser (statistical) nights that are probably considerably higher up on his mantlepiece. If you could ever score 48 and not matter at all, this would have been the game.
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