Worst loss of the season. By far.
here's a stat of the night for you: Beno, Noc and Casspi: a combined 1-14 from the 3pt line
Udoka ( A- ) -- well, its good that we got to startg with this one before we hit the crap grades that are going to pepper the wall tonight. Ime got the surprise start, and Ime justified it in spades with what pretty much was his career game, at least statistically. 19pts (career high was 21) 14rebs (career high was 11) and basically the only King who could hit a wide open three point shot on the night. Started it right off splashing in a three in the early going to get us going, added a second three in the 2nd, and a nice pass to a slashing Reke. Bad turnover up top leading to an Ellis breakway. But able to repeatedly waddle down inside for boards against the weak lineup and get down inside for layins as well. For a half had a cap on Maggette as well, but lost control after half when he was moved around and his defensive impact was negligible. Missed an open three that we needed late in the third as the lead started to erode, but hit a big one in the mid 4th to temporarily stem the tide. Was in scrapping on the glass all night on both ends. Played no role down the stretch. And yes, career game and all, and have to respect the career game, big numbers etc. with a strong grade, but you can see about how far a player of Ime's level can carry you even on a career night and on this evening, its not a straight A. Still our overall best however and rewarded us for picking up his contract for the rest of the season with a very strong effort.
Thompson ( D+ ) -- should have had a dunk on our first possession courtesy of Reke, but then got it big time smushed by Turiaf. Came back with a big stuff late in the first leaving no doubt. Numerous follow attempts, but a whoe bunch of his touchless tip and flip misses too. Scooped up a loose ball and went end to end for the dunk. Nice pass over the top to get Casspi his only hoop of the night to start the third. Were actually running some of the offense through JT up top at times in the third, but that was shaky, and it was only got shakier as the game hit its stretch run. No touch inside as short hooks, tips, layins rolled off again. Bad interior pass down the stretch was picked off and forced Noc to foul to stop the break. Another bad pass for a turnover in the late 4th, and looked positively panicked out there in the late going with every drible being a potential turnover and every pass an adventure. Finished it off with one of his classic completely unnecessary offenive fouls at the 1:00 mark slamming his shoulder into Turiaf, and hard, to try to clear space and turning it over again as a result. Gets a little bit fo grade here for the early passing and more aggressive first half play. But this was all kinds of shaky, featured more terrible shooting, and a bunch of TOs as well. Most damning was that you had zero confidence he was going to do something right by the end of this one.
Hawes ( B+ ) -- and here was a bit of role reversal -- rather than being the guy you yell at coach to get out of the game, tonight Spencer was the guy you yell at coach for taking out. You wouldn't have known it to start however -- started the game but got two quick fouls and did not last 4 minutes before Brockman was in. Was back briefly in the second quarter and then gone agian before you even knew it. Something like 5 scoreless barely there first half minutes, althouh that was as much coach's decision as having anything to do with Spencer's play. In fact Brockman actually got the second half start, although his starting stint didn't last too much longer than Spencer's in the first half, and Spencer was back in fairly quickly. Soon after entering passed on a three to swing it to Beno for a three to push the lead back out. Got posted by Biedrins, who would not nromally be that confident with anybody else as an opponent, but Spence responded with a nifty up and under. Followed with a bricked three, and really until that point this grade was not this high and I guarantee you there were no calls echoing around this baord for more Spence. Then began his key stretch though, as hecame up with a good take off the glass to stop the bleeding in the late third, then a d-board, then an important rebound and finish to close the third and push us back out to 10. After a critical turnover that got us to 3, finally broke out the full post move repertoire with a beautiful series of moves to shake Turiaf and score over him. Came up with another key hoop to get the disappearing lead back from 3 to 5 and yet another good hoop again on the inside when we were only up 1 to push it back to the 3. Was using his size, coming up big, and legitimately in the early to mid 4th was basically the only reason why we hadn't already collapsed and lost the entire lead. And was rewarded for his strong play...by being benched as we went small, inserted a borderline incompetent JT on the night, and lost the game going away all the while never even looking in his direction. Which all qualifies as a rare but deserved big ole ? hanging over Westphal's head. Falling into the Nellie smallball trap is bad enough. Falling into it while your big center is your best player on the floor at the point you take him out is just mysterious. Spencer inspires little enough confidence that chances are he blows it even if given the opportunity. But he should have had it.
Casspi ( D ) -- ouch! So is David Thorpe like SI's cover? Getting spewed on by him leaves you cursed? Because it certianly was an irony that the day after Thorpe's controversial decision to bump Omri to the top of his rookie rankings IOmri came out and had one of his worst games in his young career. Trouble started early when he was clearly too slow to remotely guard Curry right from the opening shot of the game. Could get nothing going the other way, and got an offensive foul getting impatient about not getting the ball from Beno in the post against Watson. Good defensive boardwork in the early 2nd and was scrapping hard, at least for a bit, to counteract the offensive collapse for a bit. Started off the third quarter getting his only hoop of the night on a nice over the top feed from JT, but otherwise just kept missing. Play got no better late as he had a bad TO on the inside letting the Warriors get back to 3, bricked another open three that we needed, did come up with a good defensive play on the break on Ellis to briefly prevent them from taking the lead, but just could not get anything to fall, from outside, and looked botherd, as did many of the Kings, ball the gnats running around poking at them as the Warriors acutally turned up their defensive pressure (yes, you heard that right). Saves a little grade wiht the hustle -- always the best away to avoid really bombing out on your grade with me. But tonight when you called Omri "Bombri" it had an entirely different connotation.
Evans ( B- ) -- working the right post hard in the early goign, and was more dominant than the numbers showed before half. Was drawing triple teams at times, and then swigning it to beat them. Of course since Ime Udoka was basically our only other perimeter player who came to play, the end result of those swings was a whole lot of nothing -- Beno, Casspi and Noc combined for 1-14 from 3pt land tonight. Guys just weren't hitting therm. Jumper was on and off, but killed Ellis off the bounce and had the drive and dish game going. On the other end came up with a block on Ellis despite having to be careful foulwise against him in the early going, but in general normally had to guard Ellis by himself and while he came up with some great plays on him, he never did really control him, and of course in the wacky ball system Ellis is going to be able to shoot and shoot and shoot some more if he's feeling it. Got stripped on the final attempt of the half however, and ballhandling was a mysterious problem all night long for him. Wasn't even always pressure causing mishandles. Just seemed to be off, fumbling balls, not picking his dribble up cleanly on the pass, dribbled off his own foot twice, just uncharacteristic stuff. Despite having everythign but the kitchen sink thrown at him defensively, was just in such control out there in the early third that it made the way this on ended up even more painful. Seemed to tire a bit, and play from the late third onward was shaky at best. Turned his head once on Ellis letting him race down the lane. Then gambled for a steal in the backcourt to put us at an disadvantage on the other end. Too many TOs crept into his game, he dribbled off his foot in traffic after returning in the 4th, then forced a shot and had a bad reaction foul in the backcourt ala our old friend Brad. Did step up to hit a clutch three in the mid 4th -- I guess if your 3pt shooters are brcikign everything just do it yourself. Constantly doubled up top int he late going, but not always moving it quick enough (and when he did it was often to JT, which was out of the frying pan and into the fire stuff tonight). Forced a pretty drive past three peeps but not able to inish. Made a great steal at the 30 sec mark after we had almost completely blown the game, but then kind of summed up our late effort as he was harassed all the way up court, made not one, but two behind the back escape dribble attempts and finally turned it over again and fouled out ont he play. So...25pts 6ast 3stls...and yet in the end I'm not going to push this grade too high. Down the stretch finally looked like a rookie, and not able to step up and carry us out of the morass.
here's a stat of the night for you: Beno, Noc and Casspi: a combined 1-14 from the 3pt line
Udoka ( A- ) -- well, its good that we got to startg with this one before we hit the crap grades that are going to pepper the wall tonight. Ime got the surprise start, and Ime justified it in spades with what pretty much was his career game, at least statistically. 19pts (career high was 21) 14rebs (career high was 11) and basically the only King who could hit a wide open three point shot on the night. Started it right off splashing in a three in the early going to get us going, added a second three in the 2nd, and a nice pass to a slashing Reke. Bad turnover up top leading to an Ellis breakway. But able to repeatedly waddle down inside for boards against the weak lineup and get down inside for layins as well. For a half had a cap on Maggette as well, but lost control after half when he was moved around and his defensive impact was negligible. Missed an open three that we needed late in the third as the lead started to erode, but hit a big one in the mid 4th to temporarily stem the tide. Was in scrapping on the glass all night on both ends. Played no role down the stretch. And yes, career game and all, and have to respect the career game, big numbers etc. with a strong grade, but you can see about how far a player of Ime's level can carry you even on a career night and on this evening, its not a straight A. Still our overall best however and rewarded us for picking up his contract for the rest of the season with a very strong effort.
Thompson ( D+ ) -- should have had a dunk on our first possession courtesy of Reke, but then got it big time smushed by Turiaf. Came back with a big stuff late in the first leaving no doubt. Numerous follow attempts, but a whoe bunch of his touchless tip and flip misses too. Scooped up a loose ball and went end to end for the dunk. Nice pass over the top to get Casspi his only hoop of the night to start the third. Were actually running some of the offense through JT up top at times in the third, but that was shaky, and it was only got shakier as the game hit its stretch run. No touch inside as short hooks, tips, layins rolled off again. Bad interior pass down the stretch was picked off and forced Noc to foul to stop the break. Another bad pass for a turnover in the late 4th, and looked positively panicked out there in the late going with every drible being a potential turnover and every pass an adventure. Finished it off with one of his classic completely unnecessary offenive fouls at the 1:00 mark slamming his shoulder into Turiaf, and hard, to try to clear space and turning it over again as a result. Gets a little bit fo grade here for the early passing and more aggressive first half play. But this was all kinds of shaky, featured more terrible shooting, and a bunch of TOs as well. Most damning was that you had zero confidence he was going to do something right by the end of this one.
Hawes ( B+ ) -- and here was a bit of role reversal -- rather than being the guy you yell at coach to get out of the game, tonight Spencer was the guy you yell at coach for taking out. You wouldn't have known it to start however -- started the game but got two quick fouls and did not last 4 minutes before Brockman was in. Was back briefly in the second quarter and then gone agian before you even knew it. Something like 5 scoreless barely there first half minutes, althouh that was as much coach's decision as having anything to do with Spencer's play. In fact Brockman actually got the second half start, although his starting stint didn't last too much longer than Spencer's in the first half, and Spencer was back in fairly quickly. Soon after entering passed on a three to swing it to Beno for a three to push the lead back out. Got posted by Biedrins, who would not nromally be that confident with anybody else as an opponent, but Spence responded with a nifty up and under. Followed with a bricked three, and really until that point this grade was not this high and I guarantee you there were no calls echoing around this baord for more Spence. Then began his key stretch though, as hecame up with a good take off the glass to stop the bleeding in the late third, then a d-board, then an important rebound and finish to close the third and push us back out to 10. After a critical turnover that got us to 3, finally broke out the full post move repertoire with a beautiful series of moves to shake Turiaf and score over him. Came up with another key hoop to get the disappearing lead back from 3 to 5 and yet another good hoop again on the inside when we were only up 1 to push it back to the 3. Was using his size, coming up big, and legitimately in the early to mid 4th was basically the only reason why we hadn't already collapsed and lost the entire lead. And was rewarded for his strong play...by being benched as we went small, inserted a borderline incompetent JT on the night, and lost the game going away all the while never even looking in his direction. Which all qualifies as a rare but deserved big ole ? hanging over Westphal's head. Falling into the Nellie smallball trap is bad enough. Falling into it while your big center is your best player on the floor at the point you take him out is just mysterious. Spencer inspires little enough confidence that chances are he blows it even if given the opportunity. But he should have had it.
Casspi ( D ) -- ouch! So is David Thorpe like SI's cover? Getting spewed on by him leaves you cursed? Because it certianly was an irony that the day after Thorpe's controversial decision to bump Omri to the top of his rookie rankings IOmri came out and had one of his worst games in his young career. Trouble started early when he was clearly too slow to remotely guard Curry right from the opening shot of the game. Could get nothing going the other way, and got an offensive foul getting impatient about not getting the ball from Beno in the post against Watson. Good defensive boardwork in the early 2nd and was scrapping hard, at least for a bit, to counteract the offensive collapse for a bit. Started off the third quarter getting his only hoop of the night on a nice over the top feed from JT, but otherwise just kept missing. Play got no better late as he had a bad TO on the inside letting the Warriors get back to 3, bricked another open three that we needed, did come up with a good defensive play on the break on Ellis to briefly prevent them from taking the lead, but just could not get anything to fall, from outside, and looked botherd, as did many of the Kings, ball the gnats running around poking at them as the Warriors acutally turned up their defensive pressure (yes, you heard that right). Saves a little grade wiht the hustle -- always the best away to avoid really bombing out on your grade with me. But tonight when you called Omri "Bombri" it had an entirely different connotation.
Evans ( B- ) -- working the right post hard in the early goign, and was more dominant than the numbers showed before half. Was drawing triple teams at times, and then swigning it to beat them. Of course since Ime Udoka was basically our only other perimeter player who came to play, the end result of those swings was a whole lot of nothing -- Beno, Casspi and Noc combined for 1-14 from 3pt land tonight. Guys just weren't hitting therm. Jumper was on and off, but killed Ellis off the bounce and had the drive and dish game going. On the other end came up with a block on Ellis despite having to be careful foulwise against him in the early going, but in general normally had to guard Ellis by himself and while he came up with some great plays on him, he never did really control him, and of course in the wacky ball system Ellis is going to be able to shoot and shoot and shoot some more if he's feeling it. Got stripped on the final attempt of the half however, and ballhandling was a mysterious problem all night long for him. Wasn't even always pressure causing mishandles. Just seemed to be off, fumbling balls, not picking his dribble up cleanly on the pass, dribbled off his own foot twice, just uncharacteristic stuff. Despite having everythign but the kitchen sink thrown at him defensively, was just in such control out there in the early third that it made the way this on ended up even more painful. Seemed to tire a bit, and play from the late third onward was shaky at best. Turned his head once on Ellis letting him race down the lane. Then gambled for a steal in the backcourt to put us at an disadvantage on the other end. Too many TOs crept into his game, he dribbled off his foot in traffic after returning in the 4th, then forced a shot and had a bad reaction foul in the backcourt ala our old friend Brad. Did step up to hit a clutch three in the mid 4th -- I guess if your 3pt shooters are brcikign everything just do it yourself. Constantly doubled up top int he late going, but not always moving it quick enough (and when he did it was often to JT, which was out of the frying pan and into the fire stuff tonight). Forced a pretty drive past three peeps but not able to inish. Made a great steal at the 30 sec mark after we had almost completely blown the game, but then kind of summed up our late effort as he was harassed all the way up court, made not one, but two behind the back escape dribble attempts and finally turned it over again and fouled out ont he play. So...25pts 6ast 3stls...and yet in the end I'm not going to push this grade too high. Down the stretch finally looked like a rookie, and not able to step up and carry us out of the morass.
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