Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well that was easy. Absolutely pathetic effort by the Warriors. Their fans should pelt them with rotten fruit when they return to Oakland:
Artest ( B- ) -- solid all around first half and just not called upon to do much thereafter. Numbers look very modest, but this felt better than a 11pt 4ast 4reb night. Certainly not a sparkling outing, but the defense I think always has a tendency to elevate even Ron's quiet evenings, and he also created a number of shots for teammates rather than looking for his own stuff. Actually got badly beat once on the perimeter by Richardson, but then used that amazing recovery ability to chase him down from behind and knock the ball away. And dominated his defensive matchups for most of the rest of the night. This was a close call for me, and I was going to go with a C+ just to establish some reasonable grading parameters for Ron. Realistically, this may in fact have been a C effort of some type...for a player of Artest's caliber. But bumped it half a grade for the win and the feeling he could have done considerably more if called upon.
Thomas ( A- ) -- rebounded big in the first, although I barely noticed, and had no less than 13 rebounds in 21 minutes
before taking an inadvertent elbow/forearm above the right eye opening up a pretty serious cut on his forehead. Picks up the minus for some of his normal turnover problems, but a good exemplar game of exactly what he does well on a basketball court.
Miller ( B ) -- quiet first half and unable to control the defensive glass. But did not matter really. Eventually did some good things out there in ugly fashion as usual. An ultra-efficient game played in the shadows and courtesy of Golden State incompetence more than excellent play by Brad. And so more of a solid grade than a spectacular one.
Martin ( C+ ) -- slow start, including missing his first two FTs in a month. And never really did get going in a mostly quiet outing at Arco. But was still contributing here and there, and while he had a quiet statistical game he mixed in a few spectacular highlights on the handful of buckets he did score. Made a nice drive and finish across his body on a broken play, and also had a spectacular coast to coast drive a few minutes later. 8pts 2rebs 2ast is obviously not what you need from a starter, but the grade is elevated by both the end result (no more was needed) and the niftiness of the points he did get.
Bibby ( B ) -- started off as another grumpy out of sorts game and got a stupid technical at the end of the first for bitching about his 2nd foul FROM THE BENCH. But settled down and decided to play some ball therafter. Actually was credited with 5 assists in the first, although I did not really notice them, and none thereafter. But had nearly all of his 16pts after returning in the mid-2nd and before departing in the early 4th. Nothing really difficult either. One of the interesting questions with Bibby as outside shooter/stretcher for our post players has been whether he could actually function effectively as a standstill shooter. His preference in his big games is to play pick and roll and keep that dribble alive to launch in rhythm. Why he's more than just a shooter actually. But tonight he was frequently just spotting up and waiting for the pass from the inside guys and draining them. Promising given our current dependence on his perimeter skills.
Garcia ( B+ ) -- started off a bit ragged with a couple of quick fouls and some shaky decisionmaking, but was hitting his shots from the beginning, including finally getting some threes to go down when he was left open on the perimeter. Played right on through garbagetime until about the two minute mark, but a point of some minor concern was that he appeared to hurt his fingers there at the end and was standing around out on the perimeter holding his hand. Have to hope its nothing serious.
Reef ( A ) -- big scoring effort off the bench and one of the most active and assertive games he's given us all year. Not just sitting back, hitting a shot, disappearing, hitting another shot. Strung them together, forced the action, and truly mattered this time out. Also his 3rd or 4th strong rebounding effort in the last few weeks and thankfully has been grabbing a few like he wants them rather than looking like its just a distasteful duty between scolring opportunites. There's a certain irony to the fact that if we aren't able to upgrade the position in the next few days Reef's good play in the last week or two might actually be making more of an argument for him as a 6th man than a starter. Right now both he and Kenny are playing better than they did at the beginning of the year with their roles reversed. SAR rarely had this much impact as a starter and lapsed into serious passivity at times. And Kenny basically never gave us this kind of effort off the bench.
Skinner ( C ) -- played 12 minutes (the entire 4th quarter) of what was basically all garbagetime. And did little.
Hart ( B ) -- played almost the entire 4th, and scored well at least, although some of them were definitely forces that just went in.
Price ( C ) -- did little in garbagetime until finally scoring the breakaway hoop to put us over 100. Showed some decent ballhandling skills. But this "C" is a bit of a giveup grade.
Williamson ( C- ) -- did absolutely nothing statistically in garbagetime, but did take a big should've-been-a-charge from Fisher, and also set a very nice pick clearing the way to the hoop for one of Hart's scores. Still, not much.
Sampson ( INC ) -- a couple of minutes of garbagetime
Adelman ( A- ) -- well, for anyone who changed the channel at halftime to go watch the Olympics, yes, we BARELY managed to hold on to win this one.
Take Baron Davis off the Warriors, and they are basically the same squad that was in the lottery for 10 straight years and is probably going to make it 11 this year. Got to see Ike Diogu in some extended action this time out...and congratulations Warriors, you appear to have passed on Ron Artest so you could keep Malik Rose part deux. Easy one to coach for Rick. The Warriors were terrible from the start, and even with us not playing partiularly well we couldn't help but run away with it. Rick has clearly settled into a 7 man rotation he is comfortable with, with Garcia handling all the backup 1/2/3 work and Reef all the backup 4/5 work. And against opponents like these, with both benchers having big games, it works nicely. And then for once we actually treated garbagetime like garbagetime and got our main guys off the floor + let the bench just play it out. Only bits of bad news on the evening were Kenny taking that shot to the head (needed stitches, but its high on the forehead so hopefully he'll be alright for L.A. as long as he's not hit there again) and maybe something with Cisco's fingers there at the end. But could have just been a jam or mild sprain and no biggy. Otherwise easy win and just what the doctor ordered.
Artest ( B- ) -- solid all around first half and just not called upon to do much thereafter. Numbers look very modest, but this felt better than a 11pt 4ast 4reb night. Certainly not a sparkling outing, but the defense I think always has a tendency to elevate even Ron's quiet evenings, and he also created a number of shots for teammates rather than looking for his own stuff. Actually got badly beat once on the perimeter by Richardson, but then used that amazing recovery ability to chase him down from behind and knock the ball away. And dominated his defensive matchups for most of the rest of the night. This was a close call for me, and I was going to go with a C+ just to establish some reasonable grading parameters for Ron. Realistically, this may in fact have been a C effort of some type...for a player of Artest's caliber. But bumped it half a grade for the win and the feeling he could have done considerably more if called upon.
Thomas ( A- ) -- rebounded big in the first, although I barely noticed, and had no less than 13 rebounds in 21 minutes
before taking an inadvertent elbow/forearm above the right eye opening up a pretty serious cut on his forehead. Picks up the minus for some of his normal turnover problems, but a good exemplar game of exactly what he does well on a basketball court.Miller ( B ) -- quiet first half and unable to control the defensive glass. But did not matter really. Eventually did some good things out there in ugly fashion as usual. An ultra-efficient game played in the shadows and courtesy of Golden State incompetence more than excellent play by Brad. And so more of a solid grade than a spectacular one.
Martin ( C+ ) -- slow start, including missing his first two FTs in a month. And never really did get going in a mostly quiet outing at Arco. But was still contributing here and there, and while he had a quiet statistical game he mixed in a few spectacular highlights on the handful of buckets he did score. Made a nice drive and finish across his body on a broken play, and also had a spectacular coast to coast drive a few minutes later. 8pts 2rebs 2ast is obviously not what you need from a starter, but the grade is elevated by both the end result (no more was needed) and the niftiness of the points he did get.
Bibby ( B ) -- started off as another grumpy out of sorts game and got a stupid technical at the end of the first for bitching about his 2nd foul FROM THE BENCH. But settled down and decided to play some ball therafter. Actually was credited with 5 assists in the first, although I did not really notice them, and none thereafter. But had nearly all of his 16pts after returning in the mid-2nd and before departing in the early 4th. Nothing really difficult either. One of the interesting questions with Bibby as outside shooter/stretcher for our post players has been whether he could actually function effectively as a standstill shooter. His preference in his big games is to play pick and roll and keep that dribble alive to launch in rhythm. Why he's more than just a shooter actually. But tonight he was frequently just spotting up and waiting for the pass from the inside guys and draining them. Promising given our current dependence on his perimeter skills.
Garcia ( B+ ) -- started off a bit ragged with a couple of quick fouls and some shaky decisionmaking, but was hitting his shots from the beginning, including finally getting some threes to go down when he was left open on the perimeter. Played right on through garbagetime until about the two minute mark, but a point of some minor concern was that he appeared to hurt his fingers there at the end and was standing around out on the perimeter holding his hand. Have to hope its nothing serious.
Reef ( A ) -- big scoring effort off the bench and one of the most active and assertive games he's given us all year. Not just sitting back, hitting a shot, disappearing, hitting another shot. Strung them together, forced the action, and truly mattered this time out. Also his 3rd or 4th strong rebounding effort in the last few weeks and thankfully has been grabbing a few like he wants them rather than looking like its just a distasteful duty between scolring opportunites. There's a certain irony to the fact that if we aren't able to upgrade the position in the next few days Reef's good play in the last week or two might actually be making more of an argument for him as a 6th man than a starter. Right now both he and Kenny are playing better than they did at the beginning of the year with their roles reversed. SAR rarely had this much impact as a starter and lapsed into serious passivity at times. And Kenny basically never gave us this kind of effort off the bench.
Skinner ( C ) -- played 12 minutes (the entire 4th quarter) of what was basically all garbagetime. And did little.
Hart ( B ) -- played almost the entire 4th, and scored well at least, although some of them were definitely forces that just went in.
Price ( C ) -- did little in garbagetime until finally scoring the breakaway hoop to put us over 100. Showed some decent ballhandling skills. But this "C" is a bit of a giveup grade.
Williamson ( C- ) -- did absolutely nothing statistically in garbagetime, but did take a big should've-been-a-charge from Fisher, and also set a very nice pick clearing the way to the hoop for one of Hart's scores. Still, not much.
Sampson ( INC ) -- a couple of minutes of garbagetime
Adelman ( A- ) -- well, for anyone who changed the channel at halftime to go watch the Olympics, yes, we BARELY managed to hold on to win this one.
Take Baron Davis off the Warriors, and they are basically the same squad that was in the lottery for 10 straight years and is probably going to make it 11 this year. Got to see Ike Diogu in some extended action this time out...and congratulations Warriors, you appear to have passed on Ron Artest so you could keep Malik Rose part deux. Easy one to coach for Rick. The Warriors were terrible from the start, and even with us not playing partiularly well we couldn't help but run away with it. Rick has clearly settled into a 7 man rotation he is comfortable with, with Garcia handling all the backup 1/2/3 work and Reef all the backup 4/5 work. And against opponents like these, with both benchers having big games, it works nicely. And then for once we actually treated garbagetime like garbagetime and got our main guys off the floor + let the bench just play it out. Only bits of bad news on the evening were Kenny taking that shot to the head (needed stitches, but its high on the forehead so hopefully he'll be alright for L.A. as long as he's not hit there again) and maybe something with Cisco's fingers there at the end. But could have just been a jam or mild sprain and no biggy. Otherwise easy win and just what the doctor ordered.
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