Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( B- ) -- solid professional first half for Peja -- looked to be just about the only King unaffected by the chaos of the first half and just went out and played his game. But the second half did not go as well. Started to try to take it inside in the third on posts and drives, and that's just not what he does well. Got quiet down the stretch again, and missed two big clutch shots in the final seconds that could have bailed us out. Played better defense on Richardson than any other King tonight, but did lose him for the game winner. Rebounding Watch: 4, but I did notice him in there a few times at least trying. Also picked up 7 assists -- nothing spectacular -- but had the ball in his hands a lot and was solidly distributing. If he can just come up with a big shot for us tonight, this is a pretty solid, pretty well rounded game. But missed them when we needed them.
Songaila ( C ) -- not much good happened in his first half minutes, either for him or the team. Hit a jumper, but the Warriors were totally ignoring him inside and attacking the rim at will. In the second half was very quiet again, but the team at least was doing better. Tough game to grade in a way because Darius was so quiet you just didn't notice anything he did one way or the other until the players he was guarding came crashing inside for O-boards or layups.
Skinner ( A- ) -- might have been the most ineffective first half Tut has had since he's been here. Game looked too fast for him, and he really wasn't able to make any impact at all. In fact Adonal Foyle had a, for Adonal Foyle, banner half. In the second half though Brian came out and really began to assert himself in the ways we've quickly become accustomed to. Down the stretch grabbed a couple of huge offensive rebounds on one play to keep us close. Didn't feel like he had the overall impact in this one that he has had in some of his recent games -- more of a classic scrapper's game picking up garbage and thrashing around. Pain in the butt, but not a dominant force. Still going to go with yet another "A-" game for him. Remarkably consistent double double machine for us right now. Same line almost every night out -- 14pts 11reds 2blks.
Mobley ( A- ) -- came out and immediately had his hands full with Jason Richardson, who sees us anymore and thinks "I'm the MVP!". But in the mid-2nd Cat made an absolutely huge trio of back-to-back-to-back threes that brought us back from the brink of the blowout. Without them we are toast. And in the second half Cat absolutely carried us for a long stretch bombing threes, and finally using his post game effectively -- i.e. against a small PG (Fisher) that he could back down (notably when Richardson switched back over on him, Cat's next post predictably failed). In the third Richardson starting giving Cat some of his own postup medicine, and we began to switch our defense to try to hide Cat elsewhere. Gave us some welcome help on the boards tonight -- actually basically our BEST boarder in the first half. Hard to tell whether he ran out of steam or the offense shifted away from him, but either way got quiet in the latter part of the 4th. Sure would have liked to have seen him take one of those last few clutch shots. Gets the minus for the defensive problems, but our best and most important player tonight.
Bibby ( D ) -- had his hands full and more with Baron tonight. Not so much that Baron was lighting it up as that he was slicing through our defense at will to set others up. And Mike never had much of a counter. The knee? Fatigue? Just running into one of the few PGs in the league who can claim to be more talented and more physical? Not sure. But for whatever reason Mike did not have himself much of a game. Did distribute decently, but just never a factor. Tried to hit a clutch three to bail us out, but not tonight.
Thomas ( A ) -- and once again Kenny Thomas comes in and badly outperforms Darius, raising the question again of how long the curent arrangement is going to be maintained. Gave us a strong second quarter and our only big man to get on the glass in the first half. Also continued to sprinkle in solid passes. In the second half returned and continued to hurt Golden State with the dreaded mid-range PF jumper which is nonetheless exactly what we want our PFs doing. And down the stretch we saw something new that seemed to take Golden State by surprise -- in a dogfight and in real danger, did we go Peja, or Mobley, or Bibby? No. We switched it up and went to Kenny Thomas as our goto guy, and he responded. Did miss the big one in the final 20 seconds though, and that was probably where we pressed our luck. Thomas has been in the league 6 years now and may never have taken that shot once.
House ( D+ ) -- well, Rick got Mike a little rest tonight, and Mike looked like he really needed it. Unfortunately, Eddie did absolutely nothing in his time in there in place of him. In the first half actively struggled on defense. In the second was solid in that he didn't hurt us, but silent. Brought the ball up the floor without mishap, but no highlights, no shots, no boards, no big plays. The line kind of says it all tonight: 15min 0pts 0reb 0ast. Just a waste.
Evans ( B- ) -- played a long stretch during the first half. Got hurt by Richardson, but not as bad as Cat, and helped us with a couple of athletic breakaway dunks. Also saved a layup in the open court in the second half by chasing down Baron from behind and poking the ball away -- notable just because our transition defense sucked so bad otherwise. But that was kind of it -- remember almost evey good play he made, and otherwise was quiet in his 20min.
Williamson ( D ) -- looked like a fish very much out of water in the wild first half. Got a long long stint -- not really sure why -- and really did nothing out there other than kind of spin around watching players fly by him on all sides. Looked like Rick thought about putting him back in to start the 4th and then pulled him back. Good call tonight.
Adelman ( B- ) -- Fun game to watch -- until the end. We lost control of the pace in this one early, and nearly got blown out. Made some good adjustments at halftime though, and controlled the pace, if not the game, therafter. Rick made good on his promise to get Mike some rest tonight -- and why not with the way Mike was playing. Unfortunately House wasn't able to do anything in his extra minutes, and I would not be surprised to see Mike's minutes go right back up off of this result. We made a couple of smart coaching moves, switching Peja onto Richardson, and using Mobley in the post vs. Fisher (of course we seem to post Mobley agaisnt anyone and everyone whether its a good idea or not, so maybe we just got lucky). But we quit riding Cat there at some point, and I really wish I knew why. He really only missed one shot (a post of Richardson after G.S. switched him back over) to get it started, and then rarely saw the ball therafter. The use of Kenny Thomas as a goto guy was an act of desperation, but it worked, so kudos. But we went to it one too many times, and our main guns were unable to bail us out with clutch play in the final seconds. We continue to find original ways to to get outrebounded -- as has been our season long pattern got 20rebs from our PF/C combo (Skinner/Thomas this time), and this time got some strong help from Cat as well. But then of course nobody else shows, and so we get beat badly again. And I would be perfectly happy to never ever see Jason Richardson again. We needed this one, but was not to be. Overall thought there was some good and some bad from Rick, but good enough to win if either Mike or Peja shows down the stretch.
Songaila ( C ) -- not much good happened in his first half minutes, either for him or the team. Hit a jumper, but the Warriors were totally ignoring him inside and attacking the rim at will. In the second half was very quiet again, but the team at least was doing better. Tough game to grade in a way because Darius was so quiet you just didn't notice anything he did one way or the other until the players he was guarding came crashing inside for O-boards or layups.
Skinner ( A- ) -- might have been the most ineffective first half Tut has had since he's been here. Game looked too fast for him, and he really wasn't able to make any impact at all. In fact Adonal Foyle had a, for Adonal Foyle, banner half. In the second half though Brian came out and really began to assert himself in the ways we've quickly become accustomed to. Down the stretch grabbed a couple of huge offensive rebounds on one play to keep us close. Didn't feel like he had the overall impact in this one that he has had in some of his recent games -- more of a classic scrapper's game picking up garbage and thrashing around. Pain in the butt, but not a dominant force. Still going to go with yet another "A-" game for him. Remarkably consistent double double machine for us right now. Same line almost every night out -- 14pts 11reds 2blks.
Mobley ( A- ) -- came out and immediately had his hands full with Jason Richardson, who sees us anymore and thinks "I'm the MVP!". But in the mid-2nd Cat made an absolutely huge trio of back-to-back-to-back threes that brought us back from the brink of the blowout. Without them we are toast. And in the second half Cat absolutely carried us for a long stretch bombing threes, and finally using his post game effectively -- i.e. against a small PG (Fisher) that he could back down (notably when Richardson switched back over on him, Cat's next post predictably failed). In the third Richardson starting giving Cat some of his own postup medicine, and we began to switch our defense to try to hide Cat elsewhere. Gave us some welcome help on the boards tonight -- actually basically our BEST boarder in the first half. Hard to tell whether he ran out of steam or the offense shifted away from him, but either way got quiet in the latter part of the 4th. Sure would have liked to have seen him take one of those last few clutch shots. Gets the minus for the defensive problems, but our best and most important player tonight.
Bibby ( D ) -- had his hands full and more with Baron tonight. Not so much that Baron was lighting it up as that he was slicing through our defense at will to set others up. And Mike never had much of a counter. The knee? Fatigue? Just running into one of the few PGs in the league who can claim to be more talented and more physical? Not sure. But for whatever reason Mike did not have himself much of a game. Did distribute decently, but just never a factor. Tried to hit a clutch three to bail us out, but not tonight.
Thomas ( A ) -- and once again Kenny Thomas comes in and badly outperforms Darius, raising the question again of how long the curent arrangement is going to be maintained. Gave us a strong second quarter and our only big man to get on the glass in the first half. Also continued to sprinkle in solid passes. In the second half returned and continued to hurt Golden State with the dreaded mid-range PF jumper which is nonetheless exactly what we want our PFs doing. And down the stretch we saw something new that seemed to take Golden State by surprise -- in a dogfight and in real danger, did we go Peja, or Mobley, or Bibby? No. We switched it up and went to Kenny Thomas as our goto guy, and he responded. Did miss the big one in the final 20 seconds though, and that was probably where we pressed our luck. Thomas has been in the league 6 years now and may never have taken that shot once.
House ( D+ ) -- well, Rick got Mike a little rest tonight, and Mike looked like he really needed it. Unfortunately, Eddie did absolutely nothing in his time in there in place of him. In the first half actively struggled on defense. In the second was solid in that he didn't hurt us, but silent. Brought the ball up the floor without mishap, but no highlights, no shots, no boards, no big plays. The line kind of says it all tonight: 15min 0pts 0reb 0ast. Just a waste.
Evans ( B- ) -- played a long stretch during the first half. Got hurt by Richardson, but not as bad as Cat, and helped us with a couple of athletic breakaway dunks. Also saved a layup in the open court in the second half by chasing down Baron from behind and poking the ball away -- notable just because our transition defense sucked so bad otherwise. But that was kind of it -- remember almost evey good play he made, and otherwise was quiet in his 20min.
Williamson ( D ) -- looked like a fish very much out of water in the wild first half. Got a long long stint -- not really sure why -- and really did nothing out there other than kind of spin around watching players fly by him on all sides. Looked like Rick thought about putting him back in to start the 4th and then pulled him back. Good call tonight.
Adelman ( B- ) -- Fun game to watch -- until the end. We lost control of the pace in this one early, and nearly got blown out. Made some good adjustments at halftime though, and controlled the pace, if not the game, therafter. Rick made good on his promise to get Mike some rest tonight -- and why not with the way Mike was playing. Unfortunately House wasn't able to do anything in his extra minutes, and I would not be surprised to see Mike's minutes go right back up off of this result. We made a couple of smart coaching moves, switching Peja onto Richardson, and using Mobley in the post vs. Fisher (of course we seem to post Mobley agaisnt anyone and everyone whether its a good idea or not, so maybe we just got lucky). But we quit riding Cat there at some point, and I really wish I knew why. He really only missed one shot (a post of Richardson after G.S. switched him back over) to get it started, and then rarely saw the ball therafter. The use of Kenny Thomas as a goto guy was an act of desperation, but it worked, so kudos. But we went to it one too many times, and our main guns were unable to bail us out with clutch play in the final seconds. We continue to find original ways to to get outrebounded -- as has been our season long pattern got 20rebs from our PF/C combo (Skinner/Thomas this time), and this time got some strong help from Cat as well. But then of course nobody else shows, and so we get beat badly again. And I would be perfectly happy to never ever see Jason Richardson again. We needed this one, but was not to be. Overall thought there was some good and some bad from Rick, but good enough to win if either Mike or Peja shows down the stretch.
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I would have liked to have seen the final second shot go to Cat, I know he hasn't exactly proven himself to be clutch but he had some good shots last night, I think.
