Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Peja ( D- ) -- his first three shots were ugly forces, but he then went on a hot streak where I was thinking we were actually going to get back to back well rounded efforts from Peja. Rather than just coasting around taking the path of least resistance, he was boarding, driving, making a pass or two, thinking of more than just his own offense. At one point there my little mental checklist said "B" for Peja. Well, that quickly faded, and Peja just fell entirely off the map from the mid-2nd onward. Brick, brick, brick, brick and BRICK -- made me want to change my nickname. Good thing he got to shoot a couple of technical free throws, or his contributions would have been even mroe meager. Finally hit a wide open three at about the 5:30 minute mark, and I had a little hope it might spark him, but it led nowhere. And to make matters worse, the offensive struggles seemed to bleed over into the rest of his game, the energy went entirely south, the rebounding disappeared, even in several insane lineups where he was easily the biggest King on the court, and he made some dumb defensive mistakes late as well. Because of the early burst, I'm not going to go with an "F" here, but damn it did get ugly.
Songaila ( B+ ) -- after our abysmal start to the game, Darius was the player to spark us back into it with a string of jumpers and several very nice passes that revived a little hope for our high post offense. Downside was that he was being attacked again at will on the other end of the floor, and didn't show on the defensive boards. Had an adventursome third quarter -- suddenly got VERY active on the offensive glass and was driving to the hoop hard against the non-existent Warriors interior defense. But also was picking up cheapee fouls left and right, and quickly got himself in foul trouble. Along with Thomas, was a King at least showing some energy, and showed a lot of hustle. But one of those reboudning nights where you say "7 offensive boards -- Great!" but then realize that means he gave you almost nothign on the defenisve glass on a night when we were getting killed in there again.
Skinner ( C ) -- finally had his mediocre game. Did not have his usual energy to start the game, and then hurt his hand and really was ineffective therafter. Went out in the mid-third and never returned, setting in motion a long excrutiating stretch of mega-small ball which reached almost embarrassing proportions at times.
Evans ( A- ) -- less of his usual hi-flying athletics, and more strong solid active play. Most important contribution -- drew the assignment on Baron Davis, and did an excellent job. Baron is still not healthy, and he's a guy who can beat himself at times, but Mo generally made him earn everything tongiht. Also gave us that nice big boost on the glass from the OG spot again. Despite all that for some reason hsi game seemed to just be lacking that little spark tonight, and I was briefly tempted to give him a B+, maybe just on the general disappointment of the night. But this is still Mo Evans here, who made the team by winning a spot in camp, and he still gave us 15 and 8 and good defense, so has to be an A of some sort.
Bibby ( B ) -- started off looking like another ugly game for Mike, and his shot just looked awful. But he made the smart adjustment after sitting for a long stretch of the second quarter and began driving to the hoop at every opportunity attacking the shotblockerless Warriors frontline. And by the end fo the game he had worked and worked hsi way into a nice statistical game. But that's what it always flet like -- work. Never really took over the game, and never really seemed to have control of it. Was scoring by trickery and force, but it never seemed to ignite much of anything for us.
Thomas ( A- ) -- came in with another dynamic burst off the bench in the second quarter -- almost beginning to think we should keep him in that role just so he can keep on giving us a spark. Showed excellent recognition that the Warriors had no defensive presence inside with Adonal Foyle injured and attacked the rim at every opportunity -- not something he can do against bigger frontlines, but against the soft Warriors frontcourt he looked like Amare. Along with Darius the ONLY guy with any energy out there down the stretch. Very interesting to watch the last few games with Kenny -- he is actually acting like a primary option out there and looking to shoot almost every time the ball touches his hands. I have mixed feelings about that, but we certainly needed his effort and aggression tonight just to stay close.
House ( C ) -- mixed in one nice play with a whole lot of nothing. Initially had some real problems guarding Fisher as well.
Martin ( C ) -- got more time than he has in a month as Rick went to him him both early and late looking for a spark for his injured and tired team. Did not do much, but did have the honor of being part of probably the smallest team seen on the floor in Sacramento since the bad ole lottery days when he teamed with Bibby, House, Peja and Thomas to form a quintet that would be too small to win the Final Four.
Daniels ( INC ) -- apparently has passed Tag in the rotation as well.
Not sure what else to say, except that I damn near dropped Rick's grade to a mandatory "F" for that particular bit of stupidity.
Adelman ( C ) -- Depressing loss. These 4 games were susposed to be the EASY stretch for us before things got tough, and we're a Mobley Miracle away from having lost the first three. Meanwhile injuries continue to mount. Tough tough situation for Rick with no fewer than 5 guys out by the end, including his starting OG, starting C, 6th man, and after halftime his reserve C who has been starting in place of the original starter. And then just to raise the degree of difficulty higher, one of his two remaining stars goes out and has one of, if not THE, worst shooting nights of his career. Now that said, was not really happy about the way this one was coached. Initially thought that the early appearance of Kevin Martin indicated that Rick was maybe going to go a little deeper into his bench to try to save his team's energy on a back to back. But in reality, it was really just Martin getting bumped up in the rotation with Mobley out, and by the end we had basically gone with another six man, and after Skinner got hurt, really five man rotation for the bulk of the game. Tons and tons of minutes for the core on a night when a lot of the guys just looked flat. And tonight the Great Tag Fallacy was really in evidence as Rick took the small ball concept to ridiculous lengths in the absence of Skinner, once making a move that has to almost be considered insulting to Tag as he brought in Erik Daniels off the bench ahead of him with us playing a tiny lineup and getting killed on the glass. Smallest fivesome I spotted out there was Bobby/House/Martin/Peja/Thomas -- actually I believe that that is the second smallest lineup we could field tonight given our available players (guess you could have subbed Mo in for Peja or Thomas). And meanwhile, while all this is going on, sitting over on the bench is a 7'2" shotblocking center who has started half his career games, averaged 22mpg over his career, played in 2 NBA Finals and 50+ playoff games. But no. Kick our *** inside, see if we care. I can't in good conscience drop Rick's grade further given the extremely difficult circumstances he is facing, but I can't disagree with his decisionmaking more strenuously on that topic. We are getting killed inside every night. We are struggling to board. Struggling to beat bad teams. For heaven's sake man, do something about it -- make the move.
Songaila ( B+ ) -- after our abysmal start to the game, Darius was the player to spark us back into it with a string of jumpers and several very nice passes that revived a little hope for our high post offense. Downside was that he was being attacked again at will on the other end of the floor, and didn't show on the defensive boards. Had an adventursome third quarter -- suddenly got VERY active on the offensive glass and was driving to the hoop hard against the non-existent Warriors interior defense. But also was picking up cheapee fouls left and right, and quickly got himself in foul trouble. Along with Thomas, was a King at least showing some energy, and showed a lot of hustle. But one of those reboudning nights where you say "7 offensive boards -- Great!" but then realize that means he gave you almost nothign on the defenisve glass on a night when we were getting killed in there again.
Skinner ( C ) -- finally had his mediocre game. Did not have his usual energy to start the game, and then hurt his hand and really was ineffective therafter. Went out in the mid-third and never returned, setting in motion a long excrutiating stretch of mega-small ball which reached almost embarrassing proportions at times.
Evans ( A- ) -- less of his usual hi-flying athletics, and more strong solid active play. Most important contribution -- drew the assignment on Baron Davis, and did an excellent job. Baron is still not healthy, and he's a guy who can beat himself at times, but Mo generally made him earn everything tongiht. Also gave us that nice big boost on the glass from the OG spot again. Despite all that for some reason hsi game seemed to just be lacking that little spark tonight, and I was briefly tempted to give him a B+, maybe just on the general disappointment of the night. But this is still Mo Evans here, who made the team by winning a spot in camp, and he still gave us 15 and 8 and good defense, so has to be an A of some sort.
Bibby ( B ) -- started off looking like another ugly game for Mike, and his shot just looked awful. But he made the smart adjustment after sitting for a long stretch of the second quarter and began driving to the hoop at every opportunity attacking the shotblockerless Warriors frontline. And by the end fo the game he had worked and worked hsi way into a nice statistical game. But that's what it always flet like -- work. Never really took over the game, and never really seemed to have control of it. Was scoring by trickery and force, but it never seemed to ignite much of anything for us.
Thomas ( A- ) -- came in with another dynamic burst off the bench in the second quarter -- almost beginning to think we should keep him in that role just so he can keep on giving us a spark. Showed excellent recognition that the Warriors had no defensive presence inside with Adonal Foyle injured and attacked the rim at every opportunity -- not something he can do against bigger frontlines, but against the soft Warriors frontcourt he looked like Amare. Along with Darius the ONLY guy with any energy out there down the stretch. Very interesting to watch the last few games with Kenny -- he is actually acting like a primary option out there and looking to shoot almost every time the ball touches his hands. I have mixed feelings about that, but we certainly needed his effort and aggression tonight just to stay close.
House ( C ) -- mixed in one nice play with a whole lot of nothing. Initially had some real problems guarding Fisher as well.
Martin ( C ) -- got more time than he has in a month as Rick went to him him both early and late looking for a spark for his injured and tired team. Did not do much, but did have the honor of being part of probably the smallest team seen on the floor in Sacramento since the bad ole lottery days when he teamed with Bibby, House, Peja and Thomas to form a quintet that would be too small to win the Final Four.
Daniels ( INC ) -- apparently has passed Tag in the rotation as well.
Not sure what else to say, except that I damn near dropped Rick's grade to a mandatory "F" for that particular bit of stupidity.Adelman ( C ) -- Depressing loss. These 4 games were susposed to be the EASY stretch for us before things got tough, and we're a Mobley Miracle away from having lost the first three. Meanwhile injuries continue to mount. Tough tough situation for Rick with no fewer than 5 guys out by the end, including his starting OG, starting C, 6th man, and after halftime his reserve C who has been starting in place of the original starter. And then just to raise the degree of difficulty higher, one of his two remaining stars goes out and has one of, if not THE, worst shooting nights of his career. Now that said, was not really happy about the way this one was coached. Initially thought that the early appearance of Kevin Martin indicated that Rick was maybe going to go a little deeper into his bench to try to save his team's energy on a back to back. But in reality, it was really just Martin getting bumped up in the rotation with Mobley out, and by the end we had basically gone with another six man, and after Skinner got hurt, really five man rotation for the bulk of the game. Tons and tons of minutes for the core on a night when a lot of the guys just looked flat. And tonight the Great Tag Fallacy was really in evidence as Rick took the small ball concept to ridiculous lengths in the absence of Skinner, once making a move that has to almost be considered insulting to Tag as he brought in Erik Daniels off the bench ahead of him with us playing a tiny lineup and getting killed on the glass. Smallest fivesome I spotted out there was Bobby/House/Martin/Peja/Thomas -- actually I believe that that is the second smallest lineup we could field tonight given our available players (guess you could have subbed Mo in for Peja or Thomas). And meanwhile, while all this is going on, sitting over on the bench is a 7'2" shotblocking center who has started half his career games, averaged 22mpg over his career, played in 2 NBA Finals and 50+ playoff games. But no. Kick our *** inside, see if we care. I can't in good conscience drop Rick's grade further given the extremely difficult circumstances he is facing, but I can't disagree with his decisionmaking more strenuously on that topic. We are getting killed inside every night. We are struggling to board. Struggling to beat bad teams. For heaven's sake man, do something about it -- make the move.
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...ive never seen him actually sit on the bench...he has pretty much sat in that chair all season long..i once saw Brad sit in it during a game too
RA's dog house seems to be near impossible to get out of.
