Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
We finally found our winning formula: play the 11 win team. Make sure they are missing 1/3 of the team to injury, including their two best players. Foul out three more of the remaining players, including their starting center, starting PG and starting SF. Mightily conquer the remaining 6 active players, three of whom are rookies, on a wild scramble play in the third OT. GRRRRRRR!!!!!
Salmons ( B+ ) -- odd pattern to the game for John and the first of many tough grades here. Started the game off knocking down back to back threes and scored at will during the first half guarded by...wait, what am I saying? These are the Warriors. "Guarded by: does not apply. Ironically those would be 2 of the only 3 hits he had through three quarters, by which time his shooting percentage had fallen to 3-12. Thing was that I did not even notice the huge shooting falloff until after half -- at halftime you would have definitely said that two players and two players alone -- Salmons and Miller -- were the reasons why were ahead. So anyway, by the end of the third, his shooting sucked but he was still trickling in points at the line. Nor did he have much of a role to play down the stretch of regulation, although behind the scenes he was quietly beginning to rack up rebounds and assists. Kept on getting scramble rebounds and loose balls up top on nearly broken up passes-- must have happened half a dozen times and it was funny how we seemed to get every one of those even when the Warriors outhustled us and had the angle, somehow they would always fumble it. Won the game on a wild scramble play 3 at the end of the 3rd overtime -- this time the scamble was in the corner -- when again two Warriors were there to one Salmons, yet he came up with it and knocked it down for the win. And by the end of the game, these are the stats: 25pts (6-17 shooting, 4-9 3pt) 14rebs 7ast.
In 56 minutes mind you, but still eye opening when I saw them -- did not see THAT out there. And so here is an exercise I will using repeatedly in this one in order to get a feel for the level of game guys were playing if the minutes had been more normal: Salmons averages 37.1 minutes on the season. Take his 56 minute numbers (25 14 and 7) and reduce them to his normal 37 minute PT, and what do they come out as?: 17pts 9rebs 5ast. And that feels more like what we were witnessing. A good game, not a great one. And then the scramble gamewinner.
Thompson ( B ) -- dominated the glass in the first half against the undersized Warriors forntline, and fellow rookie Anthony Randolph in particular. Got the ball blocked back in his face two times on one possession, but bounced back to have a solid offensive half both inside and stroking a jumper. Was not quite as effective in the third, but still very solid, and then...here is the icky creme filling to this nutty win: that was it. Jaosn never played again. Spencer barely touched the floor. Brown was given a DNP-CD. And Donte is in in Reno. Our entire youth movement shelved by the idiot in the suit for the sake of an oh so glorious triumph over another terrible team. Which would be bad enough on its face. But is worse because Jason was getting it done, and it was the combination of he and Miller pounding the boards inside over the hopelessly tiny Warriors that had given them fits for 3/4. Then Natt's brain cell got distracted trying to breath, scowl, and walk the sidelines at the smae time, and it forgot all about how we were winning the game through three (JT had the largest +/- on the team, and shaky as that stat often is, in this case it was spot on).
Miller ( A ) -- A little story that relates to this game: when I was 22 I was in Sacramento one summer and out on the pickup courts with my old sports buddy -- we'd cruise around all the local parks looking for games, spend hours playing either tennis or basketball ever day. In any case, one day when I was 22 we were at a park just shooting around playing a little one on one when a big pack of kids showed up and wanted to get a full court 5 on 5 going. They were all probably in the 15-16 range, the age where they had all gotten their adult height, or close to it, but had not yet developed a grown man's musculature and bulk. Well, at the time I pretty much lived in the weight room, and my buddy was no 90lb weakling either, and so we offered to split up and play one on each team. But they didn't want to to do that, at least some of them claimed to be on a team (maybe JV or something I forget) together, others were friends etc., and so 5 of them went on one team, then it was me and my buddy and three leftovers on ours. Well, I was always a very good rebounder -- just had the knack and the strength to back it up. But this series of games (think we played three) represented the absolute pinnacle -- I was like Shaq in there. Just waded on in, tore the ball away from anybody who got in my way, established position and could not be moved, growled, bounced kids all over the court, and generally made like a 15-yr old whipping badass. They had no hope. I had size, strength, attitude, they had nothing. It was somewhere between fun and embarrassing, but hey, they made the challenge, and they didn't want to split me and my buddy up so...
Well what I have just described is nearly identical to the experience Brad had for much for the game tonight. The Warriors have one, and only one, player inside who can contend with a full sized big man (Biedrins), and the refs had him on a string all night. And so Brad spent much of the night playing the 15-yr old whipping badass, before morphing into his normal two year temper tantrum throwing self and wiping away almost all the good will. Had the big first half -- of course benefitted when Biedrins got in early foul trouble and there was nobody but Turriaf to back him up, but after Biedrins returned, able to hit several jumpers to keep it going. With Beidrins in and out of the lineup with the fouls just kept on destroying Nellie's sad sack passe small ballers by wading into the paint and playing patty cake off the glass. Ironically though, he might not have even been the ebst center on the floor -- I do not exaggerate. Biedrins rebounded the ball at an even greater rater than Brad in the nminutes he had, and blocked shots like mad. There are many stories to this game, but the +23 for Biedrins on the ngiht and the corresponding -25 to Turiaf, his replacement, is certianly one of the most telling. When Biedrins was in, Brad was suddenly contained, and we had a helluva time scoring or getting on the glass. The effect was dramatic every time he entered. But when he was out...Brad was Shaq amongst the 15 yr olds. So huge was his game in regulation -- he was sitting at 28pts 17rebs near the end -- that we tried to go through Miller down the stretch. But he's no goto guy and Biedrins beat him repeatedly -- I think beginning the frustration spiral that would eventually nearly cost us the game and certinaly cost Brad his + (Brad, you're pathetic BTW if you are reading this). So we are in OT, its a tight game of course, Brad's mojo has been stolen and he's frustrated and flopping, and whining, and tears are practically streaming down his po little facey poo, and then he does it. You could see it coming. I woould nto be surprised if the man has to wear adulty diapers, because he simply has no self control whatsoever. Poor little me! Yes, you guessed it. He whines, complains, bitches...and gets a technical foul. In OT. And I say this without a shred of exaggeration -- if somebody over on out bench had just gotten up and smacked him right in the mouth I would have cheered. Then of course he missed a jumper, as likely as not because head gone. Got his shot blocked in second OT leading to the Warriors going up 5 with a miunute left. Committed a ridiculous foul on a missed FT when rather than just going up and snagging the rebound in front of the 6'5" player behind him (Azubuike), he instead decided to reach out and grab his jersey to hold him down. This was after two bricked FTs (part of an absolutely amazing perhaps game losing FT performance from the Warriors) and gave the Warriors two more. And so, we hung on, in spite of Brad, not because of him. And what do you do with this? I respected the numbers and went straight A because the numbers were huge even in just the regulation minutes. But by the end of the night I was once again ashamed and annoyed to have Brad on this squad, and wanted him gone. That says something on a near career night for him.
Salmons ( B+ ) -- odd pattern to the game for John and the first of many tough grades here. Started the game off knocking down back to back threes and scored at will during the first half guarded by...wait, what am I saying? These are the Warriors. "Guarded by: does not apply. Ironically those would be 2 of the only 3 hits he had through three quarters, by which time his shooting percentage had fallen to 3-12. Thing was that I did not even notice the huge shooting falloff until after half -- at halftime you would have definitely said that two players and two players alone -- Salmons and Miller -- were the reasons why were ahead. So anyway, by the end of the third, his shooting sucked but he was still trickling in points at the line. Nor did he have much of a role to play down the stretch of regulation, although behind the scenes he was quietly beginning to rack up rebounds and assists. Kept on getting scramble rebounds and loose balls up top on nearly broken up passes-- must have happened half a dozen times and it was funny how we seemed to get every one of those even when the Warriors outhustled us and had the angle, somehow they would always fumble it. Won the game on a wild scramble play 3 at the end of the 3rd overtime -- this time the scamble was in the corner -- when again two Warriors were there to one Salmons, yet he came up with it and knocked it down for the win. And by the end of the game, these are the stats: 25pts (6-17 shooting, 4-9 3pt) 14rebs 7ast.
In 56 minutes mind you, but still eye opening when I saw them -- did not see THAT out there. And so here is an exercise I will using repeatedly in this one in order to get a feel for the level of game guys were playing if the minutes had been more normal: Salmons averages 37.1 minutes on the season. Take his 56 minute numbers (25 14 and 7) and reduce them to his normal 37 minute PT, and what do they come out as?: 17pts 9rebs 5ast. And that feels more like what we were witnessing. A good game, not a great one. And then the scramble gamewinner.Thompson ( B ) -- dominated the glass in the first half against the undersized Warriors forntline, and fellow rookie Anthony Randolph in particular. Got the ball blocked back in his face two times on one possession, but bounced back to have a solid offensive half both inside and stroking a jumper. Was not quite as effective in the third, but still very solid, and then...here is the icky creme filling to this nutty win: that was it. Jaosn never played again. Spencer barely touched the floor. Brown was given a DNP-CD. And Donte is in in Reno. Our entire youth movement shelved by the idiot in the suit for the sake of an oh so glorious triumph over another terrible team. Which would be bad enough on its face. But is worse because Jason was getting it done, and it was the combination of he and Miller pounding the boards inside over the hopelessly tiny Warriors that had given them fits for 3/4. Then Natt's brain cell got distracted trying to breath, scowl, and walk the sidelines at the smae time, and it forgot all about how we were winning the game through three (JT had the largest +/- on the team, and shaky as that stat often is, in this case it was spot on).
Miller ( A ) -- A little story that relates to this game: when I was 22 I was in Sacramento one summer and out on the pickup courts with my old sports buddy -- we'd cruise around all the local parks looking for games, spend hours playing either tennis or basketball ever day. In any case, one day when I was 22 we were at a park just shooting around playing a little one on one when a big pack of kids showed up and wanted to get a full court 5 on 5 going. They were all probably in the 15-16 range, the age where they had all gotten their adult height, or close to it, but had not yet developed a grown man's musculature and bulk. Well, at the time I pretty much lived in the weight room, and my buddy was no 90lb weakling either, and so we offered to split up and play one on each team. But they didn't want to to do that, at least some of them claimed to be on a team (maybe JV or something I forget) together, others were friends etc., and so 5 of them went on one team, then it was me and my buddy and three leftovers on ours. Well, I was always a very good rebounder -- just had the knack and the strength to back it up. But this series of games (think we played three) represented the absolute pinnacle -- I was like Shaq in there. Just waded on in, tore the ball away from anybody who got in my way, established position and could not be moved, growled, bounced kids all over the court, and generally made like a 15-yr old whipping badass. They had no hope. I had size, strength, attitude, they had nothing. It was somewhere between fun and embarrassing, but hey, they made the challenge, and they didn't want to split me and my buddy up so...
Well what I have just described is nearly identical to the experience Brad had for much for the game tonight. The Warriors have one, and only one, player inside who can contend with a full sized big man (Biedrins), and the refs had him on a string all night. And so Brad spent much of the night playing the 15-yr old whipping badass, before morphing into his normal two year temper tantrum throwing self and wiping away almost all the good will. Had the big first half -- of course benefitted when Biedrins got in early foul trouble and there was nobody but Turriaf to back him up, but after Biedrins returned, able to hit several jumpers to keep it going. With Beidrins in and out of the lineup with the fouls just kept on destroying Nellie's sad sack passe small ballers by wading into the paint and playing patty cake off the glass. Ironically though, he might not have even been the ebst center on the floor -- I do not exaggerate. Biedrins rebounded the ball at an even greater rater than Brad in the nminutes he had, and blocked shots like mad. There are many stories to this game, but the +23 for Biedrins on the ngiht and the corresponding -25 to Turiaf, his replacement, is certianly one of the most telling. When Biedrins was in, Brad was suddenly contained, and we had a helluva time scoring or getting on the glass. The effect was dramatic every time he entered. But when he was out...Brad was Shaq amongst the 15 yr olds. So huge was his game in regulation -- he was sitting at 28pts 17rebs near the end -- that we tried to go through Miller down the stretch. But he's no goto guy and Biedrins beat him repeatedly -- I think beginning the frustration spiral that would eventually nearly cost us the game and certinaly cost Brad his + (Brad, you're pathetic BTW if you are reading this). So we are in OT, its a tight game of course, Brad's mojo has been stolen and he's frustrated and flopping, and whining, and tears are practically streaming down his po little facey poo, and then he does it. You could see it coming. I woould nto be surprised if the man has to wear adulty diapers, because he simply has no self control whatsoever. Poor little me! Yes, you guessed it. He whines, complains, bitches...and gets a technical foul. In OT. And I say this without a shred of exaggeration -- if somebody over on out bench had just gotten up and smacked him right in the mouth I would have cheered. Then of course he missed a jumper, as likely as not because head gone. Got his shot blocked in second OT leading to the Warriors going up 5 with a miunute left. Committed a ridiculous foul on a missed FT when rather than just going up and snagging the rebound in front of the 6'5" player behind him (Azubuike), he instead decided to reach out and grab his jersey to hold him down. This was after two bricked FTs (part of an absolutely amazing perhaps game losing FT performance from the Warriors) and gave the Warriors two more. And so, we hung on, in spite of Brad, not because of him. And what do you do with this? I respected the numbers and went straight A because the numbers were huge even in just the regulation minutes. But by the end of the night I was once again ashamed and annoyed to have Brad on this squad, and wanted him gone. That says something on a near career night for him.
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And here was where the danger came in -- Kevin struggled mightily and was the goat all night long until the very final play of regulation when Don Nelson may have won the game for us. On our final offensive possession, he mysteriously pulls Andris Biedrins -- his best defender and only shotblocker -- out of the game in favor of Turiaf. To save him from a 6th foul? With 15 seconds to go? Worried we'd intentionally foul him? Who knows, but Kevin saw it, got switched off onto Turiaf, and took him right to the rim for a 2 handed no mistakes about it flush to tie the game and send it to OT and save himself from some embarrassing mea culpa's in the lockerroom after the game. In OT was back to struggling, committed a key turnoveron a carry, but made up for it by playign soe good defense (yes you heard that right) on Azubuike the next possession, and then n drawing a foul and kncioking down the FTs. But the fun was not over. Regoated himself on the first OT game winning attempt, as he got surrounded and had the shot blocked from behind to force a second OT. And in fact kept right on missing shots to the point he was actually briefly pulled in the second OT in favor of Bobby. But Bobby immediately blew a rebounding asssingment, and Kevin was back. Just in time to hit the huge three to tie it and send it to THIRD OT. So...quite the eventful night. By my count goat in regulation...then hero in regulation. Goat in first OT. Hero in second OT. The danger I spoke of would have been Kevin flapping his gums and then coming out and being the single biggest reason we lost this one. That's a leadership killer right there. But the big dunk saved him from that, and combined with the big three was enough to keep the wolves at bay for another day. Not in any way a good game, but hit two big shots, and that deserves something.
crazy
