Pop Quiz
You are nearly 7'0" tall and the other team misses a shot, do you:
a) sprint out on the break before the ball is grabbed; or
b) turn to complain to the ref about being fouled two possessions ago before the ball is grabbed; or
c) stand there picking your behind; or
d) all of the above
Peja ( F ) -- hit a couple of early threes, but really did not feel dangerous even then, and that was literally IT. Almost no rebounds when we were desperate for them. Nothing at all in any category in the third. Played a lot of second half minutes really just because the kids were not trustworthy, and because Dunleavy was not hurting us...well, until the end of the game when all of a sudden Golden State's struggling shooter became their best clutch player and drained threes and hit free throws to sink us. This was 42 minutes of true ineffectiveness, and I saw a number of occasions during the game when Kings did not pass to an open Peja -- they had no confidence either apparently. A little worrisome in that I don't know whether its physical, mental, emotional after the recent public beatdown or what. In any case, I avoided going with the F yesterday just based upon the injury, but I don't know how else to grade this one unless it just be "D" for depressing.
Reef ( B ) -- got off to a slow start, but toward the end of the first made an open court steal and follow and it seemed to get him going, offensively at least. On the glass he joined the entire starting frontcourt in nearly complete ineptitude. Kept on working and working on offence, and by the end of the game had worked himself into a nice scoring night. Always a presence, but never dominant (and for some strange reason Murphy kept on guarding him incorrectly -- crowding him rather than falling off of him -- and Reef made him pay). At the beginning of the third once again tried his open three point chuck, but airballed it this time. For perhaps the first time this season saw a little bit of a lineup with Reef anchoring a unit with 4 second stringers. Nothing came of it, but seemed like it could be a good way in the future to give the bench some punch while getting Reef some shots as a primary weapoon. Of course it also means that Reef is very clearly our backup center now, which is just terrible for a team with our defense/rebounding issues. Predictable, but will we never learn the value of interior defense and rebounding? Overall a good scoring night for Reef on a night for scorers, but we could have used a boost in other areas as well.
Miller ( B ) -- big start distributing the ball and making a few uncommonly aggressive moves on offense as well, including an eye-opening drive and throw down to open the game. But, and stop me if this sounds familiar, had ZERO rebounds in first half. Third quarter kind of summed up Brad this year as in the space of a couple of minutes he was posted up and scored over by Adonal Foyle of all people, TWICE, but then turned around at the other end and hit back to back threes to answer. He's not a center at all. He's a point guard. Made a saavy play to draw a three shot foul with 40 seconds to go as kind of our last gasp, but it led nowhere. 18 6 and 7 again. And on 6 of 7 shooting too. Incredibly efficient, passing powered us early (think 5 of the assists were in the first quarter), but as we creep up on the quarter pole of the season, I am becoming convinced we are never going to see him rebound this year. Which is bizarre. So we're back to playing the "how do you grade Brad" game again -- but on a night when we got embarrassed on the glass while our center gave us nothing there, and we had to witness the embarrassing spectacle of Adonal Foyle punishing us inside, I'm not feeling as warm and fuzzy about the inside out upside down game Brad is playing.
Bonzi ( B+ ) -- had absolutely no luck slowing down JRich in the first, but was scoring back at him on the other end. Was battling physically as always, but got the worst of it on a face to shoulder confrontation with Biedrins at the end of the third that appeared to leave him woozy, then came back a few minutes later and promptly sprained his ankle. Was all kinds of beat up and kept on heading to the bench to get worked on, returning, attacking and scoring, heading back to the bench etc.. Led us on the glass again, and no offense Bonzi, but I am getting so tired of it. Was outplayed by Richardson, but was fighting and scrapping once more and came up with big numbers.
Bibby ( B- ) -- Not nearly as hot as he has been in recent games, but unfortunately just as one-dimensional, and doubly unfortunately, matched up against a guy who is not. Quiet start, hit his first, but then missed the next few while Baron was getting into the lane and breaking us down all game long. Continued to drop in shots and make the occasional tougg layup throughout the game, but not nearly as dynamic as his opposite number tonight. Hit a couple of big shots down the stretch, but there would be no late game heroics this time out.
Thomas ( B ) -- maybe we're getting somewhere now -- 2nd straight good bench stint for us. Was very aggressive fighting in there on the boards, which was a godsend on this night, and really WAS our bench for the most part.
Garcia ( D+ ) -- came in first again with Bonzi in foul trouble. Made a few all around contributions, but offensively gave us nothing besides a forced 28 foot heave, and an unfortunate travel on what should have been an easy layup at the end of the third when Foyle intimidated him into shuffling his feet.
Hart ( C+ ) -- hit a couple of early shots and played some harassing defense against Aaron Miles (not exactly Baron) in a solid first half stint. But with that out of the way, returned to missing shots and turning the ball over (by trying to directly challenge Baron and dribble through him no less). I was not unhappy with the overall results, and thought he could have gotten more minutes tonight without the consequences being too dire, but it was a night for the starters.
Martin ( INC ) -- quiet first stint where he missed all his shots, but did highlight things by drawing the charge on a semi-flop against Derek Fisher in the 2nd -- a little of his own medicine. Don't think he earned any second half minutes. Going INC here.
Corliss ( INC ) -- Ok, something frightening here. I'm trying to place his minutes? Yikes. So much for grading integrity. Stats say he more or less entered and left with Kevin. And put up zeroes across the board? If he actually played, give the grader an "F" here.
Adelman ( B- ) -- game started off fun and intense and up and down, although both teams were making a fair number of mistakes along the way. But the fun began to be drained out of it as the Warriors grabbed board after board after board and beat us to loose ball after loose ball. Yeah, we played last night. But it was a blowout and nobody played many minutes. And our guys looked like they had plenty of energy when it came time to shoot. Continue to be fascinated with what Rick has done with Brad and Mike -- making Brad a very large point guard (actually the epitome of a Princeton "big" man right now -- looks like college) and Mike into a very small OG. Strange. Interesting. Putting up big numbers. But not sure its a winning formula. Tonight Rick touched on the bench briefly, but he was going for the win and had rested the starters for just that reason yesterday, and so played them almost the whole night this time out. Playing Peja those minutes though was kind of ridiculous. We had no better options...or did we? Just pointless. Especially if the guy is actually hurting. Anyway, our offense clicked along, but it was all of that other distasteful stuff which klilled us. Not sure there is much the coach can do when guys aren't rebounding besides yell at them, or perhps put in benchers who WILL get on the boards? Tough call though, as we really don't have many guys who fit that description, and the starting 5 is going well offensively if nothing else. Dissatisfying loss, as we really lost simply because they outworked us. So 7-8, but at least back home to maybe fattenr up some more.
You are nearly 7'0" tall and the other team misses a shot, do you:
a) sprint out on the break before the ball is grabbed; or
b) turn to complain to the ref about being fouled two possessions ago before the ball is grabbed; or
c) stand there picking your behind; or
d) all of the above
Peja ( F ) -- hit a couple of early threes, but really did not feel dangerous even then, and that was literally IT. Almost no rebounds when we were desperate for them. Nothing at all in any category in the third. Played a lot of second half minutes really just because the kids were not trustworthy, and because Dunleavy was not hurting us...well, until the end of the game when all of a sudden Golden State's struggling shooter became their best clutch player and drained threes and hit free throws to sink us. This was 42 minutes of true ineffectiveness, and I saw a number of occasions during the game when Kings did not pass to an open Peja -- they had no confidence either apparently. A little worrisome in that I don't know whether its physical, mental, emotional after the recent public beatdown or what. In any case, I avoided going with the F yesterday just based upon the injury, but I don't know how else to grade this one unless it just be "D" for depressing.
Reef ( B ) -- got off to a slow start, but toward the end of the first made an open court steal and follow and it seemed to get him going, offensively at least. On the glass he joined the entire starting frontcourt in nearly complete ineptitude. Kept on working and working on offence, and by the end of the game had worked himself into a nice scoring night. Always a presence, but never dominant (and for some strange reason Murphy kept on guarding him incorrectly -- crowding him rather than falling off of him -- and Reef made him pay). At the beginning of the third once again tried his open three point chuck, but airballed it this time. For perhaps the first time this season saw a little bit of a lineup with Reef anchoring a unit with 4 second stringers. Nothing came of it, but seemed like it could be a good way in the future to give the bench some punch while getting Reef some shots as a primary weapoon. Of course it also means that Reef is very clearly our backup center now, which is just terrible for a team with our defense/rebounding issues. Predictable, but will we never learn the value of interior defense and rebounding? Overall a good scoring night for Reef on a night for scorers, but we could have used a boost in other areas as well.
Miller ( B ) -- big start distributing the ball and making a few uncommonly aggressive moves on offense as well, including an eye-opening drive and throw down to open the game. But, and stop me if this sounds familiar, had ZERO rebounds in first half. Third quarter kind of summed up Brad this year as in the space of a couple of minutes he was posted up and scored over by Adonal Foyle of all people, TWICE, but then turned around at the other end and hit back to back threes to answer. He's not a center at all. He's a point guard. Made a saavy play to draw a three shot foul with 40 seconds to go as kind of our last gasp, but it led nowhere. 18 6 and 7 again. And on 6 of 7 shooting too. Incredibly efficient, passing powered us early (think 5 of the assists were in the first quarter), but as we creep up on the quarter pole of the season, I am becoming convinced we are never going to see him rebound this year. Which is bizarre. So we're back to playing the "how do you grade Brad" game again -- but on a night when we got embarrassed on the glass while our center gave us nothing there, and we had to witness the embarrassing spectacle of Adonal Foyle punishing us inside, I'm not feeling as warm and fuzzy about the inside out upside down game Brad is playing.
Bonzi ( B+ ) -- had absolutely no luck slowing down JRich in the first, but was scoring back at him on the other end. Was battling physically as always, but got the worst of it on a face to shoulder confrontation with Biedrins at the end of the third that appeared to leave him woozy, then came back a few minutes later and promptly sprained his ankle. Was all kinds of beat up and kept on heading to the bench to get worked on, returning, attacking and scoring, heading back to the bench etc.. Led us on the glass again, and no offense Bonzi, but I am getting so tired of it. Was outplayed by Richardson, but was fighting and scrapping once more and came up with big numbers.
Bibby ( B- ) -- Not nearly as hot as he has been in recent games, but unfortunately just as one-dimensional, and doubly unfortunately, matched up against a guy who is not. Quiet start, hit his first, but then missed the next few while Baron was getting into the lane and breaking us down all game long. Continued to drop in shots and make the occasional tougg layup throughout the game, but not nearly as dynamic as his opposite number tonight. Hit a couple of big shots down the stretch, but there would be no late game heroics this time out.
Thomas ( B ) -- maybe we're getting somewhere now -- 2nd straight good bench stint for us. Was very aggressive fighting in there on the boards, which was a godsend on this night, and really WAS our bench for the most part.
Garcia ( D+ ) -- came in first again with Bonzi in foul trouble. Made a few all around contributions, but offensively gave us nothing besides a forced 28 foot heave, and an unfortunate travel on what should have been an easy layup at the end of the third when Foyle intimidated him into shuffling his feet.
Hart ( C+ ) -- hit a couple of early shots and played some harassing defense against Aaron Miles (not exactly Baron) in a solid first half stint. But with that out of the way, returned to missing shots and turning the ball over (by trying to directly challenge Baron and dribble through him no less). I was not unhappy with the overall results, and thought he could have gotten more minutes tonight without the consequences being too dire, but it was a night for the starters.
Martin ( INC ) -- quiet first stint where he missed all his shots, but did highlight things by drawing the charge on a semi-flop against Derek Fisher in the 2nd -- a little of his own medicine. Don't think he earned any second half minutes. Going INC here.
Corliss ( INC ) -- Ok, something frightening here. I'm trying to place his minutes? Yikes. So much for grading integrity. Stats say he more or less entered and left with Kevin. And put up zeroes across the board? If he actually played, give the grader an "F" here.
Adelman ( B- ) -- game started off fun and intense and up and down, although both teams were making a fair number of mistakes along the way. But the fun began to be drained out of it as the Warriors grabbed board after board after board and beat us to loose ball after loose ball. Yeah, we played last night. But it was a blowout and nobody played many minutes. And our guys looked like they had plenty of energy when it came time to shoot. Continue to be fascinated with what Rick has done with Brad and Mike -- making Brad a very large point guard (actually the epitome of a Princeton "big" man right now -- looks like college) and Mike into a very small OG. Strange. Interesting. Putting up big numbers. But not sure its a winning formula. Tonight Rick touched on the bench briefly, but he was going for the win and had rested the starters for just that reason yesterday, and so played them almost the whole night this time out. Playing Peja those minutes though was kind of ridiculous. We had no better options...or did we? Just pointless. Especially if the guy is actually hurting. Anyway, our offense clicked along, but it was all of that other distasteful stuff which klilled us. Not sure there is much the coach can do when guys aren't rebounding besides yell at them, or perhps put in benchers who WILL get on the boards? Tough call though, as we really don't have many guys who fit that description, and the starting 5 is going well offensively if nothing else. Dissatisfying loss, as we really lost simply because they outworked us. So 7-8, but at least back home to maybe fattenr up some more.
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but couldnt get rebounds
