Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
So a weekend which I gave the Consortium off and started warming up the pretty girls turned into a weekend of "good losses". Because mind you that's what we had here. The Memphis/Phoenix pair of games was just pathetic. I don't know who or what was responsible but they deserve to be slapped. This weekend's game though have been back tot he encouraging pattern of the Clippers games -- we played contenders, hung around, even took leads later in the second half, then they pulled away. If we had played with that spirit vs Memphis and Phoenix there wouldn't be so much gloom.
In any case, a loss. We are 1-6 and have yeoman's work to do. Now word comes down it may not be with Collison's help. But Rondo continues to show flashes, and if we get Boogie back there's still time to get into things.
Boxscore
Stats: 34min 22pts (10-25, 1-4, 1-1) 7reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 4TO
Summary: Note to Coach. Perhaps you would like to guess what position Rudy's coach was playing him at in Toronto?
Gay ( C- ) -- this was a down and up and down game for Rudy that unfortunately ended on a long dramatic 4th quarter down destined to bring more heat on Rudy for failing to step up without Cuz. Hit a three to start things off and give us a 3-2 lead, but settled back into more of the forcing and missing he's been doing as the quarter, and half, got atrociously sloppy. He came back more aggressive in the early 2nd and began to rack up points, and it looked like maybe he was through the slump and was going to put up one of those 30pt nights. But it wasn't to be. After A Kosta Koufos attack in the early third got us right back even, Rudy would hit only one shot in the quarter, miss a couple of threes, and go quietly to the bench. All of which made his featured role when he returned in the 4th all the more confusing. It was all Rudy all the time, and despite appearing to have a golden opportunity for such post up hijinks against a Warriors team trotting out 4 guards and Green at center, it was right back to the suck for Rudy as he missed conversion after conversion off the front of the rim, going 1-7 down the stretch as we could not score enough to keep up, before adding two back to back layups with a minute remaining.
Stats: 15min 3pts (1-1, 0-0, 1-2) 3reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Summary: spot started along with Anderson, apparently to absorb the starters' curse so our benchers could come in and try to win things.
Acy ( C+ ) -- well, he got the spot start, and in the early going he made a couple of strong plays with a big block, and a little floater for a score. Soon thereafter he resumed being Quincy Acy however, and Karl's usage of him began to get reactive. He was in for 4 minutes in the second, then quickly pulled once the Warriors replaced Green with Barnes. He was there for 3 minutes to start the third and there while Koufos bang-bang-banged the Warriors...but as soon as the Warriors responeded to that by yanking Ezeli for Igoudala and hit a couple of jumpers, Acy was gone again.
Stats: 27min 12pts (6-9, 0-0, 0-0) 10reb 0ast 1stl 1blk 0TO
Summary: solid interior defense and rebounding
Koufos ( B ) -- was trying to have himself a low key bigman battle with Ezeli in there, but accidentally finally got the clear better of him as we started the second half with 3 bang bang bang setups for Kosta, and he scored 6 straight points inside of 2 minutes to cut the Warriors lead to 2. Shaky as the Warriors commitment is to playing big men anyway, they immediately yanked Ezeli to break the run, and while Kosta would score one more time against Green, that was basically it for the game for him. Ezeli's numbers ended up being close to a draw, but most of them were against WCS's skinniness rather than Kosta's solidity. Less good than he was in Phoenix, but back to a very solid part time contribution this time.
Stats: 14min 2pts (1-3, 0-1, 0-0) 0reb 3ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Summary: moved the ball and came up with one spectacular first quarter block
Anderson ( C ) -- this is one of those nothing little grades where a guy plays few minutes, puts up few stats to hang a grade on, and yet may have had an impact. In Anderson's case, it would have been on defense as his offense remains non-existent. It wasn't until the middle of the third quarter that Klay Thompson finally broke loose for a few hoops against Anderson, and he threw in a big block as well. The C is a similar giveup grade to the one I gave Acy. He started, contributed little, but may have done his job.
Stats: 44min 14pts (7-20, 0-3, 0-0) 12reb 15ast 4stl 0blk 3TO
Summary: it was like the good ole days for Rondo, pestering a star opponent, raking up assists running the offense, and notching a big sloppy triple double
Rondo ( A ) -- I had to think a bit about this grade: this game was the closest thing we have seen to old school Rondo -- he set up King after King for easy shots, scrapped on the boards, chased down plays for steals -- combined with the problematic situation of being forced into a role as a #2 scorer. But just having another player on the roster not only capable of nothing a triple double, but built for it, is amazing enough -- it was that versatility we lost with the Tyreke decision. And the real thing that eased me into a straight A grade here despite 7-20 shooting was Rondo's pesky defense on Stephen Curry, and Curry being totally ineffective for three quarters of this game (it might have lasted longer than that if not for some dubious decisions to rotate off of him to go challenge somebody else's host -- I don't care who that somebody else is or how open their shot is, they can have it before I give Curry and open shot to wake him up). During one second half sequence Rondo missed three layups and finishes on one possession but each time rebounded his own miss or stole the ball back from the Warrior who had. It was entirely appropriate that on one play midway through the 4th, Rajon not only gave us a lead back with a jumper to make it 79-78, but that same play got him his 10th point and secured the triple double. It hasn't been there every night, but for 3 of the first 6 games Rondo has been a very good PG, which is very promising going forward. And now he's going to have to be -- he played 44 1/2 minutes tonight, and we played the Warriors dead even while he was out there. But with the other PGs out, we lost the 3 1/2 minutes he was not on the floor by 9 pts for the final margin on the scoreboard. And with Collison out and Curry unproven, Rajon may get a chance to play 40+ a lot in the upcoming games. That's not necessarily a bad thing if it allows him to put his stamp on games like he did tonight.
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