Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Salmons ( B+ ) -- strong first half for Salmons in place of Artest, was out and running and getting to the rim at will against the Wizards "defense". Hitting everything, although pretty much "everything" was layups and short pullups. In the late third, made a nice play, or attempt at a play, even though it failed -- went up high and tried to block a shot from I think it was Haywood on the break, met him midair, but fouled him. Quieted way down late though, and mixed in a bad forced 3ptr with misses to help seal our defeat late. Was only able to play as Kevin's wingman for about 2 1/2 quarters before fading. Will be interesting to see what he follows this up with in Denver. On the one hand that game is tailor made for John (and Kevin) as its just run run run. On the other hand its a back to back and the Salmons Rule of Incosnsistency says that if he scores 20+ one night he will of necessity struggle to reach double digits soon thereafter.
Thomas ( C ) -- was about the only King missing shots in the early going, but was filling the rebounding hustling role and keeping things alive for the rest of the team. Did not help at all in the 3rd however, and was in the process of being lit up like a Christmas tree before being benched the rest of the way.
Miller ( B ) -- had a big big first quarter, and keyed a very old style Kings offense. Then got forgotten about by Muss until the end of the 2nd quarter, and was never as effective after that point. Still easily the best of our bigs -- KT and Reef barely showed, and Corliss was, well, just Corliss. But after the first quarter was no longer able to control things with his skills, and increasingly got exposed for the shaky defense and boardwork.
Martin ( A+ ) -- when a guy goes for 40 and a career high, I just have to give them the "+", and in many ways it was well earned. In fact this was the single closest we've ever seen Kevin to being a true #1 type scorer -- when guarded in this one he actually was looking to take his man rather than just giving up and pasing it off. Also added several nifty assists. Now on the flipside the defense was porous, and the scoring was...kind of like that Golden State game. Kevin was scoring big, but the Wizards were generally ok with that. Its becoming a pretty clear pattern -- you get Kevin in an uptempo game against one of these run n gun casual defensive teams, and he's going to score big. Unfortunately it all kind of plays into the other team's strategy and pace. And so 40pts -- a career night, a big step forward in many ways, and yet...not producing results on the scoreboard. But the kid can only do what he can do, and tonight he did something pretty rare.
Bibby ( C ) -- had a strong first quarter keying our early scoring push with 6 first quarter assists. Still couldn't hit his own shot, but found other ways to contribute. But cooled way off, lost that feel, was increasingly victimized oin defense, and in the second half was no help at all. For one quarter he had found the answer and keyed our early success, but after that it was right back to the neverending struggle.
Douby ( INC ) -- as per Muss's pregame threat, Douby got some PT tonight for apparently being a good practice player. Which is great in high school, but damnit we're trying to win games here. Unfortunately did nothing terribly positive to show that he was a good game time player. Luckily falls just short of my arbitrary 6min cutoff for grading.
Reef ( D ) -- in the early going tried a couple of outside shots and missed them, so moved into the post and knocked down a few. But just completely disappeared therafter and got frustrated by his third quarter struggles and blessed us with another of his little holdiay gifts -- a technical, as we melted down in the third. Finished with an anemic 4pts 5reb night on 2-6 shooting in 26min, and after half there was no effect on defense either. Looked reasonably promising to start too.
Cisco ( C+ ) -- short first half stint, did little. Hit a helpful three in the early 4th as we made a final push to get back into it, but when you look at his box, that was about it. Scored 5 points, but the only other numbers for Mr. Versatility were 3 not great fouls and a turnover. No steals, blocks, assists, rebounds. Most of all, little or no impact. Just kind of there until that one well timed shot. Unfortunately it sparked little, and a few minutes later the Wizards were back in control.
Williamson ( B ) -- moderately effective first half stint with 5 pts 3rebs of inside work, and showing persistence in there if nothing else. And with KT and SAR both flaming out got a lot of run after half. Scored well during his time, going inside on a team incapable of stopping anybody inside, or out, for that matter. Unfortunately was scored well on in his return, and a couple of his hoops took place after this one was over. But in the end, you can only take so much heat for scoring 17pts in 19min off the bench.
Price ( INC ) -- garbagetime, and a game after seeing himself replaced by Jason Hart in the rotation, now it was Quincy Douby. Quite clearly at the moment the rotation is basically "anybody but Price".
Muss ( D ) -- Just 2-9 over our last 11, and what just happened with Artest? I had generally expected this soft patch of games to be a stretch which drew us back up close to .500 and got people talking about us turning the corner and whatnot for our ability to beat the sisters of the poor at Arco. But the sisters just got done opening a can of whoopass on us in the third quarter, and instead of a step closer to .500, we moved a step closer to the basement. We actually came out on fire and firing on all cylinders -- as coaches get credit and blame for all kinds of things they really don't have control over, Muss should get some credit there for having us ready to go, and ever so briefly resembling the Kings of old with our ball movement and shooting. But of course it was also Muss who helped kill that momentum with first a bizarre substitution putting in Quincy Douby as our 6th man apparently because he tries hard in practice?? And then exploring the vagaries of our bench while largely icing Mike and Brad, who had ever so briefly looked like themselves before being sat down for long stretches. Compounded things by apparently delivering another one of his stirring halftime speeches, -- you know the kind that result in zzzzzzzzzs pouring out of the lockerroom, because we came out in the third flat out asleep yet again -- been going on all season -- and got blitzed to the tune of 44pts given up in the quarter. Damn we good. 10-14 now, and duking it out with the Clippers and Hornets for that coveted 13th spot in the West. Kind of like limbo..."how low can we go?"
Thomas ( C ) -- was about the only King missing shots in the early going, but was filling the rebounding hustling role and keeping things alive for the rest of the team. Did not help at all in the 3rd however, and was in the process of being lit up like a Christmas tree before being benched the rest of the way.
Miller ( B ) -- had a big big first quarter, and keyed a very old style Kings offense. Then got forgotten about by Muss until the end of the 2nd quarter, and was never as effective after that point. Still easily the best of our bigs -- KT and Reef barely showed, and Corliss was, well, just Corliss. But after the first quarter was no longer able to control things with his skills, and increasingly got exposed for the shaky defense and boardwork.
Martin ( A+ ) -- when a guy goes for 40 and a career high, I just have to give them the "+", and in many ways it was well earned. In fact this was the single closest we've ever seen Kevin to being a true #1 type scorer -- when guarded in this one he actually was looking to take his man rather than just giving up and pasing it off. Also added several nifty assists. Now on the flipside the defense was porous, and the scoring was...kind of like that Golden State game. Kevin was scoring big, but the Wizards were generally ok with that. Its becoming a pretty clear pattern -- you get Kevin in an uptempo game against one of these run n gun casual defensive teams, and he's going to score big. Unfortunately it all kind of plays into the other team's strategy and pace. And so 40pts -- a career night, a big step forward in many ways, and yet...not producing results on the scoreboard. But the kid can only do what he can do, and tonight he did something pretty rare.
Bibby ( C ) -- had a strong first quarter keying our early scoring push with 6 first quarter assists. Still couldn't hit his own shot, but found other ways to contribute. But cooled way off, lost that feel, was increasingly victimized oin defense, and in the second half was no help at all. For one quarter he had found the answer and keyed our early success, but after that it was right back to the neverending struggle.
Douby ( INC ) -- as per Muss's pregame threat, Douby got some PT tonight for apparently being a good practice player. Which is great in high school, but damnit we're trying to win games here. Unfortunately did nothing terribly positive to show that he was a good game time player. Luckily falls just short of my arbitrary 6min cutoff for grading.
Reef ( D ) -- in the early going tried a couple of outside shots and missed them, so moved into the post and knocked down a few. But just completely disappeared therafter and got frustrated by his third quarter struggles and blessed us with another of his little holdiay gifts -- a technical, as we melted down in the third. Finished with an anemic 4pts 5reb night on 2-6 shooting in 26min, and after half there was no effect on defense either. Looked reasonably promising to start too.
Cisco ( C+ ) -- short first half stint, did little. Hit a helpful three in the early 4th as we made a final push to get back into it, but when you look at his box, that was about it. Scored 5 points, but the only other numbers for Mr. Versatility were 3 not great fouls and a turnover. No steals, blocks, assists, rebounds. Most of all, little or no impact. Just kind of there until that one well timed shot. Unfortunately it sparked little, and a few minutes later the Wizards were back in control.
Williamson ( B ) -- moderately effective first half stint with 5 pts 3rebs of inside work, and showing persistence in there if nothing else. And with KT and SAR both flaming out got a lot of run after half. Scored well during his time, going inside on a team incapable of stopping anybody inside, or out, for that matter. Unfortunately was scored well on in his return, and a couple of his hoops took place after this one was over. But in the end, you can only take so much heat for scoring 17pts in 19min off the bench.
Price ( INC ) -- garbagetime, and a game after seeing himself replaced by Jason Hart in the rotation, now it was Quincy Douby. Quite clearly at the moment the rotation is basically "anybody but Price".
Muss ( D ) -- Just 2-9 over our last 11, and what just happened with Artest? I had generally expected this soft patch of games to be a stretch which drew us back up close to .500 and got people talking about us turning the corner and whatnot for our ability to beat the sisters of the poor at Arco. But the sisters just got done opening a can of whoopass on us in the third quarter, and instead of a step closer to .500, we moved a step closer to the basement. We actually came out on fire and firing on all cylinders -- as coaches get credit and blame for all kinds of things they really don't have control over, Muss should get some credit there for having us ready to go, and ever so briefly resembling the Kings of old with our ball movement and shooting. But of course it was also Muss who helped kill that momentum with first a bizarre substitution putting in Quincy Douby as our 6th man apparently because he tries hard in practice?? And then exploring the vagaries of our bench while largely icing Mike and Brad, who had ever so briefly looked like themselves before being sat down for long stretches. Compounded things by apparently delivering another one of his stirring halftime speeches, -- you know the kind that result in zzzzzzzzzs pouring out of the lockerroom, because we came out in the third flat out asleep yet again -- been going on all season -- and got blitzed to the tune of 44pts given up in the quarter. Damn we good. 10-14 now, and duking it out with the Clippers and Hornets for that coveted 13th spot in the West. Kind of like limbo..."how low can we go?"
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