WOOT!!!! (don't even know what the hell that word is susposed to mean, but Woot! anyway)
Barnes ( A ) -- What a game by Matt. You saw the starting lineups and went arrggh! You go from Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic at the forward spots to Matt Barnes and Darius Songaila and it brings back all sorts of ugly lottery memories to the long term Kings fan. But that's not the way it turned out. Best game for Matt in many a month. Did all of the good things he can do for us, and none of the bad. Hustled his butt off, got his hands on a ton of balls, hit the boards hard, was an energetic pest. Combined with Songaila to give us tremendous hustle across the frontline. Also managed to avoid the mistakes which so often plague him. He's probably going to get squeezed back out of the lineup when Peja and Mo return, and really should behind those two. But these last few games have been a chance for him to really reestablish himself as a dependable hustling option off the bench should we need one as the season progresses.
Songaila ( A- ) -- thought Darius started off the game a little slow. Was ok, but not having much impact. But in the second half he really turned it up and combined with Matt to just get his hands on ball after ball, hustle, hit his jumper, and in a very welcome development finally began to show a little of that passing skill which is so key to Sacto big men. Numbers say he was weak on the glass -- watched the game, do not beleive it. He got his hands on a lot of balls that ended up going to other guys, fought hard for position, blocked out. Big effort game.
Miller ( A+ ) -- wow, Brad is into a serious All-Star game push right now. In a game when we desperately needed him, he responded beautifully. More than beautifully actually. There is really no way Brad Miller should be able to be this good on a night when we have so few options. No way he should be able to beat KG with his offense. But KG was off tonight -- just not focused. And Brad was exactly the opposite. The jumper was money, charged repeatedly to the rim, hit the glass on both sides of the floor and grabbed big boards in traffic. He was the muscle behind the hustle of Barnes and Songaila. Best player on the floor for a night.
Mobley ( A- ) -- started out the game in scary fashion -- whether it was the groin or "an upset sotmach" or whatever looked like he was limping, no lift, maybe hurt and unable to go. Missed his forst 3-4 shots, as well as 3 FTs. But then something happened. Took him off the floor sent him to the locker room. In case it was a stomach problem I don't want to speculate on exactly what happened there
, but whatever it was, he came back out a new man. Looked like Cat Mobley once again. And that was perhaps the key turning point for us. With Brad and Cat and Mike, we all of a sudden had enough offense to get it done. Was not perfect on offense, but was a confident force out there and hit big shots to stop Wolves mini-runs. And really joined the team hustle and effort all over the floor as well.
Bibby ( B+ ) -- for the first 28 minutes or so of the game I was really mad at Mike. The rest of the guys were absolutely busting their asses, and Mike was just zoning out, letting the team down on a night when we desperately needed him. Think he was 0-8 at halftime, and went into the half picking up a stupid T on the way to the locker room. But the second half he just exploded, and joined Brad and Mobley in carrying us offensively. On top of that joined the hustle party on defense, scrambling around, getting his hands on balls, and then put a giant exclamation point on it with a flying block in the final minute.
Martin ( C+ ) -- first half stint, did a few things and hustled. But did not make a convincing argument for himself for more PT. Thought he might come out and try to establish some offense with us so shorthanded, but really only looked at the rim once, and when he did it was the same ole ill-advised drive into heavy traffic from him. Maybe needs a little Brad Miller motivation -- if you have the open jumper, take it Kevin.
Ostertag ( B- ) -- more good than bad in his own first half stint. The bad coming on offense of course where he badly clanked two more FTs (what is up with that -- he's a career 55% shooter I think, and what is he now? 25%? Horrific.) and managed to get himself blocked two times by Olowakandi (who otherwise probably deserves a grade from me this afternoon since he was clearly playing like he was on our payroll). The good were in his normal areas -- blocked and altered Kandi's shots as well, grabbed boards.
House ( B- ) -- came in during the first half and hit a three for us during a long cold stretch for us offensively, and also showed nice patience setting up Brad on one extended sequence on the perimeter.
Daniels ( C+ ) -- numbers were modest and the poor guy is simply never going to be an offensive force in this league, but actually hustled pretty well out there and I thought kept the energy level pretty high for us until Barnes returned.
Bradley ( C- ) -- well, there are parts of his game that look like they could be good if he was just a little more talented, but he's not. Nice foortwork in the post...and missed the shot. Hustled well on the glass, and then missed the ball. Fights on defense, but then gets scored over anyway. Etc. etc. He tried. But not a positive force for us out there today.
Adelman ( A+ ) -- And a standing ovation from my living room!!! What an effort. We had no right to win this one. None. And we pulled it off on pure 100% effort. Again -- I'm not sure I ever recall a coach, any coach, so consistently getting big efforts out of his teams when they are shorthanded. Been going on for years now. Tonight Rick was missing his two mega-forwards, missing both his sixth men, his starting backcourt started off terribly, and yet we pull together, we find the answers, we play inspired ball, and we win. Tried everyone who was healthy during the first half. Every body on the bench. And everybody tried hard. But in the second half the pieced together starting five began playing so well, and so inspired, that Rick just said f' it and ran them the entire second half with no substituions at all. GREAT coaching move. Also appreciated a brief moment in the third quarter when the Wolves kept on insisting on throwing utter garbage out on the court against us -- Ervin Johnson, Anthony Carter, Trenton Hassel (with nobody to shut down) oh my! -- so we just finally punished them for it and came diving down with the TRIPLE team on Garnett -- screw the scrubs. Let 'em shoot. It forced Flip to pull those turds from the game. A+ for Rick. A+ for the team.
Barnes ( A ) -- What a game by Matt. You saw the starting lineups and went arrggh! You go from Chris Webber and Peja Stojakovic at the forward spots to Matt Barnes and Darius Songaila and it brings back all sorts of ugly lottery memories to the long term Kings fan. But that's not the way it turned out. Best game for Matt in many a month. Did all of the good things he can do for us, and none of the bad. Hustled his butt off, got his hands on a ton of balls, hit the boards hard, was an energetic pest. Combined with Songaila to give us tremendous hustle across the frontline. Also managed to avoid the mistakes which so often plague him. He's probably going to get squeezed back out of the lineup when Peja and Mo return, and really should behind those two. But these last few games have been a chance for him to really reestablish himself as a dependable hustling option off the bench should we need one as the season progresses.
Songaila ( A- ) -- thought Darius started off the game a little slow. Was ok, but not having much impact. But in the second half he really turned it up and combined with Matt to just get his hands on ball after ball, hustle, hit his jumper, and in a very welcome development finally began to show a little of that passing skill which is so key to Sacto big men. Numbers say he was weak on the glass -- watched the game, do not beleive it. He got his hands on a lot of balls that ended up going to other guys, fought hard for position, blocked out. Big effort game.
Miller ( A+ ) -- wow, Brad is into a serious All-Star game push right now. In a game when we desperately needed him, he responded beautifully. More than beautifully actually. There is really no way Brad Miller should be able to be this good on a night when we have so few options. No way he should be able to beat KG with his offense. But KG was off tonight -- just not focused. And Brad was exactly the opposite. The jumper was money, charged repeatedly to the rim, hit the glass on both sides of the floor and grabbed big boards in traffic. He was the muscle behind the hustle of Barnes and Songaila. Best player on the floor for a night.
Mobley ( A- ) -- started out the game in scary fashion -- whether it was the groin or "an upset sotmach" or whatever looked like he was limping, no lift, maybe hurt and unable to go. Missed his forst 3-4 shots, as well as 3 FTs. But then something happened. Took him off the floor sent him to the locker room. In case it was a stomach problem I don't want to speculate on exactly what happened there
, but whatever it was, he came back out a new man. Looked like Cat Mobley once again. And that was perhaps the key turning point for us. With Brad and Cat and Mike, we all of a sudden had enough offense to get it done. Was not perfect on offense, but was a confident force out there and hit big shots to stop Wolves mini-runs. And really joined the team hustle and effort all over the floor as well.Bibby ( B+ ) -- for the first 28 minutes or so of the game I was really mad at Mike. The rest of the guys were absolutely busting their asses, and Mike was just zoning out, letting the team down on a night when we desperately needed him. Think he was 0-8 at halftime, and went into the half picking up a stupid T on the way to the locker room. But the second half he just exploded, and joined Brad and Mobley in carrying us offensively. On top of that joined the hustle party on defense, scrambling around, getting his hands on balls, and then put a giant exclamation point on it with a flying block in the final minute.
Martin ( C+ ) -- first half stint, did a few things and hustled. But did not make a convincing argument for himself for more PT. Thought he might come out and try to establish some offense with us so shorthanded, but really only looked at the rim once, and when he did it was the same ole ill-advised drive into heavy traffic from him. Maybe needs a little Brad Miller motivation -- if you have the open jumper, take it Kevin.
Ostertag ( B- ) -- more good than bad in his own first half stint. The bad coming on offense of course where he badly clanked two more FTs (what is up with that -- he's a career 55% shooter I think, and what is he now? 25%? Horrific.) and managed to get himself blocked two times by Olowakandi (who otherwise probably deserves a grade from me this afternoon since he was clearly playing like he was on our payroll). The good were in his normal areas -- blocked and altered Kandi's shots as well, grabbed boards.
House ( B- ) -- came in during the first half and hit a three for us during a long cold stretch for us offensively, and also showed nice patience setting up Brad on one extended sequence on the perimeter.
Daniels ( C+ ) -- numbers were modest and the poor guy is simply never going to be an offensive force in this league, but actually hustled pretty well out there and I thought kept the energy level pretty high for us until Barnes returned.
Bradley ( C- ) -- well, there are parts of his game that look like they could be good if he was just a little more talented, but he's not. Nice foortwork in the post...and missed the shot. Hustled well on the glass, and then missed the ball. Fights on defense, but then gets scored over anyway. Etc. etc. He tried. But not a positive force for us out there today.
Adelman ( A+ ) -- And a standing ovation from my living room!!! What an effort. We had no right to win this one. None. And we pulled it off on pure 100% effort. Again -- I'm not sure I ever recall a coach, any coach, so consistently getting big efforts out of his teams when they are shorthanded. Been going on for years now. Tonight Rick was missing his two mega-forwards, missing both his sixth men, his starting backcourt started off terribly, and yet we pull together, we find the answers, we play inspired ball, and we win. Tried everyone who was healthy during the first half. Every body on the bench. And everybody tried hard. But in the second half the pieced together starting five began playing so well, and so inspired, that Rick just said f' it and ran them the entire second half with no substituions at all. GREAT coaching move. Also appreciated a brief moment in the third quarter when the Wolves kept on insisting on throwing utter garbage out on the court against us -- Ervin Johnson, Anthony Carter, Trenton Hassel (with nobody to shut down) oh my! -- so we just finally punished them for it and came diving down with the TRIPLE team on Garnett -- screw the scrubs. Let 'em shoot. It forced Flip to pull those turds from the game. A+ for Rick. A+ for the team.
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