Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Well, not quite juggernaughty, but another win behind a series of punishing Reke power drives down the stretch. That's 6 of our last 12 since that Miami Triple OT coming out party, .500 ball. And it leaves us only 11 back of the Lakers for the #8 seed with 13 games still to play. Everybody together: Beat L.A.!! 
Highlights:
Full Grading Consortium for tonight:
Bricklayer
Capt. Factorial
bajaden
Boxscore
Stats: 43min 13pts (5-11, 0-3, 3-3) 5reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Salmons ( B ) -- John played 43 minutes tonight, and although he didn't put up big numbers, I though in general he played pretty well. He had 13 pt's on 5 of 11 shooting, 5 boards and 3 assists. But John also busted his butt on defense all night long, which is more than I can say for a few other individuals on the team. He started by making a nice bounce pass to Cuz on a break for a basket. Cuz repaid him with a beautiful outlet pass resulting in a layup for John. He missed a corner three, and I was immediately reminded of my recent notes. But he decided to attack the basket instead by driving the lane and scoring. He followed that with a pullup 8 footer which he made and was fouled. The second half was basicly a repeat of the first half, but for a large part of it he had help defensively from Patterson, Douglas, and Aldrich. That was the turning point of the game in my opinion. So stat wise, it wasn't a great night, but effort wise, it was certainly a good night. --Baja
Stats: 21min 4pts (2-5, 0-0, 0-0) 4reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Thompson ( D ) -- Jason must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed today because he was just not mentally focused on the game. He went the first 3 minutes of the game without touching the ball. He finally scored on a half hook with 6:42 left in the 1st quarter. He followed that by getting his shot blocked in the post. He didn't score again until the 2nd half. He closed out the 1st half by missing an open 14 footer right after missing an open 15 footer. The cherry on top was getting called for an offensive foul. In the second half, well, there wasn't much of a second half. He did hit a 12 foot jumper, but continued to get lost on the rotations. At least four times in the game when Cousins left his man to stop the ball in the pick an roll, JT failed to rotate over and pick up Cousins man. Shortly into the 2nd half he once again failed to rotate, resulting in a basket. He was replaced by Patterson and never saw the floor again. Hopefully JT has a short memory. --Baja
Stats: 28min 15pts (6-12, 0-0, 3-5) 14reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 4TO
Cousins ( B ) -- got off to a slow start against Pekovic again, as this has been a matchup that has consistently bothered him in his early career. The problem is Pek's brute strength. Cuz is used to being able to muscle most people, but when he bangs into a big ole tree stump like Pek, Pek doesn't move an inch. The result on offense was Cousins retreating out o the perimeter to hoist up long jumpers the saem way he does agaisnt big shotblocking centers like Hibbert or Gasol. And while he hit his first one and did get a dunk on the move, the general effect was one of passive bricking. Worse was the other side, where the big (well, even bigger) guy was lighting Cuz, and us up. And again Cuz just wasn't doing enough physical work early, so Pek was bulling to his spots within 5 feet of the hoop and finishing in there again and again as the game's dominant early player. Basically getting his butt handed to him led Cuz to get frustrated and pick up 2 early fouls to boot. When he returned in the mid 2nd though, there was no Pekovic and the change was immediate as all of a sudden Cuz was willing to attack the rim with power as he began to rack up big dunks and FTs. To start the third there was a bit of a retreat back outside to shoot jumpers with Pek back out there, but the worm had turned by that point, and Boogie came online, really beginning to dominate the defensive glass and be a consistent inside presence as the game picked up steam. Something that bears watching is that despite grabbing 9 rebounds in the third quarter alone, Cuz sat out much of the 4th in favor of Cole Aldridge and Patterson. He seemed ok with it, but heaven help us if we do that and lose the game. --Brick
Stats: 39min 21pts (8-11, 1-3, 4-5) 5reb 5ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Evans ( A- ) -- Tyreke had an incredibly passive first half, scoring two points on three shots, and looked like he was on the path to a terrible game. So naturally, he plays the entire second half, scoring 19 points on 7-8 shooting after haftime. Go figure. Most notable was the pivotal stretch in the fourth when Tyreke took over, scoring twice in transition, then drawing a foul on a drive, dropping off an assist to Aldrich on a drive, and then drawing another foul to get to the line. If I got it right, he was directly responsible for 10 straight points, and while we were in danger down the stretch of giving the game away, those few minutes got us the cushion we needed to win. Defensively, Tyreke spent a lot of time on Rubio and Kirilenko, neither of whom had a great game. He played Kirilenko pretty straight up, but he left Rubio alone quite often , resulting in a bunch of missed jumpers, and it's not clear that this wasn't by design. He did help in the paint once leaving Rubio open under the basket, and I don't really want to give Tyreke credit for Ricky blowing the layup, but overall the Wolves only scored 11 points on 13 shots against him, so it all worked out. I'd have liked to have seen a reasonable first half, but a great second half and that one dominant stretch in the fourth really helped us win. --Capt.
Stats: 35min 24pts (8-15, 3-6, 5-5) 3reb 6ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( B+ ) -- IT was really moving the ball well in the first half, notching five of his six assists, four of those to the red-hot Patterson - to his credit, IT kept feeding him. His shooting didn't really seem like anything to write home about, but he ended up finishing with 24 points on 17 shots, distributing that almost evenly among the first, second, and third quarters (7, 7, 8) , but he did miss two big, open threes in the fourth that could have given us a nice boost. Fortunately, we didn't need those for the win. He did take two pullups in the first (both hit) that could have been harbingers for a game full of hero-mode, but to his credit he didn't get overly selfish and mostly took shots that were there. Defensively, IT regressed to the mean tonight, putting forth a decent effort now and then, but generally getting beat on screens and having trouble staying in front of his man. He did force one turnover on Ridnour (dribbled it off his knee) and held his ground on a switch on AK-47 in the post but somehow got called for a foul when he not only did nothing wrong but AK clearly hooked him. But, for as many poor defensive plays I tallied up, he only allowed 8 points on 9 shots, and that will get it done. --Capt.
Highlights:
Full Grading Consortium for tonight:
Bricklayer
Capt. Factorial
bajaden
Boxscore
Stats: 43min 13pts (5-11, 0-3, 3-3) 5reb 3ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Salmons ( B ) -- John played 43 minutes tonight, and although he didn't put up big numbers, I though in general he played pretty well. He had 13 pt's on 5 of 11 shooting, 5 boards and 3 assists. But John also busted his butt on defense all night long, which is more than I can say for a few other individuals on the team. He started by making a nice bounce pass to Cuz on a break for a basket. Cuz repaid him with a beautiful outlet pass resulting in a layup for John. He missed a corner three, and I was immediately reminded of my recent notes. But he decided to attack the basket instead by driving the lane and scoring. He followed that with a pullup 8 footer which he made and was fouled. The second half was basicly a repeat of the first half, but for a large part of it he had help defensively from Patterson, Douglas, and Aldrich. That was the turning point of the game in my opinion. So stat wise, it wasn't a great night, but effort wise, it was certainly a good night. --Baja
Stats: 21min 4pts (2-5, 0-0, 0-0) 4reb 0ast 0stl 1blk 1TO
Thompson ( D ) -- Jason must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed today because he was just not mentally focused on the game. He went the first 3 minutes of the game without touching the ball. He finally scored on a half hook with 6:42 left in the 1st quarter. He followed that by getting his shot blocked in the post. He didn't score again until the 2nd half. He closed out the 1st half by missing an open 14 footer right after missing an open 15 footer. The cherry on top was getting called for an offensive foul. In the second half, well, there wasn't much of a second half. He did hit a 12 foot jumper, but continued to get lost on the rotations. At least four times in the game when Cousins left his man to stop the ball in the pick an roll, JT failed to rotate over and pick up Cousins man. Shortly into the 2nd half he once again failed to rotate, resulting in a basket. He was replaced by Patterson and never saw the floor again. Hopefully JT has a short memory. --Baja
Stats: 28min 15pts (6-12, 0-0, 3-5) 14reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 4TO
Cousins ( B ) -- got off to a slow start against Pekovic again, as this has been a matchup that has consistently bothered him in his early career. The problem is Pek's brute strength. Cuz is used to being able to muscle most people, but when he bangs into a big ole tree stump like Pek, Pek doesn't move an inch. The result on offense was Cousins retreating out o the perimeter to hoist up long jumpers the saem way he does agaisnt big shotblocking centers like Hibbert or Gasol. And while he hit his first one and did get a dunk on the move, the general effect was one of passive bricking. Worse was the other side, where the big (well, even bigger) guy was lighting Cuz, and us up. And again Cuz just wasn't doing enough physical work early, so Pek was bulling to his spots within 5 feet of the hoop and finishing in there again and again as the game's dominant early player. Basically getting his butt handed to him led Cuz to get frustrated and pick up 2 early fouls to boot. When he returned in the mid 2nd though, there was no Pekovic and the change was immediate as all of a sudden Cuz was willing to attack the rim with power as he began to rack up big dunks and FTs. To start the third there was a bit of a retreat back outside to shoot jumpers with Pek back out there, but the worm had turned by that point, and Boogie came online, really beginning to dominate the defensive glass and be a consistent inside presence as the game picked up steam. Something that bears watching is that despite grabbing 9 rebounds in the third quarter alone, Cuz sat out much of the 4th in favor of Cole Aldridge and Patterson. He seemed ok with it, but heaven help us if we do that and lose the game. --Brick
Stats: 39min 21pts (8-11, 1-3, 4-5) 5reb 5ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Evans ( A- ) -- Tyreke had an incredibly passive first half, scoring two points on three shots, and looked like he was on the path to a terrible game. So naturally, he plays the entire second half, scoring 19 points on 7-8 shooting after haftime. Go figure. Most notable was the pivotal stretch in the fourth when Tyreke took over, scoring twice in transition, then drawing a foul on a drive, dropping off an assist to Aldrich on a drive, and then drawing another foul to get to the line. If I got it right, he was directly responsible for 10 straight points, and while we were in danger down the stretch of giving the game away, those few minutes got us the cushion we needed to win. Defensively, Tyreke spent a lot of time on Rubio and Kirilenko, neither of whom had a great game. He played Kirilenko pretty straight up, but he left Rubio alone quite often , resulting in a bunch of missed jumpers, and it's not clear that this wasn't by design. He did help in the paint once leaving Rubio open under the basket, and I don't really want to give Tyreke credit for Ricky blowing the layup, but overall the Wolves only scored 11 points on 13 shots against him, so it all worked out. I'd have liked to have seen a reasonable first half, but a great second half and that one dominant stretch in the fourth really helped us win. --Capt.
Stats: 35min 24pts (8-15, 3-6, 5-5) 3reb 6ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Thomas ( B+ ) -- IT was really moving the ball well in the first half, notching five of his six assists, four of those to the red-hot Patterson - to his credit, IT kept feeding him. His shooting didn't really seem like anything to write home about, but he ended up finishing with 24 points on 17 shots, distributing that almost evenly among the first, second, and third quarters (7, 7, 8) , but he did miss two big, open threes in the fourth that could have given us a nice boost. Fortunately, we didn't need those for the win. He did take two pullups in the first (both hit) that could have been harbingers for a game full of hero-mode, but to his credit he didn't get overly selfish and mostly took shots that were there. Defensively, IT regressed to the mean tonight, putting forth a decent effort now and then, but generally getting beat on screens and having trouble staying in front of his man. He did force one turnover on Ridnour (dribbled it off his knee) and held his ground on a switch on AK-47 in the post but somehow got called for a foul when he not only did nothing wrong but AK clearly hooked him. But, for as many poor defensive plays I tallied up, he only allowed 8 points on 9 shots, and that will get it done. --Capt.
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