Grades v. Wolves 11/10

[Bricklayer]

Faced with a Saturday night game between incompetent teams with a combined 1-8 record playing in front of 17 fans and the janitor, I have decided to grace such a spectacle with an equally marvelous theme. So, the theme is: Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom

(turns out these things have little fortune cookie like sayings ont he inside of the wrappers, and boy are they deep):

Salmons ( B ) -- pretty good start, especially compared to everybody else. Other than the short burst from Douby, it was really John who kept us neck and incompetent neck with the Wolves in the first half. Slowed down after half however, as the offense largely turned toward Kevin. Still had a couple of good drives, but was also a tad selfish at times and not fully attentive on the glass or defense. Was actually on the bench for the crunch run this time.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #1: "Hey, Why Not?" -- decided to lead off with a truly brilliant piece of self-serving wisdom to put on the inside of a chocolate candy wrapper. I feel enlightened. Probably the last thing that chainsaw to the neck guy read before having a go at it too.

Moore ( D ) -- fumblethumbs strikes again. But I'm telling you about that Mikki -- damn sneaky. Just when you begin to think F again, he comes back, draws a charge, and converts a three point play off a feed. Still finished the half with a rousing 5pts 0rebs and about a hundred balls fumbled away. But no F. But while it might have preserved him from an F, Da Hair was not able top hold onto his minutes tonight after we got off to a sluggish start to the second half. May have passed the I can suck even worse than you baton back over to KT at PF one more time. What a positional battle we have going there. Got in for a minute or two late in the game when Brad...maybe ran off to the little boys room or something? In any case, Brad left the game at about the five minute mark (may have been foul touble, but then he jogged down the tunnel), and Mikki was sort of reluctantly reinserted, and then re-yanked a couple of minutes later. Looked like he and Reggie might have been getting into it again too after he was pulled back out.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #2: "Watch Reruns, They Replay Your Memories" -- that's deep.

Miller ( A- ) -- Brad not hitting his jumpers at all, but maybe that is a good thing as his deteriorating shot has coincided with him rediscovering the true purpose of being 7ft tall out there. And no, its not to shoot 18 footers. Seems to be really concentrating on hitting the glass in these last few games at the same time that all the rest of his basketball ability has left him. But in our condition you'll take that tradeoff. After getting worked over in the post in the first half, even played some solid defense in there in the second. Of course its a measure of how sucky everyboyd else is on the glass that Brad grabs 16, yes SIXTEEN, boards, and we still get beat on the glass by 5 (the rest of the starters combined for 9 total). Value of Brad's interior presence on our squad probably made him our most important player tonight, perhaps except for the burst of actual PG play from Beno. Such critical positions where normally we have critical weaknesses. Not so much tonight.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #3: "Don't Think About It So Much" -- again, nothing self serving about that advice at all. Nope. Not going to worry about it.

Martin ( B ) -- perhaps really feeling those 46min from the night before in the first half, or perhaps just coasting/resting. Either way just gave us next to nothing in the first half. Even accidentally tipped in a shot for the Wolves, leaving him at halftime with 5 for us, and 2 for them. Woke up in the third quarter, which is to say his quarter. And after a long strange stretch where he choked FT after FT, and I think at one point might have been 1-6 from the line -- a problem when its your bred and butter -- he got the parade to the line going once again, and notched something like 15 of them (attempts that is) in the second half to keep the points streaming in. Got two freebies with 1 second to go as the Wolves mysteriously fouled him for no reason, but still had 22 points in the second half before that, and a dozen of those points were from the line. In the first half made a few good passes, but not a very well rounded effort this time. 29pts 1reb 3ast. Point of curiosity: this marked the fourth time this season (in 6 games) that Kevin has finished the game 7-17 from the field. Another note: he shot 35 FTs in the past 24 hours.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #4: "Go to Your Special Place" -- I have a confession here, and it hurts to even admit this: I don't have a special place. Very upsetting let me tell you.

 

[Bricklayer]

Cisco ( C+ ) -- so so game for Cisco, and along with Douby found his minutes usruped by the sudden emergence of Beno Udrih. Was of course running the point again, or rather not running it I suppose. Think he actually does better as an assistman when he's not playing the point. In any case, hit a few good shots, forced more. And did his out of control thing again, with the brain just not working fast enough. Started to make a pass, thought better of it, forgot that he was still in the process of running, and so just carried the ball about 5 steps before the travel is called. Was ok, but mostly lost the matchup against his old nemesis (or so says the paper) Mccants tonight.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #5: "Do What Feels Right" -- and what feels right of course is pigging out on another one of these yummy little dark chocolate candies. mmmmm....

Douby ( B- ) -- this time came through with an explosive late 1st/early 2nd quarter stint ala Bobby Jackson. Continued only filling up the one column of the statsheet (scoring), but gave us a boost in so doing. Did little therafter, and with Beno emerging to play so well, his second half minutes evaporated. When Artest returns in a couple of games, could make the squeeze even tighter, so have to wonder where Quincy's minutes are going to come from from here on out.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #6: "Temptation Is Fun, Giving In Is Even Better" -- these guys are great. They are like the anti-Puritans with their advice.

Thomas ( B- ) -- some activity on the glass, and an interior pass to Brad I think it was. Jefferson and Smith were kicking our butt in there though. Even hit a scary looking jump hook over Theo Ratliff -- scary because he has to jump so high and extend so much to get it over the shotblocker. Also scary because every time I see him make one of those I grow terrified its going to encourage him to take another. Was generally solid though, and certainly a lot less unsolid than Mikki. So got the bulk of the second half minutes, and while you would go long stretches forgetting he was out there, with our PF position this year, when you forget they're out there that's a good sign.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #7: "Listen To Your Heartbeat, And Dance" -- hey, has a good beat...

Greene ( INC ) -- first half Greene cameo, which is to say, nothing. The emergence of Beno may have effectively ended Greene's role on the team, unless it be as a very short minute spot player brought in for defense every game or two.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #8: "Smile. People Will Wonder What You've Been Up To" -- or they'll think you are a blithering idiot, but hey, why not? Show off all those missing teeth from all the chocolates you have been "hey, why notting."

 

[Bricklayer]

Udrih ( B+ ) -- first half numbers looked modest to say the least -- 1pt 1reb 1ast -- but I thought brought some energy to a dead building, and even some...*gasp*...passing! Woohoo! Of course his best pass, a little over the shoulder drop in the lane, was not converted by Brad. But it was still encouraging in a player actually looking something like a PG. Showed a little saavy in there too, and in the secoind half really stepped forward as not only a fuill rotation player, but effectively our starting PG and along wiht Brad, probably our difference maker out there this time. Hard to spot in the numbers, but if you saw the, er..."contest" the gap betwen Beno as a PG and any of our other pretenders was simply vast. He saw the floor, ran the team, tried to lead, made decisions -- all those thigns we have been lacking all season. Now the numebrs were still modest, and the caution wouold be that this is maybe the league's worst team, and one missing the only decent mayeb PG (Foye) they have on the roster. But it was still an impressive, impact debut, adn without him I sincerely doubt we get this win. We'll see how it goes from here, but its hard to see how Beno isn't instantly going to play half the minutes at PG, and maybe just get the starts from here on out. We've been faking it against bad teams with bad PGs (Earl Watson? Daniel Gibson? Jaric/Telfair?). Next game we face Deron Williams.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #9: "You're Allowed To Do Nothing" -- which works wonderfully with all those why nots and giving in to temptation to make you into a sedentary blob. Thanks for the wisdom guys!

Hawes ( C- ) -- brought in to start the second quarter. Didn't do much but spin around in cricles and get his first pro hoop on a dropoff from Udrih. Did nothing in a second half stint. Did get muscled off the glass once which will be something to watch for as the season progresses. 2points 0rebs 0ast in his debut, but it was just a get your feet wet session so not going to read much into it.
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #10: "When Two Hearts Race, Both Win" -- aww...ain't that sweet?

Reef ( INC ) -- no idea why he got in for another 1+ minute second half stint
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #11: "Get Your Feet Massaged" -- er...not really my thing. Some very helpful wisdom though.

Arco crowd ( AWOL ) -- almost morbidly curious what the announced attendance was tonight
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #12: "Keep the Promise You Make to Yourself" -- finally a real piece of wisdom! Unless of course the promise involves deciding not to go munching on these yummy little chocolates until they have to cut a hole in the side of your house to move you...

Reggie ( B ) -- And so we awesomely win Crap Bowl #2 in the final minute. Woohoo! Two wins, opponent's combined records: 0-11. But hey, you can only play who is on the schedule. Which is fortunate given that we might be 0-6 if we had to face real teams through this stretch. We started this particular triumph off with a hangover, and between the invisible people in the crowd, and an incredibly ugly 19-16 first quarter between these two hoops giants, the building was just dead. Reggie made a fateful decision at that time, deciding to go ahead and try out the newcomers Hawes and Beno while looking for just any change of pace. Hawes didn't do much, but his mere presence got a little buzz in the building. And Beno really made a difference, both in our play, and in the snoozing crowd's enjoymet of the game. He actually looked like a PG. A novel idea in these parts. And pretty much from what I have seen from him in the past played above his head. In fact I don;t think its any exaggeration to say that he was the guy who made the difference in this one. And I would expect is goingt o get many more chances here in the future. We came out in the third almost as sluggish as we started the game, and Reggie had to call a quick timeout just to nudge everybody awake. Wasn't too long in fact until he went back to Beno, and the new guy played pretty much straight through to the end of the game and ran the team like he'd been around much longer. Its impossibel to make too little about beating this team on your home floor, but there are damn few "should wins" on our early schedule, so getting both of them this week has to go down as some sort of minor accomplishment. Now onto Utah, who are twitchy enough to be vulnerable (remember we beat them there last year) but still a helluva lot better than we are. One of many "can't lose" games for us this season -- just like the good ole days whjere if you lose its expected, and if you win its a party. Only real problem would be if we regressed and got blown out ala the first 3 games again.

 

[GoGoGadget]

Placeholder firsties!!

 

[Bricklayer]

Clean Grades:

Spoiler

Salmons ( B ) -- pretty good start, especially compared to everybody else. Other than the short burst from Douby, it was really John who kept us neck and incompetent neck with the Wolves in the first half. Slowed down after half however, as the offense largely turned toward Kevin. Still had a couple of good drives, but was also a tad selfish at times and not fully attentive on the glass or defense. Was actually on the bench for the crunch run this time.

Moore ( D ) -- fumblethumbs strikes again. But I'm telling you about that Mikki -- damn sneaky. Just when you begin to think F again, he comes back, draws a charge, and converts a three point play off a feed. Still finished the half with a rousing 5pts 0rebs and about a hundred balls fumbled away. But no F. But while it might have preserved him from an F, Da Hair was not able top hold onto his minutes tonight after we got off to a sluggish start to the second half. May have passed the I can suck even worse than you baton back over to KT at PF one more time. What a positional battle we have going there. Got in for a minute or two late in the game when Brad...maybe ran off to the little boys room or something? In any case, Brad left the game at about the five minute mark (may have been foul touble, but then he jogged down the tunnel), and Mikki was sort of reluctantly reinserted, and then re-yanked a couple of minutes later. Looked like he and Reggie might have been getting into it again too after he was pulled back out.

Miller ( A- ) -- Brad not hitting his jumpers at all, but maybe that is a good thing as his deteriorating shot has coincided with him rediscovering the true purpose of being 7ft tall out there. And no, its not to shoot 18 footers. Seems to be really concentrating on hitting the glass in these last few games at the same time that all the rest of his basketball ability has left him. But in our condition you'll take that tradeoff. After getting worked over in the post in the first half, even played some solid defense in there in the second. Of course its a measure of how sucky everyboyd else is on the glass that Brad grabs 16, yes SIXTEEN, boards, and we still get beat on the glass by 5 (the rest of the starters combined for 9 total). Value of Brad's interior presence on our squad probably made him our most important player tonight, perhaps except for the burst of actual PG play from Beno. Such critical positions where normally we have critical weaknesses. Not so much tonight.

Martin ( B ) -- perhaps really feeling those 46min from the night before in the first half, or perhaps just coasting/resting. Either way just gave us next to nothing in the first half. Even accidentally tipped in a shot for the Wolves, leaving him at halftime with 5 for us, and 2 for them. Woke up in the third quarter, which is to say his quarter. And after a long strange stretch where he choked FT after FT, and I think at one point might have been 1-6 from the line -- a problem when its your bred and butter -- he got the parade to the line going once again, and notched something like 15 of them (attempts that is) in the second half to keep the points streaming in. Got two freebies with 1 second to go as the Wolves mysteriously fouled him for no reason, but still had 22 points in the second half before that, and a dozen of those points were from the line. In the first half made a few good passes, but not a very well rounded effort this time. 29pts 1reb 3ast. Point of curiosity: this marked the fourth time this season (in 6 games) that Kevin has finished the game 7-17 from the field. Another note: he shot 35 FTs in the past 24 hours.

Cisco ( C+ ) -- so so game for Cisco, and along with Douby found his minutes usruped by the sudden emergence of Beno Udrih. Was of course running the point again, or rather not running it I suppose. Think he actually does better as an assistman when he's not playing the point. In any case, hit a few good shots, forced more. And did his out of control thing again, with the brain just not working fast enough. Started to make a pass, thought better of it, forgot that he was still in the process of running, and so just carried the ball about 5 steps before the travel is called. Was ok, but mostly lost the matchup against his old nemesis (or so says the paper) Mccants tonight.

Douby ( B- ) -- this time came through with an explosive late 1st/early 2nd quarter stint ala Bobby Jackson. Continued only filling up the one column of the statsheet (scoring), but gave us a boost in so doing. Did little therafter, and with Beno emerging to play so well, his second half minutes evaporated. When Artest returns in a couple of games, could make the squeeze even tighter, so have to wonder where Quincy's minutes are going to come from from here on out.

Thomas ( B- ) -- some activity on the glass, and an interior pass to Brad I think it was. Jefferson and Smith were kicking our butt in there though. Evne hit a scary looking junmp hook over Theo Ratliff -- scary because he has to jump so high and extend so much to get it over the shotblocker. Also scary because every time I see him make one of those I grow terrified its going to encourage him to take another. Was generally solid though, and certinaly a lot less unsolid than Mikki. So got the bulk of the second half minutes, and while you would go long stretches forgetting he was out there, with our PF position this year, when you forget they're out there that's a good sign.

Greene ( INC ) -- first half Greene cameo, which is to say, nothing. The emergence of Beno may have effectively ended Greene's role on the team, unless it be as a very short minute spot player brought in for defense every game or two.

Udrih ( B+ ) -- first half numbers looked modest to say the least -- 1pt 1reb 1ast -- but I thought brought some energy to a dead building, and even some...*gasp*...passing! Woohoo! Of course his best pass, a little over the shoulder drop in the lane, was not converted by Brad. But it was still encouraging in a player actually looking something like a PG. Showed a little saavy in there too, and in the secoind half really stepped forward as not only a fuill rotation player, but effectively our starting PG and along wiht Brad, probably our difference maker out there this time. Hard to spot in the numbers, but if you saw the, er..."contest" the gap betwen Beno as a PG and any of our other pretenders was simply vast. He saw the floor, ran the team, tried to lead, made decisions -- all those thigns we have been lacking all season. Now the numebrs were still modest, and the caution wouold be that this is maybe the league's worst team, and one missing the only decent mayeb PG (Foye) they have on the roster. But it was still an impressive, impact debut, adn without him I sincerely doubt we get this win. We'll see how it goes from here, but its hard to see how Beno isn't instantly going to play half the minutes at PG, and maybe just get the starts from here on out. We've been faking it against bad teams with bad PGs (Earl Watson? Daniel Gibson? Jaric/Telfair?). Next game we face Deron Williams.

Hawes ( C- ) -- brought in to start the second quarter. Didn't do much but spin around in cricles and get his first pro hoop on a dropoff from Udrih. Did nothing in a second half stint. Did get muscled off the glass once which will be something to watch for as the season progresses. 2points 0rebs 0ast in his debut, but it was just a get your feet wet session so not going to read much into it.

Reef ( INC ) -- no idea why he got in for another 1+ minute second half stint

Reggie ( B ) -- And so we awesomely win Crap Bowl #2 in the final minute. Woohoo! Two wins, opponent's combined records: 0-11. But hey, you can only play who is on the schedule. Which is fortunate given that we might be 0-6 if we had to face real teams through this stretch. We started this particular triumph off with a hangover, and between the invisible people in the crowd, and an incredibly ugly 19-16 first quarter between these two hoops giants, the building was just dead. Reggie made a fateful decision at that time, deciding to go ahead and try out the newcomers Hawes and Beno while looking for just any change of pace. Hawes didn't do much, but his mere presence got a little buzz in the building. And Beno really made a difference, both in our play, and in the snoozing crowd's enjoymet of the game. He actually looked like a PG. A novel idea in these parts. And pretty much from what I have seen from him in the past played above his head. In fact I don;t think its any exaggeration to say that he was the guy who made the difference in this one. And I would expect is goingt o get many more chances here in the future. We came out in the third almost as sluggish as we started the game, and Reggie had to call a quick timeout just to nudge everybody awake. Wasn't too long in fact until he went back to Beno, and the new guy played pretty much straight through to the end of the game and ran the team like he'd been around much longer. Its impossibel to make too little about beating this team on your home floor, but there are damn few "should wins" on our early schedule, so getting both of them this week has to go down as some sort of minor accomplishment. Now onto Utah, who are twitchy enough to be vulnerable (remember we beat them there last year) but still a helluva lot better than we are. One of many "can't lose" games for us this season -- just like the good ole days whjere if you lose its expected, and if you win its a party. Only real problem would be if we regressed and got blown out ala the first 3 games again.

Arco crowd ( AWOL ) -- almost morbidly curious what the announced attendance was tonight

 

[JJ_Evans]

Ben ROFLSberger

 

[kingsfan916]

wow i never thought i would see kevin miss 5 free throw buts what a good game he really got it going in 2nd half

 

[GoGoGadget]

So, the theme is: Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom

I had a sneaking suspicion this would be a theme some day.

Good choice.

 

[jcassio]

Just a few thoughts...
Beno: fairly impressive. Looks to have more game than many people predicted.
Garcia: mistakes outweighed the positives tonight. But that's who he is.
Martin: tired, as demo'd by his free throw performance, but still invaluable.
Salmons: this is a different player than last year. He's quick. He's a keeper.
Miller: finally 2 games back-to-back where he gets more than 5 boards. Wow!
Moore: needs therapy to get over his ball anxiety when close to the basket.

 

[WVF]

Arco crowd ( AWOL ) -- almost morbidly curious what the announced attendance was tonight
Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #12: Keep the Promise You Make to Yourself -- finally a real piece of wisdom! Unless of course it involves not munching on these yummy little chocolates until they have to cut out the side of your house to move you...

13,170

 

[Bricklayer]

13,170

Heh -- maybe if the place seated 30,000.

 

[VF21]

Watching the replay, and trying to spot empty seats - it's tough when the upper levels are in shadows - I think I'd guess about 12,000.

 

[cfechter]

I would guess around 12,000 as well - there were a lot of empty seats in the upper deck (I was there tonight).

I also think Bricklayer's criticism of Kevin is a bit unfair - he effectively has a shooting percentage of over 60%, and you can't deny that that's an extremely efficient percentage. He's learning how to play as our #1 option and the player that every opposing team's defense will key on, and so far, I like the results.

That being said, yes, he flops for the foul just a bit too much. Playing the way he does, he would have an extremely hard time playing in the playoffs when the refs are much more inclined to let players play and determine the outcome of games (not that we'll have to worry about that anytime soon).

My brief thoughts on everyone -

Beno - my goodness it was great to watch a real point guard in person, for the first time this year. Just seems to have whatever ability it is to get the offense initiated and seems to make great decisions with the basketball. Based on this game alone, I think we've found ourselves a good back-up point guard.
Miller - who is this man that has taken over your body?!?! Keep it up!
Moore - too whiny, too upset, looks way too....not good.
Kevin - you're our best player and I think you may legitly average 25 ppg this year - that being said, enough with the flops
Salmons - I keep thinking that the Salmons of old will eventually come out
Garcia - please don't force it so much. I did like your on-the-ball defense against Jaric in the first half.
Hawes - looked completely lost and it seemed the game was too fast for him. You can probably say this about 90% of all the other rookies so I can't take much out of his 6 minutes.
KT - I think you're playing hard, but you're just not very good. Your hustle can't compensate for the lack of height and muscle anymore, you're just too old. It was plainly apparent that you had no business playing against Craig Smith and Al Jefferson - Minnesota would have won the game if they were smart and had thrown it inside on every possession. At this point, you're nothing more than a "poor man's Justin Williams" since you really have no offensive skills other than that hook you hit once per game. Translated - you'll get to know the pine real well if JW gets back.
Theus - while it seems like the guys are playing hard for you, it also seems like they stand around and watch each other play offense. WAY too much 1v1 play on the offensive end. 6 games into your career with a bad team, this isn't so annoying, but in another couple years, whether this team is better or not, this will be annoying. On a positive note, it seems like the zone defense works rather well. Minnesota had a hard time with it.

It was a blast at the game tonight, the crowd wasn't wholly into it until the last half of the last quarter, but my wife and I still had a great time. I will definitely be buying tickets to another 5-6 games. As I stated last night, with a season full of efforts like tonight and the past couple nights, I'll be a happy fan.

 

[creAtivetfh]

13,170

it was one of the weirdest atmosphere's ive ever been a part of in Arco.

mostly because the first three quarters were pretty damn boring. It got fun and kinda loud in the fourth though

 

[treewoman]

Dove Dark Chocolate Wisdom #4: "Go to Your Special Place" -- I have a confession here, and it hurts to even admit this: I don't have a special place. Very upsetting let me tell you.[/quote]

Dark choclate and Kevin Martin - that combo is the meaning of special place

 

[treewoman]

WHere is Reggie's chocolate fortune????

 

[Entity]

Hawes did look lost. I remember our best player Kevin Martin when he came in for the first time. he looked totally lost in fact he looked lost that whole season. Now Garcia and Douby didn't look as crazy as Kev did in their rookie year. Ages the were when they came in.

Garcia 24
Douby 22
Martin 21
Hawes 19

Hmmm I guess he gets a 4 or 5 year window to develope. so by the time Hawes hits his prime (24-28) Douby, Garcia and Martin will be older than SAR, Mikki, KT, and Brad

Garcia is considered by many a part of our youth yet he is only 2 years younger than Artest. So why isn't Artest considered one of our youth. bibby is just 1 year older than Artest.

 

[VF21]

I think they view Garcia in NBA years, not actual age.

 

[Entity]

I think they view Garcia in NBA years, not actual age.

yeah I am sure they do I was just noticing how old he actually was and thought I would share. Just an idle Sunday afternoon. I like Sunday night games better than Saturday.

 

[JoMama]

Mikki Moore has the worst hands since Joe Kleine. For the season, to date, he's got a solid F going. Hoooorible.

 

[VF21]

I disagree. While his performance has been nothing better than a D, he will at least anchor the paint and take a charge - repeatedly.

 

[Kingsgurl]

I think they view Garcia in NBA years, not actual age.

NBA years. Is that anything like dog years?

 

[VF21]

In Garcia's case, I think it's arguably very close.