Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Sigh. I'm beginning to sense a problem with our adoption of a 1930s Globetrotter offensive scheme.
So, coming off the first game thought that despite everything, if we just got the same overall effort from everybody else, but then Cuz was back to himself, we'd win this one. Instead everybody else sans IT went backward, and Cousins even further as he's off to a terribly disappointing start. Result = boo.
Tommorow suddenly looms as an important game, because this sort of effort is just not acceptable, and it will be important for the team to prove they don't think so either. Nobody more than the big guy in the middle.
Boxscore
Stats: 21min 5pts (2-5, 0-0, 1-2) 6reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Johnson ( D ) -- continues his disappointing start to the season just being loose and out of control on offense. Traveled to start trying to avoid shooting the corner three. Got a second effort layup, but soon got into foul trouble trying to guard the rich man's version of himself in Kirilneko. Got switched onto Pek in the late 2nd and picked up his third foul just wildly swiping at the ball rather than playing him straight. Finally hit an open jumper in the early 3rd and had a few minutes of effective play helping on the glass with Boogie having to be careful. Was overdribbling on the break all night, and may have effectively ended his night when he threw a terribly risky and completely unnecessary behind the back pass to Reke on the break that would have had our coach pulling out his hair if he had any. Important point of the game as we fighting for the lead, its on the road, so not like you are getting the crowd into it, and he threw it too late for Reke to be able to finish the play anyway. Just a silly and sloppy play, and when you already are struggling... Needs to settle down now because this isn't helpful.
Stats: 34min 10pts (4-10, 0-0, 2-2) 7reb 2ast 1stl 2blk 0TO
Thompson ( B- ) -- had some early issues losing track of Derrick Williams, who BTW continues to look like another bust to go with Wes Johnson, but JT settled in and ended up playing a very solid first half as our most effective player. Played well steadying us after we took out the rest of the starters, and some solid post work over variosu defenders helped hold us together during an otherwise miserable stretch int eh 2nd quarter. Probably was a high B grade at the time. Unfortunately that was pretty much it, as he went very quiet after half. Did a solid job helping keep Cuz on the floor swithcing off on Pek etc., but think he only had something like 2pts 2rebs after the break, and this grade tumbled with it. Overall..ok.
Stats: 25min 11pts (5-13, 0-0, 1-1) 4reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Cousins ( F ) -- be hard to be much more disappointing than Boogie has been these first two games. Not only is he not playing like he's taken a step forward, he's playing a lot like his rookie season. I.e. Dumb. Started the game on an ominous note, getting called for a foul almost before the game was on on a nothing off the ball call. Briuefly looked like he had it in control as he used his mobility advantge to take Pek outside and drain a long jumper, and then drive by him for a tough pullup. But he was vey soon in early foul trouble agian. Constantly. He compounded it when Smart trusted him enough to put him back early in the 2nd quarter. DeMarcus rewarded the trust by stupidly dribbling right into Steisma's chest, begging for a blocked shot if he was lucky, and getting himself his 3rd foul instead with less than 10 min of first half playing time. Topped that intelligence by picking up up his 4th foul on quite literally the very first play of the 3rd quarter! We left him in, but from that point on he had to pretty much play with his hands in his pockets. No banging, no scrapping, no anything that could draw more whistles. Finally got soemthing to go right as he drained a long jumper to give us our first lead in forever in the mid third to cap our comeback. But as soon as Barea returned, Isaiah immediately lost him and Boogie just as quickly got his 5th foul trying to draw a charge. So we lost him again. Brought him back early in the 4th, and while that seemed like a recipe for no Boogie down the strecth, he actually managed to stay on the floor for the rest of the game. Wasn't terribly effective aside from one strong power +1 at the 7:30 mark, but hey, he was there. Yay. My theory on this F is this -- if DeMarcus Cousins wants to have the sort of season and career he claims to, this has to be the absolute nadir for him. There can't be anything even worse. He shot poorly, could not stay on the floor, did not rebound, and could not afford to play anything more than solid position defense because of all the stupid fouls.
Stats: 30min 6pts (3-14, 0-1, 0-0) 7reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( D ) -- and maybe if Reke had brought his Chicago game with him, we could have threatened in this one again despite Boogie being bad again. But instead BOTH our star guys sucked, and you aren't going to win many of those. Reke looked somehow uncomfortable from the beginning of this one, and I'm not sure why. Was just erratic with the ball, made a poor early decision on the break etc.. His defense and rebounding started picking up just in time for Smart to come with another of his wonderful replace everyone on the floor simultaneously substitution patterns, but the offense never came around. Did not want nor could he hit the jumper this time, and time and again seemed just a little squeezed on his drives and slashes. Kirilenko and Stiesma were problems (oddly we run into yet another team too silly to have realized shotblocking is overrated -- suckers!), but more thann that it seemed liek he was just running out of space and was having to throw up difficult layups and push shots rather than his normal stuff. Result -- a ton of misses at the rim. Had one burst of offensive efficacy in the third when he started getting out on the break and on the move cacthing balls for slashes, but that was it. Was giving pretty good effort on defense, but not great efficacy. Statistically he and Roy played to a near (ugly) draw, but if you watched it Roy somehow seemed able to get a step on Reke and get into the lane, whatever his problems finishing. Reke helped us a bit speeding up our break and on the glass, where through 2 games he's tied with JT for the team lead. And as it was last game his drive and kicks were about the only signs of creativity and shot creation we had (Reke is also leading us in assists by a wide margin). But it was very inconsistent and spotty this time, and time and again he came up short on layups, or Roy turned the corner on him and got into the lane, and Reke went from a brilliant game to a very frustrating one.
Stats: 26min 20pts (7-13, 3-7, 3-4) 2reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( B- ) -- got off to another poor start to this one. Was getting lit up by Ridnour in the early going, and compounded his inability to get us into any sort of offensive set by just embracing his inner gunner and throwing up selfish 1 on 4 shots. Kicker that benched him for the rest of the half may have been when he blew a wide open fastbreak layup costing us 2 pts. But came out much stronger after half and while we never were able to run anything approaching a coherent offense, under IT or anybody else's guidance, at least IT started scoring himself on a night when nobody else could. Looked much more under control in the early third, and after getting a real lucky bounce on a three in transition as the ball bounced 10 feet in the air before falling through, he got going and added two more threes in the next couple of minutes as we made our best charge of the night and actually took the lead. A nemesis all night for all our PGs was JJ Barea, and when he returend to the game in the late third he immediately lost IT and blew into our middle to put the 5th foul on Boogie, and continued doing pretty much whatever he wanted as all our vaunted PG quickness meant nothing at all on defense and IT was surprisingly unable to stay in front of him. IT airballed an open three on a klck from Reke as our surge fell back apart, but continued to provide as much offense as anyone the rest of the way, and notched his 20th point in the final minute of the game. This really was not a particularly strong effort, in particular from a PG. It never seemed like he could create more than a tepidly decent shot for anybody, the team offense was ragged, and he got blown by on defense. On the other hand on a night when nobody else was able to cut through the muck and put points on the board, IT did, and without that contribution we probably lose by 20 and are looking at pretty girls right now. Note: in the first 2 games all our PGs together have now combined for 5 assists and 7TOs. Those are just disastrous numbers, and you are seeing the results on court.
So, coming off the first game thought that despite everything, if we just got the same overall effort from everybody else, but then Cuz was back to himself, we'd win this one. Instead everybody else sans IT went backward, and Cousins even further as he's off to a terribly disappointing start. Result = boo.
Tommorow suddenly looms as an important game, because this sort of effort is just not acceptable, and it will be important for the team to prove they don't think so either. Nobody more than the big guy in the middle.
Boxscore
Stats: 21min 5pts (2-5, 0-0, 1-2) 6reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Johnson ( D ) -- continues his disappointing start to the season just being loose and out of control on offense. Traveled to start trying to avoid shooting the corner three. Got a second effort layup, but soon got into foul trouble trying to guard the rich man's version of himself in Kirilneko. Got switched onto Pek in the late 2nd and picked up his third foul just wildly swiping at the ball rather than playing him straight. Finally hit an open jumper in the early 3rd and had a few minutes of effective play helping on the glass with Boogie having to be careful. Was overdribbling on the break all night, and may have effectively ended his night when he threw a terribly risky and completely unnecessary behind the back pass to Reke on the break that would have had our coach pulling out his hair if he had any. Important point of the game as we fighting for the lead, its on the road, so not like you are getting the crowd into it, and he threw it too late for Reke to be able to finish the play anyway. Just a silly and sloppy play, and when you already are struggling... Needs to settle down now because this isn't helpful.
Stats: 34min 10pts (4-10, 0-0, 2-2) 7reb 2ast 1stl 2blk 0TO
Thompson ( B- ) -- had some early issues losing track of Derrick Williams, who BTW continues to look like another bust to go with Wes Johnson, but JT settled in and ended up playing a very solid first half as our most effective player. Played well steadying us after we took out the rest of the starters, and some solid post work over variosu defenders helped hold us together during an otherwise miserable stretch int eh 2nd quarter. Probably was a high B grade at the time. Unfortunately that was pretty much it, as he went very quiet after half. Did a solid job helping keep Cuz on the floor swithcing off on Pek etc., but think he only had something like 2pts 2rebs after the break, and this grade tumbled with it. Overall..ok.
Stats: 25min 11pts (5-13, 0-0, 1-1) 4reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Cousins ( F ) -- be hard to be much more disappointing than Boogie has been these first two games. Not only is he not playing like he's taken a step forward, he's playing a lot like his rookie season. I.e. Dumb. Started the game on an ominous note, getting called for a foul almost before the game was on on a nothing off the ball call. Briuefly looked like he had it in control as he used his mobility advantge to take Pek outside and drain a long jumper, and then drive by him for a tough pullup. But he was vey soon in early foul trouble agian. Constantly. He compounded it when Smart trusted him enough to put him back early in the 2nd quarter. DeMarcus rewarded the trust by stupidly dribbling right into Steisma's chest, begging for a blocked shot if he was lucky, and getting himself his 3rd foul instead with less than 10 min of first half playing time. Topped that intelligence by picking up up his 4th foul on quite literally the very first play of the 3rd quarter! We left him in, but from that point on he had to pretty much play with his hands in his pockets. No banging, no scrapping, no anything that could draw more whistles. Finally got soemthing to go right as he drained a long jumper to give us our first lead in forever in the mid third to cap our comeback. But as soon as Barea returned, Isaiah immediately lost him and Boogie just as quickly got his 5th foul trying to draw a charge. So we lost him again. Brought him back early in the 4th, and while that seemed like a recipe for no Boogie down the strecth, he actually managed to stay on the floor for the rest of the game. Wasn't terribly effective aside from one strong power +1 at the 7:30 mark, but hey, he was there. Yay. My theory on this F is this -- if DeMarcus Cousins wants to have the sort of season and career he claims to, this has to be the absolute nadir for him. There can't be anything even worse. He shot poorly, could not stay on the floor, did not rebound, and could not afford to play anything more than solid position defense because of all the stupid fouls.
Stats: 30min 6pts (3-14, 0-1, 0-0) 7reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( D ) -- and maybe if Reke had brought his Chicago game with him, we could have threatened in this one again despite Boogie being bad again. But instead BOTH our star guys sucked, and you aren't going to win many of those. Reke looked somehow uncomfortable from the beginning of this one, and I'm not sure why. Was just erratic with the ball, made a poor early decision on the break etc.. His defense and rebounding started picking up just in time for Smart to come with another of his wonderful replace everyone on the floor simultaneously substitution patterns, but the offense never came around. Did not want nor could he hit the jumper this time, and time and again seemed just a little squeezed on his drives and slashes. Kirilenko and Stiesma were problems (oddly we run into yet another team too silly to have realized shotblocking is overrated -- suckers!), but more thann that it seemed liek he was just running out of space and was having to throw up difficult layups and push shots rather than his normal stuff. Result -- a ton of misses at the rim. Had one burst of offensive efficacy in the third when he started getting out on the break and on the move cacthing balls for slashes, but that was it. Was giving pretty good effort on defense, but not great efficacy. Statistically he and Roy played to a near (ugly) draw, but if you watched it Roy somehow seemed able to get a step on Reke and get into the lane, whatever his problems finishing. Reke helped us a bit speeding up our break and on the glass, where through 2 games he's tied with JT for the team lead. And as it was last game his drive and kicks were about the only signs of creativity and shot creation we had (Reke is also leading us in assists by a wide margin). But it was very inconsistent and spotty this time, and time and again he came up short on layups, or Roy turned the corner on him and got into the lane, and Reke went from a brilliant game to a very frustrating one.
Stats: 26min 20pts (7-13, 3-7, 3-4) 2reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( B- ) -- got off to another poor start to this one. Was getting lit up by Ridnour in the early going, and compounded his inability to get us into any sort of offensive set by just embracing his inner gunner and throwing up selfish 1 on 4 shots. Kicker that benched him for the rest of the half may have been when he blew a wide open fastbreak layup costing us 2 pts. But came out much stronger after half and while we never were able to run anything approaching a coherent offense, under IT or anybody else's guidance, at least IT started scoring himself on a night when nobody else could. Looked much more under control in the early third, and after getting a real lucky bounce on a three in transition as the ball bounced 10 feet in the air before falling through, he got going and added two more threes in the next couple of minutes as we made our best charge of the night and actually took the lead. A nemesis all night for all our PGs was JJ Barea, and when he returend to the game in the late third he immediately lost IT and blew into our middle to put the 5th foul on Boogie, and continued doing pretty much whatever he wanted as all our vaunted PG quickness meant nothing at all on defense and IT was surprisingly unable to stay in front of him. IT airballed an open three on a klck from Reke as our surge fell back apart, but continued to provide as much offense as anyone the rest of the way, and notched his 20th point in the final minute of the game. This really was not a particularly strong effort, in particular from a PG. It never seemed like he could create more than a tepidly decent shot for anybody, the team offense was ragged, and he got blown by on defense. On the other hand on a night when nobody else was able to cut through the muck and put points on the board, IT did, and without that contribution we probably lose by 20 and are looking at pretty girls right now. Note: in the first 2 games all our PGs together have now combined for 5 assists and 7TOs. Those are just disastrous numbers, and you are seeing the results on court.
Last edited:
