Peja ( A- ) -- Huge huge first half where the hoop obviously looked like an ocean, and the Sonics showed little interest in even trying to slow him down. Started off nailing big bombs from all over the court, and even scored in the post for the second game in a row -- who is this man? By halftime was shooting 9-10, something like 6-7 from three point land, and had 25pts. Then things turned, and not in a good way. Got smacked on his sore hand by Danny Fortson (for once may have been a legit play by the big ole thug -- swiping at the ball) about 5 minutes into the third quarter. Left the game for a few minutes, then returned but was never remotely the same. Of course I say that, but the fact of the matter was he hadn't scored in the third quarter BEFORE the injury either, and our lead was already down to three when he got hurt. So hard to tell whether it broke up a huge night for him, or whether he was doing the all too frequent tailing off bit, and who knows how it works out. But what did seem obvious was that the injury crippled him mentally, as he was knocked back into ineffectiveness and passiveness after a very aggressive start to the game. If we'd had any better options on the bench, we would have been well advised to play them, because Peja really contributed very little over the final 15 minutes of the game. The shot was off, wasn't on the glass, did not look to handle, etc. Just an entirely different player. Obvious A+ first half. Would have been some sort of D probably in the second half if he was healthy. But have to assume the injury played some role in that, whether it be major or minor, and so looking mostly to the first half for the grade.
Reef ( B+ ) -- along with Peja started off scorching attacking the ineffective interior defense of the Sonics. A 10 pt first quarter, and did not miss a shot. Quieted way down after the first. Passed well, but not many shots, and didn't take care of the glass. Continuing to have traveling problems for turnovers on his spin moves. He was still there on through the end, gave a little burst in the third, tried a few moves in the 4th in the face of increased defensive pressure from the Sonics without much success. But maybe becoming too MUCH of passer for us at times. Did a very nice job obviously, and had assists on several of Peja's threes as they worked the old Webber/Peja inside out stuff. But offensively maybe a bit passive when we needed somebody to take over with Peja off his game. Just too good a scorer to be invisible for the bulk of the game. Hard to assess who that falls on -- Reef, Adelman, teammates? In any case, very efficient offensively, but low impact when it came to winning time. While the rebounding was subpar all night, snatched a big one down the stretch -- ironically maybe the last good board I can remmeber us getting as in the final two minutes the Sonics asserted themselves and killed us on the glass.
Miller ( B ) -- a couple of early jumpers, a turnaround, and fighting decently on the boards, but allowed Vitaly Potapenko ("The Ukraine Train"!) to light it up in the first half. Which isn't good. More nice passing from the high elbows and dropped a couple of uncommon moves for him during the game again including a nifty spin on Radmanovic. Went on a big run to end the third, and in the 4th was scrapping pretty well inside and coming up with boards and points. Thought it was a more legit rebounding effort tonight than the nearly identical statistical outing on Friday. Not great certainly, but competed and got his at important times. Loses the "+" from his grade for his play down the stretch when he was involved in most of what sunk us. Forced a bad shot on a big trip. Then he and Reef simply could not clean the defensive glass on a Sonics possession in the final two minutes that lasted about 40 seconds as they grabbed o-board after o-board after o-board while our frontline stood around looking confused. And then of course choked the two huge free throws with 26 seconds to go that would have tied the game and put us in good position to win it. And that was kind of it for us -- put the Sonics in a commanding position that we could not recover from.
Bonzi ( B ) -- scrappy effort early as he was victimized a few times when matched against Lewis for his superior strength/post toughness, and had trouble converting around the hoop although he was in there a lot grabbing a lot of misses etc.. Picked it up in the third and began to make plays on both ends of the court. And as the game slowed down and became more of a defensive battle in the 4th, Bonzi seemed to be more in his element and played big down the stretch. Did better on defense against Ray Allen late than Rashard Lewis early. Big rebounding numbers again as we remain a freaky team -- seems every other night our OG is grabbing as many boards as our C & PF combined. But tonight it didn't "feel" like Bonzi was ever really dominating the glass in the same way he has in past games. Good effort that got better as the game went along, but only had impact in short spurts.
Bibby ( B+ ) -- fairly quiet first half picking his spots but obviously taking a backseat to Peja, and to a lesser degree Reef early. Picked it up significantly in the second half, but was never as scorching hot as the first half guys and never really got on a streak where he hit 4 or 5 in a row. Hit two miss one sort of stuff. But a factor, and one of his better efforts on the year. Defense on Ridnour was not bad really. Last couple of games have been encouraging in that respect at least. Isn't going to smother anybody, but is showing a little defensive backbone and occasionally getting in the way at least. Turnovers were a problem, as he led a parade of Kings making sloppy passes for no apparent reason given the Sonics version of "defense" (think us on a particularly bad night). Tried to play the hero and bail us out late again. After the missed Brad FTs, he nailed a big three with 12 seconds to go in classic Bibby fashion to bring us back within one, and when Allen unexpectedly opened the door for us by missing 1 of 2 himself on the other end, it was Mike with a clean look at a three (that Sonics "defense" again) to win it....but no. One too many to pull out of the hat. Still, a 25 pt night and attempted late game heroics. Did not feel like A-grade stuff, but did at least feel like Mike Bibby out there rather than the imposter who was running around the first few weeks.
Kevin ( F ) -- came off the bench ragged, immediately turned it over, almost turned it over again, was unable to convert an alley oop. Not the start he was looking for. Drew the Ray Allen assingment, and while he did a good job on his first possession against him, therafter he got really lit up inside and out. Particularly a problem in the third with Peja out as Allen exploded and pulled the Sonics ahead. Bad outing for the kid as he just looked flustered from the beginning, and then was badly schooled by Ray all over the court. Jason Hart actually ended up taking his minutes late as a better OG option on the night. Think Kevin has to be careful here -- Rick has shown some confidence in him, making him one of our top three benchers every night. But even though he has few options on the bench right now, efforts like this could see others getting a shot at those minutes.
Thomas ( B- ) -- hit his first shot and looked as solid as he has all year in the first half. But was having problems trying to guard Vlad Rad in the first half and getting scored upon on the other side of the court. Blocked a Ridnour shot at the first half buzzer. Continued solid play in the second half, although it figures on a night when he finally brought a little offense, his boarding would fall off. Was scrapping in there, but not coming up with many. Solid bench effort accounting for ALL of our bench points (with 9
).
Hart ( C+ ) -- got hurt offensively by Mateen Cleaves of all people during the first half and didn't do much on the other end. Finally used in the defensive stopper role we had hoped in the late third when he was brought in to try to play cooler on Allen with Martin ineffective. And in that role played alongside Bibby as an OG, and became a defensive pest for he rest of his stint no matter who he was guarding. Unfortunately offensively could not hit anything, and continues to force odd out of rhythm shots and not show much ability to direct the team. C+ might be a bit generous, but at least finally brought some of what we needed on defense and was never really supposed to be much of a scorer on offense.
Reef ( B+ ) -- along with Peja started off scorching attacking the ineffective interior defense of the Sonics. A 10 pt first quarter, and did not miss a shot. Quieted way down after the first. Passed well, but not many shots, and didn't take care of the glass. Continuing to have traveling problems for turnovers on his spin moves. He was still there on through the end, gave a little burst in the third, tried a few moves in the 4th in the face of increased defensive pressure from the Sonics without much success. But maybe becoming too MUCH of passer for us at times. Did a very nice job obviously, and had assists on several of Peja's threes as they worked the old Webber/Peja inside out stuff. But offensively maybe a bit passive when we needed somebody to take over with Peja off his game. Just too good a scorer to be invisible for the bulk of the game. Hard to assess who that falls on -- Reef, Adelman, teammates? In any case, very efficient offensively, but low impact when it came to winning time. While the rebounding was subpar all night, snatched a big one down the stretch -- ironically maybe the last good board I can remmeber us getting as in the final two minutes the Sonics asserted themselves and killed us on the glass.
Miller ( B ) -- a couple of early jumpers, a turnaround, and fighting decently on the boards, but allowed Vitaly Potapenko ("The Ukraine Train"!) to light it up in the first half. Which isn't good. More nice passing from the high elbows and dropped a couple of uncommon moves for him during the game again including a nifty spin on Radmanovic. Went on a big run to end the third, and in the 4th was scrapping pretty well inside and coming up with boards and points. Thought it was a more legit rebounding effort tonight than the nearly identical statistical outing on Friday. Not great certainly, but competed and got his at important times. Loses the "+" from his grade for his play down the stretch when he was involved in most of what sunk us. Forced a bad shot on a big trip. Then he and Reef simply could not clean the defensive glass on a Sonics possession in the final two minutes that lasted about 40 seconds as they grabbed o-board after o-board after o-board while our frontline stood around looking confused. And then of course choked the two huge free throws with 26 seconds to go that would have tied the game and put us in good position to win it. And that was kind of it for us -- put the Sonics in a commanding position that we could not recover from.
Bonzi ( B ) -- scrappy effort early as he was victimized a few times when matched against Lewis for his superior strength/post toughness, and had trouble converting around the hoop although he was in there a lot grabbing a lot of misses etc.. Picked it up in the third and began to make plays on both ends of the court. And as the game slowed down and became more of a defensive battle in the 4th, Bonzi seemed to be more in his element and played big down the stretch. Did better on defense against Ray Allen late than Rashard Lewis early. Big rebounding numbers again as we remain a freaky team -- seems every other night our OG is grabbing as many boards as our C & PF combined. But tonight it didn't "feel" like Bonzi was ever really dominating the glass in the same way he has in past games. Good effort that got better as the game went along, but only had impact in short spurts.
Bibby ( B+ ) -- fairly quiet first half picking his spots but obviously taking a backseat to Peja, and to a lesser degree Reef early. Picked it up significantly in the second half, but was never as scorching hot as the first half guys and never really got on a streak where he hit 4 or 5 in a row. Hit two miss one sort of stuff. But a factor, and one of his better efforts on the year. Defense on Ridnour was not bad really. Last couple of games have been encouraging in that respect at least. Isn't going to smother anybody, but is showing a little defensive backbone and occasionally getting in the way at least. Turnovers were a problem, as he led a parade of Kings making sloppy passes for no apparent reason given the Sonics version of "defense" (think us on a particularly bad night). Tried to play the hero and bail us out late again. After the missed Brad FTs, he nailed a big three with 12 seconds to go in classic Bibby fashion to bring us back within one, and when Allen unexpectedly opened the door for us by missing 1 of 2 himself on the other end, it was Mike with a clean look at a three (that Sonics "defense" again) to win it....but no. One too many to pull out of the hat. Still, a 25 pt night and attempted late game heroics. Did not feel like A-grade stuff, but did at least feel like Mike Bibby out there rather than the imposter who was running around the first few weeks.
Kevin ( F ) -- came off the bench ragged, immediately turned it over, almost turned it over again, was unable to convert an alley oop. Not the start he was looking for. Drew the Ray Allen assingment, and while he did a good job on his first possession against him, therafter he got really lit up inside and out. Particularly a problem in the third with Peja out as Allen exploded and pulled the Sonics ahead. Bad outing for the kid as he just looked flustered from the beginning, and then was badly schooled by Ray all over the court. Jason Hart actually ended up taking his minutes late as a better OG option on the night. Think Kevin has to be careful here -- Rick has shown some confidence in him, making him one of our top three benchers every night. But even though he has few options on the bench right now, efforts like this could see others getting a shot at those minutes.
Thomas ( B- ) -- hit his first shot and looked as solid as he has all year in the first half. But was having problems trying to guard Vlad Rad in the first half and getting scored upon on the other side of the court. Blocked a Ridnour shot at the first half buzzer. Continued solid play in the second half, although it figures on a night when he finally brought a little offense, his boarding would fall off. Was scrapping in there, but not coming up with many. Solid bench effort accounting for ALL of our bench points (with 9
).Hart ( C+ ) -- got hurt offensively by Mateen Cleaves of all people during the first half and didn't do much on the other end. Finally used in the defensive stopper role we had hoped in the late third when he was brought in to try to play cooler on Allen with Martin ineffective. And in that role played alongside Bibby as an OG, and became a defensive pest for he rest of his stint no matter who he was guarding. Unfortunately offensively could not hit anything, and continues to force odd out of rhythm shots and not show much ability to direct the team. C+ might be a bit generous, but at least finally brought some of what we needed on defense and was never really supposed to be much of a scorer on offense.
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