Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
People are going to say that was ugly or whatever, but what I saw was a thing of beauty. I saw our two young stars play huge minutes, struggle through different adversities, and find ways to pull this out. I saw us find a little sparkplug to replace Thronton for a night, and maybe give us something to look forward to off the bench in the future. I saw us play tough team defense that held us in it, and saw us maintain that defense as we fought for this win. I saw spurts of offensive structure, and a defensive theory that got major value out of Reke, Salmons, Donte and Cousins. In short I saw a team. Not great shooting, not pretty passing, but a real life team with first options, second options, roleplayers, and a coach actually coaching. Thing of beauty I tell you.
Stats in 4 game since Smart took over:
Cousins: 30.0min 18.3pts (.519 .000 .731) 13.5reb 0.3ast 0.8stl 1.8blk 4.5TO
Tyreke:- 38.0min 24.5pts (.449 .182 .919)_-6.3reb 4.5ast 2.0stl 0.5blk 3.0TO
If that continues that's flat out one of the toughest duos in the league.
Boxscore
Salmons ( C ) -- he, and we, got off to a Keystone Cops start to this one. Threw a pass to Tyreke just as Reke was crossing the halfcourt line for an over and back. Then next possession was very very late delivering the ball to an open Jimmer, almsot seemed to be ignoring him on purpose. Looked a little more lively atheltically and was able to get places off the dribble. Finally got himself a guy his own size, which is to say a SG, to show his man defense against. Looked better than he has on that end too and combined with Reke and Cousins board dominance to stiffen our defensive backbone considerably. Stopped the ball to start the third, but scored on a nice take. But with Cousins just itching to tear up the Raptors' interior defense really seemed almost a concerted effort by our perimeter people to play keep away and keep chucking themselves. Think Salmons lost his late game minutes for that very reason, as we swapped in Cisco, Donte and Thomas for Salmons, Fredette and Hickson (all it should be noted gunners in another life) and got much smarter about where our bread was buttered as a result, and so rode them through the 4th. Still Salmons did look better on both sides of the ball this time, he didn't try to singlehandedly shoot us out of the game, and so baby steps and all that.
Hickson ( C+ ) -- was some effort here, but eventually got benched for dumbness as much as anything. Was all over the offensive boards from the opening tip, but missed tip after tip in there. Bargnani had a real down night before leaving with an injury at the end of the 3rd, but it would be hard to attribute that to JJ who kept on leaving him alone on the perimeter and getting lucky when he missed. Nonetheless, Bargnani did not whip him, so win to us. Started making mental erros in the third, 3 second calls, shuffing his feet etc. But maybe the biggest problem which was part him and part Jimmer, is that he just wouldn't quit shooting/taking postup opportunities. There is a big dog inside on this team. And its not JJ. But while the big dog starved there was Jimmer repeatedly setting up JJ, and JJ taking shot after shot. Its maybe a tribute to DeMarcus's improving maturity that he didn't come out and strangle both thier scrawny necks. In any case, near the end of the third Coach Smart had seen enough, and repalced everybody but Reke with personnel a little more willing to get with the program.
You let 'em know big guy
Cousins ( A ) -- part of the reason I think DeMarcus Cousins has a chance to not just be an All Star -- as if that was even a question ESPN boobs -- but quite possibly a superstar is that he is almost a basketball savant. I'm not sure I've ever seen a player at this level pick things up so quickly. A problem is identified -- has to be by him obviously -- and then all of a sudden he changes something and its not a problem anymore within a space of just a few games. That's not the way it works for normal people. Its supposed to take you months, years of work. You don't just say "oh, I am fouling too much" and then wake up the next morning and quit fouling too much. Who does that? Well Cousins does. And lo and behold you know what you get when DeMarcus Cousins quits fouling and plays 39 minutes? You get a monster Dwight Howard type 21pt 19reb statline is what you get. After a brief interlude where he was ignored while we played a few minutes of Jimmer ball, DeMarcus opened up the toolbox on the Raptors frontline in the first quarter. Hit them with jumpers, post moves, drives, just toying with them. Finally old Jamaal Magloire who was a tough physical player in his youth and is just cheap anymore, had had enough and just blatantly thugged him with a flagrant (a real one, not that touch foul nonsense). It wouldn't be the last time DeMarcus took some real punishment in there this game, but he never remotely lost his cool. Made it through the 1st quarter with only 1 foul, and sat for most of the 2nd, in what I can only imagine was a scheme to keep him out of foul trouble. We went right to him to start the third, but he traveled. Then Salmons started dominating the ball, and wasn't about to waste the opportunity with any passes to his big man. Spent most of the third being frozen out, both by the Raptors who wre running doubles at him with and without the ball, and his teammates, who put on a good display of why big grunt workers in every sport hate the little pretty boy gloryhound ballhandlers on their teams. Was doing the work, and never lost his cool. Used the lack of foul trouble to play aggressively on defense and just pummel the Raptor's on the glass, but until Smart finally swapped out 3/5 of the starting lineup he was just simply being ignored on offense despite th fact the Raptors had nobody to contend with him. Finally at the end of the third got on the board with a pair of huge offensive rebound follows, the first of which is above and earned him a T for scream on top of it. But you know what? Did not bother me at all. The NBA has castrated itself to such a degree that a scream is a T? Pfft. Let 'em have it big guy. Was let out of teammate jail when we brought in Cisco, Donte, and especially little Isiah Thomas, who darted aroudn and found seasm to get the ball to Cousins that nobody else had. Cousins responded with a big 4th and was the real separating factor in this one. Just nobody could handle his physicality. Got a feeling many more of these will be coming.
Fredette ( C- ) -- after a shaky early possession where he was unaware of the shotclock and did not get the ball back from Stickyfingers Salmons with enough time to do anything, he briefly, very briefly, gave us a taste of the Jimmermania shooting. Hit his first two shots, first a two then a long three for I think our first 5 ponts of the contest, and I was settling back thinking hey, maybe finally a breakout game. He was being guarded by Ivan Cal_eron, we needed the shooting, it was all set up and he was off to a good start...and then it just fizzled again. Gunned up two more quick shots, missed both, and promptly disappeared (he was 1-8 for the rest of the game after those first 3-4 min). Somewhat troublingly, it appeared to me that while we were messing around playing Jimmerball we ignored big DeMarcus inside entirely. Not sure if that was Jimmer's fault or the team's/scheme's, but obviously one can't come at the expense of the other. Didn't do anything else for the rest of the quarter, but we competed well as a team, and unlike the Philly game Jimmer was not an open wound for us. Unfortunately there was still more game to be played, and he was not as solid the rest of the way. After returning late in the half committed another jump in the air and throw a bad pass error, and then threw another terrible pass to cost us a possession just before half. Started to get some open spot shooting threes, but again missed them before hitting one off the pullup. Could he just be so used to having the ball that he is more comfrotable shooting them off his dribble rather than spotting up? Beno was that way too. Began to frustrate in the third as he seemed overconcerned with getting his own shots up, and developed an unhealthy fascination with feeding JJ Hickson for post attempts rather than Cousins -- again reminscient of the odd behavior of Beno who was always insisting on giving it to Dalembert rather than Cousins. Most telling moment fo the game for him may have been the immediate shot in the arm the team got when he swapped out and Isiah Thomas swapped in. A little better than his recent games, and had a couple of good minutes early, but in the end no impact again.
Evans ( B- ) -- Largely laid back in the first, but came up with a beautiful one on one take to close the first quarter. Very aggressive in the open court again but missing layups all night long, many of them of the tough variety. Got suckered into taking wide open threes in what looked like an intentional part of our offensive scheme, but could not hit those either and missed inside and out while trying to carry the team alone with Cousins out. May in fact have looked better on defense than offense, although every few minutes he would come up with a spectacular take to the rim. Played the first 20 min straight of the game as Smart was playing minutes games designed to absolutely ride Reke and Cousins as long and far as we could. Finsihed with 45 min, and was busting his butt on defense the whole time too. Surprised me given that only a week or two ago I was assured that Reke was fat and lazy. Unnecessary 1 on 1 jumper to start the third, but eventually stopped settling for jumpers and started scoring with the physical stuff drawing fouls in the third. Was taking too many shots, but its pretty obvious that's the gameplan. Reke and Cousins, Cousins and Reke. And Thornton when he's around. Picked a good time to finally hit a 3 in the early 4th to retie the game and continued hitting tough shots and playing D in the 4th as it was a surprisingly hard fought and tough minded battle right to the end given these two teams' also ran status. Drew fouls and kept the points coming late in the game at the line. And down the stretch just absolutely refused to miss a FT as the Raptors resorted to intentionally fouling us and we had to ice the game from the FT line. Finished 14-14 as the guy who's own fans booed him at home a couple of weeks ago for missing FTs has now turned into Rick Barry from the line. This was far from Reke's best game, and minus the intentional fouling he is closer to 22 than 29 pts on the night. But it was a real tough minded game, one where Reke had a role to play and kept at it even when things weren't falling. He played long minutes, was one of our core defensive guys who kept scrapping the whole game, and late in the game bumped the grade up into the Bs by draining clutch FT after clutch FT to seal it.
Stats in 4 game since Smart took over:
Cousins: 30.0min 18.3pts (.519 .000 .731) 13.5reb 0.3ast 0.8stl 1.8blk 4.5TO
Tyreke:- 38.0min 24.5pts (.449 .182 .919)_-6.3reb 4.5ast 2.0stl 0.5blk 3.0TO
If that continues that's flat out one of the toughest duos in the league.
Boxscore
Salmons ( C ) -- he, and we, got off to a Keystone Cops start to this one. Threw a pass to Tyreke just as Reke was crossing the halfcourt line for an over and back. Then next possession was very very late delivering the ball to an open Jimmer, almsot seemed to be ignoring him on purpose. Looked a little more lively atheltically and was able to get places off the dribble. Finally got himself a guy his own size, which is to say a SG, to show his man defense against. Looked better than he has on that end too and combined with Reke and Cousins board dominance to stiffen our defensive backbone considerably. Stopped the ball to start the third, but scored on a nice take. But with Cousins just itching to tear up the Raptors' interior defense really seemed almost a concerted effort by our perimeter people to play keep away and keep chucking themselves. Think Salmons lost his late game minutes for that very reason, as we swapped in Cisco, Donte and Thomas for Salmons, Fredette and Hickson (all it should be noted gunners in another life) and got much smarter about where our bread was buttered as a result, and so rode them through the 4th. Still Salmons did look better on both sides of the ball this time, he didn't try to singlehandedly shoot us out of the game, and so baby steps and all that.
Hickson ( C+ ) -- was some effort here, but eventually got benched for dumbness as much as anything. Was all over the offensive boards from the opening tip, but missed tip after tip in there. Bargnani had a real down night before leaving with an injury at the end of the 3rd, but it would be hard to attribute that to JJ who kept on leaving him alone on the perimeter and getting lucky when he missed. Nonetheless, Bargnani did not whip him, so win to us. Started making mental erros in the third, 3 second calls, shuffing his feet etc. But maybe the biggest problem which was part him and part Jimmer, is that he just wouldn't quit shooting/taking postup opportunities. There is a big dog inside on this team. And its not JJ. But while the big dog starved there was Jimmer repeatedly setting up JJ, and JJ taking shot after shot. Its maybe a tribute to DeMarcus's improving maturity that he didn't come out and strangle both thier scrawny necks. In any case, near the end of the third Coach Smart had seen enough, and repalced everybody but Reke with personnel a little more willing to get with the program.
Cousins ( A ) -- part of the reason I think DeMarcus Cousins has a chance to not just be an All Star -- as if that was even a question ESPN boobs -- but quite possibly a superstar is that he is almost a basketball savant. I'm not sure I've ever seen a player at this level pick things up so quickly. A problem is identified -- has to be by him obviously -- and then all of a sudden he changes something and its not a problem anymore within a space of just a few games. That's not the way it works for normal people. Its supposed to take you months, years of work. You don't just say "oh, I am fouling too much" and then wake up the next morning and quit fouling too much. Who does that? Well Cousins does. And lo and behold you know what you get when DeMarcus Cousins quits fouling and plays 39 minutes? You get a monster Dwight Howard type 21pt 19reb statline is what you get. After a brief interlude where he was ignored while we played a few minutes of Jimmer ball, DeMarcus opened up the toolbox on the Raptors frontline in the first quarter. Hit them with jumpers, post moves, drives, just toying with them. Finally old Jamaal Magloire who was a tough physical player in his youth and is just cheap anymore, had had enough and just blatantly thugged him with a flagrant (a real one, not that touch foul nonsense). It wouldn't be the last time DeMarcus took some real punishment in there this game, but he never remotely lost his cool. Made it through the 1st quarter with only 1 foul, and sat for most of the 2nd, in what I can only imagine was a scheme to keep him out of foul trouble. We went right to him to start the third, but he traveled. Then Salmons started dominating the ball, and wasn't about to waste the opportunity with any passes to his big man. Spent most of the third being frozen out, both by the Raptors who wre running doubles at him with and without the ball, and his teammates, who put on a good display of why big grunt workers in every sport hate the little pretty boy gloryhound ballhandlers on their teams. Was doing the work, and never lost his cool. Used the lack of foul trouble to play aggressively on defense and just pummel the Raptor's on the glass, but until Smart finally swapped out 3/5 of the starting lineup he was just simply being ignored on offense despite th fact the Raptors had nobody to contend with him. Finally at the end of the third got on the board with a pair of huge offensive rebound follows, the first of which is above and earned him a T for scream on top of it. But you know what? Did not bother me at all. The NBA has castrated itself to such a degree that a scream is a T? Pfft. Let 'em have it big guy. Was let out of teammate jail when we brought in Cisco, Donte, and especially little Isiah Thomas, who darted aroudn and found seasm to get the ball to Cousins that nobody else had. Cousins responded with a big 4th and was the real separating factor in this one. Just nobody could handle his physicality. Got a feeling many more of these will be coming.
Fredette ( C- ) -- after a shaky early possession where he was unaware of the shotclock and did not get the ball back from Stickyfingers Salmons with enough time to do anything, he briefly, very briefly, gave us a taste of the Jimmermania shooting. Hit his first two shots, first a two then a long three for I think our first 5 ponts of the contest, and I was settling back thinking hey, maybe finally a breakout game. He was being guarded by Ivan Cal_eron, we needed the shooting, it was all set up and he was off to a good start...and then it just fizzled again. Gunned up two more quick shots, missed both, and promptly disappeared (he was 1-8 for the rest of the game after those first 3-4 min). Somewhat troublingly, it appeared to me that while we were messing around playing Jimmerball we ignored big DeMarcus inside entirely. Not sure if that was Jimmer's fault or the team's/scheme's, but obviously one can't come at the expense of the other. Didn't do anything else for the rest of the quarter, but we competed well as a team, and unlike the Philly game Jimmer was not an open wound for us. Unfortunately there was still more game to be played, and he was not as solid the rest of the way. After returning late in the half committed another jump in the air and throw a bad pass error, and then threw another terrible pass to cost us a possession just before half. Started to get some open spot shooting threes, but again missed them before hitting one off the pullup. Could he just be so used to having the ball that he is more comfrotable shooting them off his dribble rather than spotting up? Beno was that way too. Began to frustrate in the third as he seemed overconcerned with getting his own shots up, and developed an unhealthy fascination with feeding JJ Hickson for post attempts rather than Cousins -- again reminscient of the odd behavior of Beno who was always insisting on giving it to Dalembert rather than Cousins. Most telling moment fo the game for him may have been the immediate shot in the arm the team got when he swapped out and Isiah Thomas swapped in. A little better than his recent games, and had a couple of good minutes early, but in the end no impact again.
Evans ( B- ) -- Largely laid back in the first, but came up with a beautiful one on one take to close the first quarter. Very aggressive in the open court again but missing layups all night long, many of them of the tough variety. Got suckered into taking wide open threes in what looked like an intentional part of our offensive scheme, but could not hit those either and missed inside and out while trying to carry the team alone with Cousins out. May in fact have looked better on defense than offense, although every few minutes he would come up with a spectacular take to the rim. Played the first 20 min straight of the game as Smart was playing minutes games designed to absolutely ride Reke and Cousins as long and far as we could. Finsihed with 45 min, and was busting his butt on defense the whole time too. Surprised me given that only a week or two ago I was assured that Reke was fat and lazy. Unnecessary 1 on 1 jumper to start the third, but eventually stopped settling for jumpers and started scoring with the physical stuff drawing fouls in the third. Was taking too many shots, but its pretty obvious that's the gameplan. Reke and Cousins, Cousins and Reke. And Thornton when he's around. Picked a good time to finally hit a 3 in the early 4th to retie the game and continued hitting tough shots and playing D in the 4th as it was a surprisingly hard fought and tough minded battle right to the end given these two teams' also ran status. Drew fouls and kept the points coming late in the game at the line. And down the stretch just absolutely refused to miss a FT as the Raptors resorted to intentionally fouling us and we had to ice the game from the FT line. Finished 14-14 as the guy who's own fans booed him at home a couple of weeks ago for missing FTs has now turned into Rick Barry from the line. This was far from Reke's best game, and minus the intentional fouling he is closer to 22 than 29 pts on the night. But it was a real tough minded game, one where Reke had a role to play and kept at it even when things weren't falling. He played long minutes, was one of our core defensive guys who kept scrapping the whole game, and late in the game bumped the grade up into the Bs by draining clutch FT after clutch FT to seal it.
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