SacTownKid said:
Overall I thought that was a fairly good measuring stick. We still have a ways to go, but after this game there is pretty much no doubt in my head that Bibby, Bonzi, Peja, Reef, and Brad should be the starting lineup. They really got in going together in the third. You know, one thing I am really starting to like is how Bonzi and Reef really demand the double team when they post up! This could be an interesting situation.
Well not sure how big a measuring stick it is -- a Clippers team without Elton Brand, Chris Kaman, Shaun Livingston, and then Zeljko Rebraca after the first quarter isn't much of a foe even during the regular season, let along when playing Daniel Ewing, Bonifcace N'Dong, James Singleton and Jared Reiner against our much more seasoned players.
But I do agree that that third quarter was quite encouraging -- got on a roll and showed we can be very potent and multifaceted offensively. Was against a thrown together team with no size or defenders though, so I'm not going to jump for joy quite yet.
Positives from game in rough order:
1) we got our schwerve on in the third quarter, and the starters looked very potent there for a stretch
2) Bonzi did his job and really gave us a boost of inside play and boardwork
3) Jason Hart was very good and very solid on both ends of the court as our backup PG
4) Brian Skinner scrapped in there as a backup center, and he got the minutes to help. If he and Hart can do that in the regular season, and are given the minutes to do so, it wil help us. Again though, Clippers had no size at all, certainly no proiven NBA size, so it was Skinner against the whos?
5) Cisco struggled until blowing up in the last quarter offensively. But during that stretch he showed why he might be the logical SF backup -- we can run all of Peja's sets with him in there. He showed nice cutting ability, finished, has the three point shot. Still very much a question whether he can rebound or defend against NBA SFs though, as he did neither last night, and of course he was just gunning up too much quickshot crap. Hopefully just his mistaken attempt to impress the coaches the way many young players try to -- shoot more!