Link to Boxscore
Gay ( B+ ) -- played a stinky first half where he again got off to the stupidly bad start, blowing shots, taking bad ones, and looking overwhelmed by King James' presence. but maybe somebody challenged him, because he emerged as a new man after half, attacked, drained threes, blocked shots, and very much held his own.
Tolliver ( C ) -- this is kind of a "Tolliver C", as in anybody with actual talent would get less of a grade for 7pts 6reb on 3-10 shooting in 34 minutes. Overpowered by Love on defense early, missed several in between shots as he only knows the 3, and blew a board inexcusable late, having it bounce off his fingertips. Still, steady in his drab? There through both good times and bad.
Cousins ( A- ) -- missed his threes, and a few too many turnovers, although most were of a more understandable form than the ones some of his teammates were throwing. but otherwise another strong strong game, just muscled little Tristan away from any boards, overpowered the Cavs inside early, then picked them apart with passing when they doubled him (averaging 4.95 ast/gm since Dec 1).
Temple ( C ) -- we got spurts of his defense, but this was not a vintage night. He provided little on the other end, and in fact for much of the early going was one of the problematic Kings throwing the ball all over the snazzy new arena.
Collison ( C+ ) -- got off to a sluggish start to the game, almost per usual. But was one of the first Kings to wake up and give Cuz some scoring help in the third, finally hitting his shots, and selecting the right ones, including those little elbow jumpers he likes. Still lost all the 4th quarter minutes to an excellent Ty Lawson.
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Barnes ( C ) -- a mistake prone player just continued to make bonehead moves, missed all his threes, but also dug in and fought on the glass against larger/stronger Cavs, and fearlessly attacked the rim. Feisty defense on both Love and Lebron.
Koufos ( INC ) -- grabbed some boards in a first half stint in relief of Cousins, but looked a bit the fish out of water, and Cousins was brought back again and again to give us as many minutes as possible in an upset bid.
Lawson ( B+ ) -- his first half minutes were not particularly remarkable, but once again in the second half showed moxie and leadership aggressively attacking the rim again and again and actually getting us as close as 6pts down in the early 4th. Defensive size was a problem, but competitiveness was not.
Casspi ( INC ) -- restricted to a first half stint that took place as we began to wake up. Not a whole lot to grade, but did have a nice 1 on 1 defensive stand against LeBron, forcing a turnover.
Afflalo ( D+ ) -- gets a little grade for being the first King to get the really revolutionary idea that maybe if you know, just hit the wide open kickout pass when they double Cuz then the game will be a lot easier. Otherwise, scuffy minutes with several bad turnovers. Did like his pissed off just knock the annoying screeners out of your way defensive sequence though. That's the spirit.
McLemore ( INC ) -- just the garbagetime
Richardson ( INC ) -- just the garbagetime
Cauley Stein ( INC ) -- just the garbagetime
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