Impressive? Eh...
Got it done? Sure, and didn't even collapse down the stretch, whatcha know. Nonetheless I was really concerned about what I was seeing from and around Boogie through 3+ quarters. Think its important that he came on and was a huge part of why/how we won this one down the stretch because he didn't look happy, and we were using him, or rather not using him in scary fashion (your 270lb superstar center sets a pick at the three point line than wanders over to go stand in the corner? That's your play?) Ben came up with one of "those games" too, and for 3/4+ was leading us in scoring. And Rudy finished it off, winning with an iso play (gee that Malone sure didn't know how to coach in this league). Next up, the weakest opponent we could run into now that we already used up our game against the Knicks -- the test of whether a middling win like this matters will be whether we can follow it up and finally develop a little momentum.
Boxscore
Stats: 39min 26pts (9-17, 2-3, 6-8) 3reb 1ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Gay ( B+ ) -- was good almost from the opening tip of this one...at least as a scorer. Quickly got a 1 on 1 move over MKG (a quite good defender). Hit a three from Cuz. And was the only King left in after an early near full line change as things started to crumble for us. And he responded well to the responsibility, continuing to score, although the FTs were a bit shaky for a bit. Would later get an alley oop late in the half. Now the thing was...was he really bad at the other aspects? Maybe not. But he seemed to be losing battles around the glass, and while he was more attentive than he had been in Atlanta on defense -- despite MKG coming within 2 of a career high with 23 pts, only 4 of his 9 made FGs were on Rudy, and all but one were transition shots -- neither did he make any positive impact on that end. Throw in only a single assist, and you had Rudy and Ben combine to carry us offensively throughout the game until Cuz's late burst, and yet with their 33 FGA there were only 5rebs and 3ast. Anyway, while for a while Ben surged ahead as a scorer, it was Rudy who really helped Cuz close this thing. He drove and got fouled with us down 1 with 4:50 to go. Got a bit lucky he didn't get called for a charge at the 46sec mark, but instead of us losing the ball only up 2, the call was made against the Hornets, and Rudy hit the FT to finish the three point play and put us up 5. And after a made Charlotte basket to cut it to 3 and make it a one possession game, it was Rudy who came back and resealed the door with a jumper with a you're a star, go win it for us clear out isolation play with 18 seconds to go. His best most well rounded game? Maybe not. As good as Ben? Hmmmm...close, but I think you still give the kid the higher grade because this is more normal for Rudy. But Rudy was one of our constant engines throughout the game, and when it came time to win it, Rudy was the guy who latched the door Cuz was in the process of slamming shut. --Brick
Stats: 19min 10pts (3-4, 0-0, 4-4) 3reb 1ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Landry ( B ) -- Carl started the game and only played 19 minutes, but he played well. He went about 4 minutes into the game before he touched the ball on offense, and that came when he battled for a rebound and was fouled. After making both freethrows, he once again became a spectator with Cousins and Gay getting most of the touches. Then, when he did have an open shot, he passed it up, drove to the basket and got his shot blocked. He finally makes a basket when he dunked the ball off a nice feed from McCallum. He scored again thanks to McCallum, this time with an up and under scoop shot. His only other basket came in the second half on a put back of a McLemore miss. Oddly, I don't believe Carl took on jumpshot all night, which is usually his bread and butter. Defensively he was OK. He strayed off Williams a couple of times, but by and large, he did a decent job. If I had to find fault, it would be his lack of rebounding. Only 3 rebounds on the night. However, he was playing next to Cousins who was gobbling up everything in sight. All in all, he did his job tonight. --Baja
Stats: 34min 20pts (8-17, 0-2, 4-5) 14reb 1ast 2stl 0blk 4TO
Cousins ( B- ) -- a doughnut game with a troubling filling, this looked like it was going to start off very strong as Cuz went Tim Duncan on Big Al back to back early on, banking in shots off the left angle, and whipped a pass to Rudy for a three. But a random early play designed to pee me off -- catching the ball up top with nobody around Cuz suddenly decided to pull up for a three and airballed it -- seemed to if not break the spell, at least be a sign it was breaking. Things began to get ragged, he missed a running layup on the nice setup from Ray, missed with two pass attempts. Was forced into a second missed three out there when the shotclock randown, and the whole smooth start and early lead we had going was forgotten about as the whole team started falling apart and was replaced en masse by Karl (Gay excepted). And when he returned to the game...something was wrong. He seemed to be laboring to get up and down the court, he missed another finish, never seemed to be able to get in any rhythm, thrwe another TO intended for Rudy when Rudy did not move, and when he did take a shot it was almost a halfhearted giveup. The odd thing was he was still giving an effort on the other end, still racking up rebounds. He finally got a couple more shots to fall just before the half finished, but then the third comes around, and that was when things really took a disturbing turn, as out of rhythm Cuz was replaced by a guy who was either injured, gassed, or completely frozen out of the offense and pissed about it Cuz. It was a sincerely bizarre quarter -- mind you, he still was getting back on defense, still piling up boards, but offensively...I mean he wasn't only not shooting, he wasn't even touching the ball half the plays. And yes, there were a number of selfish takes by the young guards, but it wasn't just that. We were running plays where quite literally Cuz might catch the ball at the three point line, hand it off, and go trot off to the corner to stay out of the way while the other guys played. He's set a single pick up high, and the play would go the other way entirely, and he just stood there 20ft from anything not in position in rebound or anything else. And it seemed to be built into the playcalling. meanwhile, chicken and egg, he's utterly dragging up the court on offense and just sort of walking around watching other people throw up shots, and the Hornets are closing, closing, and finally took the lead. It was disturbing no matter which way you looked at it, and this grade was plummeting. I was pondering D? Was he pissed at not getting the ball? Was Karl experimenting? Was Ray about to catch a big elbow from his own teammate? I couldn't tell. But he wasn't happy over there on the bench. Looked like he wanted to get back into the game, wasn't happy when he didn't. Was in some sort of animated conversation with Reggie and just...oh boy what now. That's why I thought the way this one ended was important. After a game of frustration (he was 4-13 12pts 11reb going into the 4th) Cuz got back on the floor, and after two initial misadventures where the team continued to have TO problems trying to use him, he stepped up big to win the game for us and poured in 10 pts in the final 4+ minutes to put the game away. With us up 1 and 4:20 left, he got fouled and split a pair. Then took a Rudy pass and banged in a hook with another +1 drawn foul. He ran the floor and took a big monster alley oop from Dre which put us up 7 and instantly caused Charlotte to call a timeout. Then it was a 270lb eurostep drive for the layin, and finally with Charlotte still right there, he hit a jumper to push them back off again. Rudy closed up with his two late hits, and our 2 stars had won the game and tried to make you forget what had gone before. Post game quotes sounded reasonably happy enough to get the win, so...I dunno. I'm certainly not going to forget it, and if we start seeing more plays hiding our superstar in the corner like Baby there's going to be a real problem brewing. But we got the win the way we needed to, with Cuz stepping up to be major part to it, so hopefully whatever all that was will just get swept under the rug and forgotten about. --Brick
Stats: 41min 27pts (10-16, 3-4, 4-4) 2reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
McLemore ( A ) -- I could throw out superlatives about Ben's performance tonight until my keyboard broke, and maybe I really DO need that new laptop...but I'll try to be brief. Ben's offense was dead on tonight. He only missed six shots on the night, and four of those came directly at the rim - one an iffy lob pass, two on drives (one blocked) and one on a reverse he just came up short on. You'll take your odds on those shots over and over. And despite missing those, his jumper was on. He was 3-4 from deep and hit his other three jumpers. Didn't miss a J inside the arc. And he made his way to the rim over and over. Defensively, he had a very nice game as well. I noted about six impressive defensive plays from Ben tonight - some deflections, a steal, a couple of lockdowns on drives, perhaps the best of which came in transition where he shut down Henderson and forced him into a missed fadeaway jumper instead of a ride to the rim. And I can tell you what Brick's favorite play was - if he noticed it. In the middle of the fourth he set a baseline screen for Cousins to get our big guy some post position. He gave Biyombo a good chuck on the screen and when it was enough to bounce Biyombo back a bit, he gave him another one. The Double Bi-Smack. Cuz had plenty of time to get in position, but it turned out the entry was late and Biyombo was able to recover. Still, a jumpshooter getting physical and giving some punishment to a big guy? AND scoring 27 points? Yes, please! --Capt.
Stats: 25min 6pts (1-7, 0-2, 4-5) 4reb 9ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
McCallum ( B- ) -- this was an interesting game for Ray, especially the first half, for the simple reason that he didn't play it like Ray McCallum, he played it more like Andre Miller. He played the setup guy rather than the scoring point guard, and if Cuz had not blown a couple of early opportunities and a few balls hadn't have been slapped away inside, Ray might easily have had a career high in assists here. He was responsible for a good portion of Landry's work, and one would have to imagine the lack of competition also helped goose Ben's breakout game. Defensively after one early Mo Williams blow by, Ray competed. Mo would get several more hoops on him during the game, but they were mostly when Ray got knocked off by a screen, and there was one notably tough shot after half with Ray all over him, but Mo still knocking it down. The third quarter was less satisfying, as Ray seemed to be looking for his own shot more, and in fact was far more involved as a shooter than was Boogie, which is pretty much unacceptable. Nor did he hit much of anything, getting blocked inside on several forced drives and an alley oop attempt, missing all his threes etc. Eventually he lost all but a handful of the late minutes to a Miller/Ben backcourt. For the first half though I thought this was an interesting change for Ray, and perhaps a welcome one. Just seemed to forget about it during our normal 3rd quarter of discontent and so we rode other hands to the victory. --Brick
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