Well, the big guy was back, and gee what a coincidence that all of a sudden our backcourt got efficient, Rudy turned back into a clutch late game guy etc. Unfortunately despite a heroic effort by Cuz huffing and puffing and clearly laboring and blowing clean through his minutes limit on his way to a 27pt 11reb 5ast night, down we go again.
The hows of it are interesting, could be alarming, could be one game things:
-- uptempo'd, felt like the same idiot play we've seen here for 8 years. Just a new idiot preaching same ole as we score 107pts...and lose.
-- we smallballed, a lot. The only comfort there is that the Bucks don't have nay big guys to use, so they often had 3 guards, use Giannis as a mobile PF etc, so smallball might have just been a response to this opponent.
-- short rotation. Evans and Casspi were out, so we'll see, but Corbin largely used 7 guys tonight withe just spots of 3 others. The two guys he used off the bench were precisely the two guys our, well, I don't want to call it a braintrust, so how about a nerveclustertrust, were reportedly concerned about being misused, or underused, or whatever. Does that mean we are going to be a 7 deep team with the wonderful Sessions/DWill duo doing my dirty work and firing our GM for me? Dunno. (nothing the matter with 7 man teams btw, if you have the right 7 -- Pat Riley has a fistful of rings on the theory).
-- terrible playcall at the end, I saw DeMarcus clearly telling Corbin he wanted the last shot, which is your star player's prerogrative. but after 33min looking exhausted and playing the entire 4th quarter you just HAVE to come up with something better than a Cuz contested 20foot fallaway
BTW, Scot Pollard can call a Kings game anytime he wants to as far as I'm concerned.
Boxscore
Stats: 39min 20pts (9-15, 1-2, 1-2) 9reb 6ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Gay ( B+ ) -- I don’t think any player on the Kings was happier to see Cousins out on the floor than Rudy. Rudy has been wearing himself out trying to shoulder the responsibility in Cousins’ absence, and he just isn’t quite good enough to do it effectively. But with Cousins out there being the primary focus on the defense it really opens things up for Rudy to move the ball around, find people in good positions to score, and to attack when he’s got the advantage. I will also admit that it’s sort of hard to score this game because everyone was making shots and so all the numbers look good across the board. But back to Rudy, who basically just started the game with a huge sigh of relief and sort of let Cousins and Ben be the focus of the offense. All he was doing was rebounding the ball, making nice passes, and playing good defense on Giannis. Then after about 6 minutes of play he decided that he just wanted to flip a switch and start scoring…which didn’t really work very well as he took (and missed) two jumpers, with the first being one where he held on to the ball the entire possession then clanked a 20ft shot. He didn’t do much scoring in the first, but he was doing everything else, and he didn’t let Giannis get a single point.He came in for the 2nd half of the 2nd quarter being more aggressive offensively and scoring in the smooth manner that he always has going for him. It was all pretty good until the last defensive play of the half where he was supposed to switch over to Knight and didn’t, and Knight closed the half with a wide open 3pt shot which put the Bucks up by 3 going into the half…considering that we lost by 1, that brain-freeze of a move really hurt us. He played really well in the 3rd quarter, scoring here and there, getting the ball to guys in position to score, and other than a bad play where he let Giannis cut to the rim for an easy dunk, he played good D. It was in the fourth quarter that he really shined as Cousins was struggling to keep the pace. With Cousins being the focal point of the defense he was able to attack the rim and was Mr. Clutch when he went down the court on back-to-back trips and scored, taking us from being down four to tying the game with a minute left. Unfortunately that was the last he touched the ball. 20 points on 9-15 shooting, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and only 1 turn-over and he held the Greek Freak in check for most of the game…as I said, he’s got to be extremely happy to have Cousins back out there with him, because it makes the game so much easier for him and he’s got the talent to really take advantage which he did tonight.--Uncia
(Ed. note: Uncia originally had this at an A-, I tweaked it to fit, but he watched Rudy closer than anybody else and very well could have the better read)
Stats: 19min 3pts (1-3, 0-0, 1-4) 3reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Thompson ( F ) -- Absolutely horrible game by JT. As a matter of fact, we got a whole 5 points out of our PF combo of JT and Landry. Oh, but wait, they combined to grab 3 boards. Had we gotten anything out of either of them, even on the defensive side, we would have won the game. JT didn't score a basket until the second half when he threw up a little turn around flip shot from 6 feet. He got the line in the first have but only made one free throw. To make matters worse, he interfered with a shot by Sessions and had a basket taken away. Defensively he kept getting caught in screens, and to be honest, he didn't fight very hard to get through the screens, and left Dudley wide open to hit a couple of threes. I'd love to go on, but when a player does nothing, then there's nothing to write. Just a downright pitiful game by JT. --Baja
Stats: 33min 27pts (8-12, 0-0, 11-13) 11reb 5ast 1stl 0blk 6TO
Cousins ( A- ) -- thank heavens for the return of the big guy. At this point he can pretty much wade into Kings offices and start throwing bodies out the window a far as I'm concerned. Be the first player/coach/GM/owner since Will Ferrel. And the Cuz we got back was interesting on a number of levels. He was active and aggressive, yet maybe almost TOO active and aggressive. The thing to watch is that the Zen Boogie we saw in the first month of the season wasn't here. And why should he be? His season got destroyed by a rare and dangerous bug, his favorite coach got fired before he could get back to save him, and his teammates collapsed with him gone as his long dreamt of playoff run evaporated again. And the Cousins you saw out there reflected all of that. We had him stationed outside for much of the first half, but whether that was just due to the opponent (slowfooted Zaza Pachulia) or whether this represents a front office driven return to the Keith Smart era of stupidity you can't know off of one game. Whatever it was, against Zaza, it was effective because he can't move like Boogie, and Boogie was just in all out angry/impatient attack mode from the very beginning of the game. He had 8 quick points before his first scheduled departure in the mid 1st, but the offensive impact was much greater than even that, as all of a sudden Ben and DC were getting open efficient looks, Rudy was able to step back and not force, etc. Defensively he wasn't settled either, which was less than ideal as he was overactive and notably pissed about half the time. If the sickness effected him anywhere beyond stamina it might have been on the glass where he seemed to be getting bounced more than normal, and the 11 felt a little empty this time, with a number of gimmes added in. The thing was, the energy and aggressiveness was not contained to just the physical stuff here. Boogie was flat agitated through most of this one. He barked at Rudy when he didn't pass it. He yelled "shoot the three" at Stauskas after returning in the 2nd and kicking the ball to Nik only to watch him pass on the shot, dribble inside, and get nothing. He was chatty with the refs, and the relationship with Corbin was interesting...because I'm not sure who was n control. At times Corbin seemed to just be lurking in the background while Cuz tried to one an franchise this game , barking instructions, yelling encouragement, and on the final play of the game, calling his own number. There were a number of those special superstar only plays that we've been missing An incredible baseline fallaway out of bounds he hit. On the break with a big Magic Johnson half court bounce pass to Sessions for a layup -- sort of thing Webber used to do. And his passing was a huge kick in the pants to our offense, as half the time he really was trying to spoonfeed the whole team. It was great to see in a lot of ways, but there is also just a little uneasiness, because what we had out there seemed to be a guy who no longer trusted his teammates, and maybe his franchise, and so he was going to do it all himself and make everyone win. I was glad when Rudy stepped up late, because after their collapse without him, it almost feels like his teammates are going to have to reearn his respect now. He came out in the third getting his foul drawing game going inside, either driving on Zaza and slamming into him, or posting up O'Bryant. And he was very active defensively trapping and getting his hands on balls...which again, there was an uneasy feel to it. Basically like the perimeter guys had been so pathetic on defense in the first half that in the second half Boogie came out looking to one man swarm and stop all the Bucks himself. The Bucks started sending a second late at him, and there started to be turnovers as guys were swooping in to poke and swipe. Along the way he had several shaky ref calls go against him, but I suppose a good sign would be that despite his general agitation, he didn't let the bad calls shake him like they once would have. Was back to start the 4th, looked very tired by that point, but damnit if we didn't absolutely need every minute, and so amazingly he ended up playing the entire final stanza. If there was a minutes limit either Corbin ignored it trying to ride him, or maybe Cousins just waved it off himself. In any case despite at times noticeably laboring to get up and down the floor Cuz turned in an inspiring performance here. He really, ahem, warriored it out, which should make our dip of an owner happy. There wee some great defensive stands down the stretch, he powered through O;Bryant for one of those half hooks we havenb't seen enough of of late, and were it not for the turnovers was playing a remarkable game for his first time back. But until Rudy finally stepped up there just wasn't enough help to get us over the top, and with Cuz obviously exhausted from the effort, the two times we went to him in hte final minutes he came up empty. Most notable of course was the final shot of the game when...look, even if he was fresh, if you're drawing a play up for Cousins to win it, it can't end up being a 20 foot step back jumper out of a high double/trap. I think we wanted him to drive, but the Bucks sniffed it out and raced a second man at him. In any case, it was a bad possession, we lose, and like Chris Webber a decade ago after rimming out that game winning three against KG in Game 7 of our last playoff run with him, Cousins fell to the floor on his stomach and lay there a while, spent. He clearly desperately wanted this one, and utterly spent whatever he had. You gotta love the desire, but going forward we somehow despite the front office meddling have to reestablish that one for all all for one cohesive unit idea that we had under Malone. Tonight it felt like Cuz felt he had to do it all alone, and not even he is that good.--Brick
Stats: 41min 22pts (8-10, 1-2, 5-5) 4reb 3ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
McLemore ( B- ) -- Ben opened up the game in all-offense mode. He went 5-5 in the first quarter for 11 points and the only blemish on the period was the fact that O.J. Mayo dropped 13 on him (and 4 that weren't on him). O.J. was basically running Ben ragged, cutting off of perimeter screens, down screens, double screens basically every play, and when he wasn't shaking Ben on the pick he was getting around him anyway - Ben allowed an unconscionable back-door cut from the wing for a dunk and gave up a really nice baseline drive that O.J. fortunately threw over the top of the backboard. Ben was quiet in the second, and given that he spent much of his time guarding Khris Middleton the Bucks did essentially nothing against him, either. Then Ben came back out in the third aggressive, forcing a turnover on a shaky Bucks break and after missing a three turned it around to make two nice drives to the basket and later get fouled on a three. He scored nine in the third before going quiet again in the fourth. He didn't score again until the 30-second mark of the game, when he hit two clutch free throws to tie the game. Unfortunately, he was forced to foul Pachulia from behind in the lane following an offensive rebound and Pachulia's one free throw ended up being the difference in the game. In the end, Ben allowed 21 points on 17 shots while scoring 22 on 12 shots, remarkably turning his evening into a plus despite Mayo burning him in the first. Mayo got into foul trouble and only scored 2 points after the first, and Ben ultimately finished with the best +/- for the team on the night--Capt.
Stats: 40min 15pts (6-11, 2-4, 1-1) 1reb 5ast 3stl 0blk 2TO
Collison ( C ) -- funny how Boogie was back, and suddenly efficient support player Collison showed up with him...at least on offense...at least for a half. Back in the comfortable shadows behind not two, but this time THREE 20pt scorers, DC was able to score efficiently slipping to the hoop and taking passes from Cuz. I held this grade up because i was trying to take a look at video Clips of the Bucks scoring to confirm my impressions last night, but NBA.com's system remains rather better imagined than it is executed,a nd so I'll just have to go with my initial impressions: Collison looked lost out there on defense. All our perimeter guys did. I don't know, maybe Corbin is putting in changes to emulate the awesome Jazz defense of last year, but for whatever resson it wasn't so much that Collison was being burned 1 on 1 so much as it was that all the Bucks guards are bigger/longer than him, he seemed constantly confused about when to switch and when to rotate, and at multiple key points int eh game he got caught on bigger personnel who took advantage of the situation. In fact other than the "ahhh...back in my comfort zone" efficiency offensively in the early going, I didn't think he looked terribly focused or comfortable out there and Knight frequently got the better of him. looked lost in our 3 guard lineups -- because you know, we haven't been able to consistently find two good guards in any given game on the season, so obviously the answer is to pay three. And after half the offense disappeared too. On one key frustrating play in the 4th Boogie collected a Bucks miss and outletted it up to DC for a quick attack...and Collison just flat took his eye off the ball and let it roll out of bounds. Finally stepped up to hit a catch and shoot three in the corner with 3:30 to go for his first points of the 2nd half. But he followed that with a missed pullup too early in the shotclock, and on the Bucks final, winning, score, he and Ben were far too small to keep Pachulia off the boards after Cuz had to go and help on defense. Which BTW would be a classic problem with playing small. Yo Vivek, if you're reading, I am trying to teach you a little BBall 101 here. --Brick
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