Eddie Griffin
I don't get it. As the game began, and things started to happen, it was becoming increasingly clear that Eddie's little offensive jinx had worn off somehow. He looked smooth. Real smooth. He was posting up, shooting jumpers, running the pick and roll with Sean Colson, getting putbacks - a little bit of everything. He kept calling for the ball, and he was making stuff happen. It was like a light had gone on inside his head somewhere on Saturday, and the game just started coming to him. And you should have seen his blocks! Insane! At least, that was my first impression. Then I realized that Zach Randolph was basically scoring at will down at the other end. Griff may have had 7 blocks, (I swear they didn't give him near as many as I saw) but Randolph must have had 10 layups. We couldn't really figure out why at first either. It didn't really look like Griff was playing bad defense. But it didn't take too long to figure out that Griff was just way too small to be guarding Randolph. He was getting manhandled. I guess they weren't kidding when they said he needed to bulk up. Not a horrible night, based on the points, rebounds, and boards, but you just can't afford to let your defense get that out of hand, especially when you're the kind of defender Eddie is. 16 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks. Grade: B
Dan Langhi
Dan started off really hot. He had some great moves to the basket again, and shots were just falling for him. As the game progressed, however, Eddie started demanding the ball more, and consequently, Dan started looking for it less. Not a lot of offense out of him later in the game. He had some trouble guarding the smaller, faster guys they had him on. I noticed he got beat a couple of times and just looked…. well, lanky... Ironically, he picked up another tech today, which was pretty costly. I guess that makes this the 3rd tech in his entire career? Not a horrible game, but not great either. 15 points, 3 rebounds. Grade: B
Terence Morris
This was really a down night for Terence. Outside of a couple of memorable rebounds, (are rebounds memorable?) he didn't really have a lot of positive production. I will say this. He is at least a attempting jumpers on a fairly consistent basis, especially from the baseline, so that you get the idea that he has confidence in making those shots, but they didn't really fall tonight. But he can definitely be relied on to hit those baseline shots from time to time during the regular season, which is probably about all the offense we can expect to see out of him aside from garbage points. 2 points, 3 rebounds. Grade: C-
Sean Colson
Cooled off considerably since Saturday. Does a pretty good job running the offense. You see him and Griffin running a nice pick and roll a lot, and they run it well. On the other hand, 2-5 from the field and 4 assists is a far cry from the show he put on against Memphis, especially cause you'd like to see him spread the ball around a little more. 6 points, 4 assists. Grade: C+
Darren Kelly
Wow. I'm really, really starting to like this guy. He plays the passing lanes about as good as anyone I've seen. He gambles some, but he really is a great defender. And he shoots the ball well enough. But the most impressive thing about his offense is his ability to finish. He's by far the best player out there on the break. I'm sure there isn't room, but man, I'd put this guy on the IR. ;) 13 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal. Grade: A-
Omar Sneed
Yet another player who continues to demand attention, Sneed is really working hard to get himself a nice job. Between he and Kelly, they're really gonna force some people to make some tough decisions. Came out and scored a TEAM HIGH 18 points, going 7-12 from the floor. And if those numbers aren't impressive enough, he also had 3 steals to go along with his 3 rebounds. What continues to amaze me about Sneed is that he's really a tough player. He hustles, and muscles, to the point that you'd like to call him scrappy. But on offense he has really good footwork, to the point that I would call him graceful. It's an odd mix, and you can't help but admire what he's doing out there. The only thing I can say is based on what we've seen from him, you'd like to see a couple more rebounds at least. We already have a Mo Taylor. Grade: A-
Venson Hamilton
Definitely the garbage man. I could be wrong, but I don't think I've seen him take more than 2 shots the entire contest that weren't putbacks. But he's a good interior defender, and he's get's his fair share of rebounds. The thing with Hamilton is, you'd either like to see more offensive production, or, if he's going to be a defensive/rebounding specialist, better boxing out and more boards. But tonight he barely got in the game, so I'll give in the benefit of the doubt. Grade: B-
Axel Dench
The guy was great to talk to. But I wish he'd take himself a little less literally. Ever since he told us that all he does is shoot and foul, all he's done is shoot and foul. At least he made a shot tonight. And yes, it was a 3. Grade: D
Alex Jensen
Much to the crowd's chagrin, Alex did nothing worthwhile at all in this game. Unlike griff, I don't have to pretty up the numbers. Grade: D-
Rodrick Blakney
This is the most life we've seen out of Rod so far. He attempted I think 9 or 10 shots, on his way to 9 points for the night. His turnovers have gone way down, and his confidence is going up. He drives the lane very well, and likes to go glass. Plus he has a pretty decent medium range jumper, which is becoming more rare these days. Still, he's short, not as good as Colson, and has no chance of making the roster. Grade: B
Saul Smith
When they put him in, Achebe was like, "That guy's not just the ballboy?" It was nothing more than garbage time, and all I noticed was he airballed a wide-open 3. I'm pretty sure he had family in the stands, cause these kids that looked a lot like him were taunting the loudest. Poor guy. Better score for avoiding the trillion. Grade: D-
Seneca Walls
Had a really nice steal in the first half, which is production for this guy. Also had a couple of rebounds and an assist. I'm calling this his break out game. Grade: C+
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