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Game 29
Sacramento Kings @ San Antonio Spurs
(The latest installment in the "What the hell is going on here?!" picture series. (Credit: AP)
Game 29
Sacramento Kings @ San Antonio Spurs
(The latest installment in the "What the hell is going on here?!" picture series. (Credit: AP)
Well that was exciting. In what was essentially the polar opposite of our game against the Pelicans, our beloved Sacramento Kings played perhaps the most listless first quarter of all time and then followed it up with some of the most inspired hoops of the year, toppling a shorthanded Heat team in the process.
Following the lead of our developing team’s two (and a half) bonafide stars, the entire roster banded together to put forth an entire half of defensive and full-court effort. Following an ineffective, if not quiet, first half, Rudy Gay came alive in the second half and overtime, scoring on an array of spot-up shots and isolation moves despite Lebron James’s usually dependable defensive effort. On the other end of the court, Gay did as good a job of defending the best player in the world as a mere mortal could, containing King James until he entered a couple of cheat codes and simply started to make any shot he shot in the general vicinity of the rim in overtime.
More important than any of those statistical or defensive achievements, Gay gave the team yet another option to go to down the stretch beyond Demarcus or the usual give the ball to IT and pray to the basketball gods that he does something good with it maneuver. Down the stretch, with the game on the line, we went to Rudy on an isolation play and let him work against a very good defensive team. Sure enough, the man found a seam and made a play, then seconds later pressure Lebron into taking an uncomfortable shot that he missed and sent the game into overtime. Say what you want about players we’ve had in the past, but its been years since we’ve had two impact players capable of reshaping the course of a game on their own.
The chief mover and shaker, of course, is Demarcus Cousins, who at this point has catapulted from simply being one of the best big man prospects in the league to now being one of the top five big men currently playing the game (more on that later). Having had an entirely underwhelming first half against a Heat frontcourt that isn’t exactly world renowned for its prowess, Boogie went beast mode in the second half and beyond and wound up being the best player on the floor for the game, which is saying something when Lebron James is also on the court.
I know we’ve spent a lot of time talking about Demarcus but the man is, to put it plainly, just a special talent. Tallying over a dozen rebounds in the last half of the game, Boogie turned a subpar performance into a galvanizing one, affecting the momentum of the game to such a degree that the Heat’s strategy went from trying to contain Demarcus to just trying to find ways to get the man kicked out of the game. To his credit, Demarcus maintained his composure and nailed two crucial free throws that pretty much cut off Miami’s momentum at the neck. Not bad for a guy who some had pegged as a cancer and malcontent but a year ago.
Observations
- Lebron James is very good at basketball. For a bit there, I was actually afraid that he was going to actually singlehandedly win the game in overtime for the Heat. Thankfully that didn’t happen but wow.
- Lebron is also a d**k. Aside from the whole blatantly mugging Demarcus thing in the fourth quarter, he somehow found a way to whine to the refs over the duration of the entire game.
- Acy smash? http://instagram.com/p/ifbabYAp5_/
- Jimmer had another solid stint off the bench against the Heat, this time affecting the game with his passing rather than his scoring. While he’s never going to be mistaken for Isiah Thomas (the original one, not Grant and Jerry’s wet dream) on the defensive end, he’s improved enough on that end to not make me cover my eyes every time his man has the ball. Could Jimmer have finally made a breakthrough into an everyday NBA player?
- Ben McLemore had another quiet game, this time being relegated to the bench as Coach Malone went with Marcus Thornton down the stretch. To Marcus’s credit, he did just about as much as Ben did when he was in there with the addition of a bit more defensive effort.
- Quincy Acy continues to worm his way into the hearts of Kings fans everywhere through the combination of gritty hustle and emphatic dunks. Despite his lack of size, the former Baylor Bear is making an impact as the garbage man off the bench for the Kings. In short (no pun intended), he’s kind of playing like we all wanted Chuck Hayes to when we signed him to his large contract.
- That Sleep Train Arena crowd seemed pretty wild. Almost like the old days. Let’s keep the momentum going.
Big Man Watch 2013
As 2013 draws to a close and the season starts to come fully into focus, I think we’ve seen enough basketball to starting actively ranking and comparing players to each other. With the constant talk about Demarcus and his place among the hierarchy of big men in today’s NBA, I thought I’d try my hand at ranking the bigs in the NBA (at least, the good ones.) Please keep in mind that I am not a professional of any sort and that these are just my opinions (in other words, if you’re pissed off that I didn’t rank Spencer Hawes above Joakim Noah or something, take a deep breath and log off the internet) Since time is kinda important for me, here’s my top 5 bigs in this year’s NBA landscape from five to one.
5a. Dwight Howard
Stats: 33.7 mpg, 18.2 ppg, 13.4 rpg, 1.9 apg, .8 spg, 1.8 bpg
The big free agent fish of the season has started off his tenure in Houston with relative aplomb. With James Harden carrying much of the scoring load, Dwight hasn’t really had to take the main role as he had to in Orlando, instead focusing on being the paint defender that he was early in his career. That said, he isn’t as young as he once was which means he isn’t quite as dominant inside as he once was. It’s apparently easier to block a shot when you’re able to jump higher than everyone else.
5b. Roy Hibbert
Stats: 30.5 mpg, 12.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.3 apg, .4 spg, 2.7 bpg
Yes, I know his numbers aren’t all that awesome but on that Pacers team they don’t really have to be and, at this point in the season, he’s been without a doubt the most effective defensive big man in the league.
4. Anthony Davis
Stats: 34.0 mpg, 19.1 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.5 spg, 3.1 bpg
Here come the young guns. Sure, he’s always injured but when he isn’t, all sorts of hell breaks loose. While his offensive game and NBA body are still developing, his ridiculous arms and defensive instincts are already there. If he ever figures out how to stay healthy and add a solid fifteen or twenty muscles, he’s pretty much a perennial MVP candidate.
3. Demarcus Cousins
Stats: 31.7 mpg, 22.7 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 3.2 apg, 1.8 spg, 1.0 bpg
“There goes Stephen being a homer again,” you all say. But really, think about it. Who would you rate as being better than Cuz this season? The Kings haven’t won many games this season but when they have, it’s largely been because of the Boogie Monster. The scary thing is he still has a lot of room for improvement. The dude plays less minutes than everyone else and yet produces at their level or better.
2. Kevin Love
Stats: 36.3 mpg, 26.1 ppg, 13.8 rpg, 4.2 apg, .8 spg, .3 bpg
Uh oh, controversy. The man’s putting up ridiculous scoring and rebounding numbers and features perhaps the most developed court vision of any big man since Chris Webber. Sure he’s the only reason that his team isn’t battling Milwaukee for Wiggins rights but he’s quite frankly a defensive liability. Already an undersized player, Love kind of suffers from IT syndrome where he sometimes appears to be saving energy on defense so he can go shoot the ball some more.
1. Lamarcus Aldridge
Stats: 37.1 mpg, 23.4 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 2.9 apg, 1.1 spg, .8 bpg
And here we come to Lamarcus Aldridge, whose numbers don’t really bely how good his season. While he’s never going to be confused for Bill Russell either, having Robin Lopez next to him has helped his defensive game immensely. A potential MVP candidate down the stretch of the season, the man’s clearly having the best season of his career.
Tonight’s Game
<Note: the family came up from Tokyo to visit me yesterday so this is going to be shorter than normal>
Assuming the Spurs don’t just rest half their guys against us like the Heat, this could be a doozy of a game for us as Kings fans. The Spurs have been a good team since forever, somehow managing to milk another season out of the Tim Duncan/Tony Parker/Manu Ginobili big three while constantly adding new talent to the mix (Kawhi Leonard is at this point more of a part of the big three than Manu is) to keep things fresh. Gregg Popovich is like some sort of marauder in a post apocalyptic world, adding onto his rolling death machine with every discarded vehicle he passes. That said, even a gargantuan rolling death car is capable of being blown up.
Much like the Heat, the frontcourt of the Spurs is going to be their relative weak point, anchored by ten-thousand-year old Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter, who everybody swears is pretty good but whom I’ve yet to see actually be good during a game of basketball. Behind them is Boris Diaw and perennial random white guy Matt Bonner. Despite making his bread from the traditional inside-out game with the Admiral and Duncan, Popovich likes to go small at times now, using Parker to push the tempo with guys like Belinelli, Manu, and Danny Green out to spread the floor as he lets Duncan rest his aching legs on the bench for half the game. For the Kings to win, we’ve probably got to (a) attack them inside with Cuz, and (b) refuse the urge to try to match the Spurs tempo.
That may be kind of difficult to do as Tony Parker is probably going to do dirty things to our backcourt. He routinely wreaks havoc on teams that have guards capable of staying in front of their man. Against our terrible defensive backcourt, he’s already well on his way to a 40-point effort tonight. If our team truly is going to make the case that it is ready to make the leap back to being a competitive bunch, a good defensive effort against Tony Parker is going to help.
Matchups
Demarcus versus Timmy D: The “classiest big in the NBA” against the closest thing to a brawler in today’s league. Duncan might explode into dust if Demarcus slams into him too hard.
IT versus not playing defense: If you chose one night to play defense, this would be it.
Our team versus defense: Slay the dragon!
Prediction/ Closure
Brief bit of housekeeping before I make my closing prediction. I’m heading into Tokyo to visit my family for the new years holiday so, depending on my schedule, I probably won’t be doing game threads for the next couple of games. Happy New Year! Now for the prediction:
Kings pull off another shocker against a Spurs team that mercifully chooses to rest Tony Parker, 109-100. Demarcus pulls in a statline of 29/12/6. Rudy goes for a cool 24. Kings fans rejoice in their new found hope. Meanwhile, angry people sweat out the next couple of days as they worry that we’ll lose out in the 2017 draft.
Go Kings!
