KingsFans.com Official Gameday Thread
Game 33
Sacramento Kings versus Portland Trailblazers
Game 33
Sacramento Kings versus Portland Trailblazers
By Stephen Tetsu, Ric Flair’s BFF
Well things haven’t exactly been pretty lately. After an absolutely ugly start to this five game homestand, things around our franchise (both on the team and in the collective minds of the fanbase base) have started to broach Paul Westphal levels of bleakness (just without the ineptitude of the Maloofs or the out-of-date coach who completely dropped the ball when it came to establishing a system in Sacramento or the Demarcus punching Donte Greene thing). Despite the hiring of a defensive coach, our defensive seems to have actually somehow gotten worse than it had been in the Keith Smart era.
When the Charlotte Bobcats, a traditionally awful offensive team, are able to drop a cool 115 points on you with minimal effort, you are probably not very good at defense and not only are we not very good, we’re dreadful.
At this point, everyone’s culpable. The guards, the swingmen, the big men, the coaches, the bellboys, the PA announcer, the dude mopping the bathroom floor in the visitor’s locker room. Everyone. Every. One.
I’ve noticed a distinct lack of communication between everyone on the defensive end since the start of the season, when the defensive system was still apparently fresh enough in everyone’s head that they were able to execute it at a reasonable level. But as the season’s worn on, things have gotten worse and worse, aided by the loss of several of our best defenders through trade and an increase in minutes for some of our more defensively challenged players (draw your own conclusions as to who I’m referring to). What made the Bobcat game different was that our players were communicating, if your idea of communication is arguing with each other.
Things have gotten a little crazy on the forums as well, with the KingsFans.com patented split into factions between supporters of one of our “Big Three” versus the other (Rudy Gay fans remain suspicious quiet… I think they’re plotting something), something that pretty much happens here whenever we get more than two good players on the team at a time. With previous conflicts including Webber v. Peja, Kevin Martin v. Tyreke Evans, Tyreke v. Cousins, the Demarcus v. Isaiah conflict may take the cake as the stupidest one of all.
I mean, let’s look at the overall situation. Our record is 10-22 and our team is pretty bad at defense. While things aren’t exactly sunshine and unicorns, we’ve at least started to establish the foundation of a team identity with a core group of players who are to given most of the touches on the offensive side of the ball. So let’s meet our two combatants.
In one corner, we have Demarcus Cousins, either the best center in the league or a dejected malcontent that isn’t really cut out to be a franchise leader, depending upon who you ask. At 6’11” and 270 pounds, Demarcus already boasts the most developed offensive skill set among all NBA players taller than 6”10 and an undeniable knack for the big play. Defensively, Demarcus will never be confused for Bill Russell but he’s at least active on that end, using his deceptive foot speed to draw charges and steal the most balls of any big man in the league. At only 23 years of age, he’s still prone to the untimely defensive breakdown and stupid foul spree.
In the other corner, we have 5’9” wunderkind Isaiah Thomas, a man who can score at will at times but is usually too busy delivering pizzas during commercial breaks to play defense. Having the natural disadvantage of being nearly a half foot shorter than just about everyone he has to defend on a nightly basis, IT is often accused of being the root of our team’s defensive issues, the quickness present in his offensive skill set conspicuously absent when the ball’s not in his hands. A fiery dude, Isaiah is determined to prove himself to be a star point guard whether that’s his role on the team or not.
Considering how talent deficient this team is, are we really in a position to choose between the two? As Cuz, Gay, and IT are the only people on the Kings roster really capable of creating offense for the team at the moment, they’re probably poised to play the bulk of the minutes whether we like it or not, lack of defense and all. But IT’s contract is expiring this offseason so it would be foolish of the front office to not even look into his value on the trade market as opposed to dropping a large contract on him in the offseason. The new regime has made it abundantly clear they’ve put all their eggs in the Demarcus bucket (just look at their recent bids for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Boogie’s All-Star campaign video). In my view, whether IT remains in this teams future as the starting point guard or not is entirely dependent on whether or not he decides to buy in on the defensive side of the ball at all. Will he? Only time will tell.
Observations
- Demarcus may have had his worst game of the past month against Charlotte but still wound up dropping a cool 26 and 11 on the mighty Charlotte defensive front.
- On the bad Demarcus ledger, Al Jefferson absolutely killed any hopes of a comeback down the stretch, his own developed offensive skill set more than Demarcus's less-than-stellar defensive game could handle. The next step in Cuz's development, developing his man-on-man defensive skills.
- Bismack Biyombo is pretty bad. Sure he can block shots but aside from that he's essentially a waste of space. I must say that the fact he fouled out in 9 minutes is pretty darn impressive but, my oh my, when Jimmer Fredette looks like a brilliant draft pick in comparison to you, you know something must have gone horribly wrong in your development.
- Goodbye Bobcats, welcome back Charlotte Hornets. I'm probably not the only one, but I've had trouble remembering the Bobcats since when they first came into the league anyways.
- On a side note, when Gerald Wallace is the best player in your franchise's short history, your team has probably been pretty bad.
Demarcus All-Star Watch
Ramping up his campaign for a potential All-Star berth, Demarcus released the following campaign video:
Shaq's apparently been mentoring Boogie on more than basketball...
Tonight's Game
Now that those elite Charlotte Bobcats are out of town, we can finally move on to competition more at our lev... Oh crap, it's the Portland Trailblazers.
Led by MVP-candidate Lamarcus Aldridge (in reality, their MVP is the Sacramento Kings front office for gifting them with a big man capable of defense after years of not having one), the red-hot Portland Trailblazers sit atop the standings as one of the best teams in the West.
Damian Lillard is the team's bonafide number two guy, a combo guard who pretty much plays offense like Isaiah Thomas with the added benefit of not having to sit on a phonebook in order to see over the steering wheel. In other words, look for him to drop 50 on our porous defense tonight.
Former Kings Summer Leaguer Wes Matthews essentially functions as the Blazers' third big scorer but their entire starting lineup is averaging double figures so the scoring fest figures to be a team effort. Batum and Lopez are their two key defenders with Lopez compensating for Aldridge's lack of defensive activity with generally solid results. The match-up between Batum and Gay should be fun as this is the first time in years that we have a small forward that isn't utterly undersized or plain terrible.
The Blazers bench is relatively sparse, their big three rotation guys being Mo Williams, Dorell Wright, and Joel Freeland. Thomas Robinson started off the year as their third big but has since managed to largely play himself out of the rotation because he's T-Rob. Terry Stotts essentially employs the Rick Adelman method of super tight rotations and riding the starters until they run out of gas so I wouldn't anticipate seeing too much out of their bench crew tonight.
Keep an eye out for CJ McCollum, their first-round pick who may be making his season debut against us tonight after missing the start of the season after foot surgery. I can't really comment on how they'll use him because, as mentioned before, the Blazers aren't really big on the whole large rotation thing.
But really this whole game pretty much boils down to Demarcus versus LaMarcus, two of the better big men in the league trading blows. Both men are putting out stat lines that are essentially identical with Lamarcus still playing about six more minutes per game than Demarcus. In other words, if Lamarcus is a lock for the All-Star Game, why not Demarcus? A big night here could continue shutting up doubters and increase Cuz's All-Star stock.
Matchups
Perimeter Defense versus Lillard - Lillard already scored ten points on us and the game doesn't even start for twelve more hours.
T-Rob versus Being T-Rob- Petrie's last trade at the very least saved us from having to see T-Rob continue to be T-Rob, so win?
Locker room versus whiteboard- The whiteboard manufacturer probably really likes us.
Predictions and Closure
This is a little difficult. Sure we've been pretty bad recently but we tend to show up for games against good teams like the Blazers, which is why I'm predicting a 112 to 107 win. Demarcus drops another 30 point, 15 rebound night as he asserts himself as the best -marcus in the league.
Question of the Day
Will Damian Lillard drop more than 30 points on us tonight?
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