[Grades] Grades v. Pacers 1/14/2014

[Entity]

Rudy got out played on both ends by George tonight. Of course George outplays a lot of players. Gay shut it down. JT got boxed out by west all night. Isaiah omg Isaiah he decided to phone it in from the get go. No energy from him all night. Same ole same ole from our SG's. the bench played well in first half by bench I mean jimmer. Bench in second half ugh they pretty much erased cuz big third quarter in 3 min to the point it was pointless to put cuz back in.

About Demarcus Cousins. Anybody that has an argument against him being the best big man in the NBA is not a friend of mine. He has not slowed up against any of the players once thought to be the best.

 

[KingMilz]

Inconsistent minutes? This is the exact same rotation Malone's been using for the past week and a half.

He got over 30+ in the wins prior to the blowout vs the Cavs in which he hurt (on either a dunk or Jack reach) something and was rested in the 4th, the fact someone so useless like MT got more playing time is a joke. He played 25 today.

Why is the 4th/5th best player on the team not playing 30mins? It's been proven him and Rudy can play together it's also been proven MT/Mclemore are right now not cut out to be NBA players.

 

[Tetsujin]

He got over 30+ in the wins prior to the blowout vs the Cavs in which he hurt (on either a dunk or Jack reach) something and was rested in the 4th, the fact someone so useless like MT got more playing time is a joke. He played 25 today.

You just answered your own question.

 

[Entity]

As bad as I hated sitting here listening to that chuckling sob on the pacers broadcast he pretty much nailed it from the get go. If you challenge us on offense we move on to the next game

 

[jcwkings]

Can't believe people are ready to lynch IT after a bad game against the best defensive and overall team in the NBA in their place. Yes he played terrible, but so did everyone else not named Cousins(at least in that third quarter). This game had dose of reality written all over it. We have a long way to go to ever even think about being at the Pacers level. Lets take it step by step, for us that is competing on the road on most nights and playing well at home. Most importantly learning to play together on both ends and forming an identity. We have talent, we just need a few more pieces shuffled, time and commitment. With Malone I trust that consistent winning basketball is not that far away, just be patient and enjoy the journey.

 

[jcwkings]

As bad as I hated sitting here listening to that chuckling sob on the pacers broadcast he pretty much nailed it from the get go. If you challenge us on offense we move on to the next game

I agree, right now we are a team that plays hard when things are going good. I think our players were suprised with how good the Pacers defense was, missed shots turned to easy transition for them and our players were defeated.

 

[enigma99a]

DMC is so good, I hope we'll get some good shooters eventually to play with him. Gay is probably our best shooter but it's slim pickings after that

 

[enigma99a]

Poll got it right, IT sucked. He only had 1 assist. I didn't watch the game so I don't know if that's because we missed so many shots or what, but damn 42% shooting against the pacers will equal a loss almost every time.

 

[King Baller]

The Pacers are really, really good.

 

[jcwkings]

Stephenson is the key to them making the jump from good team to elite. Last season he was an off guard, this season he and George seem to be handling the ball the most. He looks like an even stronger, faster Tyreke with a better jumpshot. Hill is now free to just be what he is, a lanky defender that can hit the 3. Hill, Stephenson, George guarding the wings with the best defensive center in the league behind them is pretty damn scary when you think about it. Then West is pretty much a rich mans JT. The Eastern Conference playoffs will be garbage, but that ECF series will be must watch television, can't see any team from the west beating the Heat or Pacers.

 

[fanop]

I accidentally voted Jimmer. I think our team needs a wing scorer.. a catch and shoot guy that extends the floor. One that doesn't do much but when gets the ball, shoots or passes with no hesitation. A guy like Korver comes to mind a lot. I don't think our team has that threat.. no one is afraid of Mclemore nor Thornton when they shoot it.. Someone tell me how Thornton went from a good consistent player to a below average player within a few years? It's not like he's old or a declining vet. He was drafted a year before Cuz.


I think IT's bad play was due to no ones consistency on offense in the 1st quarter.

The team had effort on D, but I think them getting shut down offensively hurt. I'm not worried about our team all that much after today's game. The Pacers are a really good team that plays phenomenal defense. This is a game that everyone expected us to lose, nothing much else to it.

 

[King Baller]

Stephenson is the key to them making the jump from good team to elite. Last season he was an off guard, this season he and George seem to be handling the ball the most. He looks like an even stronger, faster Tyreke with a better jumpshot. Hill is now free to just be what he is, a lanky defender that can hit the 3. Hill, Stephenson, George guarding the wings with the best defensive center in the league behind them is pretty damn scary when you think about it. Then West is pretty much a rich mans JT. The Eastern Conference playoffs will be garbage, but that ECF series will be must watch television, can't see any team from the west beating the Heat or Pacers.

jcwkings is all pretty spot on. West can really contribute on offense if he needs to. To me more like a rich mans Landry

The Pacers out man the Kings 1 through 4. Cousins has the edge on Hibbert. But Hibbert does things Cousins can't. Hibbert is that big bad goalie we all want on the Kings.

 

[King Baller]

One bright spot is no one played much over 30 minutes. They should have plenty of energy to play Sota

 

[rainmaker]

I’d give Cuz a B (would be higher but for his attitude and tantrums), Jimmer a C+, DWill a C, everyone else a D

Care to back that statement up with examples? I didn't see any evidence of Boogie throwing a tantrum at any point.

He did appear displeased with the fact that he showed up and not a single other starter did and I'd argue it's a good thing he wasn't all that happy about everyone else's poor performances. Would it be better in your eyes if he was calmer like all his teammates who didn't show up? If anything his teammates need more attitude out there while they're getting their butts handed to them.

Still would like examples though as I thought Boogie had great composure all things considered, teammates not showing up with their hard hats on and some poor fouls called against him while he was getting hammered every other trip down the floor. He was on pace for about 40/18 tonight and the best statistical game for a Kings big since Webber laced them up for us but you'd have marked him down to a B due to attitude?

 

[Sluggah]

I voted Thomas only because his sucking hurt the most. Though the level of sucking was matched by many.

And the worst part is...

I think if this game had ended up as a win, with the performance he had, Cousins would have been a lock for the all-star game.

 

[Gary]

I haven't seen more than a couple hate posts since the season started in regard to Malone. Unlike Natt, Smart, Westphal, ect ect there were entire threads devoted to firing those guys when we pretty much had the same record.

Why is that? Personally, I actually like Malone and his rotations are pretty solid (for the talent we have). Not a lot of purposely playing small players in most positions. It seems that Malone is getting the most of the players who have futures here. Seems that people genuinely want to play well for him, win or lose.

Is there anyone who does not like Malone?

 

[x2RedReaper2x]

Man it just makes me sad when DMC plays so good and the rest of the team just absolutely sucks.

 

[KingMilz]

Hilarious article/fan post (not sure what it is but funny none the less)
http://www.sactownroyalty.com/2014/...confusion-erupts-as-demarcus-cousins-the-only

Game Notes
This was by far Marcus Thornton's most productive game of the season.

Jason Thompson did come in to argue a foul, but then left and was not heard from again

While Demarcus put up 31 points of his own, the League rewarded the Kings an additional 61 points in order to make the score seem a little bit better.
.

That nearly had me in tears

 

[The_Jamal]

Overall, not a surprising result, although we wanted to think differently with our improved play. We've had 15 games together as a team with no off-season/training camp. Hard to say the off-season stuff really applies to this group when the whole team and rotation is different than what we originally planned to go with. Indy is probably the best team in the NBA and the chemistry and team cohesion they've built over the last 3 seasons clearly shows. They're an impressive roster that's sort of a throw-back to the physicality of the 80's/90's championship squads.

Very disappointing game from IT tonight. Probably the most I've been all year in him. I said early in the game thread that he would have to shoulder a big scoring load for us to pull this one out. I didn't expect strong games from Cuz or Gay. The two elite defensive players guarding them would see to that. Cuz was an awesome surprise, with an amazing 3rd quarter against a DPOY candidate, and Gay was severely outplayed on both ends of the floor by George. While Hill is a good defensive player, he's not an elite defensive stopper who should force IT into one of his worst season performances. For once, it was IT's offense that killed us tonight, not his defense.

Gay is equally at fault. If he and IT want to classify themselves as team leaders, along with Boogie, then they get to shoulder a larger part of the blame, when they and the team stink it up. Just lazy defense on George and went for a trip down memory lane to his inefficient chucker days of taking 14 shots to score 12 points. The play making wasn't there, he had 0 rebounds in 29 minutes, and was just bad for the most part.The past 15 games, it's mainly been on the other guys not showing up for the big 3. Tonight, we only got 1/3 showing up, on the road, against the best defense and IMO team in basketball. I hope whoever has Gay and IT for grades give them F's tonight.

 

[Hadlowe]

I was disappointed in Acy. He had a few bonehead plays throughout the game that just killed bench momentum. Thankfully, it's stuff that can still be ironed out.

I thought Jimmer looked good for the most part. Hitting guys in open spots and dribbling through traffic reasonably well against the Pacers bench. Too bad no one wanted to convert shots including himself. He got lit up a bit by C.J. Watson, mostly off mid-range transition buckets. On a side note, do NBA.com stats track those end of quarter heaves against a person's fg%?

Gay looked good in the first and just fell apart down the stretch.

IT never looked comfortable. Early foul trouble doesn't help, but it seems like if he can't get the lane, he just stops playing.

Thornton nailed that first shot and then just disappeared. Completely outclassed against Stephenson.

Cousins in beast mode is something to see. He plays like a small forward in a center's body. That full court dribble drive for the dunk had me out of my seat, and he only got better from there.

I have never seen a team miss so many easy, wide-open layups down the stretch of a game. Williams, Gay, McLemore, and Gray all took turns not finishing.

 

[Kingster]

What's this bull dooky about IT needing to push the pace?

In case you haven't realized it yet, the best offensive center in the league, Boogie, excels in the halfcourt. He did some serious damage tonight in the half court. IT's helter skelter pace makes it tough enough on Boogie as it is as just about every 3rd trip down the floor our PG is not patient enough to allow our best player to set up. The pace IT excels at and the pace Boogie excels at are opposite one another. Campaigning for us to exacerbate the difference even more and encourage IT to run more, while putting our best player at a disadvantage is a failed strategy through and through.

On top of that, the more IT pushes the pace, the more run and gun he is, the more it sets the NBA's worst overall defense(US) up to struggle even more. I mean, that's a great strategy to make us struggle more on BOTH ends. Would you have preferred giving up 130 instead of 116?

In addition to all that, Gay also operates better in the halfcourt.

There were a few reasons why we struggled tonight but not pushing it enough isn't near the top of the list. It's amazing with the issues we saw today that what you take away from the game is that IT didn't push the ball enough. Do you even notice anyone else out there?

You're talking in generalities, but unfortunately you don't get to play "general" games, you play "specific" games, and this specific game against the Pacers required the Kings to use their relative advantage: running. The slowmo' pace really worked well in this game, didn't it? Like being put in a meat grinder - twice. I'd rather run the freaking ball and force it than play their game anyday. And did you get the pre-game memo from Malone? He wanted to run! Maybe you better offer your sage advice to him before the next game. You know soooo much. He'll love to hear from you. No doubt the winning percentage will double with wisdom you provide.

The question of the post was who sucked the most, so now, being who you are (use your imagination), you criticize me for offering up a critique on only one? What about all the posters who only named one guy? How offensive of them to only do that! Don't they pay attention to everyone else! Don't they realize the loss was more than only one person! Just as a favor to you, I'll offer one on Cousins. By running, Cousins could have gotten position in the paint without Hibbert even being there. The only time Cousins wanted to run was when he played point guard, and then he ran like a kid doing somersaults down a grassy knowl; otherwise, he was like sludge moving uphill. Cousins may not be the fastest guy in the world, but he beats Hibbert down the floor anytime he puts his mind to it.

 

[Kingster]

is this some sort of bad joke? the guy who may very well have criticized tyreke evans the most when it came to forcing the issue in fast break situations is now suggesting that isaiah thomas does the same exact thing, despite the fact that IT now has more running mates on the break (mclemore, williams, gay, etc) than 'reke ever had?



thomas played like s***. he played selfishly. he played foolishly. and his defensive effort was pathetic. there's no way of getting around it. and while many of IT's teammates also played poorly, they didn't fail isaiah thomas on the fast break. outside of DMC, the entire team failed to get up for an extremely difficult road game, thomas included. let's not pretend like IT's poor play simply amounted to looking "lackadaisical" and not "push[ing] the pace." that's just plain intellectual dishonesty. he is not a terrible player, but he played terribly...

How exactly is it in the Paleolithic age?

 

[jalfa]

You're talking in generalities, but unfortunately you don't get to play "general" games, you play "specific" games, and this specific game against the Pacers required the Kings to use their relative advantage: running. The slowmo' pace really worked well in this game, didn't it? Like being put in a meat grinder - twice. I'd rather run the freaking ball and force it than play their game anyday. And did you get the pre-game memo from Malone? He wanted to run! Maybe you better offer your sage advice to him before the next game. You know soooo much. He'll love to hear from you. No doubt the winning percentage will double with wisdom you provide.

The question of the post was who sucked the most, so now, being who you are (use your imagination), you criticize me for offering up a critique on only one? What about all the posters who only named one guy? How offensive of them to only do that! Don't they pay attention to everyone else! Don't they realize the loss was more than only one person! Just as a favor to you, I'll offer one on Cousins. By running, Cousins could have gotten position in the paint without Hibbert even being there. The only time Cousins wanted to run was when he played point guard, and then he ran like a kid doing somersaults down a grassy knowl; otherwise, he was like sludge moving uphill. Cousins may not be the fastest guy in the world, but he beats Hibbert down the floor anytime he puts his mind to it.

already mentioned it once in the game thread, you CANNOT run against the Pacers, simply can't, they're too good defending the fast break. even a team like Miami struggles to get anything going against them in transition, even though they (and most everybody else in the league) turn them over a ton. which is why your point seems weird to me. it's generally a bad idea for this team to run excessively with Gay and Cousins on the floor and it would have been an even worse idea vs. Indiana.

 

[Spike]

Please tell me someone on this team, other than IT, who is really built for a run and gun style offense (I'll allow D-Will, who's not a starter anyway, so I wouldn't game plan to his advantage). This team IS in transition, and I think it is looking like we're going to transition into a true half-court team (finally!) Like it or not, that is the way playoff games are won. It's a grind-it-out type series, and we're building a pretty punishing team. I mean, we have a coach actually willing to play big!

Running with this team serves no purpose other than stat-padding. The final margin of victory will not change. If you want to tire Cousins out so that you don't get a 20/10 quarter (holy crap that's still pretty awesome), then yeah, run the ball against a really good transition team.

 

[Padrino]

How exactly is it in the Paleolithic age?

wouldn't know. how is it in the age of passive aggressive deflections?

 

[ppine]

Berating the Kings' play against the Pacers is pointless. Indiana has a great team and they deserve credit for their high level of play.
The Kings' need to watch the tape of this game and realize how far they have to go. They were weak in turnovers making some lazy entry passes. They gave up a lot of transition baskets to a rested team that doesn't usually run much. The Pacers defense gave the Kings fits at times. Indiana's offense has great finishers and wonderful flow with a lot of cuts to the basket. The only way the Kings' are going to be competitive against a team like this is by improving their defense and taking better care of the ball.
Larry Bird and Coach Vogel have done a masterful job of piecing a talented team together in a short time.

 

[Tetsujin]

Berating the Kings' play against the Pacers is pointless. Indiana has a great team and they deserve credit for their high level of play.
The Kings' need to watch the tape of this game and realize how far they have to go. They were weak in turnovers making some lazy entry passes. They gave up a lot of transition baskets to a rested team that doesn't usually run much. The Pacers defense gave the Kings fits at times. Indiana's offense has great finishers and wonderful flow with a lot of cuts to the basket. The only way the Kings' are going to be competitive against a team like this is by improving their defense and taking better care of the ball.
Larry Bird and Coach Vogel have done a masterful job of piecing a talented team together in a short time.

I wouldn't call five years a short time. If anything, the Pacers are an example of what patience and selecting and coaching up project players can ultimately do for your franchise. Paul George, Lance Stephenson, and even Roy Hibbert are all pieces that took several years to blossom after they were selected in the draft. They've also been really smart with their money (though they are going to be hampered a bit by both Roy Hibbert's max contract, George Hill's stupidly large contract, and Lance Stephenson's impending extension) and they've opted to use free agency to fill in their roster rather than to build it. While I've never really been down with David West, he's been a big part of their success as their main post presence. George Hill was another guy they snatched from San Antonio, though you can say they lost that trade (the pick that became Kahwi Leonard in exchange for a solid role player defender shooter guy) but it's really hard to argue against the move when they have the best record in the league. That they then decided to pay Hill 8 million dollars a year is another issue entirely but one that will be rendered irrelevant if the team wins it all.

 

[Padrino]

Berating the Kings' play against the Pacers is pointless. Indiana has a great team and they deserve credit for their high level of play.
The Kings' need to watch the tape of this game and realize how far they have to go. They were weak in turnovers making some lazy entry passes. They gave up a lot of transition baskets to a rested team that doesn't usually run much. The Pacers defense gave the Kings fits at times. Indiana's offense has great finishers and wonderful flow with a lot of cuts to the basket. The only way the Kings' are going to be competitive against a team like this is by improving their defense and taking better care of the ball.
Larry Bird and Coach Vogel have done a masterful job of piecing a talented team together in a short time.

indiana deserves plenty of credit for their high level of play. they're without a doubt the best team in the nba. that said, there is plenty worth criticizing from last night's game, and you yourself note some of the things that went wrong. the kings committed a bunch of unforced turnovers early in the shot clock that indiana's stellar defense had absolutely nothing to do with. thomas and gay both played selfishly, and consistently went away from cousins despite his dominance over the league's premiere defensive center. and where the team's defensive effort was improving across the last few games, i saw little of it last night...

 

[King Cool]

The good news is, as bad as the Kings were, they were still in the game well into the 3rd, before the Pacers started draining everything they touched... I'm glad most of you noticed how lackadaisical the entire team looked from minute #1, almost as if they already thought they were that good, even though a team that is that good would never look like that. Must have been a wild Monday night in Indianapolis...

 

[jalfa]

Berating the Kings' play against the Pacers is pointless. Indiana has a great team and they deserve credit for their high level of play.
The Kings' need to watch the tape of this game and realize how far they have to go. They were weak in turnovers making some lazy entry passes. They gave up a lot of transition baskets to a rested team that doesn't usually run much. The Pacers defense gave the Kings fits at times. Indiana's offense has great finishers and wonderful flow with a lot of cuts to the basket. The only way the Kings' are going to be competitive against a team like this is by improving their defense and taking better care of the ball.
Larry Bird and Coach Vogel have done a masterful job of piecing a talented team together in a short time.

really insignificant sidenote: Vogel is the German word for bird. how do I realise that just now after you put those two names next to each other?