Kingsfans.com Official Game Thread
Game 11
Sacramento Kings vs. New Orleans Pelicans
Game 11
Sacramento Kings vs. New Orleans Pelicans
By Stephen Tetsu, who only weighs slightly less than Anthony Davis.
Well that’s certainly a good way to bounce back.
After a tough 1-3 road trip, the Sacramento Kings returned to their homecourt against the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, who, going completely against their established grain, did not rest their three old guys coming off of a back to back, in fact playing them for a significant portion of the game.
By the ten game mark of the season, certain trends begin to form and things start to solidify for the season. Therefore, going through an absolutely hellhole of an opening stretch 7-3 (officially 6-4 but what the hell do they know?) portends well for the subsequent 72 games of the season, so long as we can survive the rest of November without utterly pooing the bed.
Make no mistakes about it, the Spurs were actually trying to win this game. When Duncan, Leonard, Manu, and Tony Parker are all on the floor at the same time (and by on the floor, I mean actively playing and not lying on the hardwood getting stretched out) with Pop actually running plays from the sideline as opposed to frowning like a kid who just got grounded from the bench like he normally does, it’s hard to argue otherwise. And, despite all of this, our guys prevailed.
If you had told me before the season that we’d win a high stakes game against the Spurs with all their main guys actively participating (I’m reluctant to say that Tiago Splitter and Mario Belinelli would have made a significant difference in the outcome of the game) and wind up with a (temporarily) better record than them afterwards, I’d have asked you to lead me to your secret stash of hardcore barbiturates.
AND, they did it with Demarcus Cousins barely playing half the game.
Seriously, can you imagine how good this team would be if Demarcus somehow played more than half the game? In addition to the usual foul trouble, Boogie also had a taste of Manu's elbow in the third quarter, a maneuver that drew blood and sent Cuz to the locker room until the fourth quarter. And yet, in crunch time, with one of the best players of the last twenty years draped all over him, it was the Demarcus show, his skill, strength, power, and agility simply too much for geriatric Tim Duncan's brittle bones to handle.
Elsewhere, Darren Collison was absolutely clutch, his driving bucket late in the game the primary nail in the Spurs coffin. He also played lights out defense on Tony Parker in the fourth quarter, limiting his ability to drive and essentially forcing him to stick around on the perimeter.
Oh, and Rudy signed a team-friendly extension, so yay (Didn't do that great against Kawhi though).
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award- Manu Ginobili went crazy and was possibly the first guard to really give Ben McLemore trouble since Klay Thompson at the start of the season. He's still good but for the night he was vintage Manu.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim Award- Pretty much everyone on the Spurs not named Kawhi or Danny Green. Hell, Tim Duncan looked older than he actually is as he was getting ground into dust by Typhoon Boogie in the fourth quarter.
Luke Walton Vacuum Cleaner Award- Aron Baynes, who neither slowed down Demarcus or made up for his lack of defensive production on the offensive end. Because he was so terrible, Pop pretty much just played Tim Duncan for most of the second half.
Jason Hart Memorial Award- Not to be captain obvious here but the backup backcourt really really needs to start contributing something, anything really.
WTF Moment of the Game- The Memphis game. Still. Yes, I'm still angry about it.
The View from the Other Side
The following is taken from PoundtheRock.com
Tonight's Game
Tonight, the Kings face yet another tough challenge in this young season, this time the relatively young and talented Pelicans of New Orleans, led of course by Muppet-faced, human Stretch Armstrong Anthony Davis. The national talking heads are already talking the game up as a match-up of the best big man in the game (Davis) and that crazy dude who I guess is good too (Demarcus), seemingly completely oblivious to the fact that, when they're faced off in the past, Demarcus has semi-routinely taken the Brow out behind the woodshed. Whereas Anthony Davis is an athletic freak with incredible length and defensive instincts pretty much unseen since prime Dikembe (and probably even earlier than that) representative of the "new" NBA, I suppose Boogie is a reflection of the old "extinct" NBA, a post bruiser unseen since Shaq got too fat to effectively run up and down a basketball court. And it just so happens that these two dudes are pretty much the two best big men in the NBA. And, not to put too much emphasis on this, both guys are still technically too young to rent a car.
Outside the marquee "match-up" (I'd expect the Pelicans to not put Anthony Davis on Demarcus too often, lest they want Boogie to simply back him down every possession), the Pelicans boast a long, physical guard/wingman group, led of course by bizarro Tyreke Evans (now able to hit threes at a consistent clip but seemingly physically incapable of scoring a lay-up) and former All-Star for the Sixers (when they weren't an abysmal black hole of suck) Jrue Holiday. They also have Eric Gordon, who has been playing so terribly that last year's Sucky MT/Superrookie Ben shooting guard rotation looks spectacular in comparison. Off the bench, the Pelicans bring in white guy on meth Luke Babbit, Doc Rivers' mediocre-at-basketball son Austin, with occasional token appearances by Kingsfans.com favorites Jimmer Fredette, who's shot poorly to start the year, and John Salmons, who, done with spawning season, has retired to the end of the bench to die a slow death on the banks of the American River.
The big men around Anthony Davis have all been picked to compliment the guy with certain tools and aspects he does not yet possess. Omer Asik is big and (sorta) strong, able to take on the other team's best big so Davis can focus on being a force of chaos across the entire court. He's also not bad at blocking shots either. Meanwhile, Ryan Anderson is an early favorite for the 6th man of the year award (sorry Isaiah), deadly from the perimeter, thus helping create space for Davis inside.
It's probably important to know that Asik missed yesterday's game against the Blazers with a back injury and thus might not be able to go tonight (or, if he does, may be less than 100% against the human battering ram that is Boogie Cousins). With Asik out, the Pelicans would be forced to rely on the first woman to play in the NBA, Alexis Ajinca (Don't check my facts, just believe me), who is both bad at basketball and stands about as much a chance of stopping Demarcus as I have a chance of becoming the Prime Minister of France.
The entire New Orleans squad is coming off of a tough Kings-esque loss to the Blazers last night, in which the team squandered a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter, Tyreke and Jrue heroballing their way to a loss. The game also exhibited where Anthony Davis still has room for growth: the end of the game where defenses tighten up and you just need to pin back your ears and make a play. While it didn't help that his guards weren't giving him the ball, Davis still lacks a go-to move to put pressure on his opponent, which isn't to say that he'll never have one, just that he doesn't have one yet.
Then again, I'd rather it never get to that point against the Pelicans tonight. A nice, calming, solid victory is all I require.
Match-ups
Predictions and Final ThoughtsThis won't be an easy game. Nothing ever is in this November from Hell. Considering how the team was the butt of many jokes in the off-season, losing every game over the rest of the month would still probably leave us with a better record than expected by the pundits. But these Kings seem not to know better.
Feed the Boogie and watch him eat. Also, just keep making the Pelicans give Eric Gordon the ball.
My prediction? Kings win 94543 to 153, with Boogie setting a new scoring record in the first five minutes.
PS, This used to be the Pelicans' mascot, in case you forgot...
NEVER FORGET (not that you could)
Go Kings!
