Slow it the **** down with defense being the priority, as it always should be. Always. Control the pace.
Get DC and Rudy handling in some P&R's with the floor spread. Get Rudy in the high-post and run some weak-side action. Get some movement and spacing off the attention Rudy draws in the post.
For starters.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. This whole "smashmouth" regardless of personal or situation argument is just stupid. If you honestly think this roster tonight without Cousins should be playing slow-it-down smashmouth basketball then you don't know very much about basketball. If Cousins is in the lineup different story.
Had the Kings continued to play the way you suggest they'd be getting blown out right now. For most of the first quarter they played a very slow deliberate style with iso's for Rudy (while being double teamed) and they also continued to feed the ball to Reggie Evans in the post. It was odd because they almost refused to run or even move the ball in the half court. As a result they were getting their ass kicked and the defense wasn't very good either.
Late in the first quarter and for most of the second quarter they started pushing the pace and moving the ball and sure enough they got back into the game.
Do you really think forcing the ball into guys like Evans and JT in the post is going to work? Without Cousins the Kings have no big men that can score inside. Evans also doesn't seem to have a clue as to how to play defense against any style. He's a mess on the defensive end and Rudy is too. I don't think Rudy even knows how to contest a three.
As I finish typing this, they start the second half with a post ISO to JT and sure enough it fails with a turnover.
It's all about context and who you have. Without Cousins the context changes.