[Grades] Grades v. Knicks 3/3/2015

Kings player of the game?

  • Gay

    Votes: 12 29.3%

  • Cousins

    Votes: 8 19.5%

  • McLemore

    Votes: 10 24.4%

  • Williams

    Votes: 5 12.2%

  • Stauskas

    Votes: 6 14.6%
  • Total voters
    41
  • Poll closed .
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1
#1


Whew!

The Kings pulled out a victory in this one in a game that wasn't decided until the guys got off the bus for morning shootaround. Many of our older fans may not have survived the tension.


Boxscore

Stats: 27min 25pts (9-15, 3-4, 4-5) 7reb 4ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Gay ( A ) -- There's not much to say here. You can read the linescore, and that's just about all you need to know to know about Rudy's game tonight. His shot was wet, he was just burying his wide-open three attempts, he was passing the ball well (with the possible exception of his failure to feed D-Will an alley oop on a 2-on-1 break instead taking it himself and getting fouled), and he was on the boards. He didn't play the greatest defense with a couple of late contests but it's not like it mattered. I mean, this was the Knicks. They weren't going to knock down jump shots anyways. I'll reserve the "+" for a transcendent performance, but when you're a big part of getting your team far enough ahead that you (and Cousins) can sit out the entire fourth quarter before a back-to-back in San Antonio, then you did your job. --Capt.

Stats: 28min 4pts (2-6, 0-0, 0-0) 9reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Thompson ( C ) -- in the early going seemed to be jsut about the only guy who didn't get the memo that this was just a scrimmage against the J.V....or maybe he was the one guy who most realized that, because either way he wasn't focused and was blowing easy layups and was replaced in the fairly early going by DWill. He first got a bit of productivity as a backup C in the early 2nd, but the best thing he was doing was very aggressively challenging shots on defense and amongst other issues he was getting in foul trouble. he pikced up his 3rd foul in the mid 2nd quarter and sat, only made it halfway through the 3rd quarter before he had his 5th hustling back to break up a fastbreak, and by the time we handed him the garbage 4th center minutes the game was long over. He actually struggled a little against Acy in those minutes before finally giving way to Acy. Anyway, not his best, but it completely did not matter.

Stats: 29min 22pts (5-10, 1-1, 11-11) 10reb 3ast 2stl 2blk 3TO
Cousins ( A- ) -- ok, look, you want this described? We started a rested DeMarcus Cousins at center. The Knicks started Andrea Bargnani across from him. I could just end this grade there. Actually the Knicks decided that maybe Bargs wouldn't quite be up for that physical battle, so they let 6'8" uber scrub Louis Admunsen get his head smashed in for a few minutes instead (Louis did actually dirty work in a couple of little layups before being chased). In any case, against such a cast of characters, designed to lose in case you have not caught it, to say that it was all too easy for Cuz would be an understatement. To make matters worse for NY, his jumper was wet in the early going too, including...well, he took a long straight on three, and he drained it. I shuddered a little, but I think I've decided my stance on that is going to be as long as he hits every single three he takes, I'm not going to complain. He starts missing them, I'm calling for heads. But he wasn't exactly taking it easy, he snapped some nasty rebounds that had the Knicks scrubby weenies flinching and whimpering, and came up with multiple blocked shots on smaller players. Capped the quarter with a draw and kick to Williams for a three and the rout was on. After that point things got a little tougher, as the Knicks made a concerted effort to stop him, if nobody else, and Cuz wasn't really willing to just let them dictate to him like that, and at times forced things. A burst of open court activity in the mid 3rd popped him up over the 20-10 mark, but he missed a dunk late in the quarter, and with the loss firmly secured, the Knicks finally brought in Cole Aldrich to make things tougher in his final minutes. An easy dominant 22-10 game, but with Cuz there is always that epic extra gear he never really had to tap into here. this was just practice. --Brick

Stats: 24min 20pts (6-12, 2-4, 6-7) 2reb 4ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
McLemore ( B+ ) -- you look at Ben's limited minutes, and his scoring productivity, and I'm not sure whether he got so few minutes because he was so terribly effective, or if he might have got so few minutes because for the second night in a row Karl got tired of some of the wild forcing. Either way, this is a game that would have been a 14 or 15pt night for him for his entire career until a week ago, but Karl has him (sometimes clumsily) attacking the rim, and that is making the difference in productivity from just a shooter, to a significant scorer. The overall game here was a mix of elements that nonetheless all added up to 20pts in 24min. Half his buckets came out on the break taking long passes from DWill, Dre and a short alley oop from Gay to close things. But there were also several just fugly forces out there going 1 on3, 1 on 4, 1 on 5, which underscore how much Karl is pressing ben to play out of his comfort zone. He got to the line on several stumbly drives, but then threw up a terrible off balance falling down prayer where I guess he was looking for contact. He moved the ball well, but there was lack of attention to detail on defense and the boards several times, letting guys get behind him or go over him. Overall this doesn't feel like Ben, which is probably a good thing given our situation right now without a legit 3rd weapon. He's not smooth right now, he's not even really about the distance shooting right now. There's some fugly, some stumbly, even some selfish, but he's putting numbers up on the board in a more forceful way than he ever has before. --Brick

Stats: 28min 6pts (2-7, 0-0, 2-2) 3reb 4ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
McCallum ( B- ) -- This was a hard game to grade for Ray. It's best described as just another ho hum blue collar day at the job. He only scored 6 points on a night where every shot just seemed to roll off the rim. An example would be Ray taking the ball the length of the floor, splitting two defenders and than having his layup circle the rim and roll off. His midrange jumper wasn't falling either. But he did a great job of getting into the lane, and getting to the basket. He went two for seven from the floor. He also had four assists, and frankly should have had more. It was one of those nights where he made the pass, the shooter missed, but was fouled. So we got the points, but Ray got no assists. All in all, he did a good job of running the offense and taking care of the ball. He also played tough defense all night, hounding Gallaway, who ever the hell he is, all over the court. Good job Ray! --Baja
 
Last edited:
Bricklayer

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#2
#2
Bench

Stats:28min 17pts (7-12, 3-5, 0-2) 3reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Williams ( A ) -- Williams is definitely enjoying playing for George Karl. I think the saddest thing (for a guy who gets an "A") is that he didn't get an alley-oop tonight - he missed an easy one from Miller early in the second and had another open one where Miller overthrew the pass. But Williams had a very good night shooting from three even if he does have a dangerous habit of putting his toe right up to the line. That Mitch Richmond move might bite us sometime, but not tonight. Defensively, Williams immediately allowed a made jumper within about four seconds of checking in, which looked like a bad portent, but following that he only allowed one more make, on a post move from the much-taller Bargnani in garbage time. And by "garbage time", I mean late in the second quarter. But those were the only baskets Williams allowed on the night and he actually played quite a bit of nice team defense, helping out on stopping at least three buckets that I noted. His rebounding and passing line wasn't amazing (though he did get a steal and passed up ahead for a BenMac basket on the break), and for a better player maybe that would knock him down a half-grade or so. But this is Derrick Williams, and efficient 17-point games do not grow on trees for him. The grade-on-a-curve philosophy won't let me go any lower. --Capt.

Stats: 26min 15pts (4-8, 1-2, 6-6) 0reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 1TO
Stauskas ( B+ ) -- anybody who persists in the view that coaches don't matter despite our dramatic upside down bell curve of a season is...well pretty stubborn. But tonight's Nik game should puncture such an idea even more. Nik finally made an appearance for Karl, and the thing was, he made an appearance we really haven't seen thus far, blatantly and obviously directed to go attack the rim, not just sit outside and brick jumpers. He got in early in what was obviously a complete outclassing victory, and he ended up playing 26 minutes by the end, which is a career high. From the beginning, he was attacking the rim. He's not actually a very good finisher, but like Ben for whom its also not natural, just throwing yourself in there gets you to the line, gets those free points. He threw one terrible inbound pass turnover in the 2nd, had some problems on defense vs. Shved as the Knicks finally got hot, but the mere fact he was scoring, getting a few things to go, kept him looking confident throughout. And in the 4th he finally even hit a three, something that for a theoretical shooter shouldn't even require a note, but during his collapse he's been absolutely brutal from out there. But give him some layups and FTs for confidence, and suddenly the hoop opens up. Possibly his best game, if I've forgotten anotehr one, then this would have to be close at least. --Brick

Stats: 20min 0pts (0-1, 0-0, 0-0) 4reb 3ast 2stl 0blk 1TO
Miller ( B ) -- You know on a night when we blow out the Knicks by 38 points, if memory serves, Andre probably deserves an A. Hell, everybody probably deserves an A. But I have to keep it real here, and as he scored zero points, and only had three assists, I can't in good conscience give him an A. I love watching Miller. He floats around the perimeter probing for a weakness, seems to have that innate ability to see a play happening before it happens. He's a true magician out there. He also impressed me with his defense. For an old guy that was never known for his athleticism, he did a good job of staying in front of his man. He wasn't perfect, and struggled a few times guarding Larkin. But Larkin is lightning quick and anyone would have had a hard time staying in front of him. Mostly I was impressed with his hustle on defense. He actually looked quick at times, while on offense, he appears to be in slow motion. LIke McCallum he easily could have had more assists, but it was one of those nights when the recipient of his pass always seemed to make one more pass, or get fouled and go to the line. Both Ray and Andre did their job, and the final score indicates that. --Baja

Stats: 20min 14pts (6-10, 0-2, 2-2) 3reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Casspi ( B- ) -- bit of a deceptive statline here, as Omri was quiet while the game was still on and put up the bulk of those numbers in the 4th, missing a couple of threes, but mostly keeping it simple with those drives and attempted flips. The production may have been too late to factor in the win, but his scoring down the stretch did help us keep the lead nice and fat and not have it becoem one of those depressing were up by 40 but only win by a pedestrian 20 things. Noticed him talking to Stauskas out on the court too -- seems to be a much better teammate this time around than he was last. A bit of a leader even. --Brick

Stats: 5min 0pts (0-1, 0-0, 0-0) 3reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Hollins ( INC ) -- just the final 5 and a half minutes of garbagetime. Missed on a fugly hook thing, but nabbed a few boards this time. --Brick

Stats: 5min 1pts (0-1, 0-0, 1-2) 2reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Landry ( INC ) -- in the late garbagetime missed one long jumper, did nothing else of note. Has gone from briefly getting a chance to start in Karl's very first game here, and then several more ineffective starts with Cuz out, to end of the bench garbagetime opup duty. What's his future here, or anywhere? --Brick
 
Last edited:
ParniValjak

ParniValjak

All-Star
#12
#12
When I heard that Big Cuz was playing, I expected it to be a comfortable win but I did not expect a spanking to the extent of almost 40 points but will take it.

Last time we played this mob at home we needed overtime to win it (though their line up was very different and we did not have a coach).
 
K

KingMilz

Guest
#13
#13
Hopefully Dre can keep this up, maybe all he needed was more consistent playing time in Washington John Wall basically played the whole game and Dre even the vet he is I think found it hard to get into the game. I know the stat line of zero points/4 boards/3assists/2 steals probably doesn't look like much but I thought he was terrific in particular a lot of his passes on the break lead to someone else getting the assist for easy transition buckets.
 
M

mac

All-Star
#14
#14
KingMilz said:
Hopefully Dre can keep this up, maybe all he needed was more consistent playing time in Washington John Wall basically played the whole game and Dre even the vet he is I think found it hard to get into the game. I know the stat line of zero points/4 boards/3assists/2 steals probably doesn't look like much but I thought he was terrific in particular a lot of his passes on the break lead to someone else getting the assist for easy transition buckets.
Click to expand...
Couldn't tell if it was him but someone was shouting and giving the team lots of instructions on defensive rotations. We were better on both ends when Andre was in the game than when Ray Mc was running the point, "empty" stat line or not.
 
T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#15
#15
KingMilz said:
Hopefully Dre can keep this up, maybe all he needed was more consistent playing time in Washington John Wall basically played the whole game and Dre even the vet he is I think found it hard to get into the game. I know the stat line of zero points/4 boards/3assists/2 steals probably doesn't look like much but I thought he was terrific in particular a lot of his passes on the break lead to someone else getting the assist for easy transition buckets.
Click to expand...
Absolutely. The offense is just smoother when Miller's in the game as Ray doesn't have near the same ability to run a team yet. The big issue with Miller is you simply can't play him big minutes anymore. Almost feels like we're stretching him now at 22 MPG.
 
KingsFanGER

KingsFanGER

Starter
#16
#16
Perfect game for Stauskas to gain some confidence. And the way Karl uses our Rookie and Ben is almost like day and night to Malone and Corbin. Our young guns are finally allowed to put the ball on the floor and don't solely stand in the cornes to knock down shots anymore. Stauskas may have problems on the defensive end, cause he commits too many fouls, but he was energized and didn't hide on the offensive end. Solid drives, suprising athleticism and a very nice spin move.
I was really happy for our rookie.
 
bajaden

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#17
#17
The good news is we trounced a bad team. The bad news is, we trounced a bad team. But what the hell, it was a lot of fun with the only drama being how many points we would win by. The fact is, we did to a bad team what a good team is supposed to do to a bad team. And yeah, I'm using the word good, a bit loosely, considering that I didn't know who a couple of the players on the Knicks team were. Well I did, but you know what I mean. The question is, will the same team show up tonight against the Spurs? Or if they do, will they be able to sustain it when faced with a true adversary. Old habits die hard, and this is the mountain Karl has to climb. But to be honest, I'm surprised how well the team is playing in such a short time. For the first time in a long time, we looked like a team last night.

Miller is fun to watch, and whether its wishful thinking, or not, he seems to be having an impact on McCallum's play. Neither seemed to be looking for their own shot, and both, while not receiving anything that showed up on the stat sheet, did a good job of either creating, or assisting for their teammates. McLemore is obviously more aggressive, and if you had watched him at Kansas as I did, the one question mark, was whether he had that fire in him. Too often he disappeared in games. So while his skill level doesn't quite match his aggressiveness just yet, I'd rather have him error on that side than the other. It was also nice to see Stauskas look like the player I saw play at Michigan. That was the player I wanted the Kings to draft. Hopefully we'll see more of the same. Cuz was Cuz, and Gay was Gay, but both seem to be adapting to Karls system.

It's obvious that we need help at the PF position, and for some reason, JT has become a foul magnet the last couple of games. The effort is there, but the results aren't. JT played center in college, and that's probably his natural position. He was a good passer at Rider, and also a good ballhandler for a big. But we've seen little of that since he joined the Kings, or if we did, it's a distant memory. Maybe JT has been jerked around so much since he came here, that he's just lost. He's changed hats so many times, he's forgotten who he is. Move JT to the backup center position, and I think he has a place on the team. Landry is another story. He appears to have no place on the team at all. It's amazing to watch. In the system Karl is running, Landry almost disappears when on the floor. He's not a player that puts the ball on the floor and attacks the basket, and he's not a three point shooter. The fact that Landry is one dimensional really stands out in this system. That's not to say he's a bad player. On the right team with the right system, he's very effective. But so far, he's a poor fit on this team.

My final thought is that they seemed to be having fun last night, and if you aren't having fun while your playing the game you love, then your probably not playing your best game. When I played baseball, I was lost in the game the moment I took the field. I hated when the game was over, and I couldn't wait for the next game. But mostly, I had fun playing. Hopefully this team will have a lot of fun in the future.
 
Last edited:
funkykingston

funkykingston

Super Moderator
Staff member
#19
#19
To me the most telling, and the most promising stat was the Kings having 26 assists against 14 turnovers.

Bench scoring and AST/TO ratio are the two biggest areas that the Kings need to shore up to improve as a team. And under Karl we're seeing progress with both.
 
PBNJ85

PBNJ85

G-League
#26
#26
The_Jamal said:
Absolutely. The offense is just smoother when Miller's in the game as Ray doesn't have near the same ability to run a team yet. The big issue with Miller is you simply can't play him big minutes anymore. Almost feels like we're stretching him now at 22 MPG.
Click to expand...
With the lack of mins he got before coming to Sac you got to believe he has fresh legs
 
You must log in or register to reply here.