The Road to catching the Spurs

sactowndog

sactowndog

All-Star
#1
#1
As much as I want them to, I think the Road to catch the Spurs and tie them at 45 wins is challenging. I’m looking at the Spurs because the Lakers with Lebron and owning the tie breaker is tough.

Kings likely wins: PHX, NY (NB2B), @NY, @Was, Bkn (4th game in 7 road trip), Dal (Db2b), PHX, @NO, Cle, NO. = 39 wins

Kings likely losses: @Den, @GS, Mil, @Bos, @Phi (KB2B), @LAL (KB2B), @Hou, Hou, @Uth (KB2B) = 35 losses

To get to 45 wins the Kings would have to go 6-2 against: OKC (Ob2b), @Minn, LAC, Bos (Bos B2B), Chi (first game back east trip), @Dal, @SA (KB2B), @Por (PB2B)

Meanwhile the Spurs likely wins: @Mem, @NY, Det, @ Atl, NY, Cle, Atl, @Was, @Cle, Dal. = 42 wins

Likely losses: @Tor, OKC, Den, POR (SB2B), GSW, @Hou, @Den(SAB2B). 32 losses

That means the Spurs only have to win 4 out of: @Utah, @Bkn (SAB2B), Mil (MilB2B), @Dal, Miami, @Bos (Bosb2b), @Chr, Sac (SacB2B) to get to 46 wins

I put the Sac game in toss up because I think Sac will rest players against @Houston in an attempt to win the SA game.
 
parker

parker

Bench
#2
#2
Interesting breakdown. I think you are right that the Kings may have to catch a team above them because holding off the Lakers might not be possible. But I see Portland, Utah and San Antonio as potentially vulnerable. It's also really difficult to predict end of season games with teams beginning to tank or rest players for the playoffs.

I do agree that getting to 45 wins, however, will be challenging and require a few unexpected wins. But they have done it all year, so I am not going to count them out.
 
ockingsfan

ockingsfan

Starter
#3
#3
I agree that the last 2 playoffs spot are going to come down to the Lakers, Spurs and Kings. I can't see the NBA allowing LeBron and the Lakers to miss the playoffs. The tanking Clippers will be fading fast.

Since we own the tie break with San Antonio, I think they will be the most likely team for us to catch for the #8 spot.
 
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Sac.Kings

Sac.Kings

All-Star
#5
#5
Kings_of_California said:
Utah strikes me as a team who is going to make it. Portland has this tendency to go hot and cold so they could tumble. The Spurs appear to be in the biggest trouble tho.

Lakers will make it.
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Well if all the above teams make it including the lakers, we won’t be making it. Lakers and Spurs are most likely to have difficulty. Lakers due to the Lebron effect and a poor roster and the Spurs due to a lack of talent surrounding their top 2 guys.
 
2

206Fan

All-Star
#6
#6
Right now, I don't think you can trust the Kings to beat all of the weak teams yet. Look at our losses and fringe wins from the last 20 games or so.
  • We barely pulled a W out of our asses against a talentless, but well coached Heat.
  • We barely won against a bad Grizz team by 2pts
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Nets team
  • Barely won against an underwhelming Pistons team by a Buddy buzzer beater.
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Hornets team
  • Lost to a horrible Suns team
  • Lost to a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a bad Grizz team
  • Blown out to a meh TWolves team
The wins show that we can close out, but it also shows 1 defensive lapse from allowing the other team to win. These are all teams who aren't legitimately good. It's hard for me to comfortably check wins for this team knowing how inconsistent we are. I think the only consistent player on our team is Buddy Hield.. which is really bad considering that we have an actual deep 10 man rotation. With the other guys, it's more of: "is the real _______ and ________ going to show up today?"
 
parker

parker

Bench
#7
#7
206Fan said:
Right now, I don't think you can trust the Kings to beat all of the weak teams yet. Look at our losses and fringe wins from the last 20 games or so.
  • We barely pulled a W out of our asses against a talentless, but well coached Heat.
  • We barely won against a bad Grizz team by 2pts
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Nets team
  • Barely won against an underwhelming Pistons team by a Buddy buzzer beater.
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Hornets team
  • Lost to a horrible Suns team
  • Lost to a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a bad Grizz team
  • Blown out to a meh TWolves team
The wins show that we can close out, but it also shows 1 defensive lapse from allowing the other team to win. These are all teams who aren't legitimately good. It's hard for me to comfortably check wins for this team knowing how inconsistent we are. I think the only consistent player on our team is Buddy Hield.. which is really bad considering that we have an actual deep 10 man rotation. With the other guys, it's more of: "is the real _______ and ________ going to show up today?"
Click to expand...
I have posted this before, but the Kings actually have the second best record in the West against teams below .500. They are 20-5. Only the Warriors have been better.

So they have done extremely well winning the games they are expected to win. No matter how ugly that suns loss was and felt, it still only counted for one loss.

They are also very good in tight games. 5-1 in games decided by 3 points or less. Best in the West.
 
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T

The_Jamal

Hall of Famer
#10
#10
206Fan said:
Right now, I don't think you can trust the Kings to beat all of the weak teams yet. Look at our losses and fringe wins from the last 20 games or so.
  • We barely pulled a W out of our asses against a talentless, but well coached Heat.
  • We barely won against a bad Grizz team by 2pts
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Nets team
  • Barely won against an underwhelming Pistons team by a Buddy buzzer beater.
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Hornets team
  • Lost to a horrible Suns team
  • Lost to a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a bad Grizz team
  • Blown out to a meh TWolves team
The wins show that we can close out, but it also shows 1 defensive lapse from allowing the other team to win. These are all teams who aren't legitimately good. It's hard for me to comfortably check wins for this team knowing how inconsistent we are. I think the only consistent player on our team is Buddy Hield.. which is really bad considering that we have an actual deep 10 man rotation. With the other guys, it's more of: "is the real _______ and ________ going to show up today?"
Click to expand...
I mean, that inconsistency is going to show up because of a lack of real game experience together as a team and just general lack of NBA experience with most of the core. Only WCS, Buddy, Fox and Bogdan are still in the rotation from last season, and those guys didn't really get the keys until we dealt away Hill at the deadline and started putting ZBO on the shelf. So yeah, while we haven't put our best performance out in these games, the fact we were still able to pull out wins in games we probably should have lost with our play, shows signs of tremendous growth. We've absolutely stomped sub .500 teams this season, which is a big reason we're in a position to make a playoff push.

Also, it took all of 1 game for Barnes to show how badly we needed a 3/4 flex wing in the rotation. We've been fighting through serious roster imbalance the whole season, which should hopefully be fixed with Barnes and Burks taking over as a secondary ball-handler and scorer for the 2nd unit.
 
sactowndog

sactowndog

All-Star
#11
#11
206Fan said:
Right now, I don't think you can trust the Kings to beat all of the weak teams yet. Look at our losses and fringe wins from the last 20 games or so.
  • We barely pulled a W out of our asses against a talentless, but well coached Heat.
  • We barely won against a bad Grizz team by 2pts
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Nets team
  • Barely won against an underwhelming Pistons team by a Buddy buzzer beater.
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Hornets team
  • Lost to a horrible Suns team
  • Lost to a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a bad Grizz team
  • Blown out to a meh TWolves team
o
Click to expand...
Check those losses against long road trip or the second night of a back to back which I have already counted in sure losses.
 
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2

206Fan

All-Star
#13
#13
parker said:
I have posted this before, but the Kings actually have the second best record in the West against teams below .500. They are 20-5. Only the Warriors have been better.

So they have done extremely well winning the games they are expected to win. No matter how ugly that suns loss was and felt, it still only counted for one loss.

They are also very good in tight games. 5-1 in games decided by 3 points or less. Best in the West.
Click to expand...
Wow, I had no clue we were that good against poor teams... and I also had no clue we were THAT horrible against good teams(9-21).

I just haven't seen enough convincing wins from this team to check a W next to bad teams.
 
Kingster

Kingster

Hall of Famer
#15
#15
206Fan said:
Right now, I don't think you can trust the Kings to beat all of the weak teams yet. Look at our losses and fringe wins from the last 20 games or so.
  • We barely pulled a W out of our asses against a talentless, but well coached Heat.
  • We barely won against a bad Grizz team by 2pts
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Nets team
  • Barely won against an underwhelming Pistons team by a Buddy buzzer beater.
  • Got blown out by an underwhelming Hornets team
  • Lost to a horrible Suns team
  • Lost to a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a Lebron-less Laker team
  • Barely won against a bad Grizz team
  • Blown out to a meh TWolves team
The wins show that we can close out, but it also shows 1 defensive lapse from allowing the other team to win. These are all teams who aren't legitimately good. It's hard for me to comfortably check wins for this team knowing how inconsistent we are. I think the only consistent player on our team is Buddy Hield.. which is really bad considering that we have an actual deep 10 man rotation. With the other guys, it's more of: "is the real _______ and ________ going to show up today?"
Click to expand...
I don't agree at all about the talentless Miami Heat. They have a winning record on the road. They just beat Portland in Portland. They have got to be a top five defensive team in this league, albeit with offensive problems. The Heat are no joke. I just hope they bring their "A" game against the Lakers, Clipps and SA when they play them next.

Also, the above list is a snap-shot in time, which doesn't relate to the here and now. Bagley is improving. Giles is improving. Barnes is head and shoulders better than Jackson. Burks is better than Shumpert. Really the only question I have about this team is how fast they can synchronize together. When they are synchronized they are going to destroy a team like Miami. Maybe it's 5 games. Maybe it's 15 games. I really have no idea. But I do know that when all the cylinders are clicking it will be crystal clear.
 
kingsboi

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#18
#18
I'm not the one to doubt Pop and the Spurs, but they just look awful when they aren't playing at home. They have a good home record, I believe 21 of their wins are there. Kings have a tough stretch coming after Phoenix, brutal. They can very well be on a 4 or 5 game losing streak and in the West, that may as well mean you are done with that 8th seed chase.
 
C

Cojc

Bench
#19
#19
I think they are on a 4 game losing streak now after they lost today. We need this next game Sunday.
Oh I know its only the end of the first quarter but the clippers are down 23 after one in the garden.
I think Boston is going to take that Lakers game out on the clippers.
 
Bosnian Diehard

Bosnian Diehard

Starter
#28
#28
Cojc said:
I thought the clippers were in tank mode? Looks like the players didn’t get the message.
Click to expand...
I was skeptical on all the talk that the Clippers were surely put of the Playoffs. They lost Harris but still had Gallinari, a 20 ppg scorer. Also one of their biggest strengths is depth, and they added Temple, Jamychal Green and Ivica Zubac.
 
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