It's the first official "Oh crap! I forgot to write a game thread!" Game Thread of the season!
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award - Frank Ntilikina. Back in 2017, there were some who suggested taking Frankie Smokes with the pick that would eventually become De'Aaron Fox. While that thankfully never happened, Frank has had a bit of a rough start to his career, as his offensive deficiencies were never really quite masked enough by his strong defensive skills. Against the Kings as a Mav, however, Frank played like an offense-first spitfire, scoring on Davion Mitchell several times and hitting perimeter jumpers like that's something he's actually good at.
Cory Joseph Award - Moe Harkless. Zero or two point nights are fine when you're contributing by playing strong defense or providing hustle plays on both ends of the floor. Moe didn't really do any of that. Charged with guarding Luka all game, Moe alternated between playing Luka too close and playing him too loose to the point that it was actually affecting how his teammates played defense. On offense, at least he didn't keep shooting?
Luke Walton Vacuum Cleaner Award - Whoever was in charge of all the shooting.
Willie Cauley-Stein Unicorn Award- Willie has perhaps benefitted the most from Jason Kidd's appointment as head coach of the Mavs, going from oft-unused fourth string center to randomly playing a bigger role in the Mavs system than Boban for some reason. In true Willie fashion, he had his usual mix of soft rim protection and emphatic offensive plays. He also collected six rebounds, which I have to assume is close to his career high. Who needs Porzingis when you've got the real unicorn?!
WTF Moment of the Game - The Mavs take Luka out at the end of the third quarter of a tight game and precede to push the lead up to double-digits against our starters.
+++Game 7+++
Kings vs. Jazz
The Jazz have the best record in the league and we get to play them for the second time in two weeks as the schedule makers continue to punish the Kings for simply existing.
Last time, at the home opener in Golden One Center, the Kings managed to keep the game close until the very end of the game on the back of stout D. Mitchell on D. Mitchell defense. Can they go the distance and pull it off tonight?
The Jazz are still missing Rudy Gay, who is recovering from heel surgery, but aside from that look to be completely healthy coming into the game. The Kings on the other hand are coached by Luke Walton.
Matchups
Richaun Holmes vs. Rudy Gobert - Holmes got in major foul trouble last time he faced Gobert but managed to score enough in his time on the court that this matchup wasn't a total blowout. Hopefully this time the refs can swallow their whistles and Richaun can punish Gobert for dropping off of him. Advantage: Gobert.
Maurice Harkless vs. Bojan Bogdanovic - Moe missed the last matchup but is presumably going to play. Ironically, his typical zero point, five rebound performance would still be better than what Terence Davis contributed in that game. Advantage: Bogdanovic.
Harrison Barnes vs. Royce O'Neale - Board Beast Barnes made his first appearance against the Jazz in the game at Golden One and Barnes is coming off of his worst game in the season in which he failed to make almost all of his outside shots. I'm hoping for a bounce back game from Black Falcon tonight. Advantage: Barnes.
Tyrese Haliburton vs. Donovan Mitchell - Tyrese needs to be more aggressive. He's also probably not going to spend much time being directly matched up against Mitchell since the Kings have been trying to hide Haliburton on the other team's worst player over the last couple of games. The only way the Kings do pull this one off is if they get aggressive Tyrese. Not impossible but he hasn't shown it too much this season. Advantage: Spida Mitchell.
De'Aaron Fox vs. Mike Conley - Fox is in a funk. KingsFans.com is at his throat. His shooting splits are down across the board. Not great from your star player but it's also not like we're putting him in the best position to build momentum and get out of it. Hopefully Luke gets out of his own way and starts running pick and rolls again but until then it's hard to see anyone on this team aside from Barnes really playing to their full potential. That said, oddly passive, shot-missing Fox is still better than older Conley. Advantage: Fox.
Kings Bench vs. Jazz Band - Last time, the Kings had the advantage of Joe Ingles undercutting Davion Mitchell on a dunk attempt and getting ejected super early in the game but I don't think we can count on that happening again. Davion showed us how good of a defender he is in the first Jazz meeting and I expect the Jazz to adjust with various looks to get him knocked off of their ballhandlers. Elsewhere, Hassan absolutely murdered us in the first matchup but I'm not sure that'll happen again either. Advantage: Jazz.
Final Predictions: The Jazz are a very good team and it feels like the Kings lost an opportunity to steal a win when they couldn't close the deal against them in Golden One. While I'm not sure it'll be a blowout, I have a hard time seeing the Kings pulling this one off. On the plus side, after this game, the Kings' schedule lightens up considerably.
Jazz 121, Kings 109
Awards Time
Tony Delk Memorial Award - Frank Ntilikina. Back in 2017, there were some who suggested taking Frankie Smokes with the pick that would eventually become De'Aaron Fox. While that thankfully never happened, Frank has had a bit of a rough start to his career, as his offensive deficiencies were never really quite masked enough by his strong defensive skills. Against the Kings as a Mav, however, Frank played like an offense-first spitfire, scoring on Davion Mitchell several times and hitting perimeter jumpers like that's something he's actually good at.
Cory Joseph Award - Moe Harkless. Zero or two point nights are fine when you're contributing by playing strong defense or providing hustle plays on both ends of the floor. Moe didn't really do any of that. Charged with guarding Luka all game, Moe alternated between playing Luka too close and playing him too loose to the point that it was actually affecting how his teammates played defense. On offense, at least he didn't keep shooting?
Luke Walton Vacuum Cleaner Award - Whoever was in charge of all the shooting.
Willie Cauley-Stein Unicorn Award- Willie has perhaps benefitted the most from Jason Kidd's appointment as head coach of the Mavs, going from oft-unused fourth string center to randomly playing a bigger role in the Mavs system than Boban for some reason. In true Willie fashion, he had his usual mix of soft rim protection and emphatic offensive plays. He also collected six rebounds, which I have to assume is close to his career high. Who needs Porzingis when you've got the real unicorn?!
WTF Moment of the Game - The Mavs take Luka out at the end of the third quarter of a tight game and precede to push the lead up to double-digits against our starters.
+++Game 7+++
Kings vs. Jazz
The Jazz have the best record in the league and we get to play them for the second time in two weeks as the schedule makers continue to punish the Kings for simply existing.
Last time, at the home opener in Golden One Center, the Kings managed to keep the game close until the very end of the game on the back of stout D. Mitchell on D. Mitchell defense. Can they go the distance and pull it off tonight?
The Jazz are still missing Rudy Gay, who is recovering from heel surgery, but aside from that look to be completely healthy coming into the game. The Kings on the other hand are coached by Luke Walton.
Matchups
Richaun Holmes vs. Rudy Gobert - Holmes got in major foul trouble last time he faced Gobert but managed to score enough in his time on the court that this matchup wasn't a total blowout. Hopefully this time the refs can swallow their whistles and Richaun can punish Gobert for dropping off of him. Advantage: Gobert.
Maurice Harkless vs. Bojan Bogdanovic - Moe missed the last matchup but is presumably going to play. Ironically, his typical zero point, five rebound performance would still be better than what Terence Davis contributed in that game. Advantage: Bogdanovic.
Harrison Barnes vs. Royce O'Neale - Board Beast Barnes made his first appearance against the Jazz in the game at Golden One and Barnes is coming off of his worst game in the season in which he failed to make almost all of his outside shots. I'm hoping for a bounce back game from Black Falcon tonight. Advantage: Barnes.
Tyrese Haliburton vs. Donovan Mitchell - Tyrese needs to be more aggressive. He's also probably not going to spend much time being directly matched up against Mitchell since the Kings have been trying to hide Haliburton on the other team's worst player over the last couple of games. The only way the Kings do pull this one off is if they get aggressive Tyrese. Not impossible but he hasn't shown it too much this season. Advantage: Spida Mitchell.
De'Aaron Fox vs. Mike Conley - Fox is in a funk. KingsFans.com is at his throat. His shooting splits are down across the board. Not great from your star player but it's also not like we're putting him in the best position to build momentum and get out of it. Hopefully Luke gets out of his own way and starts running pick and rolls again but until then it's hard to see anyone on this team aside from Barnes really playing to their full potential. That said, oddly passive, shot-missing Fox is still better than older Conley. Advantage: Fox.
Kings Bench vs. Jazz Band - Last time, the Kings had the advantage of Joe Ingles undercutting Davion Mitchell on a dunk attempt and getting ejected super early in the game but I don't think we can count on that happening again. Davion showed us how good of a defender he is in the first Jazz meeting and I expect the Jazz to adjust with various looks to get him knocked off of their ballhandlers. Elsewhere, Hassan absolutely murdered us in the first matchup but I'm not sure that'll happen again either. Advantage: Jazz.
Final Predictions: The Jazz are a very good team and it feels like the Kings lost an opportunity to steal a win when they couldn't close the deal against them in Golden One. While I'm not sure it'll be a blowout, I have a hard time seeing the Kings pulling this one off. On the plus side, after this game, the Kings' schedule lightens up considerably.
Jazz 121, Kings 109
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