[Game] Kings vs. Timberwolves 3/4/2023, 7p Pacific/10p Eastern

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Kingz19

Hall of Famer
Kings need to take care of business at home against New Orleans and New York. They owe both of those teams a beating since the Kings were on the business end of blowouts in their house. If they do that heading into a brutal stretch of the schedule then I’m going to be a happy camper.

8 games after that are rough. 2 vs Phoenix, Milwaukee and Boston sandwiching an east coast road trip. After that the schedule looks downhill(Utah, Portland, San Antonio)

This is a tough loss but I think Minnesota played a great game and the Kings didn’t really play a good game and the Kings still almost had it.

Kings really need to build a home court advantage. Usually that comes first when a team becomes good. It’s cool that they are good on the road and everything but they need to find another gear at home.
 
The Pelicans game takes on more importance after this loss considering the Knicks, Suns, Bucks after - they'll be lucky to win more than 1 of those games.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
Kings really need to build a home court advantage. Usually that comes first when a team becomes good. It’s cool that they are good on the road and everything but they need to find another gear at home.
Kings didn't lose this game because of the refs but one thing that is strange is they definitely don't seem to benefit from a home whistle. Not saying refs should be biased for the home team but usually with good teams the home team gets the benefit of the doubt and we never do. I wonder if that has anything to do with our woes at home.

On the road they might just be a little more prepared to go to war?
 
Games like this happen. Like that we still fought and gave ourselves an opportunity to win. That's almost expected at this point and it's good they're still doing in 60+ games into the season.

Someone mentioned it, but Fox looked a little sluggish. Maybe the wrist bothering him, little winded from the 2nd b-b, maybe lack of sleep with new baby at home? Also just not realistic to expect the 35 PPG he's been averaging over the last 8 and came back down to earth a bit.

This game also showing me I really don't want Minny at the 6 seed if we stay at 3. I'd forgotten how silly good McDaniels is as a perimeter defender. Fox's speed isn't the usual edge because of how much ground McDaniels can make up with his length and quick lateral movement. Dude probably contends for a DPOY in the next few years, he's insanely impressive.
 
WRT fouling, either foul immediately or play out the possession. What good does running 10 seconds off do except guarantee this is your last shot?

The only way the foul strategy works is if you commit to doing it 3-4 times and hopefully getting 1 point back each possession.
Even in that situation you should only resort to it with less than 24 seconds left. In this situaiton - you go for the stop - and the Wolves were basically giving it to us!
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
looking at the box score, if Keegan gives the Kings at least double digits the Kings win this. The starting unit other than Keegan produced offensively
 
looking at the box score, if Keegan gives the Kings at least double digits the Kings win this. The starting unit other than Keegan produced offensively
The problem is they're not looking for Keegan and he's not about to force shots. Keegan need to take a page out of Huerter to sometimes create shots for himself instead of relying on others.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
looking at the box score, if Keegan gives the Kings at least double digits the Kings win this. The starting unit other than Keegan produced offensively
Keep in mind that when Murray was in there the offense almost entirely dominated by going to Sabonis inside. That must have been the game plan. I thought the offense was pretty weird in the first half.
 
I hope we adjust whatever this defensive scheme is on the perimeter. This many open 3’s makes no sense, i wish the media would ask what the strategy is so he can break it down for us.
The wide open 3’s were the problem.

Now, all the T-Wolves scrubs didn’t need to be making most of them — and they usually don’t — but they did tonight.

Lots of the wide open 3’s were from the corners which are the easiest shots to make.

I get that, by design, players that aren’t supposed to be consistent shooters are the ones often left open as a trade off for getting the ball out of the hands of better players. But once it was apparent the strategy wasn’t working, they shouldn’t have been getting all the wide open looks.

Also, way too many layups, dunks, and put backs. The KINGS continue to struggle with length.

Still, despite all the defensive lapses and hot shooting from the T-Wolves scrubs, the KINGS were a Harrison Barnes missed three away from potentially stealing the game.
 

Kingz19

Hall of Famer
I was hoping for 2-4 in the Clips, Wolves, Pels, Knicks, Suns and Bucks stretch. If we do that and .500 or better the rest of the way that gives us 45 wins.
Kings would have to have a pretty weak final quarter of the season to end up with only 45 wins. That’s 8-11 after tonight at a time they should be playing their best ball. Kings can have 50 wins if they just win at their regular pace. I think anything short of 48 wins shows a team crawling into the playoffs.

Kings fans shouldn’t be afraid to raise the bar a little bit. That means coming out of every stretch .500 isn’t house money anymore. The 8 games after the Knicks game is where we should start that “.500 is a success” stuff again. They’re better than that. Kings aren’t nursing a good start anymore, they are in the midst of a good season.
 
Bummer...

Just a minor bump in the road, though...Brush this one off, regroup tomorrow and Monday. Figure out what went wrong. Figure out what went right. Fix what went wrong (or simply put it behind you). Remember what went right, and carry it with you into Monday night. And go out there and get win number 38.

Is that too much to ask for?
 
Six games in ten days since the All-Star break, second night of a back-to-back. The team did not look sharp, mentally or physically, last night. They will come out with the jets next time.
 
Team looked really tired. 4th quarter Fox didn’t have the same pop. Brown has to figure out a way to get more from the bench and manage starter minutes a bit, even if it means an extra loss. This team has been going hard the last 6 games, and the schedule is grueling the next month. I honestly think we win last night if we aren’t on a back to back and so many recent games.

Also- it makes getting to 6 so important. Top 6 means a week off to rest before playoffs. Playin means 1-2 high pressure games and high pressure prep.
 
I think it is inevitable that the Kings play inconsistent defense due to the players they have on the court. They're basically trading defensive minded players for offensive minded players in Huerter and Murray. On the other hands, the Warriors under Brown, they're trading offensive minded players for defensive minded players like Green and Iggy and they're okay with that because they have Curry and Klay to do the the scoring. The Kings if you notice...they play great team D as far as rotating and getting to the player...but then only to allow another penetration. This is due to players inability to guard or stop penetration. Green and Iggy will stop them from further penetration and therefore stop the flow of the offense. If the Kings want to be consistent, it's not a matter of sticking with the offensive minded players and preaching them to play harder, but they need to give someone more minutes like Davion Mitchell (despite not shooting great). My point is, they need to sacrifice offensive power for defensive purpose. You can try and check the statistics to back up what I said....when Mitchell and Okpala are on the court at the same time, they play great D.

So rather than sub in Terrence Davis and Trey Lyle and take Mitchell out for Fox....maybe it's better to play him more minutes. Mitchell along with Fox and Sabonis.
 
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