[Game] Golden State Warriors (6) @ Sacramento Kings (3) (WCDS Game 5, 2-2) 4/26/2023 7pm Pacific 10pm Eastern (TNT)

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I guess I’m not ready to cap Keegan’s ceiling as a 3 point specialist after one rookie season like it appears you have. I don’t think Keegan is going to turn into Tatum or anything, I just think he has shown both as a pro and in college he can be more. If he is aggressive, he will bust through that and it’s entirely up to him to do it.
Individually? Nah, neither am I but does Brown see a way for him not to be capped within his system and grow?
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
To be fair, we've also seen him regularly struggle against bigger centers. I have to ask myself, who of the playoff teams would be a good matchup for Sabonis?
Boston, Cleveland, New York, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Miami, Denver (he and Joker always seem to cancel each other out by absolutely torching each other), Memphis (Adams is out), Phoenix, the Clippers, the Lakers.

Pretty much the only teams I'd consider WORSE matchups for Sabonis than the Warriors are the Sixers (Embiid), the Bucks (Brook and Giannis), and the T-Wolves (for whatever reason Gobert is his Kryptonite).
 
Again, where the **** is Brown to rein him in a bit? I get he gives Fox a leash, but him launching like he's Steph is not how we win ball games. Or how we won ball games this year either.

I love Mike Brown and he's far and away the best coach the Kings have had since Adelman. But man, he's really getting exposed quite a bit in the last 3 games. He's not handling getting worked over by Kerr well at all.
Fox going 3-10 didn’t decide the game. Steph was 2-10 and the Warriors shot under 30% just as the KINGS did,

Problem was turnovers. Unforced turnovers. Too many forced passes into coverage and Domas needs to stop dribbling the ball into traffic.

Again, I circle back to Huerter being an albatross all series long yet still getting more shots up than Keegan in half the time on the court.

The way Keegan has been playing the past 2 games, including how aggressively good he started in Q1, there’s good reason to believe that if he gets up double the shots — or at least most the shots Huerter took tonight — the KINGS might have been able to win this game.
 
I would like to give these guys more than one playoff series with a different opponent, before I categorize this as a trend. The Splash Brothers don't do their usual wide array of ridiculous shots unique to them when they need it most and this is a different series, despite off the ugliness.

They're still putting up 120+ regularly even despite how bad it's looked.

Defense has to accounted for in the offseason though.
I don't think any series would've been great for us outside a severely injured Clippers team and maybe the Grizz.

1. Nuggets: no answer for Jokic, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a gentleman's sweep
2. Grizz: we'd probably lose to a healthy Grizz team, but with their injured squad? I think it'd be 50/50
4. Suns: we'd probably get swept.. maybe pull of a win or two
5. Clippers: we'd probably lose to a healthy Clippers team, but an injured one? 100% secure the win
7. Lakers: we'd have no answer for AD or Lebron..or their bench
8. T-Wolves: we lost to them a bunch in the regular season and we wouldn't have been able to handle both KAT and Gobert

Maybe I'm not getting them enough credit, but this team struggles at any sight of physicality. The Warriors are probably one of the least physical teams in the playoffs. The Kings need to find an edge over their opponent. It used to be our passing and 3pt shooting, but the 3pt shooting has gone to complete doo-doo.
 
I think it’s also good to remind ourselves that we won 2 games in this series and could have won two more. We are analyzing every thing because we are fanatics. The shooting problems are obvious and maybe don’t happen again if we had a do over. The sabonis thing is tough because he did ok tonight he just isn’t dominating like he usually does. And as you said, loon and Draymond are probably the toughest interior duo to take out a bully ball center. This is why the warriors win championships. They have the best defensive player of our generation who can guard Fox or Sabonis. Think about that startement. And they have the best shooting duo in history to make stupid, spirit breaking shots. Sucks
They're like this close to breaking down. I don't think they have it this year. The injuries are gonna pile up more and there are times already where they look geriatric.

I give it either next year or the following. The deeper basketball players go into their thirties, the more likely the collapse comes. And it comes hard and fast. Unless you're like Lebron lol.

Think the big 3 Celtics. They were already old when they got together, but went from key Heatles rival to first round afterthought to washed in two years. I think this is the Warriors 2012.

And the Warriors younger players aren't enough to keep them afloat, like Booker and Ayton mat be when CP3 and KD age out.
 
Boston, Cleveland, New York, Brooklyn, Atlanta, Miami, Denver (he and Joker always seem to cancel each other out by absolutely torching each other), Memphis (Adams is out), Phoenix, the Clippers, the Lakers.

Pretty much the only teams I'd consider WORSE matchups for Sabonis than the Warriors are the Sixers (Embiid), the Bucks (Brook and Giannis), and the T-Wolves (for whatever reason Gobert is his Kryptonite).
Is Looney his toughest matchup in the west?
 
I don't think any series would've been great for us outside a severely injured Clippers team and maybe the Grizz.

1. Nuggets: no answer for Jokic, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a gentleman's sweep
2. Grizz: we'd probably lose to a healthy Grizz team, but with their injured squad? I think it'd be 50/50
4. Suns: we'd probably get swept.. maybe pull of a win or two
5. Clippers: we'd probably lose to a healthy Clippers team, but an injured one? 100% secure the win
7. Lakers: we'd have no answer for AD or Lebron..or their bench
8. T-Wolves: we lost to them a bunch in the regular season and we wouldn't have been able to handle both KAT and Gobert

Maybe I'm not getting them enough credit, but this team struggles at any sight of physicality. The Warriors are probably one of the least physical teams in the playoffs. The Kings need to find an edge over their opponent. It used to be our passing and 3pt shooting, but the 3pt shooting has gone to complete doo-doo.
Yeah, Clippers it did end up being haha. That said, if Kawhi and PG13 were healthy the Kawhi I saw is picking apart the Kings defense and in a 7 game series you better have the weapons to go back at teams and the Kings simply don't in a grindy game.
 
Everyone kept going at Domas in the game thread, but dude finished with 21-10-4 with 3 steals-1 block on 15 shots. -1 in +- while savior of the universe Alex Len was 3-3-1 with no stocks and -6 in 11 minutes.

This game wasn't on Domas. This game was on whoever was supposed to be ****ing putting a body on GPII to keep him off the offensive glass and going 2-23 from 3 after the 1Q.

Yeah no Kessler is seemingly becoming a huge mistake. He was great for us down the stretch and the playoffs are built for guys like him. Maybe he's actually not good, but you need defensive-minded wings with a big motor on the floor, especially vs this GSW team.
if misleading stats were a person... it'd be Sabonis' performance tonight.
 
There is no way you can make that move on a must win. We need Kevin to win game 7 period. Or we lose. Fox will still be injured Friday. We need flame thrower keg and everything else that comes with it. Honestly think we should start monk next year and find another spark off bench. Monk is a stud
I'd argue the opposite.

No time for waiting for him, at least if Davion starts you could start to try to neutralize Curry early.

Or start Monk idk, but something needs to change, no time to be able to withstand ok defense and bad shooting again, points are better than no points and elite defense is better than OK defense in a pivotal game 6 on the road

Need to just make whatever changes are needed and not worry about hurting someone's feelings, there's no time for that right now.
 
Fox going 3-10 didn’t decide the game. Steph was 2-10 and the Warriors shot under 30% just as the KINGS did,

Problem was turnovers. Unforced turnovers. Too many forced passes into coverage and Domas needs to stop dribbling the ball into traffic.

Again, I circle back to Huerter being an albatross all series long yet still getting more shots up than Keegan in half the time on the court.

The way Keegan has been playing the past 2 games, including how aggressively good he started in Q1, there’s good reason to believe that if he gets up double the shots — or at least most the shots Huerter took tonight — the KINGS might have been able to win this game.
Fox had 6 turnovers and most of them were late. Super uncharacteristic and 100 percent due to the injury.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
Kings need to take the gloves off next season for Murray. These last 2 games has showed me he's game for a bigger role if Brown just includes him in the gameplan.
Established precedent the past few seasons has been to not send second and third-year players to summer league, if they've already established themselves as rotation players. But I think that Murray could benefit a lot from playing in summer league this offseason: he needs to get some reps as a Number One option, to work on his assertiveness.
 
I don't think any series would've been great for us outside a severely injured Clippers team and maybe the Grizz.

1. Nuggets: no answer for Jokic, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a gentleman's sweep
2. Grizz: we'd probably lose to a healthy Grizz team, but with their injured squad? I think it'd be 50/50
4. Suns: we'd probably get swept.. maybe pull of a win or two
5. Clippers: we'd probably lose to a healthy Clippers team, but an injured one? 100% secure the win
7. Lakers: we'd have no answer for AD or Lebron..or their bench
8. T-Wolves: we lost to them a bunch in the regular season and we wouldn't have been able to handle both KAT and Gobert

Maybe I'm not getting them enough credit, but this team struggles at any sight of physicality. The Warriors are probably one of the least physical teams in the playoffs. The Kings need to find an edge over their opponent. It used to be our passing and 3pt shooting, but the 3pt shooting has gone to complete doo-doo.
Eh, I don't like this read.

The Kings have been very physical this series. I think they've answered that call fairly well. And honestly, probably playing some of the best 5-game stretch on defense that they have all year.

It's just the damn shooting that's gone to complete hell. It's difficult to evaluate because literally everyone outside Keegan is shooting like crap. This isn't the case of us playing our best and GSW playing our best and we're just not good enough. It's us making dumb mistakes in crunch time, turning the ball over and missing open 3's that we normally hit all season. And Dray and Looney being death to any C defensively. One of their dynasty's calling cards is erasing high USG bigs like Sabonis.

I dunno. Part of me wants to take the Effort Police route and get another playoff series to evaluate what's going on with this core. We're just not going to shoot this badly over a 5-game stretch very often. I don't like the process of making sweeping changes based on one playoff series, in which both our stars are banged up.
 
I don't think any series would've been great for us outside a severely injured Clippers team and maybe the Grizz.

1. Nuggets: no answer for Jokic, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a gentleman's sweep
2. Grizz: we'd probably lose to a healthy Grizz team, but with their injured squad? I think it'd be 50/50
4. Suns: we'd probably get swept.. maybe pull of a win or two
5. Clippers: we'd probably lose to a healthy Clippers team, but an injured one? 100% secure the win
7. Lakers: we'd have no answer for AD or Lebron..or their bench
8. T-Wolves: we lost to them a bunch in the regular season and we wouldn't have been able to handle both KAT and Gobert

Maybe I'm not getting them enough credit, but this team struggles at any sight of physicality. The Warriors are probably one of the least physical teams in the playoffs. The Kings need to find an edge over their opponent. It used to be our passing and 3pt shooting, but the 3pt shooting has gone to complete doo-doo.
This is why many don't believe in relying on a one dimensional heavy volume of 3's in the playoffs,....because if you get tight or go cold, it's always an uphill battle.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
I don't think any series would've been great for us outside a severely injured Clippers team and maybe the Grizz.

1. Nuggets: no answer for Jokic, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a gentleman's sweep
2. Grizz: we'd probably lose to a healthy Grizz team, but with their injured squad? I think it'd be 50/50
4. Suns: we'd probably get swept.. maybe pull of a win or two
5. Clippers: we'd probably lose to a healthy Clippers team, but an injured one? 100% secure the win
7. Lakers: we'd have no answer for AD or Lebron..or their bench
8. T-Wolves: we lost to them a bunch in the regular season and we wouldn't have been able to handle both KAT and Gobert

Maybe I'm not getting them enough credit, but this team struggles at any sight of physicality. The Warriors are probably one of the least physical teams in the playoffs. The Kings need to find an edge over their opponent. It used to be our passing and 3pt shooting, but the 3pt shooting has gone to complete doo-doo.
Man, I am absolutely not sure where the "Warriors aren't physical" narrative came from (probably a carryover from the decade of Nellyball before Mark Jackson took them over) but we're talking about a team that is famous for lowblowing opponents, literally caused a rules change because they kept taking out guys legs whenever they took threes, and is currently employing Draymond Green, Gary Payton II, and Kevon Looney. Just because Steph and Klay like to flop doesn't mean that that team isn't physical.
 
I don't think any series would've been great for us outside a severely injured Clippers team and maybe the Grizz.

1. Nuggets: no answer for Jokic, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was a gentleman's sweep
2. Grizz: we'd probably lose to a healthy Grizz team, but with their injured squad? I think it'd be 50/50
4. Suns: we'd probably get swept.. maybe pull of a win or two
5. Clippers: we'd probably lose to a healthy Clippers team, but an injured one? 100% secure the win
7. Lakers: we'd have no answer for AD or Lebron..or their bench
8. T-Wolves: we lost to them a bunch in the regular season and we wouldn't have been able to handle both KAT and Gobert

Maybe I'm not getting them enough credit, but this team struggles at any sight of physicality. The Warriors are probably one of the least physical teams in the playoffs. The Kings need to find an edge over their opponent. It used to be our passing and 3pt shooting, but the 3pt shooting has gone to complete doo-doo.
Most of those teams haven't won championships with their current core and have a ridiculous level of shotmaking. The Warriors still inspire fear when one of the splash brothers gets the ball beyond the arc. It's not fun, I can live with the greater physicality tradeoff.

I see your point but I'm not scared of the Lakers at all and I could give less of a you know what about what the Wolves did to us in the regular season.

I'm not as bleak about the Nuggets or Grizzlies either, even though I think the nuggets this year would overall win.
 
if misleading stats were a person... it'd be Sabonis' performance tonight.
It’s so bizarre, Looney has turned into Sabonis these last 3 games.
Game 5: 22 rbs, 7 assists
Game 4: 14 rbs, 6 assists
Game 3: 20 rbs, 9 assists

Those passing numbers are incredible considering he averaged 2.5 assists this year. He’s been Kerr’s secret weapon this series and we haven’t been able to counter it
 
[QUOTE="ShastaKingsFan, post: 1728188, member: 33601"]This is why many don't believe in relying on a one dimensional heavy volume of 3's in the playoffs,....because if you get tight or go cold, it's always an uphill battle.
This is literally how the Warriors have won four championships.[/QUOTE]

Absolutely. One team, with the best pair of shooters of all time
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
Looney is not that freakin guy man. I’m sick of hearing about this guy. No way he should be dominating. I don’t even see Sobonis fighting for position. Just waiting for the ball. Someone said he played good today and complete overlooked Loonies 98 rebounds smh sick
Looney is not a star by any means but he is absolutely elite at being a goon role player. He doesn't have to do anything on offense which allows him to do nothing but fight for offensive boards and muddle things on defense. It doesn't make him an all-star but it does make him a great role player.
 
The thing is that Monte can't get too greedy and go all in too fast like the T-Wolves did.

That team kept most of its core intact but gave up essentially everything else to add a core piece that on-paper addressed its biggest need (defense).
Yeah he can, get greedy just don't be stupid like them. That was just plain being stupid. I can almost fully guarantee Monte laughed at that abomination of a trade just like the rest of the league haha. Monte needs to shoot for a difference maker but if that's not possible then he has to really hope Sasha is the real deal, and he might just be. The problem is his real deal style might effect the other players on the roster getting most of their shots assisted. Monk, Davion, and Barnes being impactful the way they have been in the 3 close games and wins is proof positive of what playoff ball is about. It's all there though. It's possible Monte can nab a difference maker while literally slotting in a Vezenkov in a crucial spot and potentially upgrading it at the same time. Monte has apparently been very specific in terms of what he did in the draft and one thing that ALL of his lotto picks have in common is the short term payoff. Just sayin'.
 
Fox was clearly not right late in the game. His finger was bothering him. There was one play he got a steal from behind and you can see him wincing right away. Can't dribble the ball as well with it probably hurting every dribble he makes.

We should go Davion Monk backcourt to start. That will help neutralize steph early and give us playmaking. Then maybe sub in huerter so he can go against the warrior bench maybe to get him going.

Also the warriors clearly figured out the dho. We should do PNR with monk.
 
I'd argue the opposite.

No time for waiting for him, at least if Davion starts you could start to try to neutralize Curry early.

Or start Monk idk, but something needs to change, no time to be able to withstand ok defense and bad shooting again, points are better than no points and elite defense is better than OK defense in a pivotal game 6 on the road

Need to just make whatever changes are needed and not worry about hurting someone's feelings, there's no time for that right now.
Neutralize curry? Really? He’s averaging 30+. A hard make and an easy make are still worth the same amount of points. He’s not the problem. The role players eating are the problem
 
Would like to see Sabonis work on that mid range jumper this off season and get used to shooting it during the regular season next year. He needs to get comfortable with that shot. The warriors have been giving that shot to him all series long.

Also would like to see Murray be more assertive. It feels like he passes up a lot of opportunities. He's more of a system player at the moment since he's lacking the playmaking skills to go off on his own or maybe it's there, but he hasn't really been put in a good position to utilize that part of his game? Hopefully with a year under Murray's belt Brown will trust him more to make plays and put him in position to.
 
It’s so bizarre, Looney has turned into Sabonis these last 3 games.
Game 5: 22 rbs, 7 assists
Game 4: 14 rbs, 6 assists
Game 3: 20 rbs, 9 assists

Those passing numbers are incredible considering he averaged 2.5 assists this year. He’s been Kerr’s secret weapon this series and we haven’t been able to counter it
holy hell, how did Looney have 22rebs tonight? that's 100% on Sabonis....... ya, Sabonis has been awful in these playoffs. you can't sugar-coat it.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
Most of those teams haven't won championships with their current core and have a ridiculous level of shotmaking. The Warriors still inspire fear when one of the splash brothers gets the ball beyond the arc. It's not fun, I can live with the greater physicality tradeoff.

I see your point but I'm not scared of the Lakers at all and I could give less of a you know what about what the Wolves did to us in the regular season.

I'm not as bleak about the Nuggets or Grizzlies either, even though I think the nuggets this year would overall win.
Plus all of our matchups with the Wolves this season happened with them looking like a normal NBA team using normal competent NBA lineups and not the Rudy/KAT abomination that's pretty much been unplayably bad every single time they take the court.
 
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