[Game] Sacramento Kings vs. Minnesota Timberwolves, 12/23/2023, 7:00PM PST 10:00PM EST

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hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
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To be fair, Lyles passed up a wide open 3 only to turn it over for an easy transition Ant dunk and then bricked a 3 the last possession. That swung the game.
Yeah and I forgot that Keegan did hit a three at the end after the lead had ballooned back up to double digits. On the one hand you can't really expect to come all the way back from being down 20 in half a quarter. And when we were in the middle of our 19-2 run or whatever it was you don't want the coach to call a timeout just to get Fox out of the game either. It's just disappointing seeing the game get that close and our closer, Mr. Clutch, completely incapable of making a play. It was a bad flashback to game 7 against GS last year.
 

Kingz19

Hall of Famer
Well, they didn’t roll over and die. I’ll give them that.

Maybe next time they’ll be ready to actually win a game on a back to back.

This game turned out not to be a blowout, but it is another double figures loss. That is the 8th such loss of the season. 6 of them blowouts.

Kings only lost 12 games by double figures all of last season. Less than 10 could be considered of the blowout variety. Two of those were the last two games of the season that the Kings punted because their position was set.

Kings need to figure out why they were able to stay competitive last season even when they didn’t play well. It just may be that didn’t have so many games where they shot the three so poorly .


Sigh

Domas was very good in the second half. He usually isn’t a great come from behind player since the Kings usually opt to shoot threes but I think he actually set the tone for the comeback. Especially with some strong takes against Gobert including a poster. Gave the team some energy and you usually don’t expect that from Domas down 20.

Keegan and Trey strong second half. Except for that dagger of a blunder Trey had at the end.

Fox had a terrible second half after being the only good in the first half. I think only 7 points and I don’t even want to think about what his FGM/A was.
 
Showed good fight. Thought a few times we were going to throw in the towel but we kept fighting. Really thought we had a shot until Trey threw that really dumb pass--no idea what he was thinking there. That sealed it.

It feels like this season we need our starting unit to be on from the start, because our bench is pretty rough most nights (outside of Malik). Seems like we were a deeper team last year.

Really looking forward to Len coming back.
 
It was a good effort, so not that upset with the loss. Back to backs have been brutal for the Kings and they had a chance to steal this one at the end.
 
Yeah and I forgot that Keegan did hit a three at the end after the lead had ballooned back up to double digits. On the one hand you can't really expect to come all the way back from being down 20 in half a quarter. And when we were in the middle of our 19-2 run or whatever it was you don't want the coach to call a timeout just to get Fox out of the game either. It's just disappointing seeing the game get that close and our closer, Mr. Clutch, completely incapable of making a play. It was a bad flashback to game 7 against GS last year.
I think it's still progress with this squad to see that sort of run and at least give ourselves a chance to go win the game. We've just been blown out in nearly every loss, there's almost nothing we could really take and build on from that. This game was similar to last year where even if we got down early, we still at least gave it a run to get back into the game.

We badly needed Monk's creation in the 4th quarter with Fox hobbled.
 
The comeback was happening because of Murray and Domas , can’t see why we are pointing it on Lyles …. His buckets were 100% because of Domas assist , he missed a crucial free throw , missed rhe rebound he get and made the stupidest ever decision for free 3er which closed the game ….
 
The replay of the Fox injury was strange. It did not look like an ankle. Generally, with adrenalin and such you can fight through it until end of the game. I sure hope it's not a knee issue.
 

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
I think it's still progress with this squad to see that sort of run and at least give ourselves a chance to go win the game. We've just been blown out in nearly every loss, there's almost nothing we could really take and build on from that. This game was similar to last year where even if we got down early, we still at least gave it a run to get back into the game.

We badly needed Monk's creation in the 4th quarter with Fox hobbled.
There were other positives too. Keegan and Barnes both went into aggressive scorer mode once it was clear Fox was having issues. We need both of those guys to flip the switch sooner, but it's good to see them stringing multiple shot creation plays together at least. It's something to build on.

The bench unit continues to confound but we may have found something with Duarte tonight. He was a difference maker on defense and started to get some confidence in his shot in the third. Lyles is a smart player who usually comes up big for us in pressure situations. He should maybe get more 4th quarter minutes.
 
Is this a joke, what did I miss?
Nope. He was pissed 2 separate times. Really animated. First time Jay Triano had to calm him down. I think this was late in 1st half. Then early 4th after he got pulled (after playing like a min or 2), he was again pretty animated and Christie had to talk with him. After that he was on the bench and pretty disengaged
 

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
Also, the Wolves are just damn good. They're an elite elite defense in an NBA landscape that's all but tried to eliminate quality defense. Have to be locked in from the jump to beat them.
We badly need some size on the bench that isn't tied to JaVale's constant stream of miscues. I can't understand how we had Queta in practice for two years (and winning DPOY in the G-League last year) and we just cut him to add 35 year old JaVale McGee instead. That shows a shocking lack of faith in our development staff.
 
Well that was a bunch of crap. Fifth game of the season at g1c and the Kings have got their ass kicked four out of the five. We are so weak on a b2b and it's live by the 3, die by the 3 every night. Still can't rebound. Passing was terrible tonight
 

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
Nope. He was pissed 2 separate times. Really animated. First time Jay Triano had to calm him down. I think this was late in 1st half. Then early 4th after he got pulled (after playing like a min or 2), he was again pretty animated and Christie had to talk with him. After that he was on the bench and pretty disengaged
I'd be pissed too if I were Sasha. He left a situation where he had guaranteed starters minutes on a championship quality team and he's getting one or two shots and then he's yanked back to the bench the rest of the game. I don't know if Monte or Coach Brown promised him something else when he signed his contract but I think any reasonable competitor would be disappointed with the lack of run he's getting considering his contract and career up to this point.
 
I appreciate the effort at the end. That said, we simply did not play smart basketball. We had lots of opportunities to force the action, get Gobert in foul trouble, and oftentimes we would penetrate and instead of going into Gobert we would lob a pass out… which Twolves know we like doing, overplayed the passing by lanes and got a decent amount of steals. Also don’t understand why Brown didn’t use a single challenge. There were some questionable calls at the end
 
Nope. He was pissed 2 separate times. Really animated. First time Jay Triano had to calm him down. I think this was late in 1st half. Then early 4th after he got pulled (after playing like a min or 2), he was again pretty animated and Christie had to talk with him. After that he was on the bench and pretty disengaged
Well i was at the game and of course they’re not showing that up on the jumbo tron but I’ve been anxious to see Sasha and really all he’s getting is a minute here a minute there, and I know he really debated to even come over here and now all we do is….. nothing. The few minutes he’s given I get excited to see his game and then he’s right back on the bench. I mean I heard alot of the hype when Sasha decided to come over so I wonder what the deal is
 
There were other positives too. Keegan and Barnes both went into aggressive scorer mode once it was clear Fox was having issues. We need both of those guys to flip the switch sooner, but it's good to see them stringing multiple shot creation plays together at least. It's something to build on.

The bench unit continues to confound but we may have found something with Duarte tonight. He was a difference maker on defense and started to get some confidence in his shot in the third. Lyles is a smart player who usually comes up big for us in pressure situations. He should maybe get more 4th quarter minutes.
Mate , for the past 3 months I have been reading the forum I agree on almost 99% with you , but we can not be pricing Lyles today … the only good thing he made was on layup passing by the rim ….
Both buckets at the end of the second half were 100% Domas , only coach Brown and Duarte won’t finish both in whole roster …
Then he missed a free throw and in additional blow away his own rebound when he could have made a 2 possession game with 3 minutes or so ….
And at end he didn’t do the only the one thing he is there to do - shoot the God same open 3 pointer ….
I am sure nobody will be pissed if he misses that shoot but all must be after giving the ball away in crucial moment ….Literally ended the game in the wrong direction
 
I'd be pissed too if I were Sasha. He left a situation where he had guaranteed starters minutes on a championship quality team and he's getting one or two shots and then he's yanked back to the bench the rest of the game. I don't know if Monte or Coach Brown promised him something else when he signed his contract but I think any reasonable competitor would be disappointed with the lack of run he's getting considering his contract and career up to this point.
Yep, he definitely had this look like this is not what I signed up for. We’re running all of these plays for dudes that were cold and one of our best shooters gets 1 shot off
 
Also, the Wolves are just damn good. They're an elite elite defense in an NBA landscape that's all but tried to eliminate quality defense. Have to be locked in from the jump to beat them.
I don't think the Wolves are that great but they did play great D, the Kings are just horrible at defending as a team. The way you can tell if the team sucks at defense is when the other team didn't have to put much effort into it and just do a simple execution and get guys open. The Kings literally can't defend anybody due to guys like Huerter or Barnes allowing penetration or just lack of length really hurt the team. Not just that, they're so into defending their own man, they contribute nothing on the weak side team defense. For the team to take it another level, you can't have the same guys on the floor...it won't be sustainable.
 
Nope. He was pissed 2 separate times. Really animated. First time Jay Triano had to calm him down. I think this was late in 1st half. Then early 4th after he got pulled (after playing like a min or 2), he was again pretty animated and Christie had to talk with him. After that he was on the bench and pretty disengaged
That's too bad. Was he directing it toward Mike or anyone in particular?

I don't really understand why he isn't getting more time. His on-ball defense is pretty poor, but he plays surprisingly good help defense and he shoots, rebounds, hustles, and seems to have high bb IQ. There are other guys getting time that play terrible defense so it is a little odd to me they don't play Sasha more.
 
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