[Game] Kings @ Cleveland Cavaliers, 2/5/2024, 4:00p PT, 7:00p ET

How many games will we win in our 11-game Death Stretch?


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Maybe it's just a seasoned vet ramping up the reps?
I was watching a kings podcast i forgot which but they mentioned that the coaches made it a priority to go to him more because they looked at the numbers and in a lot of match ups he's favored in since so much focus was on sabonis or fox.
 
Anyone noticed that barnes has been playing a lot better lately? I wonder whats change? Seems like they are making an effort to get him more shots and it just might be that that made the difference. Wonder why we didn't go to him earlier in the season. Kings are a better team when barnes is playing better.
I think Monte didn't think that at the deadline the market for Barnes and Huerter would be as bare as it is. Teams forget guys quick when they get pushed from a teams offense. Huerter and Barnes if not moved can't be pushed back again.
 
Today was interesting. This is the first time a team has specifically changed up some of their gameplan to stop him and stop him they did. He went off early in the system plays and from then on they even started to soft double him on help before going back to man to man. If teams start doing that more it could open different looks for the team offensively.
In that respect he really needs to pick up his passing, or at least move the ball more quickly. Weakest part of his game right now.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
They have losses to the Pelicans by 33 and 36. (Guess we'll call that a bad matchup for our Kings.)

Is tonight otherwise their biggest loss margin of the season?
Those were actually bad losses though. This one was a schedule loss that also featured the Cavs getting insanely hot from three and the Kings just looking gassed for most of the second half.
 
They have losses to the Pelicans by 33 and 36. (Guess we'll call that a bad matchup for our Kings.)

Is tonight otherwise their biggest loss margin of the season?
doesn’t feel as bad as the pelicans or Houston losses though …
They just had too hot team today , but tried to stay in the game as long as possible , so positive lose today even with a margin in it ….
Cavs just played very well today
 
Adelman's team outperformed their collective talent by a wide margin relative to rest of the league and the only reason they didn't win the title is obvious corruption.

They were only beat by a team that had two of the top 15 players of all time because of the worst ref corruption scandal in the history of the league but go off king.

And by "king" in this context I mean completely incompetent poster - just so we are clear.
When you first joined the board, I thought your Italian food-inspired persona was one of the all-time great KF.com gimmicks. I'm not sure what happened, but your dip into @Ozymandias-level self-righteous indignation and withering ad hominem is not a wonderful look.
 
In that respect he really needs to pick up his passing, or at least move the ball more quickly. Weakest part of his game right now.
Yeah, it's his handling but he knows it. One more summer and see what happens there. If he can't make a jump then Brown needs to start giving him his post game back. He can get contact downhill off the spin. If you can't get to the line you can't be a teams 2nd option. The Warriors always put a wing scorer next to Klay as a true 2nd option so if that's what it is it is.
 
Those were actually bad losses though. This one was a schedule loss that also featured the Cavs getting insanely hot from three and the Kings just looking gassed for most of the second half.
Yeah, even if the Cavs hadn't gotten insanely hot, they had won, what, 13 of their last 14 games? They're just on one right now, and it's hard to win road games against teams like that, much less when on the back-end of a 7-game road trip that jet-setted the Kings all around the damn country.
 
Yeah, it's his handling but he knows it. One more summer and see what happens there. If he can't make a jump then Brown needs to start giving him his post game back. He can get contact downhill off the spin. If you can't get to the line you can't be a teams 2nd option. The Warriors always put a wing scorer next to Klay as a true 2nd option so if that's what it is it is.
Keegan still looks like he's thinking a little bit out there offensively. Like, he wants to fit in, but he also knows he has marching orders to pick up the USG and go score. Like his first quarter tonight was brilliant; decisive offensive moves and made things happen scoring the ball. It's when he gets caught up and doesn't just "go" that he gets in trouble.
 
I think Monte didn't think that at the deadline the market for Barnes and Huerter would be as bare as it is. Teams forget guys quick when they get pushed from a teams offense. Huerter and Barnes if not moved can't be pushed back again.
That could be part of it. Barnes is also not turning down shots like he did earlier in the season. I think sometimes he's just way too passive and differing to other players too much. What's still missing though is his ability to drive and draw fouls. He averaged 5 freethrows last season to this seasons 2. If he can get back to his driving game it will help the kings tremendously.
 

Kingz19

Hall of Famer
You eventually have to stop somebody. Everybody eats from three against the Kings and in the rare event they don’t. It’s because they didn’t make open shots

Oh Well, 5-2 was my mark for a good road trip and didn’t think Cleveland would be a win. They’re the hottest team in the league and they were pretty much due to beat the Kings as the Kings had their number the past couple of seasons.

The defense bothered me but a few moments mostly stuck out

Domas obviously had an excellent game but those two Strus steals off his rebound were back breakers.

Both came during a Kings run and after a much needed stop and both led to a theee. You can’t let that happen a second time. You can see how embarrassed Domas was when it happened the second time as he awkwardly argued for a foul call off an obviously clean steal and turned away from Strus.

It sort of took the wind out of his sails for the rest of the game too. His game was clicking on all cylinders up until then

Keegan needs to eat on those mismatches. On this road trip especially there has been a theme of him missing very easy shots over smaller defenders. It’s probably just a matter of time until he does but that’s something we’ll have to wait on.

Pretty mixed bag road trip for Keegan.

Very good road trip for HB

Fox, Monk and Huerter were all sub par tonight…well maybe not Monk but our guards were destroyed.

But eventually you have to stop somebody a few times
 
Cavs shot 56 percent from 3 including two 4 point plays and equaled their season high in made 3s. They played good defense. They got to the line.

Keegan shot 1 time in the second half after 10 quick points in the first. HB was great. Fox had his moments but missed some shots he usually makes. Monk had his moments. That shot to the bench at the end said it all, these dudes can’t wait to get on that plane and go home.
 
That could be part of it. Barnes is also not turning down shots like he did earlier in the season. I think sometimes he's just way too passive and differing to other players too much. What's still missing though is his ability to drive and draw fouls. He averaged 5 freethrows last season to this seasons 2. If he can get back to his driving game it will help the kings tremendously.
He can be passive but when you add it up it makes sense. The Kings were fully prepared to move on from Huerter and Barnes last summer. In order to land Beal just for financial reasons Huerter was going the other way and likely Barnes would have had his cap hold waived so they could absorb the difference in salary. It makes sense there would be a process of starting to phase them out once they were re-signed. The problem was they got phased out to such an extent that teams started to apparently wonder if something was wrong if the Bulls rumor of them doing intel on why Huerter was struggling was true. I think Barnes was getting blasted for basically being professional and doing what the team wanted by taking a back seat.
 
You eventually have to stop somebody. Everybody eats from three against the Kings and in the rare event they don’t. It’s because they didn’t make open shots

Oh Well, 5-2 was my mark for a good road trip and didn’t think Cleveland would be a win. They’re the hottest team in the league and they were pretty much due to beat the Kings as the Kings had their number the past couple of seasons.

The defense bothered me but a few moments mostly stuck out

Domas obviously had an excellent game but those two Strus steals off his rebound were back breakers.

Both came during a Kings run and after a much needed stop and both led to a theee. You can’t let that happen a second time. You can see how embarrassed Domas was when it happened the second time as he awkwardly argued for a foul call off an obviously clean steal and turned away from Strus.

It sort of took the wind out of his sails for the rest of the game too. His game was clicking on all cylinders up until then

Keegan needs to eat on those mismatches. On this road trip especially there has been a theme of him missing very easy shots over smaller defenders. It’s probably just a matter of time until he does but that’s something we’ll have to wait on.

Pretty mixed bag road trip for Keegan.

Very good road trip for HB

Fox, Monk and Huerter were all sub par tonight…well maybe not Monk but our guards were destroyed.

But eventually you have to stop somebody a few times
If HB can actually just be rediscovered from this road trip, it'll pay huge huge dividends for us down the road. Dude has been on a mission the last 8 games, since his ATL explosion.

20.9 PPG
3.5 RPG
1.1 APG

63.2% TS
43.1% from 3 (8.1 3PA)

-Only 1 game below 10 points the entire stretch. 5/8 games with 20+ points.
-Kings 6-2 during this stretch.

Obviously not going to expect HB to keep up a 20 PPG average with elite efficiency, but I just want the aggression to stay for good and for him to keep looking for his offense. Because there's a pretty good chance the ball is going to go in.
 
It was a guaranteed loss the moment we saw they were an elite East team we're facing as the 7th of 7 games on the road.
Cavs also been on a 13-1 stretch heading into this game. So they've been in peak form, while our last home game was 2 weeks ago.

Credit to them, they played incredible. Don't think the Kings actually played all that awful tonight, just an elite team beating us down.
 
If HB can actually just be rediscovered from this road trip, it'll pay huge huge dividends for us down the road. Dude has been on a mission the last 8 games, since his ATL explosion.

20.9 PPG
3.5 RPG
1.1 APG

63.2% TS
43.1% from 3 (8.1 3PA)

-Only 1 game below 10 points the entire stretch. 5/8 games with 20+ points.
-Kings 6-2 during this stretch.

Obviously not going to expect HB to keep up a 20 PPG average with elite efficiency, but I just want the aggression to stay for good and for him to keep looking for his offense. Because there's a pretty good chance the ball is going to go in.
Yeah, the question is will Barnes turn it off if Brown keeps going to him. That is basically right in the neighborhood in efficiency Barnes has had since 2020. Every year since he's avagered a TS% of 60%+.
 
He can be passive but when you add it up it makes sense. The Kings were fully prepared to move on from Huerter and Barnes last summer. In order to land Beal just for financial reasons Huerter was going the other way and likely Barnes would have had his cap hold waived so they could absorb the difference in salary. It makes sense there would be a process of starting to phase them out once they were re-signed. The problem was they got phased out to such an extent that teams started to apparently wonder if something was wrong if the Bulls rumor of them doing intel on why Huerter was struggling was true. I think Barnes was getting blasted for basically being professional and doing what the team wanted by taking a back seat.
Also I think brown wanted Murray to be that 3rd guy in place of huerter/barnes, and to murray's credit he has made tremendously improvements. He just needs to be more consistent. On nights where Murray just doesn't have it, I could see barnes getting more of a nod over him.
 
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