I think we may have just discovered how we move past a first round playoff series. Dude is an incredible defensive playmaker. Not just stifling PoA or team defense, but actual game-changing type plays that really swing a game.
For some reason Google's search bots got this wrong and have been misleading people all season... Keon Ellis is 6'3.5" barefoot according to his official draft measurements so his NBA height is closer to 6'5" in shoes (which is how all other NBA heights are listed). It's still a monster game from him, no doubt, give or take an inch.
It's obvious from watching the games that the Kings have looked better on defense lately and Keon Ellis is a big part of that but, pedant that I am, I just can't help but point out that this team's PPG-allowed going down over their last 5 games is pretty misleading if there's no mention of the corresponding extreme change in officiating which has caused the average PPG to go down across the entire league. This is the 4th day in a row that multiple teams have failed to score 100 points. That would have been almost unheard of 2 months ago. And "not letting opponents shoot over 50%" is faint praise in any context.
It may just be that we're defending the same way we have been all season only now teams aren't being gifted tons of free throws that they didn't earn? Also... stats are dumb and people should be making better arguments.
Hate to see anyone go down for us, but this may be just what the doctor ordered. Whenever Huerter returns, i'm perfectly fine with him coming off that bench with Monk. Period.
I really enjoyed the final defensive possession of that clip where he slap fights with JJJ for about 5 seconds before forcing Bane into a terrible drive and layup attempt. That was like prime Beverly right there. Annoying and effective.
I really enjoyed the final defensive possession of that clip where he slap fights with JJJ for about 5 seconds before forcing Bane into a terrible drive and layup attempt. That was like prime Beverly right there. Annoying and effective.
Big thing that stands out is he turned all these defensive stops into possessions for us. Like Dwight Howard would be famous for like swatting a block out of bounds... like what's the point? The whole purpose of good defense is to turn that into extra offensive possessions for your team.
I'm not sure how we keep him out of the starting lineup at this point. Missing the 1st and 3rd quarter starting rotations seems like a huge misuse of his defensive skill-set. We want him out there, defending the starters to make him as valuable as possible.
Yeah, I guess technically speaking because Keegan guards multiple positions much like Gordon, but I feel like Keegan can be offensively for us what MPJ is for Denver (with the added defense as a bonus).