[Game] 41/82 Kings vs. Rockets 16 JAN 2025, 7pm PT/10pm ET

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
I'd like to agree with you, but Kevin Harlan >>> our local crew, especially so when Kayte is rambling during jaw dropping dunks.
I think Kevin is normally ace but he was pretty mid tonight. But TNT was just awful, missing a big play off an inbounds from a timeout while slobbering all over Amen and then blowing a ref announcement on a challenge.

I also think Kayte may have had a rough week, with that dunk being the stand out.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
Maybe the Rockets would have had better luck if Domas was allowed to stay in the game after 6 fouls since the refs surely would have tacked another 3-4 on him.

On the other hand, they sure took advantage when he was off the court.

Kick rocks losers. This is one time that maybe Kings got a "fair" grade in the officiating column, but again the advantage to the Kings was played after our best player was disqualified from the final half of the 4th quarter (and sat out for the Rockets run in the 3rd).
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
I think Kevin is normally ace but he was pretty mid tonight. But TNT was just awful, missing a big play off an inbounds from a timeout while slobbering all over Amen and then blowing a ref announcement on a challenge.

I also think Kayte may have had a rough week, with that dunk being the stand out.
It always feels like (and this is probably just me reading too much into things) Kevin Harlan’s still salty about the Kings moving to Sacramento since he was the play-by-play guy for them in Kansas City when Lukenbill moved the team.
 
I think Kevin is normally ace but he was pretty mid tonight. But TNT was just awful, missing a big play off an inbounds from a timeout while slobbering all over Amen and then blowing a ref announcement on a challenge.

I also think Kayte may have had a rough week, with that dunk being the stand out.
Harlans B or C game is better than 95% of everyone else’s A games.

As for Kayte, it’s been far more than one rough week. She’s always been chatty Kathy. She was like that doing locker room interviews (just ask a freaking question w/o a 2-minute monologue lead up!) and she’s been that way during the entire tenure of her color commentary with the KINGS.

Nothing has changed.
 
It was a bit weird cause Rockets were without an actual point guard all game long and we couldn't apply so much pressure to them. Jalen Green had foul trouble early so Christie decide to keep Keon on the bench when Green was there for some reason.
Rockets were killing us inside the paint with or without Domas in the court, Sengun has this very abnormal way of putting his body getting closer to the basket that is hard to be stopped. Lyles didn't have a good shooting night, he was inside when we got 0 rebounds in a span of 5 minutes or so and missed many open 3s.
Monk perhaps was the 2nd best player but again he had some moments that he was about to dribble even himself and got dizzy losing the ball at the end or making a wild bad shot or passing the ball at the end of 24" as hot potato for someone else to miss it.
In general it was a match with many good and bad things in short amount of time, but I think that Kings forced their style (running the whole time) and did well. Officiating from the Rockets point of view looked brutal, but there were many Rockets steals at one point that we can't be really sure of what actually happened and if their hands went to the ball or to the hand.
 

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
Harlans B or C game is better than 95% of everyone else’s A games.

As for Kayte, it’s been far more than one rough week. She’s always been chatty Kathy. She was like that doing locker room interviews (just ask a freaking question w/o a 2-minute monologue lead up!) and she’s been that way during the entire tenure of her color commentary with the KINGS.

Nothing has changed.
I'm far from the leader of the Kayte fan club. In fact she was the only person of the official Kings media team that completely blew me off and acted like she could care less when the Kings had their two game stand in Portland where we clinched the playoff berth two seasons ago. But I still think she's better in terms of overall knowledge of the game than a lot of folks give her credit for. I would not cry if her and Mo switched places though.
 
Another massive win. 2-1 vs Boston, Milwaukee and Hou over a 4 game stretch is incredible stuff. Houston was one of the teams that punked us last season, so getting that monkey off our back matters a ton too.

Sucks to hear about Keon. But for everyone ready to ship out one of our guards, we are seeing in real time how much good depth matters. Fox, Monk and Keon all now taking turns being hurt during this hot streak
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
True.

But in this case he needs to face the reality that the KINGS have been night and day different under Doug Christie beyond just a couple games. It's up to 10 games now, 9 if you choose not to count the first game since he'd never run a single practice yet.
Barkley has, in fact, faced that reality. He addressed that point directly on the broadcast, and his response was consistent with what he has always said, his whole broadcasting career: from his point of view, the fact that the team is night and day different under Christie is the players' fault. To him, that's just proof that they quit on Mike Brown, and that they could have had that turnaround under him, if they'd wanted to.
 
Barkley has, in fact, faced that reality. He addressed that point directly on the broadcast, and his response was consistent with what he has always said, his whole broadcasting career: from his point of view, the fact that the team is night and day different under Christie is the players' fault. To him, that's just proof that they quit on Mike Brown, and that they could have had that turnaround under him, if they'd wanted to.
The Kings could not have made that turnaround because Mike Brown was in the way. He did not put the players in the best position to succeed. When his schemes didn't work despite the players putting in the hard work, instead of taking responsibility and standing with the players, he separated himself from the players and coached via the media. He lost the respect of the players and he had to go.

Also, I really do not understand why we're discrediting Doug Christie's work with the team. The proof is in the pudding. There is joy and grit in this team and the results speak for themselves. Any notion that Mike Brown could have got the same results is just plain disingenuous and insulting.
 
Keegan's flipped a switch in January too.

6 games
14.5 PPG
7.0 RPG
47.7% from 3!! (7.3 3PA/game!!)
64.6% TS
13.3% USG

He's made 21 3's in Jan in 6 games. He made 18 3PM in 12 games in Dec. He made 23 3PM in 16 Nov games.

Right now, he's basically playing as well as you can as a 3&D role player that doesn't get a lot of shots.
 
Keegan's flipped a switch in January too.

6 games
14.5 PPG
7.0 RPG
47.7% from 3!! (7.3 3PA/game!!)
64.6% TS
13.3% USG

He's made 21 3's in Jan in 6 games. He made 18 3PM in 12 games in Dec. He made 23 3PM in 16 Nov games.

Right now, he's basically playing as well as you can as a 3&D role player that doesn't get a lot of shots.
I would actually have guessed that Keegan would have had the largest improvement of a coaching change. As quiet as he is he probably responds better to Christie’s encouragement than Brown’s pressure.
 
Keegan's flipped a switch in January too.

6 games
14.5 PPG
7.0 RPG
47.7% from 3!! (7.3 3PA/game!!)
64.6% TS
13.3% USG

He's made 21 3's in Jan in 6 games. He made 18 3PM in 12 games in Dec. He made 23 3PM in 16 Nov games.

Right now, he's basically playing as well as you can as a 3&D role player that doesn't get a lot of shots.
Keon has better numbers too, mostly because he has been playing more!
Harlan and SVG mentioned those 14 deflections and it sounded as if it's a Guiness record or something.
 
Well the good news is we won with timely shooting.

the bad news is our defense has gone to hell with a 121 Net Rating. The last 3 games our defensive net rating has been 122.1 or 27th in the league. We have been here before and it’s not a long term winning formula.

in our win streak prior to Fox we had a 106.3 net rating.

3 games is not enough of a sample size but we shall see over the next 10 games or so if the tread continues with the Fox Monk starting back court.
 
Another massive win. 2-1 vs Boston, Milwaukee and Hou over a 4 game stretch is incredible stuff. Houston was one of the teams that punked us last season, so getting that monkey off our back matters a ton too.

Sucks to hear about Keon. But for everyone ready to ship out one of our guards, we are seeing in real time how much good depth matters. Fox, Monk and Keon all now taking turns being hurt during this hot streak
let’s be honest we have good young guards in the G League. The Jones kids are playing well also.
 
Well the good news is we won with timely shooting.

the bad news is our defense has gone to hell with a 121 Net Rating. The last 3 games our defensive net rating has been 122.1 or 27th in the league. We have been here before and it’s not a long term winning formula.

in our win streak prior to Fox we had a 106.3 net rating.

3 games is not enough of a sample size but we shall see over the next 10 games or so if the tread continues with the Fox Monk starting back court.
You do know Fox played in that winning streak right?
 
That was a really fun game. Glad we showed up and won a TNT game!

Also, it is ridiculous for any member of the rockets to complain about officiating. They only get called for 1 out of every 6 fouls they commit. Plus, they were intentional fouling at the end and they still shot more FTs than us in this game.

Really hope Ellis is okay… we need him badly. Can’t have starters playing that many minutes and the rest of the bench continues to be unreliable.