Kings started their first winning streak of the new season with a great team performance in the 2nd half to beat Pistons and improve to 4-6 for the season but 4-1 at home. Next pr the Kings is back to back, home and away mini series against the alway exciting and very dangerous Phoenix Suns where Kings would sign off immediately is the split was offered. Also Kings are the only team in the Western Conference that haven't had a division game yet (what an useless and utterly irrelevant piece of information).
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Back to Back, home and away set are very difficult to play because there is lot of mental preparation needed. For a team like Suns it shouldn't matter much where the first game is played because they are supposed to win both of them anyways. For the underdog which is usually us unless we play each other in practice - things get more complicated. It would be more favorable for us if the first game was played in Phoenix which we would lose but it would give us mental edge for the 2nd game and a decent chance to take advantage of complacency of their part at home and get the split which is the best we can do right now anyways. Since we play first at home - we have to win that if we want to split and it will be difficult because Suns are well rested and scary good. 2nd game is an automatic loss anyways. A honorable one of we lose the first game and a blowout if we manage to somehow win it.
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We played a great 2nd half last night and it has shown that the team has certain amount of potential and that it can improve with the time when we get healthy and more familiar in the relations coach - players and players- players. With all that - best we can do is 35 wins which gets us back to the "famous not enough to live - to much to die" scenario. So since the next morning is always smarter than the night before - I will go back to my natural role of the devil's advocate. Fact is that we are not helping ourselves. We don't need another 35 wins season and a nowhere going veteran team. It is killing us softly so to say. The hardest part in being a sports fan is accepting that losing is good for Your team because frankly it makes no sense whatsoever. It took me long time to accept the concept and in the nights like the last one - the emotional highs cause me to have doubts. Then I wake up in the morning and remember the consequences of the Clippers win at the end of the last season. It sobers me up quickly.
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Obviously, every coin has 2 sides. As a fan - I want my team to win every game and play well in the process but I am not a stranger to the "winning ugly" concept. i like when my team plays like a team and when it shows that it can compete with and even beat the best in the business. But frankly all of this desire isn't worth much if my team is mediocre at best and it will win me 35 games and season after season everything will end on April 15th and then the summers will be long and longer while "others" will have parades.. I want my team to play in May and June and eventually has a parade if the refs allow it. There is no difference between 35-40 wins or 8th or 9th spot in a conference. I would rather have 5 seasons with 15, 25, 35, 50, 60 wins. The nature of the NBA is that You are either rebuilding, playing for the ring or wasting time. We seam to be very good for the 3rd option.
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Biggest problem is that our management still has no clear direction that we are going in. We are still open for everything. We want to clear cap, get younger, rebuild and win the championship all in the same year. Not even Santa Claus can help us with that. It is like being in a train station but not knowing where You are headed and trains are passing and You keep waiting for the "right" one until You are eventually alone in an empty station with no more trains to come. One has to take initiative because this isn't a league or a business where You can be reactive and wait till someone gives You something unless of course - Your name is Danny Ainge.
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Beno had a career game and finally it wasn't against us
. He showed potential for a decent back up PG. He has played for a great coach and he has been on a winning team. That always helps. Now, he won't have too many games like this but his addition did stabilize the team somewhat and that can be seen in the drastically improved assist/turnover ratio. We will see how consistent he will be and whether the last night was the magical night in which even Mikki looked like a decent NBA player still not worthy of 17 million $.
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Pistons looked like a dead tired team that run out of gas which doesn't take anything away from our 2nd half performance which was impressive. We were able to out rebound Pistons and even have more assists and less turnovers. We even survived Kevin's bad shooting night making the performance even more impressive. I guess - now we are looking for more consistence.
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AWARD TIME
J Hayes won the TDM award but it wasnt all that impressive.
LW-VC award went to Maxiell who luckly couldn't get anything done mainly because there wasn't a Kenny Thomas to guard him
SAR - Methuselah award goes to 2 guys that may not deserve it but the numbers tell me otherwise; Williamd & Samb can share it. Someone please feed that kid (Samb) !
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Suns are next and it is going to be difficult because they won't be tired and they are really, really good team. They will run and we will have to try to stay away from that kind of game because we can't beat them playing their way. We still should run but we have to be selective about it. We will have to play small so expect Mikki to play center and guard Amare at some point. Expect no one to guard Barbosa. The first of 2 games should be a fun one. The 2nd will be painful.
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Kevin - will bounce back even though Bell is tough
Ron - should use his size in the post
Brad - like a Geo Metro in a fast lane
Beno - Billups was hurt, Nash isn't
Mikki - can he do it again
Salmons - solid
Cisco - bad , good, bad, good, bad, good
Hawes - I like what I see
Justin - more PT please !
QD - has got to play
Kt & SAR - keep it up
rest - garbage
Coach T - first big win of the career. Has got to play the kids more
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Suns are 8-2 and 5-1 on the road. One of the few teams for which the regular season is totally irrelevant. They are potent enough to finish You of in couple of bad minutes. They are crazy deep and they play together for a long time. All in all we play in the same league but we are different worlds. Doesn't make the unbeatable but it makes them favorites. Nash is still briliant. They are fast, athletic and deep. Their bench isn't much less talented than our starters. TDM will not go to Barbosa only because his status was upgraded from scrub to Kings killer. TDM will go to the Pharaoh. I can see Diaw getting the LW-VC award. It will be extremely hard to push the streak to 3.
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Back to Back, home and away set are very difficult to play because there is lot of mental preparation needed. For a team like Suns it shouldn't matter much where the first game is played because they are supposed to win both of them anyways. For the underdog which is usually us unless we play each other in practice - things get more complicated. It would be more favorable for us if the first game was played in Phoenix which we would lose but it would give us mental edge for the 2nd game and a decent chance to take advantage of complacency of their part at home and get the split which is the best we can do right now anyways. Since we play first at home - we have to win that if we want to split and it will be difficult because Suns are well rested and scary good. 2nd game is an automatic loss anyways. A honorable one of we lose the first game and a blowout if we manage to somehow win it.
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We played a great 2nd half last night and it has shown that the team has certain amount of potential and that it can improve with the time when we get healthy and more familiar in the relations coach - players and players- players. With all that - best we can do is 35 wins which gets us back to the "famous not enough to live - to much to die" scenario. So since the next morning is always smarter than the night before - I will go back to my natural role of the devil's advocate. Fact is that we are not helping ourselves. We don't need another 35 wins season and a nowhere going veteran team. It is killing us softly so to say. The hardest part in being a sports fan is accepting that losing is good for Your team because frankly it makes no sense whatsoever. It took me long time to accept the concept and in the nights like the last one - the emotional highs cause me to have doubts. Then I wake up in the morning and remember the consequences of the Clippers win at the end of the last season. It sobers me up quickly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Obviously, every coin has 2 sides. As a fan - I want my team to win every game and play well in the process but I am not a stranger to the "winning ugly" concept. i like when my team plays like a team and when it shows that it can compete with and even beat the best in the business. But frankly all of this desire isn't worth much if my team is mediocre at best and it will win me 35 games and season after season everything will end on April 15th and then the summers will be long and longer while "others" will have parades.. I want my team to play in May and June and eventually has a parade if the refs allow it. There is no difference between 35-40 wins or 8th or 9th spot in a conference. I would rather have 5 seasons with 15, 25, 35, 50, 60 wins. The nature of the NBA is that You are either rebuilding, playing for the ring or wasting time. We seam to be very good for the 3rd option.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Biggest problem is that our management still has no clear direction that we are going in. We are still open for everything. We want to clear cap, get younger, rebuild and win the championship all in the same year. Not even Santa Claus can help us with that. It is like being in a train station but not knowing where You are headed and trains are passing and You keep waiting for the "right" one until You are eventually alone in an empty station with no more trains to come. One has to take initiative because this isn't a league or a business where You can be reactive and wait till someone gives You something unless of course - Your name is Danny Ainge.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Beno had a career game and finally it wasn't against us
. He showed potential for a decent back up PG. He has played for a great coach and he has been on a winning team. That always helps. Now, he won't have too many games like this but his addition did stabilize the team somewhat and that can be seen in the drastically improved assist/turnover ratio. We will see how consistent he will be and whether the last night was the magical night in which even Mikki looked like a decent NBA player still not worthy of 17 million $.--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pistons looked like a dead tired team that run out of gas which doesn't take anything away from our 2nd half performance which was impressive. We were able to out rebound Pistons and even have more assists and less turnovers. We even survived Kevin's bad shooting night making the performance even more impressive. I guess - now we are looking for more consistence.
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AWARD TIME
J Hayes won the TDM award but it wasnt all that impressive.
LW-VC award went to Maxiell who luckly couldn't get anything done mainly because there wasn't a Kenny Thomas to guard him
SAR - Methuselah award goes to 2 guys that may not deserve it but the numbers tell me otherwise; Williamd & Samb can share it. Someone please feed that kid (Samb) !
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Suns are next and it is going to be difficult because they won't be tired and they are really, really good team. They will run and we will have to try to stay away from that kind of game because we can't beat them playing their way. We still should run but we have to be selective about it. We will have to play small so expect Mikki to play center and guard Amare at some point. Expect no one to guard Barbosa. The first of 2 games should be a fun one. The 2nd will be painful.
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Kevin - will bounce back even though Bell is tough
Ron - should use his size in the post
Brad - like a Geo Metro in a fast lane
Beno - Billups was hurt, Nash isn't
Mikki - can he do it again
Salmons - solid
Cisco - bad , good, bad, good, bad, good
Hawes - I like what I see
Justin - more PT please !
QD - has got to play
Kt & SAR - keep it up
rest - garbage
Coach T - first big win of the career. Has got to play the kids more
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Suns are 8-2 and 5-1 on the road. One of the few teams for which the regular season is totally irrelevant. They are potent enough to finish You of in couple of bad minutes. They are crazy deep and they play together for a long time. All in all we play in the same league but we are different worlds. Doesn't make the unbeatable but it makes them favorites. Nash is still briliant. They are fast, athletic and deep. Their bench isn't much less talented than our starters. TDM will not go to Barbosa only because his status was upgraded from scrub to Kings killer. TDM will go to the Pharaoh. I can see Diaw getting the LW-VC award. It will be extremely hard to push the streak to 3.
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