People will point to FTs or whatever, but in this 4 game stretch the Kings have given up 115, 115, 96 and 118 points. Guess which one we really had a chance to win? This is playing defense like we did last year. And if we continue to do it we'll end up with a record like last year too. Man up peeps!
Boxscore
Nocioni ( D- ) -- alright here we go. I went a tad easy on Noc yesterday because frankly I felt sorry for him. But the truth is he is playing like crap right now, and really has been for the last 1-2 weeks. Whatever the +/- may say, and despite being a shaky indicator I'm sure its saying unkind things, Noc was a sucking chest wound for us tonight. Started from the very beginning of the game as he was just torched on defense repeatedly by Jefferson right from the get go. Hit a couple of threes to save himself from the F here, but then blew the layup on a nice Sergio feed to start the 2nd, and compounded it by picking up the technical foul a few seconds later for throwing the ball against the basket support. Kept on forcing up shots, and bricking them, but the real damage was on the other end. Even after we took him out to hide him from Jefferson, when he returned all he had to do was guard Matt Bonner, which I am pretty sure I could do (although given the differences in our heights I might have to resort to just punching him in the privates every time he got ready to shoot). And yet again and again he foolishly left the big white stiff alone out on the perimeter to shoot the only shot he can -- the standstill three. Only played 20 minutes on the night, and it was about 19 too many. As he bricked shot after shot, and was getting lit up left and right, I really had to ask what the hell was he doing on the court? Westphal has been good about not playing the "he's a vet" card, hope he's not doing it now. Gone for the 4th however. Just an odd thing -- you can go through shooting slumps. But what Noc is going through right now is also a decisionmaking and defensive slump. And those are the very things that are supposed to stay with you, the very reasons why defensive teams > offensive teams, because you can count on them. So don't have an explanation for this.
Thompson ( B ) -- another struggling start for JT against the Spurs, and you were thinking oh no, not again. No way we could have afforded that. Got balls knocked away by Duncan, bricked his jumpers. But began to get his confidence going in the second attacking inside and out. No idea what the hell happened on a Spurs FT early in the third, but Jason stumbled across the lane on what should have been an easy rebound and let the Spurs get the O-board, which Duncan then converted from the post. One of those detail plays that just kills you. Couple of minutes later misplayed a pick and roll and left the lane wide open for George Hill to just walk right in for the layup. Able to score easily over Blair, and actually hit 2 of 2 FTs in the mid 4th and was pretty pumped about it. Woohoo! Know your FT shooting has been suck when hitting a pair is cause for a minor celebration. Played good defense on a couple of possessions against Duncan as well but was invisible as a paint defender as the Spurs shot an embarrassing 55% against us.
Hawes ( B- ) -- too finessey on his follow attempts again, but solid on the boards in the early going and kept his butt inside rather than running out and trying to out-three Bonner. Was bouncing around in there fighting, which was refreshing, but as always had to question the effectiveness on defense. Repeatedly stepped up to challenge Parker only to have him spin or whip right around him. Interestingly not in there at all in the 4th, and we went with a much rawer player in Donte instead. Not sure whether that was a good move or bad. May have been made to try to defend the three point stripe where we just got killed, but if that was the reason it failed. In any case short night for Spencer. And again nothing great about it, but nothing terrible either. Defensively he and Thompson are damn near hopeless though. That's disappointing given how much size we have there.
Greene ( B- ) -- started off the game again going right into the post and up and over Bogans with a nice strong move. While his contribtutions have been sporadic, gotta like his recognition of how he can punish guards when he is playing at OG. First haof minutes were limited however, both because of his limited overall production, and because I think we were trying to protect Reke from picking up a third against Parker. Was back with a beautiful take and dish to Hawes on the semi-break in the early third. Suprisingly got the late minutes in this one and was alternately great and terrible, and largely out of control. To tell you the truth I don't know what the heck he was doing out there in crunch time against a well oiled machine like the Spurs, but he certainly left it all on the floor and if nothing else it should be a good learning experience. Did give us a definite boost in the mid 4th with a post move over Bonner (bit of a force, but went in), and then by draining a three. Then again forced a shot late in the 4th, and again made the most of it -- really went after the board ferociously, grabbed it, posted up no less than Tim Duncan, and scored. Awesome play, but of the wild WTH variety. From that point on out it was mostly wild not so much awesome. Committed abck to back turnovers forcing action that was not there. Came back and played good defense on Jefferson, and then got the foul . But disappointingly did not challenge an open Manu layup at the 3:00 mark that really kind of killed us. To tell you the truth really don't know what to do with this grade. Could be anywhere from a C+ to a B/B+ really. Gave us enrgy, defensive effort, was efficient from the field, but was also wild and out of control at a time when you can't be. I'm going to say the overall concoction was ok but really not the sort of game you are going to beat the Spurs with. As always with Donte this season, potential all over the place, but lacked control and looked most truly the talented but wild kid on the night.
Evans ( B- ) -- thought he looked tired early in this one, and maybe 4 games in 5 nights is a bit much even for a 20 year old when you're playing big minutes and trying to carry the team. In any case, didn't seem to start the game with much bounce, and was back at the site of one of his early season struggles. Again did no look comfortable guarding Parker's quickness, especially with Parker following the Grant Hill approach to dealing with a rook -- charge right into his chest and let NBA refs' interesting interpreations of what constitutes a defensive foul get him out of the game. Actally led to us inserting Beno so that we could get Evans off of that defensive matchup after he had picked up 2 fouls. Responded with a good backcourt steal + back to back steals diving in on a dribbler. Taken out for the last couple of minues of the second quarter so he wouldn't get his third foul, and even though he had not been having a great half, that move seemed to send us into a tailspin and we might have lost the game right there in those couple of minutes as the Spurs outscored us 12-0 to close the half and turn a game where we had a narrow lead into one where we would spend the rest of the night chasing them. Able to force his way to the hoop a few times in the 3rd, but the Spurs were loaded against him. Seemed to visibly bear down and grit his teeth from the mid 3rd onward. Still looked tired, but he, and the team, were visibly clawing to try to stay in it. Good hustle play getting back on defense to swat away a Parker layup on the break after he drew the foul -- prevented the 3pt play. Began to get on the boards as well to really give us a boost and to key the break the other way. Finally got us a correctly played end of the quarter chance when he went full court in 4 seconds and converted over Bonner to close the 3rd and bring us back within 7 heading into the 4th. Missed the technical foul FT on the illegal defense in the early 4th. Could not bring us home this time. Got his drive blocked by Duncan at the 2:20 mark and that led to a Spurs runout that killed us. Followed with a bad turnover on a high pick and roll with JT. From that point on we were nearly hopelessly behind and everything had to be forced in desperation. Came back with a drive and flip, and then forced a three that was short, a forced layup that did not go, missed jumper. Just not there and another strong shooting night took a hit with the final desperation misses. Still racked up 19pts on 9-20 shooting (its a bit unclear what the Spurs have to do to you to get a foul called on them), 4rebs 5ast and 4stls (and 4 TOs). Which would be the best game of their season for most rooks. But for superook its pretty mediocre and he's largely being graded on the star scale now, not the rookie scale for the mere mortals.
Boxscore
Nocioni ( D- ) -- alright here we go. I went a tad easy on Noc yesterday because frankly I felt sorry for him. But the truth is he is playing like crap right now, and really has been for the last 1-2 weeks. Whatever the +/- may say, and despite being a shaky indicator I'm sure its saying unkind things, Noc was a sucking chest wound for us tonight. Started from the very beginning of the game as he was just torched on defense repeatedly by Jefferson right from the get go. Hit a couple of threes to save himself from the F here, but then blew the layup on a nice Sergio feed to start the 2nd, and compounded it by picking up the technical foul a few seconds later for throwing the ball against the basket support. Kept on forcing up shots, and bricking them, but the real damage was on the other end. Even after we took him out to hide him from Jefferson, when he returned all he had to do was guard Matt Bonner, which I am pretty sure I could do (although given the differences in our heights I might have to resort to just punching him in the privates every time he got ready to shoot). And yet again and again he foolishly left the big white stiff alone out on the perimeter to shoot the only shot he can -- the standstill three. Only played 20 minutes on the night, and it was about 19 too many. As he bricked shot after shot, and was getting lit up left and right, I really had to ask what the hell was he doing on the court? Westphal has been good about not playing the "he's a vet" card, hope he's not doing it now. Gone for the 4th however. Just an odd thing -- you can go through shooting slumps. But what Noc is going through right now is also a decisionmaking and defensive slump. And those are the very things that are supposed to stay with you, the very reasons why defensive teams > offensive teams, because you can count on them. So don't have an explanation for this.
Thompson ( B ) -- another struggling start for JT against the Spurs, and you were thinking oh no, not again. No way we could have afforded that. Got balls knocked away by Duncan, bricked his jumpers. But began to get his confidence going in the second attacking inside and out. No idea what the hell happened on a Spurs FT early in the third, but Jason stumbled across the lane on what should have been an easy rebound and let the Spurs get the O-board, which Duncan then converted from the post. One of those detail plays that just kills you. Couple of minutes later misplayed a pick and roll and left the lane wide open for George Hill to just walk right in for the layup. Able to score easily over Blair, and actually hit 2 of 2 FTs in the mid 4th and was pretty pumped about it. Woohoo! Know your FT shooting has been suck when hitting a pair is cause for a minor celebration. Played good defense on a couple of possessions against Duncan as well but was invisible as a paint defender as the Spurs shot an embarrassing 55% against us.
Hawes ( B- ) -- too finessey on his follow attempts again, but solid on the boards in the early going and kept his butt inside rather than running out and trying to out-three Bonner. Was bouncing around in there fighting, which was refreshing, but as always had to question the effectiveness on defense. Repeatedly stepped up to challenge Parker only to have him spin or whip right around him. Interestingly not in there at all in the 4th, and we went with a much rawer player in Donte instead. Not sure whether that was a good move or bad. May have been made to try to defend the three point stripe where we just got killed, but if that was the reason it failed. In any case short night for Spencer. And again nothing great about it, but nothing terrible either. Defensively he and Thompson are damn near hopeless though. That's disappointing given how much size we have there.
Greene ( B- ) -- started off the game again going right into the post and up and over Bogans with a nice strong move. While his contribtutions have been sporadic, gotta like his recognition of how he can punish guards when he is playing at OG. First haof minutes were limited however, both because of his limited overall production, and because I think we were trying to protect Reke from picking up a third against Parker. Was back with a beautiful take and dish to Hawes on the semi-break in the early third. Suprisingly got the late minutes in this one and was alternately great and terrible, and largely out of control. To tell you the truth I don't know what the heck he was doing out there in crunch time against a well oiled machine like the Spurs, but he certainly left it all on the floor and if nothing else it should be a good learning experience. Did give us a definite boost in the mid 4th with a post move over Bonner (bit of a force, but went in), and then by draining a three. Then again forced a shot late in the 4th, and again made the most of it -- really went after the board ferociously, grabbed it, posted up no less than Tim Duncan, and scored. Awesome play, but of the wild WTH variety. From that point on out it was mostly wild not so much awesome. Committed abck to back turnovers forcing action that was not there. Came back and played good defense on Jefferson, and then got the foul . But disappointingly did not challenge an open Manu layup at the 3:00 mark that really kind of killed us. To tell you the truth really don't know what to do with this grade. Could be anywhere from a C+ to a B/B+ really. Gave us enrgy, defensive effort, was efficient from the field, but was also wild and out of control at a time when you can't be. I'm going to say the overall concoction was ok but really not the sort of game you are going to beat the Spurs with. As always with Donte this season, potential all over the place, but lacked control and looked most truly the talented but wild kid on the night.
Evans ( B- ) -- thought he looked tired early in this one, and maybe 4 games in 5 nights is a bit much even for a 20 year old when you're playing big minutes and trying to carry the team. In any case, didn't seem to start the game with much bounce, and was back at the site of one of his early season struggles. Again did no look comfortable guarding Parker's quickness, especially with Parker following the Grant Hill approach to dealing with a rook -- charge right into his chest and let NBA refs' interesting interpreations of what constitutes a defensive foul get him out of the game. Actally led to us inserting Beno so that we could get Evans off of that defensive matchup after he had picked up 2 fouls. Responded with a good backcourt steal + back to back steals diving in on a dribbler. Taken out for the last couple of minues of the second quarter so he wouldn't get his third foul, and even though he had not been having a great half, that move seemed to send us into a tailspin and we might have lost the game right there in those couple of minutes as the Spurs outscored us 12-0 to close the half and turn a game where we had a narrow lead into one where we would spend the rest of the night chasing them. Able to force his way to the hoop a few times in the 3rd, but the Spurs were loaded against him. Seemed to visibly bear down and grit his teeth from the mid 3rd onward. Still looked tired, but he, and the team, were visibly clawing to try to stay in it. Good hustle play getting back on defense to swat away a Parker layup on the break after he drew the foul -- prevented the 3pt play. Began to get on the boards as well to really give us a boost and to key the break the other way. Finally got us a correctly played end of the quarter chance when he went full court in 4 seconds and converted over Bonner to close the 3rd and bring us back within 7 heading into the 4th. Missed the technical foul FT on the illegal defense in the early 4th. Could not bring us home this time. Got his drive blocked by Duncan at the 2:20 mark and that led to a Spurs runout that killed us. Followed with a bad turnover on a high pick and roll with JT. From that point on we were nearly hopelessly behind and everything had to be forced in desperation. Came back with a drive and flip, and then forced a three that was short, a forced layup that did not go, missed jumper. Just not there and another strong shooting night took a hit with the final desperation misses. Still racked up 19pts on 9-20 shooting (its a bit unclear what the Spurs have to do to you to get a foul called on them), 4rebs 5ast and 4stls (and 4 TOs). Which would be the best game of their season for most rooks. But for superook its pretty mediocre and he's largely being graded on the star scale now, not the rookie scale for the mere mortals.
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