Happy Holidays everyone !!!
BEAT LA !!!
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In a phenomenal basketball game between to evenly matched teams Lebron Cavs used their experience and Kings inexperience to snap Kings short winning streak. Kings dropped to still impressive 13-15 for the season and 10-4 at home. Kings also failed to clinch playoff spot tonight
. After couple days off which will hopefully be spent practicing FTs, Kings will host the elite team from silicon city. It will be first meeting of the season and chance for Kings to learn some more and chance for us to show how much we still hate them.
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Great, great game with so many things going on. I really enjoyed it and I am not upset about the loss at all. It doesn't mean anything. We will see each other again and next year and year after that and eventually them and other teams will show up at ARCO to get their L and move on. Nothing in the NBA happens over night. You have to pay for "education." Some learn faster than others and we have shown several times that we have a decent learning curve. If we consider that they are supposed to be contenders and we are just forming a team - there isn't that much of the difference.
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Both teams played some great defense which is normal for the Cavaliers but we can defend some too. We fell apart in the overtime but towards the end of the 4th quarter both teams defended well possession after possession. We had 7 steals and 7 block shots and held everyone but their 2 players in check until big "Z" lit us up in the overtime. Cavs can play superb defense. When they tightened it up - we had problems getting any shots off even the bad shots.
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Shaq is so DONE ! Old, slow, fat immovable object just occupying way too much space without any other purpose. Not even a shadow of a player that tortured us for years. All he still has left are bogus referee calls.I understand that money is still good but for a hall of famer - it is getting embarrassing. Too bad - we didn't get a chance to play "hack a beef" tonight just for hell of it.
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On the other hand - Spencer did much better tonight. While he couldn't guard Shaq for the time that Shaq was somewhat fresh(all 2 minutes) and while he has few bad decisions - he did what we need a center to do. He had 12 rebounds and 3 blocks. He shot threes again but that was the plan against the Shaq or at least - that used to be the plan because nowdays if you go at him he will foul out. If we could get this from Spencer more often - it would be a start but whet we need in a long run is such performance every night or 4 out of 5 nights. Don't know if Spencer can do this.
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Lebron vs Tyreke was lots of fun. It was a great test and great experience for a 20 year old kid mostly in terms of what NOT to do and how NOT to behave. Lebron is a superstar. Without forcing much he was the best scorer, best rebounder and had most assists as well as best defender on the floor tonight. That is all you need to know. That is what superstar does pretty much every night. Tyreke is a rookie and you can't by experience. You can't go to "best buy" and purchase 6 GB of experience. You can't take shortcuts, can't cheat. You have to pay the full price. Tyreke hopefully put a down payment tonight. Everything was going great until Lebron decided to put a stop to it. Same way Tyreke dominates smaller guards - he was dominated tonight. He played someone bigger, faster, stronger, smarter or in one word - better. In addition to this handicap - Tyreke tried to show of and go after Lebron. He is young and dumb as we all were at that age. made many bad decisions that hurt the team down the stretch. He forgot that basketball is still a team sport and that sometimes you have to allow your teammates to help you if you are "stuck." He looked like a rookie tonight and it didn't happen often this season. A Princess turned back to Cinderella for one night. Next test in 3 days - will see how quickly Tyreke learns.
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You can't control referee calls, can't control most of the things that happen during the game including missed and made shots, lucky bounces etc. What you can control and which is the pretty much only thing you can control in Basketball are free throws. You have to make them. If you can't shoot them - you have to learn it or you won't win too many games. We missed 7 tonight in a game that was tied. Cavs missed two. We miss 6 - we win the game despite everything else that was going on. This segment of our game has got to improve and fast. If I remember correctly - we lost at least 3 games this season because of the pathetic FT shooting.
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Youth = inexperience = bad decision making = loss of composure = scoreless in overtime. Kings could not even create a good shot in overtime. It was the time where you need experienced PG. Neither Evans nor Udrih could handle the occasion. This summer young Serbian team played Turkey at Euros and had last possession of the game. Couldn't convert and thereafter was held scoreless in overtime. It was the best thing that could happen because after that game Serbs raised their level and finished 2nd. Turkey as usual choked themselves into 8th place. Kings are not going to have such a steep learning curve because in the NBA that is just not possible. Still, we can learn a lot for such experiences so that at some point "tomorrow" someone else is held scoreless.
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We had a chance to win a game. Timeout was not called. It ended up being the wrong decision despite being a reasonable choice at that time. Statistically, game was even until overtime where Cavs outshot us and outrebounded us big time. We took care of the ball at the highest level possible. We shot well, played hard and only the FT line and a few dumb decisions prevented us to upset the contender who played almost as well as they can.
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let's revisit the matchups
Shaq & Z vs whatever junk we have - we were actually winning this matchup despite all odds until the overtime where "Z" killed us with Spencer's biggest weapon
Varejao vs flopping - he flopped and acted numerous times and yet his outside shot hurt us the most.
Kings bench - Cavs bench - both benches sucked overall with the exception of "Z" and that exeption killed us.
Evans vs Lebron + referees if it is a close game - Lebron is something else. Evans is a rookie.
Nocioni vs the ARCO rims - Fortunately, Noc didn't play long enough but still showed potential for missing shots
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AWARD TIME
TDM - Big Z now a bench player had a career 3pt shooting display
LW-VC - Shaq failed to score double digits against the Kings - did this ever happen before ?
JHA - Jason Thompson mostly because one dumb decision
MIKKI - Nocioni - awful
SAR - Metuselah - Shaq
RA&1 - Shaq
Jax/Walk - Evans - 7 attempts are just too many if you shoot 25% or so
WTF moment of the games - There were several strong candidates but the dumb play by Thompson has to win it because it was followed by an illegal inbound play and a jumper by Varejao. It was a triple WTF in one.
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lakers are next. Best 8 in basketball. When all 8 are clicking - they can't be beaten. Just ask the Thunder (twice this season) or the Bucks. They have best talent and any time they need more they will make a trade with the Grizzlies. Let me start off with wishing the Cavs a win in quintuple overtime tomorrow, in an exciting game that would end in a huge brawl followed by many suspensions. lakers are favorites but if they show up at ARCO with an "easy win" attitude - we will send their sorry but back to silicon city. We have nothing to lose here again but we can gain a lot. Would be nice to say - we are back - with a win. Would easily be my favorite Christmas present even though I am really going to like those socks.
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here are key matchups for this game:
Evans vs Derek Flopper - I predict at least 3 offensive fouls and 57 flop attempts
Tyreke vs Kobe + refs - if the game is closed again we will get to see the similar situation again. Will Tyreke show that he learned something?
Kings "big" vs Lakers "tall" - slaughter expected.
Kings vs FT line - will Kings ever get it ?
Odumb vs Thompson - who will make more dumb decisions tonight ?
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Evans - trust your team !
Casspi - great
Hawes - better
Thompson - lokate a guard and give him the ball. Don't think !
Greene - inconsistant
Beno - not enough
Brockman - as usual
Sergio - should have played more last night
rest mateen
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lakers with the best record in the NBA 23-4 and 7-2 on the road appearance created their own schedule where they can play at home until they get healthy and in rhythm Now they are rolling even though they do play arrogant for most of the time. We know them, we hate them and we would like to beat them. Referees get the TDM, Odumb gets the LW-VC and Kings make themselves and us a nice Christmas present with a W.
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BEAT LA !!!
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In a phenomenal basketball game between to evenly matched teams Lebron Cavs used their experience and Kings inexperience to snap Kings short winning streak. Kings dropped to still impressive 13-15 for the season and 10-4 at home. Kings also failed to clinch playoff spot tonight
. After couple days off which will hopefully be spent practicing FTs, Kings will host the elite team from silicon city. It will be first meeting of the season and chance for Kings to learn some more and chance for us to show how much we still hate them.--------------------------------------------------------------------
Great, great game with so many things going on. I really enjoyed it and I am not upset about the loss at all. It doesn't mean anything. We will see each other again and next year and year after that and eventually them and other teams will show up at ARCO to get their L and move on. Nothing in the NBA happens over night. You have to pay for "education." Some learn faster than others and we have shown several times that we have a decent learning curve. If we consider that they are supposed to be contenders and we are just forming a team - there isn't that much of the difference.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Both teams played some great defense which is normal for the Cavaliers but we can defend some too. We fell apart in the overtime but towards the end of the 4th quarter both teams defended well possession after possession. We had 7 steals and 7 block shots and held everyone but their 2 players in check until big "Z" lit us up in the overtime. Cavs can play superb defense. When they tightened it up - we had problems getting any shots off even the bad shots.
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Shaq is so DONE ! Old, slow, fat immovable object just occupying way too much space without any other purpose. Not even a shadow of a player that tortured us for years. All he still has left are bogus referee calls.I understand that money is still good but for a hall of famer - it is getting embarrassing. Too bad - we didn't get a chance to play "hack a beef" tonight just for hell of it.
----------------------------------------------------------------
On the other hand - Spencer did much better tonight. While he couldn't guard Shaq for the time that Shaq was somewhat fresh(all 2 minutes) and while he has few bad decisions - he did what we need a center to do. He had 12 rebounds and 3 blocks. He shot threes again but that was the plan against the Shaq or at least - that used to be the plan because nowdays if you go at him he will foul out. If we could get this from Spencer more often - it would be a start but whet we need in a long run is such performance every night or 4 out of 5 nights. Don't know if Spencer can do this.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Lebron vs Tyreke was lots of fun. It was a great test and great experience for a 20 year old kid mostly in terms of what NOT to do and how NOT to behave. Lebron is a superstar. Without forcing much he was the best scorer, best rebounder and had most assists as well as best defender on the floor tonight. That is all you need to know. That is what superstar does pretty much every night. Tyreke is a rookie and you can't by experience. You can't go to "best buy" and purchase 6 GB of experience. You can't take shortcuts, can't cheat. You have to pay the full price. Tyreke hopefully put a down payment tonight. Everything was going great until Lebron decided to put a stop to it. Same way Tyreke dominates smaller guards - he was dominated tonight. He played someone bigger, faster, stronger, smarter or in one word - better. In addition to this handicap - Tyreke tried to show of and go after Lebron. He is young and dumb as we all were at that age. made many bad decisions that hurt the team down the stretch. He forgot that basketball is still a team sport and that sometimes you have to allow your teammates to help you if you are "stuck." He looked like a rookie tonight and it didn't happen often this season. A Princess turned back to Cinderella for one night. Next test in 3 days - will see how quickly Tyreke learns.
------------------------------------------------------------------
You can't control referee calls, can't control most of the things that happen during the game including missed and made shots, lucky bounces etc. What you can control and which is the pretty much only thing you can control in Basketball are free throws. You have to make them. If you can't shoot them - you have to learn it or you won't win too many games. We missed 7 tonight in a game that was tied. Cavs missed two. We miss 6 - we win the game despite everything else that was going on. This segment of our game has got to improve and fast. If I remember correctly - we lost at least 3 games this season because of the pathetic FT shooting.
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Youth = inexperience = bad decision making = loss of composure = scoreless in overtime. Kings could not even create a good shot in overtime. It was the time where you need experienced PG. Neither Evans nor Udrih could handle the occasion. This summer young Serbian team played Turkey at Euros and had last possession of the game. Couldn't convert and thereafter was held scoreless in overtime. It was the best thing that could happen because after that game Serbs raised their level and finished 2nd. Turkey as usual choked themselves into 8th place. Kings are not going to have such a steep learning curve because in the NBA that is just not possible. Still, we can learn a lot for such experiences so that at some point "tomorrow" someone else is held scoreless.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We had a chance to win a game. Timeout was not called. It ended up being the wrong decision despite being a reasonable choice at that time. Statistically, game was even until overtime where Cavs outshot us and outrebounded us big time. We took care of the ball at the highest level possible. We shot well, played hard and only the FT line and a few dumb decisions prevented us to upset the contender who played almost as well as they can.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
let's revisit the matchups
Shaq & Z vs whatever junk we have - we were actually winning this matchup despite all odds until the overtime where "Z" killed us with Spencer's biggest weapon
Varejao vs flopping - he flopped and acted numerous times and yet his outside shot hurt us the most.
Kings bench - Cavs bench - both benches sucked overall with the exception of "Z" and that exeption killed us.
Evans vs Lebron + referees if it is a close game - Lebron is something else. Evans is a rookie.
Nocioni vs the ARCO rims - Fortunately, Noc didn't play long enough but still showed potential for missing shots
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AWARD TIME
TDM - Big Z now a bench player had a career 3pt shooting display
LW-VC - Shaq failed to score double digits against the Kings - did this ever happen before ?
JHA - Jason Thompson mostly because one dumb decision
MIKKI - Nocioni - awful
SAR - Metuselah - Shaq
RA&1 - Shaq
Jax/Walk - Evans - 7 attempts are just too many if you shoot 25% or so
WTF moment of the games - There were several strong candidates but the dumb play by Thompson has to win it because it was followed by an illegal inbound play and a jumper by Varejao. It was a triple WTF in one.
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lakers are next. Best 8 in basketball. When all 8 are clicking - they can't be beaten. Just ask the Thunder (twice this season) or the Bucks. They have best talent and any time they need more they will make a trade with the Grizzlies. Let me start off with wishing the Cavs a win in quintuple overtime tomorrow, in an exciting game that would end in a huge brawl followed by many suspensions. lakers are favorites but if they show up at ARCO with an "easy win" attitude - we will send their sorry but back to silicon city. We have nothing to lose here again but we can gain a lot. Would be nice to say - we are back - with a win. Would easily be my favorite Christmas present even though I am really going to like those socks
.------------------------------------------------------------------------
here are key matchups for this game:
Evans vs Derek Flopper - I predict at least 3 offensive fouls and 57 flop attempts
Tyreke vs Kobe + refs - if the game is closed again we will get to see the similar situation again. Will Tyreke show that he learned something?
Kings "big" vs Lakers "tall" - slaughter expected.
Kings vs FT line - will Kings ever get it ?
Odumb vs Thompson - who will make more dumb decisions tonight ?
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Evans - trust your team !
Casspi - great
Hawes - better
Thompson - lokate a guard and give him the ball. Don't think !
Greene - inconsistant
Beno - not enough
Brockman - as usual
Sergio - should have played more last night
rest mateen
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lakers with the best record in the NBA 23-4 and 7-2 on the road appearance created their own schedule where they can play at home until they get healthy and in rhythm Now they are rolling even though they do play arrogant for most of the time. We know them, we hate them and we would like to beat them. Referees get the TDM, Odumb gets the LW-VC and Kings make themselves and us a nice Christmas present with a W.
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