This one was just sickening in every way imaginable. No chipper here. No idea on theme. If Jennings walked by in front of me right now I'd probbaly knock him into next week. So...
And sure, the theme of this thread can be Kings injuries through the years...expecially since everybody has already done such a good job of summarizing many of the weirder ones over the years and I can just point you down thread a bit rather than taking time to descibre them myself.
Greene ( D ) -- for all intents and purposes: nothing. Knocked down a long jumper in his first stint for his only points. Forced a dumb corner jumper that missed. Missed the corner three. Didn't do much of a job containing Salmons, and where was the energy? You're 21 years old, by definition you are supposed to be dumb and full of energy. And if you have to choose only one, you're better off taking the full of energy.
Landry ( C ) -- nice quick move and stop and pop to start, very strong and aggressive post move over Ilyasova. Got called for a cheap flagrant when he he came over to help on Salmons and got him up around the neck. In and out on the jumper, grabbed the o-reb, and finished. But these few flashes weren't surrounded by any meat at all -- pattern was a nice take, completely disappear for 5 minutes, another nice take. No other contributions. Only 6pts 1reb before half. Started the third hitting the long jumper. Drew the foul on Bogut, hit both. Again fouled and hit both. Agressive drive into heavy traffic but got it blocked. Little layup from Beno. Made a bad defensive mistake at a critcial time out of the timeout at the 20 second mark, letting Salmons free for a big three to slice the lead to 1. In OT stepped up with a turnaround jumper as we finally scored. Missed a post move and got called for two offensive fouls in back to back possessions to pick up his 6th and finish his night for us. Notably finished with a grand total of 2 rebounds. In a double OT game. That's just not feasible for a starting PF and had visions of Shareef, and Wayman and Antoine Carr dancing in my head.
Hawes ( B+ ) -- pretty active and aggressive game until he curled up in the clutch. Even the ridiculous three point chucking was mostly by design. Long jumper to start, three from the corner on the break, an offensive foul rolling down the lane trying to dump it off. In the 2nd back in late and delivered a nice give and go to Beno. Forced and missed a jumper. Good passing before half. Missed the long J to start the third, then disappeared for a long stretch. Reemebered with the little jumper on the pick and roll with Evans. Bad pass on the give and go with Reke resulted in another turnover. Stripped on the clumsy post spin by Salmons. Big one handed dunk follow of a Donte miss. Knocked down the baseline jumper. Block on Bogut after Cisco blocked Salmons. Then a very active defesnive board, before Bogut got his revenge with a block the other way. Hit a three from up top. Jumper on the kick from Reke. Almost another three from Reke but rimmed out. Missed the jumper down the stretch. In OT made the good pass to Beno for the game tying jumper at the 59 second mark. But then suddenly felt his reproductive organs back up into his throat as he basically airbaled the long jumper to try to win it at the 20 second mark. Was done after that, and after a few wasted minutes in the 2nd OT, we decided to go to Noc instead -- a desperate strategy if ever there was one. Filled the stat sheet in this one: 16pts 8reb 6ast.
Udrih ( A- ) -- big game working against the alleged "defense" of Jennings, and shouldered the load as goto guy once we lost Reke. Yep, you heard that right -- the Kings goto guy, our Kobe, our LeBron, was Beno Udrih. Smoothly popped a midrange jumper to start, then used an upfake to draw the foul on Jennings, but missed both FTs -- in fact styarted off theis game struggling to covert much of anything. Hustled back to pick off a pass on the break. Missed the corner three. Blew the layup on the give an go from Hawes. Missed another little jumper. With a two for one situation at the end of the first, dribbled down and took both shots, and missed them both. Not exactly an auspicious start for the man who would become our Kobe. Began the 2nd picking off an open court pass and took it the other way for the layup. Nice hard take left into the body of Kurt Thomas and hit the layup to cap an 11-0 run for us. Nifty spinning layup around both Jennings and Brezec. Torched by Salmons on defense. Scored off the nice give and go from Spencer. Steal in the open court again as this was one of Beno's best hustle games, but then followed it with a terrible no look pass on the break intended for Hawes that missed by 5 feet. Almsot started the third with another steal but was a half second late. Hit the open three. Brushed Jennings off the screen and knocked down another jumoper. Bad pass for a near turnover led to a jump ball. Missed the wild post turnaround over Jennings. Pass to Hawes along the baseline for the jumper. Good scrap on the offensive boards knocking it to Cisco. Pass to Landry for layup. Corner three from Reke. Missed a wild layup at the 1:30 mark. Intentionally fouled at the 20 second mark, and hit both FTs. Had his chance to truly prove his Kobeness, drove at the buzzer for the gamewinner...and missed the layup. In OT missed the short jumper to start. Ill conceived drive into traffic and got the ball poked away. Hit the tying jumper off the curl with a Hawes assist at the 1:00 mark. Drove and foolishly kicked to Spencer up top for a long game winning jumper attempt at the 20 second mark of the OT. In the 2nd OT missed a driving jumper, but hit the follow. Up fake on Jennings, and then the jumper. As we fell out of it, forced and missed a final jumper. Big night offesnviely, did a lot of right. Also took a ton of shots, and was one fo the primary peeps letting Jennings pop open for Js the whole night the other way -- he must have (and apparently did) feel like he was playing Golden State all over again. So fell just a tad short of the Kobe standard. But that's ok: next up? The Clippers, who Beno has always owned. With Reke out, Beno can down into Kobe's backyard and show him how nits done this time.
Evans ( D+ ) -- This one was shaping up to be painful long before the physical pain ensued. As predicted, it was of course Salmons on Reke to start, adn as was somewhat predictable, it caused all kinds of problems. There have been three top defenders this season who have obviously caused Reke problems -- Thabo Sefalosha, Shane Battier, and John Salmons. Reke seemed to have figured out Thabo by their last meetings, but the other two remain problems in different ways. Salmons has shown perhaps more potential as a ball denier and man to man defender on Reke than any other NBAer (Battier played it more by lurking back in the paint daring him to shot and using his length if he drove). Of course it wasn't just Salmons -- never is anymore with Reke -- as there were normally two guys behind him watching and waiting too. Got to the hoop on the break but blocked by the help from Mbah a Moute, who really needs to shorten his name and I am henceforth goig to refer to as MaM. Then his next drive was cut off and blocked by Bogut. Third drive finally got around Bogut, but thought that he was really having to play and move at a faster pace than he is really comfortable doing in order to get inside before the defense got set and collapsed on him. And for all of that, if he had not got hurt Reke might easily have gotten his 20-5-5 season averages out of this one, and the real story fo why it was such a struggle can be told in the turnover line. Now half of that was the refs -- they called two travels (one of which was blatantly a bad call -- the refs were terrible tonight) and two offensive fouls. But the other 4 were off of various bad passes or stripped drives. Had an early drive and kick out picked off. Swarmed on the drive on the break, beat two, ran over 1 , fouled by the 4th, Missed the long jumper. In the 2nd did a nice lob tipping a ball to Udoka on the offensive boards. Called for a travel across the lane that was questionable. Had Jennings hit back to back threes ove him in the 2nd. Racing take into traffic and fouled and missed both. Racing out on the break again and banged through Ilyasova for the +1. Ball slapped away on the break. Called for a very bad travel call again. Fouled by Salmons doing the smother thing at the close of the 2nd, hit both. Smothered Jennings on the Bucks closing possession of the half. In the 3rd got swithced onto MaM inside, and stopped him. Got called for the offensive foul on the drive and kick. Made a mistake and fouled a three point shooter when he ran out to challenge Delfino. Nice drop off pass on the pick and roll to Hawes. Fouled on the drive and 1 of 2. Called for the offensive foul on the break. Drive and turnover. Started to pick it up somewhat in the 4th as he often does, before getting KO'd. Steal and went full court for the layup. Kept on setting his shooters up in the corners for threes, and they bricked them. Threw up a random three pointer that was not even close. Frustration I guess. Big aggressive drive+1 drawing the 4th on Bogut. Drew the double and nice kick to Hawes for the J. Missed the layup in the last 2 minutes. Turned it over on the drive out of the timeout at the 1:00 mark, then got clobbered in the mouth by an Ilysasova elbow in the last 30 seconds of regulation. Lotta damage, but at least no broken jaw. Would say that this is a night he would like to forget, but I'm kind of hoping he doesn't -- this is one, like the Houston game, for the old processor. One of those that should fuel a competitive person's fire during workouts over the summer.
And sure, the theme of this thread can be Kings injuries through the years...expecially since everybody has already done such a good job of summarizing many of the weirder ones over the years and I can just point you down thread a bit rather than taking time to descibre them myself.
Greene ( D ) -- for all intents and purposes: nothing. Knocked down a long jumper in his first stint for his only points. Forced a dumb corner jumper that missed. Missed the corner three. Didn't do much of a job containing Salmons, and where was the energy? You're 21 years old, by definition you are supposed to be dumb and full of energy. And if you have to choose only one, you're better off taking the full of energy.
Landry ( C ) -- nice quick move and stop and pop to start, very strong and aggressive post move over Ilyasova. Got called for a cheap flagrant when he he came over to help on Salmons and got him up around the neck. In and out on the jumper, grabbed the o-reb, and finished. But these few flashes weren't surrounded by any meat at all -- pattern was a nice take, completely disappear for 5 minutes, another nice take. No other contributions. Only 6pts 1reb before half. Started the third hitting the long jumper. Drew the foul on Bogut, hit both. Again fouled and hit both. Agressive drive into heavy traffic but got it blocked. Little layup from Beno. Made a bad defensive mistake at a critcial time out of the timeout at the 20 second mark, letting Salmons free for a big three to slice the lead to 1. In OT stepped up with a turnaround jumper as we finally scored. Missed a post move and got called for two offensive fouls in back to back possessions to pick up his 6th and finish his night for us. Notably finished with a grand total of 2 rebounds. In a double OT game. That's just not feasible for a starting PF and had visions of Shareef, and Wayman and Antoine Carr dancing in my head.
Hawes ( B+ ) -- pretty active and aggressive game until he curled up in the clutch. Even the ridiculous three point chucking was mostly by design. Long jumper to start, three from the corner on the break, an offensive foul rolling down the lane trying to dump it off. In the 2nd back in late and delivered a nice give and go to Beno. Forced and missed a jumper. Good passing before half. Missed the long J to start the third, then disappeared for a long stretch. Reemebered with the little jumper on the pick and roll with Evans. Bad pass on the give and go with Reke resulted in another turnover. Stripped on the clumsy post spin by Salmons. Big one handed dunk follow of a Donte miss. Knocked down the baseline jumper. Block on Bogut after Cisco blocked Salmons. Then a very active defesnive board, before Bogut got his revenge with a block the other way. Hit a three from up top. Jumper on the kick from Reke. Almost another three from Reke but rimmed out. Missed the jumper down the stretch. In OT made the good pass to Beno for the game tying jumper at the 59 second mark. But then suddenly felt his reproductive organs back up into his throat as he basically airbaled the long jumper to try to win it at the 20 second mark. Was done after that, and after a few wasted minutes in the 2nd OT, we decided to go to Noc instead -- a desperate strategy if ever there was one. Filled the stat sheet in this one: 16pts 8reb 6ast.
Udrih ( A- ) -- big game working against the alleged "defense" of Jennings, and shouldered the load as goto guy once we lost Reke. Yep, you heard that right -- the Kings goto guy, our Kobe, our LeBron, was Beno Udrih.
Smoothly popped a midrange jumper to start, then used an upfake to draw the foul on Jennings, but missed both FTs -- in fact styarted off theis game struggling to covert much of anything. Hustled back to pick off a pass on the break. Missed the corner three. Blew the layup on the give an go from Hawes. Missed another little jumper. With a two for one situation at the end of the first, dribbled down and took both shots, and missed them both. Not exactly an auspicious start for the man who would become our Kobe. Began the 2nd picking off an open court pass and took it the other way for the layup. Nice hard take left into the body of Kurt Thomas and hit the layup to cap an 11-0 run for us. Nifty spinning layup around both Jennings and Brezec. Torched by Salmons on defense. Scored off the nice give and go from Spencer. Steal in the open court again as this was one of Beno's best hustle games, but then followed it with a terrible no look pass on the break intended for Hawes that missed by 5 feet. Almsot started the third with another steal but was a half second late. Hit the open three. Brushed Jennings off the screen and knocked down another jumoper. Bad pass for a near turnover led to a jump ball. Missed the wild post turnaround over Jennings. Pass to Hawes along the baseline for the jumper. Good scrap on the offensive boards knocking it to Cisco. Pass to Landry for layup. Corner three from Reke. Missed a wild layup at the 1:30 mark. Intentionally fouled at the 20 second mark, and hit both FTs. Had his chance to truly prove his Kobeness, drove at the buzzer for the gamewinner...and missed the layup. In OT missed the short jumper to start. Ill conceived drive into traffic and got the ball poked away. Hit the tying jumper off the curl with a Hawes assist at the 1:00 mark. Drove and foolishly kicked to Spencer up top for a long game winning jumper attempt at the 20 second mark of the OT. In the 2nd OT missed a driving jumper, but hit the follow. Up fake on Jennings, and then the jumper. As we fell out of it, forced and missed a final jumper. Big night offesnviely, did a lot of right. Also took a ton of shots, and was one fo the primary peeps letting Jennings pop open for Js the whole night the other way -- he must have (and apparently did) feel like he was playing Golden State all over again. So fell just a tad short of the Kobe standard. But that's ok: next up? The Clippers, who Beno has always owned. With Reke out, Beno can down into Kobe's backyard and show him how nits done this time.Evans ( D+ ) -- This one was shaping up to be painful long before the physical pain ensued. As predicted, it was of course Salmons on Reke to start, adn as was somewhat predictable, it caused all kinds of problems. There have been three top defenders this season who have obviously caused Reke problems -- Thabo Sefalosha, Shane Battier, and John Salmons. Reke seemed to have figured out Thabo by their last meetings, but the other two remain problems in different ways. Salmons has shown perhaps more potential as a ball denier and man to man defender on Reke than any other NBAer (Battier played it more by lurking back in the paint daring him to shot and using his length if he drove). Of course it wasn't just Salmons -- never is anymore with Reke -- as there were normally two guys behind him watching and waiting too. Got to the hoop on the break but blocked by the help from Mbah a Moute, who really needs to shorten his name and I am henceforth goig to refer to as MaM. Then his next drive was cut off and blocked by Bogut. Third drive finally got around Bogut, but thought that he was really having to play and move at a faster pace than he is really comfortable doing in order to get inside before the defense got set and collapsed on him. And for all of that, if he had not got hurt Reke might easily have gotten his 20-5-5 season averages out of this one, and the real story fo why it was such a struggle can be told in the turnover line. Now half of that was the refs -- they called two travels (one of which was blatantly a bad call -- the refs were terrible tonight) and two offensive fouls. But the other 4 were off of various bad passes or stripped drives. Had an early drive and kick out picked off. Swarmed on the drive on the break, beat two, ran over 1 , fouled by the 4th, Missed the long jumper. In the 2nd did a nice lob tipping a ball to Udoka on the offensive boards. Called for a travel across the lane that was questionable. Had Jennings hit back to back threes ove him in the 2nd. Racing take into traffic and fouled and missed both. Racing out on the break again and banged through Ilyasova for the +1. Ball slapped away on the break. Called for a very bad travel call again. Fouled by Salmons doing the smother thing at the close of the 2nd, hit both. Smothered Jennings on the Bucks closing possession of the half. In the 3rd got swithced onto MaM inside, and stopped him. Got called for the offensive foul on the drive and kick. Made a mistake and fouled a three point shooter when he ran out to challenge Delfino. Nice drop off pass on the pick and roll to Hawes. Fouled on the drive and 1 of 2. Called for the offensive foul on the break. Drive and turnover. Started to pick it up somewhat in the 4th as he often does, before getting KO'd. Steal and went full court for the layup. Kept on setting his shooters up in the corners for threes, and they bricked them. Threw up a random three pointer that was not even close. Frustration I guess. Big aggressive drive+1 drawing the 4th on Bogut. Drew the double and nice kick to Hawes for the J. Missed the layup in the last 2 minutes. Turned it over on the drive out of the timeout at the 1:00 mark, then got clobbered in the mouth by an Ilysasova elbow in the last 30 seconds of regulation. Lotta damage, but at least no broken jaw. Would say that this is a night he would like to forget, but I'm kind of hoping he doesn't -- this is one, like the Houston game, for the old processor. One of those that should fuel a competitive person's fire during workouts over the summer.
Last edited:
