[Grades] Grades v. Lakers 11/3/10
- Thread starter Bricklayer
- Start date
Seriously, Donte Greene needs to wake up and demand some minutes – not literally demand but get on the practice court and kick some behind. I want to see some fire in him and this team needs him. His playful energy is amazing but I want to see some intensity when he plays. I want him on the court and I want him to play along side Omri. Come on Donte!
Half his problem, actually more than half, is in shot selection. He's not standing there shooting threes on kickouts (he's missing those too, but its not the major problem), he's dribbling down like a complete idiot, and chucking up off balance threes in the face of three guys with 19 seconds left on the shot clock. I have absolutely no idea where a 5 year NBA veteran could have learned that that was good basketball. Its bad basketball in jr. high.
Still, a decent game against the Fakers until the Half. I like the way the youngsters didnt give up even when the refs were really calling bs against the Kings. What was the free throw disparity?? Typical. Anyway, being from the Auburn Area, dont forget the Forrest Hill Bridge. That is a scary Mo Fo of a bridge !! Head needs to stop chucking up 3's when he is cold as ICE !
The Kings played this game in reverse, where they lacked energy and hustle in the first 3 Q's of the first 4 games, tonight they came out ready and inspired. And then they fell apart, the jumpers stopped falling, their best player riddled with foul trouble*, and no one else capable of doing anything else of note in the 3rd Q and thereafter (failed attempts at a comeback while Kobe sits on the bench not withstanding)
*Note to Paul Westphal: I don't care who else has to start, but unless its the 4th Q and he is demanding to, Tyreke Evans should NOT be guarding Kobe Bryant.
*Note to Paul Westphal: I don't care who else has to start, but unless its the 4th Q and he is demanding to, Tyreke Evans should NOT be guarding Kobe Bryant.
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The Lakers just ran a free basketball clinic for the Kings. At game end they might as well have patted the Kings on their heads and give them free jerseys as momentos. The Lakers had great precision in their offense, and played just enough D to finish off the Kings. The Kings just need a lot more of these games to get better, about twenty or so. Send the Lakers a thank-you card.
To me, Cousins played his best game so far this season. For once, he came out of the gate and played defense like he really meant it. Moved his feet and actually got his hand up. That's why Westphal ended up playing him more than 5 minutes in the first quarter as he's done in the last three games.
PS The Cousins-Artest scrum for the ball was hilarious. After he got up from the court, Cousins' expression was priceless, like a kid who just got his lollipop stolen...
To me, Cousins played his best game so far this season. For once, he came out of the gate and played defense like he really meant it. Moved his feet and actually got his hand up. That's why Westphal ended up playing him more than 5 minutes in the first quarter as he's done in the last three games.
PS The Cousins-Artest scrum for the ball was hilarious. After he got up from the court, Cousins' expression was priceless, like a kid who just got his lollipop stolen...
Brick, I usually marvel at your posts, as they are among the most insightful on KF, but I gotta disagree with your memory here.
(BTW - great theme for the grades tonight - those are amazing pictures and tidbits of k-nowledge to drop on us. I appreciate the efforts for entertainment and info).
The vast majority of Head's whiffed 3-pointers were WIDE OPEN last night.
On both the draw-and-kicks as well as the on-the-break pull-ups for 3, noone was remotely near him for most of them.
They were cringeworthy, especially that airball. He had NO business hucking up those shots once he proved he didn;t have it last night.
PW should never have had him out there - he is NOT our defensive stopper, regardless of how well he did on it last night. We didn;t have the luxury of him being one-dimensional and wasting all our opportunities to pull ahead in the critical 2nd quarter juncture. We lost the game in the second quarter, guys. Can't give up that many opportunities against the Lakers.
Once we got to the 4th quarter is was desperation time, and there were lots of ill-conceived 3's shot, but the game was already decided by then.
Remember the 2nd quarter, and what happened, and you'll know why we lost.
(BTW - great theme for the grades tonight - those are amazing pictures and tidbits of k-nowledge to drop on us. I appreciate the efforts for entertainment and info).
The vast majority of Head's whiffed 3-pointers were WIDE OPEN last night.
On both the draw-and-kicks as well as the on-the-break pull-ups for 3, noone was remotely near him for most of them.
They were cringeworthy, especially that airball. He had NO business hucking up those shots once he proved he didn;t have it last night.
PW should never have had him out there - he is NOT our defensive stopper, regardless of how well he did on it last night. We didn;t have the luxury of him being one-dimensional and wasting all our opportunities to pull ahead in the critical 2nd quarter juncture. We lost the game in the second quarter, guys. Can't give up that many opportunities against the Lakers.
Once we got to the 4th quarter is was desperation time, and there were lots of ill-conceived 3's shot, but the game was already decided by then.
Remember the 2nd quarter, and what happened, and you'll know why we lost.
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Agree. He did not shoot his jumpers like an NBA veteran. It seemed every time I watched him shoot from outside he was moving, or jumping towards the basket. Poor judgement. I noticed Casspi quick shooting his jumper from the hip. I guess I would credit this poor shot selection to Laker intimidation factor. Hopefully, a young player like Casspi will learn. Maybe Head plays his best if he doesn't have ball handling/point guard responsibilities.
I always love the grades, especially because out here in the midwest I almost never get to watch a Kings game! However, I would grade Tyreke much lower on this one, simply because he took himself out of the game with stupid fouls. After the 2nd time he gets called for daring to dissuade the golden one from dazzling his dimwits with devastating dunks, he should have figured out that getting up close and personal would just get him more whistles. Instead, he just kept at it until the coach (and eventually the refs) sat him down.
Having finally gotten to watch a game, it's amazing to see what he's become capable of...if only he could have played for more than a quarter and some change.
Having finally gotten to watch a game, it's amazing to see what he's become capable of...if only he could have played for more than a quarter and some change.
We were beaten handily by the Lakers. And they weren't taxed too much in beating us. We were full of bad plays and they seldom had a bad play. Our agresiveness was there which, unfortunately led to impatience and hurried performance which equalled a "bad play". I think we're learning to be agressive and more patient in execution. Takes time for our novices.
I was ready to strangle Luther Head after the first ridiculous pull-up fast break three pointer. If you're open and you're Steve Nash, maybe that's a decent shot. If you're contested and you have streaking teammates alongside you and you haven't hit a shot yet, it's the worst NBA shot imaginable. Then he went and did it again in the same game! If I see that happen even one more time from Luther Head, I don't care how good his defense or hustle is, he needs to go. That was inexcusable.
