Well...better ugly (I'm looking at you Reke) than not at all I suppose. These Kings games certainly are exciting, in a headslapping what the hell did you just do sort of way. But hey, we've now got the same record as the Lakers, and they've got 3 HOFs on the squad.
Note: we held another team under 40% FGs. With the Spurs hitting 47% against Indiana its entirely possible we are #1 in the NBA in Opponent FG% now.
Highlights:
Boxscore
Stats: 29min 7pts (2-8, 0-2, 3-6) 2reb 2ast 1stl 2blk 0TO
Johnson ( C- ) -- continues to play very hard on defense and make numerous excellent plays on that end. And continues to be an absolute menace, to his own team, on offense. Still not giving us much on the glass, but Barnes was no better and Cousins took care of the boards tonight, so less of a concern. Started the game immediately saving a basket stopping Barnes on the break. Forced a drive and got blocked by Bogut, but raced all the way back to challenge the Warriors' three on the break. Finally hit a long two in the late first...which unfortunately seemed to encourage him to keep on throwing stuff up. Great steal up top and then fought for the ball, led the break, and hit Thornton with a nice little behind the back drop off pass for the layup. Got his only other hoop of the night on a nice feed from Reke for a dunk on the move, but then went back to missing. Brought back in at the 1:40 mark of the 4th for a terribly struggling Tyreke, although they ended up closing the game together as we went with our all defensive lines. After we got the stop with 5 seconds to go, was the guy who ended up with the ball and intentionally fouled. Only hit 1 of 2 to leave the door open for the Warriors, but we survived. Did a few mroe things, had a few nice plays, and we won, so I'm going to risk creeping this grade up despite more 25% shooting.
Stats: 27min 6pts (1-2, 0-0, 4-4) 6reb 0ast 0stl 2blk 1TO
Thompson ( C+ ) -- stayed completely out of the way on offense, but in the first quarter in particular was an effective wingman for Cousins, solid on the defensive glass and mixing in strong defensive plays with defensive mistakes. Had one great one man defensive stand on against Lee where he stopped him twice before finally getting scored over the third time as Boogie was late getting back to help on the glass.. After half grew even quieter, to the point he was no longer a solid presence so much as a non presence. Invisible offensive game, but began the 4th with a physical post move that fell through. Hitting his FTs again, as he has done early in this season. A welcome change. The emerging pattern of him giving way to Chuck for late game defense repeated itself here. Meager numbers, but less doing stuff wrong then just not doing enough right. Had good energy early, but it didn't sustain.
Stats: 34min 23pts (10-16, 0-0, 3-5) 15reb 1ast 2stl 2blk 3TO
Cousins ( A- ) -- hey, finally we got the Cousins we were promised this season. The big beefy dominant centerpiece able to match numbers with the league's best bigs. There were still moments of slop, of wavering mental focus, but I'm afraid there will be bits of that lingering for years before t all bleeds out. But on the whole, knew what he wanted to do, and did it consistently against a guy known as one of the league's better defensive bigs. Also avoided foul trouble, and while that didn't prevent his own coach from holding him out in an apparent point shaving scheme, it did mean when he was on the copurt he could afford to play all out rather than having to walk on eggshells as he was the first 3 games. Started the game off wiht a turnover, throwing a ball well over Reke's head trying to hit him as a cutter. But the slop was mostly missing this time out. He settled down, got a big follow dunk a couple of plays later for our first points, and began to really work the glass. He was pouring it on about the time it was ready for a rest, and you will have to ask Keith Smart how you hold a guy out who is dominating the game until the final :40 of the half. You read that right. not 4:00. 40 seconds. Returned int eh third and resumed his work with back to back great plays, spinning and avoiding the travel for a dunk. And stepping in from behind for one of those up top steals and breakway dunks. Used his mobility to go right around Bogut, and started using his length and extra fouls guarding the rim on defense. At which point we obviously benched him again and waited until we'd almsot sacrificed the whole lead before bringing him back. After finally returning not much happened for him. We struggled to get him the ball, after Brooks threw a bad entry pass for a turnover around the 3:00 mark we in fact did not go back inside to him until the final minute, and when we finally did go to him for game icing attempt at the 11 second mark, Curry snuck in from behind to rip the ball away leaving the Warriors with a chance to win it down 1.
Stats: 29min 3pts (1-9, 0-2, 1-2) 3reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( F ) -- ok, um....ouch. Just simply did not have "it", whatever "it" is, from the very beginning. Maybe somebody slipped him a roofie before the game, but whatever it was, this was one of the worst we have seen from him. Was very quiet from the beginning -- attempted a couple of drives that got blocked but otherwise almost had zeroes across the statsheet, which is incredibly rare for the most do it all talent on the team. And had a few moments in the early going that madey ou wonder about his focus -- depsite a lot of good defense, one time for instance just flat fell asleep on defense and barely moved as he let Barnes slash backddor for a dunk. Now the itneresting thing is that despite doing nothing, until the very end of the game we were noticeably better with him ont eh court. And not only on the court, but with hi running the team as we seemed to clearly be trying to play the little guards as scorers and Reke as the creater for much of the night. In fact early on there was an interesting event -- we were struggling mightily to score, the only guy who was scoring was IT...and then he got pulled in the mid quarter with Smart talking to him animatedly. Thornton was inserted in his stead, Reke took over the PG reins, and suddenly the offense jolted to life. When we came out in the third it was with Reke running point and Isaiah off the ball. Despite again not putting up any numbers himself, and an ugly flurry of midrange pullup jumper bricks that seemed straight out of Smart's you gotta shoot it playbook, we again were moderately effective on offense -- in fact this was our best offensive game, mild as our success was. And with Reke's defensive activity picking up as well, by the end of the third I had a would be star level player sitting on 0pts and maybe 2reb 2ast, and yet it did not feel like an F. Other than the jumpers, he wasn't forcing things badly. He was working on defense, trying to set people up. And we were winning his minutes. But after his return in the 4th things toook a turn for the ugly. Came in and initially picked a good time for his first hoop, scoring to snap a long drought that has seen the Warriors cut it to 5. But then the wheels finally fell off, and he crossed that threshold from just not getting much done to actively hurting us with some terrible decisionmaking. Just in a haze. Bad decisions on the break, turnovers, forces, and finally even a pair of defensive mistakes. Reached such a fever pitch Smart finally took him out at the 1:40 mark to try to save the game, although he was back a miute later for defensive purposes as we tried to hold on. Just a poor poor game. One of his worst.
Stats: 21min 10pts (4-8, 1-3, 1-1) 0reb 0ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( C ) -- interesting how this one played out. In the early going we were struggling offensively, and IT was about the only guy scoring, first on a three on a Reke kickout, then two he created himself. But he also threw a terrible long pass ahead on the break trying to slip it between three Warriors, and made the same mistake in the early third on a similar play. And thing is, we weren't scoring, and Smart pulled him before any of the other starters and seemed to be talking to him forcefully about something. Given that it was another 0 assist 2 TO night, I am guessing it had something to do with running the new offense. Got his final points scooping up a loose ball up top and scooting the other way for a +1 finish which he probably should have dropped to one of his 3 trailing teammates. Then gave way to Brooks for the 4th quarter again, aside from the final couple of defensive stands when we brought him back. Statline was 10pts 0reb 0ast 2stl 2TO. Grade is because he gave us some scoring...but it may have been outside the confines of the offense. And he's still just not giving us anything as a creater or rebounder -- the latter is an of course due to his stature, but he was much better last year. On the season right now averaging 11.5pts 1.0reb 1.3ast 3.0TO. In similar minutes last year it was 11.5pts 2.6reb 4.1ast 1.6TO. Not sure what to make of it, but he didn't look happy on the bench.
Note: we held another team under 40% FGs. With the Spurs hitting 47% against Indiana its entirely possible we are #1 in the NBA in Opponent FG% now.
Highlights:
Boxscore
Stats: 29min 7pts (2-8, 0-2, 3-6) 2reb 2ast 1stl 2blk 0TO
Johnson ( C- ) -- continues to play very hard on defense and make numerous excellent plays on that end. And continues to be an absolute menace, to his own team, on offense. Still not giving us much on the glass, but Barnes was no better and Cousins took care of the boards tonight, so less of a concern. Started the game immediately saving a basket stopping Barnes on the break. Forced a drive and got blocked by Bogut, but raced all the way back to challenge the Warriors' three on the break. Finally hit a long two in the late first...which unfortunately seemed to encourage him to keep on throwing stuff up. Great steal up top and then fought for the ball, led the break, and hit Thornton with a nice little behind the back drop off pass for the layup. Got his only other hoop of the night on a nice feed from Reke for a dunk on the move, but then went back to missing. Brought back in at the 1:40 mark of the 4th for a terribly struggling Tyreke, although they ended up closing the game together as we went with our all defensive lines. After we got the stop with 5 seconds to go, was the guy who ended up with the ball and intentionally fouled. Only hit 1 of 2 to leave the door open for the Warriors, but we survived. Did a few mroe things, had a few nice plays, and we won, so I'm going to risk creeping this grade up despite more 25% shooting.
Stats: 27min 6pts (1-2, 0-0, 4-4) 6reb 0ast 0stl 2blk 1TO
Thompson ( C+ ) -- stayed completely out of the way on offense, but in the first quarter in particular was an effective wingman for Cousins, solid on the defensive glass and mixing in strong defensive plays with defensive mistakes. Had one great one man defensive stand on against Lee where he stopped him twice before finally getting scored over the third time as Boogie was late getting back to help on the glass.. After half grew even quieter, to the point he was no longer a solid presence so much as a non presence. Invisible offensive game, but began the 4th with a physical post move that fell through. Hitting his FTs again, as he has done early in this season. A welcome change. The emerging pattern of him giving way to Chuck for late game defense repeated itself here. Meager numbers, but less doing stuff wrong then just not doing enough right. Had good energy early, but it didn't sustain.
Stats: 34min 23pts (10-16, 0-0, 3-5) 15reb 1ast 2stl 2blk 3TO
Cousins ( A- ) -- hey, finally we got the Cousins we were promised this season. The big beefy dominant centerpiece able to match numbers with the league's best bigs. There were still moments of slop, of wavering mental focus, but I'm afraid there will be bits of that lingering for years before t all bleeds out. But on the whole, knew what he wanted to do, and did it consistently against a guy known as one of the league's better defensive bigs. Also avoided foul trouble, and while that didn't prevent his own coach from holding him out in an apparent point shaving scheme, it did mean when he was on the copurt he could afford to play all out rather than having to walk on eggshells as he was the first 3 games. Started the game off wiht a turnover, throwing a ball well over Reke's head trying to hit him as a cutter. But the slop was mostly missing this time out. He settled down, got a big follow dunk a couple of plays later for our first points, and began to really work the glass. He was pouring it on about the time it was ready for a rest, and you will have to ask Keith Smart how you hold a guy out who is dominating the game until the final :40 of the half. You read that right. not 4:00. 40 seconds. Returned int eh third and resumed his work with back to back great plays, spinning and avoiding the travel for a dunk. And stepping in from behind for one of those up top steals and breakway dunks. Used his mobility to go right around Bogut, and started using his length and extra fouls guarding the rim on defense. At which point we obviously benched him again and waited until we'd almsot sacrificed the whole lead before bringing him back. After finally returning not much happened for him. We struggled to get him the ball, after Brooks threw a bad entry pass for a turnover around the 3:00 mark we in fact did not go back inside to him until the final minute, and when we finally did go to him for game icing attempt at the 11 second mark, Curry snuck in from behind to rip the ball away leaving the Warriors with a chance to win it down 1.
Stats: 29min 3pts (1-9, 0-2, 1-2) 3reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( F ) -- ok, um....ouch. Just simply did not have "it", whatever "it" is, from the very beginning. Maybe somebody slipped him a roofie before the game, but whatever it was, this was one of the worst we have seen from him. Was very quiet from the beginning -- attempted a couple of drives that got blocked but otherwise almost had zeroes across the statsheet, which is incredibly rare for the most do it all talent on the team. And had a few moments in the early going that madey ou wonder about his focus -- depsite a lot of good defense, one time for instance just flat fell asleep on defense and barely moved as he let Barnes slash backddor for a dunk. Now the itneresting thing is that despite doing nothing, until the very end of the game we were noticeably better with him ont eh court. And not only on the court, but with hi running the team as we seemed to clearly be trying to play the little guards as scorers and Reke as the creater for much of the night. In fact early on there was an interesting event -- we were struggling mightily to score, the only guy who was scoring was IT...and then he got pulled in the mid quarter with Smart talking to him animatedly. Thornton was inserted in his stead, Reke took over the PG reins, and suddenly the offense jolted to life. When we came out in the third it was with Reke running point and Isaiah off the ball. Despite again not putting up any numbers himself, and an ugly flurry of midrange pullup jumper bricks that seemed straight out of Smart's you gotta shoot it playbook, we again were moderately effective on offense -- in fact this was our best offensive game, mild as our success was. And with Reke's defensive activity picking up as well, by the end of the third I had a would be star level player sitting on 0pts and maybe 2reb 2ast, and yet it did not feel like an F. Other than the jumpers, he wasn't forcing things badly. He was working on defense, trying to set people up. And we were winning his minutes. But after his return in the 4th things toook a turn for the ugly. Came in and initially picked a good time for his first hoop, scoring to snap a long drought that has seen the Warriors cut it to 5. But then the wheels finally fell off, and he crossed that threshold from just not getting much done to actively hurting us with some terrible decisionmaking. Just in a haze. Bad decisions on the break, turnovers, forces, and finally even a pair of defensive mistakes. Reached such a fever pitch Smart finally took him out at the 1:40 mark to try to save the game, although he was back a miute later for defensive purposes as we tried to hold on. Just a poor poor game. One of his worst.
Stats: 21min 10pts (4-8, 1-3, 1-1) 0reb 0ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( C ) -- interesting how this one played out. In the early going we were struggling offensively, and IT was about the only guy scoring, first on a three on a Reke kickout, then two he created himself. But he also threw a terrible long pass ahead on the break trying to slip it between three Warriors, and made the same mistake in the early third on a similar play. And thing is, we weren't scoring, and Smart pulled him before any of the other starters and seemed to be talking to him forcefully about something. Given that it was another 0 assist 2 TO night, I am guessing it had something to do with running the new offense. Got his final points scooping up a loose ball up top and scooting the other way for a +1 finish which he probably should have dropped to one of his 3 trailing teammates. Then gave way to Brooks for the 4th quarter again, aside from the final couple of defensive stands when we brought him back. Statline was 10pts 0reb 0ast 2stl 2TO. Grade is because he gave us some scoring...but it may have been outside the confines of the offense. And he's still just not giving us anything as a creater or rebounder -- the latter is an of course due to his stature, but he was much better last year. On the season right now averaging 11.5pts 1.0reb 1.3ast 3.0TO. In similar minutes last year it was 11.5pts 2.6reb 4.1ast 1.6TO. Not sure what to make of it, but he didn't look happy on the bench.
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