Well, another day, another team drops 120 on us. I am into serious counting down the days mode here. Not until the team moves, because I am thinking there is a good chance for it to be saved. But rather counting down the days until a new regime takes over, and just praying that it believes in defense. We've endured this for something like 8yrs now. No sane, rational, non-Petrie person could possibly justify making decisions to keep a team so bad on defense for so long. Its gotten so bad even the notoriously defensively blind and eternally homer Kings announcers have started bringing it up. When Jerry Reynolds makes a concerted effort to criticize lack fo defense (without ever actually talking legitimately about solutions) you know you done bad.
This time it was at least interesting. Some grading highlights you will hear about:
-- how DeMarcus Cousins has one of his worst offenisve games of his career, can't hit anything, including FTs, but gets nasty, rebounds, blocks, passes, almost gets in a fight, and somehow I'm not going to trash his grade too bad because he was doing the other things.
-- how Marcus Thornton continues his ridiculous hot streak, to the tune of scoring another 32 points draining a variety of bad shots you should not take...unless you are Kobe Bryant or Marcus Thornton on a hot streak. How hot is he? In the last 5 games now he has scored 131pts, which is 26.2ppg for you math majors, and is more points than he scored in the entire month of December (125), January (100) or February before the hot streak (96).
-- how IT and MT gaveth and tooketh away on offense and defense as Lawson and Miller ran rampant through our paint
-- how John Salmons boxscore is an illusion as he couldn't hit anything all night until the very end
-- how Reke was chicken and egg, fugly because he was frozen out, or frozen out because he was fugly
-- how JT completely carried us in the early going and all of our big guys displayed uncommon hustle and energy on the night as our little guys chucked away
-- How Isaiah tried to make it another 1 on 1 battle with Ty Lawson, for better sometimes and worse others
-- how the struggle continued for Jimmer
-- how with the game still within reach Coach, um, Smart, suddenly decided to play the stretch run with a 4 guard lineup
If you're going to lose, make it colorful I suppose.
Full Grading Consortium for tonight:
Bricklayer
Capt. Factorial
bajaden
Boxscore
Stats: 32min 11pts (4-9, 3-7, 0-0) 4reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Salmons ( C- ) -- Strangely, John started off this game almost exactly the same way he started the last one. By missing every shot he took. Unfortunately, he didn't suddenly catch fire in the second half except for a couple of late three's. He started off nicely with a drive and dish to JT under the basket for a dunk. But then he missed an open three, and followed that up by missing another open three. He finally scored by cutting down the lane and catching a pass by Jimmer for a layin. And that was about it for the 1st half, other than chasing Galinari around the floor all night when he was in there. Very tough job for Salmons, considering the height disadvantage.. John stated the 2nd half with a bad pass for a turnover. He followed that by fouling Gallinari on a fast break. That sent him to the bench. John got back in the game with 10:46 left in the 4th quarter. He picked up where he left off by missing a corner three. He then hit a corner three after which he drove into a crowd and had the ball stolen. He ended his time on the floor by hitting two more three's. So once again he sort of got hot in the second half, but it was too little too late. --Baja
Stats: 29min 18pts (9-11, 0-0, 0-0) 6reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Thompson ( B ) -- JT was on his way to an A after the first half. He started off dunking the ball off a nice pass from Salmons. He then took an outlet and blasted by two defenders on his way to the basket and laid it in. Two possessions later, he drove the baseline and scored on a reverse layup. Everything was working for JT in the first half as he took a pass in the key, spinned and layed it in. A bit later he posted up Faried and scored over him. And just to show he had other weapons, he scored on a floater in the key. After sitting on the bench for a while, he came back in and hit a 14 footer on a pass from Cuz. His only mistake was when he bobbled a pass under the basket and had it stolen. He didn't fare as well in the second half. He started by missing a little flip shot right at the basket. In fairness to him, he got the ball with one second left on the shot clock. It wasn't much later that he fouled Lawson for his 4th foul and went to the bench. By the time he returned the Kings were trying to dig themselves out of a hole. His return was marred by setting an illegal screen on Lawson, who fortunately, struggled at the freethrow line tonight. He finished strong with a spin move in the post and flipping it in, and a cut to the basket for a layup. Jt played very well tonight offensively. He didn't rebound as well as one would have liked, but he was one of the bright spots, and certainly not responsible for the loss. --Baja
Stats: 27min 8pts (1-12, 0-1, 6-10) 13reb 3ast 0stl 5blk 3TO
Cousins ( C- ) -- loooked a little wild and out of control from the beginning of this one. Was strong on the glass and really snatching them, but just looked out of sorts on offense in almost everyway. Think there was again some frustration wiht his guards as Reke and IT both took some really idiotic selfish shots, but the malaise went deeper than that. Seemed to revert to his rookie ways, trying to throw up too quick groundbound off balance prayers inside (the of balance was helped considerably by Koufos who was banging him wihtout manywhistle reprecussions), and he wasn't doing that, he was throwing up broke jumpers. Here is the thing though, the point I have been making about this game -- Cuz wears his emotions on his sleeves and he was obviously frustrated as hell out there. But he channeled it inot something useful this time as he was angry and hustling on defense to a very uncommon degree with him, recording a career high 5 blocked shots, taking a charge on another, grabbing 13 rebounds, and really at least trying to do the right thing with the pass as he notched 3 assists and set up Salmons for several more wide open shots which the Fish bricked (John's numbers in this one are a complete illusion -- he missed multiple wide open setups from Reke and Cuz all game long until it didn't matter anymore). But even with the hustle play Cuz looked out of sorts and out of rhtyhm. On one of the blocks he blocked the shot, grabbed the rebound, then tried to rumble fullcourt as the leader of the break and ended up pikcing up the offensive foul ploughing into a pile of Nuggets like a bowling ball knocking aside pins. Was the victim of some very physical fouling play in the third from Koufos, as the refs blew some calls and the game got chippee in an almost playoff manner. generally a good thing in my eyes, but both teams have to be aware that's the way its going to be called. Cousins got upset enough that at one point after Koufos pulled him out of the air and to the gorund, and chandler fell on top of him, that he sprang up and had to be restrained by JT. Finally got his first and only hit on a tip follow that barely rattled in late in the third, and well he kept on rebounding and tipping ballas, all fo a sudden he looked like JT in there (JT himself ironically carried us early and was able to work exremely efficiently on a 9-11 night). Even his FTs wouldn't fall on a most frustating night. Ended up sitting out the final 8+ min of the game as Smart smallballed us into obliviion, but despite his many struggles I think he was doing too much and had too much potential to do more to hold him out so we could play 4 guards. Fortunately the coach will likely be working in a paper hat and asking do you want fries with that by this time next year.--Brick
Stats: 32min 7pts (2-5, 1-4, 2-2) 1reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( F ) -- Tyreke had a completely lackluster game out there tonight. He started out by hitting a three on the first possession and then scored four points (on four more shots) for the rest of the game. The most memorable of those shots was a one-on-one three pointer that missed badly. To that great offensive line he added a whole one rebound and two assists to go along with two turnovers. both of his turnovers, by the way, were really bad. On the first he made an incredibly bad pass that led to a fast-break layup and on the other he lost the ball on a drive, ill-advisedly trying to split two defenders who were joined at the hip, then immediately fouled Lawson to give up free throws. Defensively, the results weren't horrible (11 points on 10 shots), but some of the particulars weren't so hot. Oddly enough, Gallinari was practically wearing him on a made jumper, yet on the play where Tyreke fell for the fake and ran past Gallo, he missed the wide-open three. Iguodala didn't really do much on the evening, but I don't think it was so much because Tyreke was locking him down (I didn't really see much evidence of that) just that the Nuggets were going elsewhere. Iggy did blow right past Tyreke in the first quarter and earn FTs on a play where it looked like Evans didn't give even half effort. Just a really poor showing out there. If Tyreke is supposed to be the fifth-best starter then maybe this is the kind of game we ought to expect. But I don't think Tyreke is only the fifth-best starter on our team and my expectations are much higher. We'll see if he can bounce back tomorrow night.--Capt.
This time it was at least interesting. Some grading highlights you will hear about:
-- how DeMarcus Cousins has one of his worst offenisve games of his career, can't hit anything, including FTs, but gets nasty, rebounds, blocks, passes, almost gets in a fight, and somehow I'm not going to trash his grade too bad because he was doing the other things.
-- how Marcus Thornton continues his ridiculous hot streak, to the tune of scoring another 32 points draining a variety of bad shots you should not take...unless you are Kobe Bryant or Marcus Thornton on a hot streak. How hot is he? In the last 5 games now he has scored 131pts, which is 26.2ppg for you math majors, and is more points than he scored in the entire month of December (125), January (100) or February before the hot streak (96).
-- how IT and MT gaveth and tooketh away on offense and defense as Lawson and Miller ran rampant through our paint
-- how John Salmons boxscore is an illusion as he couldn't hit anything all night until the very end
-- how Reke was chicken and egg, fugly because he was frozen out, or frozen out because he was fugly
-- how JT completely carried us in the early going and all of our big guys displayed uncommon hustle and energy on the night as our little guys chucked away
-- How Isaiah tried to make it another 1 on 1 battle with Ty Lawson, for better sometimes and worse others
-- how the struggle continued for Jimmer
-- how with the game still within reach Coach, um, Smart, suddenly decided to play the stretch run with a 4 guard lineup
If you're going to lose, make it colorful I suppose.
Full Grading Consortium for tonight:
Bricklayer
Capt. Factorial
bajaden
Boxscore
Stats: 32min 11pts (4-9, 3-7, 0-0) 4reb 2ast 0stl 1blk 2TO
Salmons ( C- ) -- Strangely, John started off this game almost exactly the same way he started the last one. By missing every shot he took. Unfortunately, he didn't suddenly catch fire in the second half except for a couple of late three's. He started off nicely with a drive and dish to JT under the basket for a dunk. But then he missed an open three, and followed that up by missing another open three. He finally scored by cutting down the lane and catching a pass by Jimmer for a layin. And that was about it for the 1st half, other than chasing Galinari around the floor all night when he was in there. Very tough job for Salmons, considering the height disadvantage.. John stated the 2nd half with a bad pass for a turnover. He followed that by fouling Gallinari on a fast break. That sent him to the bench. John got back in the game with 10:46 left in the 4th quarter. He picked up where he left off by missing a corner three. He then hit a corner three after which he drove into a crowd and had the ball stolen. He ended his time on the floor by hitting two more three's. So once again he sort of got hot in the second half, but it was too little too late. --Baja
Stats: 29min 18pts (9-11, 0-0, 0-0) 6reb 2ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Thompson ( B ) -- JT was on his way to an A after the first half. He started off dunking the ball off a nice pass from Salmons. He then took an outlet and blasted by two defenders on his way to the basket and laid it in. Two possessions later, he drove the baseline and scored on a reverse layup. Everything was working for JT in the first half as he took a pass in the key, spinned and layed it in. A bit later he posted up Faried and scored over him. And just to show he had other weapons, he scored on a floater in the key. After sitting on the bench for a while, he came back in and hit a 14 footer on a pass from Cuz. His only mistake was when he bobbled a pass under the basket and had it stolen. He didn't fare as well in the second half. He started by missing a little flip shot right at the basket. In fairness to him, he got the ball with one second left on the shot clock. It wasn't much later that he fouled Lawson for his 4th foul and went to the bench. By the time he returned the Kings were trying to dig themselves out of a hole. His return was marred by setting an illegal screen on Lawson, who fortunately, struggled at the freethrow line tonight. He finished strong with a spin move in the post and flipping it in, and a cut to the basket for a layup. Jt played very well tonight offensively. He didn't rebound as well as one would have liked, but he was one of the bright spots, and certainly not responsible for the loss. --Baja
Stats: 27min 8pts (1-12, 0-1, 6-10) 13reb 3ast 0stl 5blk 3TO
Cousins ( C- ) -- loooked a little wild and out of control from the beginning of this one. Was strong on the glass and really snatching them, but just looked out of sorts on offense in almost everyway. Think there was again some frustration wiht his guards as Reke and IT both took some really idiotic selfish shots, but the malaise went deeper than that. Seemed to revert to his rookie ways, trying to throw up too quick groundbound off balance prayers inside (the of balance was helped considerably by Koufos who was banging him wihtout manywhistle reprecussions), and he wasn't doing that, he was throwing up broke jumpers. Here is the thing though, the point I have been making about this game -- Cuz wears his emotions on his sleeves and he was obviously frustrated as hell out there. But he channeled it inot something useful this time as he was angry and hustling on defense to a very uncommon degree with him, recording a career high 5 blocked shots, taking a charge on another, grabbing 13 rebounds, and really at least trying to do the right thing with the pass as he notched 3 assists and set up Salmons for several more wide open shots which the Fish bricked (John's numbers in this one are a complete illusion -- he missed multiple wide open setups from Reke and Cuz all game long until it didn't matter anymore). But even with the hustle play Cuz looked out of sorts and out of rhtyhm. On one of the blocks he blocked the shot, grabbed the rebound, then tried to rumble fullcourt as the leader of the break and ended up pikcing up the offensive foul ploughing into a pile of Nuggets like a bowling ball knocking aside pins. Was the victim of some very physical fouling play in the third from Koufos, as the refs blew some calls and the game got chippee in an almost playoff manner. generally a good thing in my eyes, but both teams have to be aware that's the way its going to be called. Cousins got upset enough that at one point after Koufos pulled him out of the air and to the gorund, and chandler fell on top of him, that he sprang up and had to be restrained by JT. Finally got his first and only hit on a tip follow that barely rattled in late in the third, and well he kept on rebounding and tipping ballas, all fo a sudden he looked like JT in there (JT himself ironically carried us early and was able to work exremely efficiently on a 9-11 night). Even his FTs wouldn't fall on a most frustating night. Ended up sitting out the final 8+ min of the game as Smart smallballed us into obliviion, but despite his many struggles I think he was doing too much and had too much potential to do more to hold him out so we could play 4 guards. Fortunately the coach will likely be working in a paper hat and asking do you want fries with that by this time next year.--Brick
Stats: 32min 7pts (2-5, 1-4, 2-2) 1reb 2ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Evans ( F ) -- Tyreke had a completely lackluster game out there tonight. He started out by hitting a three on the first possession and then scored four points (on four more shots) for the rest of the game. The most memorable of those shots was a one-on-one three pointer that missed badly. To that great offensive line he added a whole one rebound and two assists to go along with two turnovers. both of his turnovers, by the way, were really bad. On the first he made an incredibly bad pass that led to a fast-break layup and on the other he lost the ball on a drive, ill-advisedly trying to split two defenders who were joined at the hip, then immediately fouled Lawson to give up free throws. Defensively, the results weren't horrible (11 points on 10 shots), but some of the particulars weren't so hot. Oddly enough, Gallinari was practically wearing him on a made jumper, yet on the play where Tyreke fell for the fake and ran past Gallo, he missed the wide-open three. Iguodala didn't really do much on the evening, but I don't think it was so much because Tyreke was locking him down (I didn't really see much evidence of that) just that the Nuggets were going elsewhere. Iggy did blow right past Tyreke in the first quarter and earn FTs on a play where it looked like Evans didn't give even half effort. Just a really poor showing out there. If Tyreke is supposed to be the fifth-best starter then maybe this is the kind of game we ought to expect. But I don't think Tyreke is only the fifth-best starter on our team and my expectations are much higher. We'll see if he can bounce back tomorrow night.--Capt.
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