[Game] 72/82: Kings vs. Thunder 25 MAR 2025, 7pm PT/10pm ET

[gunks]

I can't believe the strategy of having Zach and Deebo take turns bricking 3s isn't closing the gap!

 

[Kingz19]

If Greg watched the Kings regularly he would know wide open corner threes is the defensive scheme…not a mistake.

I’ve watched that corner for full games at times and that shot is available for every team in the first 5 seconds(once over half court) of almost every possession.

 

[HndsmCelt]

I had assumed the kings were not gonna win this game before tipoff. That being said I’m still pretty bummed. I guess we can’t spot team over 20 points in the first half and then hope to pull it out especially against a team that can score like this but Maybe they’ll learn from it and OKC does not look so immortal.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

It's weird to me how Gilgeous-Alexander gets virtually no heat in Sacramento. Is he somehow the only superstar in the league that doesn't have any ****riders?

 

[iowamcnabb]

Good effort in the third and then the wheels came off in the 4th. Most of it was the Thunder, some of it was fatigue and some of it was poor play.

 

[Tetsujin]

It's weird to me how Gilgeous-Alexander gets virtually no heat in Sacramento. Is he somehow the only superstar in the league that doesn't have any ****riders?

When your big character traits are (1. Canadian) and (2. Cousin also plays in the NBA), I don’t know if there’s much to really get Heat on him aside from the DeMar-esque foul baiting.

 

[iowamcnabb]

Haha that’s a bit fun

 

[Sam0ah]

I can't believe the strategy of having Zach and Deebo take turns bricking 3s isn't closing the gap!

It's the not so obvious tank.....

 

[Tetsujin]

McBuckets good for a bajillion threes in a row but only when the game is horribly out of reach.

 

[SacTownKid]

Less ugly at least, haha. After these two games one thing is clear, the Kings can't match the physicality of the best teams almost at every position. Keegan has been doing good job though. Yeah, the 3 rookies are the ones that look kind of like players you see on the Thunder and C's at least physically. LaRavia seems to fit the mold too.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Time to tank man...

The time to tank was when y'all traded Fox. It's too late now.

 

[Tetsujin]

Carter didn’t even get in for the end of the game so I’m guessing he was too sick to really go at all tonight.

 

[Tetsujin]

The time to tank was when y'all traded Fox. It's too late now.

Didn’t help that all the players waited to get injured and sick until the last three weeks of the season.

 

[Kingz19]

What’s with the awkward team huddle post game interview when they only talked to Shai?

 

[NewArena]

This schedule is pure hell

 

[Tetsujin]

was Trey Lyles hurt or something tonight?

 

[iowamcnabb]

What’s with the awkward team huddle post game interview when they only talked to Shai?

they do that everytime. I think it started because they only ever want to talk to SGA and he got tired of it

 

[PurpleHaze]

Time to tank man...

 

[iowamcnabb]

Sabonis has 3 games with 17 or more points in his last 16 games. Granted 2 of those were injury shortened but that’s not great

 

[SacTownKid]

was Trey Lyles hurt or something tonight?

He was dressed but DC went pretty starter heavy with only 1 big off the bench. Tonight it was LaRavia over Lyles most likely.

 

[Tetsujin]

He was dressed but DC went pretty starter heavy with only 1 big off the bench. Tonight it was LaRavia over Lyles most likely.

The thing is that the Thunder played two bigs almost the entire night so if there ever was a time to play Tey as a wing forward again this was it.

 

[NewArena]

Mavericks lost!

 

[SacTownKid]

I can't believe the strategy of having Zach and Deebo take turns bricking 3s isn't closing the gap!

Give credit to Christie and his staff though, he did find the crack in the defense in the corners. They eventually closed off but it got it competitive. You can definitely see that the team has very little chemistry most of the time. The timing just isn't there.

 

[Kingz19]

I don’t know about anybody else but I kinda want the Kings to keep their draft pick.

Actually, I really want the Kings to keep their draft pick

 

[SacTownKid]

The thing is that the Thunder played two bigs almost the entire night so if there ever was a time to play Tey as a wing forward again this was it.

Maybe, not sure if it would have mattered considering the Kings were getting broken down from the perimeter for the most part. It would have possibly helped by keeping the Kings starters fresh in the 3rd considering they got minutes dumped.

 

[Tetsujin]

https://twitter.com/statuses/1904751735010431250

most of the picks OKC has left are protected or swaps and will turn into seconds, which they also have a crapton of.

The payroll thing is true but Clay Bennett has been pretty reluctant to go into the tax in the past and the only reason it’s so low is because Chet and the Williamses haven’t signed their rookie extensions yet so functionally it’s not like they’re sitting on a mountain of space to just absorb Giannis’s salary into their roster or something.

don’t get me wrong, they are in a GREAT situation but it’s not like they’re sitting on a goldmine while everyone else is in crap.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Didn’t help that all the players waited to get injured and sick until the last three weeks of the season.

I mean, okay, but my point is y'all traded Fox and then continued to try and win games for another month an a half, and it wasn't until everything fell apart when people started being like, "Time to tank." Nah, the time to tank was two months ago. Y'all are in it, now: at this point, you gotta play hard, and just hope that the universe rewards effort.

 

[Tetsujin]

I don’t know about anybody else but I kinda want the Kings to keep their draft pick.

Actually, I really want the Kings to keep their draft pick

Better long term to just let it convey to the Hawks this year. Kings twitter wants to keep the pick this year and just tank next season to keep ATl from ever getting our pick but it’s just so much easier to let the pick convey this summer and have a clean ledger going forward. (Also depth wise, next year’s draft might be better than this year’s)

 

[SacTownKid]

I mean, okay, but my point is y'all traded Fox and then continued to try and win games for another month an a half, and it wasn't until everything fell apart when people started being like, "Time to tank." Nah, the time to tank was two months ago. Y'all are in it, now: at this point, you gotta play hard, and just hope that the universe rewards effort.

And the reality is even if the Kings decided to tank there's no catching some of the teams that have been firmly entrenched in the Flagg sweepstakes from day 1. There could be multiple teams in the 60+ loss category at the end of this season.

 

[Tetsujin]

Also this year’s draft is really really guard heavy and I don’t mean with jumbo guards (aside from like Egor Demin) but with your usual 6’5” and below guard which I’m sure some of you will just looooove