[Game] Brooklyn Nets @ Sacramento Kings, 12/11/2023, 7pm PST/10pm EST

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What an all-around dominant performance by the Kings. Sabonis ended up with 15pts 16rebs and 9asts, but there were four other Kings who flashed more tonight.

We gave them hope with an 11-0 run to get the game within 6, but we took it all away in the span of 45 seconds. Even when the Nets got close, it never felt like we were ever in danger of losing the game.
 
It looks like we're finally in shape and everyone is more or less comfortable with the offense.

You can really see how amazing our training staff is with the physical improvements to just about every returning player. Domas looks stronger and more tank-like, Keegan's lateral speed has him playing all NBA defense. Fox's overall strength and also improved lateral quickness on defense is almost as exciting to watch as a dunk highlight.

Anyhoo, after we had a good bit of rest this week, getting some good home cooking with extra sauce, what we saw tonight is basically what I expected coming into the season. Arriving here with a 13-8 record and everything clicking is about the best you could have hoped for.

We've been a consistent .600 team now since the all star break last year. We're good. Now we need to get to great. Fox looks ready to lead us there.
 
Can't say enough about Keegan's defensive effort tonight on Mikal. He's the exact archetype of player that consistently torched us for years and while he ended with 22 on 13 shots, he was not good at all tonight. Almost all of his buckets were away from Keegan defense and outside of that stretch in the 4th where he caught fire from 3, he was just uncomfortable and bad the entire night. 5 TO's, and just could not get many clean looks to even get shots off tonight.

Oh and 24 points on 13 shots. Not too shabby

And just the overall defensive effort tonight was outstanding. Easily one of our better defensive games of the season. Nets were at 104 when they waived the white flag and put Giles into the game. Fox had a few plays where he just jailed the ball-handler with his pressure and caused a TO. He can't do that all game because of his offensive workload, obviously, but shows how there is upside when we want it defensively.
 

dude really might be the most beloved ex-King of all which is quite the accomplishment considering how passionately attached Kings fans get to players.
Now THERE'S a back-up big that would actually make sense in our system. Probably not a consistent rotation guy, but a fan favorite/maculate vibes and gives you some of that Domas "skilled-big" type of play? Ya, Im in
 

hrdboild

Moloch in whom I dream Angels!
Staff member
What a blessing this current version of the Kings has been after almost 20 years of perpetual suck! We cycled through a dozen coaches and punted on just as many lottery picks. We had an entire locker room declare war on a Hall of Fame coach and run him out of town (remember the George Karl debacle?!). We had a rookie of the year winner essentially get frozen out of the offense by a man with the last name Smart (you can't make this stuff up). We had a franchise player (and our only All-Star for almost 20 years) traded during an All-Star game. And of course, worst of all, we very nearly lost our team completely to a family of buffoons looking to cash out so they could bankrupt another casino.

I just made my 10,000th post in this thread so I can't help but reflect on how far we've come since the Webber trade in 2005 when I joined this forum. That's enough looking back though -- here's what we have to look forward to...

Fox is not just an All-Star, he's rubbing elbows with league MVPs.
Domas has been an absolute revelation -- almost single-handily transforming one of the worst offenses in the league into one of the best.
Malik is a human highlight reel and should be one of the top vote getters for 6th man of the year.
Keegan is just starting to put it together but if he keeps having performances like this he'll be an All-Star too before long.
Coach Brown, last year's unanimous Coach of the Year award winner, has actually got a Kings team playing suffocating defense at least some of the time.

Thanks for all the memories and here's to another 18 years of Kings fandom!
 
We can't offer him 30 mil, but I've been championing Monk starting for awhile now. And I'm the biggest Huerter stan on the forum too. He's just developing on another level as an on-ball initiator.
It’s a nice change of pace with Monk coming off the bench though. Gives us an edge that many teams simply don’t have. We already have Sabonis and Fox setting guys up in the starting lineup, I’m not sure we need another guy taking the ball out of their hands, even though Monk sets up everyone quite nicely. As long as he finishes the games, I’m all good with how things are for now.
 
Also hats off to HB. He played really well in this one including in defense.
Yeah, he's the first guy we attack when things go wrong, but this was a "classic" HB type of game that we need from him. 14 points on 7 shots and a few oustanding defensive plays, including a big block on Clax right at the rim. Interesting he only played 26 minutes and was so effective; maybe something to consider going forward?
 
Yeah, he's the first guy we attack when things go wrong, but this was a "classic" HB type of game that we need from him. 14 points on 7 shots and a few oustanding defensive plays, including a big block on Clax right at the rim. Interesting he only played 26 minutes and was so effective; maybe something to consider going forward?
he also starts to look better when Keegan is doing what he is supposed to do. If we get this kind of performance out of Keegan the 5th starter role looks different
 
Best game of the season for Murray - three pointers, step back jumpers, floaters, dunks, and excellent efficiency. His defense was stellar, and he seemed very comfortable and confident out on the floor, even raising his hand to get the ball on one occasion. He outplayed a very good player in Bridges.
Murray didn't settle for 3s. Murray attacked Bridges. Murray played Bridges straight up. And Murray came out on top, without having to rely on his 3pt shot. Murray growed up.
 
Murray didn't settle for 3s. Murray attacked Bridges. Murray played Bridges straight up. And Murray came out on top, without having to rely on his 3pt shot. Murray growed up.
I will never forget the moment when Keegan passed up an open three against the wishes of Coach Brown and took it to the rack to get his game going. Ever since that moment, Coach has backed off the micromanaging, and Keegan's game has flourished. Credit to both the player and the Coach.
 
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