Kingsfans.com Official Game Thread
Game 3
Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Clippers
By Stephen Tetsu, What Ever Happened to the Baha Men?Game 3
Sacramento Kings at Los Angeles Clippers
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Even Rudy was shocked by his performance against the Blazers. (Photo Credit: SacBee)
Let's go back to the start of the game, as things were all doom and gloom as we all assumed the blowout loss against the Warriors was going to be the best we’d see out of the Kings all season. As it turns out, we were rather mistaken.
For 48 minutes (well, really more like two and a half hours if you count stoppage of play and commercials), we watched the Kings rebound, defend, and rebound their way to a nice victory over a pretty good Portland squad (although I still consider them to be a tad bit overrated, call it the T-Rob effect). That double rebound isn’t a typo. If you think back to those Kings squads several seasons ago, you may be able to recall that our team had more than its fair share of trouble pulling down the boards. Now, that’s never even a concern. And it’s not even Demarcus or Reggie doing all the boardwork, as our 6’0” point guard has thus far been rebounding at a rate better than Lamarcus Aldridge, who, to be fair, is possibly the weakest rebounding star-level big not named Dirk to grace the league in years. We may not have improved much over the years but at least that’s one thing fixed. Limiting second chance opportunities for the other team improves our chances of victory more than we probably think.
In other fun developments in Kings land, Omri displaced D-Will as the back-up three and wound up being our only productive bench player for the night as Ramon Sessions laid another egg, Carl Landry appears to have lost his post game, Reggie Evans remains Reggie Evans (good at rebounds and being an enforcer, bad at pretty much anything else), and Nik is very much a rookie.
Meanwhile, our starting backcourt has started out the year by playing stellar defense, led by Darren Collison, who has apparently took his new contract in stride by attempting to play like a better shooting Rajon Rondo. Ben, for his part, still looks shaky at best on offense but has seemingly become a plus defender over the offseason which bodes well for his future NBA prospects.
Demarcus has had a relatively quiet start to the season and has at times reverted back to Dumbarcus Cousins, a guy who simply cannot resist making dumb fouls in the opponent's backcourt, killing all positive momentum in the process. But when he's been in, he's made a big impact, especially on the defensive (!) end of the court. In the fourth quarter, Demarcus simply shut down most of the paint, his efforts culminating in a two position sequence that went Demarcus block/Ben dunk/Demarcus block. That short thirty second sequence essentially put the game firmly in the Kings hands.
In case, you haven't noticed, I've been talking a lot about defense and how good the Kings have looked on that side of the game. While I doubt they'll ever look like the 2002 team out there on offense, if our guys can keep on putting forth these defensive efforts, they'll find themselves in the thick of it at the end of a lot of games.
Post of the Game
We're all gonna DIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! Pessimism of the Game
Game Awards
Tony Delk Memorial Award- This was a tough one because no one on the Blazers really contributed aside from the guys who you'd expect would contribute. That said, Wes Matthews was once on our summer league team but didn’t even make our training camp roster because we were “too deep” at the shooting guard position. (Yes, little Timmy, at one point we had too many shooting guards.)
Shareef-Abdur Rahim Award- Do you remember when Chris Kaman had (bad) hair? You do? Do you remember when Kaman was an all-star? Yes? Do you remember when Chris Kaman was graceful and athletic? Nope. Me neither. Now at age 32 and in his 12th NBA season, he never will be.
Mikki Moore Award- Did you know at one point a couple of years ago, Nick Batum was considered one of the best young small forwards in the NBA? Going off of this game it would be hard to see that this was ever the case. Couldn't hit a shot, definitely couldn't stop his man, only moderately good on the boards, which is bad when Lamarcus "I'm afraid of caroms off the rim" Aldridge is your power forward. At least he got five assists, so I guess that's cool.
WTF Moment of the Game- Demarcus gets a stupid foul in the middle of the third quarter and is promptly removed from the game, Portland proceeds to go on a run to tie the game again against our sputtering bench offense.
Thomas Robinson Endowment for the Mentally Gifted Award- Thomas Robinson. When you can't beat out Joel Freeland for a rotation spot, things probably aren't going that great in your NBA career.
The View From the Other Side
The opinions of the Portland Trailblazer fanbase as borrowed from the users of the irreplaceable Blazer's Edge.
Tonight's Game
Want to hate sleeved jerseys even more? Stick them on the Clippers.
As you all probably know, the Clippers have been in the news for most of the year... and not necessarily for basketball reasons. But now, having gone from an old racist slumlord to a sweaty CEO who once tried to buy the Kings and move them to Seattle AND is responsible for Windows 8, the Clippers are just as hate-able as always.
Blake Griffin has been on an absolute tear to start the season off but today he must contend with the defensive juggernaut that is Jason Thompson, which will surely end well for us. Also, DeAndre Jordan is one of the best interior enforcers in the NBA, but he usually sucks at defending Demarcus, which could mean good things for us.
Also, for the third consecutive game, Darren Collison is stuck having to face off against another All-Star point guard, this time his former backcourt mate, Chris Paul. Two times is still a fluke, three times establish a pattern. Let's try to establish a pattern, shall we?
Our bench also really needs to find a way to produce/ lock Derrick Williams inside his hotel room. No offense to Omri, but when he's accounting for most of your bench production, other guys really need to step up (That means you, Ramon!). And for the love of god, STOP RUNNING THE OFFENSE THROUGH REGGIE EVANS!
If we show up with more defensive effort, things could get fun.
Match-ups
Demarcus v. Dumbmarcus: DON'T LET THE STUPIDITY WIN. DON'T LET THE STUPIDITY WIN!
Blake Griffin v. the rest of the Oscar Contenders for Best Actor: Blake continues his Academy Award campaign tonight. I expect a lot of scenery-chewing.
Chris Paul v. Darren Collison: Let's see that lockdown defense continue on for another game. I wonder how much CP3 makes from each All-State commercial...
Stephen v. Sleep-Deprivation: Today's game starts at 5:30 in the morning for me. In other words, someone grab the caffeine please.
People who Forgot to Set their Clocks versus the world: You get an extra hour of sleep!
Paper v. Plastic: Pretty sure paperboys don't exist in Japan.
Predictions and Final Thoughts
I hate the Clippers and thus could never predict them to win. Thus, my final prediction is a 98-98 tie. And that's all I have to say about that.
Go Kings!
P.S. Didn't think you could hate Clippers more? Well, they have this guy, so let hate reign.
What kind of douchewagon haircut is that nonsense? (Photo credit: Things that Make Me Want To Punch Babies)
