[Game] Game 69: Kings v. Wizards, 3/22/15 - 3:00 pdt/6:00 edt

[The_Jamal]

Regardless of Karl being a Nellie Ball loser or not (lol), the guys are starting certainly starting to respond to him. They're out there flying all over the court

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Whut?

The Wizards have some kind of promotion where, if a visiting player misses back-to-back free throws, everybody in the arena gets a free chicken sandwich, with their ticket stub.

 

[Ron]

Wow, great team effort and team spirit tonight!
That 3rd Q... Was that great to watch or what?

They really look like they're having a good time together in there.

Are we back where we were in the beginning of the season?
(In terms of locker-room vibe)

 

[SacTownKid]

Regardless of Karl being a Nellie Ball loser or not (lol), the guys are starting certainly starting to respond to him. They're out there flying all over the court

Yep and is it really Nellie ball when you have someone like Rudy Gay on the floor? The dude is just about as tall as Cousins for crying out loud! If he learns to not reach on post D I can totally see why the Raps wanted him to play PF for them. Then with Casspi you have another 6'9" player out there with him. Nelson played J-Rich at PF for huge chunks, this isn't the same thing. I'm a hater of total gimmick ball if you have the overall talent to not resort to it full time, but there isn't a team that's won a ring in the last few years that hasn't gone there for major stretches. Floor spacing is the new "thing" don't you know.

I don't see this for it being small as much as I do what this team can do when they have spacers around Cuz.

 

[VF21]

The Wizards have some kind of promotion where, if a visiting player misses back-to-back free throws, everybody in the arena gets a free chicken sandwich, with their ticket stub.

Whoa. That could get kind of expensive.

 

[Ron]

Wait. That was DEFENSE and Derrick Williams was definitely involved. Now I'm getting scared.

I was about to mention it myself.
(Is it snowing in hell?)

 

[VF21]

Wow, great team effort and team spirit tonight!
That 3rd Q... Was that great to watch or what?

They really look like they're having a good time together in there.

Are we back where we were in the beginning of the season?
(In terms of locker-room vibe)

I wouldn't say we're back to where we were. I'd say we're well on the road to having much better chemistry than was evident before Karl came to town. I, for one, am beyond tired of comparing things to Malone's tenure. He's so last year.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Yep and is it really Nellie ball when you have someone like Rudy Gay on the floor? The dude is just about as tall as Cousins for crying out loud! If he learns to not reach on post D I can totally see why the Raps wanted him to play PF for them. Then with Casspi you have another 6'9" player out there with him. Nelson played J-Rich at PF for huge chunks, this isn't the same thing. I'm a hater of total gimmick ball if you have the overall talent to not resort to it full time, but there isn't a team that's won a ring in the last few years that hasn't gone there for major stretches. Floor spacing is the new "thing" don't you know.

Nellie Ball wasn't really about height. When he had Wang Zhi Zhi and Raef LaFrentz shooting three pointers, that was Nellie Ball, too.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Whoa. That could get kind of expensive.

Has to be during the same trip to the line, and it only applies to the visiting team; you'd be surprised by how rarely it happens.

 

[The_Jamal]

HOLLLYYYYY

get your ankles checked son

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Glenn Robinson... Carmelo Anthony... Rudy Gay... I still have no idea whether or not Karl knows what to do with an elite big man, but damned if he doesn't know what to do with a quality small forward!

 

[VF21]

Just heard from someone at the game. She says the arena is really buzzing, having a lot of fun, and the Kings bench looks more involved and yet relaxed than she's seen in a long time.

 

[VF21]

If Nik Stauskas keeps hitting those, somebody might actually start guarding him.

 

[VF21]

Now that was ball movement. I know it was, I remember seeing it back in 2005 or so.

 

[VF21]

DMC looks over at the Wizards bench, Wall says something, and Boogie grins.

 

[SacTownKid]

Nellie Ball wasn't really about height. When he had Wang Zhi Zhi and Raef LaFrentz shooting three pointers, that was Nellie Ball, too.

Yeah, but in the context it's being used it's mostly about size because if it's about bigs shooting 3's you would have to condemn players like Robert Horry and 3 straight Lakers championships, although condemning one is obvious of course. In Dallas you'd often see Juwan Howard, Dirk, and Shawn Bradley out there together.

That last W's run was total gimmick ball but give the man some dang credit for what they accomplished. He took chicken you know what and made it into chicken salad.

I don't see that kind of gimmick ball right now. This looks more like what OKC looks like when they put Durant at PF. Would you say they play Nellie ball too?

 

[Bricklayer]

Yep and is it really Nellie ball when you have someone like Rudy Gay on the floor? The dude is just about as tall as Cousins for crying out loud! If he learns to not reach on post D I can totally see why the Raps wanted him to play PF for them. Then with Casspi you have another 6'9" player out there with him. Nelson played J-Rich at PF for huge chunks, this isn't the same thing. I'm a hater of total gimmick ball if you have the overall talent to not resort to it full time, but there isn't a team that's won a ring in the last few years that hasn't gone there for major stretches. Floor spacing is the new "thing" don't you know.

I don't see this for it being small as much as I do what this team can do when they have spacers around Cuz.

Yes, its Nellieball if you have Rudy f-ing Gay at "PF". Please.

Its Nellieball if you have Durant three too, and he's 2 inches taller. Height isn't the thing, never has been when you are talking about tall SFs.

 

[VF21]

Yes, its Nellieball if you have Rudy f-ing Gay at "PF". Please.

Its Nellieball if you have Durant three too, and he's 2 inches taller. Height isn't the thing, never has been when you are talking about tall SFs.

It seems to have worked pretty well tonight. And isn't that what a good coach does? Adapt his roster to take the best advantage of matchups?

Oh well - I guess this is just another situation where you and I will never see eye-to-eye.

 

[kingsboi]

what a difference a game makes when players are hitting their outside shots. Still a lot of careless passing though...and I still don't like this speed but I guess that's what we are going to be dealing with, especially considering Collison is a quick and fast PG.

 

[VF21]

At this point, I don't care if it's smash-mouth or Nellie ball or any other catch phrase people might come up with. Today's game was entertaining, I saw more improvement in some of our bench players, and we got a freaking W off team play and nice effort all the way around. I'll take that every day of the week.

 

[VF21]

Wow, nice save/steal by McLemore. And a nice dish by DMC to Ray. This has been a fun game to watch.

 

[theclash4u5]

Welcome back to garbage time, Carl Landry

 

[theclash4u5]

Two games in a row that we've kept the opponent under 100??? Is this a dream?!

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Cue Luda!

 

[SLAB]

Just a great all-around win! Great to see McBen step up in the second half!

 

[SLAB]

Reggie Evans interview bomb DENIED.

 

[VF21]

Just a great all-around win! Great to see McBen step up in the second half!

I'm going to steal that. Calling them McBen and McRay will be a lot easier, at least for this old fan.

 

[9x1x6]

Whoa. That could get kind of expensive.

They used to do a free Chalupa up here in Portland whenever the Blazers scored 100 or more.

They stopped last season. :/

 

[9x1x6]

Just a great all-around win! Great to see McBen step up in the second half!

Ray as well, love seeing lockdown D in the 2nd Half.

 

[SacTownKid]

Yes, its Nellieball if you have Rudy f-ing Gay at "PF". Please.

Its Nellieball if you have Durant three too, and he's 2 inches taller. Height isn't the thing, never has been when you are talking about tall SFs.

Well, like I said above, then there are more teams that won rings with "Nellie ball" than I thought. Better alert the 10 o'clock news. J/K.

He seems to be using a decent balance IMO. I would agree if he were relying on that mismatch the whole time but he's not. He's used a decent mix of going big and going small. I emphatically agree about going small to the detriment of any defensive matchups, etc. but I think having as a part of the overall picture is a great idea. If and when the matchups start working against the Kings in any particular game and Karl doesn't make the necessary adjustments is when I'm going to question it. But as said, I saw nothing close to a team putting all it's eggs in the garbage ball basket tonight. I mostly saw great spacing because you didn't have a PF down there clogging the lane looking for an extra possession via the offensive board. Good possessions are better than extra possessions.

There was also a greater level of athletic ability which helped on both ends. I'm fully on board with any idea about switching screens if they can pull it off athletically. Going "small" with that pick and roll defensive strategy allowed the Spurs to crush the Heat in the finals.