There is absolutely NOTHING to learn from this game.
The Kings quite clearly did not want to win this game.
Anyone can see how they treated the 4th quarter, leaving their backups in an incredible amount of time, letting the clock tick down, only putting in their starters when it became obvious they were throwing the game if they didn't.
When the starters finally came back in, I looked at their faces and body language, and they were not looking forward to having to go in and lose the game. It was clear to anyone who watched this game that the Kings did not want to win.
Let your adrenaline down, my friend.
We have a lot to learn and grow from beyond this game. It's a good learning experience. The main positive is that last year when we were down by 17 in the 3rd quarter, we would have given up. Last year, our bench would have made that into a 25+ deficit. Things have changed for the better.
We lost this game due to multiple reasons: They were lights out from shooting. You know when Nick Collison is draining three's like it is nobodies business then you're having a hell of a night. Their D-leaguers were motivated as hell against us and Ramon Sessions cost us on those plays. REBOUNDS. We didn't rebound well at all. You could tell that Cousins was missing that extra jump from his game. He was a little worn out. You forget that him and Gay had a very very long summer. Those World Championship games took a lot out of them. Granted, they didn't play during playoff season but they also didn't get a proper rest. This also helped us as a team to get to a better start because our players were already conditioned before the season started. That's why our win-loss ratio is so inflated. Last but not least, they got a lot of help and BS calls from the refs. Down the stretch, there was about 4-5 wrongful calls against us. That's what did it.
One other thing that we learned as I stated previously, Ben Mac is no longer a garbage time player!
We can also learn from this game that Ray Mac needs to play more. I think the reason that he hasn't is he takes too many questionable shots. He took a ridiculously contested 3 pointer today and Malone was pissed. That's not how you run a game as a true PG. He needs to learn from Collison.
If Ben Mac can develop this year, I honestly believe the playoffs are close. Gay's contract next season could be around 12 million which gives us 7 million to bring in an upgrade.
Also, lets not forget we can offload some useless contracts like D-Williams.
Future is bright guys.