[Game] Game Forty-Something+1: Sacramento Kings @ Indiana Pacers. 1/31/15, 4:00PST, 7:00EST

[KingMilz]

Yeah, that's it. Pick on the only guy to play with heart and effort every single freaking night, the one guy who is trying to carry at least three other players at almost every point in the game, even when his shot isn't falling.

Really cause I remember you and 90% of the forum (including myself) ripping Isaiah Thomas to pieces game after game and he played with heart every night for us. So why is it ok for us to crap all over IT who played with heart but simply played way to dumb (which Cousins is doing) but it's not ok to do the same to Rudy/DeMarcus and Tyreke Evans? You can't have a double standard like that, call it how it is, if someone had a crap game or is not playing team/intelligent basketball why not just say it instead of making excuses?

 

[VF21]

Someone struggling with "fatigue" should not have the energy to chuck up 24 shots with half of them being contest off the dribble mid range jumpers they have no chance of making, also how can someone with fatigue after every rebound "push" the ball up the floor and try play the point? That makes no sense to me, if he's struggling with fatigue he would not be able to do any of those things.

He might have the same form of meningitis Josh Smith has had his entire career which forces you to play to your weaknesses and turn the ball over at a insanely high rate. That's the only excuse I can think.

He's just playing stupid that's basically the only answer.

You're really reaching now. I won't say any more for fear of violating the same rules I'm tasked with enforcing.

 

[kennadog]

Someone struggling with "fatigue" should not have the energy to chuck up 24 shots with half of them being contest off the dribble mid range jumpers they have no chance of making, also how can someone with fatigue after every rebound "push" the ball up the floor and try play the point? That makes no sense to me, if he's struggling with fatigue he would not be able to do any of those things.

He might have the same form of meningitis Josh Smith has had his entire career which forces you to play to your weaknesses and turn the ball over at a insanely high rate. That's the only excuse I can think.

He's just playing stupid that's basically the only answer.

Personally, I find this post stupid.

 

[Tetsujin]

Really cause I remember you and 90% of the forum (including myself) ripping Isaiah Thomas to pieces game after game and he played with heart every night for us. So why is it ok for us to crap all over IT who played with heart but simply played way to dumb (which Cousins is doing) but it's not ok to do the same to Rudy/DeMarcus and Tyreke Evans? You can't have a double standard like that, call it how it is, if someone had a crap game or is not playing team/intelligent basketball why not just say it instead of making excuses?

There's a difference between playing with heart and playing for yourself.

 

[KingMilz]

Personally, I find this post stupid.

I just want you to explain to me how a guy suffering from fatigue has the energy to shot 24 times and after getting a rebound about 5-10 times a guy is capable of pushing the ball up the floor trying to play as a PG? I don't think Cousins problem right now is physical.

 

[KingMilz]

There's a difference between playing with heart and playing for yourself.

Really cause I could say the exact same thing about Rudy Gay and DeMarcus right now

 

[VF21]

Really cause I could say the exact same thing about Rudy Gay and DeMarcus right now

Of course you could...and have. Your schtick is getting old.

 

[kennadog]

I just want you to explain to me how a guy suffering from fatigue has the energy to shot 24 times and after getting a rebound about 5-10 times a guy is capable of pushing the ball up the floor trying to play as a PG? I don't think Cousins problem right now is physical.

Guts and heart. I know from personal experience.

 

[IfAt1st]

Hours after the game, I woke up from a nap and had to come back and type this:

That foul on Ryan Hollins' screen was absolute chickencrap.
It's horrendous that Ryan can make a textbook screen, have the other guy smack into him, and get called for.... what? A moving screen? (Impossible, he was as stationary as a body can realistically be at impact)
Too hard of screen? It's not his fault the other guy smacked himself into his body.

I mean, if THAT obvious of call can go against Ryan, how can anyone say (with a straight face) basketball is a fair sport with clear rules?

That one example said, Hollins should not be on the court for the Kings unless they are leading by over 20.
EVER.

There's a reason why the Kings keep losing leads the instant Demarcus is off the court :
Because the Kings don't have an NBA-quality backup for him.

How can PDA possibly watch the NBA without seeing the parade of back-up bigmen strewn all across other team's rosters, and watch our Kings drop leads all season long the instant Demarcus goes to the bench, and not have made one trade to rectify the horrendously blatantly obvious hole in the roster?

 

[TheJewishKing]

Don't get thrilled...
A 3-pointer is nice, but it was not a good game for our countryman.
Not much contribution on neither side side of the court.

Still, a W is a W - especially on the road.

Well you can't really do much when you only given 8 minutes to play by your coach, likely for the Kings his services weren't really needed due to the fact that Collison and Gay were able to handle this one on their own.

I was watching the first half yesterday and I just couldn't look at Cousins forcing shots anymore, I really like this player but he ignored so many opportunities for his teammates to score some easy buckets and increase the lead even more, and when the game ended I glanced at the scorebox and it seemed like it didn't get better in the second half, I hope his rhythm will get better. However he was doing a very decent job once again in the rebounding tonight, you can certainly credit him for that.

 

[206Fan]

That's a sincerely bizarre take. lots of things not going his way, but the heart is absolutely unquestionable. You know how much effort it takes to carry three guys on your back every night, dominate the boards, carry a bunch of bad defenders? Every single night its there. What's not though is the composure on offense.

How does he carry everyone else? Lately he's been playing terrible. Most bigs in the NBA have AT LEAST .500 shooting, Cousins barely has .400 shooting this month.
Anytime he gets frustrated, he tries to do everything all by himself...dribble, bring the ball up, go for steals vs guards, and etc. The only thing he's done well lately is rebound and take charges.

Everyone has said it's our FO's fault all of the players are playing like they don't care anymore... It's all over the boards, so what makes it different by me pointing out Cousins?

I think it's unacceptable for Cousins to play at such a low level right now. Especially right after getting selected into the All Stars. If the reason is injury, then that's one thing, but if it's unrelated to injury, then that's a problem.

 

[Glenn]

Well you can't really do much when you only given 8 minutes to play by your coach, likely for the Kings his services weren't really needed due to the fact that Collison and Gay were able to handle this one on their own.

I was watching the first half yesterday and I just couldn't look at Cousins forcing shots anymore, I really like this player but he ignored so many opportunities for his teammates to score some easy buckets and increase the lead even more, and when the game ended I glanced at the scorebox and it seemed like it didn't get better in the second half, I hope his rhythm will get better. However he was doing a very decent job once again in the rebounding tonight, you can certainly credit him for that.

Omri is being wasted. There was one sequence where he seemed incapable of picking up the ball. That was not the normal Omri and I wonder now if he is so out of synch with the game or nervous he will get pulled that his game is getting shakey.

He should be part of the regular rotation. I agree as to Boogie.

 

[Chubbs]

How does he carry everyone else? Lately he's been playing terrible. Most bigs in the NBA have AT LEAST .500 shooting, Cousins barely has .400 shooting this month.
Anytime he gets frustrated, he tries to do everything all by himself...dribble, bring the ball up, go for steals vs guards, and etc. The only thing he's done well lately is rebound and take charges.

Everyone has said it's our FO's fault all of the players are playing like they don't care anymore... It's all over the boards, so what makes it different by me pointing out Cousins?

I think it's unacceptable for Cousins to play at such a low level right now. Especially right after getting selected into the All Stars. If the reason is injury, then that's one thing, but if it's unrelated to injury, then that's a problem.

Because Cousins cares. That's why. He's playing his ass off and it's bizarre that people are unable to see that. Is his effort misguided due to conflicting asinine requests from the FO? Yeah. Is he taking too many jumpers? Yeah. Is that because of the idiots in charge changing the offense? Yes.

Shooting poorly cause the front office has demanded he become a jump shooter doesn't indicate he has no heart or doesn't care. Nevermind that he's hurt, and had a life threatening illness. But yeah, whatever to that, right?

You want some guys that DID play bad. Try the entire bench. Almost every night. Landry was 1-3 for 2 point in 26 minutes. The bench combined for 11 points last night. 11! Start there.

 

[Glenn]

Because Cousins cares. That's why. He's playing his ass off and it's bizarre that people are unable to see that. Is his effort misguided due to conflicting asinine requests from the FO? Yeah. Is he taking too many jumpers? Yeah. Is that because of the idiots in charge changing the offense? Yes.

Shooting poorly cause the front office has demanded he become a jump shooter doesn't indicate he has no heart or doesn't care. Nevermind that he's hurt, and had a life threatening illness. But yeah, whatever to that, right?

You want some guys that DID play bad. Try the entire bench. Almost every night. Landry was 1-3 for 2 point in 26 minutes. The bench combined for 11 points last night. 11! Start there.

I think Corbin wanted to win so he left the bench on the bench as much as possible. Cuz has to recognize when his buddy's don't need him to take over. He'll get there. Otherwise all I could add to this note is dome obscenities.

 

[Bricklayer]

How does he carry everyone else? Lately he's been playing terrible. Most bigs in the NBA have AT LEAST .500 shooting, Cousins barely has .400 shooting this month.
Anytime he gets frustrated, he tries to do everything all by himself...dribble, bring the ball up, go for steals vs guards, and etc. The only thing he's done well lately is rebound and take charges.

Everyone has said it's our FO's fault all of the players are playing like they don't care anymore... It's all over the boards, so what makes it different by me pointing out Cousins?

I think it's unacceptable for Cousins to play at such a low level right now. Especially right after getting selected into the All Stars. If the reason is injury, then that's one thing, but if it's unrelated to injury, then that's a problem.

Playing at a low level has nothing to do with not caring. Especially not when what we are talking about with playing at a low level is:

a) being stationed outside on offense
b) being unable to beat double and triple teams on offense.

That's got nothing to do with effort. Oh, and BTW in this last one that was Roy Hibbert back there BTW. You don't post up Roy Hibbert.

That road trip back around the new year was depressing for Cuz, but he came back home with some of the biggest "effort" games by any player in the NBA all season. And the effort has not flagged. He is trying to carry the whole franchise right now.

FG% is not primarily an "effort" stat. In fact many of the best FG% guys play with very little effort at all, and just take the easy shots and chill during the rest of the game. A.I. on the other hand busted his ass every second for a dozen years, but his FG% was fugly. All the effort stats are right there where they were during the first month of the season. And in fact he's back to being a real menace racking up steals with those great hands.

He played 13 games in November, 13 games in January:

Rebounds: 169 in Nov. 170 in Jan.
Blocks: 21 in Nov. 21 in Jan.
Steals: 15 in Nov. 29 in Jan.
FT Attempts: 100 in Nov. 119 in Jan.
I have no way to check monthly stats on charges taken, but I bet its the same.

This is NOT an effort problem. its an offensive scheme and offensive composure question. We, and our opponents, have taken him out of his offensive comfort zone. We are asking him to do too much. And his efficiency has plummeted because he is TRYING (trying = effort) to create too much now. He's not a PG, he's a center. He's not Chris Webber, he's a center. Our front office's childish fantasy of filling the arena with people reminiscing about things 15 years past has them using him all wrong, and asking him to do all the wrong things, while running up and down the court to little effect.

 

[bajaden]

I just want you to explain to me how a guy suffering from fatigue has the energy to shot 24 times and after getting a rebound about 5-10 times a guy is capable of pushing the ball up the floor trying to play as a PG? I don't think Cousins problem right now is physical.

The problem you have right now, is that most people don't care what you think. And there's a reason for that. I could help you with that, but somehow I don't think you'd take my advice. To be relevant on this forum, you have to have credibility, and you've spent all yours. There was a time on this forum when I would argue with people like you, but then one day I discovered I could have the same discussion with my wall at home and have the same result. Much less stress that way... Enjoy!

Edit: By the way, the sad part of this is, that there are times when I agree with you.

 

[bajaden]

How does he carry everyone else? Lately he's been playing terrible. Most bigs in the NBA have AT LEAST .500 shooting, Cousins barely has .400 shooting this month.
Anytime he gets frustrated, he tries to do everything all by himself...dribble, bring the ball up, go for steals vs guards, and etc. The only thing he's done well lately is rebound and take charges.

Everyone has said it's our FO's fault all of the players are playing like they don't care anymore... It's all over the boards, so what makes it different by me pointing out Cousins?

I think it's unacceptable for Cousins to play at such a low level right now. Especially right after getting selected into the All Stars. If the reason is injury, then that's one thing, but if it's unrelated to injury, then that's a problem.

Unacceptable huh? You do know he's playing on a very sore ankle right? You do know he's being tripled teamed just about every time he touches the ball right? Now if you want to say he's had a bad couple of games, fine. I don't think anyone would dispute that. I guess my question to you would be, whats your point. Do you want us to trade him, bench him, fine him, or maybe just make him sit in the corner for a couple of hours? Do you and what's his face really think your informing us of anything we don't know already? Do you think Cousins went out there and missed all those shots on purpose? I suspect that his ankle is bothering him more than he's letting on. When your wheels aren't working properly, you tend to take more jumpshots, than go to the basket and risk stepping on someone's foot again.

By the way, for the last ten games Cuz has averaged 45.2% from the floor, which is nothing to write home about, but if it weren't for three games, he'd be close to 50%. His last two games in particular have been his worse. There are a lot of reasons for whats happening that I won't go into right now. Some of it is on Cousins, but most of it is on the team, the coaching, and the GM. Put them in what ever order you want. To compare IT to Cousins is laughable. And that's not to be a criticism of IT. Yeah, IT averaged 20 points a game, but I don't think he did it with three people hanging off of him. You triple team IT and see how many points he scores.

Cousins is the target of every team we play. Their entire defensive scheme is designed to stop him for scoring. The fact that he's been able to accomplish what he has, is nothing short of amazing. Yeah, he might be getting a little tired. You know what happens when you get tired, or fatigued as its been put? You try and play the same way you've been playing, but your body starts to betray you. You start missing shots that you were making. Then you start compensating, pressing, and it just gets worse. You need a healthy body and a clear mind to play to your potential, and I doubt that Cousins has either at the moment. So how about cutting him a little slack?

 

[dude12]

The problem you have right now, is that most people don't care what you think. And there's a reason for that. I could help you with that, but somehow I don't think you'd take my advice. To be relevant on this forum, you have to have credibility, and you've spent all yours. There was a time on this forum when I would argue with people like you, but then one day I discovered I could have the same discussion with my wall at home and have the same result. Much less stress that way... Enjoy!

Edit: By the way, the sad part of this is, that there are times when I agree with you.

I was going to like your post...good points and then the edit part was put in.....so I can't like the post cause I don't agree with him/her like ever.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

Unacceptable huh? You do know he's playing on a very sore ankle right? You do know he's being tripled teamed just about every time he touches the ball right? Now if you want to say he's had a bad couple of games, fine. I don't think anyone would dispute that. I guess my question to you would be, whats your point. Do you want us to trade him, bench him, fine him, or maybe just make him sit in the corner for a couple of hours? Do you and what's his face really think your informing us of anything we don't know already? Do you think Cousins went out there and missed all those shots on purpose? I suspect that his ankle is bothering him more than he's letting on. When your wheels aren't working properly, you tend to take more jumpshots, than go to the basket and risk stepping on someone's foot again.

By the way, for the last ten games Cuz has averaged 45.2% from the floor, which is nothing to write home about, but if it weren't for three games, he'd be close to 50%. His last two games in particular have been his worse. There are a lot of reasons for whats happening that I won't go into right now. Some of it is on Cousins, but most of it is on the team, the coaching, and the GM. Put them in what ever order you want. To compare IT to Cousins is laughable. And that's not to be a criticism of IT. Yeah, IT averaged 20 points a game, but I don't think he did it with three people hanging off of him. You triple team IT and see how many points he scores.

Just to piggy-back on this, when I read the comment wondering why it isn't hypocrisy to complain about Cousins taking a lot of shots, even though people complained when Thomas did it, I wonder whether such people forget that Cousins is our best player, or whether they sincerely thought that Isaiah Thomas was our best player? People complained about Thomas because of his decision making, but also because, when he was doing it, he was taking the ball out of the hands of his betters, and only the first of those two complaints apply to Cousins. And it seems to me, looking through the [Game] threads that Cousins does receive complaints about his decision making.

Also, when Thomas went into hero-ball mode, he was keeping the ball out of Cousins' hands. When Cousins goes into hero-ball mode, it keeps the ball out of the hands of... who? Ben McLemore? Jason Thompson? Ramon Sessions? If you want to see more outrage about that issue on KingsFans.com, you're probably going to have to start by finding enough people who agree with you that Cousins having the ball instead of, say, Collison, is an actual problem.

 

[dude12]

I'm calling out a couple of you guys ripping on Cuz....it comes across as you haven't watched or played much basketball because these posts make no sense. My gawd man.......Cuz and Gay have to perform at elite levels every game for some people. SMDH.

 

[lawlman91]

Unacceptable huh? You do know he's playing on a very sore ankle right? You do know he's being tripled teamed just about every time he touches the ball right? Now if you want to say he's had a bad couple of games, fine. I don't think anyone would dispute that. I guess my question to you would be, whats your point. Do you want us to trade him, bench him, fine him, or maybe just make him sit in the corner for a couple of hours? Do you and what's his face really think your informing us of anything we don't know already? Do you think Cousins went out there and missed all those shots on purpose? I suspect that his ankle is bothering him more than he's letting on. When your wheels aren't working properly, you tend to take more jumpshots, than go to the basket and risk stepping on someone's foot again.

By the way, for the last ten games Cuz has averaged 45.2% from the floor, which is nothing to write home about, but if it weren't for three games, he'd be close to 50%. His last two games in particular have been his worse. There are a lot of reasons for whats happening that I won't go into right now. Some of it is on Cousins, but most of it is on the team, the coaching, and the GM. Put them in what ever order you want. To compare IT to Cousins is laughable. And that's not to be a criticism of IT. Yeah, IT averaged 20 points a game, but I don't think he did it with three people hanging off of him. You triple team IT and see how many points he scores.

Cousins is the target of every team we play. Their entire defensive scheme is designed to stop him for scoring. The fact that he's been able to accomplish what he has, is nothing short of amazing. Yeah, he might be getting a little tired. You know what happens when you get tired, or fatigued as its been put? You try and play the same way you've been playing, but your body starts to betray you. You start missing shots that you were making. Then you start compensating, pressing, and it just gets worse. You need a healthy body and a clear mind to play to your potential, and I doubt that Cousins has either at the moment. So how about cutting him a little slack?

My suspicion is that 206fan is trying to be contrarian for whatever reason. He's in that small minority that believes or at least enjoys purporting that the FO is good, and that the FO is not to blame for the recent losses. But these are only guesses, so it might not be true.

 

[bajaden]

I was going to like your post...good points and then the edit part was put in.....so I can't like the post cause I don't agree with him/her like ever.

I think that if I'm going to be honest about my criticism, I have to admit when someone is also right about something, even when it might be included in a post that's wrong in general. I'm sure everyone doesn't agree with everything I say, but hopefully we find some common ground on occasion. What I can't speak to, is what someone's intentions are? What motivates them? Is the culprit being intentionally malicious, or is he or she just misguided? I can venture a guess, but I've been known to guess wrong. This I know. The more you hammer someone, the more they'll circle the wagons, and thereby become less receptive to feed back. Finally, that edit was for his benefit, not yours. I think he's a smart guy, I just don't know what his motivations are. You could be right. He might be a jerk, who thinks its fun to irritate people. Or he could be a person blindly loyal to his own point of view, at the omission of all logic.