[Grades] Grades v. Blazers 1/19/2015

[Bricklayer]

If you taped this for later, two things that you will absolutely need in order to watch the game:

So...DMC was back, which means we can compete with anybody. Aldridge went down in the first quarter, meaning we even had an edge. Late in the game the refs decided to remover that edge in rather pathetic fashion. How pathetic? Even fans on the other side took note:

Culled from a prominent bball site:

#268 » by blazertown7 » 56 minutes ago

These refs are awful. Cousins has been chopped and smacked all night. His last 2 fouls weren't fouls. Thats coming from a blazer fan.

Shaud » 50 minutes ago

The way they treated Demarcus Cousins down the stretch is a Damn shame.

Darren Collison should stop going 1 on 3

jumpman28 » 49 minutes ago

Like it was said a couple posts up, Demarcus has had some tough calls go on him the last 3 minutes

WashWiz54 » 46 minutes ago

I'd of been thrown out if I was a King player or coach. This is a joke.


So...at least they feel our pain. Yay?

Of course it still might have all worked out if we hadn't have shot ourselves in the foot about a dozen times with just dumb, forced, too hasty, thoughtless turnovers. But of course not. Not this year, or any other year in about a decade. NBA 3.0 and NBA 2.0 and NBA big fat zero.0 all starting to highly resemble each other.

Boxscore

Stats: 39min 26pts (10-19, 1-2, 5-6) 5reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 6TO
Gay ( B ) -- Rudy pretty much spent the night in the shadow of Nicolas Batum who was fortunately having an off night hitting only 8 pts on 2/8 shooting. Rudy got his game going early, his first shot was very quick, short 3, then a stop/pop in key for 2, then backs Batum down and hits a well defended jumper over him for 2 then dribbles to baseline and pop a 2 at about 5 min mark. Rudy leads a fast break, gets fouled by Batum upset at previous call and gets a technical as well, Rudy misses 2 of 3 but Kings up 21-12. Then a wierd shot (sort of an alley nope) on fast break and Rudy rebounds/tips shot in; hits another turnaround jumper, now has 11 pts; Pushes down low pass to Cuz for tomahawk jam, Kings up 27-14 @ 1:56 shooting 60%!! Blazers hit 3 just before buzzer with Kings up 31-23. Gay back in @ 7:23 mark for Ben to play 2 guard with DWill at the 3. Game has settled down, Rudy quiet for awhile, Blazers lead 44-43 at 3:20 with Kings getting their 12th TO! Rudy added a bounce pass to DC running baseline for easy 2 and a post up over Wright in close for 2 more in traffic before leaving for the final seconds of the half to protect his 2 fouls. Rudy had a good half: 19 min, 13 pt on 6/9, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl but 3 TO good solid B, higher if not for 3 TO. Rudy starts 3rd with nice spin move down lane for 2, now leads all scorers with 15. Batum is 1/7 struggling vs. Gay; @ 7:15 Kings up 66-57. Rudy gets mismatched w/Lilliard, turnaround jumper for 2; Steps back for 3 at top; Kings up 71-60, Kings have been getting back in transistion defense for a change and its paying off! 4th quarter starts to see the mix and match lineups by Corbin not producing very well and TO’s increasing. Matthews now on Rudy who drives giant curve around through the key to a nice layin. Blazers make a run and down only 83-81 at 6:38 mark, Cuz, Ben and DC back in, Rudy bad entry pass for TO, but generally good passing and ball movement this game until game got ragged last 6 min of 4th. Kings getting mugged and no calls. 31.8 left Rudy drives gets fouled, makes both, 1 pt game; tries jumper with 0:21 left but misses. --Cruz

Stats: 28min 4pts (2-4, 0-0, 0-0) 7reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thompson ( C ) -- he began the game with a brief carry over from the career game as he hit a nice tough jumper to start, then got a rebound. But he made a bad pass turnover up top leading to a Portland break to take the lead (one of two of those he had in the first half), took a jumper and pinned it in the crook for a jumpball, and was not able to really slow Aldridge's midrange jumpshooting game, as LMA had 10pts before leaving the game for good late in the first quarter with an injured hand. Without anybody to guard thereafter, Jason sunk back into nobody-to-guard-Jason. He had a little defensive boardwork behind Cuz to start the third, but was otherwise silent and by the end of the third I think he may have been intentionally removed for Reggie Evans superior physicality since at that point the refs had decided that interior play was going to resemble rugby with no calls. From that point on it seemed Corbin had a gerbil up his behind dictating he play the awesome that is Derrick Williams at smallball PF no matter how little he accomplished, and JT probably wouldn't have gotten back in at all except the refs abruptly reversed that decision vis a vis Cuz, and decided that things were now going to be called fouls that weren't even fouls. Jason responded to his chance to play the hero with all the fire and spunk of a manatee, and did nothing in the final minutes to prevent our demise. --Brick

Stats: 38min 22pts (7-17, 0-0, 8-12) 19reb 1ast 0stl 4blk 5TO
Cousins ( B ) -- It's another tough day to grade Cousins (and no, I'm not going to ding him for the refs ushering him out of the game on two pathetic calls - not his fault). The obvious thing is the rebounding. DeMarcus was a monster on the boards tonight (even when he WAS being fouled) and towards the end of the game he was working T-Rob like a pit bull working a stuffed bunny. It was a dominating effort out there on the boards. His defense was also great for most of the game. In the first quarter he was incredibly tentative on help, extremely slow on rotations he normally makes easily and once even being seemingly three seconds slow to turn around and contest Kaman after a pass into the post. I chalked this up to his ankle not being fully good, and I even thought he looked a bit gimpy out there. But as the game wore on, he appeared to gain confidence in his wheels and he was back to as good - or better - than normal. He ended up with four blocks on the game, and while I don't have the greatest vantage point from the couch, I thought he might have gotten a piece of two more balls that he didn't get credit for blocking. On the offensive end it wasn't really a very good game for Cousins at all, however. His shot really wasn't on. After missing four of his first six free throws he did manage to hit his last six to get to an almost-respectable 66% on the night from the charity stripe, but the jumper was not on tonight. Surprisingly he ended up 3-6 on jumpers, but two of those hit looked like misses and managed to bounce in somehow. It wasn't until his last jumper of the evening that he put one through the center of the hoop. His shooting troubles extended to the paint as well. While his dunk off of the sly Rudy drop-off was a thing of beauty, he missed a couple of easy ones down low, including two quick misses on layups to open up the third quarter despite having done the hard part to get to the rim. Overall he went for 22 points on 23 shots, which really isn't great efficiency and is kind of sub-par for what we expect out of him. Another problem I had with Cousins was his turnovers tonight, particularly in the first half. While it was "only" three turnovers before halftime, turnovers are a serious problem for our team and I'd like to see Cousins take better care of the ball to lead by example. I'm not one to say that all turnovers are created equal, and sometimes you don't fret over them, but Cousins' turnovers in the first half were all pretty bad - he tried to thread a bounce pass on the break that had no chance, he ran two coast-to-coast breaks into traffic resulting in one missed shot and a second turnover, and then he threw a pass straight to Lillard that was so far from being in the direction of anybody wearing purple that you almost have to think he had suffered some sort of stroke in visual cortex. On top of that there was another careless pass that fortunately resulted in a Portland foul. So while Cousins was almost certainly our best player on the floor tonight, we've come to expect more efficiency and to need him to take better care of the ball.--Capt.

Stats: 35min 11pts (3-10, 2-5, 3-3) 5reb 1ast 2stl 1blk 3TO
McLemore ( B- ) -- First, one of the poorest officiated games I've seen in a while. I thought I was watching pro wrestling at times. Plus, nothing more exciting than watching TV of ref's watching TV. OK, I feel better now. Ben didn't shoot the ball well tonight scoring 11 points on 3 of 10 shooting, but did go 2 of 5 from the three. What he did do well was play defense, and mostly on Mathews who went 7 of 20 from the floor, and 2 of 12 from the three. Two of Mathews baskets came against McCallum, who just isn't tall enough, or strong enough to guard him. Mathews did manage to take Ben off the dribble once for what was probably his easiest basket of the game, but other than that, he had to work hard for every shot he took while Ben was guarding him. Ben also had two steals, one in the first quarter when he got back in transition to steal an outlet pass. He also showed a little clutch when he was fouled shooting a three, walked to the line and coolly sank all three free throws with the game on the line. Ben also pulled down 5 rebounds. So despite the poor shooting, I'm giving him a pass because of his work on the defensive side of the ball. --Baja

Stats: 36min 13pts (6-11, 1-3, 0-1) 7reb 8ast 1stl 0blk 5TO
Collison ( C ) -- First a general note: I don't quite get what is the matter with DC right now, except I legitimately suspect it has to do with his coach yelling "go go go" at him all the time from the sideline. What I'm referring to is another game of erratic floor generalship, and some blatantly bad forces going 1 on 4 on the break for no reason at all other than a determination to get up a quick shot. It just feels uncomfortable, and combined with Ben's return to fumble form it leaves us without any offensive consistency. Now for the game notes: DC actually got off to a pretty good start to this one...well after a bad forced wild drive for no reason to begin things. But he recovered a bad Ben pass on the break to hit a corner three. Returned the favor with a good drive and dish in the corner to Ben for a three. And, after missing his only FT of the night on a technical came up with a nifty squirting drive and layup on the break. He added a jumper and had 7pts by the end of the quarter but when we tried to leave him on to steady the ridiculously unsteady reserves, he got picked from behind by Steve Blake of all people, and the lead rapidly dwindled again. When he returned Rudy found him on a backcut for a layup, but he added another turnover, and got called for a phantom foul on Lillard with 7 seconds to go. Still, it was a 9pts 5ast 4reb half, and Lillard wasn't doing much the other way. The third stater promisingly when he scooped up a ball tipped out by Cousins and got the layup. But down the other way he ran into Lillard on a three to give him a 4pt play, and for most of the quarter he was running around like a chicken with his head cut off quick shooting. And again, late int eh game the guy who has mostly steadied us, wasn't. After a darting layup at the 4min mark to put us up 3, DC responded to the refs' removal of Cuz with a terrible forced drive at the 2:30 mark for a turnover, he got back to save a hoop from behind knocking the ball away from Barton, after helping on the glass all night, got outrebounded by the bigger Lillard on the one we needed at the 1:20 mark, and Lillard hit the layup to put them up 2. Then got beat by Lillard AGAIN at the 35 second mark as Lillard split a screen situation and blew inside for a big dunk to go up 3. Then got beat by Lillard again at the 21 seconds mark and had to foul him and send him to the line, and to top things off, turned it over under heavy pressure at the 4.5 second mark as he stepped out f bounds. So...we lose. --Brick

 

[Bricklayer]

Bench
Stats: 17min 4pts (2-5, 0-1, 0-0) 1reb 1ast 2stl 0blk 0TO
McCallum ( C- ) -- brought in at he end of the 1st as the SG, then left in when Ben returned in the early 2nd, now as a PG. Made a good hustle save of a ball up top to start a fastbreak for us, but was having trouble staying in front of his men, and again was struggling to keep the offense humming as our primary ballhandler. When he returned in the late 3rd he immediately got a steal just taking the ball right away from Dorell Wright, but had produced no offense at all (0pts 0ast) through his first 11 minutes of action until he forced a tough drive right into the teeth of TRob in the early 4th. Scooped up a loose ball at the 7:40 mark of the 4th and laid it in to hold the lead. But after Reggie blew a layup Ray set up for him, our lead disappeared ina hurry and it was only 2 by the time we got the starters back in with 6:40 to go. A couple of good plays in the early 4th as we tried to hold on amounted to his entire grade. --Brick

Stats: 24min 6pts (2-5, 0-1, 2-2) 1reb 0ast 0stl 0blk -TO
Williams ( D- ) -- 24 min, 6 pts and 1 reb. Thats it!
Starting the 2nd DWill comes in for Gay with JT at the 5 and Cuz getting breather. Kings go up 40-32 @ 8;41 mark. Again. DWill running around, not doing much. Gay back in @ 7:23 mark for Ben to play 2 guard with DWill at the 3. Dorell Wright then beats DWill down court after a missed FT for easy 2. He did get one fast break 2 from DC but that was it.DWill again just not much of a game, he’s there but no significant offense or defense, just seems invisible much of the time. Did benefit from one more fast break in second half for 2 but little else. I also thougth Coach’s lineups were really odd tonight, different for sure and in 4th more disruptive than beneficial. --Cruz

Stats: 14min 3pts (0-2, 0-0, 3-4) 6reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 0TO
Evans ( B ) -- Reggie actually had a pretty good game out there. He only played 14 minutes, and quite a few of those were beside Cousins, but he still managed 6 rebounds in that short time and played with a lot of effort on defense. In fact, he was playing with enough intensity on D that his assignments only attempted one shot against him - in the second quarter Meyers Leonard took advantage of Reggie hanging back in the paint to jack up and hit a three. But only one or two possessions before that Reggie had gotten switched onto Wes Matthews and forced him into a bad three that missed. He played some really nice help D on Lillard on at least one occasion, and he made a smart foul on T-Rob going up for a lob, getting him before the catch so the ball came out of bounds. He ended up 0-2 from the floor, missing a putback that he probably should have kicked out, and missing a dunk where it certainly looked like he got fouled in the face. As another bright point, he hit 3 of 4 free throws, which from Reggie is as much as you can ask for. In general, the offense was not being run through Reggie tonight, and that's the first key to Reggie having success. --Capt.

Stats: 8min 5pts (2-3, 0-0, 1-2) 2reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 0TO
Casspi ( INC ) -- Omri had only 8 min in this one doing his usual thing of driving and shooting 2/3 plus 1 FT for 5 pts. Never got a chance to get going with the odd lineups Corbin was trying. At one point had DWill, Gay, Casspi, Evans and McCallum in for some kind of hoe down that didn’t work out too well. Got confused and took a break. Could have been a C grade but not enough time in the game for him.--Cruz



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[KingsFanSince85]

I don't understand what the refs deal with DeMarcus continues to be. If the likes of Tyson Chandler and Thomas Robinson continue to get away with the egregious flopping as they have the past couple games, the big fella is never going to finish a game. Worse yet is the way a certain referee made things personal against Big Cuz tonight.

Late in the game, DeMarcus was a bit demonstrative going back on defense after, yet again, getting hacked with no whistle and the ref told Coach Corbin that he's not going to give him a warning. After that point, he never had a whistle called for him - despite getting poked in the face and fouled constantly by Thomas Robinson - and was intentionally fouled out of the game by 2 of the most ridiculous calls all season. If Thomas Robinson isn't fined and suspended for that flop, the NBA isn't at all serious about trying to clean up their game.

 

[IfAt1st]

This entire front office and coaching staff is a complete ****ing joke.

If they do not step up - excuse me - MAN UP and protest to the league or at least start loudly arguing their case that Demarcus is getting absolutely ROBBED out there (and subsequently their fanbase is getting robbed out of seeing their best player play), they have absolutely noone to blame but themselves for losing the respect of their players.

If they complained loudly and often, made the sports news sections for complaining (a la Mark Cuban), they would reap unimaginable rewards from the players knowing their front office has their back.
Their fines would be the cheapest investment they've ever made.
They say they are smart businessmen but they sure aren't getting what makes smart business sense in the NBA....

 

[Sluggah]

we're a half court team foolishly trying to force ourselves into being a run and gun type team...and honestly, I'm a little shocked we don't have even MORE turnovers a game.

we just keep forcing a style that we're not prepared for. why not wait till the off season? so confused.

 

[sdballer]

we're a half court team foolishly trying to force ourselves into being a run and gun type team...and honestly, I'm a little shocked we don't have even MORE turnovers a game.

we just keep forcing a style that we're not prepared for. why not wait till the off season? so confused.

I think what's interesting is that we aren't necessarily playing that much faster, or turning the ball over at that much higher a rate. We just look lost on both sides of the court.

 

[KingMilz]

I don't understand what the refs deal with DeMarcus continues to be. If the likes of Tyson Chandler and Thomas Robinson continue to get away with the egregious flopping as they have the past couple games, the big fella is never going to finish a game. Worse yet is the way a certain referee made things personal against Big Cuz tonight.

Late in the game, DeMarcus was a bit demonstrative going back on defense after, yet again, getting hacked with no whistle and the ref told Coach Corbin that he's not going to give him a warning. After that point, he never had a whistle called for him - despite getting poked in the face and fouled constantly by Thomas Robinson - and was intentionally fouled out of the game by 2 of the most ridiculous calls all season. If Thomas Robinson isn't fined and suspended for that flop, the NBA isn't at all serious about trying to clean up their game.

Were they bad call yes...but you have 6 fouls over a game for a reason, Cousins did the same flop against Joakim Noah and no one on here was complaining.

 

[mac]

The way i see it - if every other game you have to complain and blame the refs for the loss then something is very wrong. Doesn't change the fact that the calls were wrong, but it's kinda like... I doubt we're the only team that thinks we're being screwed by bad refs.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Not seeing anyone blaming the refs for the loss. Refs were a joke but we didn't lose because of them. We had already completely blown a 10+ point lead before all the BS calls at the end happened

 

[hrdboild]

Well... after that game we're now #10 in the lottery again. So, job well done I guess?

 

[KingMilz]

I just don't understand how we could lose to a team missing it's starting PF (superstar)/C and it's SF playing the worst basketball of his career while there guards have off shooting nights while we were at full strength. The team just sucks,I wish they kept Malone on so we would know weather the start to the season was a fluke (which I think now it really was). I just think this is who we really are as a team (which is basically what we were last year after the trade) but there's still some element of doubt which we won't ever get rid of until we get a decent coach again.

 

[Bricklayer]

The way i see it - if every other game you have to complain and blame the refs for the loss then something is very wrong. Doesn't change the fact that the calls were wrong, but it's kinda like... I doubt we're the only team that thinks we're being screwed by bad refs.

As I have attempted to point out, its not US who thinks we have gotten screwed by the refs. Its the entire NBA watching public.

 

[Bricklayer]

Not seeing anyone blaming the refs for the loss. Refs were a joke but we didn't lose because of them. We had already completely blown a 10+ point lead before all the BS calls at the end happened

Very nice, but yes, I will say we lost because of the refs. Or they certainly finished off any chance. That's two games by the way, against top opponents, when they have fouled the best center in the game out on bogus calls in tight games. Unfortunately we have a wet noodle for a coach rather than a Pat Riley or Phil Jackson, or even a Michael Malone to go ballistic.

 

[IfAt1st]

Anyone not acknowledging the refs culpability in this loss is simply not aware of how much they affect the game, or simply not watching the game closely.

Cousins was mauled by T-Rob for a quarter and a half, banging, grabbing, denying position and entry passes. He was ALL OVER DMC. Contact on literally every second of the game when they were playing. And how many calls did T-Rob's ultra-(desperate)-physical play on DMC cause him? (not sure exactly - not many)

Meanwhile, the chicken-crap calls that DMC is getting in the 4th quarters were beyond obscene - mind you, he's an (unacknowledged) superstar in the NBA and is getting thrown out of games repeatedly for chicken crap calls this year again - I can not remember ANYone this blatantly talented in the NBA EVER getting reamed this obviously - does any old-timer remember any NBA star getting this treatment from the refs, for this long?

It's been a long time since I've witnessed such blatant disrespect and biased reffing at this obvious of level in a professional sport. Personally, it's been since the T-Wolves went up against the Shaq-Kobe-Malone-Payton dream team and the refs were just obviously calling a different game with different rules.

Listen, people - in the NBA, it doesn't matter how good a big man is - the refs can stop him.
There is contact on every single play for a center in the NBA - the job demands contact. Especially Demarcus's job.
If the refs are going to call ridiculous offensive fouls and tiny bump fouls against DMC when he is absolutely hammered on both ends of the court with few calls, it makes it so there is no practical chance for the Kings to win (knowing how dependent the Kings are for DMC to play).

Did you guys see the blatant flop by T-Rob that got the charge? It was hideous. Worse (IMO) than in the last game (if that's possible)!
Dude knew he was overmatched and just flung himself back, and the refs are just waiting for any excuse now to give Demarcus fouls. I just don't get it. He doesn;t look like he's challenging the refs personally or audibly anymore - he usually takes his fouls and shuts up, no matter how bad they are, no matter how much personal distress it causes him to be ****ed over that badly - I'm proud of the guy's self-control.

If Demarcus can't try to dislodge a defender down low, then his career as a dominant center is over.
Further, the NBA would be officially ending the chapter of the dominant big man. They will be extinct.
Because all that's left is cute hook moves and trying to get around his man and pick and rolls and long jumpers and *shudder* 3-point shots *barf* : the impending "Stretch 5".
All these smaller defenders are doing is hacking the crap out of him, then when there's the slightest move into them by Demarcus, they flop - it's disgusting, it's horrendous basketball, and it's worse officiating to fall for it (unless this is the league's intent - to outlaw big men doing power moves).

(And don't give me this karmic retribution bullcrap about Vlade and his flops - he routinely stood his ground against behemoths like Shaq being able to POUND into him all night long without getting foul calls. It was a completely different era of the NBA and big men were allowed to play an entirely different game.)

 

[IfAt1st]

As I have attempted to point out, its not US who thinks we have gotten screwed by the refs. Its the entire NBA watching public.

Unfortunately, that's not what I'm seeing.
(Unless you're suggesting that the FANS can somehow make any dent whatsoever on the national NBA narrative. It's going to take a LOT of pressure and fight by this franchise to throw a hissy fit over what's happening here to bring attention to it, or they can kiss this magical "winning team once the new arena comes" out the window, because there's no way Demarcus is going to be winning when treated like this by the refs)

The only national write-ups I see are completely ignoring the rook-jobs the refs are giving Demarcus, and not making any point whatsoever about how the Kings (and their fans!) are having games stolen from them, by denying them their superstar in crunchtime of close games.

We are all being robbed of our right to see our team compete at a high level in the NBA, and noone - not "Coach" Corbin, not "Basketball Mind" Mullin, not Weasel Pete, not spineless Vivek are bringing it up or even saying there's a problem with it!

This organization deserves what it gets!
It's filled with cowards who wouldn't risk anything to protect their star, or defend the fans' experience.
They are simply standing back and being silent while Demarcus has the competitive weight of the entire franchise on his shoulders, and they are leaving him alone on an island. PDA hasn't gotten him ANY support (other than tricking Rudy to stay), his teammates aren't defending him, his team's owner is more concerned with wooing India and "NBA 3.0 Wooo!" than he is concerned with the well-being and protection of his superstar. All the while, telling us this is what WE want, and they're doing it for us.

I am more disgusted tonight then I have been since ..... I can't remember.
I literally can't remember being this disgusted at an organization and the NBA in my lifetime (I'm 44).

 

[KingMilz]

1 foul does not decide a game there was countless times during the game Blazers players got HAMMERED in the paint on drives (Lillard was getting smashed) and there was no call. I don't get why we always have to come up with new excuses to why we lose. First it's the coach or lack of than it's the players are in mourning and now it's the refs, the refs had nothing to do with it we couldn't beat a team missing 2 of it's starting 5 and 3 of there starters having some of the worst shooting games of the season.

Again the refs at no point forced us to turn the ball over (with countless idiotic forced drives by our main 3-4 players) and play terrible isolation basketball.

I don't know why we can't except the team is just not that good and maybe the core group we have might not be all that right now.

 

[Bricklayer]

1 foul does not decide a game there was countless times during the game Blazers players got HAMMERED in the paint on drives (Lillard was getting smashed) and there was no call. I don't get why we always have to come up with new excuses to why we lose. First it's the coach or lack of than it's the players are in mourning and now it's the refs, the refs had nothing to do with it we couldn't beat a team missing 2 of it's starting 5 and 3 of there starters having some of the worst shooting games of the season.

Again the refs at no point forced us to turn the ball over (with countless idiotic forced drives by our main 3-4 players) and play terrible isolation basketball.

I don't know why we can't except the team is just not that good and maybe the core group we have might not be all that right now.

Aside from noting you are coming from a very weird place in your head, i will AGAIN point out to you that even Blazers fans -- fans of the other team -- were talking about the lategame hosejob.

And yes, 1 call can make a huge difference in a game. Decide it even. Let alone a series of them, or long stretches of bizarrely inconsistent reffing. You suddenly start fouling out the league's superstars on phantom calls down the stretch of games and their teams are going to have a lot fewer wins.

 

[KingMilz]

Aside from noting you are coming from a very weird place in your head, i will AGAIN point out to you that even Blazers fans -- fans of the other team -- were talking about the lategame hosejob.

And yes, 1 call can make a huge difference in a game. Decide it even. Let alone a series of them, or long stretches of bizarrely inconsistent reffing. You suddenly start fouling out the league's superstars on phantom calls down the stretch of games and their teams are going to have a lot fewer wins.

No Lopez/lost LMA and Wes/Batum/Lillard shot a combined 15/47 (5/25 from 3pt land) and we could not win......No amount of help from the refs explains that. Lets not pretend there have not been games where we have had calls go our way (yes we have been favored a number of times this year) as well it all evens out across the year. Against the Bulls the refs SLAUGHTERED them with horrible call after horrible call and yet where was the outrage at the officiating from Kings fans than? We are not victims of anything, bad calls go against every team/every player in the NBA it's just good team's more often than not find a way around it rather than completely fall apart (which we did prior to Cuz fouling out). We had our chances to win and we easily should have under the circumstances but like in Dallas/Memphis and plenty of other games we let the game get close and we chocked.

We lost to undermanned team with it's 3 best available players playing like dog crap, there is no excuse for that.

 

[randymoss1881]

I just don't understand how we could lose to a team missing it's starting PF (superstar)/C and it's SF playing the worst basketball of his career while there guards have off shooting nights while we were at full strength. The team just sucks,I wish they kept Malone on so we would know weather the start to the season was a fluke (which I think now it really was). I just think this is who we really are as a team (which is basically what we were last year after the trade) but there's still some element of doubt which we won't ever get rid of until we get a decent coach again.

Fighting words when you consider Corbin is coaching vs malone. People were warned about that guy and didn't listen hell the players call him the substitute teacher. We all know how different a class is with a sub in there. No doubt in my mind the start wasn't a fluke the style of play we had wins games.

 

[Tetsujin]

Fighting words when you consider Corbin is coaching vs malone. People were warned about that guy and didn't listen hell the players call him the substitute teacher. We all know how different a class is with a sub in there. No doubt in my mind the start wasn't a fluke the style of play we had wins games.

I mean, there was a reason he got fired by the Jazz.

 

[dude12]

Is it irony that the assistant that Malone wanted is now the head coach for the remainder of the year. I'm sure we will be reminded of that when its time to let Corbin go and hire Mullin as the head coach. They have to spin it somehow someway. Seems like a good time for this Malone >>>>> Corbin

 

[Ron]

Boxscore

Stats: 39min 26pts (10-19, 1-2, 5-6) 5reb 2ast 2stl 0blk 6TO
Williams ( ) -- --Cruz

Stats: 28min 4pts (2-4, 0-0, 0-0) 7reb 0ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Thompson ( ) -- --Brick

Stats: 38min 22pts (7-17, 0-0, 8-12) 19reb 1ast 0stl 4blk 5TO
Cousins ( B ) -- It's another tough day to grade Cousins (and no, I'm not going to ding him for the refs ushering him out of the game on two pathetic calls - not his fault). The obvious thing is the rebounding. DeMarcus was a monster on the boards tonight (even when he WAS being fouled) and towards the end of the game he was working T-Rob like a pit bull working a stuffed bunny. It was a dominating effort out there on the boards. His defense was also great for most of the game. In the first quarter he was incredibly tentative on help, extremely slow on rotations he normally makes easily and once even being seemingly three seconds slow to turn around and contest Kaman after a pass into the post. I chalked this up to his ankle not being fully good, and I even thought he looked a bit gimpy out there. But as the game wore on, he appeared to gain confidence in his wheels and he was back to as good - or better - than normal. He ended up with four blocks on the game, and while I don't have the greatest vantage point from the couch, I thought he might have gotten a piece of two more balls that he didn't get credit for blocking. On the offensive end it wasn't really a very good game for Cousins at all, however. His shot really wasn't on. After missing four of his first six free throws he did manage to hit his last six to get to an almost-respectable 66% on the night from the charity stripe, but the jumper was not on tonight. Surprisingly he ended up 3-6 on jumpers, but two of those hit looked like misses and managed to bounce in somehow. It wasn't until his last jumper of the evening that he put one through the center of the hoop. His shooting troubles extended to the paint as well. While his dunk off of the sly Rudy drop-off was a thing of beauty, he missed a couple of easy ones down low, including two quick misses on layups to open up the third quarter despite having done the hard part to get to the rim. Overall he went for 22 points on 23 shots, which really isn't great efficiency and is kind of sub-par for what we expect out of him. Another problem I had with Cousins was his turnovers tonight, particularly in the first half. While it was "only" three turnovers before halftime, turnovers are a serious problem for our team and I'd like to see Cousins take better care of the ball to lead by example. I'm not one to say that all turnovers are created equal, and sometimes you don't fret over them, but Cousins' turnovers in the first half were all pretty bad - he tried to thread a bounce pass on the break that had no chance, he ran two coast-to-coast breaks into traffic resulting in one missed shot and a second turnover, and then he threw a pass straight to Lillard that was so far from being in the direction of anybody wearing purple that you almost have to think he had suffered some sort of stroke in visual cortex. On top of that there was another careless pass that fortunately resulted in a Portland foul. So while Cousins was almost certainly our best player on the floor tonight, we've come to expect more efficiency and to need him to take better care of the ball.--Capt.

Stats: 35min 11pts (3-10, 2-5, 3-3) 5reb 1ast 2stl 1blk 3TO
McLemore ( ) -- --Baja

Stats: 36min 13pts (6-11, 1-3, 0-1) 7reb 8ast 1stl 0blk 5TO
Collison ( ) -- --Brick

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I had the impression that the surname of our starting SF (with the decent scoring night) was Gay.

 

[Spike]

"I'd of been thrown out if I was a King player or coach. This is a joke."

I made a similar comment in the game thread, but it bears repeating. Corbin does not have this team. The way he just stands back and let things happen are a reason he's being called the substitute teacher. He's acting like one, and we're seeing the result. Other team goes on a run? Meh. Not setting up defensively? Meh.

If he wanted any sort of buy in the rest of the season, last night was a perfect time to let the players know that he had their back. Get the T. Go ballistic. I have no doubt Malone would have been tossed in a similar situation, and I wouldn't fault him for it. Then again, I don't think we'd be in this position. If there are coaches who cost you 2-3 games a season, well, we found one that's costing us 2-3 games a week. Well done, PDA. Well done, Vivek.

Last time we beat the team 103-94. Both teams were at full strength. (Thankfully, DWill was a DNP-CD that time; discussion for another time.) What a ******* difference a coach makes.

 

[Spike]

You suddenly start fouling out the league's superstars on phantom calls down the stretch of games and their teams are going to have a lot fewer wins.

OMG. It IS a conspiracy! IfAt1st was right!
Think about it. The team doesn't want to tell DMC they're tanking. He'd bolt, ASAP. The league is doing it for them! The league will foul out DMC in all close games. Well played, Vivek. You had me fooled.

In all seriousness, that was a ridiculous hose job. Robinson could not, should not, would not have been able to do what he did vs. Cousins without a little help, regardless of what some may think.

 

[New Era]

Aside from noting you are coming from a very weird place in your head, i will AGAIN point out to you that even Blazers fans -- fans of the other team -- were talking about the lategame hosejob.

And yes, 1 call can make a huge difference in a game. Decide it even. Let alone a series of them, or long stretches of bizarrely inconsistent reffing. You suddenly start fouling out the league's superstars on phantom calls down the stretch of games and their teams are going to have a lot fewer wins.

So a few people from a blog now constitutes proof to back up your claims? I agree that the officiating was poor but like others have said, there are so many things that we did wrong tonight that it just doesn't make sense to overlook all of that and blame everything on the officials. You should know better than that!

 

[Heuge]

Our "Big Three"...16 turnovers...

 

[ppine]

The refs were a distraction, but so were the turnovers, and lack of defense in the fourth quarter. I miss Malone and his mantra of "hold the other team to 20 points in the fourth."

Frustration only begins to hint at the way I feel watching a game like the Blazers last night. Ahead the whole game except when it matters at the end.

 

[captain bill]

1. On the poll: I think the biggest reason we lost was DWill. He plays mind-boggling bad defense, especially when you take into account his size, athleticism, and speed. He might be the worst help defender in the NBA - the Lillard punctuation dunk was case in point. He saw him coming down th lane and moved himself into position, but when he should have went up to contest the shot, he jumped AWAY from Lillard - seriously WTF. Throughout the second half we played a slow paced grind it out style, but Williams stayed on the court most of that time and got routinely abused as the weak link.

2- Cousins fouls: insane. Went from 3 to 6 in about one minute of game time, and they were ALL terrible calls. He's been targeted routinely by the refs this year, and that was one of the worst so far.

3. Anyone else notice the Jonah Hill looking dude who drew up the last play when we were down by 2? His name is Micah Nori, and he is a baseball player from Indiana U. He is still listed as IU's hitting coach on their website, no joke. And we pay him to draw up key plays, which are ALWAYS fade away jumpers to Rudy (a play that never seems to work). This happened under Malone, too - we can't seem to draw a play for crap when this team needs one.

 

[andjel]

That is the another consequence from going from darling to laughing stock.

Refs were not calling these fouls while Kings looked like the legit NBA level organization.

 

[Entity]

That is the another consequence from going from darling to laughing stock.

Refs were not calling these fouls while Kings looked like the legit NBA level organization.

Hell they weren't calling them in first quarter. They let them play the whole game then suddenly in fourth with 7 min left it all changed

 

[funkykingston]

Two notes:

(1) If they ever make a big budget movie about Tim Donaghy the lead should be Luke Wilson
(2) The Kings have lost any semblance of an identity and are nearly unwatchable since Malone's firing.

Defense is great, but we need defense and offense. We need to go from a rules-based organization, which was important when you had chaos, to a values-based organization. From kind of a programmatic offense, to a read-and-respond, free-flowing offense. I like to use a music metaphor. We had a Sousa marching band, which was needed when there was chaos, but now we need to shift to a jazz band, where people can be individually showcased and improvised. What we need is a jazz director. I think that's the kind of leadership moving forward.

"In that (technology) world, it's constant: the next thing, the next thing, the next thing. Pro sports is really similar if you think about it. ... To me, it's a much more similar type of field. A tech attitude, if you will, I think will lead to success in a more expeditious way.

The NBA has become like the high-tech business. Just because you invented the iPhone doesn't mean you can rest on your laurels because somebody else is building a better iPhone. Just because you win 50 games doesn't mean you can be satisfied with the status quo. So we live in a time when good enough isn't, and we need to keep getting better. So while we have a good foundation, we needed to pivot. We needed to go. You have to get better. So, we felt it was time for us to pivot, to (play) defense and offense. And we think we can make the playoffs.”

Yeah.

Except this team hasn't had any success since being 9-6. Unless we're tanking to keep the draft pick. Because the team has been wildly successful in that regard. Not exactly expeditious though.

The Kings haven't built an iPhone. They haven't won 50 games in a decade. There aren't any laurels to rest on. This team has won one more game at the halfway point than they did last year among "chaos" and massive roster turnover. And they've played a softer schedule under Corbin with much worse results. In fact, if they keep winning at the same rate (5-12 post Malone) they'll win 28 games for a third straight season.

I've pivoted myself recently. From being willing to buy tickets to games to not. To considering going in with my in-laws on season tickets next season to not. And if something doesn't change for the better soon I'll be pivoting to finding something else to do than watching Kings games.

So incredibly frustrating.