That was just depressing, as in it wasn't even as if you could see any way for us to win that game.
Some points of interest;
-- Reke looked exhausted, and Felton on him man to man and Wallace flying around operating as a personal shotblocker whenever he got near the rim left him with no answers.
-- we took Jimmer off the ball, let him just concentrate on what he does well, i.e. the shooting, and he shot well, and aside from getting yanked for defensive issues only had one or two of the really struggling mistakes. Good way to consolidate the Memphis game, and maybe the way to go in the future, although there are less minues behind Thornton than there were behind Salmons.
-- our rebounding woes came home to roost. At the end of the third quarter the Blazers had more offensive boards than we did defensive boards (otherwise known as not a good sign). Cousins was all alone out there. Reke was the #2 rebounder with 5 until Jason picked some up late in the 4th. Donte, Salmons, Cisco, Jimmer and Outlaw combined for 3 rebounds in 94 minutes. Jimmer and Cisco grabbed 0 each.
Another note: the Kings are 6-12. That's not good. but consider:
-- the Kings lead the WC in road games, with 11. That's tied with Chicago for the league lead.
-- nthe Kings are 4-3 in home games. Only 2-9 on the road.
-- of the Kings 18 games, 13 have come against teams with winning records, only 5 have come against teams with losing records
-- the Kings are 3-2 in the games against teams with losing records, 3-10 vs. the teams with winning records
-- we may not be much good, but we haven't exactly had many chances to test ourselves against fellow bad teams, or at home. Since we have winning records in both those situations we might start looking a lot better once the schedule lets us up off the mat. 8 of our 13 opponents in February are losing teams, although some of those are on another long 6 game road trip. We have a 9 game home stand in March featuring more bad teams than good. Maybe we just need to weather the storm.
So for a theme tonight I think I'll go ahead and do the second half of the Kings dance team, if we haven't disbanded that group yet since we are never home and they never get to perform.
Boxscore
Greene ( C ) -- there were things I wanted to like about Donte's game all night. Thought it was the right lineup choice to throw him out there given Wallace's dominance over us last time (actually given anything -- he would be my choice our of available guys). And early on he was doing things to try to justify that selction. Used his size on Wallace on defense, and did a nice job fighting Aldridge off in the post too. Another thing that has been going on all season with him is that Donte seems to have gone off this offseaaon and just matured 10 years when it comes to running the break. Last year we already got a taste of him being our best finisher in the open court, but this season its just been night and day with his decisionmaking, and far from just being a finisher, he's been leading ab unch of breaks and making smart unselfish passes to finish them off. Did that several times again tonight, although on one of them he nearly cost us Cousins for an extended period when he threw up an alley oop for the big guy, and Cousins landed on Gerald Wallace and buckled his ankle (which was fortunate really, because I was initally scared about the knee). But for all the good things, two things really defined this one. First, his rebounding regressed, nd yes it was against Wallace who is one of the league's best, but that's precisely why it was the wrong time to fall back amongst the non-rebounders lie Cisco and Salmons and Jimmer. We got killed ont he glass. Second, and more memorably, its in the new CBA somewhere that Kings SFs can not and will not hit their shots, and so Donte cheerfully complied, going 0-4 from 3ptland, and until a late burst running the floor, only getting a coupld of hoops all night right at the rim. There were several dumb 1 on 1 type forced shots in there, but he also simply missed the open one he, and we as a team, just desperately need to hit. Since he couldn't, the grade is capped.
Kelly -- ok ok, so its a swimsuit shot. I didn't order it, nor did I photograph it. I'm just spreading it around to make sure they got their money's worth.
Thompson ( C ) -- ineffective in the early going again as it all seems like a case of deja vu for Jason, going from valued roleplayer and then stringing together inconsistent games as a flailing schmuck until finally the coaches lose confidence and he loses his spot once more. Drives you batty because you know he can be the good roleplayer when his brain isn't misfirng. In any case, wrong guy to have in a game with the referees trying to out whistle each other throughout the first half, and fouls, as well as just general ineffectiveness limited his minutes until late in the game. Was willing to move the ball, but was all thumbs again inside, and continues to cost guards assists with his trademarked drop-the-pass and blow-the-layup maneuvers, after which of course he normally scoops up the rebounds and throws them up again. Was better late than early finally settling into some nice roleplayer minutes in the 4th, moving without the ball, finally giving Cousins a little help n the glas etc. But too little too late.
Michelle -- unfortunately if you want to hang with here you are going to have to put up with Keeping Up With The Kardashians on the TV.
Cousins ( B ) -- keeps on chugging. In no sense a spectacular effort, but another physical one in there virtually alone on the glass (one of our bright points is obviosuly that DeMarcus is 6th in the league in rebounding, and 3rd in the league in per minute rebounding -- he's a first rate board monster). Got Camby out of there early when he drew a charge on him, but the offense was scrufy and off and on. Some of that is on him (his first response to getting rid of Camby was to airball a jumper) but some of that is on us as we never got it to him down inside in any sort of consistent rhtyhm. Had some moments physically overwhelming greybeard, and a big dunk down the lane just before half, but also had some surprising batles with Craig Smith, who he didn't seem to be able to stop, and things got real physical in there with multiple muggings, a weak flagrant foul called on Thomas on one of them etc. as the stubby Smith/Thomas duo started doing its best Danny Fortson/Reggie Evans tag team bump and thump imitation. DeMarcus did well to keep his cool though, bounced back from a scary moment when he twisted his ankle coming down from an alley oop, and aside from going all Dwight Howard from the line (shot 4-10 and was more visibly frustrated about that than anything else) banged his way to a solid game (you know a guy is good when you start saying things like 18 and 13 is a "solid" game for a guy). Never a huge impact though, and never felt like he was in danger of turnign this one for us. Just was always there chugging away and keeping us rolling forward while the little guys all took turns struggling at this or that.
Wendy -- I just thought this shot was interesting, because is that just a pose/costume, or does that mean she is a dancer who also just picked up a degree in Biomedical Engineeering? That would be impressive, but instead in her bio information you can find out what the last movie she watched was (Captain America) and who she thinks her best dressed teammate is.
Salmons ( D+ ) -- almost an incomplete as he didn't do enough good or terrible to really get much hold on. Was missing his early shots, and stopped the ball several times to do it, but not all his fault as he was up against the clock on some of them. We were playing pretty tough defense to start the game, butour backcourt in particular seemd to run out of legs, and while starting John at SG seemed like a good idea he maybe just had nothing left after the sickness.
Lauren
Some points of interest;
-- Reke looked exhausted, and Felton on him man to man and Wallace flying around operating as a personal shotblocker whenever he got near the rim left him with no answers.
-- we took Jimmer off the ball, let him just concentrate on what he does well, i.e. the shooting, and he shot well, and aside from getting yanked for defensive issues only had one or two of the really struggling mistakes. Good way to consolidate the Memphis game, and maybe the way to go in the future, although there are less minues behind Thornton than there were behind Salmons.
-- our rebounding woes came home to roost. At the end of the third quarter the Blazers had more offensive boards than we did defensive boards (otherwise known as not a good sign). Cousins was all alone out there. Reke was the #2 rebounder with 5 until Jason picked some up late in the 4th. Donte, Salmons, Cisco, Jimmer and Outlaw combined for 3 rebounds in 94 minutes. Jimmer and Cisco grabbed 0 each.
Another note: the Kings are 6-12. That's not good. but consider:
-- the Kings lead the WC in road games, with 11. That's tied with Chicago for the league lead.
-- nthe Kings are 4-3 in home games. Only 2-9 on the road.
-- of the Kings 18 games, 13 have come against teams with winning records, only 5 have come against teams with losing records
-- the Kings are 3-2 in the games against teams with losing records, 3-10 vs. the teams with winning records
-- we may not be much good, but we haven't exactly had many chances to test ourselves against fellow bad teams, or at home. Since we have winning records in both those situations we might start looking a lot better once the schedule lets us up off the mat. 8 of our 13 opponents in February are losing teams, although some of those are on another long 6 game road trip. We have a 9 game home stand in March featuring more bad teams than good. Maybe we just need to weather the storm.
So for a theme tonight I think I'll go ahead and do the second half of the Kings dance team, if we haven't disbanded that group yet since we are never home and they never get to perform.
Boxscore
Greene ( C ) -- there were things I wanted to like about Donte's game all night. Thought it was the right lineup choice to throw him out there given Wallace's dominance over us last time (actually given anything -- he would be my choice our of available guys). And early on he was doing things to try to justify that selction. Used his size on Wallace on defense, and did a nice job fighting Aldridge off in the post too. Another thing that has been going on all season with him is that Donte seems to have gone off this offseaaon and just matured 10 years when it comes to running the break. Last year we already got a taste of him being our best finisher in the open court, but this season its just been night and day with his decisionmaking, and far from just being a finisher, he's been leading ab unch of breaks and making smart unselfish passes to finish them off. Did that several times again tonight, although on one of them he nearly cost us Cousins for an extended period when he threw up an alley oop for the big guy, and Cousins landed on Gerald Wallace and buckled his ankle (which was fortunate really, because I was initally scared about the knee). But for all the good things, two things really defined this one. First, his rebounding regressed, nd yes it was against Wallace who is one of the league's best, but that's precisely why it was the wrong time to fall back amongst the non-rebounders lie Cisco and Salmons and Jimmer. We got killed ont he glass. Second, and more memorably, its in the new CBA somewhere that Kings SFs can not and will not hit their shots, and so Donte cheerfully complied, going 0-4 from 3ptland, and until a late burst running the floor, only getting a coupld of hoops all night right at the rim. There were several dumb 1 on 1 type forced shots in there, but he also simply missed the open one he, and we as a team, just desperately need to hit. Since he couldn't, the grade is capped.
Kelly -- ok ok, so its a swimsuit shot. I didn't order it, nor did I photograph it. I'm just spreading it around to make sure they got their money's worth.
Thompson ( C ) -- ineffective in the early going again as it all seems like a case of deja vu for Jason, going from valued roleplayer and then stringing together inconsistent games as a flailing schmuck until finally the coaches lose confidence and he loses his spot once more. Drives you batty because you know he can be the good roleplayer when his brain isn't misfirng. In any case, wrong guy to have in a game with the referees trying to out whistle each other throughout the first half, and fouls, as well as just general ineffectiveness limited his minutes until late in the game. Was willing to move the ball, but was all thumbs again inside, and continues to cost guards assists with his trademarked drop-the-pass and blow-the-layup maneuvers, after which of course he normally scoops up the rebounds and throws them up again. Was better late than early finally settling into some nice roleplayer minutes in the 4th, moving without the ball, finally giving Cousins a little help n the glas etc. But too little too late.
Michelle -- unfortunately if you want to hang with here you are going to have to put up with Keeping Up With The Kardashians on the TV.
Cousins ( B ) -- keeps on chugging. In no sense a spectacular effort, but another physical one in there virtually alone on the glass (one of our bright points is obviosuly that DeMarcus is 6th in the league in rebounding, and 3rd in the league in per minute rebounding -- he's a first rate board monster). Got Camby out of there early when he drew a charge on him, but the offense was scrufy and off and on. Some of that is on him (his first response to getting rid of Camby was to airball a jumper) but some of that is on us as we never got it to him down inside in any sort of consistent rhtyhm. Had some moments physically overwhelming greybeard, and a big dunk down the lane just before half, but also had some surprising batles with Craig Smith, who he didn't seem to be able to stop, and things got real physical in there with multiple muggings, a weak flagrant foul called on Thomas on one of them etc. as the stubby Smith/Thomas duo started doing its best Danny Fortson/Reggie Evans tag team bump and thump imitation. DeMarcus did well to keep his cool though, bounced back from a scary moment when he twisted his ankle coming down from an alley oop, and aside from going all Dwight Howard from the line (shot 4-10 and was more visibly frustrated about that than anything else) banged his way to a solid game (you know a guy is good when you start saying things like 18 and 13 is a "solid" game for a guy). Never a huge impact though, and never felt like he was in danger of turnign this one for us. Just was always there chugging away and keeping us rolling forward while the little guys all took turns struggling at this or that.
Wendy -- I just thought this shot was interesting, because is that just a pose/costume, or does that mean she is a dancer who also just picked up a degree in Biomedical Engineeering? That would be impressive, but instead in her bio information you can find out what the last movie she watched was (Captain America) and who she thinks her best dressed teammate is.
Salmons ( D+ ) -- almost an incomplete as he didn't do enough good or terrible to really get much hold on. Was missing his early shots, and stopped the ball several times to do it, but not all his fault as he was up against the clock on some of them. We were playing pretty tough defense to start the game, butour backcourt in particular seemd to run out of legs, and while starting John at SG seemed like a good idea he maybe just had nothing left after the sickness.
Lauren
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