[Grades] Grades v. Cavaliers 1/25/2017

Kings player of the game?


  • Total voters
    47
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#1




Don't ever say this team doesn't fight. Ever.

Our week so far:

1/23 DET 4:30 -W
1/25 CLE 4:00 -W
1/27 IND 4:00
1/28 CHA 4:00

Let's go for the sweep. Hell, we might be 3-1 on our bogeyman road trip if not for an incompetent ref.




Link to Boxscore

Afflalo ( B ) -- faced with the impossible task of guarding LeBron, but apart from a bad stretch of open court ball to start the 3rd, hung in there and competed. And he hit his shots tonight, including of course the effective game winning 3 with 17 seconds to go. A roleplayer hitting his open threes? What a concept.

Cousins ( B ) -- I don't know what to do with this grade. Cuz struggled terribly for much of this game. The Cavs doubled him quick and hard throughout the game, the rim was full of traffic, and Cuz's shot was stubbornly off. And yet down the stretch a stubborn Joerger went to him relentlessly, and he found a way to score, and picked the Cavs apart as they doubled. He scored the tying layup in regulation to send it to OT, made the pass to Afflalo to win it in OT, and missed a triple double by 1 ast. So...how bad can that grade be? We beat the champs.

Koufos ( C+ ) -- as Willie has come on, Kosta is becoming a forgotten man. He gave us physical banging to start both halves, with his biggest contribution being as the backup rebounder/rim protector while Cuz was being drawn way out to try to guard Love. Had the worst +/- on the team.

Temple ( B+ ) -- inability to consistently hit wide open kick out threes continues to really make you scream, but his hustle and defense down the stretch helped save this game for us. Notched 4 steals and several big defensive rebounds in the OT.

Collison ( A- ) -- there was a point early in this game when I was annoyed with Collison again. He almost singlehandedly broke up our 10-0 lead with a series of boneheaded plays on both ends, and he continued to be Mr. Mistake through much of the half. But he was very aggressive offensively, and started scoring, and scoring, and carried us through Boogie's long drought.

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Barnes ( B- ) -- hit a couple of early threes, then was off to the misses. But he helped on the glass, shares the ball even sometimes when he should shoot, and was involved with Temple on a game saving steal late in the game.

Tolliver ( F ) -- belongs over in the Cavs's site game thread. Again not hitting his shots, and not showing much ability to adjust to get them off. But worse was the non-existent rebounding and stiff-legged defense, including fouling a 3pt shooter. Hurt us on both ends this time.

Lawson ( C ) -- not as effective this time, although he was the PG guiding the bench during its initial first half surge. but not able to hit his outside shots, and not comfortable inside as the Cavs played longer than they are around the rim. Lost time this time to Collison, which is why its a platoon.

Richardson ( A- ) -- perhaps even bigger than beating the Cavs is the revelation that maybe Boogie was right, maybe Vlade was right: kid can play. Lit the Cavs up with 12pts on 5-6G in 14 min, but it was the confident, collected, clever little professional moves he used that excite. Guy flat belongs.

Cauley Stein ( B+ ) -- deserves a lot of credit here. gets marked down for blowing several gimmes right at the rim, but even those were the result of him hustling on the offensive glass. Was moving well and engaged defensively, and earned his long minutes next to Cuz. Even showed uncommon fight on the glass. Had a big dunk from Cuz in the final two minutes of regulation to help us tie it.
 
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#4
WCS starting and progressing next to Cuz is the variable i thought would move the needle most for this team before the season. Its one of those things that transforms you from a mediocre defensive team to playing vs a frontline that gives you nothing inside. The strength,length and timing of Cousins mixed with the freakish quickness and length of Stein.
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#9
WCS starting and progressing next to Cuz is the variable i thought would move the needle most for this team before the season. Its one of those things that transforms you from a mediocre defensive team to playing vs a frontline that gives you nothing inside. The strength,length and timing of Cousins mixed with the freakish quickness and length of Stein.
I didn't see the game but if Willie was good, he is merely living up to my high expectations. He needed to grow up a bit and junk his goal of being an offensive monster and just do what he can do. Joerger taught him a lesson. Play to your strengths and leave that other stuff to later in your career. For a moment it didn't look like he would have a career. I think he noticed. Fly around the court, young man, and scare the hell out of the other team.

Did he fly around??
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#10
I didn't see the game but if Willie was good, he is merely living up to my high expectations. He needed to grow up a bit and junk his goal of being an offensive monster and just do what he can do. Joerger taught him a lesson. Play to your strengths and leave that other stuff to later in your career. For a moment it didn't look like he would have a career. I think he noticed. Fly around the court, young man, and scare the hell out of the other team.

Did he fly around??
He did good.

Watch the replay. You will not be disappointed. :)
 

kingsboi

Hall of Famer
#12
Willie has been playing with his head out of the gutter as of late. I wonder how long before he starts with Cousins. If he continues to impress with his play, it's all a matter of time. Malachi getting more minutes is a plus. Now if we can just get Skal in there someway, somehow.
 
#13
Korver really doesn't like flying Willie.
Joerger needs to put in more perimeter action, when Boogie gets the ball in the post. Just standing along the arc and watching is very easy to defend.
P.S. Had to vote for Tolliver, he was all alone with no votes. :D
 

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
#17
Don't do that. There was probably 200 posts like this about M16. Remember M16? He was good for a few weeks a few years ago.
Different thing. It really is.

And its not about proclaiming Malachi a future star. Its just something I have been mentioning since summer league: He flat knows how to play. Completely calm, in control, has all the sophisticated little scoring tricks of a 10 year veteran. It wasn't that he made shots tonight, it was again how he made them, the little jab step, the up fake and step through, the right decision on when to shoot and when to drive. You'd never know he's a rookie. Doesn't need congratulations or encouragement. Isn't flying around out there with youthful enthusiasm. Is just playing like a smart, sophisticated, in control veteran. Who also happens to be a very good shooter.

The enthusiasm is for an entirely different reason. There's no "once he gets it figured out he's going to be..." to it. He's already got it figured out. The game appears to just make inherent sense to him. He hasn't looked lost for a single minute out there. These don't even feel like development minutes. It feels like we traded for a pretty decent low key veteran guard to solidify our rotation.
 
#18
Different thing. It really is.

And its not about proclaiming Malachi a future star. Its just something I have been mentioning since summer league: He flat knows how to play. Completely calm, in control, has all the sophisticated little scoring tricks of a 10 year veteran. It wasn't that he made shots tonight, it was again how he made them, the little jab step, the up fake and step through, the right decision on when to shoot and when to drive. You'd never know he's a rookie. Doesn't need congratulations or encouragement. Isn't flying around out there with youthful enthusiasm. Is just playing like a smart, sophisticated, in control veteran. Who also happens to be a very good shooter.

The enthusiasm is for an entirely different reason. There's no "once he gets it figured out he's going to be..." to it. He's already got it figured out. The game appears to just make inherent sense to him. He hasn't looked lost for a single minute out there.
Lets not anoint him yet. In his last games he has improved 10 fold defensively, but he still has a lot of work to do there.

The thing he did tonight that was most impressive was the single dribble to the left to free up for a 3. Peja used to do that really well. We don't have anyone who can do that besides him. Afflalo and Temple have to be wide open, Collison pretty much too. Cassipi can shoot with people running at him, but thats about it.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#19
Willie has been playing with his head out of the gutter as of late. I wonder how long before he starts with Cousins. If he continues to impress with his play, it's all a matter of time. Malachi getting more minutes is a plus. Now if we can just get Skal in there someway, somehow.
My best guess is that Malachi and WCS will continue to shine on the second unit for most of the rest of the season. Don't put the "starter" pressure on them any sooner than absolutely necessary. Right now I think Joerger is doing a fantastic job of managing his roster.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#20
My best guess is that Malachi and WCS will continue to shine on the second unit for most of the rest of the season. Don't put the "starter" pressure on them any sooner than absolutely necessary. Right now I think Joerger is doing a fantastic job of managing his roster.
Peja didn't consistently start until his third season in the league.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#21
Don't do that. There was probably 200 posts like this about M16. Remember M16? He was good for a few weeks a few years ago.
They can do it if they wish. As few good times as we as Kings fans have had recently, a little bit of giddy hyperbole is totally acceptable.
 
#23
Lets not anoint him yet. In his last games he has improved 10 fold defensively, but he still has a lot of work to do there.

The thing he did tonight that was most impressive was the single dribble to the left to free up for a 3. Peja used to do that really well. We don't have anyone who can do that besides him. Afflalo and Temple have to be wide open, Collison pretty much too. Cassipi can shoot with people running at him, but thats about it.
Perceptive comment.
 

Glenn

Hall of Famer
#25
My best guess is that Malachi and WCS will continue to shine on the second unit for most of the rest of the season. Don't put the "starter" pressure on them any sooner than absolutely necessary. Right now I think Joerger is doing a fantastic job of managing his roster.
Yes, please, let's give Joerger some credit. He perhaps had no choice in how to use Malachi as there were so many wing players. I think he has done a masterful job with WCS. I am almost never the kind of guy to say a player needs to be taught a lesson. It creates animosity or certainly can. I held my breath in one game where WCS made an offensive mistake and a quick defensive mistake and was jerked from the game after a whole minute and never put back in. I would never do that as I am not the kind of guy to humiliate a player in front of everyone. Maybe I'm just a *****. I suspect Joerger knew something we didn't know. It worked.

After last season WCS said some great things but I also think he was a little full of himself. He needed that attitude knocked out of him especially when his game did not live up to his pre-billing. Joerger did it nicely and in a way that involved a whole bunch of stuff that us fans didn't see. That's my guess.
 
#29
Beating the World Champs in their home court is no small feat. That guy Lebron James is pretty good.

As some people suggested here ( I think it was Hammer), the lost of Rudy Gay opens up the opportunity to develop our young players. Loving what I saw from WCS and Malachi tonight. We don't win this game without WCS tonight. His blocks were huge, esp that pivotal block at the end of the game against Lebron James. Him and Demarcus in the frontcourt was what we had all envisioned when we drafted him. Demarcus leads the bulldosing offense and WCS roams around on defense blocking everything and shutting everything down.

I think I've seen more from Malachi in one game than Ben Mclemore in 4 seasons. Going up against the Champs and making big shots. Not many rookies have the balls to do that.