[Grades] Grades v. Hawks 1/21/2016

When does the streak end?

  • Home vs. Pacers (4 game streak)

    Votes: 9 10.5%
  • Home vs. Charlotte (5 game streak)

    Votes: 2 2.3%
  • Road vs. Portland (6 game streak)

    Votes: 8 9.3%
  • Road vs. New Orleans (7 game streak)

    Votes: 5 5.8%
  • Road vs. Memphis (8 game streak)

    Votes: 17 19.8%
  • Home vs. Milwaulkee (9 game streak)

    Votes: 1 1.2%
  • Home vs. Chicago (10 game streak)

    Votes: 6 7.0%
  • Road vs. Brooklyn (11 game streak)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Road vs. Boston (12 game streak)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • NEVER! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

    Votes: 38 44.2%

  • Total voters
    86
  • Poll closed .
DC stealing the ball while landing on the floor like a dead log was probably the best steal I've ever witnessed during my time on Earth.

Thank you DC.


He laid out like a Gold Glover.

Acy causing a raucous in the paint drawing back to back to back fouls was another one.
These are the kind of plays we need from our role players.
 
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I think this team is starting to click, and I honestly think it's because of WCS. Not necessarily because of WCS being so good (which he has been as well), but because it allows the team to play their natural positions, with Rudy at the 3, B-Mac at the 2, and Rondo at PG. Granted Rudy was out yesterday.

But because of WCS getting heavier minutes, it does not allow Karl to play the 2pg lineup as much. I think limiting DC's minutes to 15-18 a game max is the way to go. Maybe even 12-15. The Kings are playing BIG but because WCS is so fast and athletic we are playing fast AND big. Loving it!
 
Alright, that was a sweet win, and I don't get excited too easily.

WCS is a huge difference maker. He completely changes the game defensively.

Casspi has balls of steel. He is so gritty and fiery, exactly the type of player you hate if they play for the other team.

Ben is playing with a lot of confidence and even though he faded in the 4th, he showed tremendous effort and made some huge plays especially defensively.

Collison, great effort and steal.

Acy brought his usual energy and hustle. Those fouls made a real difference at the end.

Rondo, bad shooting but showed his leadership and IQ at the end, and still ended up with a triple double.

Boogie. 24/15/5/3/2 on a bad night. If this guy isn't an all-star then the league just needs to pack in that whole debacle for good.
 
Rondo's brilliant coaching in the crunch time:
View attachment 5514

View attachment 5515

really loved Ben & WCS' effort tonight.
Video of this play. Rondo is a smart guy.

I'm just going to say this one time, the solution to a slump is not to bench a guy. Benching Marco isn't an option. And it's not what Karl will do. He will give Marco weeks to get right before even looking at Curry or Anderson. And for good reason. Shots falling or not, Marco is a key part of this team. It might behoove the team to get him back as a spot up shooter instead of these tough shot he's getting now.

The way this is heading I'm going to owe George an apology. It took 40 games to get here, not 20. I think Trill's injury really hurt a lot more than we all realized. He's irreplaceable defensively. Just his mere presence changes everything. Suddenly it's a very intimidating front line. The one we all imagined in the offseason. George, you need to play the kid as many minutes as he can handle!

"There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear."

http://teamstre.am/1RDDslt
 
Im glad George finally realized what this forum saw months ago, playing a full sized lineup (Ben,WCS) is the best lineup this roster can put out there. Only took him countless losses to finally go away from the automatic Darren and Rondo closing lineup. I think someone (Vlade) got in his ear and finally got him to realize that small ball is fine in spurts but your main defense-first lineup should be the focus, Especially with Rudy/Rondo/Cuz who are more than capable of generating enough offense.

Hopefully Vivek saw that it doesn't take dunks, crazy 3s or fancy handling for Sacramento fans to get excited, we appreciate heart, hustle and defense too. Anything that leads to WINS.

I think this play is what Karl has been working on all along. I don't think he needed the fans or Vlade, he has it in hand.
 
Boogie is having the best month of his career at 31 PPG 14 RPG on 49% FG and 7-3 record!!! This comes after the worst month in 2 1/2 seasons with 21 PPG and 10 RPG and 39% FGs and 5-8 record.

It warms my heart to hear Boogie say he can "do more with the pass" and that the winning play was a drop down to Rondo for lay-up instead of Boogie trying to bulldoze the lane into waiting defenders.

The execution of that play was easy because of attention garnered towards Boogie. This is the beauty of having a superstar! Not just a guy who can make plays but results in other guys being relatively unattended especially in crunch time.

This is what I have been harping on for weeks regarding acting as a decoy on occasion and making improved decisions with the ball. Boogie is still going to be our high volume shot taker and this is what we want but what teammates want is to feel like they are not ignored (like the teammates of James Harden ;)).

Ben getting 14 FGAs reflects this effort to share the wealth and seek good shots regardless of who takes them. The absence of Rudy increased shots available but it is not inconceivable that Boogie in December would have launched 30+ FGAs (instead of 25 FGAs) trying to "carry the burden" then gripe to refs when forces are not rewarded with free throws.

The other issue with imprudent shot taking is chronic foul trouble (offensives charges, frustration with refs, frustration fouls) which suppresses legitimate scoring chances.

Boogie had 5 or 6 fouls in half of his games in December (6 out of 13). which resulted in fewer minutes (32 MPG vs 36 MPG this month) and fewer FGAs (18 FGAs vs 22 FGAs this month).

This is the irony of being a more unselfish and prudent player. The wealth that you share comes back to you!

The unity on the offense end carries to the defensive end since bad offensive possessions make team vulnerable in transition. Our improved defense is a function of (1) Willie and (2) better pass/shoot decisions by Boogie and his decision to ignore the refs more often.

This improved collective focus to run the offense regardless of who shoots and how well reserves energy to commit to defend. The opposite is chronic dissatisfaction with how game is being called and having to rely on the refs instead of your own team to dictate the game.

It kind of frustrates me when I hear analysts like Aaron Bruski (who is a clown) that George Karl has finally "figured it out" and he put Boogie on the post "where he belongs" when this is total mischaracterization. If anyone who has "figured it out" it is Boogie who is playing smarter and more under control mentally and physically, and turning into the leader we need him to be.
 
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Rondo's brilliant coaching in the crunch time:
View attachment 5514

View attachment 5515

really loved Ben & WCS' effort tonight.

The greatest part about this is there was nobody in the corner when Rondo sent him over there, and it was painfully obvious that the play was drawn up to get someone (probably Korver) into that corner. I'm not sure if Karl set up the D that way, or if Rondo saw it while getting set up. Either way, just really really smart defensive awareness.
 
So great to read these threads after a win. Love that we are starting to win the 2nd on back-to-backs, this team is locked in and hungry. The depth on this team is really starting to show its positives, with Rudy being out a game and the team still winning. Speaks volumes over past seasons, where all the 'good' players were needed even for a chance to win against a good team. I did pick them to lose the next game, but I hope it reverse jinxes and they keep rolling !:p
 
The greatest part about this is there was nobody in the corner when Rondo sent him over there, and it was painfully obvious that the play was drawn up to get someone (probably Korver) into that corner. I'm not sure if Karl set up the D that way, or if Rondo saw it while getting set up. Either way, just really really smart defensive awareness.

Some of you people must think that Karl is just a stupid old man that knows nothing. Of course Karl set it up that way. Who do you think draws up the plays? Why was he sitting there with a chalk board prior to that play? Everyone in the building knew that the only play that would hurt us was a three point play. There was no need to guard the basket. I think Cuz just got confused and did what he would instinctively do, guard the basket. Rondo saw that, and pointed him in the right direction. If you were paying attention, Cuz originally thought he was supposed to guard the inbound pass, but Willie moved him off the inbound. So for a brief moment, Cuz wasn't sure where to go and Rondo told him.

There's something I wanted to mention after the Laker game and forgot. This is for those that like to tout the plus/minus results of a player. In the Laker game, I think everyone would agree that Omri should have stayed in bed. He couldn't hit a shot, and forgot that he had to dribble the ball before going anywhere with it. He played 30 minutes, scored 9 pt's on 3 of 11 shooting going 1 for 7 from the three. He did have 9 boards but turned the ball over 3 times and put up a +20 for the game. Willie on the other hand played 29 minutes, scored 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting, grabbed 10 boards, had 2 steals and 2 blocked shots and no turnovers. He ended up with a -1 for the game. Will someone please explain that to me.
 
There's something I wanted to mention after the Laker game and forgot. This is for those that like to tout the plus/minus results of a player. In the Laker game, I think everyone would agree that Omri should have stayed in bed. He couldn't hit a shot, and forgot that he had to dribble the ball before going anywhere with it. He played 30 minutes, scored 9 pt's on 3 of 11 shooting going 1 for 7 from the three. He did have 9 boards but turned the ball over 3 times and put up a +20 for the game. Willie on the other hand played 29 minutes, scored 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting, grabbed 10 boards, had 2 steals and 2 blocked shots and no turnovers. He ended up with a -1 for the game. Will someone please explain that to me.

I've always enjoyed popcornmachine's visualizations of +/-: http://popcornmachine.net/gf?date=20160120&game=SACLAL

You can see that a big factor likely was that 19-3 run the Kings made in the 4th quarter, when Omri was in but WCS was sitting. WCS was also hurt by being on the court for each of Lakers' runs in the second half. Of course, two of those runs were with Boogie out, and that 19-3 Kings run commenced right when Boogie came back in (for WCS). So, those numbers appear impacted a lot more by Cousins than any of WCS' own issues.
 
DC stealing the ball while landing on the floor like a dead log was probably the best steal I've ever witnessed during my time on Earth.

Thank you DC.
He looked like a wide receiver laying out to catch a pass. I can say clearly I have never seen that before. It's inspirational.
 
I've always enjoyed popcornmachine's visualizations of +/-: http://popcornmachine.net/gf?date=20160120&game=SACLAL

You can see that a big factor likely was that 19-3 run the Kings made in the 4th quarter, when Omri was in but WCS was sitting. WCS was also hurt by being on the court for each of Lakers' runs in the second half. Of course, two of those runs were with Boogie out, and that 19-3 Kings run commenced right when Boogie came back in (for WCS). So, those numbers appear impacted a lot more by Cousins than any of WCS' own issues.

I can figure out why, but my point is, that anyone with half a brain, and two good eyes knows that Willie had a very good game, and Omri didn't. Therefore, explanation or not, the plus/minus score isn't indicative of what happened on the court.
 
He laid out like a Gold Glover. These are the kind of energetic plays we need from our bench.

Acy causing a raucous in the paint drawing back to back to back fouls was another one.
These are the kind of plays we need from our role players.
Thank you. It jogged memories of me laying out at third base to stop a grounder. The trouble was standing up and throwing the ball. :)

This is neither here nor there but bajaden reminded me of my time as a baseball player. I usually played on the left side of the infield. I recall once being asked to play 2nd base. I was lost. It was so uncomfortable that I even had trouble scooping up grounders which normally was my forté. It felt like I was on a foreign planet.
 
Video of this play. Rondo is a smart guy.

I'm just going to say this one time, the solution to a slump is not to bench a guy. Benching Marco isn't an option. And it's not what Karl will do. He will give Marco weeks to get right before even looking at Curry or Anderson. And for good reason. Shots falling or not, Marco is a key part of this team. It might behoove the team to get him back as a spot up shooter instead of these tough shot he's getting now.

The way this is heading I'm going to owe George an apology. It took 40 games to get here, not 20. I think Trill's injury really hurt a lot more than we all realized. He's irreplaceable defensively. Just his mere presence changes everything. Suddenly it's a very intimidating front line. The one we all imagined in the offseason. George, you need to play the kid as many minutes as he can handle!

"There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear."

http://teamstre.am/1RDDslt

Watching the video of that play again... what leaps out to me here that I missed the first time is Al Horford trying to set a pick on Omri and then taking four steps sideways with his hand on Omri's back pushing him long enough to let Bazemore finally get free. How is that not a moving screen?
 
I haven't seen any recognition of Rondo's triple double. Is it getting so routine as not to be noticed? He must be setting some sort of a record. He has vice tips for hands like Cuz.
 
That's what studying film does. He would have watched Hawks set plays leading into the game and he remembers this one. Game saving coaching by the vet team leader that we always wanted. There are not many players in the league that DMC would take seriously when they tell him to go guard the space in the corner. Rondo is a guy he trusts and will listen to.
 
That's what studying film does. He would have watched Hawks set plays leading into the game and he remembers this one. Game saving coaching by the vet team leader that we always wanted. There are not many players in the league that DMC would take seriously when they tell him to go guard the space in the corner. Rondo is a guy he trusts and will listen to.
I also think it makes no sense for Boogie to guard the paint and as everyone else had the three point arc except a wide open place for the short three, he should have guarded that area. Sure, Rondo may have known the play but it made no sense to have anybody guard the paint. Next time, Boogie and the whole team will know that guarding all aspects of the three point arc is the defensive set, especially the corners.

I'm not disagreeing. Rondo showed great leadership and even though it took awhile for Boogie to catch on and do what he was told, he DID go to the best unguarded area. I am very happy to have Rondo and I am glad Boogie respects him.
 
Yeah, it was good leadership and IQ by Rondo, but people saying he "knew the play" aren't really correct. He knew that only a three could tie it, and in a set play like that, they're always going to try and get someone into the corner. No point guarding anyone inside the three point line, let them have it there.
 
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The greatest part about this is there was nobody in the corner when Rondo sent him over there, and it was painfully obvious that the play was drawn up to get someone (probably Korver) into that corner. I'm not sure if Karl set up the D that way, or if Rondo saw it while getting set up. Either way, just really really smart defensive awareness.
If you remember, Schroder who was guarded by Boogie was switched to Sefolosha right before the inbound pass, which puzzled Boogie where to go. That's when Rondo took the matter into his own hands, started screaming at him and Boogie obediently follows the order :). True general.
 
Video of this play. Rondo is a smart guy.

I'm just going to say this one time, the solution to a slump is not to bench a guy. Benching Marco isn't an option. And it's not what Karl will do. He will give Marco weeks to get right before even looking at Curry or Anderson. And for good reason. Shots falling or not, Marco is a key part of this team. It might behoove the team to get him back as a spot up shooter instead of these tough shot he's getting now.

The way this is heading I'm going to owe George an apology. It took 40 games to get here, not 20. I think Trill's injury really hurt a lot more than we all realized. He's irreplaceable defensively. Just his mere presence changes everything. Suddenly it's a very intimidating front line. The one we all imagined in the offseason. George, you need to play the kid as many minutes as he can handle!

"There's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear."

http://teamstre.am/1RDDslt
Can't agree more, even him moving without the ball draws so much attention, including best defenders. More importantly his teammates still trust and keep dishing the ball to him, they know better.
 
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