[Grades] Grades v. Jazz 1/27/2014

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

The other team had done us a solid. They were kicking the crap out of us, and they put in their deepest bench. We were wounded and whipped and they called off the dogs, as much as they have dogs.

To respond to that by making a sad little fake hustle coaching charge is just rude.

This would have meant absolutely nothing if we had "won" it because the teams had mutually agreed it was over 3-4 minutes before Malone started the foolishness. Nor did Utah ever waver in that approach, even as Malone screwed around and held up the game for no reason. So what then? No team up 20 on us in the 4th can ever call off the dogs and put in their deep bench? Is that our fake tough stance then? Everybody has to play their starters to the end and whip us by 30? That's as silly as Python's Black Knight. If the other team has its starters out there and is trying to run up the score that's one thing.

Frankly you could do nonsense like that in almost EVERY garbagetime in every game. There's always going to be some scrub out there shooting 50% from the line who's only out there because the game is over and he needs some development time.

Eh, the "Hack-A" strategy was bush league, but it always is, even when Pop does it. On the other hand, what did you expect the players to do, quit? Hold the ball for the full shot clock, the rest of the game, because Corbin "did us a solid"?

Malone was playing McCallum, Fredette, McLemore, Williams and Acy down the stretch: you don't get much more end-of-the-bench than that. I suppose that he could have played Gray or Landry over Williams, but that's kind of splitting hairs, IMO. I don't endorse the intentional fouling, but I'm down for playing to win.

And, frankly, even with the intentional fouling, I feel like that has to be qualified: I think that Malone, having pulled his rotation guys for, basically, the whole quarter, had told them to "play it out," "just run the offense," or some such equivalent. Then, he looked up at the scoreboard and saw, with 3:21 to go, that we had cut a nineteen-point lead to eleven, and thought, "Wait a second, there's still time: we could **** around and win this thing!" Now, given that, with under a minute to go, we had only managed to shave two points off the lead, I, personally, would have told them to stop fouling at that point, but I have no problem with how Malone coached the game between 3:59 and 1:15. When we had that possession at the one-minute mark, where we missed three straight three-point attempts, and had to settle for a McCallum layup, I'd have "waved them off" at that point, and told them not to foul any more, but I'm cool with how Malone coached until then.

 

[ESP47]

Wow we really don't have anything to talk about because this whole thing is such a non issue.

 

[chasen4r1]

I don't see any problem with the way Malone coached. He was coaching to win. I don't want our players to quit before the buzzer sounds, and I don't want our coach quit before the buzzer sounds.

This is the way the game is played from middle school, to high school, to college, and up. I, myself, have been apart of many games where it resulted in fouling for the last 2-3 minutes. When you're the winning team it sucks because you want to end the game with the win. But when you're losing it gives you a chance to cut the lead and maybe squeak out the win. That's the point of the game anyways isn't it? To win?

 

[Npliam]

It didn't bother me. I do like the way Ty Corbin handled it though. He mostly left his bench out there and let them close out the game even though it got a little uncomfortable it was a learning experience for the young guys.

 

[pshn80]

The other team had done us a solid. They were kicking the crap out of us, and they put in their deepest bench. We were wounded and whipped and they called off the dogs, as much as they have dogs.

To respond to that by making a sad little fake hustle coaching charge is just rude.

This would have meant absolutely nothing if we had "won" it because the teams had mutually agreed it was over 3-4 minutes before Malone started the foolishness. Nor did Utah ever waver in that approach, even as Malone screwed around and held up the game for no reason. So what then? No team up 20 on us in the 4th can ever call off the dogs and put in their deep bench? Is that our fake tough stance then? Everybody has to play their starters to the end and whip us by 30? That's as silly as Python's Black Knight. If the other team has its starters out there and is trying to run up the score that's one thing.

Frankly you could do nonsense like that in almost EVERY garbagetime in every game. There's always going to be some scrub out there shooting 50% from the line who's only out there because the game is over and he needs some development time.

Thanks for explaining where you're coming from. I don't agree and think the coach and the team are far better off for what the coach had them do. It was better for McCallum than the usual ho hum run out the clock. Corbin understood. I think they were playing for who has the worst record in the Western conference. Unfortunately we won.

 

[VF21]

I suddenly had a thought -- does anybody else remember a game last year (pre Malone) where Ty Corbin did something similarly asinine, in Arco. Intentionally fouling again and again and again in the final minutes despite having no chance to win. Even in the last minute as the crowd boo'd him (and we appriately hissed at him here)? That didn't happen this year to Malone as head coach -- our previous 2 games against them were an OT game and a blowout loss. But I wonder if Malone went this route because of a past experience with Corbin?

Heheheheh. If that's the case, my respect for Malone just grew even more.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

I really don't see the issue with the Hack-A thing at all.

the lead had been cut to like 10-12 with 3 mins left and Malone saw the opportunity to make this an interesting game. especially with Rudy Gobert on the court. and ill be damned if it didn't make the game interesting. if they Kings had knocked down a couple of those open 3s in the final minute, D-Will hadn't tossed up a rushed garbage shot, and the turnover that appeared to go out of bounds of Utah, this very well could have come down to a final shot

 

[Bricklayer]

I really don't see the issue with the Hack-A thing at all.

the lead had been cut to like 10-12 with 3 mins left and Malone saw the opportunity to make this an interesting game. especially with Rudy Gobert on the court. and ill be damned if it didn't make the game interesting. if they Kings had knocked down a couple of those open 3s in the final minute, D-Will hadn't tossed up a rushed garbage shot, and the turnover that appeared to go out of bounds of Utah, this very well could have come down to a final shot

You think its making it an interesting game to use rules exploits to mount a fake charge against Rudy Gobert, John Lucas, Brandon Rush, Jeremy Evans, and Dionte Garret?

Epic. Truly.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Yea i think it made the game interesting. it was one shot away from being a one possession game in the final minute. how is that not more interesting than just playing the final 5 minutes of garbage time down by 15-20?

And yea they might have had a pretty garbage lineup on the floor, but did you bother to look at the lineup we had?

 

[nickmcclure]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with a coach who's trying to do whatever it takes (within the rules obv) to get a win. Especially on a depleted team with a terrible record. If we had pulled this one out I doubt anyone would be making a fuss about it. Had we hit our shots, this could have been a W. This is professional basketball of the highest level, the fans pay good money to watch their teams and it's embarassing to support a team that concedes victories before the game is over. There was nothing "classless" about the widely-used strategy of hack-a-whomever. No one got upset with Rick Adelman for implementing it (whom is a better example than Theus I think.)

 

[Bricklayer]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with a coach who's trying to do whatever it takes (within the rules obv) to get a win. Especially on a depleted team with a terrible record. If we had pulled this one out I doubt anyone would be making a fuss about it. Had we hit our shots, this could have been a W. This is professional basketball of the highest level, the fans pay good money to watch their teams and it's embarassing to support a team that concedes victories before the game is over. There was nothing "classless" about the widely-used strategy of hack-a-whomever. No one got upset with Rick Adelman for implementing it (whom is a better example than Theus I think.)

Rick Adelman didn't implement it.

Nobody does. Its childish. There is a right and wrong way to play things. And there are established rules of comity in the NBA. Garbagetime exists and is universally recognized as a time when you call the dogs off and work on developing your kids. Ignoring that doesn't happen every night in the NBA. Not everyday. Certainly not with every coach.

And here's the part that Kings fans are willingly ignoring: Utah let us do that. Like an adult taking his queen off the board before playing you at chess. They patted us on the head, and said good effort son. If the game was still on and they had their guys out there you can make whatever excuse you want. When the only reason you can do it is because the other team is taking it easy on you, then you just look weak.

 

[VF21]

You think its making it an interesting game to use rules exploits to mount a fake charge against Rudy Gobert, John Lucas, Brandon Rush, Jeremy Evans, and Dionte Garret?

Epic. Truly.

Only a lawyer would continue to argue such a miniscule point. That's the part that's epic.

Face it, Brickie. The vast majority of us enjoyed seeing Malone do something that clearly got under Corbin's skin AND put our poor little "end-o-benchers" in a position to make the game interesting.

 

[jalfa]

siding with Brick on this one. mainly because the whole thing just delayed the inevitable and I was already fed up with the game at around the third quarter, but also because it didn't really feel like real basketball anymore. not that it matters terribly, but then, what does when your three best players basically don't play in the game.

 

[Bricklayer]

Only a lawyer would continue to argue such a miniscule point. That's the part that's epic.

Face it, Brickie. The vast majority of us enjoyed seeing Malone do something that clearly got under Corbin's skin AND put our poor little "end-o-benchers" in a position to make the game interesting.

I have faced it.

And the vast majority of you have a broken lose with class compass.

The vast majority of people thought the Earth was flat in 1491 too.

 

[pshn80]

Rick Adelman didn't implement it.

Nobody does. Its childish. There is a right and wrong way to play things. And there are established rules of comity in the NBA. Garbagetime exists and is universally recognized as a time when you call the dogs off and work on developing your kids. Ignoring that doesn't happen every night in the NBA. Not everyday. Certainly not with every coach.

And here's the part that Kings fans are willingly ignoring: Utah let us do that. Like an adult taking his queen off the board before playing you at chess. They patted us on the head, and said good effort son. If the game was still on and they had their guys out there you can make whatever excuse you want. When the only reason you can do it is because the other team is taking it easy on you, then you just look weak.

Interesting view but not one that is of great concern in its violation. I'm too long with the league to be swayed to your way of thinking. Not a big deal under these circumstances.b I'm not embarrassed and I don't imagine Malone has disturbed anybody nor lost prestige across the league. Next game, please, I'll be there.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

So let's talk about something different, Ray McCallum seemed pretty composed out there. Handles the ball well, his defense is clearly the best of any of our guards, and he had some nice passes (not sure how he got robbed in the assist catergorie, i swear he had some assists to McLemore). i really think Malone should find a way to get him 8-10 meaningful mins per game

Oh yea, and he seems to crash the boards extremely well for a guy his size.

 

[pshn80]

So let's talk about something different, Ray McCallum seemed pretty composed out there. Handles the ball well, his defense is clearly the best of any of our guards, and he had some nice passes (not sure how he got robbed in the assist catergorie, i swear he had some assists to McLemore). i really think Malone should find a way to get him 8-10 meaningful mins per game

Oh yea, and he seems to crash the boards extremely well for a guy his size.

I was likewise impressed and happy to see him get minutes, maybe the most he has played all season. He seems to have the mobility and quickness to be a good defender. Just needs a lot more minutes.

 

[Npliam]

I was likewise impressed and happy to see him get minutes, maybe the most he has played all season. He seems to have the mobility and quickness to be a good defender. Just needs a lot more minutes.

Not to rain on anyone's parade but I think I could shut John Lucas the III down.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

Regardless of who he was guarding, it is pretty hard to argue that McCallum is not the best backcourt defender on this team. remember, his competition is PizzaBoy,MT,Ben,Jimmer.

 

[Telemachus]

So let's talk about something different, Ray McCallum seemed pretty composed out there. Handles the ball well, his defense is clearly the best of any of our guards, and he had some nice passes (not sure how he got robbed in the assist catergorie, i swear he had some assists to McLemore). i really think Malone should find a way to get him 8-10 meaningful mins per game

Oh yea, and he seems to crash the boards extremely well for a guy his size.

He is 6'3 and very athletic.

 

[VF21]

Not to rain on anyone's parade but I think I could shut John Lucas the III down.

Why is it that people who use that comment always end up saying something that will do it anyway?

Come on, dude. The polite thing would be just to step back and let us try and find something good to take from the loss. Sometimes it's just as good to be a humble winner as it is bad to be a poor loser. You know?