[Grades] Grades v. Lakers 12/26/11

Who was the player of the game?

  • Chuck Hayes

    Votes: 21 22.3%
  • DeMarcus Cousins

    Votes: 7 7.4%
  • Marcus Thornton

    Votes: 64 68.1%
  • Tyreke Evans

    Votes: 2 2.1%

  • Total voters
    94
  • Poll closed .
#31
IMO, Jimmer is already great. I am only trying to help others realize it to make their lives better. Jimmer is not only a top 10 guard in the league already, he is a great man off the court. Jimmer has Christian values.
I saw the game. Thanks but I don't need your help. The Kings won 100-91.
 
#33
IMO, Jimmer is already great. I am only trying to help others realize it to make their lives better. Jimmer is not only a top 10 guard in the league already, he is a great man off the court. Jimmer has Christian values.
A lot of people have Christian values and some don't, but they can be good people too. Some are Buddhist and I don't hate them for being so and they don't hate me. Travis Outlaw is a devout Christian but does not wear it on his sleeve - like LDS Jimmer Fredette. Please leave the proselytizing for someplace else as Jimmer's a good kid - not the second coming. He's a good basketball player - but has a ways to go before being rated a top 10 NBA guard.
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
#34
I agree. The Outlaw pickup is mysterious to me as well. I mean he didn't hurt us at all he played well. but at PF? i don't like. I guess because that played Artest at PF so much PW felt we had to put a SF on him I would have rather seen Hayes on artest myself.
 

bajaden

Hall of Famer
#35
I think Hayes and Dally would destroy teams up front defensively. Also, kings got out-rebounded by the lakers frontline WITHOUT Bynum and Odom, while giving up second chance points like halloween candy.
I don't care, we won! Go sell your negative crap somewhere else. Please! Just for one lousy night!
 
#36
Coach Paul Westphal: A

I loved his substitutions and coaching effectively with lead, virtually wire to wire. His starters were on the floor down the stretch to secure Kings victory after solid early and middle contributions from the bench. He stayed with Fredette even when the rook looked a bit shaky a couple times - but still a nice effort for his first NBA regular season game. Chuck Hayes automatically should get one grade bump up every game no mattter what - just for being the rock solid leader Chuck Hayes. Evans and Thornton - what a dangerous backcourt! Make free throws next time - OK!?!
Yes. I liked Westphal's attitude today. Knowing that the work is never done, holding people accountable but still saying that there's so much more work to do. And seeming confident in his team. Haha idk why, but the new beard+hair makes him look pretty confident as well XD.
For all the heat that I give Westphal, I agree. He did a great job in this game. I thought he should have taken another timeout during the Lakers run, but it worked out and hind-sight is always 20-20.
I'm surprised you guys are praising Westphal tonight. A few of the lineups he put on the floor were terrible, I could have sworn at one point the tallest player on the floor was Hayes, but I guess you could say he was "experimenting." Nevertheless, he continuously left Outlaw on Artest after he kept destroying him.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
#37
He did have nights like that for us, but he also showed that he is soft. Hawes will end up being a top 15 center, DMC will be a top 5.
Hah, yeah I know...But I saw that statline while checking out boxscores and I felt compelled to post it somewhere on here, just for lulz.

Definitely not missing Hawesome with Big Cuz in the house.
 

gunks

Hall of Famer
#39
I'm surprised you guys are praising Westphal tonight. A few of the lineups he put on the floor were terrible, I could have sworn at one point the tallest player on the floor was Hayes, but I guess you could say he was "experimenting." Nevertheless, he continuously left Outlaw on Artest after he kept destroying him.
+1. Too much smallball (any smallball is too much smallball, Westphal is an oft quoted proponent of it). There was some good ball movement, but our offense still looks to be ISO ISO ISO 1v1. We fell in love with jumpers for a long chunk of time when the Lakers upped the D and closed the lead.

COY = Hayes. :p
 
#41
Good team effort tonight. Cousins was HUGE in the 4th quarter!

How about JJ Hickson's full court chase with Murphy for a loose ball and drawing a foul....pitty he couldn't hit his FTs tonight but that hustle summed up our team's hunger tonight.

Still some cringe worthy interior D tonight but still a good effort against underwhelming Lakers team.
 
#42
Coach Paul Westphal: A

I loved his substitutions and coaching effectively with lead, virtually wire to wire. His starters were on the floor down the stretch to secure Kings victory after solid early and middle contributions from the bench. He stayed with Fredette even when the rook looked a bit shaky a couple times - but still a nice effort for his first NBA regular season game. Chuck Hayes automatically should get one grade bump up every game no mattter what - just for being the rock solid leader Chuck Hayes. Evans and Thornton - what a dangerous backcourt! Make free throws next time - OK!?!
It's amazing what the team can do with depth.

I was really impressed with what I saw from the team tonight. It's obvious the impact Chuck has already had on this team. It's night and day from last year. Now if they can just stop getting lost on defense and pass the ball a little more effectively, we'll be in great shape and we'll compete for a playoff spot.
 
#43
What's with the Salmons hate? He played a great game IMO. He played pretty good D on Kobe and most importantly did what we want him to do on offense, hit the open shot and not try to do too much.
 
#44
It's amazing what the team can do with depth.

I was really impressed with what I saw from the team tonight. It's obvious the impact Chuck has already had on this team. It's night and day from last year. Now if they can just stop getting lost on defense and pass the ball a little more effectively, we'll be in great shape and we'll compete for a playoff spot.
NBA coaching can be overrated in some respects. Doc Rivers would disagree, but facts are he was considered "just another coach" with many media (and fans) in Boston demanding his head after dismal third year at the helm produced another miserable season - going 24-58 including 18 game losing streak. Then GM Ainge finally got the big three lined up for him (after having just one - Pierce) and suddenly the dude was an NBA champion head coach. And now Rivers just signed a 5 yr extension for $35 million. I guess some people are just more lucky than good.
 
#45
They had a team defense vs who? An old and injured (and still chucking) Kobe? Hayes pretty much shut down Gasol, but who were the world-beaters they shut down? Artest had his way, and the Lakers really don't have any other scorers/playmakers to worry about, so I'm failing to see where this great team defense was.
What? Team defense has absolutely everything to do with the team playing it, not the opponent.

You failed to see it? I suggest watching the game over.
 

Warhawk

Give blood and save a life!
Staff member
#46
IMO, Jimmer is already great. I am only trying to help others realize it to make their lives better. Jimmer is not only a top 10 guard in the league already, he is a great man off the court. Jimmer has Christian values.
OK, a couple things.

1 - You sound like a troll, and your recent posts have not indicated otherwise as well. That crap isn't tolerated here.
2 - We don't delve into religion. It doesn't freaking matter on the court and it will cause some pretty nasty arguments. Religion and politics are NOT discussed here.

So knock it off. Everyone else, too.
 
#47
What? Team defense has absolutely everything to do with the team playing it, not the opponent.

You failed to see it? I suggest watching the game over.
You are missing the point. How can I judge a defense against a crappy offense? You can't accurately assess anything. Again: they didn't stop anything the Lakers wanted to do outside of Gasol, because there wasn't a lot they could do with the players they had and the coach. And what they could do, they did.
 
#48
I'm surprised you guys are praising Westphal tonight. A few of the lineups he put on the floor were terrible, I could have sworn at one point the tallest player on the floor was Hayes, but I guess you could say he was "experimenting." Nevertheless, he continuously left Outlaw on Artest after he kept destroying him.
I agree there is no reason to go small 1-5 like he was doing sometimes we were already getting slammed on the boards. I don't ever want to see JT and JJ on the floor together there isn't any need for it and Outlaw should stay home at the 3 and only play 4 very rarely. There were a few stupid lineups out there but we have a nicely deep team so even WP couldn't screw it up too much. He coached one of his best games for us.... but I guess we grade on a curve and its been really skewed for a while.
 
#49
This was a huge win for the team, and it's starting off the season in the right direction.

I love the low amount of TOs as well as how we were able to hit big shots, especially Thornton.

It was clearly evident in tonight's game that our bench is far deeper and better prepared to deal with this 66 game schedule than the Lakers. Combine that with the youth of this team, and it hopefully will make for a very competitive season.

Though I wasn't thrilled that we allowed them to get close in the 4th I will say that having the team fight back, stop the Laker's momentum, then finish out the game in a way that did not require a last-second shot should be a great experience for this young team.

That sequence of plays where we were misisng our FTs, but managed to scrap to keep the ball on their side of the court was just pure desire to win, and I'm hoping we can ride that type of effort through-out the entire season.

I wasn't happy with the 3-guard line-up with Thomas, Freddette, & Thornton, especially as I believe we had Outlaw there as the PF. Hopefully we won't see that line-up much more, but overall Westphal had the team playing competively and he rode the bench to allow the starters to be able to get rest and close out the game in the last half of the quarter.

Tomorrow we'll be playing on a back-to-back, but so will Portland, so hopefully we can keep this going and take care of the Trailblazers tomorrow.

It's soo good to have the NBA back and I'm excited for this team.
 

origkds

What- Me Worry?
#51
It’s tough for me to have any criticism of our players and coach when we just beat the Lakers by 9 points. I hope we play this poorly every night. I really enjoyed this game.
 
#52
You are missing the point. How can I judge a defense against a crappy offense? You can't accurately assess anything. Again: they didn't stop anything the Lakers wanted to do outside of Gasol, because there wasn't a lot they could do with the players they had and the coach. And what they could do, they did.
Whatever. I saw effort, intensity, and a willingness to help, those are major parts of defense and I'm encouraged by what I saw.

Oh and BTW, Hayes and Daly would be pretty dominant on the boards, but how do you think they'd be on the other side of the court? Better have Cousins out there 100% of the time otherwise your interior offense is reduced to, well...not much.
 
#53
a lot of guys brought a lot of things that don't show up in box scores. it was great to watch.

only 11 turnovers for us is crazy and overall the win felt like a real team effort. also, salmons did way better than he's getting credit for.
 
#54
Hayes- (A-) - Leadership,Glue, Defense, Passing, Rebounding, Vocal During Crunch Time, Brought the Kings together as one unit. Most Undderated player in the league

Scoreton (A) - Threes, Threes, Threes, Daggers, Clutchness, Solid Rebounding, Passing and Team Defending night.

Evans (B++) Played Smart, Defferd When he had too, Lead when he had too, Great Defense, Poise, Team Play and still the Layup King I see. Shot looked awesome.

Cousins (B +) - Started off the game in the C range, But took over with Thornton in Crunch Time, and was a HUGE reason we won the game, Showed poise, Beast mode, Leadership, and mad Potential.

Salmons (B-) - Made Kobe Work, Hit big shots but also forced a cuple, Picked his spots well on offense and was often the man the Lakers D forgot about and he made them pay.

Freddette (C +) - Was too tentaive, but showed poise at the same time, Ran the offense well when Reke was out and didnt look bad on defense at all. His confidence should be up for next game. Needs too shoot those three pointers, but he said he felt the Lakers were collapsing on him really fast, he'll adjust and probably shoot from farther back next time.

Hickson (C) - Showed Hustle, took a cuple long shots out of his comfort range, couldnt hit freethrows, solid rebounding, and a cuple nice passes. Still finding his Niche, he'll bounce back.

Thompson (D+) - Looked lost, sad, flailing arms, not rebounding, but I dont blame him, it will take him alot more games to become comfortable with his limited role, Got the + for dancing at the start.

Greene (A+*) - was only in for 30 seconds, but played it as good as he could, made kobe miss. Plus pumped the crowd up by dancing at the start with JT. Hopefully hes comfortable with spot seconds like tonight.

IT ( B + ) - Showed no fear, exploited the lakers lack of speed with dribble penetration to the paint whenever he wanted, got under Kobes skin on D, made some nice passes, and Hit a nice Three. Reminds me of Barea, hes a keeper.

Outlaw ( B ) Understood his role, had some crowd igniting plays, took open shots, played solid D, hopefully that three point shot falls next game.

Westphal ( B + ) Good rotations for the most part, cept for the IT Jimmer Thornton Outlaw line, Good Timeouts, Good expression and arguing at bad calls, stuck to his gameplan and got us a victory, Good job.

This team has alot of potential, and IMo is the deepest team in the league, which will dramatically help this season with tons of back to backs. The Energy, Passion, Proffesionalism, Heart, Love for the fans, Winning Attitude, and Team play/Team Respect is back.

Gotta Work on : Freethrows, Defensive Rebounding, Team Defense,

Overall: A+ from my point of view, couldn't of been happier with what I saw tonight, I havent cheered at the TV that loud in a LONG TIME. Im at my parents house for Christmas and Woke them up multiple times from Cheering and Chanting. Also Broke out into Karate moves when Thornton dropped a 3 point Dagger.

Love this squad.
 
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#55
What's with the Salmons hate? He played a great game IMO. He played pretty good D on Kobe and most importantly did what we want him to do on offense, hit the open shot and not try to do too much.
I agree, I don't know why almost everyone here is being negative about Salmons. He played terrific defense and made 3/5 3pt shots. Yes, he had to throw two bad shots up because of the shotclock winding down, but overall I liked him both offensively and defensively
 

Entity

Hall of Famer
#56
Hey rhyme I caught myself pumping my fist more times last night than all year last years. Numerous great plays by our team last night. I even shot Kobe a bird.
 
#57
it has been a while since I posted again.. :D been busy but I saw the game and I really am excited for this new kings team.

Hayes gets A+ for me he's the king of hearts :D hell he could be the king of clubs too when he floors his man :)

I also loved DMC's late game hustle and fire. this is team is so fun to watch now. and it seems tyreke's got his groove back, if they keep this up tyreke and thornton with jimmer backing them up will be a helluva back court
 
#58
Hey rhyme I caught myself pumping my fist more times last night than all year last years. Numerous great plays by our team last night. I even shot Kobe a bird.
Hahaha, last night was sure a thing of beauty! I honestly Tebow'ed for like 20 minutes when the Lakers were making a comeback....
 
#60
They had a team defense vs who? An old and injured (and still chucking) Kobe? Hayes pretty much shut down Gasol, but who were the world-beaters they shut down? Artest had his way, and the Lakers really don't have any other scorers/playmakers to worry about, so I'm failing to see where this great team defense was.
Tough crowd.

They shot 42% from the field, 6% from outside. No better indicator of defense than opponent field goal percentage. Giving up 91 points ain't too shabby, either. Keeping the other team off the offensive glass has ALWAYS been the Kings weakest area, and that's through five head coaches and a hundred players. That obviously showed up against a team with a height advantage, and that was the worst area for us, giving up 16 offensive rebounds.

Still, all in all, a pretty good defensive showing. Lots of work to do, but in the first game, that's not bad.