Grades v. Nets 01/25

[flymousetw]

There is only one grade I can give the team: A.

That was Kings basketball; team basketball. And, to paraphrase Grant, if you don't like it, you're nuts.

Three assists : This was not Kings
32 assists : They played as Kings

 

[Alacron]

This is the first time I got to see a good look at the Kings with Mobley in the lineup.

Is he always "not so shy" to put the shot up ? Yeah ... he had some assists late, but boy...he's not too eager to pass the ball.

I'd probably give him a B, B- for this performance. He played a horrible first half, and a very good second. He's a skilled player, but he needs to pass the rock.

Alright Stojakovic, I'll come to your defense... I basically agree with you. Sure Cuttino finished with 10 assists, which is great, but he did force several shots and was really frustrating me before he started settling into a groove.

I don't think Mobley's used to a "drive and dish" offense (the guy played with Steve Ballhog Francis for 5 years, for goodness' sake), but he seems to be picking it up gradually.

He's got that quick first step and gets into the paint at will, but often he's out of control and chucking up garbage. Tonight he seemed to realize that he performs better passing in that situation. He even made a comment afterward about how easy assists are to get in our offense because of the talent and style of play.

So while I applaud his 10 assists, I think if he had been with the team longer tonight could have been a 14 assist game. Scott Skiles wasn't satisfied with 10, right?
~~

 

[LMM]

Mobley ( A- ) -- started slowly, but as per his wont, got stronger and stronger as the game went along and finished with such a rush of well rounded play that it was hard to hold the line on the "-" to his A. Basically he gets it for a middling first half and some troubles handling Carter defensively. But he came within 3 rebounds of a triple double and there were several interesting and welcome developments with Cat along the way. First, in the third quarter he broke out the ole Christie to a backcutting Peja pass from the top of the key -- nice to see that reappear in our offense with our new OG. Second, at the end of the third he took on the Bobby role as the guy to go one on one and take the shot at the end of the quarter, and hit it. Replacing some of the special plays of both of our old veteran guards. And tonight, with Webber's assists out of the lineup, Cat really stepped into that Christie role to be that third passer with Bibby and Miller. Very encouraging game because a few forced shots aside, tonight his game reeked of "Kings".

definitely! it reminded me of doug.. i always loved that play! glad to see it back

 

[keflanag]

Ostertag ( C+ ) -- short stint in the first half, and then back for garbagetime. Not much to report. Couple of blocks, nice no look drop off pass to Barnes in the last 20 seconds of garbagetime. Is making Shaq look like Reggie Miller on the line right now -- UGLY.

I was at the game, and what was so weird is that Tag came out early at halftime and shot some free throws. He not only was hitting most of them, but he was relaxed and was hitting nothing but net with some nice arc on the shots. During warmups he is just goofing around w/ no pressure and he's actually a pretty good shooter. He just locks up at the line during the game. Shaq on the other hand, looks as bad in warmups as he does in the game.

Adelman ( B ) -- did something very interesting, maybe alarming, maybe brilliant -- more or less played our 5 starters almost straight on through the first 3 1/2 quarters. Just some short stints for Tag and Martin, but at the end of 3 I think all 5 starters were well over 30 minutes. Could be the confidence in the players, could be trying to restore us to rhythm after the Spurs disaster, could be just trying to knock the Nets out early and get to garbagetime. Whatever it was though, was interesting but I can't really sign off on it (which I am sure causes Rick no end of angst ). Just no way Brad Miller and Cat should be in THIS game with 4:30 minutes left. No way we should have 3 starters logging 40+ minutes. That's just silly and excessive. The Kingsfans.com All-Stars could probably have played the 4th quarter and held off the Nets. No need to rack up extra wear and tear on the starters. Okay, for the rest -- team quite obviously listened up to whatever Rick said in the last couple of days, because we played this one right from the start. This was a bad team, and we would pretty much have had to beat ourselves to lsoe it. But we didn't just win, we played our game and dismantled them.

I think Adelman knew that a 20 pt win was big. He didn't want it to dwindle down to a sub 10 digit lead (even in garbage time). Everything was flowing so well, that he just wanted to keep that rhythm going into Thursday. It may have had something to do with getting Brad 30 pts, and getting Bibby and Mobley double-doubles before sitting them down too.

 

[Bricklayer]

Alright Stojakovic, I'll come to your defense... I basically agree with you. Sure Cuttino finished with 10 assists, which is great, but he did force several shots and was really frustrating me before he started settling into a groove.

I don't think Mobley's used to a "drive and dish" offense (the guy played with Steve Ballhog Francis for 5 years, for goodness' sake), but he seems to be picking it up gradually.

He's got that quick first step and gets into the paint at will, but often he's out of control and chucking up garbage. Tonight he seemed to realize that he performs better passing in that situation. He even made a comment afterward about how easy assists are to get in our offense because of the talent and style of play.

So while I applaud his 10 assists, I think if he had been with the team longer tonight could have been a 14 assist game. Scott Skiles wasn't satisfied with 10, right?
~~

Here's the real question though -- we sit here ringless. We've never won. Maybe we don't WANT Mobley to start thinking too much "like a King". Maybe exactly what we need is somebody aggressive to a fault who will attack a defense rather than just swing the ball around. For years we've been decrying our lack of one on one players, and for good reason. With the exception of Bobby, and sometimes Webb when he's not settling for the jumper, we have a group of guys who's offense is created by the team offense, rather than by their own creativity. That usually works, and has kept us near the top of the league year after year in offense.

But here's the problem -- if the other team solves our team offense, all of a sudden we are in trouble. Most of our guys lack first rate ability to improvise. And so I think there's a good argument that the LAST thing we want is for Mobley to stop forcing. That we INTENTIONALLY went out and got a player with a little Bobby Jackson in him, because its something we have been lacking, and something of which we have been needing more. Cat is not Doug. He's a former 20ppg scorer in this league. Better offensively than any two guard we've had in Sacto since Mitch. He's going to force some shots, but maybe that's exactly what this team has needed -- somebody who's not passive. Who doesn't let the game come to him, and who goes out and forces the action. I'm not convinced that Cat sometimes forcing things isn't part of our plan for him. Another creator. Another aggressor.

 

[uolj]

The best example of why this might be necessary is last years playoffs. The defense was very good, the offense stunk. Part of that was the overall poor play at the end of the season, part of that was all the extra energy put into the defense that wasn't a habit, and part of that was the fact that teams can figure out how to stop offenses when you play seven games in a row against the same team.

Having individuals that can still put points on the board outside of any particular offensive strategy is important for the playoffs, and I think the Kings will benefit for Mobley's ability to do that. I really think that by the time April gets here, opponents will be leaving Stojakovic alone more than they have in a couple years, and he'll be able to go off for a few huge games in the playoffs. Being able to mix it up like that is a definite positive for the "real" season.

 

[kgrichwine]

I only saw the first half of the game, but I thought Darius deserved at least a B up through the second quarter. He must have stunk it up in the second half.

 

[iheartBrad]

Reina's Random Non-basketball grades:

Webb (C): Should have saved some of that money and bought a nicer looking suit

i actually thought Chris's shirt and tie was a very nice match

 

[RaY Z]

whats with alot of ppl hating how mobley plays... he played well sure he shot alot of shots but he got 20 with 16 in the ssecond half on 5/8 of shooting.. plus he 10 assists... having an aggressive scorer and one we discovered who can pass pretty well as we did with the miller is gonna be an added bonus to our team... not to mention his underated d....

GO CAT!!!!!!

 

[KP]

Has anyone else noticed the trend of Cat having big 2nd halves? Am I the only one? If he would have listened to some of the other posters in here and backed off a bit,("not forcing it") he wouldn't have had a second half like he did. Not only did he go 5/8 in the second half but he got to the line too (16 second half points). He also had 4 assists in the first half when he was supposedly(according to some) being the most selfish. Since when is an 8 assist a game pace not great?? (even on the Kings) Not to mention the way he was knocking down his shots(which he wouldn't have been taking had he eased back) he was then able to penetrate and dish(6 second half assists), or get to the line. Is the fact that it was a good thing that he stayed aggressive in the 2nd half even still debatable?? He's only been here 5 games, but don't you watch the games??? This isn't the first time he had an off 1st half and came back to score well overall. 20, 10, and 7... I hope he forces it more often!

 

[uolj]

Has anyone else noticed the trend of Cat having big 2nd halves? Am I the only one?

Actually, it has been mentioned several times, including by at least one poster who watch Mobley a lot in Houston.

And it's fine by me if he wants to improve as the game goes on. A guy who can knock down shots on the perimeter at the end of games is a good thing.

 

[Kingsgurl]

Interestingly enough, during the pre-game meeting between the Team Captains and the refs (Webber obviously couldn't do it, since he wasn't playing) it wasn't Peja who went out there, or Mike, or Brad, but Cat. Hopefully, this will not further damage Peja's delicate psyche.

 

[Kingsgurl]

One other observation about the game last night. The contrast between the 'respect' the nets got from the refs defensively and what the spurs are allowed to do is night and day. When they put a hand on Peja, they got called for it. How is Peja supposed to be consistent in how he reacts to defenders, when it isn't consistent what is allowed?

 

[KP]

One other observation about the game last night. The contrast between the 'respect' the nets got from the refs defensively and what the spurs are allowed to do is night and day. When they put a hand on Peja, they got called for it. How is Peja supposed to be consistent in how he reacts to defenders, when it isn't consistent what is allowed?

Very good point^^ I noticed that as well. We got a ton of calls early, If I was a Nets fan I would be pissed. Just like I was when the Spurs got a ton of calls early the other day. I guess we just have to get used to the fact that the refs in the NBA are just biased a lot of times, and suck most of the time. Did I say most of the time? I meant all of the time.