Grades v. Nets 11/26

[Warhawk]

I'm sorry, 50 minutes and not one assist. 50 minutes!!! That's over 1 entire game! There is absolutely NO EXCUSES for that type of statline. I don't care if you're shooting 100 percent, you've got to have at least 1 assist.

Add that to his missed free throws and turnovers, I think my anger is perfectly justified.

I think a guy shooting well over 50% (only Greene and Thompson, a combined 3 for 4 also shot well), a career high in points, and taking the scoring load night in and out (with Martin out) can be cut a little slack.

Bobby J was 5-14 with one assist - is that more to your liking?

 

[monk81]

It time for BJax, Miller, Moore to go....BJax had one good game....We need to turn the page on him....JT needs to play until he fouls out at a power forward position... Theus is messing with JT's head and confidence by playing him at small forward.....

 

[Showtime]

I still can't believe people putting the blame on this loss on coaching. Does some of his decisions deserve criticism? Sure. Does he deserve all the blame for the loss? Nope. Despite whatever bad decisions he might have made, the game was there to win. Part of that was his decisions too. This team right now shouldn't even BE in these close games, yet they manage to stay competitive almost every game. This team was already going to be in the 20-30 game range when healthy, yet when they are struggling, AS EXPECTED, he should be fired? He's doing more with this team than I expected. Could he do a better job? Sure. A lot of the problems this team is having isn't Reggie's fault. The lesson Adelman taught us was not to fire a coach unless you have a better choice. We all knew this season was going to be tough, yet when it IS tough, some fans want changes NOW because things aren't working out? THIS TEAM ISN'T GOOD NOW. It will be.

 

[GeraldWallace#3]

Oh please....the guy just had a career game. Would it be nice to have an assist? Of course. However, without Salmons on the floor tonight, they lose the game.

Well they lost anyway.

 

[Showtime]

Well they lost anyway.

I think he means without Salmons, the game wouldn't have been close enough to win.

 

[SacKings7]

I didn't see the game, but I voted for Miller. While all those "stats" look awful, there is absolutely no excuse for getting a technical foul..ESPECIALLY in overtime

 

[JoMama]

Does anybody know if the NBA keeps stats on players you have had their shots blocked the most by opposing players? Brad Miller has to be in the top five and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. Brad has zero post game and is the biggest crybaby in the NBA. If the Kings are serious about developing their young bigs, please do NOT start Brad Miller. Trade the big marshmallow. Grade: D

And, when we look back at the game that got Reggie Theus fired, this has to move to the top of that list. His "veterans" play like rookies in crunch time. How does that happen over and over????

 

[fnordius]

Without either Mikki or Reggie to vote for, I didn't vote. The others screwed up too, but I see the rest of the roster as the lesser goats in this game.

 

[Showtime]

I will say that if the Kings don't turn things around in the next ten games, and are going to remain a lottery team (which is 99% probability), then I expect to see Hawes, JT, and Donte starting. If not, then I'm all for finding a replacement for Theus. If the young guns are going to be the main pieces, they should be starting in a meaningless season. I see no logic in continuing to play Miller and Moore heavy minutes and in crunch time.

 

[fnordius]

Does anybody know if the NBA keeps stats on players you have had their shots blocked the most by opposing players? Brad Miller has to be in the top five...

No, Brad's at 10% blocked (tied with JT), which won't even get him into the top 10. SAR and Salmons both broke 10% before, as has Brad in some past years. Making it into the top 5 usually requires 12% or so.

You won't find that stat at the NBA site, AFAIK, but 82games has it if you don't mind having to look it up on each player's individual page.

 

[PurpleHaze]

In giving Theus an "F" Brick says he's surprised coach "did not break out Kenny Thomas." I saw K-dog sitting behind Kings bench in a suit during the game. Don't know why and don't care.

 

[HighTopKicks]

Udrih ( B+ ) -- aggressive again to start this one, maybe too much so. Was repeatedly trying to split double teams and getting bailed out by whistles on what could easily have been turnovers. Still one of only a couple of players who actually showed up on offense in the first half. Scoiring dried up, but played well down the stretch, hitting Spencer for a dunk, Brad for the go ahead three, and then adding a driving layup of his own with about 30 seconds to go that put us up 6, and should have been the end of it. Twas not to be. On the other end Harris was just awful in the early going -- not Beno's doing, but still true. But it was BJax who got beat by Harris late, not Beno. We had him hidden off on Dooling, who actually had a good night against him. As an aside, again it took until overtime to acheive, but Salmons wasn't the only one to threaten a career high tonight. Beno's 10 assists ties his (not a great compliment to his game perhaps, but still a good night for him in that aspect). Stands out as the only King on the court in the final minutes/OT who did NOT choke. Didn't carry us or anything, but at least he did not screw up. On a night like this, that stands out.

.

I'm ok with your grades, except for Udrich. You forgot about the time he left Dooling along at the 3 to go into the paint and try to guard Lopez with 37 sec left in overtime. Nets had just called a timeout, and we were ahead by 3. Every person in Arco knew that we couldn't afford to give up a three. If your going to deduct points for other goat moves, then you've got to deduct big time for that one.

 

[Andre87]

what's up with all the hate on Brad once again?! He played really good

 

[Insomniacal Fan]

No, Brad's at 10% blocked (tied with JT), which won't even get him into the top 10. SAR and Salmons both broke 10% before, as has Brad in some past years. Making it into the top 5 usually requires 12% or so.

You won't find that stat at the NBA site, AFAIK, but 82games has it if you don't mind having to look it up on each player's individual page.

Brad's focus on 3 pointers this year probably cuts into his percentage.

 

[bloom]

Theus ( F ) -- Yikes. What to be said that hasn't already? Get the feeling Reggie is coaching for his coaching life, but if he is, then he is committing the worst of all possible sins -- losing, with vets. If he loses with kids, he can claim its all in the name of development and he's taking one for the team. If he wins wiht vets he can claim its all in the name of winning and our "playoff" push (ha!). But losing with vets...leaves you no excuse, no angle to play. Its the worst of all possible worlds, for us, for the team, and for Reggie.

I think that's it..Reggie just feels like he has to win, somebody in that office needs to tell him to relax. If they just gave him a extension or gave him some reassurance that it's not all about the winning but developing a identity, chemsitry and making sure the kids keep growing then he might actually be more relaxed.

 

[RalphySampson]

what's up with all the hate on Brad once again?! He played really good

Are you serious? He got a "T" in overtime when we were up by 1. Totally inexcusable.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

I'm ok with your grades, except for Udrich. You forgot about the time he left Dooling along at the 3 to go into the paint and try to guard Lopez with 37 sec left in overtime. Nets had just called a timeout, and we were ahead by 3. Every person in Arco knew that we couldn't afford to give up a three. If your going to deduct points for other goat moves, then you've got to deduct big time for that one.

Imagine you're in Beno's shoes. You're up by 3 with at least one possession left for each team. You're playing defense. Suddenly, due to a defensive rotation, you find yourself faced with the following choice: do you give up a wide open dunk, with a 99% chance of your lead decreasing to 1, or do you give up a wide open three, with a 45-50% chance of your lead decreasing to 0. Quick, you only have 0.2 seconds to decide.

 

[kings4lyfe32]

what's up with all the hate on Brad once again?! He played really good

I hope this post was a joke

 

[Jer]

Imagine you're in Beno's shoes. You're up by 3 with at least one possession left for each team. You're playing defense. Suddenly, due to a defensive rotation, you find yourself faced with the following choice: do you give up a wide open dunk, with a 99% chance of your lead decreasing to 1, or do you give up a wide open three, with a 45-50% chance of your lead decreasing to 0. Quick, you only have 0.2 seconds to decide.

You give up the two. Every single time.

What you don't get is that at that point in the game, the difference between a 1 point lead and a tied game is huge. If we had a lead and the ball, the Kings likely get fouled and have to defend the lead by shooting free-throws. If the game is tied, it forces you to make a play because the other team won't foul you on purpose.

It's a lot easier to defend a lead from the line than it is trying to make shots from the field.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

You give up the two. Every single time.

Well, it would be really, really easy for a coach to design a defensive scheme that would absolutely deny a three and absolutely guarantee a dunk. Funny thing is, you never see that with 37 seconds left in the game. Never. 0.5 seconds left? Sure. 37 seconds? Nope.

What you don't get is that at that point in the game, the difference between a 1 point lead and a tied game is huge. If we had a lead and the ball, the Kings likely get fouled and have to defend the lead by shooting free-throws. If the game is tied, it forces you to make a play because the other team won't foul you on purpose.

It's a lot easier to defend a lead from the line than it is trying to make shots from the field.

There were 37 seconds left in the game. If we gave up the dunk, the Nets would have played defense, not fouled. They were going to get another possession, with at least 13 seconds on the clock to make something happen.

Unfortunately, I don't have access to stats that would let me pore through and figure out the following numbers. Find all scenarios where the home team is inbounding or rebounding the ball with between 35-40 seconds on the game clock and has a fresh shot clock. What are:

a) Their winning percentage if up by 3?
b) Their winning percentage if up by 1?
c) Their winning percentage if tied?

My guess is that (a+c)/2 is higher than b. That would assume that the three point shooter makes 50%. (You could also correct for offensive rebounds on the 3 obviously.)

At any rate, it's not as clear cut as you think it is. I won't deny that the difference between up 1 and tied is big there, but it's likely that the difference between up 3 and up 1 is even greater, especially given that we were at home.

To figure that out, we'd have to resort to a lot of number crunching. It would take a day if we had access to the data. But to me, having had tens of minutes to think about it, it still seems that not allowing the dunk and giving up a coin flip on a three is the better move and will result in winning the game more often. Beno is being criticized for making that decision with less than a second to think about it, and that's unfair.

 

[JoMama]

what's up with all the hate on Brad once again?! He played really good

Now we know that Brad's mom knows how to post.

 

[HighTopKicks]

Imagine you're in Beno's shoes. You're up by 3 with at least one possession left for each team. You're playing defense. Suddenly, due to a defensive rotation, you find yourself faced with the following choice: do you give up a wide open dunk, with a 99% chance of your lead decreasing to 1, or do you give up a wide open three, with a 45-50% chance of your lead decreasing to 0. Quick, you only have 0.2 seconds to decide.

The decision was made for them in regulation and in overtime before the ball was ever put into play. As quoted by BJax when he talked about defending Harris' 3 in regulation. Reggie said "DON'T GIVE UP A 3".