[Grades] Grades v. Thunder 1/7/2015

[jdbraver]

An "A" each for the big 3, a "B" for Ben for great defense and recovering his shot in second half, a "B" for Landry for his points, a "B-" for Ray moving the ball and improving a bit every game and, and, .... were there others out there?

Come on Landry deserves an A, I just can't see him playing a better game this year. Exactly what we need off the bench when our big 3 are out.

 

[King Baller]

I'm sure you could find that data pretty easy.

The thunder shot awful and many were open looks. Thankful for DC7 he played great.

You are sure? OK show me where it is. I am always willing to learn.

 

[dude12]

I'll list my complaints about the game:

 

[Chubbs]

The most curious thing to me is that Derrick Williams was suddenly an afterthought on offense. He played 27 mins in a 21 point blowout and yet finished with a -7 on 1-4 shooting.

 

[ppine]

Back to fundamental basketball. The Kings played defense like they meant it. Cousins deserves a lot of credit for his physical style of play taking charges, rebounding, a couple of blocks and showing the level of effort that spreads to the rest of the team. He is clearly the team's leader. Kings' players like Williams, Landry and Thompson, plus Evans are all physical players, but sometimes forget to play that way. It obviously didn't hurt that the Thunder had a sub-par game, but part of the reason was the defense took away a lot of what they like to do. Anytime you can frustrate the other team's offense you have a good chance to beat them. Basketball is a mental sport and the Kings dominated the Thunder mentally which is not easy to do. Very impressive. It begs the question- "What the hell are the Kings' doing most nights on defense?" It has been a long time since the Kings held anyone below 100. Most of the time lately they have been giving up 110+ points a game. Tonight 87?

It was great to see the Kings' hit some open shots and push the ball on offense. Cousins had all sorts of trouble on the offensive side of the ball against Perkins and Ibaka. He could have been to the line about 6 more times than what the refs called, but he needs to quit complaining all the time and get back on defense. The tape of this game shows how to play defense against Cousins. He should watch it a few times and learn from it. The Thunder are one of the teams that are the hardest to dominate.

I would give Corbin some credit for this win after a few practices he went back to the main issue with this team which is defense.

I think the Kings' situation is not all that complicated. They can play defense and start winning again, or go through the motions and finish the season with the same crummy record as the last 3 years. The political infighting attracts a lot of attention, but this is basketball. You defend, you rebound and you have a good chance every night.

 

[Padrino]

I think the Kings' situation is not all that complicated. They can play defense and start winning again, or go through the motions and finish the season with the same crummy record as the last 3 years. The political infighting attracts a lot of attention, but this is basketball. You defend, you rebound and you have a good chance every night.

yup. i don't care what pace the team plays at as long as it's a result of strong defense and strong rebounding, because those factors do, indeed, give any team a fighting chance against even the stiffest competition...

 

[pshn80]

Well the Thunder played awful, and the Kings finally play a good game in the Ty Corbin era, make that one out of ELEVEN now. so i wont get my hopes up too much.

But it was nice to see them throw the PDA fast paced gimmick ball out the window for one night. I hope they stick to that gameplan

You know, I watch the games and last night's game and I have to admit
I saw no difference in pace except maybe they played a little faster last night, a really upbeat pace. "Pace" was in PDA's vocabulary but it hasn't been noticeable to me one way or another. "Spirit", "confident", "tenacious on defense", yes, those have been mostly missing since the Corbin ascendancy. Last night the had a lot of those qualities going for them.

 

[kupman]

In honor of the late, great Stuart Scott I think that the team grade for tonight should simply be "BOO-YEAH!"

 

[SwishKing]

Stats: 34min 11pts (5-9, 1-2, 0-0) 2reb 1st 4stl 0blk 2TO
McLemore ( C- ) -- The very first play of the game was a designed play where Ben came off a screen and curled into the lane and Cousins hit him with a bounce pass for an easy bucket. The only problem….? The spacing wasn’t great, the bounce pass wasn’t great, and Ben couldn’t hold on to the ball and the play went from an easy hoop to a TO. By and large that first play represented the entire game for Ben. In the first quarter he was really active, getting the ball in great spots to shoot, cutting into the lane for potentially open looks, and just getting into good spots to be effective. The problem…he didn’t score his first points till half-way through the 3rd quarter. He was active and playing good ball, he just couldn’t seem to finish off plays in a positive manner. His first basket is when he ran the ball all the way up the court, attacked the rim and finished and he ended the 3rd quarter with a nice weak-side offensive rebound and in-the-air put-back with 5 seconds left. Early in the 4th quarter, with the Kings struggling to score, he dribbled around and then took a highly contested high-air floating 3pt shot. It was one of those patented Jerry’s “A bad shot is better than no shot things…”(I don’t quite agree with that philosophy…but that’s ok) and it went in and put some points up on the board to stop what could have been a scoring drought. But while the game was still potentially an actual game, those were the points he put up. So active, but not really one of the reasons why we blew out the Thunder. His best contribution was that he ended up with 4 steals (though two were of the ‘gift’ variety) and it points to his activity. But he didn’t spend much of any time guarding Westbrook, spent 8 minutes guarding Roberson, and the rest just keeping close to Morrow and Waiters…so he wasn’t really having to shut anyone down in this one. We got the win, he didn’t hurt us, so a middling grade for him in this one. --Uncia

Stats: 38min 24pts (9-19, 5-10, 1-1) 1reb 7ast 2stl 0blk 3TO
Collison ( A ) -- This was Darren Collison’s night. Not much to write about it, the guy was simply excellent. I was especially impressed about his 3pt shooting. He took them with grace, without forcing them and balancing his feet before letting it go. It was really enjoyable to see Westbrook fly by and Darren just to take a step aside to release. After some over eager penetrations in the first quarter and getting denied by OKC’s excellent shot blocking capabilities, Darren was quick to realize the limitations he had there. I think that was great mind work and adjustment from him right there. Later he cut to the basket from the side, which gives more depth to operate (and even pass), and that was successful. Good fake and a bucket. Great passes, good work with the clock, steals completed the beautiful all around picture Darren provided tonight. Although BenMc was on Westbrook most of the time, the OKC guards were not able to get anything done. Darren was alert and returned fast to the defense. A total of 24 points (and especially 5-10 from down town), 7 assists and 2 steals is a very good production for the night. Beyond that, he shows good leadership qualities. He can make order in the offense. Love to see Darren develop and get better. Fantastic value for money player. --Kingston

So who was guarding Westbrook?

 

[Bricklayer]

So who was guarding Westbrook?

much Collison, but mostly just himself

 

[The_Jamal]

i could just see Boogie giving a pregame speech tonight to the squad:
"Alright guys, let's get back to what Coach Mike taught us, defense and attack the paint. get them in foul trouble. play physical! **** running fast and **** Jazz music!"

something like that i'd assume

Woah now buddy. We might have a problem if you keep throwing around phrases like that

 

[ParniValjak]

This is the win I absolutely LOVE! It's precisely how great teams win. Punish them from the post and defend like crazy. Boogie's impact cannot be measured by the boxscore. In that 3rd quarter he took 3 charges and blocked a shot and its pretty much put the nail in OKC's coffin.

I also LOVE the fact that we were getting into their heads and Boogie was the leader in this. He had Westbrook frustrated, he played mind games with Perkins all game long. I LOVED seeing that from this team and the great team D that was played. That is what I want the Kings basketball to be. Punish the hell out of them inside, get to the FT line and just play your backside off on D. This is the Kings team we all love.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

getting a -7 plus minus in TWENTY SEVEN minutes of play, in a 21 point blowout win, is extremely amazing and impressive.

well done Derrick Williams, well done.

 

[Bricklayer]

getting a -7 plus minus in TWENTY SEVEN minutes of play, in a 21 point blowout win, is extremely amazing and impressive.

well done Derrick Williams, well done.

I actually did not notice that. That is pretty impressive. We won the 21 minutes without him on the floor by 28 points. Of course some of that is just the extreme potency of the big three and the starters on the night.

 

[Glenn]

getting a -7 plus minus in TWENTY SEVEN minutes of play, in a 21 point blowout win, is extremely amazing and impressive.

well done Derrick Williams, well done.

It is amazing. I am almost beginning to like him. Depends on what he wants in a contract. I think he is fitting in better and would like feed back from others. My vision is getting worse.

 

[John Galt]

the sarcasm is so thick with D-Thrill I can't tell who is kidding and who isn't.

 

[HereWeBoogie]

the sarcasm is so thick with D-Thrill I can't tell who is kidding and who isn't.

anything remotely positive is probably sarcasm

 

[John Galt]

yeah I get it. But his back to back alley-oops against the Clippers last year - before Rudy Gay - that was one of the most cool things I've seen. I've always been disappointed that he could never sustain any momentum to earn real minutes and make real contributions.

 

[Darth Divac]

He's got the athletic talent and scoring ability to be great. It just doesn't feel like he really wants it, you know?

 

[flamecrow]

Two things:
If Corbin is freed from PDA and Vivek then awesome. If not, he's defying and will get fired if he wins more than 10 games. Who knows, they might fire him for George Karl lol

...and Ben McLemore's 360 layup haha

 

[SCKingsfan]

Haha. Was I the only one who couldn't concede that we were going to win the game until about 3:48 left in the 4th quarter? I was so fearing the epic meltdown. I'm such a shell shocked fan at this point. Glad they seemed to have more confidence than I did!

 

[Gilles]

yeah I get it. But his back to back alley-oops against the Clippers last year - before Rudy Gay - that was one of the most cool things I've seen. I've always been disappointed that he could never sustain any momentum to earn real minutes and make real contributions.

Beware, what you post! If Kings sales department use NBA 3.0 level technologies, you might get spammed with clips of Williams dunking with offers to buy premium season tickets, and soon you will hear about the change of the face of this franchise to a more exciting player!
Williams can't finish inside through contact, and he doesn't shoot well from outside with both pretty low and slow release, so he's inefficient on offense, and while he moves his feet pretty well, his team defense is bad.

 

[Kingston Jamaica]

I really get confused with this jazz thing. I grew up on jazz (not the Utah Jazz!!) and it's like in my circulation. So jazz basically means essential (fo life) things to me. When it comes to this OKC game, it was listening the Miles Davis "Round about Midnight". The feeling that OKC did not have a chance at any moment of the game was just overwhelming. I can't say it more clearly than this: It's all about defense! When you see DMC sacrifice himself at defense, you're just not going to go and lose such a game. It simply gets to everybody in the team involved. This SAC team is simply a very good basketball team. There's been some adversity, but after this game I felt like after the 9-5 run in November. We tend to over criticize the players, but this team is a real thing. Before the season is over, it will make a statement.

 

[biltalent]

that gets me pumped up!

 

[Kingston Jamaica]

that gets me pumped up!

!! That's exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[Ron]

yeah I get it. But his back to back alley-oops against the Clippers last year - before Rudy Gay - that was one of the most cool things I've seen. I've always been disappointed that he could never sustain any momentum to earn real minutes and make real contributions.

D-Will can only be good (or OK) with 2-3 facilitators around him.
Remember how people around here said he was great WITH Casspi or Rudy, but not in their place? That's it.

He must NEVER be on the floor with Landry (only a finisher, no team play) and probably not with Ben either. (Actually not with Evans, Thompson & Hollins either, because they don't do offense).
I think he should only get PT in lineups with one or two of the PGs + DMC, Rudy and Casspi (The good Rudy. The one that passes...).
He will thrive in such lineups, and we will all love him again...

 

[VF21]

Beware, what you post! If Kings sales department use NBA 3.0 level technologies, you might get spammed with clips of Williams dunking with offers to buy premium season tickets, and soon you will hear about the change of the face of this franchise to a more exciting player!
Williams can't finish inside through contact, and he doesn't shoot well from outside with both pretty low and slow release, so he's inefficient on offense, and while he moves his feet pretty well, his team defense is bad.

Too late. He's already been featured on commercials airing in the Sacramento area for about the last month.

 

[KingMilz]

D-Will can only be good (or OK) with 2-3 facilitators around him.
Remember how people around here said he was great WITH Casspi or Rudy, but not in their place? That's it.

He must NEVER be on the floor with Landry (only a finisher, no team play) and probably not with Ben either. (Actually not with Evans, Thompson & Hollins either, because they don't do offense).
I think he should only get PT in lineups with one or two of the PGs + DMC, Rudy and Casspi (The good Rudy. The one that passes...).
He will thrive in such lineups, and we will all love him again...

I agree with what your saying but if anything D-Will and Ben since the first day of Derrick getting traded here have had some weird connection and chemistry on the floor which at times has worked really well. On top of that Derrick is actually one of the few people on the team that looks to pass the ball to Ben.

 

[Ron]

I agree with what your saying but if anything D-Will and Ben since the first day of Derrick getting traded here have had some weird connection and chemistry on the floor which at times has worked really well. On top of that Derrick is actually one of the few people on the team that looks to pass the ball to Ben.

Actually, it appears that Ben received more assists then any other King! (118)
The second on the list is DMC with 106.

See here:
http://stats.nba.com..../tracking/passes

And it seems that those passes and assists Ben receives come from Rudy, Collison, DMC, JT, Landry, Ray-Mac...
with D-Will almost at the rock bottom of the list.

That's what tracking shows:
http://stats.nba.com/player.../tracking/passes

 

[Ron]

D-Will can only be good (or OK) with 2-3 facilitators around him.
Remember how people around here said he was great WITH Casspi or Rudy, but not in their place? That's it.

He must NEVER be on the floor with Landry (only a finisher, no team play) and probably not with Ben either. (Actually not with Evans, Thompson & Hollins either, because they don't do offense).
I think he should only get PT in lineups with one or two of the PGs + DMC, Rudy and Casspi (The good Rudy. The one that passes...).
He will thrive in such lineups, and we will all love him again...

It turns out I was quite accurate...

Here's the distribution of assists to D-Will:
stats.nba.com/tracking_AST_to_D-Will

Collison, Ramon, Rudy, Omri, Ray, DMC , in this order.