[Grades] Grades v. Warriors 03/06/2013

Kings Sultan of Struggle on offense tonight?

  • Salmons 5pts (2-9FG 1-5 3pt) 3reb 4ast 3TO

    Votes: 4 18.2%
  • Cousins 5pts (2-10FG) 4reb 3ast 2TO

    Votes: 12 54.5%
  • Reke 9pts (4-14FG 0-3 3pt) 2reb 6ast 1TO

    Votes: 6 27.3%
  • Thornton 9pts (3-8FG 1-5 3pt) 6reb 0ast 1TO

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    22
  • Poll closed .

Bricklayer

Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Boo!

But I will say this: I liked this game a helluva lot more than most of the games we have been playing in the last few months. It was fugly but hard fought and gritty, as opposed to brainless and shallow like most of our all offense/defense is a waste of time/ its ok to lose by 15 as long as we score 100 ourselves efforts of late.

And Toney Douglas was turning in one of my favorite performances by a Sacramento King this year right up until an inexplicably terrible deciison and shot on the critical play of the game with 15 seconds to go that sunk us. Of course perhaps my all time favorite King of the decades before the golden years was Randy Brown, another little combo guard who was all defense, shaky offense. Randy Brown btw went on to win 3 rings with the Bulls, who valued such things. In any case, we lost. The new guys looked good, which was a bonus. The main guys all struggled something fierce, which was not. Onto the grades...

Full Grading Consortium for tonight:
Bricklayer
Capt. Factorial
bajaden


Boxscore

Stats: 38min 5pts (2-9, 1-5, 0-0) 3reb 4ast 0stl 0blk 3TO
Salmons ( D- ) -- No other way to put it. Your a starter, you play 38 minutes, and your barely memorable. I seem to remember someone with the number 5 on their jersey. Johns total accomplishment was 5 points on 2 of 9 shooting. He did have 5 assists, and for the most part, ran around and played decent defense. He got a quick jerk in the first quarter. But started the second quarter. In the second quarter, his shooting stroke seemed to leave him after a good start. He started by hitting a three when a missed shot bounced all the way out to him. After that it was one missed shot after another, and when he wasn't missing, or disappearing, he was turning the ball over by driving into traffic, which he did at a crucial time with 48 seconds left in the game. He then topped it off by leaving Klay Thompson too much room, who hit a three putting the Warriors up by 2 with 7.5 seconds left in the game. Why not an F? Well, John was part of the group on the floor that got us the lead, and played very good defense. --Baja

Stats: 34min 17pts (8-13, 0-0, 1-3) 8reb 1ast 2stl 0blk 1TO
Thompson ( A- ) -- JT had another very good game. And forgetting about the stats, he just did a lot of little things that don't show up on the stat sheet. While Bogut had no problem guarding Cousins tonight, he had a hard time matching up with JT, who was simply quicker than Bogut. Its hard to think of JT being quick and accurate, but thats what he was. He started by cutting into the lane and scoring on a pass from Cuz. A bit later he fought past Lee and scored on a little floater. He followed that by battling for a tough rebound, scoring and getting fouled. After a little time on the bench, he was back in with 4:29 left in the first half. It didn't start well when he drove to the basket and got his shot blocked by Bogut. He returned the favor by driving, and getting fouled by Bogut where he hit one of two. He closed out he half by scoring on a beautiful reverse dropstep. In the second half, JT, along with Patterson was one of the chief players in almost winning the game. His final three shots of the game were, JT hits an 18 footer from the top of the Key. JT rattles home a 16 footer on a nice pass from Patterson. JT hits a 12 footer from Douglas, and with less two minutes left in the game, JT hits an open three. A couple of different bounces and the Kings might have won this one. --Baja

Stats: 20min 5pts (2-10, 0-0, 1-1) 4reb 3ast 4stl 1blk 2TO
Cousins ( D- ) -- ok, whatever ouof rhythm/strugglign thing Boogie had going yesterday, he doubled it down today as he was defended well by Lee in the early going and never got going at all. And unlike the game in Sacto, he was never able to turn it up in other areas to somewhat make up for it. Was at least getting his hands on a lot of balls on defense, but just unable to finish inside again. Started the third badly out of rhythm again, with everything getting blocked and altered as he played flatfooted in there. But the malaise went further this time, as he wasn't on the baords either, and balls were bouncing right off his hands. When that starts happenign to the big with maybe the best hands since CWebb you know things are off in a big way. Ended up getting benched for the the entire 4th, and apparently was not too happy about it.--Brick

Stats: 31min 9pts (4-14, 0-3, 1-2) 2reb 6ast 1stl 2blk 1TO
Evans ( D+ ) -- Well, I said last night that I wanted more out of Tyreke tonight. I don't think he quite lived up to my hopes. Offensively he had a bad night, driving over and over, often wildly, and getting nothing done. Despite that, on the final play of the game when we needed a good shot he tried once again and he got...well maybe a bump that wasn't called but given the way his game was going it was a low-percentage chance at best. The one nice thing that I can say about Tyreke's offense is that once it was obvious that he was having an off shooting night, he turned into a pretty good distributor. He had six assists and was setting up his teammates left and right (there were at least seven missed shots directly off of his passes on top of his assists). He had a decent defensive night, getting a nice steal by picking Barnes' pocket when he was facing up, but had a play later in the quarter when he completely fell asleep on Barnes under the basket resulting in a dunk. Ultimately Tyreke gave up 11 points on 10 shots and was making good plays about as often as he put up a poor effort. Combine his so-so defense and his passing, and it pulls him up from the F range, but c'mon, Tyreke. --Capt.

Stats: 20min 9pts (3-5, 1-1, 2-2) 1reb 1ast 1stl 0blk 2TO
Thomas ( D ) -- Thomas got his minutes cut tonight because he just wasn't getting it done on either side of the floor. He did score 9 points on only 6 shots, but wasn't being aggressive, and that kind of diminishes the effectiveness of his efficient shooting. He wasn't really involved in distributing the ball either, with only one assist but two careless turnovers, one on a bad pass and one on an overaggressive drive. Defensively he got beaten time and again. The results themselves (13 points on 11 shots) weren't so bad but the details belied them. He made three notably bad plays, once getting destroyed on a screen in the lane to leave Curry open for a three, and twice getting burned on drives, once by Curry and once on a vicious crossover by Jarrett Jack that had IT comically moving away from the basket and to his left while Jack was going around him the other way to the hole. He did make one good defensive play, and oddly enough it once again came against a bigger player - he got switched onto Barnes and simply harassed him into giving up the idea of driving and instead forcing up a hopeless jumper. Lest we think that he's being lazy on D, he made two errors of commission, one bad, where he went for a steal he didn't have a chance at and allowed Curry an uncontested floater in the lane as a result, and one forgivable, where he did his best to block a Bogut dunk. He didn't quite get up high enough and got a lot of arm, but it would have been spectacular if he had gotten it. I'd like to say his efficient scoring ought to offset his defense and lack of assists, but there just wasn't enough of it tonight. --Capt.
 
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Bench

Stats: 28min 10pts (3-9, 2-6, 2-2) 3reb 6ast 2stl 0blk 2TO
Douglas ( B+ ) -- I think it's pretty obvious why Douglas has taken Jimmer's minutes. Douglas isn't a great offensive player - he missed a bunch of shots tonight, quite a few of them wide open (not good) and one at the end of the game where he really didn't run an offense at all before jacking up a contested three (even worse). But he did have six assists, five of them in the fourth quarter when he was running the team for the full 12 minutes. More importantly, Douglas is quite clearly our best defender on the perimeter - always in a defensive stance, always playing with his arms out (and really, is that so much to ask, EVERYBODY ELSE ON THE TEAM?) He hounds his man on nearly every play. You just can't miss his defense out there. My favorite TD defensive play tonight was in the fourth quarter when he gave Curry a little bump causing an (uncalled) over-and-back violation only to stick on him and force the travel seconds later and still 30+ feet from the basket. If we had a five-man lineup that played D with the intensity that Douglas does, we'd be in the playoffs, this year. --Capt.

Stats: 28min 9pts (3-8, 1-5, 2-2) 6reb 0ast 1stl 0blk 1TO
Thornton ( D+ ) -- well, came back down to Earth with a thump, although it wasn't for a lack of searchign aroudn visibly trying to consciously recreate the magic of the last week . Actually hit his first three again on a nice drive and kick from Reke, and so far so same. But then went through a long ineffective spell where he just didn't get it. We had turned defensive behind Douglas, and MT was just running aound looking for his own forcing up bad shots while everybody else was functioning as a team. Looked out of rhythm, and out of step, more what we have seen for much fo the season than what we have seen of late. Came back after half and was frustrated and making mistakes on defense and not able to find any of his recent spark elsehwere. Did score our first hoop of the 4th off a scramble play, but rushed his next three and bricked it as it didn't lead anywhere. He would hit one more little jumper in the mid 4th but there was no rhythm or push as the Warriors really seemed ot have the number of all thre of our top guys. Did get a few rebounds in the 4th, which is always a nice little boost from a guard, but they were almost all of the wide open ball falling to him variety rather than the fight and scramble on the boards variety. Down the stretch made an ugly turniover when he tried to advance the ball up the court, hesitated, was about to travel because fo the hesitation, and so threw the pass anyway for the turnover, which was compounded when a mystified Patterson had to foul the guy to stop the resulting Warriors break, sending the Warriros to the line. Out of a timeout with 3min to go the Warriors finally figured a way to fee Curry from Douglas's smothering, and starte to repeatedly run high picks with thronton's man to force a swithc of MT onto Curry instead. Curry promptly drained a three on him, and when the Warriors went back to that, we responded by instertign Reke to get an extra defender out there. I'll give a + for the extra rebounding, but this was not even a good game by seasnon long Thronton standards, let alone the super-Thornton of the last 5 games. Was clearly searching and searching for the lost magic and never did find it, and the problem is when you're scorching hot and hitting even terrible shots, and then you cool off...they go right back to beign terrible shots. --Brick

Stats: 28min 15pts (6-10, 3-3, 0-0) 8reb 4ast 1stl 1blk 0TO
Patterson ( A- ) -- Welcome to the Kings Patrick. He finally got significant minutes (28) and he showed what he's capable of. He even rebounded the ball, susposedly his weakess, with 8 boards. He and JT are the two players most responsible for the Kings having a chance to win this game. Credit also has to go to Toney Douglas, who played stiffling defense on Jack and Curry. Patrick got into the game with 1:49 left in the 1st quarter. He immediately scored hitting a 12 footer on a nice pass form Douglas. He followed by throwing up a wild shot in the key while battling with Lee for position to avoid being called for a 3 second violation. The shot was terrible, but its nice to know someone that plays in the post is aware of the rule. He closed out his time in the first half, after playing very good defense, by making a nice pass to Hayes for a layup, and then hitting a corner three. In the second half, it was more of the same. He started by hitting a 10 footer on a pass from Tyreke. He then got a little flip shot in the post blocked. He followed that with a layup with an assist from Hayes. At 4:39 in the 4th, he hit a big three from the corner, followed by hitting the back of the rim on a 14 footer, and closed out his scoring by hitting another huge three with to give the Kings the lead with just 1:25 left in the game.. If PP can give us this kind of game every night, people will soon forget who Thomas Robinson is. --Baja

Stats: 14min 4pts (2-5, 0-1, 0-0) 5reb 3ast 0stl 0blk 2TO
Hayes ( C ) -- There really isn't much to write about Chucks time on the floor. He played excellent defense when it mattered, and was part of the group that kept us in the game. A game that we probably should have won. Chuck only took 5 shots in the 14 minutes he played, and hit two of them. One a little 5 foot flip shot, and the other a layup off a nice pass from Patterson. He also managed to pull down 5 boards in that 14 minutes on the floor. His contribution wasn't as great as some others, but once again, there were no glaring errors, and Chuck just did what Chuck does. That may never get him an A, but seldom if ever, does Chuck warrant anything below a C. --Baja

Stats: 0min 12 smoothies and 1 red-hot butt
Johnson ( A+++ ) -- Used his red-hot butt to warm the bench like no other! Made smoothies for the rest of the team at halftime (actually, that's just a rumor I'm starting). --Capt.
 
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Love Douglas, dude should be a starter craps all over IT and Jimmer who are both massive scrubs, PP and JT went beasting played smart basketball, if we had a bit more from Thornton could have had that game but thank to the genious of Reke and a few others could not happend.
 
As badly as Keith Smart screwed up the last minute of this game, i blame Salmons more than him. he sucked ALL night, yet he kept trying to force it. he ended 2-9FG in 37 freaking minutes of play. and had the stupid turnover in the last minute, and also gave Klay the open 3 that won the game for GSW
 
hahahah Cousins apparently passing out food and Gatorade in the locker room because he says he "has a lot of Energy"

funny stuff.
 
As badly as Keith Smart screwed up the last minute of this game, i blame Salmons more than him. he sucked ALL night, yet he kept trying to force it. he ended 2-9FG in 37 freaking minutes of play. and had the stupid turnover in the last minute, and also gave Klay the open 3 that won the game for GSW

You can blame Salmons all you want...but what kind of coach gives him 37 minutes of play when he is playing like that? He obviously benched our two staples so why not a role player who was playing just as bad?
 
What do you think rhythmless? Pretty sure Demarcus is showing up the coach. Same old $hit.

Not going to assume.

In any case, DMC is a petulant child. Won't mature until we ship his *** out. And once we do that, he's going to eat our lunch for the next 10 years.
 
hahahah Cousins apparently passing out food and Gatorade in the locker room because he says he "has a lot of Energy"

funny stuff.

Getting really tired of the BS immaturity from Cousins. You're not Kobe Bryant or Dwayne Wade where you have multiple titles and have lived in the playoffs your whole career. Those guys have the credentials to speak out against a coach or team if they wanted. Cousins has yet to lead a team to 30 wins. Sure, coaching has been a major issue for us, but that doesn't excuse these sort of antics. Shut the heck up and play basketball.
 
Rarity: Nice 9-man rotation from Smart tonight. This is what a team needs, especially a young one.

Another solid note is that the 9 that played tonight are our 9 best players.

So, good job Smart on this one. Hopefully, a step in the right direction in the final games of the season.
 
Getting really tired of the BS immaturity from Cousins. You're not Kobe Bryant or Dwayne Wade where you have multiple titles and have lived in the playoffs your whole career. Those guys have the credentials to speak out against a coach or team if they wanted. Cousins has yet to lead a team to 30 wins. Sure, coaching has been a major issue for us, but that doesn't excuse these sort of antics. Shut the heck up and play basketball.

If Phil Jackson is the coach, then that might be true.

As Keith Smart has no credentials either, if he is not going to play his star guys in a game he just has to win it. Has to.
 
If Phil Jackson is the coach, then that might be true.

As Keith Smart has no credentials either, if he is not going to play his star guys in a game he just has to win it. Has to.

Who are these star guys? I don't think star players get owned by Festus Ezili, I can't beleive people can still blame Smart for this loss the only mistake Smart made that whole game was not taking out Cousins, Evans earlier in the game not allowing them to take 24 (mostly terrible) shots of which they made 6. Patterson and Hayes needed to play way more that game.

Star players play consistantly well, we don't have a sinlge star player, most of the top players rarely if EVER have back to back poor showings let alone 3+. The team right now has no stars we have potentially good players but nothing set in stone.
 
Tyreke doesn't seem to be playing with aggression anymore. Yeah he's attacking the rim and stuff but he's going at it so slow compared to what we've seen previously. And he always seems to be trying to avoid the contact and throw up a wild shot or hope for a foul call instead of taking the contact and going up strong. My guess is he's checked himself out of the season.
 
Obviously it's a mixture of both with cuz, does he need to grow up? Yes he does, is Smart putting him in the position to be successful? No.
 
Some say the + and - stat column doesn't mean much or anything. But for this game it was a glaring example of bad coaching again and giving the wrong players minutes they don't deserve. Take a look at the + - column in the box score showing who was playing well and who was not. 38 min for the Fish? gimme a break! The Fish, Cuz and Evans were 8 for 33 but two of them got big minutes even tho' very ineffective!! How many times I yelled at Evans "... pass the damn ball, pass it to someone open..". Once even for an entire possission without a shot!

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400278632

The JT/Patterson combo was working, as was Douglas and Hayes. But the totally ineffective 8/33 group stayed in. Unfortunately Douglas' last play stunk but he tried. Had a decent play been set up during that last time out Kings win that game.

Thought I'd feel better spouting off but I don't cause there will be no changes rest of season. But Summer League in Vegas should be a dilly this year.
 
On the last Warrior possession: with incredible foresight borne of seeing the same thing over and over again, I knew a Kings player would be cheating in the paint for no real purpose, and that the player would allow the game winning three. Sure enough. The billy goat cheated. It was like cheating on your wife, but not really, and then getting caught and suffering the consequences. That is so wrong. The form, arc, backspin and swish of that ball going through the net was accomplished with such perfection. It was all was so predictable, that I had to laugh. And then I couldn't stop laughing. So now I'm in this room and the nice man says that if I take my meds he will type this post for me. Here it goes:

The afterthought to the Robinson-Patterson trade is the best defensive player on the Kings. This was obvious to me in the first quarter when Evans was combing his hair on defense and then...swish, then when he was clipping his nails, and swish, and finally when he was picking his nose, swish. After his playing days are done, Evans has a career in cosmetology, no doubt (nose-picking notwithstanding). But I like my "best defensive player" to be fairly conscious for most of the game. You'll have no argument from me that Evans is a very good defensive player when he is sentient. It's just those unaware moments he has can be killer. The afterthought doesn't seem to have those daydreaming walkabouts. He's just focused on business. He doesn't even cheat. At least not yet. We'll see how long that lasts. But as of today, with all that I know of past, present and future, with all the power invested in me, the afterthought is now the best defensive player on the Kings.
 
With Douglas .. you can see how he could find his way onto a playoff roster for us somewhere down the line. Not as the starter, but as a backup PG, or at the least a 3rd PG. He has a playoff skill. Put him on Curry, put him on CP3, put him on Parker, etc. for 10 minutes a game, and he can help you. You use him more when you need him more, and less when you don't.

He'll also be cheap. I mean, we'll see how he finishes up the year, but it's possible he sticks around.
 
The end of this game was laughable but should not have surprised anyone.

There's playing to win and there's playing not to lose.

This team has some sort of hard on with running the clock out. Been that way for the last 3 or 4 years. We're up by 1 with about a minute and a half left. There's no reason not to continue running your regular offense. Instead we insist on running the clock down to 7 seconds and then attacking the hoop. We have no Lebron, Durant or Kobe. That's not the Kings game. Yet for some ungodly reason they and/or the coach think they're good enough to just run the clock down to nothing and then attack. It didn't work for Salmons and it didn't work for Douglas. Whoda thunk?

Salmons leaving Klay wide open on that last 3 was comical. Hey it's Keith Smart defense 101. Give up a wide open 3 rather than let a guy pull up for a contested 15 foot shot. We sag down in the paint all game for no f'ing reason.

There's 7 seconds left and we need to tie or go ahead. We have Thornton on the floor. You know that guy who would be a HOF player if he could play all game like there was a minute left? That guy who can go 1-12 from the floor and then drain any shot he takes in crunch time? The guy who has hit countless game winning shots for us in the little time he's been here? Yeah let's not give him the ball. Lets give Tyreke the chance to win it in a game where he has done nothing. He didn't once get by Klay Thompson all game off the dribble. This is Klay Thompson were talking about here on defense. Once again, Tyreke doesn't get by Klay and has to act like he got fouled instead of going in strong for the hoop. How often do refs call fouls on game winning shots with a couple seconds on the clock? Pretty much never. Touche Smart. Good call.
 
The one really bad Cousins moment I noticed last night was after Patterson hit that huge 3 that gave us the lead, everyone else on the bench was up, and you could barely see Cousins behind the guys as the only one still sitting on the bench. That stuff is just bad. Especially because it was Patterson who hit the jumper. Thats his guy.

Smart is Smart, we all know his story, but Cousins needs to continue working on his attitude.
 
The end of this game was laughable but should not have surprised anyone.

There's playing to win and there's playing not to lose.

This team has some sort of hard on with running the clock out. Been that way for the last 3 or 4 years. We're up by 1 with about a minute and a half left. There's no reason not to continue running your regular offense. Instead we insist on running the clock down to 7 seconds and then attacking the hoop. We have no Lebron, Durant or Kobe. That's not the Kings game. Yet for some ungodly reason they and/or the coach think they're good enough to just run the clock down to nothing and then attack. It didn't work for Salmons and it didn't work for Douglas. Whoda thunk?

Salmons leaving Klay wide open on that last 3 was comical. Hey it's Keith Smart defense 101. Give up a wide open 3 rather than let a guy pull up for a contested 15 foot shot. We sag down in the paint all game for no f'ing reason.

There's 7 seconds left and we need to tie or go ahead. We have Thornton on the floor. You know that guy who would be a HOF player if he could play all game like there was a minute left? That guy who can go 1-12 from the floor and then drain any shot he takes in crunch time? The guy who has hit countless game winning shots for us in the little time he's been here? Yeah let's not give him the ball. Lets give Tyreke the chance to win it in a game where he has done nothing. He didn't once get by Klay Thompson all game off the dribble. This is Klay Thompson were talking about here on defense. Once again, Tyreke doesn't get by Klay and has to act like he got fouled instead of going in strong for the hoop. How often do refs call fouls on game winning shots with a couple seconds on the clock? Pretty much never. Touche Smart. Good call.

Not to mention that Tyreke hadn't been in the game for quite a bit. Still, Tyreke did a good job of getting into the paint - he should have kicked it out to Patterson on the wing for an open 3.
 
idk why you guys are so excited about Tony Douglas. we saw more production out of Aaron Brooks at the beginning of the season and look where hes at now
 
Who are these star guys? I don't think star players get owned by Festus Ezili, I can't beleive people can still blame Smart for this loss the only mistake Smart made that whole game was not taking out Cousins, Evans earlier in the game not allowing them to take 24 (mostly terrible) shots of which they made 6. Patterson and Hayes needed to play way more that game.

Star players play consistantly well, we don't have a sinlge star player, most of the top players rarely if EVER have back to back poor showings let alone 3+. The team right now has no stars we have potentially good players but nothing set in stone.

I agree with you that stars are stars because they're consistent. And while Cousins and Tyreke may not be considered stars in the league, they are stars on our team, or perhaps a better way of putting it, two of our most talented players. Now I know it easy to cherry pick the bad games and hoist them up as your anti Cousins or Tyreke flag, but to be fair, you also have to take into consideration the games when those players are dominate. And its for the very reason you state, inconsistency, that they're not yet looked at as stars in the league. Now you can be narrow minded and see no futher than the end of you nose, or you can step back, forget the little things that annoy you, and see the bigger picture. Which is, Cousins can be one of if not the best center in the NBA.

Now I can't guarantee you that will happen. But its rare to get your hands on a player, especially a center, that has that potential. Does he do things that are hard to swallow at times? Yes. But then so did my son, and I didn't try and trade him off for another child. I'm one of those that believes a good coach would temper a lot of whats going on with Cousins. Put a white pearl on a white background, and its hard to see, but put it on a black background, and it stands out. Thats what a good coach does. He gets the best out of his players. He puts them in a postion to succeed. Smart just throws players out there and hopes they succeed. Trust me, get a good coach, and you'll see a difference in this team, and that includes Cousins. None of this is personal. Its just a game!
 
Some say the + and - stat column doesn't mean much or anything. But for this game it was a glaring example of bad coaching again and giving the wrong players minutes they don't deserve. Take a look at the + - column in the box score showing who was playing well and who was not. 38 min for the Fish? gimme a break! The Fish, Cuz and Evans were 8 for 33 but two of them got big minutes even tho' very ineffective!! How many times I yelled at Evans "... pass the damn ball, pass it to someone open..". Once even for an entire possission without a shot!

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=400278632

The JT/Patterson combo was working, as was Douglas and Hayes. But the totally ineffective 8/33 group stayed in. Unfortunately Douglas' last play stunk but he tried. Had a decent play been set up during that last time out Kings win that game.

Thought I'd feel better spouting off but I don't cause there will be no changes rest of season. But Summer League in Vegas should be a dilly this year.

If Salmons doesn't leave Thompson (Klay) open for that three, we probably win the game. The only reason Toney's shot stood out, was because of when it happened. And that does have to be taken into consideration. But once again, Salmons dribbling the ball into a crowd and turning it over with 48 seconds left in the game was just as bad, if not worse. JT and Patterson really played well together. I don't know if they can do that every night or not (different matchups), but it was fun to watch last night.
 
On the last Warrior possession: with incredible foresight borne of seeing the same thing over and over again, I knew a Kings player would be cheating in the paint for no real purpose, and that the player would allow the game winning three. Sure enough. The billy goat cheated. It was like cheating on your wife, but not really, and then getting caught and suffering the consequences. That is so wrong. The form, arc, backspin and swish of that ball going through the net was accomplished with such perfection. It was all was so predictable, that I had to laugh. And then I couldn't stop laughing. So now I'm in this room and the nice man says that if I take my meds he will type this post for me. Here it goes:

The afterthought to the Robinson-Patterson trade is the best defensive player on the Kings. This was obvious to me in the first quarter when Evans was combing his hair on defense and then...swish, then when he was clipping his nails, and swish, and finally when he was picking his nose, swish. After his playing days are done, Evans has a career in cosmetology, no doubt (nose-picking notwithstanding). But I like my "best defensive player" to be fairly conscious for most of the game. You'll have no argument from me that Evans is a very good defensive player when he is sentient. It's just those unaware moments he has can be killer. The afterthought doesn't seem to have those daydreaming walkabouts. He's just focused on business. He doesn't even cheat. At least not yet. We'll see how long that lasts. But as of today, with all that I know of past, present and future, with all the power invested in me, the afterthought is now the best defensive player on the Kings.

You must be talking about Toney Douglas! At least for one night, he was the best defensive player on the Kings.
 
The end of this game was laughable but should not have surprised anyone.

There's playing to win and there's playing not to lose.

This team has some sort of hard on with running the clock out. Been that way for the last 3 or 4 years. We're up by 1 with about a minute and a half left. There's no reason not to continue running your regular offense. Instead we insist on running the clock down to 7 seconds and then attacking the hoop. We have no Lebron, Durant or Kobe. That's not the Kings game. Yet for some ungodly reason they and/or the coach think they're good enough to just run the clock down to nothing and then attack. It didn't work for Salmons and it didn't work for Douglas. Whoda thunk?

Salmons leaving Klay wide open on that last 3 was comical. Hey it's Keith Smart defense 101. Give up a wide open 3 rather than let a guy pull up for a contested 15 foot shot. We sag down in the paint all game for no f'ing reason.

There's 7 seconds left and we need to tie or go ahead. We have Thornton on the floor. You know that guy who would be a HOF player if he could play all game like there was a minute left? That guy who can go 1-12 from the floor and then drain any shot he takes in crunch time? The guy who has hit countless game winning shots for us in the little time he's been here? Yeah let's not give him the ball. Lets give Tyreke the chance to win it in a game where he has done nothing. He didn't once get by Klay Thompson all game off the dribble. This is Klay Thompson were talking about here on defense. Once again, Tyreke doesn't get by Klay and has to act like he got fouled instead of going in strong for the hoop. How often do refs call fouls on game winning shots with a couple seconds on the clock? Pretty much never. Touche Smart. Good call.

My thought going into that play where Thompson hit the open three to give the Warriors a 2 pt lead, was if your going to give up a basket, make sure its a 2 pt basket. That way the Warriors are only up by 1 pt, and now you have more flexabiltiy. No matter what kind of open shot you have that scores, you have the lead. Of course once the Warriors scored a three, you now need a three to get back the lead. That was just plain stupid.
 
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