[Game] Kings at Spurs, Friday December 6, 5:30 PM PT/8:30 PM ET

Status
Not open for further replies.
The last two minutes in regulation were sad to watch. They played more like a high school team.
The last sequence at the end of OT showed their lack of confidence.

This team needs some leadership on the floor. Joseph is not that guy and neither is Hield.
 
He does watch film and is coachable. He just isn’t that basketball smart. At that point, it’s on the coach for having him in that situation guarding the most likely 3 point shooter.

Buddy took the blame but he shouldn’t have.

Blame Walton, who knows who he is, for putting him in that spot and not having James in the line-up.

Blame Ariza who should have been there to switch onto Belinelli but was instead standing alone in the lane when we were down by 3 and then bricked two 3 pointers after Buddy got the rebound.

Buddy is a nice guy and is wrongly taking the blame for this one which btw will only make him press more and miss more shots.
All these things can be true. Agree he should not have been on the floor for that last play but you don’t excuse away bad plays BECAUSE someone has a low basketball IQ. I think it’s fair to criticize his brain farts for as long as he’s on the team.
 
daves tweet is why I quit this team years ago. It took some doing since this team has been part of my life since they were doing training camp at consumnes before the 1985 season. It took a re-evaluating period in my life when I went over some toxic aspects of my life to finally see the light regarding this team. Why was I contributing so much time (and money) to something that was making me so unhappy? Because someone would call me a bad fan? A bandwaggoner? Big deal. Don’t care what other people think.
Today the kings are just filler in my sports life. Sports is what it should have been all along, simply entertainment. If it’s not entertaining me I don’t spend my time on it. I cruise the Sacramento fan sites to see what you good people are saying and I watch teams or players that are entertaining and fun to watch. And I have landed on another team and player that I consistently watch now.

This teams core problems start with ownership and nothing will change until that dude and his philosophies are gone. Unfortunately nothing can be done about him so fans are gonna be pulling their hair out for the foreseeable future. It sucks because this city and it’s fans deserve so much better than this wreck of a franchise.
FYI. If you care enough to come on here and complain about the team, you're still a fan. I know it may be hard to admit it, but you can't quit this team.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
Here is the play with Belinelli shot.

https://www.nba.com/video/2019/12/0...ramento-kings-san-antonio-spurs-3-pointer-4q/

Yes, Buddy played it stupid but can someone tell me why Ariza is chasing the role guy and and not switching and staying with his man on the perimeter when we are up by 3? Just a few days ago we praised James for switching and blowing up the Portland play.

Had Ariza stayed on the perimeter he would have been free to switch onto Belinelli and Buddy could have recovered to the screener after his boneheaded steps into the lane.

Follow that up with Ariza’s two open bricks in overtime and it seems like Ariza and not Buddy should be taking the blame for this crapfest.
I think that's unfair to Ariza. First, he has his back turned to Buddy's man - Bellinelli. He's not going to stand out there and guard "nobody." Second, the guy he's guarding (DeRozan) can always fake to go inside, then go outside. He's got to stay with his man. Ariza would have to be clairvoyant to know that Bellinelli was circling behind him. Maybe Ariza's biggest mistake was not to fully understand Buddy's F-up potential and the fact that teams will constantly go at him because he does stupid freaking stuff in nearly every game. Maybe he should have just concentrated on who Buddy was supposed to guard and forget about DeRozan altogether.

I watched the replay this morning and was more PO'd today than yesterday. For gawd's sake, Bellinelli did not even cut hard to get that basket. He jogged over to the 3 point line. He had NOBODY guarding him. Buddy, like a gnat drawn to lite, just watched the ball and moved to cover who the hell knows what in the paint while the Spurs 3 point shooter was taking a jog for a 3 pointer! How much stupid stuff do we have to endure from Buddy Hield?!
 
I think that's unfair to Ariza. First, he has his back turned to Buddy's man - Bellinelli. He's not going to stand out there and guard "nobody." Second, the guy he's guarding (DeRozan) can always fake to go inside, then go outside. He's got to stay with his man. Ariza would have to be clairvoyant to know that Bellinelli was circling behind him. Maybe Ariza's biggest mistake was not to fully understand Buddy's F-up potential and the fact that teams will constantly go at him because he does stupid freaking stuff in nearly every game. Maybe he should have just concentrated on who Buddy was supposed to guard and forget about DeRozan altogether.

I watched the replay this morning and was more PO'd today than yesterday. For gawd's sake, Bellinelli did not even cut hard to get that basket. He jogged over to the 3 point line. He had NOBODY guarding him. Buddy, like a gnat drawn to lite, just watched the ball and moved to cover who the hell knows what in the paint while the Spurs 3 point shooter was taking a jog for a 3 pointer! How much stupid stuff do we have to endure from Buddy Hield?!
To me it's Walton's fault on that play. I was counting who was on the floor and the last player I saw was Hield. I was like why the hell is Hield out there on a last second defensive play? Personally I have more trust in Justin James defensively in a situation like that than I do in the veteran Hield. Even Bogdan would have been a better choice. Why Walton had Hield out there in that situation, we'll never know. It surely cost them the game though.
 
To me it's Walton's fault on that play. I was counting who was on the floor and the last player I saw was Hield. I was like why the hell is Hield out there on a last second defensive play? Personally I have more trust in Justin James defensively in a situation like that than I do in the veteran Hield. Even Bogdan would have been a better choice. Why Walton had Hield out there in that situation, we'll never know. It surely cost them the game though.
I'm blame Walton for not fouling. The only way to ensure the other team doesn't make a 3 is to make sure they never get the chance to take one.
 

Kingster

Hall of Famer
To me it's Walton's fault on that play. I was counting who was on the floor and the last player I saw was Hield. I was like why the hell is Hield out there on a last second defensive play? Personally I have more trust in Justin James defensively in a situation like that than I do in the veteran Hield. Even Bogdan would have been a better choice. Why Walton had Hield out there in that situation, we'll never know. It surely cost them the game though.
That's what I said too. The last Kings' player I want to see on the floor in a "defensive situation" like that is Hield. (I'm serious; I'd rather have Bogs, James, Yogi, heck, I'd rather Kyle Guy guarding Bellinelli than Hield). In the Denver game, Justin James came up big with his defense, not getting distracted from defending his man. Why wasn't he out there? It sure is odd that Walton kept Hield out there. There may be more than meets the eye in that situation. It's certainly not because Walton has confidence in Hield's defensive abilities, that's for sure.
 
I think that's unfair to Ariza. First, he has his back turned to Buddy's man - Bellinelli. He's not going to stand out there and guard "nobody." Second, the guy he's guarding (DeRozan) can always fake to go inside, then go outside. He's got to stay with his man. Ariza would have to be clairvoyant to know that Bellinelli was circling behind him. Maybe Ariza's biggest mistake was not to fully understand Buddy's F-up potential and the fact that teams will constantly go at him because he does stupid freaking stuff in nearly every game. Maybe he should have just concentrated on who Buddy was supposed to guard and forget about DeRozan altogether.

I watched the replay this morning and was more PO'd today than yesterday. For gawd's sake, Bellinelli did not even cut hard to get that basket. He jogged over to the 3 point line. He had NOBODY guarding him. Buddy, like a gnat drawn to lite, just watched the ball and moved to cover who the hell knows what in the paint while the Spurs 3 point shooter was taking a jog for a 3 pointer! How much stupid stuff do we have to endure from Buddy Hield?!
Look again. The defense started to break down when Holmes switched and Ariza left Holmes man free. Even if Buddy had played it correctly a decent screen would have freed up Belinelli anyway because Ariza failed to switch.
 
Dude again. Look at the play and tell me exactly what Ariza is doing that last play?

https://www.nba.com/video/2019/12/0...ramento-kings-san-antonio-spurs-3-pointer-4q/
You‘re right. Not good defense from Ariza either. But his man didn’t score the 3 point basket. Buddy’s did. While he drifted inside and watched the drive.

Honestly, I’m continually baffled why any defender is ever standing inside the 3 point line. Let’em drive in for an uncontested 2. Then thank them.

I also don’t understand why teams don’t choose to foul. When Derozan held them ball for like 3-4 seconds that was perfect opportunity. I was screaming at the TV “grab him!”. Send his @$$ to the line. IIRC they were out of time outs.

Go hit 2 FT’s yourself then call it a game.
 
Blame Walton, who knows who he is, for putting him in that spot and not having James in the line-up.
I agree with this. Even said something similar on twitter.

If Walton didn’t know before, there are no excuses going forward. When the team holds a late lead and needs a stop, Buddy Hield should be planted firmly on the bench.

As I said before, James is a green rookie with only 11 games under his belt yet he already proved that he understands a very basic concept. Buddy’s 4 years older and has played well over 250 NBA games yet doesn’t get it.

Know your personnel. Buddy’s not changing his spots any time soon.
 
Look again. The defense started to break down when Holmes switched and Ariza left Holmes man free. Even if Buddy had played it correctly a decent screen would have freed up Belinelli anyway because Ariza failed to switch.
Ariza should have switched and stayed back on Aldridge rather than trailing Ariza. As you say, that would have allowed him to switch onto Belinelli when Buddy got pinned. Buddy dumbly turned his head and also got drawn into the lane. Tried to recover but Aldridge also set a moving screen that wasn't going to get called in such moments.
 
I was really content when the Kings were down in this game. They were just missing open shots, but playing some pretty smart basketball. All was good. If they play smart and hard, but miss open shots I could live with that. But then it all went to ****. So much was wrong at the end. For the life of me, I do not understand why Walton did not have Justin James in the game for defense and Buddy Hield out for non-defense when the Kings were up by three with 14 seconds to play. Maybe it's just me, but I'll take rookie Justin James on D over Buddy Hield in that situation every single time. And then in overtime, when Christie was saying that he'd like to see the ball go through Barnes on offense I was yelling, "Yes, Yes, YES!" But to no avail. Devastating crushing loss.

This is part of the same general complaint I have with Walton of late, not using the end of the bench...... this game was ugly, but maybe not as frustrating as the Bulls game @ home with apathy or the season opener showing a glaring lack of preparation . The losses are piling up. This season is slowly sinking. You've got to bring out all the young players when searching for sparks. HIeld gives an effort on defense, just not a smart effort. I don't recall if Walton took a timeout for defense, but up 3 with 14 seconds, you can guard the perimeter and concede a 2. This is a time-honored traditional screw-up over and over many times with many different teams. Unfortunately the crucial breakdown in this was Joseph giving consecutive turnovers to let them really shut down the points gap. 1 turnover bad, 2 turnovers, that's on the whole team for not moving more. to facilitate passing to prevent those easy and quick scores. Once again the Kings offense cant get out of its own way.
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
This is part of the same general complaint I have with Walton of late, not using the end of the bench...... this game was ugly, but maybe not as frustrating as the Bulls game @ home with apathy or the season opener showing a glaring lack of preparation . The losses are piling up. This season is slowly sinking. You've got to bring out all the young players when searching for sparks. HIeld gives an effort on defense, just not a smart effort. I don't recall if Walton took a timeout for defense, but up 3 with 14 seconds, you can guard the perimeter and concede a 2. This is a time-honored traditional screw-up over and over many times with many different teams. Unfortunately the crucial breakdown in this was Joseph giving consecutive turnovers to let them really shut down the points gap. 1 turnover bad, 2 turnovers, that's on the whole team for not moving more. to facilitate passing to prevent those easy and quick scores. Once again the Kings offense cant get out of its own way.
Bringing a cold player from the end of the bench in at the end of a game is a recipe for disaster. What lost us this game IMHO were CoJo's consecutive mistakes (as you pointed out). This game was stinky from beginning to end on both teams. The Kings just stunk worse at the end.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.