[Game] Kings @ Celtics, 11/25/2022 5pm Pacific 8pm Eastern

[Capt. Factorial]

I’m glad to see it only took two games for everyone’s panic-o-meters to return to maximum levels.

Seriously. We're 10-8, and following some atrocious officiating and an early 16-point deficit, we came back to take a 6-point lead on the best team in the NBA on their floor.

Then, there was a tiny little bloodbath.

But against all odds we hung in against the best team in the NBA on their floor for 33 minutes before they snuck in an uppercut and broke our stance. What, did we think we're the best team in the NBA right now? We're not. We know this. But I'm pretty sure the last time we had a team that could even HOPE to recover from 16 down in those circumstances...well, let's just say that a guy that got fired from being our GM a while back was actually PLAYING for the team at the time.

We're not winning the NBA championship this year. But are we making the playoffs? Yeah, we can truly hope to make the playoffs. 8 minutes of bloodbath in Boston isn't going to change that.

 

[Tetsujin]

Seriously. We're 10-8, and following some atrocious officiating and an early 16-point deficit, we came back to take a 6-point lead on the best team in the NBA on their floor.

Then, there was a tiny little bloodbath.

But against all odds we hung in against the best team in the NBA on their floor for 33 minutes before they snuck in an uppercut and broke our stance. What, did we think we're the best team in the NBA right now? We're not. We know this. But I'm pretty sure the last time we had a team that could even HOPE to recover from 16 down in those circumstances...well, let's just say that a guy that got fired from being our GM a while back was actually PLAYING for the team at the time.

We're not winning the NBA championship this year. But are we making the playoffs? Yeah, we can truly hope to make the playoffs. 8 minutes of bloodbath in Boston isn't going to change that.

We even kept it close despite Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk both pretty much failing to hit a single outside shot and Domas getting early season Domas-ed into foul trouble. If anything this game convinced me even more that the Kings are actually a good team this year.

and we got to see that KZ Okpala might actually be a rotation player after all

 

[KingsFanSince85]

Seriously. We're 10-8, and following some atrocious officiating and an early 16-point deficit, we came back to take a 6-point lead on the best team in the NBA on their floor.

Then, there was a tiny little bloodbath.

.

The #2 offense in the league went nearly an entire quarter scoring only 6 freaking points.

From around 4:05 of Q3 to around 4:32 of Q4.

SIX points.

There’s just no good excuse for that. No matter the opponent.

 

[serbiangoat]

10-8 for the teams that Kings have played is a amazing return given how tough the league is (even Orlando is not a easy team to beat), the league is so tight right now just being above 500. is a good achievement.

 

[Letsgokings13]

10-8 for the teams that Kings have played is a amazing return given how tough the league is (even Orlando is not a easy team to beat), the league is so tight right now just being above 500. is a good achievement.

Detroit has been in close games with every team for the past week-ish as well.

 

[Letsgokings13]

[Modding]

Talk about the game, or talk somewhere else.

Yes sir, Mr sir. Sorry sorry. Won't happen again sir.

 

[kingdivac]

Murray's poor shooting is a concern...only 3 out of the last 12 games have been good shooting nights....that's a slump. Need's to get his shooting going. Need to keep ahead of .500.

 

[kb02]

The league adjusts. That Joeger, Fox, Buddy run, run, run team was fun early on, but the league adjusted. Let's see how this team does, once the league fans out to defend the shooters and funnels the entire offense inside.

Still a layup line on defense. Still need size on the wings.

 

[fansinceday1]

Yeesh, we drop 2 in a row and the board is already back to being.... prickly..

I don't think this place is bad at all. Ive only read legit gripes so far. No one is twisting off and losing their mind..........yet.

 

[The_Jamal]

One silver lining is pretty much the rest of the West around us are losing games too. Clippers lost last 2, Mavs lost last 2, Jazz lost last 3, Twolves and Pelicans just lost a game.

1.5 game separates the 3-seed Grizz and the 11 seed Warriors. All this to say is the sky is indeed not falling and the season isn't over because of these last 2 losses.

 

[Kingz19]

If the Kings beat Phoenix on Monday then I am ecstatic about this 4 game stretch.

We can only take it one game at a time though. So things are bound to be negative with a negative performance. It’s like that on every forum for every team regardless of their standing. Boston forums would be doom and gloom if they had laid an egg against us and they might be the best team in the league.

So forgive the negativity. The last hour of the game included a 37-6 run and then the aftermath of that. Kings had that game in Boston last season where they lost by like 50 and I don’t think they had a stretch of basketball that heinous through any 12 minutes stretch of that game. That was a team that had resigned to sucking as well.

I happen to think the Kings have a good team this season and expect a little better than that even if the end result is still an L.

Hopefully they find their shooting and their passing at home. They are in a fortunate position to have got @Memphis with the slow start, poor shooting and passing that haunted them this road trip.

Suns will be on their 3rd game on a 4th night and we have been informed to expect a garbage performance under those circumstances

 

[hrdboild]

I don't think the Kings played any different last night (through the first 3 quarters) than they've been playing during their stretch of 7 straight wins. The team has been shooting at an unsustainable level this season and in the Boston game they shoot so poorly that they couldn't run the normal offense and resorted to desperation heaves in the 4th quarter instead. Over the course of the season there will be games where shots aren't going down and the way the league is now, what might have been a 12-0 run 20 years ago has become a 24-2 run because half the makes are three pointers. I don't think we suddenly suck again -- I think we just need our wings to make shots for everything else to work.

On the defensive end, it might be a good idea to find more minutes for KZ and Davion considering how they've been able to effect the tempo of games which are getting out of control. Davion stabilized us in that San Antonio game and KZ was a big part of making this a close game in the 2nd quarter after the team came out flat in the first. Some of this is matchup dependent and situational. It's no surprise when facing an elite offense like Boston's that we needed to have players on the floor capable of disrupting the rhythm of Tatum and Brown. To their credit, they made tough shots anyway but also -- crucially -- their teammates were knocking down open shots when they had them too and most of our guys didn't.

 

[Kingster]

At the end of the 3rd quarter when Boston broke it open you saw Boston repeatedly touch the paint with the ball and then pass and the Kings repeatedly not touching the paint and passing. The only time the Kings touched the paint was when the ball handler took it upon himself to shoot the ball instead of pass it, which of course ended up in poor shots that missed. This is just fundamental basketball accomplished by Boston, but not by the Kings. It's a learning experience, that's for sure.

 

[SacTownKid]

I’m glad to see it only took two games for everyone’s panic-o-meters to return to maximum levels.

We know darn well that's what you get with all offense teams. They can go places and I'm totally still on the focus of this team should be mostly offense right now since that's the team Monte built, but if you make strategic mistakes on the offensive end like not going to that well repeatedly when it's there, you're talking WILD swings within a season. A 5 game winning streak can just as easily be followed by a 5 game losing one. These two losses and even the Memphis game more resembled that team we saw early. Too much passing, not enough attack on either end.

 

[SacTownKid]

I don't think the Kings played any different last night (through the first 3 quarters) than they've been playing during their stretch of 7 straight wins. The team has been shooting at an unsustainable level this season and in the Boston game they shoot so poorly that they couldn't run the normal offense and resorted to desperation heaves in the 4th quarter instead. Over the course of the season there will be games where shots aren't going down and the way the league is now, what might have been a 12-0 run 20 years ago has become a 24-2 run because half the makes are three pointers. I don't think we suddenly suck again -- I think we just need our wings to make shots for everything else to work.

On the defensive end, it might be a good idea to find more minutes for KZ and Davion considering how they've been able to effect the tempo of games which are getting out of control. Davion stabilized us in that San Antonio game and KZ was a big part of making this a close game in the 2nd quarter after the team came out flat in the first. Some of this is matchup dependent and situational. It's no surprise when facing an elite offense like Boston's that we needed to have players on the floor capable of disrupting the rhythm of Tatum and Brown. To their credit, they made tough shots anyway but also -- crucially -- their teammates were knocking down open shots when they had them too and most of our guys didn't.

They did though. They ran a lot less pick and roll with a focus on draw and kick. There was too much 4-5 out with a big standing in the paint or outside, never going over to free up the ball handler. Brown said pretty much that was because of the C's ability to switch but you do it anyway. Get the defense moving at all costs. You can't let them sit four feet in the box like the the Celtics did at times. Also teams are figuring out how to really go at that Lyles/Metu combo. Good thing Brown did see that and finally went back to KZ. Lyles and Metu have both played well at times offensively but Lyles going full Klay as been relied on a bit too much IMO. Same with Metu as a rim finisher. KZ isn't going to fix the defense but it might be time to start experimenting with that again. If KZ breaks the offense then this gets a little tougher personnel wise.

 

[hrdboild]

They did though. They ran a lot less pick and roll with a focus on draw and kick. There was too much 4-5 out with a big standing in the paint or outside, never going over to free up the ball handler. Brown said pretty much that was because of the C's ability to switch but you do it anyway. Get the defense moving at all costs. You can't let them sit four feet in the box like the the Celtics did at times. Also teams are figuring out how to really go at that Lyles/Metu combo. Good thing Brown did see that and finally went back to KZ. Lyles and Metu have both played well at times offensively but Lyles going full Klay as been relied on a bit too much IMO. Same with Metu as a rim finisher. KZ isn't going to fix the defense but it might be time to start experimenting with that again. If KZ breaks the offense then this gets a little tougher personnel wise.

I didn't see the Kings abandon their core offense until the situation turned desperate early in the fourth. I've sortof been in and out of the games lately though, watching a couple quarters when I can and usually while I'm working at least part of the time on something else so it's quite possible I've gotten a false impression. That being said, from what I have seen I don't think the pick and roll is usually our go-to anyway. Usually the ball goes to Sabonis at the top of the key and the guards try to cut and seal off their defender while Sabonis drops them the ball. Once one of our guards gets the ball they look to make plays off a live dribble or if nothing is there they'll reset and try again. The whole system is predicated on feeding the ball to open shooters but Fox has carried us at times just by collapsing the defense on his drives. He probably should have been more aggressive driving the ball in the 4th but I think he may have just decided it was basically over by then anyway and made the veteran decision to save something for another day.