[Game] Kings @ Davions 11/2/2024 4:30pm Pacific 7:30pm Eastern

pdxKingsFan

So Ordinary That It's Truly Quite Extraordinary
Staff member
Google says otherwise. And Canada customs is a quick glance and thank you for actually stepping foot in their country
Mileage wise it's LA to Portland, there's still customs and just the general hassle that only a few west coast teams have to deal with.

Get done with game at 9:30, airport at 10:30? let's be kind and say with a chartered flight they are in the air at 11. Arrive in Toronto at 1:30am.

I feel like this is a best case.
 
Mileage wise it's LA to Portland, there's still customs and just the general hassle that only a few west coast teams have to deal with.

Get done with game at 9:30, airport at 10:30? let's be kind and say with a chartered flight they are in the air at 11. Arrive in Toronto at 1:30am.

I feel like this is a best case.
Draper said they got to hotel around 3am if I remember right.
 
Yes many times. So Google is wrong? It’s 1:15 mins flying time and 15-30 mins taxiing. Just like 2 hrs from ATL to Toronto is prolly 1 1/2 hrs flight time and 15-30 mins taxiing. Point is it’s a negligible difference for ppl who don’t understand Midwest/east coast geography.
let’s use nautical miles.
Sac to LAX. = 324 nautical miles
Atl to Toronto = 642 nautical miles.

almost double and I’m using Google. The private planes aren’t waiting at gates.
 
I think the only positive from this game was Malik Monk's best performance this season.
Apart from that we saw Fox and DDR taking things their way at some point in 4th quarter making it a close game again... BUT we fought back playing hero ball with our clutch players, there were barely any movement in the offense so the negative things were a lot...

I dont get why Sabonis is snubbed so much in the offense, he had 9 or 10 assists but he couldn't hold the ball so much, drag his opponent (mostly Poetl) out of the paint and create some space for the others to attack the rim. Also in the first 3 quarters most of his (missed) shots were beyond logic, some crazy fadeaways from middle range. Guarding the perimeter has been an issue historically I guess. I think Kayte mentioned that the Raptors were dead last in 3pt pct this season and I dont know we managed to wake up the sleeping giant or something. The rotation seems not to be working so well, McBuckets starting in 1st and 3rd quarter didn't pay off, Lyles again wasn't contributing that much but at least this time he didn't shoot 6 3s like in previous matches, McLaughlin wasn't productive either looking (in this match) like a downgrade of Davion that had obviously things to prove tonight. I get it that having 5 players like Fox, DDR, Sabonis, Monk and Keegan is more than enough to win with ease against some teams in the NBA (Portland, Utah and Atlanta among them, especially when they have absences) but they have to use a certain system in order to be more competitive against better teams (not that half the Raptors is a powerforce) and stop having those "bleeps" in late 3rd quarter and during 4th quarter to mess everything up. Our opponents had a run in all 6 matches so far at the last 15' of playing time. Every time the Raptors took a time out they answered instantly. Mike Brown was famous for calling time outs as soon as possible, like Popovich does, but this hasn't happened this season and it cost us at least 1-2 wins.

This defeat was much similar to those plenty previous season ones when facing "tanking" teams with absences, it wouldnt have been an easy defeat with a double digit deficit if it hadn't been for DDR, who had a bumpy start though, missing several midrange shots and those 2 unforced errors in fast breaks back to back.

We ruined our momentum and now we play against the Heat on the road before facing the Raptors again at home that should have IQ (the player) back by then. Hope our IQ (not the player) increases, be smarter and make them play for ruining our streak.
 
Buddy Hield has 30 made threes this season. Our 5 opening day starters have 49 combined. That probably say more about how well Buddy is shooting but it would be nice if we could string together some 40% games soon
Kings don't really have any shooters other than Keegan and McDermott. Malik, Fox and Huerter are sporadic and all over the place and just not consistent enough from deep. This team as constructed is not built to mimic the Celtics, let's see how this plays out as we get 30-40 games in to establish an identity that works for the personnel.
 
Mileage wise it's LA to Portland, there's still customs and just the general hassle that only a few west coast teams have to deal with.

Get done with game at 9:30, airport at 10:30? let's be kind and say with a chartered flight they are in the air at 11. Arrive in Toronto at 1:30am.

I feel like this is a best case.
perhaps it would of been better to sleep the night in ATL and then once you land in Toronto, you have some time to get a good breakfast, warm up and get your body ready for action.
 
I forgot there was a whole DeMar vs Drake sub plot going tonight.

Tough loss. It was a difficult back to back travel wise. Still could’ve taken it but too many turnovers and just couldn’t get a stop. Teams love shooting the three against the Kings

Raptors also had a lot of proven Kings killers. RJ Barrett is a tough matchup for the Kings. He cooked us when he was on the Knicks as well. A big, skilled wing that can penetrate. Kings can only alternate from too slow to too small at those positions. Keon was too small to bother Barrett.

Agbaji and Boucher also have a rich history of showing out against the Kings. Boucher would be nice to have on the Kings.

Still impressed with our big three. Love what Keegan is doing on the offensive glass.

Fox, Domas and Monk tend to get sloppy on back to backs. DeRozan was a bit sloppy as well but I don’t know if that’s a common thing with him. He otherwise looked really good though some of his shot selection was hero ballish at the end. Probably had to do with the Toronto return on VC night, the Drake courtside, and just the fact that Fox, Domas, and Monk couldn’t really hang on to the ball in crunch time.

The refs aren’t to blame for the L but it’s always worth noting that they are absolutely terrible

Also, when did Mike Brown turn from “timeout in the first minute of the quarter at the first sign of something not working” to watching his team flounder for several minutes before calling a timeout? He’s definitely adopted a newfound “let ‘em play through it” approach to mixed results so far
 
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Well, multiple opportunities to go ahead and close this one out, and multiple choke jobs.

Fox was awful down the stretch, unnecessary turnovers, bad shots, and missed badly on a wide open three to tie it.

We were only in this game due to DDR's heroics.

This will ruffle some feathers but we are an absolutely average team once again. I don't expect us to make the playoffs. Yes it's still early but we can't defend worth a damn and we have the same complacency that we've had the past couple of years. The team unfortunately seems to be maxed out as a middle of the road squad.
 
I think Coach just likes the Malik-Keon backcourt off the bench.
What does a man have to do to get respect on this team? Not to mention, that one decision was enough to lose the game, just as benching Ellis against the Lakers was enough to lose that game, when what the Kings needed in the fourth quarter was a defensive stopper. In this one, they were down by 11 by the time Monk came in for McDermott in the third.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
What does a man have to do to get respect on this team? Not to mention, that one decision was enough to lose the game, just as benching Ellis against the Lakers was enough to lose that game, when what the Kings needed in the fourth quarter was a defensive stopper. In this one, they were down by 11 by the time Monk came in for McDermott in the third.
I mean, Keon spent most of the end of the game getting absolutely torched by RJ Barrett after Keegan fouled out soI’m not sure how helpful he would’ve been.
Also 11 point deficits in today’s NBA are like five point deficits fifteen years ago.
 
Well, multiple opportunities to go ahead and close this one out, and multiple choke jobs.

Fox was awful down the stretch, unnecessary turnovers, bad shots, and missed badly on a wide open three to tie it.

We were only in this game due to DDR's heroics.

This will ruffle some feathers but we are an absolutely average team once again. I don't expect us to make the playoffs. Yes it's still early but we can't defend worth a damn and we have the same complacency that we've had the past couple of years. The team unfortunately seems to be maxed out as a middle of the road squad.
I can't argue that especially the complacency part. The first thing I would do is play ellis 30ish mins every night as a starter.
 
I mean, Keon spent most of the end of the game getting absolutely torched by RJ Barrett after Keegan fouled out soI’m not sure how helpful he would’ve been.
Also 11 point deficits in today’s NBA are like five point deficits fifteen years ago.
Barrett’s just too long for him. We just don’t have the number of long defensive players we need against teams like Toronto. We turn average long wings into stars because we have no one to guard them.
 

Mr. S£im Citrus

Doryphore of KingsFans.com
Staff member
This will ruffle some feathers but we are an absolutely average team once again. I don't expect us to make the playoffs. Yes it's still early but we can't defend worth a damn and we have the same complacency that we've had the past couple of years. The team unfortunately seems to be maxed out as a middle of the road squad.
Not even saying that you're wrong, it's just wild to me that after sixteen straight years of rooting for a dogs**t team, some Kings Fans have the audacity to look down their noses at "average."
 
What does a man have to do to get respect on this team? Not to mention, that one decision was enough to lose the game, just as benching Ellis against the Lakers was enough to lose that game, when what the Kings needed in the fourth quarter was a defensive stopper. In this one, they were down by 11 by the time Monk came in for McDermott in the third.
It seems that if you're a high 1st round pick or on a sizeable contract, then he gives you respect. If not, it is difficult to solidify a consistent spot with him
 
Kings don't really have any shooters other than Keegan and McDermott. Malik, Fox and Huerter are sporadic and all over the place and just not consistent enough from deep. This team as constructed is not built to mimic the Celtics, let's see how this plays out as we get 30-40 games in to establish an identity that works for the personnel.
Huerter is for sure a shooter. He has several years of high volume high percentages to prove it. I’d argue most shooters are fairly streaky including the third best shooter of his generation (Buddy) Even last year, a season most fans thought was bad for Kev he still shot 36 percent. 36 percent from 3 is equivalent to shooting 54 percent from 2.
 
Huerter is for sure a shooter. He has several years of high volume high percentages to prove it. I’d argue most shooters are fairly streaky including the third best shooter of his generation (Buddy) Even last year, a season most fans thought was bad for Kev he still shot 36 percent. 36 percent from 3 is equivalent to shooting 54 percent from 2.
Monk better for sure be a shooter as well, for this team to become a contender
 
Huerter is for sure a shooter. He has several years of high volume high percentages to prove it. I’d argue most shooters are fairly streaky including the third best shooter of his generation (Buddy) Even last year, a season most fans thought was bad for Kev he still shot 36 percent. 36 percent from 3 is equivalent to shooting 54 percent from 2.
Right. We have a 6 year sample size of about 38% and almost 6 attempts per game. It just feels like at times he’s not shooting well because he goes 50% one month and 30% one month, and we expect the 40-50% month all the time, but it’s not realistic.
 
A few reasons I’m optimistic:
1. I don’t think our coaches have necessarily put us in the best positions to win so far and we are still 500.

2. We played our worst game and still almost won. I don’t think it’s typical for DDR to have 6 TOs and Fox to shoot like he did.

One reason I’m worried:

1. Our bench is not good outside of Monk and Keon. You can see us lose all momentum when Mike has to bring in the bench players for any stretch, which is why our starters are being forced to play so many minutes with little rest.

PS - Please stop letting every team get hot shooting against this awful zone we keep playing. It’s been horrible. I hope there are stats/analytics that dispute what my eyes see. Maybe the coaches feel we don’t have the defenders to go man-to-man with some lineups.
 
Huerter is for sure a shooter. He has several years of high volume high percentages to prove it. I’d argue most shooters are fairly streaky including the third best shooter of his generation (Buddy) Even last year, a season most fans thought was bad for Kev he still shot 36 percent. 36 percent from 3 is equivalent to shooting 54 percent from 2.
I agree, not sure how you classify Keegan as a shooter and not Kev. Kings current 3P%
Domas 50%
Doug. 37.5%
Kev 37.5%
Keon 36.4%

Malik 34.4%
DeMar 33.3%
Keegan 30.8%
Fox 26.8%
Trey 25.0%

the Kings 3 point shooting woes can be directly traced to 2 players Keegs and Fox. 6+ attempts per game at horrible average. If Fox is hurt he needs to sit.
 
There's nothing wrong with aiming for higher than mediocrity. It's a small-time mentality to be content with being average.
Not to mention hard to say we are even average at this point:

wins
Utah 0-6
Portland 2-5
Atl 2-4

losses
LAL 4-2
Minn 3-3
Tor. 2-5

At least to date we are losing to average teams. We haven’t even played a good team yet. How we play against MIA 4-2 will be telling.
 
I said it earlier in the game thread and in previous ones, but I just think the coaching staff is creating this "we don't have a bench!" problem. They're choosing to overplay the starters. Going into the season the general consensus was the Kings have a very solid Top 9/10 - Monk, Ellis, Lyles, Len off the bench (if Huerter starts) was good. Then comes Game 1. And Kings barely use the bench in the FIRST GAME & Brown is saying in the postgame "Well we played the starters too much"... yet continues to do that .... And by Game 3, Lyles starts playing small-ball center & Len starts getting DNP's.

Coaching staff is creating the issue in my opinion. The team has a good bench if they're used and trusted. But if you barely play them, it not only reduces the stats for the bench mob, makes starters play too many minutes, etc. but also makes it hard for the bench to get into any rhythm. So for example - the bench is more likely to play poorly in 8-12 minutes as opposed to 12-16 min due to lack of rhythm.

So again - Going into Game 1, it was so obvious what the rotation would be. And now 6 games in there's all this confusion over it. That's all on the coaching staff in my opinion.