Well saidMonte has a real shot to have a very balanced roster if he can get that other F spot nailed down. Fox/Ellis/???/Keegan/Domas. With Ellis and Keegan on defense it might not even need to be a super duper star either. Just someone that is going to be a threat to get you 20+ a night. Not 30 one night, then 10 the next. They need legit consistency. If they can get that, then Domas kind of fading against teams like this will be minimized.
My question is still whether or not that's the smart route to take. As the 3 and D guy he's seemingly found a niche. The issue is still him not getting to the line. Until he can do that on a nightly basis he's going to an in the flow of the offense type of player. Maybe yes, top shelf is a Klay type, but as I've pointed out before the Warriors always tried to put another legit scorer next to Klay regardless. One that could go out and run offense. I think the Kings have a better shot at finding a scorer than they do a player that is doing what Keegan is right now. If Monte can find a 2 way guy great, but those aren't cheap.
I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying. That said, we let the Knicks off the hook specifically in the 3rd quarter. We generated a bunch of quick fouls on them, and I believe we were in the bonus 5 minutes in (McBride had like 4 of those fouls). We proceeded to shoot a bunch of 3s, midrange shots (specifically from Sabonis), and turned it over a bunch of times. We went to the foul line once after we were in the bonus, on an and-1. We didn’t do a good job drawing contact, but at the same time Knicks made some key adjustments to shut down the lane
I just rewatched the 2nd half. There were no uncalled fouls I saw other than maybe a no-call on a Divencenco block on Fox with 4 mins left (he hit his arm after he released the ball so don’t think it was). Plain and simple, Knicks beat us up on both sides. We tried to trap Brunson and literally they scored each time we tried it. On the offensive end, when we got a lane, we would pass out for a 3. There was a time in the 3rd when Lyles had a lane, Hart closed out, and Trey proceeds to stop his dribble and pass out. I mean you have 5 inches on Hart, take that up strong.Refs were awful, helped the Knicks bounced back and mentally screwed the game. DDV at one point intentionally pushed Sabonis in a fast break (both hands in the middle of Domas body) and no call was given. Also same thing whenever grabbing the board Hart getting on the rebounders hands. For the one that asked Hart and Hartenstein on the Kings, they would barely last a quarter with all the fouls called on them, no doubt. Hartenstein was awesome as a creator, many assists when he was inside the paint, outplayed Sabonis in offense creation. Hartenstein 9 assists 0 turnovers, Domas 7 assists 4 turnovers.
HB, my oh my, i am not a hater, but he can't keep getting away with it because he has this run of consecutive matches as starter. When he is bad he is reaaaaaaally bad, and several times he tried to go ISO holding the ball for quite much time just to give it away 2-3 seconds before the time expires. This is not even shown to his statsheet with the 0 points 1 rebound 1 steal and 3 turnovers, not to mention his defense that was against subpar by the "best defender on the team" as he was called at the beginning of the season. Let him ride his bicycle more, he is more effective in that. Is there another starter on a team going for the play offs/in that had so many games of "cardio"? Or any other getting 15+ mln/per year? He is the weakest link in physical matchups, was also the weakest link in the series vs Warriors he doesn't "match" the model of the defense that MB wants the team to play. Still he is glued to the lineup, even if Kings were to rest the whole starting unit, HB will be there starting the match.
Considering the way they played him, zero calls given the whole time, Fox was amazing. He wasn't getting calls when going to the rim so he was forced to shoot 3s making many of them. Sabonis was not at the same level but it was harder for him cause he doesn't have the option to take shots from distance and he was getting hammered inside the paint.
MB again let his team lose a 20+ point lead, took a timeout at one point with the lead at 16 I think, less than 2 minutes later the gap was at single digits (in the middle of 2nd quarter). Kessler and Duarte played for a while, could contribute more with Keegan on foul trouble and HB ghosting. Apart from those 2 airballs 3s Sasha played well and on defense as well.
We led this game by 21 at one point
Heh. I was seriously bummed that I had to miss the 2nd half and go look at land with the fiancé. Saved me from some serious indigestion……….Looks like I picked a good evening to go out to dinner with my wife instead of watching the second half of the game, unfortunately....
If you want, I will volunteer to go look at land with your fiancé the next time. Heh.Heh. I was seriously bummed that I had to miss the 2nd half and go look at land with the fiancé. Saved me from some serious indigestion……….
Stop Brunson and you stop the Knicks.
If the Lakers finish the season on this trajectory then there was likely nothing the Kings could do anyway haha. This would be a very clear example of the Kings starting the season strong, then teams pulling ahead at the finish line as the Kings kind of settled into .500 territory. The Kings have been scarily consistent in an up and down manner since the start of the new year. The biggest streak of W's they've gone on is 4, but that was following 4 losses in a row. Then it's 2 up, 2 down kind of stuff. The Kings going from best on offense to middle-ish then from near worst on D, then best in this stretch while it not really changing the record in those 10 game snaps I think unequivocally indicates that this team is missing that next talent, it's not an issue of play calls, style, role player subs, etc. It's a hole somewhere.
Monte has a real shot to have a very balanced roster if he can get that other F spot nailed down. Fox/Ellis/???/Keegan/Domas. With Ellis and Keegan on defense it might not even need to be a super duper star either. Just someone that is going to be a threat to get you 20+ a night. Not 30 one night, then 10 the next. They need legit consistency. If they can get that, then Domas kind of fading against teams like this will be minimized.
This team is critically missing toughness. I don’t mean necessarily a cheap shot artist, but need someone to push back with physicality and attitude when we are getting punked. Yes, I know Lyles put Lopez in a chokehold last year, but that seemed like a strange out of body experience vs. who he really is.Call me crazy but I think the Kings could really use Grant Williams next season even with some of the stuff that's gone on with him in Dallas, his toughness/defense and at times ability to hit 3's will help and he's played very well for a bad Hornets team. Huerter for Williams is a fair deal.
I think part of the free throw discrepancy vs last year is a philosophical change. We as a team are shooting a higher % of 3s. Fox is shooting almost 3 3s more per game than last year.MB kind of implied that lack of foul calls were responsible for the defeat by saying "i have to teach my guys better how to get fouls drawn", and for once emphasized that we didn't take enough 3s, saying that there should have been more than 50 rather than 42.
I don't get his obsession with 3s though and this wasn't the first time the Kings shot well in the 1st quarter and then were bad in the remaining 3s losing the match. Happened vs Pelicans too, at Phoenix
When Fox was told by the reporters about the "gamesmanship" (no idea what that word means) to learn how to get to the line more often, he told that when they attack the rim they focus on making the shot and not to draw the foul, telling that sometimes the refs don't whistle the foul and "it is what it is" something I assume he knows well playing for the Kings for so many years.
Wasn't mentioned anywhere in the post game interviews, but in March there was a record low 19.7 free throws attempts for a team per game BUT somehow Kings opponents were shooting 20+ free throws per match themselves in most of the matches.
@ MIN 24/32 (Kings shot 13/24)
vs CHI 18/22 (Kings shot 16/18)
@ LAL 21/25 (Kings shot 10/12)
vs SAS 21/21 (Kings shot 17/18)
vs HOU 22/27 (Kings shot 20/23)
vs MIL 27/35 (Kings shot 13/16)
vs LAL 17/22 (Kings shot 9/12)
and so on...
The Kings are 20th in free throws attempts per game and 24th in opponents free throw attempts with 21 for the Kings and 23.4 attempts for our opponents. Last season that the league wasn't prepared for us to be competitive Kings had the 3rd best free throw differential behind the Lakers (that are historically #1 I wonder why) and the Heat, this season we are dead last in free throws made having a "negative" differential as well. I guess T-Davis and Metu's departure made the difference...
Of course the Kings could have won some "easy" matches and be in a much better place in the league table BUT the non calls against mostly Fox and Domas when they attack the rim have been crucial especially since Kings are not allowed to do the same when they guard All Stars like Doncic and Brunson that look to initiate contact even unlike what our last years All Stars do.
The season starts to feel really long about now. Everyone is banged up and tired of traveling. They are mentally worn out. Mental lapses led to turnovers and poor offense in the 4th quarter.
As a fan I am mentally worn out. I am sure the team is too to some extent! I'm looking forward to what they can do in the play-in but admit looking ahead to the summer and hopefully seeing what moves we can do to improve the team.The season starts to feel really long about now. Everyone is banged up and tired of traveling. They are mentally worn out. Mental lapses led to turnovers and poor offense in the 4th quarter.
What would help in situations where Domas is ganged up in the paint so much? He seems the only one in the paint and taking a beating, concerned about this long term. Would a 4 to create his own shot or assist down low help or is it a matter of the other team daring them to take outside shots and packing the paint?
I want to see Sabonis and Len on the court for 3-5 minutes at a time, just to give the other team a different look, especially when the Kings have a good lead.
If you watched the 2nd half yesterday, they actually played Sabonis straight up with Hartenstein. He couldn’t get much room against him and so he often resorted to some 8ft left hooks or passed out for a trey. When he’s in the post, he mostly goes to his left and the Knicks did a good job defending it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like he trusts his right hand or right side, so teams don’t have to respect it. When teams have the personnel to shut down our penetration like the Knicks do, it does force us to resort to 3s since we don’t have much low post options. This is what we miss most with Monk. We also need Keegan to become a big iso threat next year, otherwise we’ll keep living and dying by the 3What would help in situations where Domas is ganged up in the paint so much? He seems the only one in the paint and taking a beating, concerned about this long term. Would a 4 to create his own shot or assist down low help or is it a matter of the other team daring them to take outside shots and packing the paint?
If you watched the 2nd half yesterday, they actually played Sabonis straight up with Hartenstein. He couldn’t get much room against him and so he often resorted to some 8ft left hooks or passed out for a trey. When he’s in the post, he mostly goes to his left and the Knicks did a good job defending it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like he trusts his right hand or right side, so teams don’t have to respect it. When teams have the personnel to shut down our penetration like the Knicks do, it does force us to resort to 3s since we don’t have much low post options. This is what we miss most with Monk. We also need Keegan to become a big iso threat next year, otherwise we’ll keep living and dying by the 3
The blitzing/double teaming of Brunson was extremely frustrating. You have 3 good guard defenders in Fox, Ellis, and Mitchell. Trust your good defenders to make his life difficult. Willingly submitting to a 4 vs. 3 possession after possession just makes no sense (especially when the Knicks have good secondary passers/ball handlers in DiVincenzo, Hart, Hartenstein, etc.). You even have Murray as a 4th option to throw at Brunson if you want to some extra length on him. Wasn’t a fan of that defensive game plan at all.